Mockingjay: Peeta's POV

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

I'd woken up the same day that I was injected with venom again. Snow should be coming anytime now. What does he want from me? I don't know anything about the rebels, and the more I think about it Haymitch probably had a good reason to be on the rebels side. The Capitol is the one who bombed the District Thirteen, and all because Thirteen wanted to leave the country of Panem. The Capitol bombed Twelve because of Katniss shooting the force field. Why punish a whole District? Now the whole country is rebelling, and they should. No form of government should send children to an arena to fight to the death. The people of the Capitol don't even realize how cruel and unjust it is. It's all entertainment to them. Now Snow wants me to help him with getting to the rebels. As if called Snow opens the door. I may not know anything about the rebels but I know that I'm on their side now.

"How are you today, Peeta?" he asks, pulling his chair into the middle of the room. 

"I've been better," I mutter. 

He chuckles. What is so funny about what I said? 

"I'm sure by now you've figured out what you've been injected with." 

"Yeah," I say, frowning. "Tracker jacker venom." 

"Good. Very good. And do you know why we've injected it into," he says, a cruel smile upon his features. 

I don't answer. The wrong answer means more venom. 

His smile fades as he leans forward, "I guess I'll tell you then. Every time you don't answer our questions right we'll inject you."

"What if I honestly don't know the answer? I don't anything about the rebels," I say. I don't know what it will take for this information to get through his thick skull. 

"That's the thing. We know you do. And the venom will eventually make you beg for mercy, and you'll tell us everything we need to know," his cruel smile back on his face. 

"That's the thing," I repeat in his tone. "I don't know anything about the rebels. Haymitch never said anything. And Katniss didn't know either." 

"Well, you've brought up today's topic anyway, and we'll see what you do know," he says, fixing the single white rose in his front jacket pocket. 

"What's the topic?" I ask, my eyebrows raising. 

"Katniss Everdeen," he says, his smile smug as he watches my reaction. 

I try to control my reaction and fail, "What about her?" 

"Nothing much. I was just wondering about your relationship," he says, casually. 

"What about it?" I ask, both curious and angered he was acting so casually. 

"I was wondering just how real it actually was," he says, slightly shrugging his shoulders. 

"What do mean by that?" I ask, where is he going with this. 

"Well, she didn't really love you. It was all a fake last year in the Games," he says, simply. 

"It wasn't for her," I mutter under my breath. 

"Hmmm," he says, his smile growing wider. "What was that?" 

"Nothing," I say. 

"Okay, okay," he says, raising his hands as if he was surrendering. "What about off camera? How real was anything between you then?"

"We were just friends," I reply simply. 

"What about on during the Tour?" 

"You told us we had to then," I said, anger obvious in my voice. 

"That I did. That I did. I suppose that wasn't a fair question. During your interview with Caesar Flickerman before the Quell you said Katniss was pregnant." 

"That was a lie," I say, interrupting him. 

"I thought that much. What about during the interview when you said you did some marriage tradition?" he says smugly. 

"That was a lie, too." 

"Hmm. Lying twice in your interviews. How can we be sure you aren't lying when you say you don't know anything about the rebels?" he asks. 

"I'm not lying about that. I only lied in the interview to earn some Capitol sympathy," I explain.
"You didn't have enough with the 'Star-Crossed Lovers from District Twelve' thing?" he asks, eyebrows raised. 

"That's not what I meant by that. I meant I was trying to get the Capitol to see how brutal the Games are. How wrong it is to send children as young as twelve into an arena to get slaughtered. How cruel it is too kill innocent people," I explain myself. 

"That's enough, Mr. Mellark," he says, interrupting me. "Guards, I think it's time for another dose." 

Two guards walk in. I know where this is going. I sit there calmly. Letting the guard hold me down, not even trying to fight them off. It will be easier and over faster if I just submit myself. The second guard jabs the needle in my arm. As soon as the guard lets me go, I pull the sheets back on the bed. Laying down and facing the wall. I can almost feel the confusion on why I'm acting so calmly about the situation from Snow and the guards. 

"I think we need to up the dose. Give him about half of that dose right now," Snow says. 

"Right now, sir?" a guard asks.

"Yes, it won't be enough to kill him. Not yet," Snow says, his footsteps echoing down the hall. 

I hear footsteps approach me. The needle sinking into my arm again. The metal door clangs shut. I drift off into my hallucinations.

Edited