If Fire Caught

Chapter 19: Katniss

"Prim!" I scream as I run through the forest. I keep feeling plants grab at me and cut my arms and legs. I know I'm getting closer. Prim's terrible scream rings louder in my ears. I come to a tall tree and the sound rings loudly above me.

I look into the tree, but don't see my sister, but a black bird. He's small with a crest and about ten feet above me. It's a jabberjay. The forerunner, the father. I can easily see how combined with a mockingbird, they could make the mockingjay.

I silence Prim's screams that come from his throat with an arrow. When he falls to the ground, I break his neck for good measure before retrieving the arrow and hurling him into the jungle. Finnick comes up next to me, panting.

"Katniss?" he asks. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," I say, although, I don't feel that way. "I thought I heard my sister but -" I stop when the scream of a young woman. It means nothing to me, but Finnick turns pale and his eyes show fear. He bolts and I yell after him. "Finnick wait! Its not her!"

I chase after him, but I'm over eight months pregnant and it's hard to run. Its not hard to track him though. He leaves a path of trampled plants in his wake. When I reach him, I'm panting heavily. The screams come from the foliage above him.

"Annie! Annie!" he screams.

"Finnick!" I say. "It's not Annie, it's a jabberjay."

"I know it's not her, but the voice is hers. Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams Katniss?" he asks and I shiver at the thought.

"You don't think?" I ask him to horrified to finish.

"I do Katniss," he says and I feel absolutely terrified. I shiver at the thought of Prim strapped to a table as creatures in white masks draw those noises from her lips. I hear another scream and I realize its Gales voice. I try to go after it but Finnick grabs my arm. "It's not him, you can't help him."

"Lets get out of here," I say and we start running out of the clearing, towards where we left the others. I see Johanna and Peeta and wonder why they haven't come to help. Peetas saying something, but I can't hear him. The wall that separates us is so transparent that Finnick and I both run into it. I fall to the ground, thankfully onto my back so I don't hurt the baby. Finnick hit face first and now has a bloody nose. This is why Peeta never came. An invisible wall keep us in and them out. The wall will keep us in for the hour.

Peeta holds his hand up and I put up my own to meet it, as though I can feel it through the wall. He keeps saying something but I don't understand. I just focus on him and try to keep my sanity. Then the birds start to arrive. They perch in the trees and create a horrific chorus of screams from my friends and families. I empty my quiver shooting them but eventually give up and huddle on the ground, trying to block out the sounds of my family and friends.

I know it stopped when I feel Peeta hands on me, carefully lifting me up and carrying me out of the jungle. I'm to rigid to release my muscles from the position I was crouched in. Peeta holds me in his lap and gently soothes me until I relax nearly half an hour later.

"It's okay," he says. "Its over."

"You didn't hear them," I say shaking.

"I hear Prim the first time," he says. "But it wasn't real. It was a jabberjay."

"But it was her at one time," I say.

"It was fake, just like the eyes in the mutts last year," he says. "They're fine at home. We're to the final eight. They'd be interviewed. They're fine and safe."

"You really believe that?" I ask him.

"Yes I do," he says.

"What about you Finnick?" I ask.