Chapter 73: Broken
The Peacekeepers step aside from the door to allow Peeta to pass. Katniss rushes to him. She can see he is hurt. His head is bloody and his face is tear stained. Peeta allows Katniss to take him in her arms as he buries his face in her beautiful long black hair. It keeps him hidden from her mother, and Prim, who are crowding around to see what has happened. It also keeps him hidden from himself.
"Peeta" Katniss whispers in his ear. "We need to tend to that" she says.
Peeta eventually lifts his face as Prim asks him…
"Daddy, what happened?" She sounds afraid.
"It's OK, Prim. Daddy just had a little accident. I will be alright" Peeta tells her.
Katniss' mother sees the angry mark and then notices Peeta's hand which is also scraped and bleeding.
"Peeta, let me take a look at those for you" she says.
Katniss leads him to the couch and her mother gathers some things to clean the wounds. She needs to get bandages and asks the Peacekeepers if they have any First Aid kits with them. One of them goes out to their vehicle and comes back with what she needs. She thanks him and returns to Peeta as he takes Prim on his knee.
"Does it hurt?" Prim asks him.
"A little" Peeta says.
Prim looks at him sympathetically with tears in her eyes. She pulls Peeta's head closer to hers and kisses his forehead.
"Grandma will fix it" Prim says.
Tears begin to fill Peeta's eyes again. Nothing can fix what they have just put in motion and Peeta takes Prim in his arms as he begins to sob again. Katniss places her arms around them both and lets Peeta cry. Tears begin to flow down her cheeks as well and Prim is the saddest she has ever been. She doesn't like to see her Mummy and Daddy upset. It scares her.
Katniss' mother coaxes Prim to come with her to help gather what she needs to tend to Peeta. For now he and Katniss need a moment alone.
"They're gone, Katniss. They're gone". There is incomprehension in Peeta's eyes, as though somehow this is just a bad dream he wishes he could wake up from.
"Some of them, maybe none of them, will ever come back. I sent them off to the Games, Katniss, something I swore I would never do and they are blameless, just like we were. I feel so helpless…helpless to stop the killing" Peeta tells her.
"The only one who can stop the killing is Snow, Peeta. Neither of us wanted it to come to this, but Snow has to pay for what he has done" Katniss reminds him. She knows how traumatic this experience has been for Peeta. It is exactly what was done to them and, in truth, they both have more of a connection to the innocent Tributes than they do to the Capitol…even if these are Capitol children.
"When we went into the Games the first time, I remember telling you that I just didn't want them to change me. I wanted to show them that I wasn't just another piece in their Games. Now, these children are pieces in a game we are playing. Maybe Snow and the Capitol did change me after all" Peeta says.
"No, Peeta" Katniss insists. "We are here because we wouldn't let them change us. They did their best to destroy us, but they failed. This is not our game, it is still Snow's game and until he is caught he will always be playing games with our lives. We are still in the game, Peeta, and this is the only way to bring it to an end".
"How can we live with ourselves, Katniss? If any of these children die…" Peeta wonders.
"We've had to live with a lot of deaths, Peeta, some by our own hand. That is what happens in war. People die. Innocent people…like Prim. But it will never stop until we put an end to it ourselves, and this is the only way" Katniss says.
Peeta hangs his head. Katniss sounds like Gale, but he knows she is not like him. Katniss would never accept the death of innocent people as a means of exacting revenge. What she was talking about was justice, but even justice comes at a price.
"Look at me…" Katniss insists.
Peeta looks at her and she takes his face in her hands.
"I need you to stay with me" she reminds him as she kisses him tenderly on his lips.
Always, Peeta thinks as he returns her kiss. Katniss is still protecting him. Real or not real? Real.
The Tributes have been delivered to the outskirts of the Arena. The four of them had travelled together and Ottilia was particularly offended when they attempted to insert the needle with the Tracker into her arm. She refused to hold her arm out, even though Ramsay and Lorcan had complied with the request before her, so Verity had chosen to go next and show Ottilia it wasn't that bad. Finally, Ottilia agreed to the inevitable, turning her face away while Lorcan provided a distraction. This was more brutal than she had imagined, but she knew it was only going to get worse.
Once they had arrived, they were escorted from the Hovercraft and given their instructions.
"Each of you will be conveyed via an underground tube to a different part of the Arena. Your mission, at this point, is to find the only exit which is a delivery point to a second, and final, Arena. There will be no weapons located here as it is about survival skills and strategy. You will be provided with some basic items, no two the same, and it is up to you to work out how you will escape from this Arena in order to move on to the next part of the Games".
"Does that mean we are the only four Tributes in this Arena?" Lorcan asks, realizing that they had not been told the specifics of the Games. The fact there was a second Arena meant the other Tributes were probably being delivered to other "satellite" arenas as they spoke.
"That is correct" they are told.
It suddenly dawns on them that they will have to confront one another in order to survive, or maybe they can team up to make it to the second and final Arena.
"I want to remind you that there can only be one Victor, just like in all the Games that have gone before…apart from that one exception" the Instructor tells them.
They all know which the "one exception" was and how that "one exception" had managed to bring down the Capitol. They were sure there would be no exceptions this time, but maybe, just maybe, one of their parents, or even Snow himself, would take pity on them and realize the folly of their ways. This wasn't the way to treat anyone, not just Capitol children. The Tributes were being forced to grow up fast, or possibly die trying.
Theme song for the end of this chapter: Conrad Sewell "Remind Me". This one's for Peeta.