206It took me checking my email and reading a newish review to finally kick my out of my depression and do this all again. Thank you for waiting for me, it means a lot.
We wait but, nothing happens.
He was bluffing.
And at that moment, all of the pain, sorrow, disgust, shame, and shit he put me through pile up and explodes as if that big red button blew up my emotions, causing them to spill out in an explosion to match those of a thousand mines.
I scream- or roar- or something in between.
"You BASTARD!" I leap to my feet and charge over to him, knocking him against a tree.
"YOU. FUCKING. PIECE. OF. SHIT. MELLARK!" between every word I slam him into the tree, his head lolling like a rag doll.
"Katniss-" Marvel starts
"NO MARVEL. I HATE HIM. I HATE HIS VERY EXSISTENCE! HE'S EVIL. PURE EVIL!"
"I know!" Marvel mutters
"What?" I growl
"He's the Capitol rolled into one person, minus the dyed skin and hair. He's everything the Rebellion hates. If the districts see him, that will spark the uprising. He is what will make the people fight. You are their hope; he is what they despise." He explains
"You want me to keep him?" I ask incredulously
"No, we just can't kill him yet"
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that." the darkness in my voice startles me
"This isn't you Katniss!" he tries again.
"Yes it is..."
"No its not, the Katniss I know was loathe to kill anyone. She only wanted to get back to her sister and Gale. She was the Girl on Fire, kind, fair, calm. What happened to her?"
"He killed her." I glare at Peeta
"No she's still in there. I know it. Katniss you need to calm down and think this through."
"What happened to you?" I ask "You were ready to kill him an hour ago, what happened?"
"When that button hit the ground, I realized I didn't want to die being someone I'm not. Sound familiar?"
"No" I say stubbornly but, I know he's right. I let Peeta fall to the ground.
"And" He continues
"And what?" I ask, turning to face him; a blush rises to my face when I realize how close we really are.
"And I couldn't die without telling you I love you" His words come out in a rush and before I know it I'm swept into a kiss. We break apart to breathe.
"Seriously?" I ask with a smirk and Marvel bursts into laughter.
"Something close enough to that" he chuckles.
The red that stains my cheeks is unavoidable after that
Marvel got what he wanted though; I most definitely wasn't thinking about Peeta now.
"We only have an hour left." Marvel observes.
I look up at the sky. He's right; its eleven now.
We had somehow managed to to incapacitate and restrain Peeta and now we were riding around looking for a safe place to sleep. If there even was one. All the while we had avoided being in the active sections.
"We can't make it back to everyone in time and I have no idea what section we're in right now." I sigh
"We probably should have made a note of which direction we were traveling in." Marvel laughs in a self deprecating tone.
"Well we haven't died yet so that's a good thing." I try to joke.
Peeta stirs and groans on the back of Kanji. The flashbacks don't come to me anymore; as if I've deleted them from my mind. I know what happened has happened but, its nice not reliving it every time I close my eyes.
"Do you smell that?" Marvel asks randomly.
I take a deep whiff of the air and nod. It was saltwater.
"We must be nearer to the others than we thought." I reason. "I can even hear the waves against the beach. We must be really close."
We keep walking in the same direction until Kiera bumps into a invisible wall.
Marvel and I look at each other with grim expressions.
"We aren't near the others. And I have a feeling were on the inside of this wall." he says.
The smell of the ocean gets stronger along with the sound of rushing water. It starts with a salty mist, then a small stream of water, then a small river.
We look at each other a nod.
"Run" We say simultaneously.
I dig my heels into Kiera and she takes off at an awesome speed with Marvel and Kanji right beside me. I dare to look back and gasp at the wall of water following us. We bolt through the thick foliage not even bothering to wince at the leaves slapping us.
Faster!
Faster!
I'm not sure how but I hear the sound of the gas being distributed above the sound of raging water. I begin to feel Kiera slow down and my mind follows. The water is lapping at our feet and we just barely beat it to the beach. The wave takes us out into the water surrounding the Cornucopia and I'm dragged under. I open my eyes to see Marvel is next to me; only hes completely asleep. I panic and swim towards him; grabbing him by the arm and dragging him to shore. I listen for his breath and breath a sigh of relief when I faintly feel it against my ear. Somewhere in my foggy mind I suddenly remember Peeta. I look around in a panic only to see him caught on one of the outlying trees. Both cats were asleep on the beach too heavy for the wave to take out into the water. Everyone was safe. Everyone was fine.
With that thought. I drift off to sleep as well.