After the Rebellion

Johanna's Missing

"Peeta, there's nothing down here."

Katniss was right. There was nothing--or more importantly, no one--in the living room area where I had left Johanna.

"No, she was right here. She was on the couch. You have to believe me!"

"'She?' What the hell is going on, Peeta? You said that you fell in love with me and now you're going off with some other girl from 7? How could you?! We're on our honeymoon, for God's sakes!"

"That's not, that's not what I meant! When I was walking around, I heard someone scream, and it turned out to be Johanna. I brought her here because I couldn't haul her the five miles to the clinic. I left her on the couch, okay? I didn't want to be the only person who knew! I know you just had a nightmare about Johanna getting attacked, but I swear that nothing is going to happen to me or Annie. Or the little girl. Katniss, you have to believe me."

I couldn't believe that she thought that I was cheating on her. I've loved her since we were five, and we just got married. I wouldn't do anything to screw it up. I know that Katniss has trust issues, but I didn't think that one mention of another girl would send her on a jealous rampage.

"Okay, Peeta. I believe you. But where's Johanna?"

That was a good question. When I went over to the couch, I saw that there was blood from Johanna's back. 'I told you not to lay on your back, didn't I?' is all I could think when seeing that. But then I saw that the blanket I had left draped over her was missing. It wasn't stuffed behind a cushion, not was it somewhere on the ground. Either Johanna had gotten up and left when she knew that she should be resting, or someone had come and taken her. And we could be next.

"Katniss, we have to leave. Right now. Grab everything." There's no way I'm staying here while there is a possible kidnapper looking for us. And if it's the same guy that Johanna encountered before, he's going to do much worse than just kidnap her. He may just finish the job and kill her.

"What, why? Peeta, we just got here!"

"That's the point! We got here and Johanna got attacked! There's no way that she was just 'caught in the crossfire' of some ax throwing competition, but she got stabbed in the back with something. We have to warn everybody. We have to get out of here!"

As I was surveying around the house a few hours ago, I noticed that there was a large door in the back of the house. We didn't have them in Twelve, but I could guess that it was a garage. With Katniss frantically following me, I went to open the door and found an old grey car. Who even knows if it runs anymore? I searched around for some keys, and found them on a wall. When I started the car, it gave me a bit of a rush with the noise that it made. I made a note to myself to get a car when we're back home.

As we were driving to the train station, we saw a man carrying a heavy load. I thought that it must be him, and when I saw the blue plaid fleece that was once in our home, I practically kicked the gas pedal to the floor of the car, running him over. I stopped before I would run into the person that he was carrying, and found out that it wasn't Johanna. But I had just run our most valuable source over, and even if he were somehow still alive, he was really in no condition to talk. I loaded the girl into the car, and drove as fast as I could to the hospital.

"You do... realise... that this is... a stick shift, right?" the girl said from the back seat.

"What? Umm, what's a stick shift?"

"It's a... car. They have... manual and automatic... transmissions. You have to... shift at a certain point. That's why you're not... going very fast."

"I don't know how to drive it. Is it safe to not shift and just keep driving?"

"Probably... not. This is a pretty old car. I wouldn't... risk it."

I pulled over and switched seats with her, even though I don't think she's fit to drive. I think the only thing that makes her go faster is the hope that she will get to the hospital and get better.

When we got to the hospital, she checked herself in and got a wheelchair for herself before I could even make it in. When I saw her in the fluorescent lighting, I saw a vague resemblance to Johanna Mason.