The Hanging Tree

Chapter 6

One of the peacekeepers takes my arm and lifts me up. I try to yank my arm back but his grip tightens.
"Let me go...." I pull my arm away. He grabs my left arm and yanks me backward. Hard. "Stop! Let me go!"
"He's sentenced for death, that was the last time that you'll see of him. Now go home, this isn't anything for a girl to see."
Anger flushed over me. "You son of a bitch!" I tackle him and punch him. I only get the one hit before he starts beating me. Pain bangs through my skull. The pain doesn't stop. Once he's done he gets up and dusts off his pants. I lay there , the pain still banging in my head. I feel as if I may pass out, but I keep my eyes open. They start dragging Gale to the center of the district. There's nothing I can do. No. I can't give up that easily. For God's sake I've won the games twice. I think I can take on a couple of peacekeepers. I slowly get up, the pain ringing in my head. I wince but I don't touch my head.
I can feel blood trickling from my nose. I walk a couple feet then pause, afraid that I might faint.
"Let him go," they turn around. "Kill me instead." I should've died in the games.
"You've no crime, besides attacking me." the man sounds as if he's not afraid at all. But he should be. I walk up to him. We maintain eye contact, and I try to grab his gun from his belt. He notices right away and grabs my hand. He twists my arm behind me and I wince in pain.
"You foolish girl," his voice is filled with anger."You should've let your friend die. Now you'll die with him."
No. Gale has to live. I kick his legs from underneath him. He falls on his back and I start punching him. There's so much anger that I can't stop.
One of the other peacekeepers picks me up. I struggle out of his grasp and look at the damage I've done. The peacekeeper is pale and lies in a pool of blood. There's a dead look in his eye, a look I know too well.
I killed him.

• • •

I sit in my room, playing with my thumbs. Mother and Prim tend to Gale in the kitchen. Last night, after I killed the man, the peacekeepers took me home and dropped Gale at my doorstep. Prim bandaged my head and had stopped my nose from bleeding. I hadn't killed anyone since the games. It's Snow's fault. He turned me into this......this monster. A mutt.
Someone will come for me eventually. A peacekeeper, or Snow himself. I'll have a punishment. I'll have to.
I'm a mutt.
A mutt.