Sea green eyes

15 - Kill count

⚠WARNING: Mentions of self harm and suicide. Also pretty graphic descriptions of death. (There will be a summary at the end of the chapter if you want to skip it)⚠

I follow the scream miles into the jungle, eventually coming to a huge tree. The screams emit from somewhere up there, but even as I look from all angles, I can't see my brother.

"Thomas!" I scream, trying to catch a glimpse of any indication of his being there. "THOMAS!" An arrow swooshes past me, and I turn to see Katniss standing there as something drops from the tree. A black bird. A name comes to mind, a distant tale whispered from the war. Jabberjay.

"It's all right," Katniss says softly. "They're playing a trick on us. It's only a Jabberjay, not your... Thomas."

"Maybe. But where do you think they got that sound, huh Katniss?" I spit. "Jabberjays copy." Her face falls, blanking, and I swear, snapping my fingers infront of her face. "We have to go. We have to get out of here." Another voice begins to scream, male, and no one I know. Katniss's face, if possible, turns even more pale.

"Gale," She whispers, and I grab her arms, dragging her back towards the others. Sara begins to scream and I tense, trying my best not to run to her.

Blocking it out, I trudge forwards with Katniss, making sure she can't run off. Only... Suddenly a voice yells out in pain that makes my skin go cold. Because this one could be real. Katniss and I lock gaze.

"Finnick," she whispers, and the confirmation is all I need before sprinting back towards the others, every limp on alert. Katniss follows, leaping over tree roots and shrubbery to keep up.

"Finnick!" I scream, trying to let him know where we are. That we're coming to save him. "FINNICK!" Running towards the beach, Katniss and I get to the clearing just off the ocean, catching sight of Johanna, Beetee, Peeta and Finnick standing, waving their hands in warning. Wait- Finnick! Finnick alive and well and not being tortured. I stumble in relief, falling to the ground as Katniss keeps running, only to slam straight into an invisible wall.

No. NO! I scream, extending my hands forwards the feel the wall. It's solid all right. Johanna and Finnick's weapons won't make a mark.

This is the hourly terror.

I start to hyperventilate, shaking as row after ros of jabberjays land on the trees and branches around us. There is a moment of fragile silence. And then the birds open their beaks and scream.

And scream. And scream. And scream.

---

Thomas. Sara. Jamerson. Mags. My father. My mother. Thren. Haymitch. Katniss, although I'm pretty sure that's actually her. Those are the people in my personal choir of torture and pain. Gods they even have screams of the dead in here. Their chorus of screams echo through my ears, borrowing into my very bones.

Standing there, I grip my newly filled belt, flinging knife after knife after knife at the stupid birds until even the hidden ones in my boots have gone. I yell out in rage, swinging my sword, but the birds fly just out of range, still singing their songs of death.

Katniss is knelt against the wall screaming, hands over her ears and curled tightly into herself. Peeta, on the other side of the wall, has pressed his forehead up against it, trying to be a close to Katniss as possible.

I scream in frustration at the birds, throwing my sword to the ground and begining to shake with emotion. I spin as I breathe heavily, and storm to the wall, rallying my fist.

And so, ignoring Finnick and Johanna's pleading looks for me not to, I swing my fist, slamming it into the solid wall. Then my other one. I swing over and over and over, ignoring the pain as the screams of my loved ones fill my ears. Blood starts to seep from my knuckles, but I keep swinging, again and again, if only to attempt to relieve myself of some of the pain.