*HEY GUYS! SO, SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPLOAD THIS CHAPTER. AND I KNOW THERE ARE NOT 5 VOTES ON CHAPTER 8, BUT I DECIDED TO UPLOAD THIS CHAPTER ANYWAYS! ;) STILL, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, VOTE AND COMMENT ON THE CHAPTERS AND THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT! ENJOY!! :)*
*OH, YA, ONE LAST THING, SORRY. PLEASE, PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE END OF THE STORY, IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME. THANKS YOU! :)*
“EVERYBODY, UP!” I hear Paylor yell as I jerk up into a sitting position. I rub my eyes, adjusting them to the light, and get dressed into my uniform. “Katniss, are you ready?” Paylor asks, poking her head around my door. “Almost,” I say, “I’ll be there in a flash.” She nods and shuts the door. I sit back on the bed, taking deep breaths in through my nose, and out through my mouth. That was my way of relaxing when I was nervous. I take one more deep breath and tie my hair up. I stick it into my cap, and walk out the door.
As I walk out to the town square, the hundreds of soldiers, all dressed in green and brown navy uniforms that are identical to mine, swarm as they try and find their groups. I stand on my tip-toes and see the number “14” on a sign being held up by someone who I couldn’t see through the parade of soldiers. I walk over to the sign, and see the rest of my group. All of them being extremely buff men. As I get closer to them, I see the general of my group. The one and only, Peeta Mellark.
This has to be a mistake, I think, as I pace back and forth. I can’t let him see my face. He will recognize me instantly, and I will be sent back home. There was no way I was letting that happen. I walk away from my group, and search for Paylor. I see her talking to the general of group 5. “Paylor, I need to talk to you.” I say. She smiles apologetically to the general and turns towards me. “Yes?” she asks. “Paylor, you have to let me switch groups. Peeta is the leader of my group, and I can’t risk letting him see me.” I say, my voice shaking. “Katniss, I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. The groups have already been filled and I can’t risk something going wrong because you want to switch groups. Just make sure he doesn’t see your face, and you’ll be fine.” she says. She gives me a reassuring pat on the back and walks away.
Walking back to my group, I try and think of ways that I can avoid looking at Peeta, and I bump into someone. “Ow!” I say, clutching my wounded arm and looking at it. “Sorry, I’m a klutz.” I hear the person say. I continue examining my arm, and as the person walks away, I glance up to see who it was. Peeta. I need to be more careful…that was a close call, I think. As soon as I reach my group, I hear Paylor’s voice. “Everyone! Listen up! This army is not professional, and I know that nobody will be replying with “Yes, Ma’am” or “Yes, Sir.” But, I know that everyone will still do as their general instructs them to do. Am I correct?” she asks. We all nod our heads. I look around and see familiar faces. Probably from when Peeta and I were on the tour around Panem after our first Hunger Games trip. These people are all volunteers, and they give everything they have to make sure that 13UDP is safe. They are all heroes.
As Peeta approaches our group again, I look down at the floor, hiding my face. “Everyone get in a single-file line. We will be going over to the supply house and getting our weapons. Follow me and stay close.” Peeta yells over the other generals. He turns around and starts walking towards a small, green field. We follow him, and as we approach, a large, square building appears in the distance. We reach it, and walk inside. “Everyone will receive two weapons. Since this is not a traditional army, we will have knives. Will they be necessary? I don’t know. But keep them on your belts at all times.” Peeta yells. As we walk further into the building, I look down. As Peeta said, there is a belt around my waist, and attached to it is a holster for our knives. We stop at a counter that has the number “14” marked on the wall next to it. Behind the counter is a small man with a long beard and big, round eyes. “Peeta Mellark?” he asks Peeta. Peeta nods in return and the man opens a small door for access to the counter. Peeta walks in and closes the door behind him.
As Peeta flips a switch, the counter lights up and what is behind it becomes visible. Racks and racks of knives and machine guns hang on a wall, and boxes full of bullets are stacked in the corner. “You will all line up here,” Peeta says, gesturing towards the length of the counter, “and then I will hand you your weapons and extra bullets.” I watch as the first soldier receives his weapons. He places the knife and bullet box in his belt, and slings the machine gun over his shoulder. “Once I hand you your weapon, line up here.” Peeta says, and points his right.
As the line progresses, I bite my lip, getting more and more nervous about Peeta handing me my weapons. He will surely notice me. I reach him and take a deep breath, ready for what happens next, and as if he read my mind, he hands me all of my weapons without ever looking up at my face. I sigh from relief and take my place in line.
Once everyone has received their weapons, Peeta joins us all in front of the line, and starts for the door. We cross the green field again, and meet the rest of the groups back at the town square. “OK! Everyone has their weapons. Now, our plan is simple. We will split up into sections of Snow’s headquarters. Some groups will take on the guards and security, and the rest will go for Snow himself. Group 14 will be in the lead, since their general is the only person who knows where the headquarters are.” Paylor yells, clearing her throat and glancing at me for a quick second. “Please stay close and have your weapons up at all times. Good luck everyone! Let’s move out!” she yells, and then motions towards the woods.
We walk for hours and hours through the woods. As we go further towards the arena, I wonder about Haymitch. He must have read the note by now, so I wonder why he didn’t come after me…I look ahead at Peeta. He is still walking, holding his general position: stiff and straight. I wonder if he ever gets tired. We reach the arena, and a sudden shiver goes down my spine as we make our way down towards the blown-up segments of land.
As we reach the forest arena, my shivers have turned into shakes. My body is shaking from head to toe, and I think people have started to notice. “Hey, man, are you okay?” A soldier beside me asks. “I-I’m fine.” I reply, trying my best to keep my voice low. He looks back to the front. We make our way through the trees in silence, weapons up, and soon enough, Peeta stops. He lifts his gun in the air, probably signaling that we were here, and heads towards the invisible building.
Once we reach the headquarters, Peeta fumbles to find a doorknob, and once he succeeds, he looks back at all of us, and twists it. But, he fails to open the door. “It’s locked. They’re not stupid.” Peeta says. “Damn it.” “OK. Everyone step back and shoot at the building.” Paylor says. We do as she says, and as the bullets hit the building, they bounce off of it, and heads towards us. “Duck!” Peeta yells as he heads for the floor. A handful of screams fill the forest, and as we stand up, I look around. A few people have been shot, and Peeta is not one of them. I sigh in relief.
As we sit in the grass, I watch Peeta as he argues with Paylor. Then, Peeta raises his hand and tells us to be quiet. Then I hear it. Voices. We can hear what is going on inside the building. As Peeta and Paylor approach the invisible headquarters slowly, a door swings open, and out comes a…boy. A teenage boy. “Yes, Grandpa, I’ll get it. Just get off-“ he says, and stops as soon as he sees us. “Uhhh.” he says, as he closes the door and stares at us in awe. “Umm,” he continues, “I come in peace?” He shrugs and puts his hands up. Peeta walks over to him, gun ready. I hold my breath.
“Who are you?” Peeta asks the boy. “OK, first of all, I’m not going to hurt you, so drop the weapon, dude. And second, the name’s Mike.” he says. He holds out his hand, but Peeta doesn’t even look at it. “We are here in order to…never mind. Just open the door for us, and no one gets hurt. Well, you don’t get hurt.” Peeta says. The boy shrugs and opens the door. Confused at his decision, I decide to stay behind the groups. I walk over to Mike, and he puts his hands up again.
“I’m not going to hurt you. It’s OK.” I say. He drops his hands and chuckles. “That’s the most pathetic attempt at sounding like a guy, that I’ve ever heard. It’s pretty entertaining.” he says. I cock my head to the side, confused. “Why did you open the door for us?” I ask him. “Why are you pretending to be a man?” he asks in return, smirking. “Fine…I’m Snow’s arch-rival and I want to get back at him for killing my sister and putting me in the Hunger Games. But, when I got home a few days ago, I found out that I was pregnant. So, my fiancé decided that he would set out to fight Snow without me. I got mad and decided to go after him, but I have to pretend to be a man because he is the general of my army group and if he finds out that I am me, he will send me home.” I say quickly, and gasp for air. He laughs.
“Wow, that is…quite a story. So, my turn. Well…I hate my grandpa. And as you mentioned the name, Snow; yeah, that’s him.” he says, My eyes grow wide. “But hey, as I said, I hate him. He’s never been there for me, and now, when he needs money to buy his stupid army, he calls up my family and begs them to help him. So, we had to come here and join his pathetic little organization, and as soon as Snow showed me his plans, I hated them. He targeted this hot chick named Katniss, and he wants to kill her …” he says, and then looks at me strangely. “Wait, did you say you were Snow’s arch-rival?” he asks me. I nod and then take off my cap. As I shake out my hair, I notice his eyes getting wider. “Dude! It’s you! Oh my gosh! OK, we have to get you out of here. My grandpa’s going to flip when he’s sees you.” he says, and grabs my arm. I shake my hand out of his grip and say, “Then I guess he won’t see me.” I smirk and put my hair back in my cap. He eyes me and then says, “OK, let’s go.” He opens the door again, and we walk in.
*OK, SO, I WANTED ALL OF YOUR OPINIONS. THERES A LINK BELOW... AND IT HAS MY ALBUM ON PHOTOBUCKET. THERE'S THREE PICTURES OF COVERS THAT I MADE FOR THIS BOOK, AND I WANT YA'LL TO PLEASE CHECK THEM OUT AND COMMENT AND TELL ME WHICH ONE I SHOULD USE FOR THE BOOK. THANK YOU SO MUCH! :)*
*****LINK: http://www.photobucket.com/avoxalbum **********