After hearing the door burst down, Rue blocked out all the images flashing before her eyes. There was just a slowly fading scene of a dark warehouse room with some blurred figures. One figure was weilding a large hunting rifle, light streaming behind it from the door it busted in. The other two figures were standing off to the side, motionless. As the hunting rifle cocked, so did a pistol in another blur's hand. The room grew whiter and whiter, and the shot rang in her ears for what seemed to be an eternity. The white grew deep and overpowering, and the noise faded.
A wavering voice brought her back.
"We h-havvvve to get yyyyouuu h-hoome, R-Ruuuue...Mom's g-g-getting anxiooousss..."
The first thing she saw thought the whitish fog was her brother's bruised and mortified face.
"Can you w-w-walk?"
Rue said nothing, as it seemed she could not speak. Something almost overpowered her will to stay awake.
But then she saw her brother's face again, and her feeble, dying mind told her otherwise.
"OK, I guesssss that's a n-n-no...WHERE'S THAT STUPID PHONE?!"
As Cinna panicked and hunted for his phone in the dim warehouse, her eye fell upon 2 bodies sprawled across the concrete floor. Her eye wandered, taking it all in but not comprehending. The pistol was about 3 yards from her, and she could see it had made a straight shot...to her very bloody, but perfectly toned calf. Someone had hastily tied strips of fabric around the bullethole, but blood had completely soaked all of the bandages. She could see that the gun had fallen out of Claude's hand, and that Hattie had tried to get the weapon back, but had it wrestled out of her hand after it fired a shot. Cinna was pacing furiously, trying to contact authorities. As Rue blacked out for the third time that day, she just managed to croak into the phone, "I've...been...shot..."
***
"She's been out for a week, Mrs. Mellark. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do but wait. She's on the strongest meds we have."
The raven-haired, broad-chested doctor spoke in a deep baritone. Katniss was not comforted. Even her husbands arms offered little reassurance. Her daughter was dying. She couldn't have that, not after all she'd seen, not after the ones she'd lost...her firstborn would be the most painful by far. As they left the ICU, Katniss thought of all the death she'd seen: her mother treating the broken miners, the bloody battlefields of the Games and the revolt, her sister, her friends, even her game, illegally obtained--all seen by her Seam-gray eyes.
"Peeta, I can't see anyone else I love die. I can't even see those I DON'T love die!"
Peeta stopped and tried his best to stifle her sobs, but it was difficult, seeing as he'd seen many of the same things she did. Tears soaked his shirt as they both shared in their fading hopes for life.
As Rue slept, she dreamed of the Meadow, which she never would know was a graveyard.
A wavering voice brought her back.
"We h-havvvve to get yyyyouuu h-hoome, R-Ruuuue...Mom's g-g-getting anxiooousss..."
The first thing she saw thought the whitish fog was her brother's bruised and mortified face.
"Can you w-w-walk?"
Rue said nothing, as it seemed she could not speak. Something almost overpowered her will to stay awake.
But then she saw her brother's face again, and her feeble, dying mind told her otherwise.
"OK, I guesssss that's a n-n-no...WHERE'S THAT STUPID PHONE?!"
As Cinna panicked and hunted for his phone in the dim warehouse, her eye fell upon 2 bodies sprawled across the concrete floor. Her eye wandered, taking it all in but not comprehending. The pistol was about 3 yards from her, and she could see it had made a straight shot...to her very bloody, but perfectly toned calf. Someone had hastily tied strips of fabric around the bullethole, but blood had completely soaked all of the bandages. She could see that the gun had fallen out of Claude's hand, and that Hattie had tried to get the weapon back, but had it wrestled out of her hand after it fired a shot. Cinna was pacing furiously, trying to contact authorities. As Rue blacked out for the third time that day, she just managed to croak into the phone, "I've...been...shot..."
***
"She's been out for a week, Mrs. Mellark. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do but wait. She's on the strongest meds we have."
The raven-haired, broad-chested doctor spoke in a deep baritone. Katniss was not comforted. Even her husbands arms offered little reassurance. Her daughter was dying. She couldn't have that, not after all she'd seen, not after the ones she'd lost...her firstborn would be the most painful by far. As they left the ICU, Katniss thought of all the death she'd seen: her mother treating the broken miners, the bloody battlefields of the Games and the revolt, her sister, her friends, even her game, illegally obtained--all seen by her Seam-gray eyes.
"Peeta, I can't see anyone else I love die. I can't even see those I DON'T love die!"
Peeta stopped and tried his best to stifle her sobs, but it was difficult, seeing as he'd seen many of the same things she did. Tears soaked his shirt as they both shared in their fading hopes for life.
As Rue slept, she dreamed of the Meadow, which she never would know was a graveyard.
