The Avox (ON HOLD)

Chapter 5- Betrayal

“Layla…” I say to her, “do you think that the war all started… because of me?” She shakes her head no. I know she is just trying to make me feel better. I know they did happen because of me. Because the mockingjay came and told everyone how powerful she was. I feel ashamed of it. Starting something that killed so many people. Something that killed…my sister. Sitting by the fire, I listen to the crackling noises of the burning wood, until I hear something different. A faint noise that sends shivers up my spine. Layla hears it too and drops her leaves, her eyes wide. The noise is familiar. It is…disturbing. Hovercrafts. Five hovercrafts surround me and Layla by the fire and form a perfect flower/ring in the sky. Preparing ourselves for being bombed, or worse, we look up into the sky, at the roaring, flying machines above us. Then, out of the bottom of each hovercraft comes falling down, white snow. After their act is done, the hovercrafts gracefully fly away. In the pile of snow, I notice something peeking out of the bottom. I carefully brush away the top of the pile of snow, and I see it. Laying there. That stupid, ugly, pathetic rose…that smells like blood.

I scream. I just can’t get any control over myself. Seeing the rose in the white snow… Layla comes over to me and hugs me. At first I think she is doing it to comfort me, but then I find my legs giving up, and discover that she is supporting me on my feet. After a while, Layla can no longer hold me up, and my legs give in. I slide to the ground, and Layla sits down next to me. She takes the rose and gives it to me. She points to the fire, and I know what to do. I throw it in and watch the petals burn. The stench of roses and blood fills the air.

“Katniss! Katniss! Are you ok?!” Peeta screams, running towards Layla and I. “Yes! What happened?” I ask. “I saw the hovercrafts and I thought something happened to you. I nearly had a heart attack!” he yells. “Peeta I’m fine!” I yell back. He calms down and walks the rest of the way to me. Layla leaves, knowing that Peeta would want to talk to me alone. He gives me a big hug and sits down in the grass. “So, what happened?” he asks. “Well…the hovercrafts formed a little ring around the fire and dropped some snow down on the ground…” I say. “That’s it?” he asks. “No…in the snow I found a rose…and it smelled like blood…” I say, looking down. A tear is forming in my eye and I find myself shaking. He hugs me again and holds me tight. After a while, he lets go and asks, “So…does that mean that…someone…is alive?” I know by “someone”, he means Snow. “I guess…” I say, “What else could that have meant?” “Alright, well they pretty much blew their cover. The Backup Capital, I mean. And I still don’t know how he’s alive. We all saw him die. But about the location of-“ he says, cutting himself off and staring off into the distance. “Peeta, what’s wrong?” I ask. I’m worried he is going to go mutt again. “I think I know how they covered themselves. How they are concealed. So, when Haymitch found the barrier at the end of the arena, he said that he didn’t see it. He said that he just saw the landscape of the arena go on and on. That’s how it is here. We see trees everywhere. But, the Backup Capital must have put one of those barriers’ around their location, so we can’t see them, but they can see us. They must be here somewhere concealed by what we think are trees, but is really the barrier!” he says, his face coming to a smile. Now, I finally understand. The Capital is much smarter than we think they are.

“So, we should probably make a plan…” I say. “Yes, and it needs to be good. If the Capital grew smarter, we need to be smarter too.” he says. I agree, and we both walk over to Layla. Peeta explains where the Backup Capital is hidden and Layla listens, her eyes wide with both fear and excitement. “Okay, so we need to need to make a plan, Layla. Katniss and I both know our way around the arenas’, so that part will be easy. The hard part will be predicting where the Backup Capital is hidden. I mean, if they are hidden in an invisible…bubble, let’s say, then it will be hard planning an attack.” Peeta says. “But first thing’s first. We need to know where they are hidden before we take any further steps.” “Right…but, um, Peeta? How will we know where to shoot? I mean, if the barrier makes the Capital invisible, we will just be shooting into nothing!” I say. “…Your right.” he says with a sigh. “Unless…we find a way to take down the barrier first!” I smile. “Layla, there is a reason I agreed to marrying this man.” I say. We all laugh, and for the first time while being here in the woods, I feel happy. Actually happy. And it feels nice.

“Katniss, Katniss, wake up!” Peeta yells. He grabs my arm and pulls me up. His face is red and puffy. He is sweating and his hair looks like a birds nest. “What’s wrong, Peeta?!” I ask, worried. “No time to explain. Follow me!” he says, and then he lets go of my arm and…flies away. Wait…he’s, flying? I don’t know what to think, or do, so I try to imitate Peeta and flap my arms around until I feel my feet lifting off the ground. Soon, I am flying by Peeta’s side. “So, where are we…flying?” I ask. He doesn’t respond. I turn my head sideways and see what appears to be a strange, metal object flying in the air next to me. And of course, a hovercraft. When I turn back to warn Peeta, I see that it is no longer him, but…Marvel. He takes out a long knife and before I know it, jabs me in the stomach.

Waking up panting and screaming…and sweaty, is no longer a bother. I am actually relieved at when I wake up from nightmares. It makes me feel finally safe from whatever frightening scene was going on in my head while I was trying to peacefully sleep. I get up and walk over to Peeta. “Nightmares again?” he asks as I sit down in his lap. “Yeah…” I say. He strokes my hair and kisses me lightly on my head. “Where’s Layla?” I ask. “She went to the woods to try to find breakfast.” replies Peeta. “Without a weapon?” I ask, worried. “She’ll be fine. She said she would only go in half a mile.” he says. “How do you understand her?” I ask. “…My aunt was deaf, and my dad taught me sign language so I could understand her and talk to her.” he says. “Sign language?” I ask. “What’s that?” “It’s this complicated alphabet and language that lets you communicate with the deaf. You use your hands and make motions that represent words or actions. Here, I’ll show you.” he says. I get of his lap and sit on the grass in front of him. “This means ‘A’” he says and makes a motion with his hand. I try to repeat and he laughs. He takes my hand and moves it to form the same shape he made before. “There you go! This is ‘B’” He makes another shape and I repeat, this time making sure I get it right. “Perfect!” he says. We go on until we reach the letter “P”, and then we hear a small, muffled sound that I recognize as screaming. “Layla!” I scream. I run over to my bow and grab it. Then, I start sprinting towards the woods, my arm still throbbing with pain. I hear panting behind me, so I know Peeta is following me. “Layla!” Peeta yells. We stop running and walk through the trees quietly, weapons ready. Suddenly, I turn my head to the side and see her. Layla, covered in a net on the ground. Squirming. Just like Rue. My first instinct is to run over to her and cut her loose from the net, but when I reach her, I no longer see her, but Prim.

I kneel down and cut the net as fast as I can. When I finally cut Prim free, I see her face change yet again. Now, it is Rue. Confused, I back away from her as she reaches her hand out to me. I walk backwards and trip over a log, but Peeta, suddenly behind me, catches my arms. I yell out in pain as he grabs my wound. “Oops, sorry” he says. When I turn back to Rue, she and the net are gone. They have been replaced by Layla. I was right when I said that the Capital got smarter. They even invented some holographic people just to give me a scare. She stands still by a tree, staring at me and Peeta. She smirks. “You two are so pathetic” She says. I look at Peeta, confused. “Umm… how, exactly, are you…talking?” Peeta asks. I still have no words that can possibly come out of my mouth, so I just stand there, staring at her. She doesn’t reply, but just looks over her shoulder. When she looks back at us, she is smiling. Smiling an evil smile. Then, to make things worse once again, from behind the tree, comes walking out, white-haired, President Snow. My vision starts going blurry. Peeta supports me again, this time from my waist.  “Well, well, well. It’s so nice that you could make an appearance in our new home.” says Snow, with a wicked smile on his wrinkled face. “I see my lovely new worker has done an excellent job at luring you two here. For that, I shall let her keep her new voice box. And might I say, you were quite the actress out there. Nice job pretending you couldn’t speak.” he snickers, then he pats Layla’s shoulder and dismisses her. As she walks off towards the back of the woods, she turns around and gives Peeta and I a hideous look. I look at Peeta and he looks back at me, his eyes wide open, and then I watch them close as he and I both drop to the floor.

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