I step back and the expression on his face is confusion. I don't know what to say and neither does he, so he looks at me blankly and I rush out the door. I close it softly behind me and walk to my bed. When I flip on my side I look to the bottom of the door where the light shines. Soon the light goes black and I flip back onto my back with the thought that he hates me. The thought makes me go crazy and I squeeze my eyes shut and a tear escapes. I soon fall into a deep sleep.
****
I'm awakened by the sound of groaning and talking. I've forgotten that I'm still in a hospital. I sit up in my bed and notice the rebels, who were around me, are gone. I get up from my bed and go to our meeting room. I open the door and Haymitch is talking to everone.
"Finally your up. We've figured because of everything that happen yesterday, we've moved the date to kill Snow, to today."
"Okay." I say agitated because I just woke up.
"Im going to glue this to the inside your ear." He holds up an ear piece. I roll my eyes and sit down next to Gale. I look across the table, not paying attention to anything Haymitch is saying, and I see Peeta look away once I make eye contact with him like he was looking at me. The only thing that I get out of Haymitch when he's talking is that we leave in twenty minutes. There's no stoping. You sleep, wake up and your out the door.
After our meeting, we head out and travel to a nearby underground passage, Finnick, Peeta, Gale, Castor, Pollux, Cressida, and I. As my combat boots hit the ground and splash a bit of water, the feeling of revenge flows through my body and determination fills my eyes. Everyone else follows behind me and suddenly my focus is ruined by the sound of Haymitch's voice coming in on my earpiece that is now jammed into my ear. "The citizens are going to be near the Capitol building anytime now so you guys have to hustle. Katniss and Gale, there's a door on the side of the building that you can open easily if you kick it open, but wait until you hear me tell you it's safe to do it. Pollux, Castor, and Finnck, you guys will shoot down Peacekeepers at the same time. We want everything to happen at the same time. Beetee disabled all their cameras." As Haymitch keeps talking we keep walking through the underground area with our flashlights out. The thought of Peeta crosses my mind and I look to him. He looks more awake than he has been in a while. I just want to know what he's thinking one hundred percent of the time. I can never tell by the expression on his face anymore, it looks like he doesn't even want to be here, he hates me, he loves me, or he's just out of it. He trails behind Finnick like always and looks down at his shoes, which are double knotted. Haymitch's voice takes my thoughts off of Peeta and I decide to listen again. "Snow will be in a chair on the balcony of his mansion and we will lead you up there. Make sure you have your earpieces in this whole time, Katniss," he mutters. "Or else we'll postpone this again."
"Copy that." Gale says.
We keep walking and there isn't much talking, just the sound of our boots swifting against the ground as we walk. I wipe the sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand and run the same thing through my head over and over again hoping I don't go insane after this.
"My name is Katniss Everdeen.
I was in the Hunger Games twice.
I escaped...
Prim's dead..."
I shake my head to get rid of the horrific thought and then I continue. "My name is Katniss Everdeen..."
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Gale says to me, but I'm too distracted from my own thoughts and he asks again a bit louder.
"Yeah..." But at the same time, I feel like I'm not. It's not my thing to kill people. But I have to kill Snow. But I can't. I continue to argue with myself...
"You don't sound like it." He says.
"I can do it..." I say. You can hear the uncertainty in my voice.
Suddenly Gale stops and feels above us with his hand. "I think this is a door."
"Is it the door we come out of?" I ask.
"Not sure." He puts his hand up to his ear and starts to speak. "Haymitch?" Nothing. "Haymitch? ...He's not answering."
"Do you hear anything?"
"Just static."
"Can we go out this door anyways?"
"I don't know if it's safe."
"Well what can we do?" Finnick asks. Gale skims the ceiling as if looking for an idea. We all stay quiet like we're depending on him for the answer. "I don't hear any voices or music. The best thing we can do is either wait for a response or go now."
"I say we go now. Everyone will be gathering above here soon." Cressida says.
"Okay." We all pull our hoods up over our heads and Gale slowly unlatches the door and begins to lift it. I feel my heartbeat begin to race and my stomach drops. I have the feeling that when I climb up I'll get shot and that's it.
He lifts the door completely and we all let out a slight sigh once we realize we're behind a cinder block building. We get out quickly and Finnick points to the top of a building across the street. We all look and then we realize that's where he's going so he can shoot down peacekeepers. We don't speak at all so we don't say goodbye. I get a good look at his face as if I'm taking a picture and he turns and makes his way to the building with Pollux and Castor following behind him. I press down on my earpiece for any kind of sign that it's working, but I still here static, but we follow through with the plan anyways and once Finnick reaches the top of the building, we give him a thumbs up and we go to the door that Haymitch told us about that's on the side of the building. Peeta follows behind me and Cressida and I look to him and he has determination on his face and I see the same Peeta I saw in the arena, the need to do something but the love not wanting to add to the cause of war. We look to Finnick and he gives a nod. We listen to the sound of gunshots, and one after the other a peacekeeper falls. Gale kicks down the door and a siren goes. We cover our ears and look around rapidly. More peacekeepers come out of the building and more gunshots go off. Peeta yells over the siren "Is that supposed to happen?!" I kind of chuckle a bit and yell back to him "no!?" He gives a slight smile...
We run through the entrance and a peacekeeper charges at us. Gale shoots him and we jump over him. "Where do we go?!" I yell still over the siren.
"I don't know?!" Gale yells.
I look to my right and there's a staircase. "Why don't we go up there?! Aren't we going to the balcony?!" I ask. He immediately goes up the staircase and we follow behind him.
The siren is more quiet now, because we're upstairs in a room. The carpet is royal blue and the walls are a cream color. There's a desk off to the left of us. A white chair sits behind it and to our right is a couch. Behind it is a book case full of books, top to bottom. Ahead of us are doors with white silk curtains. We walk slowly up to them and I try to look through the curtains for a sight of anyone. It looks clear, but I press down on my earpiece one more time for any sign of Haymitch. Nothing. Once I push open this door, that's it. It will be the end to President Snow and everything will be over. The games, the war, the depression... Everything. I put my hood down so Snow knows it's me. I slowly grab the handle and twist it. My heart starts to pound more as I slowly push the door open and leave the rest of my crew behind me. At first there's no one. I notice the sirens are turned off and there's nothing but silence.
I move to look to my right and I see him. Suddenly, an arm wraps around my neck and I try to pry the arms open with my hands. I struggle for air and soon want to give up. I look at the fabric on the persons arm and its white, it must be a peacekeeper. I try to calm down but I wheeze for air as I look into the snake eyes of President Snow. He has Peeta by his neck but I can't shoot Peeta. I see Peeta lift his finger and point to Cato's hand as Cato speaks. Peeta stays calm but still struggles for air. I release the bow from my fingers and the arrow stabs Cato's hand. He feels that he finally has me.. I'll finally be gone. He gives me a smile then begins to speak, but a gun shot goes off. I squeeze my eyes shut hoping it didn't hit me, but the grip from my neck losens and I'm able to breath again. I gasp for air, but I remember, I'm still in the game. I grab my bow and an arrow and point it to President Snow. Before I look into his eyes once more, I glance to my right and see Peeta with his gun. He shot the Peacekeeper for me. He walks next to me to watch me shoot President Snow away, but I notice something on Snow's face. He gives me another smile, then begins to speak, "Katniss Everdeen, I thought we agreed to be friends?"
This gets me thinking. I say back to him, "I don't think you understand what being a friend is."
"Of course I do. I didn't hijack him enough to make him gone completely." He says as he switches his eyes from me to Peeta.
I get more angry and there's a crease in between my eyes from the hatred that belongs in me. "We got him out of there in time."
"I knew your.." He pauses to look for the right word. "Friends... were there."
"I doesn't matter, he's still not the same." My voice starts to raise as I get more angry and I want to cry.
"Katniss, perhaps... You shouldn't have left him that night in the are-." A gunshot goes off and Snow falls backwards in his white chair. Soon a trail of blood leaves his body. Everything is silent and a sense of relief fills my body. The war is over... But I'm not satisfied. Those who's live's were lost won't come back, those tears that were shed won't dry, those screams won't be identified... He still won the game. He's always known he would, that's why he gives me those blood thirsty smiles.
I look around to see who shot him, but I'm not sure. I finally look to Peeta and I see relief in his eyes as well, joy, love... The same eyes I saw a while ago. The only thing I manage to do is hug him. I lean in and we embrace each other. I feel his hands tighten as he grasps the back of my jacket and we stay in the moment for a few seconds until I hear the crowd cheer who appeared to have gathered behind us below the balcony.
Authors note*** italics are flashbacks.... It's almost the end to my book! It's been going great so thank you to everyone who has read and supported me. I can't thank you guys enough!