Chapter 24: Alone Together

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What are they doing to her? Why did they have to bring her into the games again?

Tears trickle down my cheeks, and I don't know if it's from the emotional or physical pain. Probably a little bit of both.

"Katniss!" I cry out between my huffs and panting. "Katniss...Katn-"

I look up to see the source of the horrible sound. It's a bird. It's a jabberjay. Anger boils inside me but there's also a sense of relief that Katniss isn't here. I throw a rock at the bird in frustration and it falls off it's tree with a shriek. I take a look at my mockingjay pin and I can see the resemblance. That's the father of my bird...

"Prim? You okay?" Finnick pants, catching up to me. I was told, I'm real fast.

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine," I start to say, then another scream pierces through the air. It sounds like it belongs to a woman in her mid twenties.

"Annie!" Finnick yells and runs into the jungle. I know there's no stopping him. I follow after him in his pursuit to save this Annie girl that will turn out to be a bird. He keeps running until he finds the bird and he literally strangles it to death. He crushes it's neck, his knuckles turning white.

"They got the sound from somewhere," he grits through his teeth. "They made her scream in fear and pain."

My eyes dilate and I start crying. Somewhere back at home, they've caused Katniss so much pain that she'd make such a horrible sound. She could be dead for all I know.

Finnick and I head back to camp. I hear another scream. It's Mother's, and though I know it's not real, it makes me want to reach her so badly. Somewhere sometime, they've made mother make this sound. They'll pay for this...

We see Rory, Johanna and Beetee ahead and I start running to reach them. I need a pair of sturdy arms to cry in. But then I bounce off a transparent wall and hit to floor on my bad arm. I wince in pain. I get up and bang on the invisible barrier between us and our allies with the other arm. Rory's moving his lips but no words come out. It must be sound proof too. We're trapped until the hour's over. I hear Vick- Rory's little brother- scream and I sink to my knees. How many people have they tortured? How many people have died back at home? ...am I just overreacting? It get's to the point where I just can't take it anymore. I cover my ears with my hands and scream, falling to the ground.

I wake up in Rory's arms. He tells me it's okay, that everything's going to be alright. But I just start crying and tell him, "No, it's not."

"Prim, calm down. It's okay," Beetee says. Eventually I do, and so does Finnick who's muttering things to himself and constantly banging on the floor with his clenched fists. It's almost like he's gone mad.

"Hey, it's okay. We're almost down to the top 8, and what happens then?" Rory says in a soothing voice.

"Seven left to kill," I mutter. I clamp my mouth in disbelief. I can't believe I just said that.

"Y-yeah that's true but they also interview our family back at home! And all of Panem is going to want to see how Katniss is doing, right? So they wouldn't have killed her."

He has a point.

"Y-yeah," I murmur. But I'm not entirely convinced. That's when Beetee steps in.

"There's a high chance those sounds have been computer generated. They could have taken their voices from previous interviews and distorted the sounds. It's not that hard- back at home, kids learn to do it in primary school."

I nod and hiccup a few times, and just lay there in Rory's arms.

"I'm going to go get some water," Johanna tells us. I grab her wrist when she walks by.

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