Living Lies ✜ Hunger Games x Reader

Confusion

(A/N: Alright guys, this chapter may or may not make some people happy. It might seem crazy, and I will warn you, it may seem a bit Inceptiony here... and I'm not gonna lie I have no idea how that happened I'm honestly not even sure anymore, because it gets worse. This might just be one of the crazier chapters I've written. Note, stuff in italics is a dream/memory/flashback, without giving too much away. This one is a bit of a cliff hanger too... so I hope I can update soon again.

-Jay

***

The first bomb dropped behind your back. You never saw it coming, or heard it, or even dreamed the Capitol would take or had already taken drastic measures and gone so far. So far as to drop a bomb on District 12 while their Victors were there-and while the Reaping for their 75th Annual Games is taking place.

But then again, you never could fully believe the Capitol did half of the horrifying things that they did to you.

You were running back to the Hawthorne's house when you quite literally bumped into Gale, who uncoincidentally was going to the same location to find his family. He grabbed your arm and nearly drug you through the door into the home. The air was heavy-but it was springtime and the air was usually heavy, so you waved it off.

Mrs. Hawthorne was helping Posy pack a bag. You admired the woman's faith. She didn't know where they would be going, but she trusted her son-and for some godforsaken reason she also seemed to trust Haymitch's judgement when you told her that the plan was for you all to go to District 13 as an escape route.

You, Gale, and his family had barely gotten half way through the Hob when you began to hear the whir of the engines. Automatically, you had looked to the sky-whether your mind had thought it was a loud, angry trackerjacker or the Capitol's carrier come to take you away, you weren't sure. But it startled you, and many other people trying to run from it.

It was then that you saw why.

Before you could register the giant missile falling from the sky, or hear Gale's warning, it had gone off. The ground shook, reminiscent of the fateful mine explosion all those years ago, and your legs caved beneath you. The overcast sky was alight with the fury of a man's creation. Your eyes stung from the smoke and the grit that blew in your eyes, generated by wind from the Capitol's terrors of the sky.

You remember feeling it all. The wind cutting through your clothes, stinging your face. The heat that rose from the ground, pierced the air like a sword, and made you sweat. You felt the ground. The pain from hitting the ground, and from past injuries opened up; like knives. You remember the smell, the pungent stab of smoke, creeping into your lungs like poison ivy, contaminating it. Ruining the air. You remember coughing, hearing the coughing of those around you. Hearing the buzz of the aircraft's engine, somebody calling your name, almost frantically, surprised. And you remember the screams most of all.

Sight is something on treasures when they realize how much they need it. You saw a cloud, the smoke, green; maybe trees, as if looking through a kaleidoscope, or at a blurry photo. A moving blurry photo. And then, there was nothing.

***

There's something. Something familiar, that you're used to. It's déjà vu. It's opening your eyes, like lifting weights with your eyelashes.

This feeling, you deeply recognize. It's like wading through fog; thick, heavy smoke blowing into the streets from the coal mine. You had just begun to think you're dead, maybe dreaming. That is, until the voices start.

"No, no. I refuse to accept this. There must be some other way, Plutarch. I can't stand by for this to happen again."

"(Y/n), none of us want this. But our hands are tied. If we break cover now, we might never get the traction we need to fuel a rebellion."