Broken Pieces: Part 1

Chapter 27: Katniss's POV:

I sink down into my seat, stunned. Why is Gale there? Why didn't he help Peeta? I think Haymich notices my frustration because he puts a hand on my back. "Are you ok Sweetheart? You look like you just got hit by a ship." He says sarcastically. I'm not in the mood for this right now. "I'm fine." I grudgingly reply. I quickly reenergize though, because we know where Peeta is now. I get out of my seat and grab my jacket. "Come on Haymich, we need to get going. They could have moved him by now." This is my biggest fear, that we will get there and he will be gone, slipping out of my fingers once again. We walk out the door and down the hallway back to Peeta's old room. "Ok, so I'm pretty sure they just went straight from here." Haymich confirms. We start walking straight down the hallway, identical rooms passing by. The farther we walk, the more spread out the rooms get. The funny thing is, the more we walk straight, the less turns you can make as well, until there are no adjoining hallways at all. The rooms are completely gone with no turns and the walls are all white after we walk for about 30 minutes. "I didn't think District 13 was this big." I think out loud. "I mean, we've walked over a couple miles and the hallway keeps going." I feel trapped as Haymich and I keep walking down the empty hall. "This is so strange...nothing is changing." Haymich exclaims and then points in the direction we are going, which is like an endless tunnel. We keep walking and suddenly I am hit with a frightening theory of what's going on. I've heard of this happening before. "Stop. Now." I say harshly to Haymich. He stops and turns towards me with a questioning look on his face, but then his face changes as he looks behind me. I whirl around and almost hit my face up against a solid brick wall, literally. "What the..." I back up a little to get a better angle of the wall. It's covering the entire hallway behind us with no holes to get out of. This just keeps getting more and more like my theory. You see, about 15 years ago when I was a little kid, it was the 60th Annual Hunger Games. No one remembers that one much because it ended so quickly due to people going insane and killing themselves. The arena was a maze with only one direction. Straight. It was filled with deadly animals and plants at certain places and this pulls me back to reality. "We need to get out of here." I say to Haymich. "Wait, why? What's wrong?" I drag him in the same direction we were going while reminding him of the deadly 60th Hunger Games. "Oh I remember those. But I also remember that there was one exit, but it was hidden so no one found it." Haymich reminds me. I remember now. The exit was hidden on the wall behind layers of vines and plants, but there are no plants here. I start feeling the wall all over, looking for a crack, bump, anything. I finally come across a slight cut in the smooth walls, when there is a deadly voice that comes from all around us. "Ah, Ms. Everdeen, it's a pleasure to see you again." Says the haunting melody that is President Snow's voice. "Looking for your boy with the bread again?" I frantically start pushing at the cut in the wall and it moves slightly. A door. "Well, I'm afraid you are too late my dear." He says. The door moves open slightly again, but that's when I see thousands of glowing eyes coming from behind me. Mutts. "I'm not to late, I'm right on time." I say. The door moves again and I can see the inside now. It's the room that they threw Peeta in on the surveillance tapes. Growling from the mutts is deafening as they slowly make their way towards me and Haymich. "You go! I'll hold them off for you Katniss." Haymich yells. "What?! No! I need you Haymich!" I run away from the door to get to Haymich right as the first mutt jumps, howling and spitting as it lands on Haymich. "NO!!" I cry. "GO!!" Haymich screams as the mutt snaps at him. I run into the now completely open door with tears stinging my eyes as I hear the screaming behind me. I collapse on the floor of the room sobbing as I hear the screaming slowly stop and hear the mutts coming towards me with their growling as fierce as ever. All I wanted was to do was find Peeta and Haymich has payed the ultimate price for it. The mutts are almost to me when the door slams shut and I am immediately embedded in the darkness.