One Fire: A One Direction Fan Fiction

28

28

   I first feel my lungs fill with air, then release the breath. Next is my heart which is managing a steady beat. For the next stretch of endless minutes, this continued as I slowly regain consciousness. As I begin to feel, I notice tubes on my arms, and restraints holding me to this resting place, the same way I’d awoken after the last games. All I haven’t gained control of before I black out again is my eyes. But, though they refuse to open, I know I’m back in the Capitol.

   When I can feel myself again, probably hours later, I force my eyes open first before I can go again. The room I’m in is white and dimly lit with fairly low ceilings. I have no restraints on me anymore, but there are bandages covering glass cuts and the wounds on my forearms.

   I pull myself up into a sitting position, seeing a room full of medical equipment around me. I myself was on a padded table in nothing but a paper-thin gown. Across from me, still unconscious and hooked up to machinery, is Cedar.

   Something makes me wonder exactly why I was still living if I had been taken back into the hands of the Capitol. Wouldn’t it have been easier to kill me like they wanted is I was still out cold?

   I swing my legs over the side of the table and stand, taking a few slow steps forward. To my right was a short hall of more tables, all of them, except Cedar’s, empty, and to my left was a metal door, left open a crack. To my left was where I proceeded quietly. As I approached the door, I began hearing voices: Arpil Fans, Simon, Zayn, Liam and Ed. I peered through the crack, making sure it wasn’t just Capitol mind games. Surrounding a table in the next room, there they were: Arpil, Simon, Zayn – on crutches – Liam – with his wounded arm in a sling – and Ed.

   I take my chance and stumble through the door, first landing in Ed’s arms, then Liam’s, then Zayn’s. Each of them jokingly wishes me a “good morning.” Then, I’m in Simon’s arms and he says flatly, “I know you’re wondering what had happened. Pay attention; it’s a long story.”

   I nod and remain there as they begin to speak, each taking a turn. Their plan had begun once I’d messed up on the Victory Tour. The best way they could think of to keep this rebellion in play was convincing as many tributes as possible to join onto the sides of the uprising and hoping fate (by “fate” they meant convincing the males of One, Two, Three, Four and Twelve to slaughter each other) got the blazing boys back into the arena. The wires had been placed to make a net, which was supposed to backfire. Mousy’s job had been to convince me to break the force field. Every tribute in our alliance had to work to keep the blazing boys – me especially – alive. Simon said only two tributes had been excluded from this inner logic: Leah and I. At the moment, I wasn’t in the Capitol, I was where Arpil – a double agent – had been commissioned; District Thirteen, which proved Olive, Yew and Caesar had been right. Oh, and now, all the districts were in the heat of the rebellion.

   “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked Zayn and Liam.

   “We needed it to be real,” Liam tells me.

   “You’re not exactly the best actor, Haz,” Ed says.

   “What about Lou?” I demand next, “He tried to kill me!”

   “If you haven’t noticed, Harry,” Simon begins sternly, “The Capitol put a tracker in your arm. It was his job to get it out so they wouldn’t be able to find you here.”

   Louis had just been working to save me from the Capitol. Arpil follows by telling me I was needed to live for the rebellion against the Capitol to be possible.

   “Twelve is rebelling too, right?” I ask Ed. Then I realize, he’s here in Thirteen, and not back home.

   “Hazza, you should have seen it,” he sighs, “They went nuts when Leah died – worse than in Seven – and the Capitol really didn’t like that. Harry –”

   “Ed, don’t,” I breathe. My heart rate increases and my breathing has grown uneven as the pieces of this puzzle fall into place. I feel tears coming as I put together the real reason why Ed has switched districts.

   “Harry,” he speaks. His hands have clamped onto my shoulders, and I’m being forced to meet his gaze. “There is no District Twelve. They dropped bombs after Leah died. But I managed to get as many people out as I could. Don’t worry, your mum, Gemma and Robin are safe. Mine and Leah’s families are, too.”

   “They’re all safe with us here in Thirteen,” Liam purrs.

   I nod at this, and Arpil tells me more about their plan, and their reasoning for keeping it a secret from me. Everything I’d done to rebel had been elaborated upon in the preparation for this year’s game. It had been turning me into a spark or a mockingjay; two symbols of this rebellion. But, all of this sickens me. I don’t want to be the symbol of the uprisings. However, I still have my blazing boys.

   “Where’s Lou?” I interrupt, “And Niall? I want to see them.”

   Before, they’d seemed happy to answer my questions. Now, the room had grown quiet, and they all stared away as I looked at them expectantly. I watched most of them bite their lips.

   Finally, Liam elbowed Zayn’s ribs, and Zayn’s brown eyes met mine. “Well, in the end,” he began, tongue stumbling over these words, “Roti, Tartan and Dill didn’t make it, and, out of those of us who remained, well, they tried to get as many of us out alive as possible and –”

   “Where are they?” I demand. My fists were clenched tight. His delays in delivering this information were irritating and arising worry.

   Ed took a step towards me, eyes sorrowful. “Haz, I –”

   “Where are they?!” I nearly scream at them.

   Liam’s gaze fell to the floor and he let a sigh escape his lips. The second his mouth opened, I knew I wasn’t prepared for his next words. He spoke the truth, which broke my heart harder than the news my home had been destroyed; harder than ever before.

   “The Capitol got to them first.”

End of Book Two