The Hunger Games: Death of the Mockingjay

Chapter 10

I find myself in familiar surroundings on the medical level. How long I've been here for I don't know maybe it's been a few hours maybe a few days, I'm honestly not sure.
My head hurts bad, really bad. The lump on the back of my head is the worst but to compound the pain the bruising to my face also hurts. The girl with the red hair left me with a black eye, a bruised and swollen cheek and a broken finger. This had already been fixed with the help of a healer but the movement in my finger still feels stiff and restricted.

Cato stands guard by my door where he's been every time I've woken up. I spoke with him briefly and he says he doesn't trust anyone to keep me safe, even Gale. And so for now I'll have my ally watching over me.

Peeta comes to the doorway with Rue and Cato steps aside to let them in.

"Hey sweetie" I say happily as Rue comes to my bedside. Peeta and I had spoken about bringing Kyler to see me but we agreed that it wouldn't be good for him to see me like this.

"Hi Mom" says Rue wincing at my appearance.

"I'm okay Rue, the bruising looks much worse that it feels"

"Who did this to you Mom, was it those mean people who attacked us before?"

"We're not sure, but we'll find out soon hopefully" I lie. "So what have you been up to in school" I say trying to change the subject.

"Erm, it's okay but it's not like my school back home. Can we go back soon? I miss my room and my friends back in 12, I really don't like this place" she says.

I chuckle slightly "I know what you mean angel, I don't like it here either but for now it's the safest place for us"

"But Mom you got attacked, maybe we're not safe here either?"

"No I think we'll be okay here. I went into town and we know now that it's not safe for us to go there so we'll have to stay on the base"

"Oh okay, I just wanna go home" she says looking up at Peeta sadly.

"We will princess, when this is all over things will go back to how they used to be, you'll see" says Peeta smiling down at her"

Mom comes into the room and leads Rue back outside so Peeta and I can talk.

"Hey beautiful" he says as he runs his hand through my hair.

"I don't feel particularly beautiful what with my swollen and bruised face" I say with a smile. "What's the latest with the attack, what have we found out?"

"Well your hunch was right, White was in with the Brotherhood. We know now that when your gun was issued to you it was loaded but when White checked it before he gave it to you he somehow managed to swap the clip for an empty one. The gun felt light because it was empty and it was he who called the assassin and warned her before you left for town"

I look down at my hands and think of the events that led to the attack. Commander White signing out the gun from the stores before he checked it, he must of somehow switched the ammo clips before he handed it to me. To be honest I wasn't really watching that closely.

"Maybe Rue's right" I say

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we're not safe here, there may be more members of the Brotherhood inside the base. Have you interrogated White yet?"