18. Lucky Shot

       The last time Sabina had come had to be dinner, because I was brought no more food. Maybe it was nighttime, or maybe this was punishment for me trying to escape. My stomach roared at me, and I couldn’t stop it. The last food I was given had already been eaten. Now I just had to wait it out, ignoring my hungry stomach.

            I was so consumed by the guilt of having my own nurse killed because of me that I didn’t touch the notepad. I lightly banged my head against the metal wall as I sat on the bed. I stared at the door, through the window. All I could see was the back of a Peacekeeper. I wondered if Katniss had a guard outside her door, but I wasn’t about to ask her.

            I shut my eyes and tried to think of a happy place. Really, there was no happy place except one within my mind. For now, my happy place was back in District 12, with Gale’s family. I’d help Hazelle make breakfast, try to catch Rory and Vick from outside when they wouldn’t listen to me, be around Posy whenever she needed me. Posy reminded me so much of Raven, no wonder I was so fond of her compared to her two other brothers. Gale was in a league of his own.

            I wasn’t sure now what to think of him. I mean, he was my best friend until he shattered his trust with me. I still believed that all the affection he gave me was because he thought I was Katniss, whereas he knew that I wasn’t.

But now…I didn’t care how mad I was at Gale, I just wanted him here with me, to comfort me. All the times I had been in his arms, I always felt safe, like nothing bad could ever touch me unless they passed him.

            I never really thought about finding love considering the condition 12 was in, with people rebuilding and recuperating. The relationships I only had were family and friends, never a boyfriend. It had felt so good when Gale had kissed me; it was like a fire came alive inside of me. I wanted that feeling again, but if he still loved Katniss, I could never have that. And of course, I would have said I had felt that with Peeta too, but if I felt anything, it was a little spark.

A spark was nothing compared to a flame.

It was kind of obvious who I loved more. With Peeta, I considered him a friend, or like an older brother. With Gale, I loved him. I realized this in just a few days that what I felt for him was more than sibling love; it just took me forever to realize on what level I loved him.

If Gale didn’t choose me over Katniss, in a way, I’d be okay with it. If you love someone, you’re happy with the choices they make; you’re willing to let them go if they love someone else.

            Come break us out already, I thought. I don’t care if it’s been two days since I’ve come here, I can’t take it anymore. My stomach roared at me, and I smelled really bad, although I was sure Katniss was much worse. I couldn’t get her attention unless I banged on the glass wall that separated us, but I just didn’t have enough motivation to do so. She could only talk anyway; all I could do was write on the notepad to express my thoughts.

             I really wished there was some way—any way, really—that I could get my voice back. The idea sounded real impossible, but there’s a saying: that nothing is impossible. To me, things were impossible only if they hadn’t been attempted before. So maybe giving an Avox their voice back just wasn’t tested yet. Of course, I bet nobody saw reason to give an Avox their voice back if losing their tongue was a punishment.

            Movement from the door window caught my eye. The Peacekeeper who guarded my door traded posts with another. This Peacekeeper tried to peek in, I could see his glass visor over his eyes. Yet, unlike the other Peacekeepers’ visors, this one’s was tinted, so I couldn’t see his eyes. But I knew he was looking at me.

I felt a little uncomfortable and scooted to my right, wanting to curl up into the corner and have my back turned to him. Faint, echoing footsteps from Katniss’s cell made me look up. She had herself a Peacekeeper in her room, she didn’t notice him. Like my Peacekeeper, his shield was tinted too, his eyes concealed. Since when do the shields look tinted?

            My head snapped back to my door when my Peacekeeper opened it. Feeling immediately targeted, I slid off to my right to collapse into the corner. The Peacekeeper left the door open just a crack. I eyed it curiously but knew I could never make a break for it, not with my leg still on the mend. My gaze shifted to the Peacekeeper who walked casually to me. I craned my head to peer at the camera.

            I didn’t know what Katniss’s Peacekeeper was doing to her, because I was too focused on the Peacekeeper in my cell. If I felt threatened, I’d lunge for him. He knelt down in front of me, I watched him warily. He tried to reach for me. Instinctively, I slapped him across the face. He grunted.

            “I deserved that,” he huffed.

My mouth dropped. Please tell me I’m not dreaming this.

            Feeling really stupid, I lifted the shield up to see Gale’s eyes. If I could laugh, I would have. He had no idea how happy I was to see him! Feeling overwhelmed, I hugged him tight. I felt a tad bit better when he held me.

            “You have to be Katrina, because there’s no way Katniss would be this excited to see me,” he mused, chuckling. I nodded feverishly. His nose wrinkled. “Phew, you got a little odor going on.” I gave him a nasty look. “Sorry.” He looked at me oddly. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

            That question was an unavoidable one. I sighed silently, and then rubbed my throat, looking at Gale with sorrowful eyes. It didn’t take him long to understand, but his eyes showed total disbelief. I would be the same way he was now. After all, would I believe it if Gale was here in my position, gesturing that he lost his tongue, that he was an Avox?

            “No…” His voice trailed. “They couldn’t have done it. They didn’t.”

            I opened my mouth the widest I could to show him the truth. I saw a flame of hatred flicker in his eyes, but it soon disappeared. If he thought he could hide that from me, he was mistaken.

            I gestured to the notepad on the bed. Gale grabbed it for me, and the pencil. I happened to peer into Katniss’s cell; it looked like Peeta had gotten to her. I was glad, because it would have been awkward had Peeta found my cell instead of hers. She was against the same corner of the wall that I was, just under the camera.

            I wrote as quick as I could.

      Can the camera see us?

      “No, this is the only part of the room it can’t see luckily,” Gale reported, glaring up at the camera above our heads. “Look, we’re going to get you two out of here.”

            How did you manage to pull this off?

      I gestured to his disguise.

            “Oh, this? We managed to get a hold of two Peacekeepers. It wasn’t much of a fight.”

            When they notice us, we can’t fight with just our fists and feet. Please tell me you brought some weapons.

      “All we have is Katniss’s bow and a few arrows. Peeta has them stuck in his uniform.”

            I found that to be a little odd, but then again, a Peacekeeper wielding a bow and arrow would look pretty suspicious, too. I doubted Peacekeepers carried such weak weaponry with them.

            Can we bust out now?

      “How well can you walk?”

            I showed him the bandaged part of my leg. Gale brushed his fingers over it lightly. My leg flinched. He sighed. He knew it wasn’t fully healed.

            “We’ll have to make due.” Gale peered over to Katniss’s cell and made a gesture. My head tilted to the side as Gale turned back to me. “Come on, up you go.”

            Slowly, Gale got me on my feet. I had to hold onto his shoulder for support. I looked up nervously at the camera. We were going to have to be lightning quick if we had any chance of being undetected.

Wait, what was I saying? Even if we were extremely fast, we’d still be caught.

            I managed to get into a nice, limp trot as Gale took lead. I peeked from behind him to see Katniss with Peeta on our left. We were still in front of the cell door.

            “Which way did you come through?” Katniss asked.

            “That way,” Peeta piped, pointing to our left.

            We took off at a slow sprint mainly because of me. Sirens wailed above, making me jump a foot in the air. I didn’t know why when I had heard the noise once before. Everybody seemed to run faster except for me. I heard a cage whoosh open, and ahead I saw the black ball of fur.

            “We have to shoot it!” Peeta roared. While we were running, he yanked out Katniss’s bow and arrow. “Katniss, you have to shoot it.”

            “No! I can’t!” she squeaked. She dropped back with me, clearly not wanting to touch the bow.

            “What’s her deal?” Gale asked. I would have told them, but it was hard since I had no tongue.

I pushed past Katniss, gesturing for Peeta to give me the bow. I had the arrow loaded on the string as the mutt charged us. I squinted one eye shut, focusing for the mutt’s heart. It was hard to though considering I was running and my vision was very bouncy. I didn’t want to wound him, he needed to be dead. Make it count.

I released the arrow, and shockingly, I got a hit. The mutt gave a sharp yelp and collapsed. Katniss let out a gasp as we four ran and hopped over it. Howling erupted behind us, signaling more mutts behind us. Damn.

“There aren’t enough arrows,” Peeta called.

“There’s the elevator!” Gale yelled.

 I kept the bow at my side as we four squeezed into the tiny space. A sea of mixed colors with sharp teeth and claws charged for us. Quickly, I shut the elevator door and located the ground floor button. There was a tiny jerk under our feet, and we were hoisted up.

“How did you learn to shoot like that?” Katniss asked me, panting.

“We taught her in a day,” Gale said, rubbing my back as I caught my breath.

“Good shooting,” Peeta commended me. “We probably wouldn’t have stood a chance against him if you hadn’t gotten to him.”

I gritted my teeth as a sharp throbbing erupted in my leg. I flinched, almost going down. Gale held me upright.

“Her leg,” Katniss whispered.

“It’s got to be hurting,” Gale murmured. I nodded.

“Do you think we should carry her?” Peeta suggested.

“No, it’d slow us down.”

“She can’t keep going on that leg, Gale,” Katniss snapped. “She’d crumble and be easy prey for the Peacekeepers or whatever they throw at us. It’s either we carry her and we all live, or we let her go on her leg and risk her life.”

Katniss did make a good point there, it was risky both ways.

“We have to think of something quick, we’re almost there,” said Peeta.

“How many arrows did you take?” Katniss asked.

“Five, now we’re down to four.”

“That won’t be enough.”

“Then we’ll fight the old fashion way. I hope you don’t mind getting down and dirty.”

“Believe me, I don’t mind at all.”

Amen to that, I thought. I wanted nothing more than to sock a few Peacekeepers.

The moment the elevator door slid open, we bolted. Ahead were the doors that led to our freedom of this hellhole. The sirens still wailed above our heads. Coming from the doors on our left were Peacekeepers. I was about ready to poke Peeta for another arrow but I held back. Save them for when you need them the most.

There were twelve Peacekeepers, all dressed in the usual uniform, clear shields over their eyes. Three a piece for the four of us.

 It was a mess of tangled up bodies. Peeta and Gale doubled up while Katniss and I did the same. As Katniss took on three of her own, I took my three. I ducked, parried, and got a few hits of my own. One Peacekeeper knocked the bow from my hand; I heard it slide across the tile floor. I clenched my jaw and continued fighting.

I got knocked into and staggered forward. A Peacekeeper socked me in the mouth. I spat out a little bit of blood and kicked him in the gut. I most likely just got a tooth or two knocked from my mouth.

The two other Peacekeepers piled on top of me, trapping me under them. I wriggled uneasily as I heard the battle cries of Katniss.

A Peacekeeper knocked one of mine off me, giving me a little more breathing room. I got my legs under the one still on me and threw him off. I struggled to get to my feet.

Katniss bumped into me and I fell forward. I saw four white bodies crumble to the ground around me. I saw seven unconscious Peacekeepers on the ground in total.

Seven down, five to go.

I twisted around just in time to see Peeta losing his fight. I charged with my limp and tackled his Peacekeeper, knocking the guy unconscious. I felt someone grab my arm; I retaliated, throwing a solid hook. It had enough force to knock the Peacekeeper’s helmet off. Though the stringy, dark blond hair was unfamiliar to me, the hard blue eyes weren’t.

Brutus.

I leapt off my former Peacekeeper to engage with the brute. It was a very uneven match. Brutus backhanded me hard, knocking me off balance. I gave a silent cry of pain as he grabbed the scruff of my neck.

“Trying to leave so soon, little Avox?” he crooned. I wiggled uneasily as he turned us both around. I couldn’t shout at Peeta, Gale, or Katniss to help me. All I could do was watch as they fought the remaining conscious Peacekeepers.

Katniss ducked as two foolishly tried to sandwich her. They both collided and knocked themselves out. I saw that Gale lost his helmet, as did Peeta. Katniss kneed one Peacekeeper Peeta held in his arms. Gale threw his enemy at the wall, rendering him unconscious.

“Not so fast,” Brutus called. Katniss, Gale, and Peeta all froze. I fretted quietly. “You three aren’t going anywhere.”

“Face it, you lost,” Katniss hissed. “Now let her go or I’ll—”

“You’ll what, Ms. Everdeen? Shoot me?” He cackled. “If you take one step towards us, Ms. Azaria here will die.” To emphasize his point, I felt a sharp blade at my throat. Where the hell did he get that? No gun? No poison in a needle to jab me with?

Brutus held me tightly; the nape of my neck was throbbing. I wiggled and felt the blade just dig into my skin. Either Brutus was going to slit my throat or break my neck; his grip certainly had the strength capable of doing so.

“What will ensure she doesn’t die?” Gale growled. I saw his hands were in fists; his knuckles looked like they were slowly turning white.

“You surrender. Simple as that,” Brutus said.

“Never,” Katniss spat.

“It’s your only chance of saving her.”

“There’s another way,” Peeta said, suddenly whipping out the bow, an arrow loaded. Brutus tensed. My eyes were wide, and Katniss looked alarmed.

“Peeta, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Kill me and she dies,” Brutus threatened.

“You can’t shoot!” Katniss told Peeta. “Do you want to risk killing her instead of him?”

“Oh this is rich,” Brutus chortled. “Do you honestly think you can shoot me when you have no experience, boy?”

I shook my head, praying Peeta didn’t shoot. If Katniss was right, Peeta was more likely to hit me than the Peacekeeper.

“Tick tock, you three,” Brutus snarled impatiently. I got the sinking feeling that if they didn’t make up their minds, I’d be killed. This was not how I wanted to die. I was too young to, and I had always pictured myself dying of very old age with children and grandchildren, my husband ready to go with me to heaven.

I didn’t know what came over me—maybe it was adrenaline—but I took a stand. I kicked Brutus in the sweet spot, and he wasn’t wearing protection. He gave a yowl of pain as I socked him. I heard a quick slice from the knife and the whoosh of an arrow whizzing past me.

I jumped to the side to see an arrow protruding from Brutus’s chest, blood pooling around the weapon.

**That was particularly hard to write. But it was about time things started to pick up. Remember, feedback is much appreciated/weclome :)**