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(POV CHANGE) Katniss
I sit on the ground, my back against the back wall. I hold the match firmly inside my fist. I think over the plan over and over in my head. So much can wrong, I might barely make it out of this cell, but it's worth the try. I begin to think what will happen if I fail. I will deal with it if it happens. I won't go to that abortion freely, just hours away.
I've been trying to sleep. I could use all the rest I can get, but it's hard when your stomach is empty and your mind is full on running. I'm too nervous. I sing softly, and shut my eyes tightly. I focus on my breathing and ignore my thoughts. Soon I'm calm enough to sleep for a little while.
I'm awoken by the door sliding open. A tray is brought in. I test the food for drugs or sedations. It smells bitter, and I decide to just play it safe and not eat it. They'd probably put something in it, so that I won't struggle as hard when they come for me. But I won't let them take me. I'm not going to let them kill my child.
I wait for the Peacekeeper to come and take my tray. It's my stall of time for beginning my escape. The wait is agonizing. My heart is already beating faster with the nervousness. I'm going to do this. I'm not going to back down. It's what Peeta would want me to do, right? If he was still alive, he would be the one encouraging me, just like he used to. This baby is the only thing I have left of him, and I'm not going to let Snow take it. Thinking how Snow killed them all, gives me more than enough incentive I need to do this. The buzzing and noise of the gate, makes my breathing stop for a moment. I face away from the door, and lay on the ground. I pretend I'm asleep, as the Peacekeeper takes the full tray and leaves. This is it. Now or never.
I get up and look for any surveillance cameras. I look into the corners and notice a tiny mechanical thing in only one of the corners. It could be a camera, so I sit right under the camera and begin to rip the sleeves of the dress. I tear a piece of one of them. I find the corset and take out the strings. It's strange how they didn't take it. I could have easily used it to choke myself or something. I cut a piece with my teeth.
Using the walls, I step onto them and reach for the it-could-be-a-camera. Better to be safe. Using the cloth and string, I cover and tie it. Now they can't see what I'm doing. They'll notice soon, so I have to work fast. I rip off my other sleeve and tear it into a bunch of strips.
I take the match and run it against the floor to light it. I hold it in my hand for a second. There's no turning back from here. I let the match fall into the torn cloth. It begins to burn. The cold cell begins to warm up and the flames get larger. The fire reaches the back padded wall, causing it to blaze.
I stand against the wall of where the door is. A Peacekeeper will come in any minute, and my only advantage is for me to catch him off guard. I wait tensely, my body stiffly pressed against the wall, trying to stay away from the fire as much as I can. The heat is swarming and making me sweat. The smoke is causing my eyes to water and get blurry. It makes me cough roughly. I tie a piece of my dress over my nose and mouth. That Peacekeeper better come or I'm surely going to suffocate or burn to death.
A loud array of buzzes signal that the fire alarm has been activated and the gates have unlocked. That just leaves someone opening this cell. I'm starting to think; what if they don't come? What if they changed their mind about the abortion and using me for the war effort? Nobody would bother with the fire and they would let me kill myself. I wanted that, but not now, when I'm trying to save my child's life. Burning to death would be the only way out of this. What better way for Snow to put an end to the girl on fire.
The door slides open. I take one last deep breath as two Peacekeepers barge into the cell. They look toward the fire, searching for me. I lunge at one of them with the string and get it around his neck. He chokes, and tries to shake me off. I hold on for my life. The other Peacekeeper begins to pull on me, but it only chokes his partner more. The Peacekeeper falls to his knees, and then his helmeted head drops into the fire. The other Peacekeeper pulls me back from the unconscious body and pins me to the wall with his hands on my neck. He's choking me, but I've been trained for this.
I lift my arm, twist, bend my elbow, and bring it down against the Peacekeeper's hold. While, his hands are down, I join my hands and push my elbow in his face. He stumbles back, and I take the opportunity. I reach for the nightstick of the unconscious Peacekeeper. A gun would be more advantageous, but they don't carry guns around prisoners. Because this could happen.
I hit the peacekeeper repeatedly till he falls into the fire. He tries to get up using his hands, but they burn on the hot ground. I take the unconscious Peacekeeper's ID card, run out of the cell, and slide the door shut. I lean on it for a second just to catch my breath. I run down the hallway with the string and the nightstick as my only weapons. I reach the gate, and I'm able to push it open. As soon as I do, an alarm is sounding. It scares me into running faster.
I use the ID card to get into the elevator. I press the button for the next floor. The elevator seems to go incredibly slow, and I can hear my heart palpitating in my chest. I have to be ready for whatever meets me when the doors open. A buzz sounds and the doors slide open. I run down the plain gray hallway, looking for familiar exits that I saw walking through here. I turn a corner, and spot a mob of Peacekeepers coming. I take a turn into another direction and run. When I pass a corner, there she stands at the gate that leads to the continuous hallway.
I skid to a stop, just a few feet away from Dr. Odessa and the gate. I look straight at her. She doesn't seem to be afraid or angry. Then she does something that I would have never expected. She opens the gate with her ID and steps aside. The first thing that comes to mind is that it's a trap, but then I feel bullets fly past me, barely missing her. They are shooting at her as well. That means she knows there's an exit that way.
I dart through the gate, and keep running till I reach a turn. I look back just for a second and see she has closed the gate on the uniformed mob. She locks it with her card, but the bullets of their guns go through and meet her chest. Her gray eyes meet mine – an image of her as a young girl, smiling, with the jacket she gave me, pass through my mind- and then she collapses to the ground. I'm still so confused, but I can't stop.
I sprint down the hallway and find the door to the stairwell. I push it open and dart down the stairs. I just have to find a way out of the Mansion and into the tunnels. I'll figure out what to do when I get there. Loud footsteps and shouting is heard above me. Come on. Can't you go any faster? I step down the stairs as fast as I can. When I just a few steps away from the next platform, I make a jump for it. I trip, and then stagger up. The Peacekeepers are a floor or two above me. I look over the rails and see that the lowest floor is just two flights down. This new hope makes me go faster. We're going to make it. There's a pain in my side, but I can't stop. I'm almost there…
I'm halfway down, when the door slams opens. Shit! Some Peacekeepers managed to get there before I did. I sharply turn around. I go up a flight of stairs, but the other Peacekeepers are up ahead. I'm trapped. Their steps get closer, and I'm trying to think what to do. I look over the rails. That's my only shot. I jump over and hang on the rails. Peacekeepers freeze, predicting my next move, and put their barrels in my direction. I let myself drop.
It's like it happens in slow motion. I have the sensation of falling, and hear bullets propel past me. I feel some graze my skin. It hurts, and when I land, my knees buckle. I fall over, and stagger back up. I only fell a flight of stairs down, and I don't think I broke anything. The gun shot in my arm doesn't feel much pain. That's what happens when your brain is too occupied with survival.
I get up and find the next door. I just have to get out of the stairwells. I push against the door and run down the hall. Figures turn the corner. They aim theirs guns in my direction. Damn it! I'm running to fast. I skid to a stop, but I fall and slide toward them. I close my eyes waiting for them to reach me, or feel a bullet. I failed. I was so close.
Arms grab hold of me, and I fight against them. I frail my arms around, my eyes still squeezed shut. "I'm not going to let you take me!" I say with gritted teeth.
"Katniss!" one of them shouts. I get myself into a ball, thinking it will be hard to grab hold of me. "Katniss, open your eyes." The voice isn't loud and panicked. It's warm and almost calm. I open my eyes slightly and meet Peeta's blue ones.
"Peeta?" I whisper. I'm completely baffled. The first thing that comes to mind is that I'm dead. Peeta is dead, so that means I am. But that doesn't explain why we're still in a hallway, why my body is still aching and bleeding. Death sadly, has not come to take me out of my misery.
"Katniss, it's us," says Gale from somewhere. I look around searching the faces; Finnick, Johanna, Gale, Cressida, Pollux, Peeta.
"You're dead," I say tonelessly.
"No we're not dead, and you aren't either," says Peeta. He smiles slightly and tears pool in his eyes. I don't know what to say. I never thought I'd see them again. I'm so overcome with relief. They're here. Peeta's alive. My eyes begin to water. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I let Peeta hold me in an embrace, sitting on the ground. His arms strong and warm, even through his heavy armored uniform.
Reality barges in with Peacekeepers storming into the hallway. They begin to fire their guns at their new targets. Peeta helps me up and leads me behind cover. He gestures for me to stay there, but before he leaves, he looks confusingly at me.
"You're… still pregnant?" he asks surprised.
"Uh yes…" I say dismally.
"I thought… they…" I can see the sadness in his eyes. He must have seen my interviews, and thought they had killed the baby. I never thought how everyone in 13 would react to my showing. "Never mind. You just stay here okay?" he says. He gets up with his gun and helps the rest of the squad. I'm very much still pregnant, uncertain what the torture could have done. It only makes this rescue even more risky. I take my torn cloth and tie it around my wounded arm. Finnick is shouting to the rest of us.
"There's too many of them! What's our escape plan?"
"We could go through the tunnels!" I say.
"No, we just came through there. We can't go back that way," says Gale.
"What's our back-up plan then?" says Johanna.
"We got to go through a ground level entrance," says Gale. "We just have to find one,"
"Got it," says Peeta. He walks backwards still facing the Peacekeepers. At the next turn of hallways he shouts for the rest of us. "This way!"
I run beside Gale. He gets behind me and turns back to shoot at the Peacekeepers following pursuit. Peeta seems to know where's he going, at least I hope he does. He walks into narrower hallways. We reach a maintenance passage. "This leads to workers quarters, right?" asks Johanna.
"That's what I'm thinking," says Peeta.
We run through the narrow passage and reach a door at the end. We enter a slightly more decorated hallway. These are probably the servants' quarters. The sirens are slightly faint here. We don't encounter any Peacekeepers yet, but that doesn't mean they're not still in pursuit of us. Peeta scans the room, and we follow him to another door with a sign. "Staircases, the elevators don't work anymore."
"Yeah, because I started a fire," I add.
I get funny looks directed at me. Peeta is smirking, despite our situation. "Can't see any other way the girl on fire would go," he says. Now I'm the only one who's laughing. They think I've gone mad. Yes, I probably have.
We go up multiple floors, and reach a floor labeled 6. Peeta and Johanna push through the door, and it looks like we're actually in the hallways of Snow's home. Peeta and Johanna are muttering between themselves, figuring where to go.
"This way? No, that we probably lead into the main hallway…"
"We should just keep following the smaller hallways…"
"Maybe there's a way outside from the main hallway…"
Finnick glances at me and then to them, giving a nervous smile. I return the same expression. We don't have a whole lot of time. I begin conjuring the path to Snow's study in my head, and what I saw on the way there. I step forward and look down the diverted paths. Peeta and Johanna stop their muttering. "This way," I say. "Snow's study was that way, and on the way there, I didn't see any windows or close exits. We can only continue this path and hope for a back entrance."
"You sure, Mockingjay?" asks Johanna. I nod. I'm not completely sure, but it's the best of what I could conclude from where I've been.
"Alright, this way then," says Peeta. I stay up front with them. Peeta makes me wear his protective vest and jacket.
"Peeta, what abo-"
"Just put it on, okay? It's protective against bullets, and it will calm my nerves some, if you have it," he says. I don't refute, because it's pointless. I put it on over what's left of the dress. The vest fits over my bump. We continue on till we reach a foyer with large windows that almost reach the ceiling. A loud siren begins to fill the corridors. Shouting and footsteps are heard a distance away down both ends of the foyer. There goes our exit. From the window I see we're just above ground level, but it's a 10 foot drop. Outside are a garden and a large courtyard. It's the backyard of the Mansion.
"I think we should try the windows," says Finnick. "It's our only way out. There's no way we'll be able to get past the incoming Peacekeepers."
"What happens when we reach outside?" asks Cressida. "There are probably still Peacekeepers out there."
"True, but we won't be as enclosed. We'll have a chance to escape," he says.
"Alright, the window then," says Gale. He takes his gun and fires. It cracks. We all stand back, and he continues to shoot till the window shatters. The cold air rushes in and caused me to shiver. Gale takes a long rope from his belt. He attaches it to the window sill. "I'll go first just in case there are Peacekeepers down there."Gale steps unto edge. He looks around and then climbs down. He reaches the ground, surveys, and shouts back. "Clear!"
"Go ahead Katniss," says Finnick. I step cautiously, because I don't have shoes. I get out the window and climb the rope down. My hands slide several times, causing them to burn, but I make it to the ground. Then comes Johanna and Pollux. Cressida loses her grip halfway down and falls. Gale braces her fall, but they both fall onto the ground. I walk over and pull them up.
"Are you both alright?"
"I'm fine," says Cressida.
"I'm good," answers Gale slightly strained. I look back to the window and see Finnick coming down. Large doors open and Peacekeepers swarm out into the cold. The team on the ground begins a defensive attack. Gale pushes me behind him. I look up and see Finnick has just made it down. I see Peeta beginning to descend the rope, but in the window a Peacekeeper holds a knife to the rope and cuts it.
"No!" I shout. The rope rips and Peeta falls to the ground. He hits the floor on his back, the air forced out of him. I feel pure apprehension, and run to him. I forget the bullets, the shouts for me to stop; my only thought is I have to get to him. The decorative walls and boulders block us from the Peacekeepers' fire. Johanna takes out the Peacekeeper in the window.
"Peeta?" I'm afraid he hit his head on the fall. His eyes are closed. I put my head to his chest. His heart is still beating. "Are you awake? Can you hear me?" Finnick squats next to me, his attention at the Peacekeepers. "Peeta, wake up! Please." I can't lose him. Not when I barely found him. "Please," I say again.
His eyes open slowly. "Since… you said please…" he says weakly. I'm filled with relief. I hold onto him, just happy he's alive. "Ow."
"Peeta, did you hit your head?"
"Uh, mostly my back I think…"
"Can you get up?"
"Uh, yeah." I hold on to his hand and slowly help him up in a sitting position. He puts a hand to the back of his head. We move behind stronger cover with Finnick. The Peacekeepers just keep coming. I don't know how we'll escape without getting hit.
"I think you should just stay down for a little. That was quite a fall," says Finnick.
"No, I'm fine," he says. I take his gun and press my hands on his shoulders.
"You just stay here, I got this," I say. Peeta is about to say something, but I turn away and concentrate on stopping the incoming force of Peacekeepers. If only I had my bow.
Gale is shouting out orders. "This way!" he calls. The squad darts in the direction of a tall railed gate. "Up and over!" We rush to climb over the gate. I see a bullet form a hole where I just had my left hand. It's just like gate in 12, I tell myself. I get over quickly. I pull Peeta up, and then we all drop down on the other side. It's a high wall, but not as high from the window. We're outside of the property, but we're far from safe. We're right on the edges of the City Circle.
It crowded with refugees. Everyone is too distracted with the chaos, that they don't notice us. Pods have been activated, from what I can tell. Discarded scarves and clothing are scattered among the dead bodies, which are mostly citizens. I pull the hood of Peeta's jacket over my head. Everyone else does the same. Peeta pulls the hood of his shirt over his head. Even though it sickens me, I take the shoes of a dead girl lying in the street. In my head, I'm constantly apologizing that she had to be the one to die.
I'm shivering with the cold, because I'm still wearing only the dress under Peeta's jacket and vest. I look around to see swarms of citizens guided toward the Mansion, for the promise of shelter. Peacekeepers force the people to move quickly. Children scurry alongside their parents. Then gunfire rips through the crowd.
It's followed by screams and cries of pain. People around us begin to fall to the ground. The squad all drops to the street, and scuttles the ten yards to the shelter of stone benches. I look up to see rebel soldiers lining the roofs. More rounds take down citizens and some Peacekeepers. "It's the rebels," says Cressida.
Another round of machine guns takes down a little girl and her father I see running toward the benches. Rebel soldiers climb down the buildings. They pour into streets and take cover behind vehicles, doorways, and short walls. I should be happy, but watching people drop dead, kind of makes it difficult.
I'm unsure what are plan is now. We've escaped the Mansion, I've been rescued, but what now? I can't help myself from thinking about the last request with deal I made with Coin; I kill Snow. I really want to be the one to put a bullet through his head, for causing all of this: for the Hunger Games, for lives he took, for making my life hell. If I see him die, I will be satisfied. But I probably won't. There's no way we'll be able to get to Snow. This team is already in danger of bringing me back. It's out of the question of leaving on my own private mission to kill Snow. My only mission right now, is to keep my son or daughter safe.
"We better start moving before the whole block goes up," says Gale. We all come out from behind the benches, and walk along the shops to avoid the army of Peacekeepers and rebels. Peeta takes my hand, and we walk in the direction of the avenues. Right in front of our path, fog unleashes from grenades. I can only see a foot in front of me, the rest of my surroundings thick gray fog.
"Don't let go of my hand," says Peeta sternly. I hold tighter, trusting completely on his guidance. I can't see the others. They've all been swallowed with the fog. Sounds of gunshots come from nowhere. Waves of boots are heading in our direction. We both break into a run. We can't see three feet in front us, and that's when a Peacekeeper runs straight through our linked hands. I'm pushed along with a panic crowd of refugees.
I pull my hood tighter, and face away from the Peacekeeper. I'm beginning to panic and I want to call his name, but it will just give us away. I continue in the direction of where we were heading. The fog is beginning to disperse. I see the outlines of people. I run toward the end of the block, and find the fog isn't as thick. I search the crowd and then I see Peeta. I run, not wanting to lose sight of him again. He sees me, and mouths my name. I'm about 100 feet away when a small explosion detonates behind me. Peeta begins to run in my direction.
A closer explosion knocks me off my feet, and I'm in the air for a split second. I see him yell my name, but I can't hear him over the explosion, the screams, the cries, the blood curdelling shrieks. I fall to the to the stone street. It slams into my protruding belly; right into the baby.
Hope you didn't forget who Dr. Odessa was. This chapter has been on mind since like chapter 5. Thanks for reading and any feedback. Till next chapter.
-cheezebuns