WAY DOWN WE GO

CHAPTER TWO: DESPAIR IN THE AIR

THE world stopped as Katniss took in the words she was hearing.

They were coming for Prue today.

Soon.

Katniss shot into the dining room and disappeared as she rushed into the kitchen, she had to get them out, they had to leave.

She was throwing cabinets open as she went, grabbing herbs and parcels of food they'd be able to preserve. Peeta had come into the kitchen now and was looking at her with something she thought was grief.

It was hopelessness.

"Katniss," he murmured, she didn't dare to look at him, to catch his hopelessness and lose faith in the idea of escape.

"Katniss," he spoke again, his voice firmer now. She stopped and slowly turned to look at him, just as they locked gazes a series of rough knocks came from the door.

"No," she breathed out, "no."

She was running now, running to Prue and grabbing her hand, they still had time. She could still get them out.

She tugged her daughter towards the back doors and shoved them open, "Come on," she motioned towards her husband and Rye.

The young boy chased after his mother as she dove out into the tall grass of the outdoors. She was hurtling down the small hill that led to the woods and was reaching back for Rye's hand when she saw Peeta rushing after them. He was going to come, he was going to escape with them.

A shot rang out through the air.

Katniss almost froze, but knew it was the difference between life and death.

She kept tugging on her children, "Mommy," Rye gasped.

Katniss turned to him with wide eyes. Dark red blossomed from his abdomen and Katniss looked back at Peeta, his hands were in his hair as if he was fighting with himself before he rushed towards them and dropped onto his knees beside his son.

Katniss' hand was still holding Ryes and she found for a moment she didn't know how to let go, turning to Prue she wrenched her hand free and motioned towards the trees.

"Go," she spoke, Prue stood still beside her mother, staring down at her brother with teary eyes, "GO!" her mother screamed.

"Go," she cried as she dropped down beside Rye and Peeta.

Prue took a final look back at their home and watched as a swarm of peacekeepers flew out through the back doors in their direction.

She ran.

She ran towards what she hoped was freedom, what she hoped was her brother, her mother, and her father.

A heavyweight flew at her from behind, knocking the wind out of her as she collapsed to the ground face-first.

She clawed at the ground to get air in and took a greedy gulp of it when her lungs finally opened again.

A white helmet stared back at her, a soulless avatar with a person behind it, a peacekeeper.

She stared at him as she lay on her stomach, she hadn't realized just how close the peacekeepers had been when they'd started heading in their direction.

Reaching out both his hands the peacekeeper snatched her up within seconds and posed both of her arms behind her back in a tight hold. "Don't make this worse than it needs to be," he murmured as he placed the cold silver cuffs on her.

She wasn't a criminal. How could they do this? Who had let them do this?

The two walked on in silence, the only sound being the clinking of Prue's cuffs as they slapped against each other and the heaving of her breaths as she tried to take them in.

When they reached her yard her mother turned to look and let a sob escape her, "NO!" She cried out, Prue could only watch on as a man scooped up Rye and carried him away.

She didn't know if he was alive or dead.

But she would've assumed the latter.

Both her father and mother stood side by side in cuffs, as she passed she noticed a few tears trickling down her father's cheeks, over her being caught or what she could assume was her brother's death, she didn't know.

Prue never got the chance to ask as the peacekeeper dragged her along towards a line of bulky white vehicles, she'd only seen such things in drawings her mother had sketched and painted to put in her books.

But she knew they were no good. She knew that the people who operated them were far worse now than the ones her mother had dealt with as a child, she knew there was no sympathy for them to extend, only fear and pain.

When they reached the line of vehicles the peacekeeper led her towards one closer to the middle, he popped open the door for her and placed a hand over her head to keep her from hitting it against the ceiling of the car.

She watched in silence from the window of the vehicle as her parents were dragged off to white vehicles of their own in handcuffs, she could only wonder what would happen to them.

After what felt like forever to Prue, the peacekeeper returned to the car with what she thought to be his partner. They exchanged a few words and then climbed into their respective seats, Prue leaned forward and watched as the man started the vehicle, she'd never seen one being operated and was more than confused as they began driving down the beaten old concrete road.

She thought a quick goodbye to the victors' village, she was positive it would be her last time seeing it, and her family.

They drove for a while, long enough for Prue to bore and begin listening to the conversation of the peacekeepers.

They didn't say anything of much interest, and Prue found that she could only blankly stare out the window. The trees swayed in the wind and she wondered if maybe it had carried the smell of gunfire with it, if maybe, there was some trace of her brother there.

When the vehicle eventually stopped, Prue watched as the peacekeeper hopped out and popped open her door. She could only stare at the ruins of what had once been the justice building, the pillars were cracking and the roof had holes in it, and yet somehow, it was still standing.

Maybe it was a sign that the districts would come back, that Panem would return to its past state of dictatorship.

She knew she was going to play a part in the rewind of history. She'd be a dead, or living example for Panem to use.

When the two men pulled her along all she could do was tug against their arms, she had her hands cuffed behind her back and no weapon. She was at their mercy.

Despite her few tugs of protest, they managed to get her inside the mostly rundown building. There would be no drawing of a name this time, no chance to say goodbye to their loved ones, only the train ride.

Prue found that unlike the games before her time, the train was simple, a rundown cabin with a small sofa to sit on. Other than that, it may as well have been a cattle car.

She shivered at the thought. That's what they were. Cattle, waiting to be slaughtered. Mere toys that would bring joy to others. She looked at the four walls surrounding her, that was all there was. Nothing, and no one. She sat in silence with the cold metal cuffs hanging from her wrists, she wondered what was to happen to her family. If they too would suffer the way she was meant to.

It felt as if the train ride would last forever, with no windows, and only a shred of light peeking in from a crack in the train door, Prue was only aware that it was still daytime. When what she thought had been an hour and a half had passed the train slowed and the sound of a crowd outside could be heard, Prue's stomach dropped as the train door opened.

She was cornered with nowhere to go. Despite this, she pressed herself into the farthest wall and watched as a peacekeeper climbed into the train car, "I told you this before, don't make this worse than it needs to be," Prue shook her head, "I don't belong here, this is wrong!" she cried out. The peacekeeper stepped closer as Prue scooted further along the wall, she knew she didn't stand a chance, that she wasn't going to make it out of this. But she had to try.

Once the peacekeeper had come around the side of the sofa she booked it for the train doors, she'd managed to jump from the ledge of the doorway onto the white cement when something ripped at her arm.

A small dart had wedged itself into her skin and for a moment Prue stared at it, she could only describe it as a feeling of confusion, like a brain fog of sorts.

She turned and watched as the peacekeeper stepped down from the doorway of the train and swiftly walked over to her, he roughly grabbed her arm and that was when her legs finally gave out. Using both of his arms, he swooped her up and began to carry her to yet another one of the bulky white vehicles she had very quickly come to hate.

The sky above seemed to blur together and she found that the white helmet of the peacekeeper had begun to melt together with the sky and the clouds until she couldn't tell what was what.

"I tried to warn you," he murmured as she closed her eyes.

Prue hoped this was the end for her.

That her suffering was over.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

When she awoke she found herself in what appeared to be a physician's clinic. She was lying on a cold metal table and as she tried to sit up she realized restraints were holding her arms and legs down, she let a heavy breath fall from her lips and tried not to panic. Why was she here? Why was she on a cold table? What were they going to do to her?

Prue watched as a woman who could've only been a couple of years older than her entered the room, she didn't smile and instead gave the girl a sad look, one full of grief and regret. She stared back at the woman with fear in her eyes, did she know who she was?

"I'm so sorry," the woman whispered with her back to Prue, "Please," Prue pleaded, "please let me go, I won't ever come back, please."

The woman turned to face Prue with a large needle in her hand, "I can't do that, I wish I could, but, if I don't do this, I lose everything," she stepped closer to the table and gently rested her free hand on Prue's arm.

"I need you to relax, I don't want this to hurt more than it should," Prue's arms pressed against the restraints and she reared her head back against the metal table. The woman immediately stepped back from Prue and set the needle down on a table next to the one Prue laid on, within seconds she was at the head of the table and was working on securing a heavy strap against the girl's forehead.

Prue fought against the strap and found that no matter how hard she tried, she was not going to win this battle. With this new level of security to keep her from harming herself, Prue watched as the woman retrieved the needle and once again rested her free hand on Prue's arm, "Just stay still," she whispered as she slid the needle through Prue's skin.

A small groan escaped the girl's lips as the woman pushed the contents of the syringe into her arm and withdrew the needle, "You're going to stay on this table for a little while longer until the sedative kicks in, and then when you wake up you'll be somewhere else, just please, try and make this as easy as possible for yourself, the more you fight, the harder it is for everyone else, all the people you care about."

Prue watched her with teary eyes and shook her head, "I'm not gonna go easy, for the people I care about."

WAY DOWN WE GO

CHAPTER TWO: DESPAIR IN THE AIR