Rising Storm

Chapter 24

Katniss

I scream as Peeta falls to the ground. I run over to him and lay my head on his chest. Its silent.

"No!" I scream. "No, no, no, no! You can't leave me! You don't leave me like this!" Finnick runs over to us and stops beside me. He lays his head on his chest and then sits up. "He's not breathing!"

"His heart's still trying," he says and he starts to rhythmicly push on his chest. Its something I've seen my mother do once in a blue moon when someone may come in after some trama they may have incurred that could be survived. I've never seen it work. I'm rocking on the ground, crying as I watch Finnick try to save my husband.

I hear a gasp and look over to see Peeta coughing on the ground. I shuffle over and cradle Peeta's head. I'm still crying as Peeta's eyes open. 

"What is it?" He asks.

"You were dead," I cry. "Your heart stopped."

"I'm okay now," He says. "I just need a breath." I laugh and kiss his forehead.

"How did you know?" Finnick asks.

"Know what?" I ask.

"You screamed before he fell." Finnick says.

"Something didn't look right," I say. "Theres a glimmer, somthing in the leaves. They must have a forcefield around us. To keep us where they want." Finnick nods.

"Lets set up camp here then," Finnick says. "You both need to rest. We have water trees all around. We have the ravine in front of us and the forcefield behind. No one will be able to sneak up on us." I nod and get up.

"Theres a tarp in my bag," I say. "We can set it up to stop any rain. Collect it too." Peeta sits up with the spile.

"I'll get water," He says.

"Be careful," I say.

"I will," He replies standing. I carefully set up the tarp and lay one on the ground and lay down upon it. I look out over the ravine and close my eyes a moment. I wake up as Peeta sits down next to me, offering water. I sit up and take it.

"Thank you," I say softly. I notice the darkness around us. "When did the sun set?"

"An hour or so," Peeta says. "I offered to take first watch. Didn't want to close my eyes I guess."

"I wouldn't want to either I guess," I say, taking a drink. "You scared the hell out of me there."

"I know," He says. "I wouldn't want to hurt you like that."

"We made it through one day," I say. "We can make it a few more."

"Katniss, you know how this ends," he says.

"That doesn't mean until it does I'm not gonna pretend I'm waiting for it," I say. "Just go to sleep a while. I'll keep watch. I'm not tired anymore."

"You sure?" He asks and I nod.

"Yeah, I got our little butterfly to keep me company," I say. "I'm fine for now." He lays down and lays his hand on my stomach.

"I love you two," He says and I nod, running my hand over his fingers.

"We love you too," I say. "Now go to sleep. You need it." I look out over the trees, scanning them for any moovement. I hold my bow tightly in my hand and keep looking, paranoid about any movement of the leaves. Every once in a while I glance at the others, wondering how they could sleep at a time like this.

Suddenly, I notice something in the distance. Something white coming through the trees. Like a fog. I get up and walk to where the fog is coming from. I reach out my hand to it and scream as it touches me. Everyone in camp gets up.

"What is it?" Peeta asks.

"We need to run," I say. "The fog, its poison." Everyone gets up and we slide down the hill, running as fast as we can.

But it's not fast enough. Peeta is the first to fall, obviously still not recovered from the electricution. Finnick helps him up and they pass me as I trip. I feel the beginings of the mist start to burn the skin on my back and I scream. I cradle my stomach as the poison blisters my skin, and I cry out again. Peeta grabs me and starts pulling me towards the beach. I try to get up but every inch of my skin feels like its burning off.

"What is it?" Finnick asks. "

"She's hurt bad," Peeta says. "I don't think I can carry her." They stop for a moment and suddenly Finnick screams.

"Mags?" He says. "Mags no! No!" I hear a cannon fire and know that I must assume the old woman ran into the fog.

"Finnick!" Peeta yells. "Finnick, shes gone. Now I'm sorry, but you need to help me get Katniss out of here. I can't carry her alone." They are silent for a moment but then then I feel a set of hands on me and someone has me slung on their back. I cry out a little, but don't move much as we continue on to the beach. I have my eyes shut tight so I don't see the hill coming, only feel Finnick tumble and roll down it. I keep going for a while, rolling out onto the sand.

I open my eyes to see the fog seemingly stop as though hitting a wall and I let out a sigh of relief as I breath the fresh air. I hear the water hitting the shore and raise my head to see the water. My body aches as I roll and claw my way towards the water. I hurt so bad. I don't know what tells me it will help, but I reach my hand out into the water and it burns worse then the fog, making me scream, but the burning subsides into a low tingle and the blisters disappear.

"The water!" I gasp. "It hurts, but the blisters go away." I crawl the rest of the way into the water, crying out but my skin slowly starts to feel better. I sit up to see the others following me and we all go into the water. I get back out and sit on the shore. I was burned so badly that my wetsuit is shreded. I take the end out of my hair and run my fingers through it. About half of it comes out in clumps.

"It'll grow back," Peeta says. I nod.

"I know," I stand up, my gait a little unsteady. "We should go. It might come back." We start towards the east, but Peeta stops. "What's wrong?"

"Are those monkeys?" He asks and I nod as I see the orange creatures, recognising them from school books.

"I think so," I say.

"Guys," Finnick says. "They're all around us." I look around and notice he's right.

They slowly close in and they begin to attack. Its a frenzy and I hear a scream. A morphling from 6 had jumped in front of a monkey leaping at Peeta and she falls to the ground. We pull her out of the trees and towards the water, getting her to safety as the monkeys, called by an unseen master, disappear.

"Hey," Peeta says. "Look at me, its gonna be okay. Just watch the sunset." The woman looks up at the sky as she dies. She lets go slowly and after she dies, we leave her in the water for the hovercraft to take. "Why'd she do that?"

"Do what?" I ask.

"She sacrificed herself," he says.

"She did?" I ask.

"Thats what it looked likes to me," Peeta says as the hovercraft grabs her body like a bird grabs prey. I realize hes right. And come to think of it, So did Mags.

What makes us so special that complete strangers gave their lives for us?