Hijacked (Peeta Mellark Fanfiction)

Chapter 18 - Removed

I reside in darkness.

When I realized that all hope was gone, my arms and legs gave out and I fell asleep face-down on the cold floor. I'm not sure if it was slumber or just empty thoughts with my eyes closed. I'll never be able to close my eyes without seeing a bloodied prisoner shrieking as his own fingers are torn off, or hundreds of screaming citizens, running from deathly bombs and blazing fiery homes. I don't remember what these images are, what they mean, but they taunt me. There's no way I'll ever sleep normally again.

The fire is my fault, I don't know why the blame and guilt come crashing through me so suddenly, but it does. Some distant memory reminds me of involvement and great disobedience with the Capitol, everything I did was taken out on others. Maybe I deserve to cower in shame and await death to take me too.
No, it was her fault. The memories become more and more faint the more I think of them.

Beaming light flashes through my eyelids, when I finally open them, the blinding white room is lit up around me. The world is tilted sideways, my cheek lifts off the ground for a second of pure confusion. I can faintly see an unclear figure that must be my pale hand, chained to the ground, the image instantly reminds me of the pressuring pain from the tight cuffs. I squeeze my eyes shut, the bright light hurts my eyes. I can't seem to get out of this dizzying haze that prevents me from thinking correctly. It's as if my thoughts are being blocked by some sort of barrier.

There are muffled sounds, thumps, crashes, and a door sliding open. I blink a couple times to see if the blurred images would clear, they don't. Fog seeps out from the open door, Four black blobs move across the cell, one of them kneels down in front of me,

"Peeta Mellark, I'm Commander Boggs, and we're here to get you out."

I can only stare, they're here to rescue me. Suddenly a reliving feeling reaches my wrists, the cuffs are off. My consciousness is still questionable, and I can't move my body at all. The rescuers realize this after my weak attempt to stand up.

My thoughts are unusually blank, I don't know what to think of this.

I let them peel me off the ground, their hands clutching my arms so gently compared to how the peacekeepers had done it before. I hadn't realized before how weak I am, my limbs ache, and my head spins strangely. I get glimpses of the path they travel through, a lab, dark hallways, doors, so many doors.

I try to walk on my own, but they are moving too fast, and lifting me far enough off the ground to a point where I can't touch it. Lifting me up must be easy, given how thin I've gotten. The angry pain in my hungry stomach is still highly uncomfortable and displeasing, but I'd somewhat gotten used to it.

Just when I start to really wake up, I get awfully drowsy, the rescuers identify the source of this as the remaining gas they used to knock out the peacekeepers that lay sprawled out on ground along the way. We finally enter a hovercraft waiting in the night, they set me down over a flat surface. A voice that I assume belongs to Boggs tells me something,

"You can relax now, we're on our way to District 13 in a little bit. Don't worry, we're getting the other victors."

I turn my head in the direction of his voice and croak out a simple question I've wanted to know the answer to for a long time,

"How long was I..."

He hesitates, possibly estimating the amount of time I was imprisoned.

"Little bit over a month."

A month. Was it really that long? It had felt longer, yet it felt shorter. The long hours were unknowing, and the torture was never-ending, I thought it would last forever, or that it would all end when I finally die. With the terrible pain-inducing headaches I'd endured, there was no way to tell if an hour was an hour or a day.

How did I survive? Why did I survive and none of the other prisoners did? I was the only one who didn't deserve it, why was I the one to be rescued?

I should feel safe, after so long, I've finally been rescued, but is that really a good thing? My mind is so empty that I'm left even more confused. For some reason, I feel like District 13 is not any safer than the Capitol. No wait, I know why. That's where she is. That's where her and her gullible army are.

Then it hits me, she wants to kill me, that's why they rescued me. Suddenly I have the urge to jump out of this hovercraft. No, she wants to kill everyone, if I don't stop her then no one will.

I know that there are so many things I am wondering about, what I'm confused about, and what I'm afraid of. It isn't clear, it's so mixed up and distant that I can hardly stand it. Anger and hate appear so easily that I'm amazed at myself. She did this to me... She abandoned me and taunted me and I'm through with it.

I'm going to kill her before she even has the chance to kill me.

I don't care if they trust her, they have to know the truth, she's a murderous monster that will slaughter any human before tricking them into some act that will make them feel foolish and shameful, a torturous trickery. No more people must go through the suffering.

I will kill this monster even if it's the last thing I do.