Kay, I know I said the computer is going into the shop, but since this was such an important part of the story, I whipped up a few chapters before my mom could turn it in. :DD I don't let my mother read any of my poems or stories, yet I let complete strangers from around the world read them. She wants to know why. XD Anyone got any suggestions?

OOO

Mother and Prim let me be. For an hour they don't interrupt my mental breakdown as I sobbed into Peeta's shirt. Either they were used to it, or understood why I choose him. It was sad, really.

But at 9:30, we had a rude awakening.

The trapdoor of the secret bunker opened loudly and three officials came in, guns cocked and ready. One of them—obviously the head, judging by his crew-cut and stern expression—stepped forwards and snapped a baton against his thigh, signaling our attention.

To catch you up on the refugee status, I might want to say that the amount of people in the bunker had quadrupled in size at the very least. I could see everyone I knew scattered around, yet none of them made any notion they saw me.

"Listen up, District 13!" The strict man yelled in his overly-loud voice. "My name is Sergeant Harvan, the Head Official and chief of this operation. Now, the flow of enemy soldiers has been staunched, but in order to win this, we need each and every volunteer we can get."

Murmurs floated around the room ghostlike, whispering consent to each other.

"The ill, the elderly, women with minors or pregnant, and everyone under the age of eighteen may not be subject to volunteer. You will be supplied with weapons, but a healthy homecoming—or in fact a homecoming at all—may not happen. You are taking these personal risks if and when you volunteer." Sergeant Harvan gazed over the crowd in satisfaction. "We have twenty minutes to gather and arm volunteers. Please, step forward at this time."

A vast wave of bodies stood, some to volunteer, others to pray for their loved ones not to.

I was just about to comment on something, when Peeta beside me began to stand.

"W-What? Peeta, what are you…?" At first it was just confusion, then my hand snatched his wrist in a viselike grip, and I stood up. "You're not going, Peeta. And that's final."

His pretty eyes grew shiny with concern. "I have to. This is to protect you." He turned around again, but again, I stopped him.

"Peeta, you can't go!" My voice was a pained yell. "You have to stay!"

"This is for your own good, Katniss!" His voice had risen too, because the more I fought, the harder it was for him to let go. "I have to do this."

No, no, I couldn't lose him… With a choked sob, I threw my arms around him and caught him in a poignant, tear-filled embrace. Hands tightened on my waist and Peeta buried his face in my hair. We were both crying.

But the moment only lasted a minute before he unwillingly pulled away. "I love you, Katniss." And when he turned away for the final time, I saw the single tear fall from his heartbroken blue eyes.

It was obvious my mother and Prim had seen it coming, because when I collapsed, my head didn't crack against the hard cement floor, but rather swing back as I was clumsily lowered to the ground. Primrose was crying quietly, too, and had pulled my head into her small lap. Mother was holding back tears as she held the both of us, and for once I didn't catch the stares of everyone around us.

The war waged on for another hour, in that time I had calmed down enough to be able to stand. My legs had utterly refused me the opportunity to be still; I needed to move. Prim and Mother watched with tired eyes as I paced, not bothering to wipe dried tears from my cheeks.

When I cast my eyes out over to the crowd—I wasn't the only one who had had a meltdown—one particular person caught my eyes. She was all alone, arms wrapped jadedly around the swollen bulge of her stomach. Unkempt brown hair hung loosely around her small face and I knew, just from looking, that she too had lost what I had.

Not bothering to turn back to Mother, I let my feet lead the way. And before I knew it, I was seated on the cold floor next to Annie Cresta.

She raised her sea-green eyes to look at me. "Hello, Katniss." She was quiet, but perfectly polite.

"I take it Finnick left, too, huh?" I didn't mean to be rude, or anything, but I had to know.

Annie looked away from me, no emotion betrayed on her pale face. "Yes. I told him not to go, but they never listen…"

"Don't I know it…" I grumbled, but kept silent after that.

It was quiet between us two, held down only by the unspoken connections of our men off to fight in the war. And it frightened me.

I knew that there would be a war. I knew that soon enough, they would come for me, but this is not how I pictured it. In my head, we wouldn't know it was coming. The ground would shake with littered bombs as they rained from the sky, and the Capitol people would swarm in by the hundreds. In my head there was a lot more blood and bombs, but this was so still it was eerie.

Pretty soon they would come here, though. The blueprint of District 13 was in the enemies' hands, and nothing lasts forever, even this false sense of security. I inwardly wondered how they came to get it… Probably Cinna.

Thinking of him and his betrayal made me boil with anger, and my mind cast back unwillingly to the day Finnick and I caught him.

I glanced up at Finnick, who was looking angrier by the second. At any moment he would pop. "Do you have anything you would like to ask, Finnick?"

He did pop. Finnick launched himself at Octavia and pinned her down on the floor. She screamed and began thrashing again. "Why did you do that to Annie?" He shouted, eyes gleaming with fury.

"Do what? What did I do?" Octavia was screaming, too.

"Annie's first baby." Finnick was trembling. "You took her and used her for experiments. Don't deny it!" He spat when Octavia was about to speak. "I know you did."

I gaped open-mouthed at Finnick. He had never told me Annie had a first child. And I especially didn't know the kid had been taken and used for experiments.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't know any such thing happened!" Octavia cried, helpless and scared, under the pressure of Finnick's hands pinning her. "Please…"

Finnick took several deep and shaky breaths and got off of her. His eyes looked watery and vulnerable. I didn't know whether to comfort him, or leave him alone.

Only slightly concerned whether or not it was appropriate to ask, I tilted my head to side facing Annie. "Can I ask you a question?"

Her head turned slowly back to me. "What is it?" Annie's voice, like most of the time, was quiet and timid, but underneath the fear she felt for her husband, there was an obvious layer of independence that I admired.

I tried to avoid those piercing green eyes. "When-when Finnick and I captured the spies… He-He said something to them. He was really upset, and said something about your first kid." I looked up nervously at her, anticipating her response.

But she just gazed sadly out and the crowd before her. It was a long time before she actually spoke. "I was twenty-three when I found out. At first I was petrified, scared to death about being a mother. I didn't know how. And of course, when word got around to President Snow, he offered me lodging in the Capitol so just in case anything went wrong, there would be experience medical help as soon as I needed it."

She blinked sadly. "And in turn for free lodging and checkups, I was required to let him run tests. He told me they weren't very big tests, and they did nothing to harm me or the baby. But he had lied."

I could feel my breath being held, burning in my lungs, but I did not falter to let in oxygen or look away from the frightened young woman next to me.

"I had the baby, and as far as I was concerned, he was a beautiful baby boy with bronze curls and eyes like his fathers. But it was until I came home one after a night running errands—Snow had hired a nanny—he was gone. The truth settled in, and President Snow contacted me. He had said that by allowing him to run those tests on my baby, the technological advances were soaring. I asked him what he had done." There was a moment pause, when I had to take a ragged breath. Then Annie continued. "He had fused muttation DNA with the DNA of Forest..." She swallowed back tears.

I felt all the air being sucked immediately out of my lungs and white dots of fury scattered themselves behind my closed eyelids. There was nothing to say, to think. Just immense rage boiled up inside me. Yet, I kept silent, urging Annie to go on.

"He told me that no one else knew and that we would go on as if nothing happened. I was allowed to see him, sometimes, from behind tinted glass in the observatory room. He was always sleeping. Never cried. Never did anything." She stopped there, and after a pregnant pause, I had to say something.

My raspy voice came out in a whisper. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know." She admitted, looking forlornly down at the bulge in her stomach. "I left the Capitol and went on with my life. But ever since then I've been more…" Annie's eyes blinked in split-second confusion. "…sound. I have been having fewer breakdowns. Things have been better and worse at the same time."

Things were quiet between us as my mind processed this. It was horrible, how she went through the same thing as I did. But the difference was that her child was allowed to live. Unlike most always, I wasn't on the verge of tears. In fact, I wasn't sad at all. The only emotion that I felt was blistering wrath swelling up inside my heart.

These people, these monsters have stolen children, turned them into monsters themselves, murdered others in cold blood. Everything that had happened lately, everything was their fault. They killed Gale, they altered me and Peeta so where we'll never be normal. All that they have done, all the hatred I feel for them was sitting in my chest.

I needed revenge. I needed my vengeance for everything they had done to me. And from there, a plan began forming. It was rough and no doubt far-fetched, but there was some part of me that felt better every time I imaging Snow's death in my head, over and over.

A cold hand brought me back down from my fantasies, curling around my own. When I looked up, startled, Annie's bottle green eyes met my own and she offered me a smile.

"We'll wait for Finnick and Peeta to come back." She looked back away from me, but our delicate hands linked together between us held us to the ground as we waited for our soldiers to come home.

oOo

OOH! BURN! I bet you guys didn't see that coming. Well…maybe you did, but oh well. HAHAHA I win. GAH these next few chapters coming up are crucial. In no circumstance are you allowed to "skim". CRUCIAL! :D Kay, well… Please review 'cause I need to know how I'm doing. Love you all!