The Hunger Games: Book Four - How it Might Have Been ... Gale.

Page Twenty-Three

Peeta

The harsh light beyond my eyelids and the severe smell of chemicals bring memories to my head almost instantly. I have not fully woken yet, and for the next unconfirmed amount of time, I dream I am back in the Capitol again, all those years ago.

Suddenly, I am fully awake, and I realize that I am, in fact, back in the Capitol.

But I'm dead.
Right?

I remember myself falling from the wall, my feet bare and my broken handcuffs still around my wrists. I can smell the mutts' stench, feel their teeth sinking into me. Can't I?

"Mr. Mellark," I hear a voice that sounds smug say my name. Immeditely I try to sit up, but I can't. My head slams back down onto the cold metal I lay on, and my eyes sting from looking up into the harsh lights hanging above me. Looking around franctically, I see I am in a labratory of some sort. I am pinned to a metal table, my wrists and feet, still bare, strapped down. I scan my body for bruises, scrapes, missing limbs, but there's nothing. I'm alive. But I fell to the mutts. How did - ?

"We are glad to see you are awake," the voice says again, but now I see I am in the room alone and that the voice is coming from another speaker not visible in the room. It's like in the corridor, when they read my mind. Can they? I don't speak. I test them. How did I survive?

"Ah, so you remember?" the voice chuckles. "We're sorry about that, but we had to teach you a lesson. You don't run from the Capitol. It's futile. You tried running years ago, but it didn't work. Running away does not work, Peeta Mellark. Perhaps that's a lesson your wife should learn."

My teeth grind. So it's Katniss they're after still? "What have you done to my wife?" I growl, speaking to someone I can't see.

"Oh, nothing yet. We must wait for Miss Everdeen to come to us. Your friend Gale, however, did not share the same fate."

The table I am strapped to begins to move, lowering my feet to the ground so I am in a standing position, yet still on the table. The white walls that surround me begin to flicker, and the one directly in front of me divides in two, allowing for a television screen to appear from behind it. It flickers on, and what I see before me makes me feel sick to the core. Though I hate Gale now, the images I see and news of his iminent death make my head spin.

On the screen, I see the Nut collapsing. I remember the great mountain from so long ago - and now, it crumbles like it is nothing more than a ball of clay. The residents of District Two scream and scatter, but there is still death everywhere. Of course there is - it's the Capitol they're dealing with. Boulders crush hovercrafts, buildings collapse due to the earthquake caused by the falling mountain. Streets crack open wide and bodies are littering the streets. The thought of Gale ending this way ignites something in me. He meant nothing to me, but he was Katniss's.. friend.

Suddenly, the feeling comes back. It's something I haven't felt in forever, but I recognise it immediately. It's that feeling of loss of self-control, the feeling of my brain splitting in two and my mind imploding in on itself. Roaring, I thrash on the table, trying desperately to free myself from the cuffs. I am not myself - I've lost control, and though I know it, I can't help it. I feel bloodlust looming inside me, and I feel like a predator in the Arena again. Now I wish the mutts had gotten me, because I am not myself. I am a monster.

"Welcome back, Peeta Mellark," the voice laughs, and suddenly there is a pinch in my arm. Tranquillizer. I'm out.