Chapter 9 Chapter Nine Blood Warning

When I was sleeping, I had nightmares again and again, so I didn't sleep at all.Whenever the doctor on duty came to check, I would lie still and pretend to breathe evenly.In the morning, the doctor released me and told me to relax.Cressida asked me to record a few more lines for the Mockingjay series.At lunch, I waited for the topic of Peeta to be brought up, but no one did.Someone besides Finnick and me must have seen him on TV. On the schedule, I was going to be training, but Gale was going to work with Beetle in the weapons department, so I got permission to go for a walk in the woods with Finnick.We wandered around for a while, then buried the walkie-talkie in the bushes.When we were some distance away and it was safe, we sat down and discussed Peeta's TV interview.

"I haven't heard anything about him, or told you?" Finnick said.I shake my head.He hesitated, then asked, "Even Gale didn't tell you?" I was still holding out hope that Gail didn't know anything about Peeta, but I had a bad feeling that he did. . "Maybe he wants to find a suitable time to talk to you in private." "Maybe," I said. After that, we stayed in silence for a long time, when suddenly a stag appeared in our sight.I hit it with an arrow.Finnick dragged the buck to the fence. At mealtimes, there is minced venison in the stew.After we finished eating, Gail sent me to Room E.When I asked him how he was doing, he still didn't mention Peeta.At night, as soon as my mother and sister fell asleep, I took out the pearl from the drawer and held it tightly in my hand.It was another sleepless night, and I spent the whole night thinking about Peeta's line, "Ask yourself, do you really trust the people you're with? Do you really know what's going on? If you don't know... find out." Find out?what is the answer?From whom?How does he know anything other than what the Capitol told Peeta?It's just Capitol TV promotion, a noise.But if Plutarch thinks it's just a Capitol trick, why didn't he tell me about it?Why didn't anyone let me or Finnick know about this?

Behind all this debate, it was Peeta who was really hurting me.How did they treat him?What is being done to him?Clearly, Snow didn't believe that Peeta and I were ignorant of the mutiny, and my being a mocking bird only confirmed his suspicions.Peeta can only use his imagination to guess what happened, to make excuses for his tormentors.Lies, once discovered, will attract more severe punishment.He must have felt that I had betrayed him.He also tried to protect me and the other rebels during the first interview.And I, not only failed to protect him, but caused him more trouble. In the morning, I propped my arms against the wall and stared hard at my timetable.According to the schedule, I will go to the manufacturing department after breakfast.In the restaurant, as I was walking to the table with warm rice, milk, and beet porridge, I happened to see a Kamit on Gail's wrist. "When did you get it back, Hawthorne soldier?" I asked.

"Yesterday. They figured this could be a backup communication tool if I were to go out into the wild with you," Gale said. I wonder how no one ever gave me a Carmit.If I ask for one too, will they say yes? "Well, I think one of us must be approachable." I said with some meaning. "What do you mean by that?" he said. "Nothing, just repeating what you said. I totally agree that the one who can be approached is you. I just wish I could still be approached by you," I said to him. At this point, our eyes met, and I realized how angry I was with Gale.I never believed he didn't know anything about Peeta.He didn't tell me it made me feel betrayed.We know each other too well, it is impossible for him not to know why I am angry and who made me angry.

"Katniss..." He hesitated to speak, and there was already a hint of guilt in his words. I grabbed the tray, walked to the closet, threw the tray on the shelf and stormed out, Gail overtook me in the hallway. "Why don't you ask?" he asked, grabbing my arm. "Why didn't I ask?" I broke free from his hand, "Why didn't you tell, Gail? I asked, too. Last night I asked how you were doing!" "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know what to do then. I wanted to tell you, but everyone's scared that Peeta's TV will make you sick," he said.

"They're right. Yes. But no matter how sick I am, it's not like you lied to me about Cohn." And then his Carmite rang. "Look, she is looking for you, you go, you need to report to her." For a split second, I saw a look of pain on Gail's face, and then, a look of anger.He turned sharply away.Maybe I was too harsh and didn't give him time to explain.Maybe everyone is lying to me to protect me.I do not care.I'm tired of people lying to me for my sake.In fact, it is for themselves in the final analysis.The rebellion plan is to hide from Katniss, lest she do something crazy; you can't tell her anything when you enter the arena in order to successfully rescue her; don't tell her about Peeta's TV interview, or she will get sick, It was hard enough getting her into good shape.

I am really uncomfortable, I feel bad.I was also tired after working in the production department for a day.But I had come to the door of the dressing room, so I walked in.Today, I found out that we are going back to District 12 for filming.Cressida was doing a live impromptu interview with Gail and me, set in the ruined 12th district. "Are you both going to be filming?" Cressida asked looking into my face. "Count me in," I said.I just stood there in a daze, unwilling to say any more words.While my makeup artist dressed me, a mannequin did my hair and makeup at the same time.The makeup is so light that it doesn't really stand out, and only covers the corners of my lower eye sockets, which are protruding from lack of sleep.

Boggs escorted me to the hangar, and we didn't say anything other than a simple hello.I'm grateful we didn't bring up District 8 again, especially now that he's wearing a mask and it's uncomfortable to watch. Before I left, I thought of sending a letter to my mother, telling her that I was leaving District 13, and specifically stating that this mission was not dangerous.We are going to take a helicopter to the 12th district not far from here. When we got on the plane, I was directed to sit at a table where Plutarch, Gail and Cressida were studying a map.Plutarch told me with satisfaction the changes that had taken place before and after the show.Before, the rebels in several districts had little room to stand, and then they united.The rebels had captured Districts Three and Eleven—particularly important because it was Panem’s breadbasket—and launched attacks on several others.

"Hopefully, hopefully. Fulvia is picking up the first locations for 'We Should Remember' tonight so we can focus on the precincts and their passing 'tributes', Finnick really That's great," Plutarch said. "It must have been painful for him to see it. He knew a lot of people." Cressida said. "That's what hits it. It's all from the heart. You all did a great job, Cohen is very pleased." Apparently Gale didn't tell them about me pretending I didn't see Peeta's telecast and being mad at him for hiding it.Maybe it's too small to mention, and it's too late to tell them, but I don't want to let it go.

It wasn't until we got to "The Ranch" that I realized Haymitch wasn't with us.I asked Plutarch why he wasn't here, and Plutarch just shook his head and said, "He can't handle this." "Haymitch? Can't face it? I think I want to take a day off." I said. "I think what he said was 'I can't do this without alcohol,'" Plutarch said. I rolled my eyes, expressing disdain for his words.I had long since lost patience with my advisor's alcoholism and surly temper.But within five minutes of my return to District 12, I also wish I had a bottle of wine for myself.I thought I'd come out of the massacre of District 12—I'd heard it, I'd seen it from the air, I'd walked in its ashes.But why do I still feel a pain in my heart?Did I stay away from death before I fully realized what it really meant?Or is it because of Gail's painful expression when his feet set foot on this land that people really feel the pain of death?

Cressida directs the crew from my old home.I asked her what she wanted me to do. "Do whatever you feel," she replied.I stood in the kitchen of my old home, not knowing what to do.In fact, I was looking up at the sky - the sky was its roof - and the past was floating before my eyes.After a while, Cressida said, "Very well, Katniss. Let's get on with it." At first, Gale was a little uncomfortable putting on his old clothes.Cressida filmed several minutes of him not speaking.But when he pulled something from the past - an old crooked poker - out of the rubble, she began asking him about his family, work and life in the Seam. Condition.She asked him to go back to the night of the bombing and re-enact the scene.The filming started from his home, and he ran all the way to the "ranch", through the woods, and to the lake.I ran behind the camera crew and bodyguards, and I felt their presence was a rash violation of my beloved Linzi.It is a private place, a sanctuary, but it has been defiled by the evil Capitol.We continued to stumble over rotting corpses long after we had left the charred tree stumps near the fence.Is it necessary for us to film all this for all to see? By the time we got to the lake, Gail seemed too tired to speak.Everyone is sweating—especially Custer and Pollux, who are wearing their beetles—and Cressida tells everyone to stop.I scooped up the water in the lake with my hands, wishing I could slam it down, and then float naked in the middle of the lake by myself without anyone seeing me.I walked slowly around the lake for a while.When I walked back, back to the cement room, I saw Gale standing on the wall next to the fireplace with a bent poker just pulled from the ruins.For a moment I seemed to see a lonely stranger from the distant past who had lost his way in the wild woods and suddenly came across this little place of refuge.There was chopped wood, a fireplace, and a poker.I wondered how I could feel this way.Gale turned, and his eyes met mine, and I knew he was thinking about our past, about our hesitation about running or not running.If we had escaped then, would District 12 have been safe?I think so.But the whole of Panem will still be under Capitol rule. Someone brought cheese sandwiches and we all ate them in the shade.I deliberately sat next to Poros, far away from everyone, so as not to have to talk to people.In fact, everyone didn't say much.In this relatively quiet time, the chirping of birds can be heard.I nudged Poros and pointed out a small black bird with a crest.Birds hopped among the branches, occasionally spreading their wings, revealing the white feathers inside.Pollux pointed to my brooch, then raised his eyebrows questioningly.I nodded, assuring him that it was a mockingjay.I put up a finger to show him wait, I'll show you, and whistled to imitate a bird, and the mockingjay cocked its head and imitated my voice immediately.Then, to my amazement, Pollux whistled his own tune, and the birds immediately followed him.A happy smile appeared on Poros's face immediately, and he blew several ditties in succession to answer the bird.I'm guessing this is his first real communication in years.Harmonious ditties attract mockingjays like flowers attract bees.After a while, his whistle attracted half a dozen birds to settle on the branches above our heads.He patted my arm and wrote three words on the ground with a branch, singing? Normally I would say no, but in this case it seemed impossible for me to say no to Boros.Also, the mockingjay makes different chirps and chirps when imitating song and whistle, and I wanted him to listen to that too.So, without thinking, I sang Lulu's four-note ditty, which she used to sing after a day's work in District 11 as a call-off.The tune was still echoing in the woods when she was killed.The birds, oblivious to this, sang this simple ditty, their voices rising and falling among each other, beautiful and harmonious.It's the same tune that blew out in the Hunger Games when the wild dogs chased us through the woodlands, cornered us to the Horn of Zeus, and finally tore Cato to pieces... "Want to hear them sing a real song?" I blurted out.I don't want this tune to haunt me anymore, just sing something else to distract it.I got up and walked into the woods, holding my hand on the gnarled maple trunk where the birds rested. I haven't sung the song "The Hanging Tree" for ten years because I was never allowed to sing it, but I remember every line of the song.So I sang it softly and slowly, just like Dad did when he sang this song. Will you, will you, come to the tree where a man who took three lives was hanged.Stranger things have happened here, but what's even stranger is that we meet at midnight under this hanging tree.Mockingjay heard me sing a new song and started changing his tune too. Will you, will you, come to this tree, where the dead man calls his lover to run away, strange things happen here, but even more strange is that we meet at midnight under this hanging tree.The birds are listening carefully.Sing another verse, and they will surely learn it, for the tune is simple and repeated four more times. Would you, would you, come to this tree, this is where I let you run away so we could both be free Stranger things have happened here, but even stranger we are at midnight under this hanging tree meet.There was silence in the woods, save for the rustling of leaves, but no singing of birds, mockingjays or otherwise.Peeta was right, the birds were really quiet when I sang, just like when Daddy sang. Would you, would you, come to this tree with a necklace of rope around your neck, shoulder to shoulder with me, something strange happened here, but it was even more strange that we were at midnight under this hanging tree meet.The birds were waiting for me to continue singing, but the song was over.This is the last paragraph.In silence, I recall the past.One day my dad and I came home from hunting in the woods, and we sat on the floor with Prim, who was babbling, singing "The Hanging Tree."We both wore necklaces of string around our necks, not knowing the true meaning of the words.The tunes are easy to learn.I was at that age, and all the songs were memorized by singing only once or twice.Suddenly, Mom pulled the rope from our necks and yelled at Dad.I've never seen my mother lose her temper, and immediately started crying, and Prim was terrified and crying, and I ran outside.Hide in a honeysuckle bush on the "pasture" where I always hide.Dad found me soon.He tried his best to comfort me and said it was fine, but he would never sing this song again.Mom told me to forget about the song.However, since then, every word of this song has been deeply engraved in my memory. We, Dad and I never sang the song or even brought it up again.After my father died, this song always lingered in my head.When I grew up, I slowly realized the meaning of the lyrics.At first glance, the meaning of the lyrics seems to be that a young man will secretly meet with the girl he loves in the middle of the night.But the location of the tryst was very mysterious. It was under a tree where people were hanged, and the hanged person killed someone.The murderer's lover must also have something to do with the murder, so she must be punished, so the murderer's body calls her to run away together.A talking corpse is already a bizarre story, but it's not until the third paragraph of "The Hanging Tree" that the story becomes truly terrifying.Singers are murderers.He remained on the tree, and though he told his lover to run away, he kept asking her if she would come to meet him.The line "This is where I let you run away so we'll both be free" was the weirdest.People began to think that when he told her to run away, he must have run away to safety.It was only later that he realized that he had asked her to come to him and run towards death together.It's clear in the last paragraph that this is exactly what he's been waiting for.His lover, wearing a necklace made of rope, hanged beside him from the tree. I used to think this singer was the scariest person.But after experiencing the Hunger Games a few times, I don't think I can just jump to conclusions like that.Maybe his lover has been sentenced to death, and he just wants her to suffer less, he wants to let her know that he is waiting for her, maybe he thinks his lover's current situation is worse than death.Didn't I also want Peeta to drink too much syrup to kill him and save him from the Capitol?Is that my only option?Maybe not, but at the time I couldn't think of a better way. I think Mom must have thought the lyrics were too weird for a seven-year-old.Especially the girl who made herself a rope necklace.Hanging isn't just a story, either; many people in District 12 have been executed in this way.She sure wouldn't want me to sing a song like that in music class.Now if she were here, she would certainly not want me to sing this song to Poros.But at least I didn't sing it to other people—oh wait, no, I was wrong.I glanced to the side, and I saw Custer was videotaping me, everyone was watching me intently, and Poros' tears were already streaming down his cheeks.Evidently, this unimaginable song of mine had touched some terrible memory in the back of his mind.Great.I sighed and leaned against the tree trunk behind me.At this time, the mockingjay began to imitate the song "The Hanging Tree".The song they sang with their crisp voices is beautiful.Realizing I was recording, I stood there silently until Cressida yelled "Stop". Plutarch smiled and walked over to me. "Where did you get that song? No one will believe it when we make the show!" He put his arms around me and slapped me loudly on the top of my head. "You're amazing !" "I didn't sing for the shoot," I said. "Fortunately, the camera is on. Alright guys, let's go to town!" he said. A group of us trekked hard through the forest, and on our way back to the city, we came across a big rock.Gale and I couldn't help but look in the same direction, like two dogs smelling something on the wind.Cressida noticed our movements and asked me what was over there.Both of us replied in unison, that's where we met when we used to hunt.She said she wanted to take a look, although we told her there was nothing special there. There's nothing special about this place, just a place where I'm happy.I thought to myself. This is the rock where we hid, overlooking the entire canyon from here.Maybe it's not as green as usual, but the blackberries are all over the branches.There are infinite memories here: hunting, trapping, fishing, picking wild fruits, walking in the forest, we filled the game bags full, and the mood was extremely relaxed and carefree.Here is a door leading to a better life with no worries about food and clothing, and healthy mind and body.We are each other's keys. Now, we don't have to sneak out of the 12th district, and we don't have to fool the vigilantes, and we don't have hungry family members waiting for us.The Capitol took it all from us.I'm even losing Gail.The emotional bonds that have bound us together for so many years are slowly unraveling.Rifts and shadows appeared between us.Facing the ruins of the 12th district, we are so angry that we don't even bother to say anything? Gail was lying to me.While he was concerned about my physical health, it was unacceptable for me not to be honest with me.But his apology seemed sincere, and I made him feel so sad that I humiliated him in front of him.What's going on between us?Why are we always at odds now?What a mess, and if traced back to the source of the inconsistency, I feel like my behavior is at the heart of the problem.Do I really want to drive him away from me? I plucked a blackberry off a branch and kneaded it between my forefinger and thumb.Suddenly, I turned around and threw the blackberry at Gale. "I wish you forever..." I said.I toss the blackberry high so he has time to decide whether to catch it or knock it aside. Instead of looking at the blackberry, Gale stared at my face, and at the last moment he opened his mouth to catch it.He chewed it in his mouth, swallowed it slowly, and said after a while, "—every luck." He said it anyway. Cressida sat the two of us in a rocky cove, a place that is inevitably emotional.Cressida persuaded the two of us to talk about the hunt, what brought us to the woods, how we met, and how we had the best time together.We stopped being tense and even laughed when we talked about our funny encounters with bees, wild dogs and skunks.When the topic turned to how to use hunting skills in the bombing of District 8 and how I felt, I stopped talking, and Gale just said, "It should have come in handy long ago." It was almost dusk when we returned to the town square.I took Cressida to the ruins of the bakery and asked her to take some shots.On the ruins, I felt extremely exhausted physically and mentally. "Peeta, this is your home. I haven't heard from your family since the explosion. District 12 is over. Do you still want to call for a ceasefire?" I said, looking at the vast rubble in front of me, " No one here can hear you anymore." We came to a pile of burnt scrap iron, which used to be a gallows.Cressida asked if either of us had been tortured here.Gale rips off his shirt and turns his back to the camera.I stared at the deep whip marks on Gail's body, as if I heard the sound of the whip again, and saw him being tied by the wrist with a rope, hanging by the gallows, bloody and bloody. "I'm done with mine," I said to everyone. "I'll meet you at Victor Village. I'm going to pick up something...for Mom." I walked back to Victor's Village with a lot of confusion.When I came back, I found myself sitting on the floor in front of the kitchen cabinets, carefully arranging the ceramic jars and glass bottles in a box, stuffed with clean cotton bandages to keep them from breaking.Then wrap the dried flowers again. Suddenly, I remembered the roses on my dresser.Is that rose real?If yes, is it still there?I had to suppress my strong urge to check it out.If the flower is still there, it can only scare the hell out of me.I speed up the packing. When the cabinets were cleaned up, I found that Gail had come to my kitchen at some time.It was uncomfortable for him to be so silent.He leaned over the table, resting his palms on the table.I put the box between the two of us. "Remember?" he asked, "That's where you kissed me." So the high dose of morphine he took after he was whipped didn't wipe it out of his consciousness. "I thought you wouldn't remember this," I said. "Only when I'm dead will I forget, maybe I won't forget when I'm dead," he said to me, "Maybe I'm like the man in The Hanging Tree, still waiting for the answer." I've never seen Gail cry , but at this time there were tears in his eyes.In order not to let his tears flow out, I stepped forward and kissed him.Our lips were hot, soaked in dust and pain, and I didn't expect such a light kiss to taste so good.He stopped first and gave me a sly smile, "I knew you would kiss me." "How do you know?" I said, because I didn't know it myself. "Because I'm in pain. That's the only way to get your attention," he said, picking up the box. "Don't worry, Katniss, everything will pass." Before I could answer, he left the room. I was too tired, and I didn't have the heart to think about what his last sentence meant.During the short journey back to District 13, I huddled in my seat, trying not to listen to Plutarch talking about the topics he cared about most—weapons that humans can no longer control at will—super-high-altitude fighter jets, military satellites , Cell Separators, Killer Bees, Biological Weapons with Expiration Dates—all of these are caused by environmental damage, resource shortages, and moral fragility.In his words, you can feel the infinite regret of a former Hunger Games chairman who only dreamed of getting these toys.But the fact is that the only weapons and equipment at his disposal are helicopters, surface-to-surface missiles and ordinary guns. After taking off the mockingjay costume, I fell asleep on the bed without eating.And so, when I woke up in the morning, it was Prim who shook me awake.After breakfast, I ignored the arrangement on the timetable and hid in the stationery cupboard for a while.When I woke up, I got up together, knocked over the chalk and pencil, and scattered them all over the floor.I ate a large portion of pea soup at noon, and then walked towards Room E.Boggs stopped me in the middle. "Command has a meeting. Never mind your current schedule," he said. "Ok." I said. "Did you not follow the schedule today?" He asked a little annoyed. "Who knows? I'm in a trance." I held up my hand to show him my medical label, and found that it had long since disappeared. "Look, I don't even remember the doctor taking my tags off. What did they want me to do at Command? Did I miss something?" "I think Cressida wanted to show you the footage from District 12, but I think you'll be able to see it when it airs," he said. "This is the schedule I need, TV show time." I said.He glanced at me and said nothing more. When I got to the command post, it was packed, but they gave me a seat between Finnick and Plutarch.The TV screen had been raised on the table, and the regular Capitol program was playing on the TV. "What's going on? Aren't we going to watch a film made in District 12?" I asked. "Oh no. I mean, it's possible. I don't know what Bit is showing us," Plutarch said. "Beetle thinks he's found a way to broadcast nationally so our show can be shown in the Capitol. He's working on it right now in the Special Defense Department. There's a live broadcast tonight. Snow's going to speak. I Think it's about to start," Finnick said. Along with the national anthem, the Capitol emblem appeared on television.Then Snow appeared on the screen, and I looked straight into his sly, snake-like eyes.He seems to be standing behind the colonnade this time, but the other white rose on his suit is particularly conspicuous.The camera pulls back to reveal Peeta on the screen, with a projection of a map of Panem behind him.He sat on a raised chair, his feet resting on the metal rungs of the chair.His prosthetic leg was shaking erratically.Big drops of sweat had seeped from his upper lip and forehead through thick powder.But what surprised me most was the look in his eyes—very angry but unfocused. "He's getting worse," I whispered.Finnick grabs my hand and gives me a little support.I try to stay as calm as possible. Peeta calls for a ceasefire in a weary voice.He emphasized that the war had caused severe damage to the infrastructure of the jurisdictions.As he speaks, the map behind him partially lights up, and images of destroyed facilities are displayed accordingly.A damaged dam in the Seventh District, a train derailed, toxic waste spilled from a water tank, and a barn collapsed after being set on fire.All this was attributed by him to the result of an act of defiance. Snapped!Without warning, my image suddenly appeared on the TV screen, standing on top of the bakery's ruins. Plutarch stood up excitedly, "He succeeded! Bit interrupted the video!" The house hums, people murmur, and Peeta reappears on the screen, looking distraught.He has seen my video on the monitor.He tries to continue his talk, talking about a water treatment plant being bombed, when Finnick's conversation about Lulu cuts in.Then launched a show broadcast battle.The Capitol tried to block the footage of Bit's breakout, but they were clearly unprepared and overwhelmed.On the other hand, Beeter must have anticipated that he would not be able to completely control the broadcast of the video, so he only chose five to ten seconds of short clips for the interludes.The Capitol's official show was barely going to continue when it was constantly interrupted by Bit's clips. Plutarch was very excited, and everyone was cheering for Bit.Only Finnick sat beside me in silence.My eyes met those of Haymitch sitting across from me, and I saw the same pain in his eyes as mine.We all realized that with every cheer, Peeta was getting further and further away from us. The Capitol emblem reappeared, and the background music seemed weak.Twenty seconds later, Snow and Peeta appear.The whole TV broadcast was a mess.The sound of people talking in a panic in the live broadcast room came from the TV.Snow trudged through the chaos, saying it was clear that rebels were sabotaging the broadcast to avoid charges against them, but the truth would come out and good would triumph over evil.The show will continue after security is restored.Finally, he asked Peeta if he wanted to tell Katniss Everdeen the pain of parting, given the special circumstances of tonight. Peeta's face twitches unnaturally at the sound of my name. "Katniss...how do you think this is going to end? What's left? No one is safe, not in the Capitol, not in the districts. And you...in District Thirteen..." He He gasped heavily, as if he couldn't breathe; his eyes showed an almost crazy look, "In the morning, they will all die!" Outside the screen, Snow's order "quickly end" came.At this moment, Bit intervened a three-second video of me standing in front of District 8 Hospital, which made the scene chaotic.But in the alternately played pictures, we see the real scene that is happening at this time.Peeta tries to continue.The camera is knocked over and captures the white tiles on the floor, the boots of people running in a panic, and Peeta screaming in pain as he's clearly been hit hard. Next, Peeta's blood splatters on the floor.