Sorry I haven't posted; I was on vacation. I will explain what happened with Dodge, just be patient. Peeta and Johanna are in this chapter!

The Others

(ANNIE)

Thaddeus puts a cloth sack over my head so I can't see anything – something they do when they want to disorient me. "The warden would like you to visit the other victors," he explains while binding my wrists with rope. "He would also like time alone with BR64." When he's done, he picks me up – also to disorient me – and carries me from the cell.

Broadsea's not doing so well. They keep hurting him but at this point, it's obvious that he won't tell them anything. They've been hurting me less because of this (half the reason they're torturing me is to get him to talk. And that is not happening.) He's stopped caring if he lives or dies.

I've lost track of how long I've been here. Maybe two weeks.

We walk for ten minutes before Thaddeus sets me on my feet. I hear the sound of a door opening, then Telemachus' voice. He's in the middle of an argument with someone. "You want your freedom?" he's asking. He takes me from Thaddeus, pulls the sack off my head, and tosses me at the boy he's addressing. "Kill her."

Peeta Mellark catches me by the upper arms. I look up at him, shaking already. His blond hair is covered in dried blood, and there's desperation his eyes. He only looks at me for a second before his eyes return to Telemachus. "I'm not going to kill her. She hasn't done anything to me."

I look around the room. There's a big glass box in the middle that looks sort of like a shower. There's a chair with leather straps in the corner, facing a wall. Several chains are attached to the wall on my right. They're equipped with funny little clips on the end where they can attach to a metal collar.

"Fine," Telemachus says. He snaps his fingers. Peacekeepers clip those things onto our collars, chaining us to the wall. "I'll be back." And he leaves the room.

"Hi," says Peeta Mellark. "I'm Peeta." He smiles at me – or he tries to, but his face is so bruised it looks like a grimace. "You're Annie, right? Annie Cresta?" I nod. "It's nice to meet you." He holds out his hand. I shake it as best I can with my wrists still bound, which isn't saying much.

All I know about Peeta Mellark is second-hand. The only Games I've watched since my own were this year's, so I didn't see his and Katniss's. But he's always seemed to be a decent guy.

There's an odd pattern of bruises on his inner elbow and forearm. I'd ask what they are, but I honestly don't think I want to know.

"Finnick strikes me as a good guy," he says after a long silence. "And he really seemed to love you."

I swallow and scoot away from Peeta. Finnick is the last person I want to talk about. In fact, I've barely even allowed myself to think about him since the first night they brought me here. I feel almost betrayed. If he loves me so much, why doesn't he come to help me?

Telemachus comes back in, wiping blood off his hands with a damp cloth. "I was having a chat with BR64 and I realized something." He squats in front of me. "You've been here all this time and I've never bothered to ask what you know."

"She's as clueless as I am," Peeta says quickly.

The warden ignores him. "So? What did Finnick tell you?"

I don't say or do anything.

He reaches out and brushes some hair away from my face. "I thought you'd be like this. That's why I dug up a tape of the highlights of your Hunger Games. Would you like to watch it?"

"He never told me anything," I say quickly.

Then one of the walls turns into a television. I'm on the screen with my district partner, Asper. And it's That Day . . .

Blood and knives and severed heads. Flashing before my eyes. Stop, stop, stop, stop!

"He said he was going to get out of the arena," I blurt out. "He said he was going to send somebody to bring me to him. Please. That's all I know."

"And I believe you," Telemachus says. "But I still want to watch that tape."

"NO!" I try to cover my ears but my hands are still tied.

I'm beginning to panic when it pauses. A guard comes in, tugging Johanna Mason along behind him. She's screaming and fighting and screaming and screaming. Begging. Pleading. Shrieking. Crying. Crying like a little kid.

The guard puts her into that glass box at the center of the room and locks her in. slams her fist against the walls as hard as she can. But it doesn't break. "Let me OUT!" Water starts raining down from the container's ceiling. "PLEASE!" She throws her body at the wall as hard as she can. "LET ME OUT! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!"

I hook my hands behind my head and use my arms to cover my ears in a poor attempt to block out Johanna's screams.

The water keeps pouring into her container until it's full. She's left in there until she's just about to pass out. Then the water begins to drain rapidly. The guard unlocks the door and opens it. Johanna and the remaining water spill out. She coughs up lungful after lungful of water, gasping for air as she does. Telemachus lets her partially regain her breath before collar-shocking her.

Nothing in the world could block out her screams.

"You're in control here," Telemachus says to her. "It doesn't have to be like this. Just tell me what I want to know and I can make this stop."

"Stop the shock," Thaddeus says. "You'll kill her. And she's useless dead."

Telemachus sighs and touches something on his arm. Johanna stops screaming and passes out.

"Warden." The receptionist's voice fills the room. "President Snow is here to see PM74 before the execution."

Peeta is petrified with fear.

Does the lady mean his execution? She can't. He's too valuable. But if he's not the one getting executed, who is?

"Boys," Telemachus says to the guards. "Take our female friends back to their cells."

Johanna's guard tosses her half-conscious body over his shoulder. Thaddeus puts that sack over my head again, unclips my collar, and picks me up. We've barley left the room when we run into President Coriolanus Snow.

I can't see him, but I can hear him making small talk with Thaddeus.

"And which one is this?" the president asks.

Thaddeus lifts me a bit higher, holding me out towards Snow. "Annie Cresta. We haven't told her about the execution yet."

"I see." Snow sighs. "I have to get going if I want to see Mr. Mellark."

And so we part ways.

Back in the cell, Thaddeus uncovers my head and cuts the bonds on my hands. "I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you," he says to Broadsea. "The execution's in less than an hour." Then he leaves.

"Whose execution was he talking about?" I ask.

Broadsea won't meet my eye; my stomach twists itself into knots.

His answer is simple. One horrible, heart-stopping word uttered in a clear and strangely calm voice.

He says, "Mine."