One Shots and Short Stories

The Aftermath: The Hunger Games.

Authors Note: Soooooo, this is a short chapter. I've had it partially done for the longest time, and I figured that I should just finish it as fast as I can and then post, so that y'all can have new content. I will probably add to it sometime. Hope you like!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Hunger Games characters. I give all credit to Sussane Collins.

The girl paused to catch her breath. She panted, lungs burning. She thought about what was happening behind her. The boy was dead, she knew that much. It was her fault too. A sharp crack issued through the trees behind her. She bolted terror returning to her aching limbs. Trees scrached and clawed at her face. She ran and ran. Mist started to close in around her, stinging her face. Howls echoed through the jungle. The trees parted and moonlight shone in her eyes. She could see the giant saltwater lake in the dim light, and the cornucopia glinted gold. Twelve sandbars stretched from the beach to the small island that the cornucopia stood on. She kept on running. The ground beneath her feet changed from squishy plants to sand to the stone of the sandbars. Something growled. She turned around, but couldn't see much in the lack of light. The water surrounding her rippled. She took a step back. The thing in the water burst out, but before she could register what it was, she fell backwards into the water.
Katniss woke up screaming. She curled up under the blankets and sobbed. This wasn't the worst dream she had had, but that didn't mean it wasn't hard to deal with. She wiped her eyes. It was no use, she knew that she wouldn't ever be able to get back to sleep so she kicked off her covers and got out of bed. The floor was cold under her feet as she tiptoed down the stairs. She went into the bathroom and splashed water on her face, and pulled her hair into a thick braid.    
In the kitchen, she pulled on her jacket and boots then stuffed a buiscut into her mouth. She grabbed her game bag and left the dark house. She wandered through the rubble of the town she grew up in. A few families had returned after evacutating, but not many. Katniss was sure more would return after the town grew some more, but for now, the villagers that hat returned followed her steps with their sunken eyes as she walked to the meadow.
The meadow had almost grown completely back. She was careful not to step on any big clusters of flowers. She promised herself that she would pick some on her way back. She entered the woods through a gap in the fence that nobody bothered to fix, nowdays, more people entered the forest. There were no peacekeepers to stop them, and there was even less food in the villages than before. There weren't any government vendors to feed them let alone any jobs to have money for said vendors. Katniss had to go further to get game. She ran into someone almost every time when she tried to hunt near the meadow. Today she was headed for the lake. She always went their after a bad night.
She hiked for about three hours before she got there. The sun was high in the sky and the little cabin across the water was forlorn as ever. She had shot two squirrels on the way, so she sat on a rock and skinned them.  She stuffed them into her pack and then went to retrieve a fishing rod from inside the cabin.

It was evening when she finally reached the meadow again. She grabbed her flowers and went back to Victor's Village. Back when people first started coming back to what was left of District Twelve, a few families took residence in the big houses that used to belong to the victors. They had tentitively asked her and Peeta for permission. They had told them of course, that they could.
Katniss climbed the three steps to the large porch and opened the door. She noticed a sweet smell as she kicked off her muddy boots in the entryway. She walked softly to the kitchen after disgarding her game bag and her bow.
Peeta stood over the stove cooking something, when he heard her enter he turned around. "I ran out of space in my oven," he said. "You weren't here so I went ahead and used yours.
"That's fine." she said.
She retrieved her game bag and brought it into the kitchen to start dressing the squirrels. She worked alongside Peeta in silence for a long time. When they were finished they sat down at the big table. The very same one that Katniss had seen her mom help so many people on, the same one that she had kissed Gale on.  She picked at her food.
    "Did you have another dream?"
The voice jarred her from her thoughts. He knew her too well. "Maybe." she said
    "Knock it off." Peeta persisted, "I know you. You are never this quiet, unless something's wrong."
    "I did have a dream."
    "See I know!"
    "I know you know. It wasn't that bad though."
    "That is a lie." he frowned, "You always say goodbye when you go off into the woods, I was worried."
    "I'm sorry."
    "It's okay." He stood up and walked toward her. He wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back. When they parted, he picked up her plate and placed it with his in the sink.
    "It's going to be ok. He said
    "Thanks."