Forever [Prim/Cato]

Chapter 16 - The Return

Prim:

My ears are ringing from the disorienting chaos that has ensued at the Parade. I can't see, I can barely hear through the screams... I'm confused, lost, and I don't know where anyone else is.

I can't feel my voice in my throat as I scream through the void, so I can only hope that someone can hear me call out for her. I squeeze my ears closed, hoping to stop the ringing so that I can confirm if anyone hears me. It does nothing but making the ringing worse, so I release them.

I don't know how this has happened so fast. Everything was okay just a minute before.

The dust around us begins to settle after a beat, and though I'd initially thought that some Peacekeepers may have hit us all with a stun grenade, I realize the haze is from the dirt and sand surrounding us in the pit we were all together in just a moment ago. The room is clearing, but the chaos is still spreading through us as everyone panics, running away from the assassin who they had thought was their angel.

I peer through the dust as it falls, squinting to try to make sight of Willow. My hands go back to holding my ears, and I scream her name. I can't hear my own voice, even though my throat hurts from the intensity of what I was putting it through.

"Willow!" I yell out, turning in circles. I don't see her anywhere. I can't hear.

What is happening?

I make sight of her carriage barreling towards the rounded entrance of the pit, but I can see nothing but glimpses of her hair. Behind her, a flurry of white horses all accompanied by Peacekeepers on their backs are charging after the carriage.

"Willow!" I begin to run, not knowing how I planned to fight them off if they made it to her. "Baby!"

My feet slam against the ground, throwing more dust and sand around me. I hit the lights of the colossal structure above me and finally, I can see what is happening.

Willow is fumbling with the straps of the carriage, trying hard to catch hold of them to control her steed. Jackson is cowering down low, incredibly shocked at what his life has become in a day. As Willow finally grabs one of the straps, one of the white horses advances on her.

"Willow!" I scream in agony. Willow turns her head, frantically searches for where she heard me.

As we make eye contact, I'm knocked forcefully to the ground by another carriage. I cry out and fall to the ground, feeling both the heat of the ground from the hot sun torching the concrete and the pain in my arm from the blow.

"Momma!" I hear Willow scream back.

"Willow?!" Cato is howling in the distance.

"Cato!" I shriek. I find him trying to fight off Peacekeepers as they try to stop him from getting to us, to her. "Cato, get my baby!" I bawl.

Cato hears me and shoves his way through the crowd, just as urgently searching for whichever carriage is throwing us all in such turmoil. I scramble to get up, ignoring all of the pain to get to her in case he can't. My shoulder burns beyond compare, but I push myself up onto my arms to gather myself again. A carriage sweeps past me, throwing everything around in a haze.

My head pounds and I fall back down to the ground. I am vaguely aware of a black carriage rushing around me, five more white carriages tumbling after it quickly and confidently. I reach my hand up and look up at the balcony where President Snow had just been standing before he was shot by my vigilante spawn.

Snow is slumped over the balcony as a mountain of people try to pull him up. The mayhem on the ground is nothing compared to what is up there. In everyone trying their hardest to save him, there are too many people, and every time he is grabbed up, someone is pulling the President in the other direction, making him slump and flop around like a dead fish. The sight is heart wrenching, but I cannot look away.