Chapter 13: Hijack

When Katniss arrives at the house there is no sign of Peeta. She wonders if she should take a walk up to the bakery and see what he is doing, but knows he is busy, so she focuses on preparations for dinner. He still has not arrived when she is done, but she is tired and decides to go upstairs and lie down for a while. Talking to Gale has left her emotionally drained. Closing her eyes, she thinks about everything that has happened, that it has happened for a reason, and the reason was that her and Peeta were meant to be together. The fact they were having a child was her final assurance and a way for Peeta to know that she loved him and always would.

Waking late in the day, Katniss wonders if Peeta is home yet and goes downstairs to look for him. She sees no sign of him and thinks she might take a short walk to the bakery to see if she can find Peeta there. When Katniss arrives the bakery is closed. She can't understand it. Peeta always comes straight home. She decides to walk back to the house first before calling in to see Haymitch and see if he knows where Peeta might be.

Peeta struggles in the back of the vehicle. There are two men dressed as Peacekeepers holding him down. They have handcuffs on his hands and feet and have tied a gag around his mouth to stop him from calling out.

"Do you know who we are?" one of the men asks.

Of course Peeta can't answer him, so the man goes on.

"We are part of Alma Coin's force. Do you remember what happened to Alma Coin? Well, we are here to get your Mockingjay!"

Peeta kicks out and tries to yell. One of them backhands him across the face and Peeta falls back.

"We've decided, since the Capitol has already turned you into a weapon to kill the Mockingjay, we will use you as our weapon. She thought she was clever putting an arrow through Coin's heart, but she's not as clever as she thinks. If you kill her, no one will ever know about Alma Coin's revenge".

Peeta is panicking now. They had used him before as a weapon to try and kill Katniss, he can't let that happen again. Without warning a needle is plunged into his arm. It is painful and Peeta already knows what it is…trackerjacker serum.

He starts to hallucinate within minutes, seeing images from the Games, of Katniss, things that don't make sense and frighten him. There are mutts. They are chasing him and he is trying to get away. His leg is hurt and he can't run fast enough. Suddenly an arrow is fired from the cover of the trees and he goes down on one knee. He sees Katniss come out of the trees and she aims at him again.

Katniss gets back to the house and begins to turn on the lights. She never draws the blinds before it gets dark in case she needs Haymitch. He made her promise, just as he has promised to be there in case he is needed.

As she moves into the kitchen she can hear a sound behind her and turns to see Peeta standing in the doorway. Something is wrong. He looks dishevelled and she thinks he might be hurt.

"Peeta! What happened?"she cries.

"You know what happened, you mutt! You shot me with an arrow in the woods".

Before she has a chance to react Peeta grabs her with one hand by the throat and pushes her up against the door.

"You think I don't know that you are a Capitol Mutt?!

Katniss has left the emergency device in the bedroom. She needs to try and get to the front of the house so she can draw a blind for Haymitch. She tries to push Peeta off her, but he is too strong.

"Peeta, the baby!" Katniss cries.

That seems to stop him for a moment as he looks down at her belly which is now very prominent. He seems to ignore what she has just said.

"Nice one, Katniss. I tried that one, too. There is no baby!" he shouts as she tries to reach for something behind her to hit him with. She has to loosen his grip somehow.

"Peeta" Katniss says with a strangled cry. "STOP!" and then she reaches behind and grabs the frypan from the stove. She doesn't want to hurt him, but she has to stop him, so she hits him hard on the back of his head to try and startle him.

Peeta staggers back and Katniss makes a run for the front of the house. She manages to pull one blind halfway down before he is on her again.

"Mutt" he growls as he brings her crashing to the floor. Fortunately, for Katniss, she lands on her side and she is doing her best to make sure he doesn't touch her stomach and hurt the baby.

He slaps her across the face and pulls her to her feet ripping her shirt.

Katniss tries to gather herself and begins to say "You're name is Peeta Mellark…"

She doesn't get to finish. He yanks her hair back to expose her throat. As his hand is reaching for her again she manages to say in a panicked voice:

"You're name is Peeta Mellark…real or not real?"

Katniss thinks he is hesitating and then suddenly feels herself smashed onto the table standing in the middle of the room. She has hurt her leg and now she is struggling to stay upright.

Katniss tries again. Her voice is shaking.

"You're name is Peeta Mellark….real or not real?"

She begins to see her words getting through. Peeta still has his hands on her, but has stopped moving.

"Real" Peeta slowly responds.

"You come from District 12…real or not real?"

"Real" he slowly answers again.

"You survived the 74th and 75th Hunger Games…real or not real?"

"Real" comes the reply.

"Katniss Everdeen saved you" Katniss says, choking back tears. "Real or not real?"

Peeta looks in her eyes, filled with tears, and brushes a tear away with his finger.

"Real" he says feeling like he is coming out of a trance. He notices how dishevelled Katniss looks. There is a big red mark on her face and blood on her lip. He can see marks on her throat as well and she can't stand up very well. Oh no! What has he done?!

"Katniss…" say Peeta, his eyes now filling with tears.

"It's alright, Peeta. You had a flashback, I think. I need to call Haymitch and get Gale over here, too. They will want to help".

Peeta is still trying to clear his mind as Katniss heads to Haymitch's to raise the alarm. Katniss realizes she has been very lucky this time.