Pinetree

Chapter 6

(Dipper pov)

I sit in the mess hall with Mabel when Boggs comes over to me.

"You're wanted in Command."

I give Mabel one last hug before I follow him to the command center where Beetee, Coin, and Plutarch are all waiting. On the screen Bill is at another one of those interviews. He won't even look up at the camera anymore, just staring down at his hands.

"Tonight we've recieved reports of derailed trans, grainaries on fire, and a savage attack on the hydroelectric dam in district 5. I am begging you for restraint and decency."

Glancing at Beetee I see him press some keys on his keyboard and for a brief moment the screen shows the footage of me in 12, my song playing in the background of it.

When Bill is back on the screen it's like color has returned to his face and feels like he's looking right at me.

"Dipper? Y-You're really there? I didn't....they said you...."

"Bill, please continue." James Semaj interrupts him. "You were telling us about these savage attacks."

"Yeah...the attack on the dam was a monsterous inhuman act of destruction-"

Images of me in 12 flash on the screen for a few more minutes again before it's Bill again. Horror is written all over his face as he glances at something behind the camera before talking right into the camera again

"I didn't know! They said you and everyone would be left alone if I....No one will survive any of this. No one is safe. Not here, not in the districts. They're coming, Mason. They will kill everyone and you'll all be dead in 13 by morning!"

I watch in horror as he's dragged offscreen before it all turns to static.

"That was a warning." Coin mutters.

I hug my arms to myself already fearing the worst. "They're going to kill him...."

"It's time for an air raid drill."

She presses an alarm as I run out of the room making my way back to the mess hall looking for Mabel but no one is here. "Mabel! Mabel!"

Feeling someone grab my arm I turn around seeing Finnik. "We have to go, right now."

"I'm not going anywhere without my sister."

"She's probably already in the bunker, but we have to go now."

He pulls me through the halls and down the stairwell. The sprinklers turn on soaking everyone as we reach the emergency bunker. I walk through, keeping an eye out for Mabel. I don't see her but manage to spot my mom.

"Mom!" I run over to her. "Where's Mabel?"

"I thought she went to find you. She must still be on the stairs."

"There's no one on the stairs....shit, she went back for the fucking pig."

I push past the people rushing into the bunker, taking the stairs two at a time as the sprinklers soak me to the bone.

"Mabel! Mabel!" I yell out desparately.

"Dipper!" Hearing her voice I look up spotting her and Tyrone running down the stairs towards me. In her arms is that stupid piglet.

"Come on! Hurry!"

Once she's close enough I grab her wrist and pull her down the stairs, Tyrone following close behind.

We manage to slip into the bunker just as the blast doors are closing. I turn to Mabel angrily.

"You went back for the pig? What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"I wasn't going to leave him behind! I couldn't live with myself."

Seeing tears in her eyes I sigh softly. "I know, Mabel, I know."

I lead her over to where our mom is. I let mom scold her before I go over to Finnik taking a seat next to him.

"You doing okay?" I hesitantly ask him.

"Just can't stop thinking about Annie."

"Snow's using Annie to punish you. He's using them just to torment us."

"After the first games, I thought his feelings for you were just an act. That you knew and was going along with it. Figured you would continue the stragegy in the Quarter Quell. But when his heart stopped and he nearly died....I knew that I misjudged you both. You two really do love each other. That kind of thing is very rare."

"How do you do it? How do you live with the pain that loving someone causes?"

"I drag myself out of nightmares and there's no relief in waking up. But....it's better not to give in to it. Takes 10 times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart."

.............................................

The next morning I follow Stan out of the bunker and back to the command center. Coin sits at a table in there, looking completely exhausted.

"Your mother and sister okay?"

"Yeah, they're fine."

"I need you to do something for us. I need you to tell Panem that we survived an attack by the Capitol with zero casualties."

"Okay, consider it done."

"We had 8 extra minutes because of Bill's warning. I won't forget that."

Stan leads me trough the halls until we're outside. I put my hand up to shield my eyes from the bright sunlight. All around me is nothing but rubble. Cressida and her camera crew stand nearby waiting for me.

"So, Dipper, the line is '13 is alive and so am I' You ready?"

I go to answer her until I spot a deep crater to my right. Walking over to it I feel horror and panic crash through me seeing it's filled with those white fucking roses. I clench the front of my shirt finding it hard to even get air into my lungs. Cressida keeps repeating the line she wants me to say as she has her cameras filming me but I can't do this.

"He's going to kill him....I-I can't do this....he's just gonna keep....he will never stop...."

"Cut the cameras." I hear Stan say before I feel his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Dipper."

"No. He warned me. He'll kill him because of me. I can't....don't make me do this please....."

I pull away as I head back into the underground halls of 13.