Always: A Hunger Games Fanfiction

Chapter 29

Katniss

A scream. A gunshot. My heart shatters into a million pieces. I know what's going on. It's happened twice before. I turn the corner Ruth took before the scream. Her scream. There she is, lying on the white tiles. "Oh my god. . ." I whisper, crumbling to the ground beside her. My hands shake violently.

"Katniss. . ." she whispers. She isn't dead. Blood is pouring out of her side.  A tear slips from her eye.

"Shhh. . .Shhh. . ." I whisper, moving her hair out of her face. I need to calm down. The doctors can fix her. I tell myself that over and over. This time a tear falls out of my eye, but I wipe it away quickly. "Help!" I cry. Nothing. "Help me! Please!"

Ruth is crying there on the floor. No. I've seen this before. This is all too familar. I see Rue's face in hers. I can see the grass beneath her, the white flowers sitting in her hair. I see Rue's dark, curled hair. I see her smile, hear her song. I can hear Prim's voice and I can see her bright eyes. "Help!" I scream again. Someone has to come. If not, Ruth will bleed to death. I can't carry her. I can't risk making it worse. Then, heavy footsteps.

Turning the corner, I am sent into yet another flashback. Me, sitting against a big tree, behind the bakery. I hear shouts from inside. A blond boy in an apron walks out of the house carrying two loaves of blackened bread. Peeta.

"Katniss?" he asks, unsurely. I am afraid he will think I did this and it will send him into a rage and he will try to kill me again. But instead, his crystal blue eyes meet my grey ones. Tears are practically pouring out of my eyes now.

Peeta kneels beside Ruth, pushing me gently away. "Get help. Please," I whisper. He nods, and runs down the hallway. When he looks at me, I see the real him. The one I saw at school; the dandelion in the Spring. The one who gave me the bread. The one who I kissed in the cave and on the beach. The one I love. The one who loves me.

I crawl towards Ruth and take her hand. She is sobbing silently. "I'm so sorry," she whispers. I shake my head, and more tears fall. I try wiping them away, to stay strong for her, but more just replaces them.

"No. Don't be sorry. You're ok. Shhh. . ." I say softly. Footsteps come down the hallway again. A question comes to my mind. "Who did it?" I ask. Suddenly my voice is filled with hate and revenge.

"A masked man. They went that way," she squeaks, pointing to the other end of the hallway. I nod. Peeta comes back, followed by a few doctors with a stretcher. They lift Ruth up onto it and begin to take her away. I start to panic.

"No, I have to go with her!" I yell. Peeta puts his arms on me. At first I pull away, afraid it was one of his urges to hurt me, but it isn't. "No! Let me go!" I screech. He doesn't. I reach my arms out towards her, but I can't get out of Peeta's tight embrace. I collapse in his arms.

"Shhh. . ." he whispers.

"No! I have to go find them. I have to kill them," I say, hatred in my voice.

"What? Who?" he asks.

"The one who shot Ruth." I say. I pull myself away from Peeta and begin hurriedly walking down the hallway.

"Katniss, what are you going to do? You don't have a weapon. They're probably gone now," he says, grabbing my arm. He's right. I turn around to face him. His eyes aren't completely blue, but most of the cloudiness is gone. Did he get new medicine? More therapy? I only visited him yesterday. Suddenly, an unfamiliar feeling spreads throughout my stomach.

I walk forward and plant my lips on Peeta's. That feeling. The one I got when we kissed in the cave and on the beach. It's back, rising up in my chest. Peeta kisses me back, wrapping his arms around my waist. I have him back. For now at least. And I am never letting go again.