The Wrong Victor

Chapter thirty-eight: Peeta

"Okay, so far no one is traveling in or out of the Capitol. So we should be fine to make it across the road." Finnick drops his bag as he sits next to the map. He just spent three days scouting out the spot we will be exiting the Capitol at and entering District Seven. "So we pack up what we can, try to keep it light and we go tonight with the cover of the new moon."

"New moon means we won't be able to see." I say looking at Katniss and Prim who sit off to the side talking quietly to each other and playing games. All in an attempt to keep Katniss calm. We have sedative but I don't know if we have enough to last us until District Four. So, keeping her as calm as possible is key.

"Nope." Finnick draws my attention back. "I doubled back to an old base we had and spotted some supplies our idiot friends left." He pulls his backpack over and starts to dig through it. "Night vision goggles, more sedatives, sleeping bags, water, water purifying capsules, and some ration bars. Like a lot of ration bars."

"We got lucky." I run my hand through my hair as I look at everything. There's three boxes of the ration bars, that will last us almost the whole trip if not provide more than enough. "So we have food, water, sleeping bags. We have our first aid kit and our resident doctor." I try to think of anything else we may need.

"I think that's all we need. You have your two different prosthetics?"

"Yeah, I just need to rest my leg as much as possible before the trek."

"So tonight, we leave and we start the journey."

"Tonight."

As the sun starts to set Prim injects medication into my stump to try to prevent injury or pain, or at least give me longer than normal. I pull on my normal prosthetic since we'll be walking most of the way out of the Capitol. "We ready?"

Everyone nods and we walk out of the house and down the road staying close to buildings and keeping our heads down. Katniss is in behind me, as I set the pace for the trek, her hand clutching my shirt as I guide her through the dark. Even in pitch black she wear a blindfold to avoid any triggering sights.

"Psst psst." I hear from the back of our single file line, Finnick's signal to turn left.

I stop at the corner and scout the area before guiding the line around the turn. We only get two steps around the corner when lights flash on blinding us.

I rip off my night vision goggles and try to figure out what is going on while keeping Katniss safe behind me.

"Peeta, Katniss, Prim, Finnick!" Boggs.

"FINNICK TAKE PRIM!" I shout pulling my gun out ready to shoot anyone who stops them.

"Katniss!" Prim calls, but Katniss tightens her grip on me.

"Go Prim." She says her hands trembling while she feigns strength for her little sister.

"What do you want Boggs?" I ask as I keep my gun trained on his chest ready to end this man's life if he so much as harms Finnick or Prim.

"Peeta, you and Katniss started this war. You really thought President Coin would let you just walk away?" Boggs asks signaling for the men with him to put their weapons down. "We don't need those two. We just need these two. Grab them."

"NO!" Katniss' hand is ripped away from my shirt from behind and I'm grabbed before I can even turn around to see where she is. "PEETA!"

"Let her go!" I demand struggling against the hands holding my body where it is. I feel a needle prick my neck and the last things I hear are Katniss calling out for me while Prim's voice can still be heard in the distance calling for Katniss.