2.
Running in a jungle was not easy.
Running in a jungle after a crazy young man waving tridents while keeping an eye on a crazy archer who wanted to head her own way to look for her not-quite boyfriend made the whole experience even worse.
The third time Haymitch stumbled on a root, he let out such a vivid curse even Jo slowed down to shoot him an impressed look.
Of course, nothing was made easier by the woman screaming bloody murder.
Haymitch couldn't be sure if it was Annie's voice or not but Finnick seemed certain and that was good enough for him.
"Be careful of the force field!" Jo reminded them as they were starting to get really far from the beach.
Her warnings were sound but unnecessary. They soon stumbled upon Four's other victor, seemingly unhurt but sitting on the ground, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, screaming her head off despite the fact that no danger seemed to be lurking...
And right next to her, holding her shoulders and trying to calm her down...
"Prim!" Katniss cried out, completely panicked, shoving Haymitch aside in her urge to get close to her sister.
Finnick tossed his weapons and dropped to his knees next to Annie before gathering her against his chest, whispering in her ear and petting her long brown hair until she stopped screaming.
Haymitch watched the scene with the growing urge to punch a tree. Katniss stared at him over her sister's head, she was clutching the girl to her chest, absolutely paralyzed with horror.
"She's a kid." she said so softly he had trouble hearing her. "How can they do that? She's just a kid..."
"Did you forget how the usual Games go?" Jo mocked.
Unlike Finnick and Katniss, Johanna hadn't dropped her weapons and was scanning their surroundings with open mistrust. "I don't like this place. Let's head back to the beach."
"We need to find Peeta." Katniss argued, still holding her sister so tight Haymitch was afraid she would smother her. "If Prim's here for me then Peeta is somewhere for Haymitch, right?"
That question was directed at him. Even Finnick turned his eyes to him without ever stopping murmuring sweet nothings in Annie's ear.
"Well?" Jo prompted. "You've got someone else they could use?"
He shook his head. "No. The boy must be out there."
"I didn't see Peeta." Prim cut in, keeping her arms firmly around Katniss' waist. She looked scared but she was holding on well. As stubborn as her sister this one, Haymitch mused, hoping she wouldn't be as difficult to protect – because there was no question Prim needed to be protected at all cost. "We were all in a big room before they sent us here. Peeta wasn't there."
The girl and Annie were wearing the same kind of tight jumpsuit they were.
"You're sure, kid?" he frowned, anticipating the next question Katniss was going to ask. "No, there's no one else. It must be Peeta."
"How many people were there in that room?" Jo asked, rather too abruptly for Katniss' tastes if the way she pushed Prim behind her was to be believed.
This will turn us against each other, Beetee had said.
Haymitch was afraid he was right.
"Nine." Prim answered anyway. "I don't know who they were, we weren't allowed to talk. I recognized Annie from the Reaping."
"Anyone else you knew?" Jo pressed. "Fucking think, girl."
"Don't talk to my sister like that." Katniss growled.
"Nine means one for each of us still alive." Seven's victor snapped. "You get it yet? What..."
"Brutus' wife." Annie piped up suddenly. The words were muffled because her face was pressed against Finnick's neck but she sounded certain enough that Haymitch didn't question her.
"We need to get the hell out of here. We're exposed." Finnick said, lifting Annie up. "Jo, take my tridents." His sea-green eyes fell on Prim. "Give one to the kid. She needs a weapon."
"I can protect her." Katniss hissed.
"He's right." Haymitch declared. "Everyone needs to be armed. Trident's too heavy for her though. Here, take this." He handed Prim one of his knives and lead the way back to the beach. They fell in line without anyone having to word the order. Prim behind him, then Katniss, then Finnick carrying Annie and Johanna at the rear. They were halfway to the beach when he glanced back at the kid who was awkwardly clutching his belt not to stumble and was keeping a tight grip on the knife with her free hand. "You're sure you didn't recognize anyone else? Anyone I know from home?"
She shook her head, her blond hair flying around, her blue eyes wide with fear. "I didn't know anyone else."
They reached the beach unscathed but, clearly, everyone wasn't that lucky. They could hear faint screaming in the distance as well as strange roaring.
"How are they going to get away with it?" Jo asked.
Finnick had sat down with Annie, still holding her tight, and Prim who was shaking flopped down on the sand after a brief hesitation. Katniss remained standing right behind her, her bow at the ready. Johanna took a similar position behind Four's victors leaving Haymitch to look around for eventual dangers.
"The kid's the Capitol darling!" Jo insisted, her eyes running around the edge of the jungle. "People love her..."
"I had to say I volunteered for the cameras." Prim explained.
"I did it too." Annie added. "They came yesterday... Yes, I think it was yesterday..."
"Definitely yesterday." the kid nodded. "By hovercraft. They said it was for interviews but... They made us say we were volunteering for a Game addition instead."
"Awesome." Jo sighed. "So, nine people you said. You're sure you didn't know anyone else?"
Again, they both shook their head.
"But it must be Peeta." Katniss argued. "Haymitch has no one else!"
"The people there with you, can you describe them?" Haymitch cut in.
Annie started rocking again and Finnick glared at him as if he was responsible for having upset her, as if she wasn't upset by being back in this fucking place, as if Mags hadn't volunteered to spare her in the first place and had now officially died for nothing...
"There was Brutus' wife." Annie repeated. "I'm sure I recognized her."
"Okay, one housewife. Shouldn't be much of a danger." Jo scoffed. "What else?"
"There were two kids around my age." Prim said. "A boy and a girl. The boy was a little chubby, I noticed because we don't see many chubby children in Twelve... And the girl... The girl looked scared but she also looked strong and she was tanned like she spent a lot of time in the sun..."
"I think it was Blight's daughter." Annie whispered. "But that makes no sense, that makes no sense, no sense..."
"Shhh, calm down." Finnick murmured, pressing a kiss in her hair. "You're fine. I've got you. I won't let anything happen to you."
Calming down with Johanna sneering at you was a feat though, Haymitch mused.
"What do you mean Blight's daughter?" Seven's victor spat. "Alyssa? Why would they get Alyssa? Her dad is dead. Who cares about the kid now?"
There was a resulting silence, nobody daring to voice out what they were all thinking. After a few seconds, Katniss rolled her eyes. "You said they had no one to use but maybe you were wrong."
She looked almost pleased about it, as if it was a tiny victory over Jo.
"They're wrong." Johanna scowled. "Let them kill the kid for all I care. I barely know her."
Katniss stared at her with disgust, Prim simply looked shocked, the rest of them knew better.
"Anyone else who stood out?" Haymitch said, feeling the need to get them back on tracks. "You're absolutely sure there was no one else from Twelve, kid?"
The twelve years old shook her head. "If there was, I didn't know them."
"Where's Peeta?" Katniss asked. "If they don't send him then where is he?"
Haymitch shrugged his ignorance but Johanna wasn't as tactful as he was.
"He's already dead probably." Jo shrugged. "This is retaliation. All of this..."
Katniss took a step back as if the words had physically hurt her.
"Jo." Finnick chided her harshly. "Ever heard of something called diplomacy?"
"They won't have killed him. They can't." Haymitch objected. "If they wanted him dead, he would be here. How would they justify it?"
"How do they ever justify it?" Jo snarled. "Accident? Suicide? A crazy fan in the street?"
With each new possibility, Katniss got paler and paler. Prim reached for her hand and squeezed, trying to comfort her but the girl's face became stern.
"Retaliation against what?" she asked, glaring at Johanna. "You said retaliation. Against what?"
Jo wordlessly waved at Haymitch to explain before dropping on the sand next to Finnick. Everyone was looking at him now.
He pondered what he could and could not tell. It was obvious by now that the Capitol knew almost everything. Plutarch being removed from his position as Head Gamemaker, their loved ones tossed in the arena as punishment...
"There was a plan." he finally admitted. "I can't tell you the details but... If everything had gone according to it we would all have been safe and sound by tomorrow night."
"And they punished my sister because of it?" the girl hissed. "I had a say in this, Haymitch! You couldn't tell me before?!"
"No, I couldn't 'cause you're the worst actress, sweetheart!" he snapped back. "And..."
The boom of a canon interrupted him. It sounded almost like a tribute's canon but not quite and it wasn't the canon sound that had previously signaled the passing of hours. This one sounded off, almost out of tune.
"What was that?" Katniss asked, lifting her bow in position.
Finnick slowly detached himself from Annie and picked up his tridents.
"Human token canon." Four's victor figured out. "It makes sense. They have to signal their death but they're not tributes..."
"But why would anyone kill a human token?" Prim asked. "They have their own people to protect! Why would anyone..."
"There are animals out there and mutts." Jo cut her off. "There are traps. Venomous plants. Poisonous berries. If there's one think that comes easily to most people, it's dying. A human token dying doesn't mean they have been murdered."
"I hope it's not Alyssa." Annie offered, reaching out to squeeze Jo's wrist.
Seven's victor shrugged her hand off with a sneer. "Maybe it's Haymitch's token. Still no idea who that could be?"
He shook his head. Aside for Peeta...
There was another boom of a canon, a tribute's one this time. It was followed a few minutes later by another altered canon that Finnick thought to mean a human token's death.
"Well, that's going fast..." Finnick commented.
"Let it be the Careers..." Prim whispered.
"Yeah, don't be too hasty to wish that." Haymitch frowned. "Once the Careers are gone, it means there are only the lot of us left."
"But we won't attack our human tokens." Finnick cut in, holding his eyes before looking at Katniss. "We make a pact now. Human tokens are out of bounds."
Annie let out a distressed sound and Katniss studied her for a couple of seconds before nodding. "Agreed."
Johanna rolled her eyes when they turned to her. "I told you already, I don't care about mine. But I'm not about to kill the crazy fish or the kid, okay? Give me some credit."
When they looked at him, it was his turn to roll his eyes. He didn't even gratify that with an answer. He wasn't going to swear to not killing Annie or Prim. He shouldn't have to.
"What do we do now?" Annie asked. "What do we do?"
Thunder boomed up ahead on their right and lightning fell on the tree in that quarter. Soon after, a heavy rain started pouring on that part of the jungle.
"Blood rain." Johanna commented. "That's what drove Blight into the force field."
A woman screamed and, for some reason, it chilled Haymitch down to the bones.
"Human token or tribute?" Katniss asked.
"Does it make a difference?" Jo sneered.
There was another scream and Haymitch took a step in the direction of the next quarter, where the blood rain was slamming down on the jungle. The beach seemed safe enough anyway.
"Haymitch?" Finnick asked.
Someone tore out of the jungle greenery and stumbled on the beach, running blindly in the direction of the water, still screaming.
Suddenly, Haymitch was running too.
I was very happy that everyone enjoyed the first chapter! So what do you think of this one? What do you think will happen next? Let me know!