Mockingjay: Peeta's Story

One

    As Beetee concludes his plan, telling us each detail of what he desires to happen,  I feel something churn in the pit of my stomach, making me step backwards towards Katniss, taking her hand in mine. 

"I want to go with them as a guard." I say sternly. Beetee shakes his head.

"No no. I need you here. As a guard to protect me.

"Finnick can protect you fine on his own. I need to go with her." I snap. Beetee only shakes his head.

"Why can't me and Peeta take the coil, and Johanna and Finnick protect you?" Katniss offers. I see Johanna and Finnick give each other a worried look, making that thing in my stomach twist again. 

"No. I need Peeta and Finnick up here."

"Is there a problem?" Finnick interjects.

"It's his plan, and we all agreed to keep him alive. We do what he says." Johanna growls, stepping forward to take the cylinder from Beetee. My body begins to tremble in frustration. I made a vow to protect her. To keep Katniss alive. How do I do that from a distance?

"Hey, it's alright. We'll just come right back up." She says, looking from me to Beetee, who once again, shakes his head quickly. 

"No, no, no. Go to the one o'clock to two o'clock sector, go over one if you need and stay away from the sand. We'll meet you there." He says. I look down at Katniss, who pulls her hand away from mine, only to cup my cheeks in them. She leans up, pressing her lips to mine. She pulls away too soon, looking directly into my eyes. 

"I'll see you at midnight." She says, nodding at her own words and before I can object, she turns to follow Johanna into the trees. She turns to face me one last time, giving me a small smile, before disappearing behind Johanna. My hand grips the spear tighter as I watch her go.

The time passes quickly, Finnick and I walking around the clearing in circles, staring into the treeline, waiting for Enobaria and Brutus to leap out at us. But they never do. At least fifteen minutes have passed when chaos starts to erupt. 

My eyes catch glimmering from the treeline, and I approach it slowly, noticing that it's the coil leading away from the tree. I lift it, expecting it to be tight, yet it's not. It's loose, as if someone had cut it... 'Something's wrong...' The voice in the back of my head says. I pull the coil towards me, growing more and more anxious the faster it comes. The end of the coil. I look down at it confused, turning around to face Finnick.

"Someone cut the coil." I call over to him. He looks confused for a moment, but realization hits him suddenly and he starts to walk towards me when I hear a strangled scream in the distance. I stand, spinning around to face the jungle, but jumping as Finnick bounds through the brush. I face Beetee, who looks concerned for a moment, but then I turn away at the sound of Finnick's voice calling for Johanna and Katniss.

Katniss.

I take off in the direction of Finnick's yelling, searching the brush. I can hear heavy running to my left, making me freeze before bounding to my right. I tear through the underbrush before thinking higher. The trees. My attention moves upward, searching the tree branches and seeing nothing. I sigh in frustration before continuing to move. 

I come across a few boulders, slowing down at the sight of shimmering. My eyes spot the gold coil, following it downwards towards where I stand. I look to my left and see the cylinder of coil, and blood around the rocks and dirt.

"Katniss!" I yell into the darkening jungle. If she's hurt, she can't have gone far. I call her name a few times, waiting for a response.

"Peeta! Peeta!" She yells, making a small smile begin to form on my lips. It disappears as I hear clamoring a few yards away. I crouch down, hiding behind the vines in between the rocks, and waiting for the movement to stop.