Tortured but Together (A Hunger Games Fanfiction) [UNDER EDITING]

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Usual PSA that the Hunger Games characters belong to Suzanne Collins and not to me. That said, I hope you enjoy!!

(Peeta POV)
I walk into the bathroom to check for another note, hopefully one with a plan to help get us out of the Capitol. This place gets more and more dangerous the longer we stay; we're constantly one wrong step away from getting ensnared in yet another web of lies. There's so much we have to keep to ourselves here; their eyes and ears are everywhere, and I can tell it's starting to wear on Katniss as much as it's starting to wear on me. We've been here long enough, playing a part, that it's becoming hard to distinguish truth from fiction. District 13 needs to get us out before it's too late.

Sighing, I slide aside the same tile on the wall as usual, and, to my surprise, I find two notes instead of one. One of the notes is for Annie from Finnick, and the other is to me from the head of district 13, President Alma Coin. My hands shake a bit, both of the other notes came from Haymitch, has something changed?

As nervous as I am, I'm even more determined to get answers, and maybe this note will provide them. Being as quiet as possible, I tear open the flap of the envelope with the note addressed to me. That's another new thing, the envelopes. The other two times the notes were just pieces of paper. Trying to squash down the uneasy feeling in my gut, I start reading.

Peeta Mellark,
It has come to my attention that you and Katniss Everdeen have become rather complacent in the plans of President Snow and the Capitol. Suffice it to say, I am less than pleased. My soldiers were told they would be rescuing their Mockingjay, a woman who would not bow down to the Capitol, no matter the consequences. I was operating under that belief as well, which was why I risked the plan to kidnap President Snow's granddaughter. However, given recent circumstances, I have come to realize that rescuing you and Katniss Everdeen would not be worth the cost. You are on your own now, you will no longer have the full force of district 13 behind you. The Mockingjay has nothing left to give, except as a martyr. I truly wish things could have been different.
-President Alma Coin

I just stare at the note in shock. They're just abandoning us? After all we've done? If that's the case then we truly are finished; my last little bit of hope rested on district 13, and now they've abandoned us too. There's nobody else to turn to now, the Capitol truly has won. Someone knocks on the bathroom door, and I quickly try to hide the notes, Katniss can't see the notes...especially not this one...

"Peeta? It's me, Annie. Did they respond yet," a voice whispers. Relief washes over me, good, Katniss doesn't suspect anything. It's better that way.

"Yeah, you got a response. Come on in, I'll give you the note," I say, just as quietly. She twists the doorknob and walks in, quickly grabbing the envelope from my hand before rushing off to read whatever might be inside. Hopefully the news Finnick gives her is better than the news I got, although it probably couldn't be much worse.

I feel someone tap me on the shoulder, it's Katniss. "Peeta, what's going on, is there something you're not telling me? I saw Annie rush off with an envelope, is someone writing to us, is it district 13? Can I ask them to tell me that Prim is alright..."

It's the hope in Katniss' voice that makes me break down. Putting my head in my hands, I start to cry. How can I tell her that they've given up on their Mockingjay, that they've given up on her, on us?

"Peeta...what is it? Did something happen to Prim? What's going on Peeta, you're scaring me..."

Lifting my head up, I try to wipe some of the tears away but I can't seem to, they just keep coming. Seeing this, Katniss rushes over to me and wraps her arms around me. "It'll be alright Peeta, we'll get out of here. We're not alone." That just makes me cry harder, the more hopeful she sounds, the harder it is for me to crush that hope with the truth.

"Katniss...they're...they're not coming."

"What do you mean they're not coming? I'm the mockingjay right? Shouldn't you and me and Annie be priorities?" Her voice gets louder and louder, and I try to indicate that she should quiet down, but she doesn't seem to be listening. "Why would they just abandon us? Was all of this really for nothing? The berries, the electrified arrow, Cinna's death!"

There's nothing I can really say to comfort her, we've been abandoned by the only people who could probably help us out of this mess. It's one of those situations where there aren't any comforting words to give. "I'll stay with you Katniss, no matter what happens. I'll always be here for you."

It's a hollow promise, and we both know there's no way to guarantee it. A lot of our promises seem to be that way. "What do we do now Peeta? What do we do," she quietly whispers.

I shake my head sadly, we truly have been backed into a corner now. There's nothing we can do, not anymore. Without district 13, we're basically alone, other than having each other.

Annie walks in, and it's clear she's been crying too. Whatever Finnick told her wasn't good news then. She wraps her arms around the both of us and we all just sit there on the floor, huddled together. "We look so pathetic don't we, the mockingjay without her song, the boy with the bread without his bakery, and the crazy girl from district four? We make such a sight, don't we?" She says all of this with her voice trembling. "They're not coming, they're not coming and now we're all alone..."

As we sit there and think about our fate, we hear a sharp knock at the door. Our heads snap up, fear shining in all our eyes. There's only one person who would be coming to visit us.