The Beginning of the End (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 12

   Iris stared at the boy not wanting to believe him, "no" she whispered. Max took her hand, his hands were rough and callused over Iris's. "T-this can't be........your supposed to be gone." She whispered to herself. She looked down at her bed in front of her as she felt a tear run down the side of her cheek. "You were supposed to be gone forever." Iris said more firmly still not believing him. "Iris" Max said making Iris move her attention up to his eyes. "It's me I'm here." "No.....your just more of my hallucinations. That's all you are once I wake up and get back to reality you will be gone once again." "Iris...I'm real." He said squeezing her hand. "Don't do this to me." She said as more tears streamed down her face. "I'm not joking Iris-" "Don't do this to me!" Iris yelled making Max let go of her hand and take a few steps back. "Get out." She said bringing her voice back down. "But Iris-" Iris interrupted Max once again. "I said get out!" He looked over at the small windows at the front of the room then the door buzzer sounded, and he walked out of the door. The door closed behind him and Iris let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to forget the whole thing. "It was just a hallucination." Is what she kept telling herself over and over. The buzzer sounded once again but Iris didn't open her eyes. She heard small footsteps come closer to her bed but not to close. Iris opened here and saw Clove standing not to far away. "Get out." "No Iris" "Get out!" Iris yelled at her with more tears going down her cheeks. "No Iris!" Clove yelled back at her. "Please" Iris pleaded dropping her head and sobbing. She heard footsteps get closer to her bed and she felt a hand on her arm. "I'm not going anywhere Iris." Iris tried her best to stop crying and pick up her head to look at Clove. "I've got enough on my plate so please get out of my face." Iris said trying to be as rude a possible. Clove didn't budge and she kept her hand on Iris's arm. Iris felt so much anger in that moment she lifted up her arm forcefully and broke the straps punching Clove in the gut making her fall to her knees gasping for air. Iris undid the other straps on her arm and body then got up. She kicked her making Clove groan with pain. "I have been through enough crap and I don't want to deal with Mutts like you anymore!" She yelled at Clove spitting on her. The door buzzer sounded and guards came and grabbed Iris dragging her out of the room. A doctor came up to her and injected her with a syringe making her black out.

She woke up chained to a chair. "Not again not again not again." Iris whispered to herself squeezing her eyes closed. "Ms. Stoll" she heard a familiar voice say. Iris's breathing picked up, "I'm sorry I don't know what's going on through my head anymore." Iris said so quietly the she could barely hear herself. More tears run down her face, "I don't know what's happening to me." Iris said feeling so many emotions at once. "Ms. Stoll" the voice said again making Iris open her eyes. She was back at table from before sitting with Coin in front of her. "Are you okay?" Coin asked her. Iris closed her eyes again not answering her question. Images flashed through her mind some of them were her childhood some of them were from the capital or the games. One memory came so clear it was like it was happening right before her.

She saw two men standing there talking about a plan. Snow walked into the room and over to the two men. They started talking and then shook hands agreeing on something then Snows voice stood out, "We will destroy district thirteen later today." Suddenly she was taken out of the memory and flashes of light went over her vision and she heard her name once more. "Ms. Stoll, can you hear me?" Iris murmured what Snow said. "I'm sorry I can't hear you need to speak up." Coin said keeping her professional look on. "The capital is going to kill us all we need to take cover." Iris said slamming her hand down on the table. Coin looked at her for a second tilting her chin up. "Look you can think I'm lying all you want but I warned you." Iris said standing up. She walked out of the room and felt a hand on her back. She turned around and saw Boggs behind her. "We are all going to be dead by morning if we don't take cover." Boggs gave her a questioning look, "The capital is coming to kill us all.....all your little rescue mission did was lead them right back here." Iris said turning back around and heading to the elevator. She opened it and stepped in with Boggs right behind her. "Take me to the cafeteria." Boggs did as she asked and brought her to the cafeteria. Iris stormed in walking over to the table that Grain and Barz sat at. "Get up let's go we don't have very much time." She said to them. They both looked at each other then back at her. "This isn't a joke, get up." She told them grabbing Grains arm. Grain stood up but didn't move from his spot suddenly sirens started going off and flashing yellow light appeared. Everyone in the cafeteria stood up and headed for the door. Iris looked back at Grain and Barz, "Well looks like you lost your head start." Suddenly Coins voice came booming through the room. "There will be 10 minutes to evacuate to the fortified bunkers. This is not a test." Iris grabbed Grains hand and pulled him up with Barz right behind him. She walked to the doors with Boggs in front of her. Boggs pushed through people and got to the stairs but Iris was falling behind. Boggs turned around but didn't see Iris anywhere in the sea of people. "Iris!" He shouted her name. "Boggs!" He heard a distant voice say. He made his way through all the people to the voice. Iris, Grain, and Barz were huddled next to the wall unable to move because of all the people. Boggs went over and grabbed Iris's hand dragging her along. He went through the people down the stairs and Coins voice echoed through the stairwell. "8 minutes to get to the fortified bunkers. This is not a test." Boggs was going to fast for Iris and she lost her footing falling on the stairs and losing Boggs's hand. Grain quickly helped her up and Iris shouted Boggs name again, but this time there was no response. "Come on." Grain said leading the way and taking Iris's hand. Iris took Barz's hand making sure not to leave him behind. Grain led them down the stairwell. "6 minutes to get to the fortified bunkers. This is no-n-not a-a- tes-test." Coins voice started glitching out when a huge explosion happened shaking the whole stairwell. Through the whole thing Grain never stopped making his way down and down. Another explosion happened setting off the sprinklers making everyone scream. There was a girl next to Iris who let out a blood curdling scream making Iris flinch and squeeze her eyes shut. Everyone started panicking and rushing down the stairs. Iris couldn't barely see from the flashing lights to the water falling in front of her. A man tripped and fell into Iris's arm causing her to let go of Grains hand. She could still feel Barz's hand in hers so she felt a little better that she was not alone until someone shoved Barz making him fall into Iris. Barz hit Iris so hard she fell over making Barz go over her and farther down the stairs. Iris got up as quick as she could trying to look around but it was no use. "Barz!" She yelled but there was no response. "Bar-" she got cut off when a woman came crashing into her making Iris fall over the railing. She grabbed onto the the wet stairs and hung on for dear life. "Help!" She screamed but just as she did that someone ran by and stepped on one of her hands making her let go with that hand. She yelled out in pain before looking down seeing floods of people still heading down. The water was making her slip little by little. She knew she couldn't hang on for much longer. "Barz!" She yelled out, "Grain! Boggs!" She yelled all of their names hoping for an answer but there was nothing. The water started coming down harder and harder and Iris couldn't hang on for much longer. She reached up with her other hand and tried to grab the railing. Just as she grabbed it her hand slipped off the stairs. Coins voice echoed again. "2 m-min-minutes-" she got cut off again when she glitched. Iris looked up but water fell into her eyes making her unable to see properly. She tried to pull herself up but she was in a far to weak state to do that. Her hand was slipping from the railing and she was getting tired very quickly. She tried once more yelling out to someone, "Can anyone hear me I need help!" She was practically just hanging on by her fingertips hoping wishing for anybody to pass by. Suddenly her hand slipped, it was like falling in slow motion. Iris knew this was the end of her story, this was how she died. She was brought out of her sad thoughts when she felt someone grab her hand. They started pulling her up. "I have to switch hands okay!" They yelled to her. She nodded, "I am going to act like you heard me and know exactly what I am doing." Iris felt stupid when she remembered that no one could see anything in the rainy mess. They switched hands and pulled her up like it was no big deal. Iris got the stairs back under her feet and let out a breath of relief. She wiped her eyes so she was able to see. Max stood there with a worried look on his face. "Come on we have to get to the bunker!" They both yelled at the same time. They looked at each other for a second before nodding and rushing down the stairs. "15 s-seco-seconds" Coins voice said. "We arnt going to make it!" Iris yelled. "Yes we will just keep running!" Max yelled back. Suddenly Iris tripped over her own feet and hit her ankle on the railing. She groaned with pain before she felt hands under her legs and back lifting her up. "Just leave me Max. I don't-" "I'm not leaving you!" Max yelled back interrupting her. Iris stayed silent as he ran down the stairs. "9-8-7-6" "Max put me down and save yourself!" "Shutup Iris!" Another loud explosion happened making Max lose his footing on the last step and hit his head on the ground knocking him out."4-3-2" Iris grabbed his hand and slipped through the door just before it closed, Iris pulled Max through just as the doors shut but the end of his shoe was still in the door. Iris yanked him free but the shoe stayed in the door. "The bunker doors are now sealed shut." Coins voiced boomed once more. Iris fell backwards breathing heavily. Boggs came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder lifting her up. She tried to put weight on both feet but winced and lifted one foot a few inches off the ground. Grain went and grabbed Max taking him to a bed nearby. Another loud boom happened making everyone jump. Boggs brought Iris to a bed and sat her down. "Get some rest I will be standing nearby if you need me. Iris lifted her foot onto the bed and looked at her ankle. It's was definitely swollen she just didn't know what was wrong with it. She decided to sleep it off and see if that would help. She laid down and looked at the bunk above her. She closed her eyes but then another explosion happened causing her to jump back up. She took a few deep breathes and tried again but was once again quickly woken up. She sat up and stood up. She limped over to Max's bed and laid down on the other side. Another explosion happened and Iris looked at the ceiling as it started cracking. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt a hand cover hers. She opened her eyes and saw Max still asleep but he put his rough hand on hers. She smiled softly then tried to fall asleep.

  (Holy cow..... that was intense but it was very very fun to write. Also Max is back.....how? We don't know yet maybe Iris will ask him in the future. Another note, Thank you so much for 1.5k reads on my first book and 293 on this book, it means so much to me and gives me motivation to write more. I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far but there is more to come. Anyways, stay safe out there you guys are the best. :)