Peeta waves me forward. My blonde hair still everywhere. Ares opens the door for me. I quickly pull my hair into a ponytail. It felt foreign to me. But it doesn't matter, I'm not myself.
Peeta follows after me. Ares takes us to the elevator. The hall way was barely lit. The walls concrete, as the floors. The elevator had a metal gate. Peeta opens it and we step in. Ares presses a button and we begin to move. Peeta's gentle hand reaches for mine. I gladly accept the hold, since my body is shaking.
As we pass floors, quick flashes of dim light come through the cracks. We come to a quick halt. I'm glad Peeta was holding me down, I would have smacked my face into the metal gate. Ares escorts us out. It was huge.
The main room, I guess. People all in black. Carrying weapons, walking with children, passing through. So many people...They all stop and either stare down from the upper levels or glance over at me.
"Back to schedules people." Ares claps his hands. Some of these people have tattoos. Not like the Capitol. But aggressive, unpretty tattoos. Not for looks, but as a symbol, something they believe in. One man had a chain tattooed around his neck, others had birds, snakes, or different things. But their faces weren't aggressive. They were normal, simple people. No anger suppressed across their faces. The anger was hidden inside waiting for the right moment to come out and do some destruction.
Ares walks us to a big metal sliding door. He leans over and puts his thumb against a green plate. The doors automatically open. I turn to see Peeta's reaction to all of this. He winces. I look down and see I have been cutting off circulation in his hand. I let go immediately.
"No, who said to let go." Peeta holds on to my hand once again.
"Come on! We be in a war in 5 minutes and neither of you has had any training so far. Hurry up." Ares sighs. We walk in and the door slides closing.
"Welcome to training." Ares moves out of the way relieving the area ahead.
Finnick fighting off an instructor. Gale firing guns. Johanna going through a simulation of our mission. The place was huge. Only for the 5 of us.
Finnick stops to wave then gets tackled by the instructor. "Go. Find something to be useful in." Ares says crossing his arms.
Peeta and I break apart. He leaves to gun firing with Gale. Which makes me nervous...
I walk over to a bow and arrow station. It felt too much like training for the arena. But I guess we are still playing a game. It won't end till we take over the Capitol.
The instructor, Magna, tries to show me techniques on shooting an arrow correctly. I feel insulted, I don't want to sound conceded, but I feel I'm better than average.
One thing I did pick up on is how to extend my new and improved bow. It's miniature so it could fit under clothing, but entends into a normal bow.
Finnick keeps interrupting me. Throwing small plastic birds at my feet, which are used for aiming simulations. Soon Ares removes Finnick away from my station. His argument was, "I was helping her understand that there will be distractions." It made me smile.
Soon Ares call for a break. "I think we all need fresh air." He stands on a square metal plate, enough to fit about twenty people. "Come on." Ares waves us forward. We all stand and the ceiling opens. We begin to rise and the smell of fresh forest leaves and dirt swirls with the wind surrounding us. I close my eyes to taken in the air I've missed. I quickly open my eyes when a nudge hits my elbow. Gale smiles at me. "You've missed this...same here." He whispers.
Once the plate locks into place, Ares steps off and sits by himself in the long green grass. Gale quickly heads off the hidden trees. Johanna goes with Finnick off somewhere. Peeta stares at the already setting sunset. I sit next to Ares. He was quite "normal" compared to the rest of the people of the sector.
"So why don't you have tattoos?" I say, ripping small bits of the grass from the dirt.
"Don't see a point in it." Ares winks his eyes. "Putting a mark permanently on your body...for what? I guess it's better than Capitol tattoos. But still..."
"So scars are a mark..." I whisper.
"I have scars...scars made by the Capitol." Ares's grits his teeth. "It's pointless."
"But they also remind us..." I answer.
"Remind us of the pain and suffering." Ares quickly replies.
"No, reminds us of what we fight for. What we endured and what we will do." I reply. Ares stays quite.
"A 17-year-old is smarter and wiser than me. You should take my job." He says.
"Wow Katniss, you should take the offer." Peeta sits next to me.
"I'm going to find your friends." Ares quickly stands up and walks away.
Peeta's hand overlaps mine. "This place reminds me of the meadow back home." I smile. I lay back and he follows me. We stare up at the pink sky. A gust of wind swirls my hair around.
"GO GO GO!" Ares pushes everyone. Frantic, me and Peeta sit up quickly. I squeeze his hand tightly. "ON THE PLATFORM!"
Peeta stands up and pulls me with him. Everyone gets on and it begins to lower quickly. As we enter the ceiling closes. "Go to the bunkers!" He demands. Finnick and Gale lead us.
"What's going on?" I ask. Peeta's eyes wildly move side to side. "Gale? Finnick?" I demand. They don't answer. I grab both of their arms and stop them. They turn around and stare at me. "What's going on!?"
Suddenly the floor shakes. Sirens go off. Then another hard shake. "Their bombing us. But they don't know that we are here. OKAY!" Gale yells at me. Anger rises in me. I could have slapped him so hard, but then another hard shake. It throws off Johanna's balance.
Gale and Finnick guide us into the lowest part of Sector 2.
YOU ARE READING
We Remain
Fanfiction*Second Book to Elastic Heart* Katniss Everdeen volunteers to go back into the arena with Peeta Mellark. She wants to protect him but has to deal with a big surprise that might ruin her chances of living. Things begin to take a wrong turn and spiral...
