We Stood Strong

Chapter 29: Jabberjays

Chapter 29 [Finnick's P.O.V.]

Each scream worsens, more blood curling than the one before. Each stride I make can't get me close enough. These screams aren't the exact same from her nightmares, these are worse, but it's definitely the same voice.

"Annie!" I scream, like it'll pull her closer to me. Once I reach a tree, that I know the source of the screams are coming from, I hopelessly circle it, not being able to reach the voice.

"Annie! Annie!" I repeat. I fear the sounds of her screams, because it puts her in more mental pain. Which I think is many more times painful than any physical pain, for her. Not like Johanna. If it werent for Annie, I would be cold like Johanna, having nothing to care for. We all break for different kinds of tortures.

The screams halt to an end, along with a thud. A jabberjay lays at my feet, with an arrow through its stomach. I pick it up in my hands. It held her screams. The jabberjays don't make up noises, they repeat them.

They have her, torturing her. Mags isn't there to watch her, I'm not there to accompany her. I imagine peacekeepers busting through her door, pinning her down, the terror and confusion in her head. The blood curling screams that rip through the air, and the jabberjay recording it. My insides scream, and sob, while I attempt to keep a straight face.

"It's alright, Finnick. It's just a jabberjay. They're playing a trick on us. It's not real. It's not your..." Katniss pauses before uncomfortably repeating her name, "Annie."

"No, it's not Annie. But the voice was hers. Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams, Katniss?" I demand. Katniss stands, letting my words sink in.

"Oh, Finnick, you don't think they..." She stops, not wanting to suggest it.

"Yes. I do. That's exactly what I think," I say, jumping to my conclusion.

Her eyes fall to the floor, face turning white. "They could have kidnapped them. Captured their screams with a jabberjay. They could, they could..." My jaw goes numb with fear. There are so many possibilities that they could have already done to get those screams, and I don't want to give them any extra ideas.

A male's painful scream rips the air. The impact on Katniss is recognizable. She pivots, ready to run, before my fingers lock around her elbow. "No. It's not him." I tug at her arm, taking her downhill back to camp.

"We're getting out of here!" I shout to Katniss who resists every second. "It's not him, Katniss," I plead. "It's a mutt! Come on!"

I lift her body up, enough to get her off the ground to take her away from the screams. It's the boy from back home, the one labeled as her cousin during the interviews of last year's games.

Katniss' body melts limp, with defeat. She regains ability to use her feet and sprints along with me. Johanna and Peeta standing outside of the jungle. They look worried, but with no sign of the jabberjay's affect on themselves. They don't come any closer, which confuses me.

Then I understand, that's when it hits me, literally. My face slams into an invisible wall, causing searing pain in my whole head, especially my nose, which now tingles. I fly back like I was a bouncy ball that got thrown into a wall.

My hands and face turn warm and wet, of blood from my nose. I slowly wipe it off. Peeta and Johanna swing their weapons at the wall, unable to make it through. We can't hear them, but we can see them.

Peeta and Katniss hold their hands up against the wall together. A pang of jealousy hits me, because Katniss has Peeta here with her, so she can keep an eye on him, or at least know how he's being hurt, whereas I don't have the same advantage with Annie.