Chapter 2
All that had separated him from being captured was an outstretched hand.
If he had stretched out his hand, Effie would have taken it without a doubt and she would have pulled him as she ran for the hovercraft but he hadn't. Afterwards it was too late to run and too late to fight. The image of Effie running towards the hovercraft was seared into his mind. At least she was safe. At least she had gotten out.
He supposed it was a good thing he hadn't tried to reach out for her because that would have given her away to the Peacekeepers and he would have gotten her killed for it. They would assume that she knew something or that she was in on the plan. They would assume she was a rebel because the truth was that he had unwittingly made her an accomplice to his crimes when he told her to head to the rooftop.
It was better for one of them to escape then for both of them to be captured. Katniss and Peeta would have her at least. Effie was the only person he trusted to look after the interest of those two kids. Plutarch and Coin would use them to their own advantage but if he was there, he could control it except he wasn't. Now, he could only hope that when the time comes, Effie would know what to do.
His knees buckled and he stumbled forward. The grip on his arms prevented him from falling.
"If you try to escape, we'll put a bullet in your knee cap."
Haymitch grunted loudly. He wasn't foolish enough to think that he could escape and get away with it. His legs were not cooperating with him, the after effect of the Taser. He had been cuffed and his hands were bound behind his back.
His eyes darted wildly around him, making notes and marking signs if he ever needed it one day. He was dragged down the corridor with the Peacekeepers taunting and chuckling among themselves as if they knew something that he wasn't privy to. He supposed that was true.
"Where are you taking me?" he asked.
"Someplace where we can give you a real treat. You're going to want to see it, Abernathy," one of them sneered.
He knew where they were the moment he stepped into the room - the Gamemaker's Control Room. He craned his neck, looking at the screens for a glimpse of the arena. He needed to know what had happened between the time that he tried to make his escape to now.
"Game's over, Abernathy," his captor laughed, "but if you want to see the arena so badly, we'll show it to you but first..."
He was pushed into a chair. They removed the cuffs only to shackle his hands on to the arms of the chair. With a gun pressed against his temple, he sat facing a large screen.
The arena came into view; broken beams and scaffolds that no longer support the structure of the arena. Several Capitol hovercrafts flew over area, scanning and tracking for remaining tributes.
His breath caught and his chest constricted. He had no idea what he was about to see. It could be the end of everything if Plutarch failed to get their people out as planned.
Should any of them fall into the hands of the Capitol...
If Katniss and Peeta were captured, there would not be a Rebellion but right now, the Rebellion or Thirteen's need for a symbol was the furthest thing from his mind.
Their safety was paramount to him; them falling into Capitol's hands would just be another mark to add to his list of people he had failed in his lifetime. The Capitol would do terrible things to them, and those two kids knew nothing. They have no information to offer. Their torture would be pointless and it would only serve to satisfy Snow knowing that he had won. Again.
The time at the bottom corner of the screen show that it was twenty minutes past midnight. Plutarch's hovercraft would be long gone by now.
The image of Johanna Mason's limp body filled the screen as she was extracted from the arena and loaded into one of the Capitol's hovercraft. Haymitch glanced at one of his captors, a tall lanky man with a malicious grin. He seemed to be leading the breaking and entering into the Penthouse earlier so Haymitch assumed he was in-charge.
"I'm as surprised as you are, Abernathy," he said, "didn't know the damn arena blew up. How'd you do it, huh?"
"You let us," Haymitch taunted, referring to the tree and the lightning in the arena but that only earned him a blow from the butt of the gun to the back of his head. They clearly did not like the implication that they had been fooled.
Haymitch clenched his jaws to stop himself from crying out in pain. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction. On screen, Enobaria was extracted next.
For a moment, Haymitch dared to breathe a sigh of relief - not that he cared less about Johanna but she knew the plan and therefore, the risk it entailed so she would know not to give up information - until he saw a familiar blond head.
His reaction was instantaneous, spurred by a blinding flash of panic. "No!" Haymitch jerked forward. The metal chains from the cuffs rattled loudly against the chair.
"Alpha to Command," a voice crackled over the intercom. "We got Peeta Mellark. Prepare the Pod for transfer of highly valuable subject."
The use of the word 'subject' should have raised red flags but Haymitch was too shocked and too preoccupied with Peeta being captured for him to analyse about what it could mean.
Static filled the screen.
"How about another one, Abernathy?" the taunt came immediately after. "You'll love this one, too. President Snow ordered it ten minutes ago for your insolence against the Capitol and he would like it if you could watch it with him. Of course, he's not here - he'll be watching from his suite - but you get the idea."
The Peacekeeper motioned to his subordinate. A switched was flipped on and another screen came to life.
The images were captured from above but Haymitch recognised what he was seeing in a heartbeat. He had a clear bird eyes' view of District Twelve engulfed in flames.
"What are you doing?!" he screamed, pulling on his restrains. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
"What does it seem like?" he laughed. "We're burning your damn district to the ground."
Haymitch lost it. His feet were not bound so he stood up with the chair still attached to him. Putting his whole weight into the move, he rammed the Peacekeeper with his shoulder. The others pulled him back immediately and one punched him in the face. He collapsed sideways on the ground, panting heavily only to be righted up again.
The Peacekeeper sneered at him but his hand was on his ribcage and he was masking the pain from Haymitch's attack.
Fox, Haymitch remembered suddenly. That was the Peacekeeper's name.
"You will pay for that. Not here and not now, but it will come," Fox wheezed.
"This is a massacre. You're fucking killing my people," Haymitch bellowed. "There are children… There are old people…"
"Yes, yes," Fox chortled, "and they're going to die because of you… Because of Katniss Everdeen… Didn't think of that before you and your little friends blew up the arena and tried to get the tributes out of there, huh?"
The view panned out and Haymitch saw the entire town eaten by flaming orang fire. The Justice Building, the Town Square, the bakery that belonged to Peeta's family, the Mayor's house… They were all gone.
He saw his people running in the streets; screaming and crying, tearing their burning clothes away from their body. He saw children with their skin peeling off and melting. He saw buildings collapsing on people trying to escape from the fire. They were trapped and they would burn.
"Please, have some mercy on them," the words spilled from his lips.
He couldn't remember begging the Capitol for anything since his family was killed but he would do so now for those people in Twelve. If begging could make the Capitol end this madness and save the lives of those who remained in Twelve, then he would do it.
Haymitch wanted so much to shut his eyes. He wanted so much not to watch anymore of this but this was his fault. He had brought this destruction and this death on his own district so his eyes remained fixated to it; a small punishment he inflicted upon himself.
"You know," Fox started, "I thought it might be better with sounds. That way, we can hear them scream as they burn but my colleagues down in Twelve are not in possession of that many fancy equipment."
His entire body was shaking with rage. The cuffs cut into the skin of his wrists as he fisted his hands to control himself but Fox chose that moment to come around, stooping down slightly so they were eye to eye.
"Fuck you," Haymitch spat in his face. Without warning, Haymitch reared his head back and knocked it hard on Fox's face.
Haymitch smirked when he saw the blood flowing from the man's nose.
XxX
He passed out after being hit on his head with the barrel of gun.
When he came to, every muscle in his body was aching. Wherever he was, it was dark and cold, or maybe, he was cold. He wasn't sure.
His hands shook from the tremors. The electroshock from the Taser had still not worn off after all those time that had passed between being shot, watching his district burn and waking up in a place that smelt horrid.
He forced himself to stand only to sit back down. His head was pounding and his heart was ramming wildly in his chest. Was it from fear or was it from the lack of alcohol running through his system? He didn't know and because he couldn't tell the time, he had no idea when was the last time he had something to drink.
He felt it too. His throat was parched but there were more pressing matters on hand. He needed to figure out his surroundings. He fell around the floor in an attempt to gauge the beginning and the end of this place he was in. His fingers brushed against cold metal and he gripped it tight, hauling himself up. His mind began to form a mental picture.
Prison.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Anyone there?"
"Shut the fuck up, Haymitch," a bored voice drawled.
A loud snort escaped from him. "Johanna Mason," he said, the relief bled through her name.
"Yeah - glad to know you're not dead. I saw them dragging you passed my cell - thought you were a goner."
"You've any idea where we are? You saw anythin' when they brought you in?"
"Wherever this is, it's underground. They call this the Pod. I think they like their prisons to have some fucking fancy name or whatever, and I'm fucking surprised this place didn't come up during one of our illegal meetings. You'd think Plutarch would have eyes on the Pod. Some kind of spy he was."
"Peeta," his eyes widened, now that he was reminded of the boy. "I heard something 'bout bringing Peeta here."
"Haven't seen him."
"Katniss... Did Katniss - "
"Your damn girl on fire got out and a good thing, too, or what I've done would be for nothing," Johanna told him through the bars of their cell. "I saw the hovercraft picked her up - our hovercraft."
He closed his eyes. That was the first good news he heard since everything went down.
"Good," Haymitch whispered. "Effie got out, too, and I didn't see the Capitol picking up Finnick and Beetee."
"They were with Katniss. If Plutarch got Katniss, he must have gotten them out, too. I'll tell you what's not good – Annie's here with me."
His eyes flew open at that unexpected piece of information.
"Shit."
"Yeah, shit's right," she laughed cruelly. "That's a confirmation that Finnick's out at least. If they got Finnick, they wouldn't have bothered with Annie. Isn't that right, Annie?"
"Leave her alone, Johanna."
"She should have been extracted, Haymitch," Johanna's voice rose. "That was the plan - extract her and take her to Thirteen. Finnick's going to be a downright fucking mess," she scoffed, lowering her tone back to a whisper. "Your girl, too, once she finds out Peeta's at the Capitol. You say she won't cooperate without him."
He had said that. He had told all the tributes that were in on the plan that they both have to make it. Whatever the cost, both Katniss and Peeta had to leave the arena alive for Thirteen. He had made a promise to those kids that he would get them out and he didn't make promises if he didn't plan on seeing it through.
"What a fucking Rebellion with two messed up victors. Yeah, we're going to win this one, alright."
"Shut up, Jo," he snapped, breathing heavily. His mind was turning the problem they were facing because Johanna was right. The knowledge that the Capitol had Peeta and Annie would break Katniss and Finnick even more. "Just shut up."
Katniss, he pressed the heels of his hands on his eyes.
The girl didn't see it yet and she hadn't realised how much she needed Peeta. Haymitch could not rely on her to realise her feelings because nobody knew how long that would take but what he could count on was Katniss' desperation to get Peeta out of the arena alive at the cost of her own. If she still had that same desperation, she would do all it would take to get him out of the Capitol. He just hope that she wouldn't be too blind to see that to get Peeta, she would need Thirteen and the only way Thirteen would help her would be for her to cooperate.
"She will know what to do," Haymitch said. "She'll cooperate if it means getting Peeta back. We haven't lost yet, Jo."
Johanna snorted. "Yeah, sure."
The dense silence enveloped them.
"How's Annie doing?" he asked.
"As well as can be expected. Hey, Annie, Haymitch is here, did I tell you?"
He heard her whimper by way of an answer.
"You hang in there, Annie. Just…. hang in there," he told her. "If Peeta's here - Coin will likely send a rescue team - Katniss needs Peeta and Coin needs Katniss - if they get Peeta out, they'll get you out too, for Finnick."
"And where does that leave you and me, Haymitch?" Johanna chuckled bitterly. "Who are they going to get us out for?"
Haymitch's difficulties are only just beginning. He just watched his district incinerated. Peeta is not in the cell with him or Johanna yet. He's got no access to alcohol and he doesn't know how Katniss will react to not having Peeta in Thirteen. How do you think he will cope?
At some point, I realised, that the pace of this story might be a little slow because it will keep switching point of view for each chapter - Effie in the Thirteen and Haymitch in the Capitol - but I hope you'll have the patience to stick around and read!
