After Mockingjay

Chapter 12

I open my eyes and see Peeta and Annie are still sleeping. "Seat belts on!" the pilot yells to us. I wake up Peeta and Annie. I put Annie's seat belt on and await to see the peacekeepers walking around my home. Annie and Finnick are going to grow up experiencing the exact same thing Peeta and I did. This hurts me just to think about it.

It takes about 10 minutes for the hovercraft to land. The doors open and Peeta picks up Annie in one hand, and holds my hand in his other. "Are you ready?" Peeta asks. He knows I've been thinking about the peackeepers. He has too. I can tell. I don't say anything to him, I just nod. We walk out and all of my childhood memories are coming back to me.

Everywhere I look, I see peacekeepers. There uniforms as white as the snow in District 11 Peeta and I saw on the Victory Tour. I look to my right and see the electric fence back up. Peacekeepers are guarding the perimeter of it. More peacekeepers walk past us with their rifles in their hands. Everywhere I look there are cameras. Zooming in on the innocent people of the district. The color is gone in District 12. So is the life.

"Peeta..." I finally manage to get out. "I know. I know." he says trying to calm me. We thank the pilot and walk to the house. We stop when we pass the square. All of the District 12 citizens are there. Peeta and I walk to the back of the crowd. When we get there, everybody turns around and looks at us. One lady comes up in tears and says "I'm sorry Katniss." and she walks away. I look at Peeta and he is as confussed as I am. We push through everybody and finally get to the front. The sight he and I see is going to change our lives forever.

I start to scream when I see Finnick. He is getting whiped by a peacekeeper when Peeta and I get there. He is unconscious and has whip lashes on the back of his legs, his back and his neck. "Finnick!" I yell running to him. Peeta hands Annie to our neighbor and runs over to Finnick and me. We both jump in front of him and yell "Stop!"

"He has had his 20 whips. You can have him now." a peacekeeper says walking off. There is a pool of blood surrounding Finnick and his the back of his legs have nearly no skin left on them. I kneel down beside him yelling "Finnick! Finnick! Sweety, answer me!" but he doesn't answer. There are about a dozen people left in the square by the time I turn around. I start to see things. Again.

I have just been whipped in the face by a peacekeeper. Gale is unconscious and tied up to a wooden post. Haymitch is screaming at the peackeeper. Everything is going blurry in my vision and I can't see out of my right eye. I turn back around and still see Finnick laying there.

"What happened?" I ask Stella, our neighbor. Gale is nowhere to be found. "He rain into the meadow. He got past the fence somehow. I think he was going to pick some flowers and berries." Stella says with watery eyes. I don't say anything. I just stare at my baby boy while I begin to cry.

"Come on! Let's get him to the hospital immediately!" Peeta says trying to hold back his tears as he picks up Finnick in his arms. I nod and take Annie from Stella. "Thank you Stella." I say still crying. I've given up trying to hold back my tears. "Anytime. Let me know how things are, okay?" she says while tears roll down her face. "We'll be sure to." I say walking away.

Ever since my mother died, nobody had been able to take care of anyone who was sick or hurt. So the district built a hospital in her and Prim's memorial.  The whole time Peeta and I are running to the hospital, my mind just keeps flashing to Gale. "How could he do this? How could he let this happen to him? And how could he just let him get whipped?" I ask Peeta. "I don't know Katniss. All I know is that Gale is not to be trusted. Do you understand?" he asks me. We stop in the road and look at each other for a moment. "Of course I do." I say kissing him on the cheek.

We continue running and don't stop until we get there. We get to the hospital and Finnick is still unconscious. "Help! We need a doctor now!" I yell as soon as we enter the doors. "Over here!" a tall man yells. Nurses come running behind him. The man takes Finnick out of Peeta's arms and lays him on a gurney. I look over to Peeta. His had blood all over his arms and his shirt. He just wraps his arms around me in a half hug and we follow the doctor into Finnick's room.

"This is more serious than I thought." the doctor says. "Hundlee! Cronin! I need some help in here!" he screams out in the hall. Two more men run in and look at Finnick. They all start connecting machine to him and the nurses start to stitch up his lashes on his back. "We're going to need you to wait outside please." the doctor tells us. "No! I can't just leave him!" I say to him. "Ma'am, you have to." Hundlee says to me. "It will be better for them to work on Finnick without us as a distraction." Peeta says pulling on my arm. "Okay. Thank you sirs." I say walking out of the room.

I slide down the wall outside of Finnick's room. I just put my hands over face and start balling. I can't believe everything that's happened in the past week. Annie got kidnapped. Peeta and I had to go get her. I trusted Gale with one of the most important things in my life. He let me down. Finnick got whipped for going to the meadow. A place I showed him. I blame myself for everything at first. "No." I tell myself. "It's not my fault. It's Gale's." Peeta slides down with Annie.

"Peeta, I just don't understand. How could Gale let him go past the fence? Get past the guard? And then not even be there when he was getting, well, you know." He pushed the stray hair out of my face. He looks into my eyes. He has tears in his when I look back. "I don't know either Katniss. I wish I did." Peeta says confussed and upset. "You stay here with Annie. I'll be right back." I say standing up. "Where are you going?" he asks me. "Out." I say walking fastly out of the hospital. "I'm going out to find Gale." I say quietly as I walk into the streets of the new District 12.