Fiery Payback

Chapter 52

Katniss's P.O.V

I don't care about the stings of the tracker jackers. I don't care about surviving in this arena. All I care about is my daughter, Alyssa.

She lays there, bumps covering her from head to toe. This looks just like what happened to Glimmer in my first Hunger Games.

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I have to take down this tracker jackers nest now before the Careers and Peeta wake up. I set my knife on the branch and start to saw at it. I notice a couple of tracker jackers start to come out of the hive. One stings my knees, one stings my cheek, and one on my neck.

The nest crashes down on the Careers and Peeta. The tracker jackers have found their targets.

It's mayhem. The Careers have woken to a full-scale tracker jackers attack. Peeta and a few others have the sense to drop everything and bolt. Everyone except for the girl from District 4 and Glimmer.

They receive multiple stings before they're even out of my view. Glimmer appears to go completely mad, shrieking and trying to bat the tracker jackers off with her bow. The girl from District 4 staggers out of sight, although I wouldn't bet on her making it to the lake. I watch Glimmer fall, twitch hysterically around on the ground for a few minutes, and then go still.

Watching Glimmer twitching to death on the ground. It's hard to handle. Her body disfigured. Her swollen fingers stiffening around the bow...

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I just noticed that the tracker jackers are gone. I kneel down next to Alyssa. All of the bumps ruin her image. I remember being in a similar situation in my first Hunger Games. If she had a spear through her stomach instead of covered in tracker jacker stings, I would burst into tears. Although, I am already crying. This happened to a girl close to Alyssa's age. Her name was Rue.

I put Alyssa's head on my lap. I stroke her hair. Then, the song I sang to Rue comes back to me. I find myself singing it.

I can barely sing the verse line before I burst into tears. I am really letting my guard down. I don't care though. How could the gamemakers kill a ten year old? I hear a cannon fire. She's gone.

I get up, wiping away the tears. My hands have huge bumps on them. Maybe this whole thing is a hallucination.

I hear a hissing and slithering sound. I look down at the ground and find a snake with purple skin. This has to be a hallucination.

Then, the ground turns into sand. Quicksand. I am sinking. Sinking into the quicksand. No you aren't, Katniss! This is all a hallucination.

My mind tries to convince me this, but my body want to be convinced. I try to get out of the "quicksand." Just as fast as it appeared, it disappeared.

Then, everything turns sideways. I fell down. I don't see the snake or the quicksand anymore. But, I see movement in front of me. I lift my head a little to see who or what it is. The thing that is moving in front of me comes towards me. Once I see what is making the movement, my heart skips a beat. It's Peeta.

He looks down at me, waves at me, then leaves. I try to get up and go after him, but I fall back down. Black spots dance in my vision. Why did he leave me? Why didn't he try to help me?

The dark spots take over my vision, and I can't see anything at all.