Mockingjay: Peeta's Story

Four

My eyes are blinded as a bright video appears on the wall in front of me. 

Katniss.

She's sitting in the tree, it's early in the morning. The camera pans over to a small Rue, standing in a nearby tree. She points upwards, above Katniss' head, motioning towards the Tracker Jacker nest. Katniss leans up with her knife, looking down at mine and the careers sleeping bodies, before beginning to cut the branch above us.

"She was going to kill you." Katniss continues cutting. "She wanted you dead." Cutting. "She was about to take your life Peeta." Snap. The branch falls to the ground, shattering on the forest floor, Tracker Jackers flying everywhere. 

My body begins to burn as the venom trails through my veins. I feel a pained scream erupt from my scarred throat, echoing the dark room. The next video appears on the wall.

The fog is pouring down the jungle, coming towards us quickly. Katniss grabs my arm, lifting me and leading me out of the camp. I see Finnick and Mags go the opposite way, not to far, but far enough. We run for a few meters before I trip over a root. Katniss looks down at me, trying to lift me up again. We go until the welts burn deeper and our nerves feel like exploding. She looks down at me, a look of hatred in her eyes. They morph into something else, not human. 

I scream again as she turns into one of the wolf mutts from the last arena, tearing my throat open and ending my life.

"She's not even human Peeta. She just wants you dead. That's her mission. To kill your family. Then destroy your home. Then kill you." The voice echoes in my head.

"She's a mutt." I shake my head. 

"No.... Katniss..." I moan, my body going limp. But I'm jolted upright by a painful tearing in my blood. My eyes blink rapidly, trying to bring myself back to reality. This isn't real. She's human. She doesn't want me dead. The bombing was the Capitol. 

My body jolts as electricity races through my veins, followed closely by the burning venom.

"She is a mutt Peeta." I hear the voice again, then my vision goes black. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Peeta...Peeta..." The voice echoes around the darkness. My body spins around, trying to locate her.

"Up here Peeta," she says, making me look upwards. "Over here Peeta," I look around frantically, my anxiety growing more and more. Then it becomes dead silent. The only sound is my heavy breathing. My torso freezes and I feel goosebumps arise on my arms.

The silence is then broken by the sound of loud growls as a muttation leaps out at me, knocking me to my back. She stands over me, staring into my eyes. Hers look familiar, the deep grey of the Seam in 12. She studies me for a moment before sinking her teeth in my shoulder, ripping me apart.

"AAHHHH!!!!" I scream, my eyes flying open and my hands thrashing the blankets to the side. The images flash behind my eyelids and the growls and voices echo around my head. I feel my hands shoot up to cover my ears, and screams violently departing my lungs.

I can faintly hear Johanna on the other side of the wall. chanting for me to keep myself together. But it's so hard. It's so hard to hold on to reality and not to just give in to the darkness that wants to take over. I feel it growing inside of me; the rage and fear battling inside my head. 

"Peeta it's okay! Fight back! You can fight back! Don't let him win Peeta!" Johanna yells. The flashes continue for a while longer but then they suddenly cease.

I begin to breathe in short pants, slowly pulling my hands away from my ears, I cringe at my bloody fingertips. I gently touch the scars at the top of my cheekbone, right where it connects to my ear, flinching as pain radiates through the area.