Fight or flight? Do I run or do I try to defend myself? I start to realize that it must be their fault that I'm here in the first place. "The Black Cloaks". I have to admit, I'm somewhat afraid of what they might do to me next but I'm also upset that they took my memories away from me. I come to the conclusion that now is not the time to take out my frustration so I start running towards the emergency exit door. I can hear the light tapping of footsteps behind me, the black cloak must be following me. Once I reach the door, I don't waste even a second opening it. I swipe the key card and force my way in. As soon as I get through, I use my back to close the door as quickly as possible. I take a second to catch my breath before I hear a banging come from the door behind me. I take a quick look of my surroundings to see if there's anything I can use to barricade the door. I'm simply standing in a staircase with nothing in it besides the stairs leading to the upper floors of the hospital and to the basement.
"Go down to the basement and either find a place to hide or find a way to escape this place." The voice of the lady who gave me the key card rings through my head. I immediately start jumping down flights of stairs trying to reach the basement. After four or five flights I reach the bottom. It's dark, damp and completely, eerily, quiet. Every step I take echoes through this cavernous space I'm in. I look around and see nothing but tall steel racks holding boxes that I'm assuming are filled with different medical supplies. I don't bother with checking inside them. I keep walking forward when I finally see light coming from a little bit ahead and to the left. I start running towards it and that's when I see a small window leading to the outside world. The window is dusty and yellowed from what I'm guessing is years of non-use. I walk up it to it ready to free myself of this place when I'm interrupted by what I can only explain as a rogue thought;
Katherine.
Suddenly a picture of the girl has flooded my memory. The auburn-brown hair, the hazelnut eyes. The girl who was by my bed when I first woke up. I slap myself on the forehead, I can't believe I forgot about her. I look once more at the window, I can taste the light and the freedom but ultimately decide that I can't leave Katherine behind. I turn around to head back to the upper floors when I suddenly start feeling sick to my stomach.
"Finnick." A strange voice echoes through the darkness. The hairs on the back of my neck start standing up. I slowly turn my head and see a small light coming from a room directly behind me. I didn't even notice it was there till just now. The way the light glows under the door tells it's not the light of an electric bulb but the glow of a candle. I slowly walk towards it, whoever's in that room clearly said my name. As I make it to the door, a single bead of sweat drops from my forehead down the side of my cheek and finally falls off my chin towards the floor. As it splashes on the ground, the door swings wide open. My stomach drops at what I see next. Katherine and the two older people who were also sleeping in my room are tied up and surrounded by the Black Cloaks, each of them holding a candle. They don't look to be injured but they are unconscious. More sweat breaks out of my forehead.
"Come here." Rumbles a deep and powerful voice. I slowly walk into the room. There are more steel racks with storage boxes stacked on them. I can hear the scurrying of small animals coming from the darkened corners. My hands start shaking uncontrollably. I don't think I've ever been this scared before, I can't raise my voice or even speak. My vocal cords are locking up. I feel like I'm about to throw up because there's a presence so demented, so filled with a lust to see the flow of blood that it's already started to flood the entire basement level. I feel like I could run forever and not be able to escape it. But I see Katherine unable to defend herself and so I swallow my fear and continue foreword. The Black Cloak standing directly behind the hostages stands up and as he does, the rest bow their head. So he must be the leader of the bunch. The Black Cloak slowly removes his hood and I get to see his face. The dead eyes, the hardened lines on his cheeks and forehead. I see his powerful jaw move as he starts to talk.
"Finnick Mellark. First and only son of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark."
At the sound of those two names, images of my mother and father start filling up my missing memory. They're the older people who were waiting for me in my hospital room and they're the other two people lying unconscious beside Katherine.
"Do you know who we are?" He questions me. I'm lost for words and so the most I can do is shake my head. He scoffs at me and throws something to my feet. I look down to see a white rose with a stem coated in metal. It's not complete but a memory pops into my head.
"Mockingjay... Silencers?" I don't exactly know what this means but it's the only memory I can muster that's related to the rose. There's a picture of two kids, dead eyed with wicked smiles attached to that name.
"Ah... That's right. You got to meet my children. Their name for us is a little immature. My name is Packer Snow and I am the leader of the 'Survivors of the Old Capitol'."
"Survivors of the Old Capitol?" I don't have any clue what this is about. The bewilderment on my face must be quite clear because he immediately continues on with his explanation.
"Your parents, your mother in particular, started the Great War between the Districts and the Capitol that ended in chaos and destruction for all the innocent people living here. She was the leader of the rebel army who dropped time bombs on the Capitol's children, killing them all without hesitation or mercy. She was the catalyst, she was the cause of our downfall." I just stand there in stunned silence, unsure of how to respond to his accusations. I must be wearing all my thoughts on my face because he finishes his thoughts.
"We have our reasons for wanting to silence the Mockingjay. And now the target of our rage lies before us. What do you think is going to happen now?" I take a look at my mother and father lying on the ground. My fear is choking me up but my desire to protect my parents accesses a fountain of courage I've had stored up somewhere inside me.
"I'm not going to let you execute them." I slip out a little bit unconvincingly as my voice cracks like I'm a child.
"Execute them? No, no. That's much too easy. Do you think we've waited twenty five years just to end their lives so swiftly? They're going to be slowly and carefully tortured, their heads will be put on display, their demise will be recorded and shown to all the Capitol so they can revel in the suffering of the Witch from 12." he says as he looks me straight in the eyes. Again, I can't seem to find the words to respond to him. This man isn't sadistic or bloodthirsty. This man is on a mission that he won't let anyone get in the way of. His determination is what's so intimidating to me because I can feel it so clearly through his glance alone. I try to open my mouth to defend my parents once more but he interrupts.
"However, my children desperately wanted to meet you inside that arena, so much so that they've begged me to leave you to them. And so I'm going to give you a choice. You will need at least one of your parents as a mentor and so I shall let you choose who you will take with you and who you will leave with us." A huge lump gets caught in my throat. I'm sweating profusely now. The lives of those who brought me into this world are now in my hands. I look down at palms and see that I'm shaking uncontrollably.
"I-I can't decide something like that!"
"Do you think you have an alternative? I'm giving you a chance here to not lose both of them. Are you going to spit on my mercy?" My thoughts are disorderly and confusing. I'm trying to find the resolve to save one of my parents but as soon as I think about the one I will save I start thinking about the one I will have left behind. I drop to my knees with my head in my hands. I just can't choose. I don't want to choose. I would rather that they just took me away instead. I close my eyes tightly hoping this is all just a bad dream.
"Finn. All you have to do is give me your soul, and you can save them both." A voice from inside my head speaks up. I've heard this voice before.
"Y-you can help me save them?"
"I can help you do anything you want but all I need is your soul in return." The world starts to recede all around me. Everything is going black. This feels so familiar to me, like I've experienced something like this before. My thoughts slowly start lining up. I'm going to save my parents in return for my soul. I'm going to kill all the Black Cloaks in this room and leave with my parents and Katherine safe and sound. I'm prepared to respond to the voice. I don't know what it will be like to lose my soul but I know what it will be like to lose my parents.
"Fine. You can take-" I'm cut off by the sudden flood of bloodlust that has filled the room. It's different from Packer's. This bloodlust is pure evil and without remorse. It's not mission-oriented or aimed in a certain direction. It's wild and reckless and without emotion. I've also felt this before though I cannot seem to recall from where. Until I look at Katherine. I see that she has broken out of her rope restraints and is standing before me. The look on her face is that of a demented, psychopathic serial killer.
"Touch him, or those two old timers, and all of you will be torn apart limb from limb." She hisses at Packer. The Black Cloaks surrounding us step back in fear but Packer stands firm. His resolve has not even slightly wavered.
"F-father... It's her..." I hear one of the Black Cloaks hiss to Packer. "She's the one who killed an absurd amount of the mutt peacekeepers in a single moment. I told you we shouldn't have brought her here." Packer just keeps his eyes locked to the girl. He takes two steps towards her and Katherine follows suit. In each step they take, their blood-lust grows stronger and thicker. It's almost palpable at this point. It's hard to even breathe and I'm starting to feel sick again so I bring my hands to my stomach trying to hold in whatever is still in there. I'm about to let it all out when I feel something in the front pocket of my hooded sweater. I reach inside and pull out a bracelet. It's clear with a sky blue tint on it. The color calms me greatly. I slip it on and suddenly I'm able to stomach the tremendous amounts of blood-lust filling the room. I rise to my feet and look back at Katherine and Packer.
"Let them go, old man. I don't want to have to massacre the lot of you, well, actually I kind of do but I don't got the time for that." Katherine says coldly. Packer pulls out a sword he had concealed under his cloak. He points it at Katherine. He rises it above his head, ready to strike her down.
"So that's how it gonna be, huh?" Katherine responds calmly. I look to my right and see that one of the steel racks has a rung sticking out from the rest. Before I can even think, I grab it and deflect Packer's strike. I finally get to see his expression change from pure determination to slight confusion. I've caught him off guard. He goes to swing at me a few more times but I deflect them all. I don't know where I learned to fight like this but now isn't the time to question it. However each blow that I deflect does remind me of someone. Someone back home, wherever that is. I push the thought out of my head and bring my attention back to Packer. I can hear the other Black Cloaks murmuring in stunned disbelief when Packer stops his assault. Katherine scoffs at me with a hint of confusion in her tone as well.
"What do you think you're doing lover boy? I was handling it." Katherine hisses at me. After putting on the bracelet, a lot more of the memories I've lost have come back to me. I remember the evening of the reaping when I first met the girl standing behind me.
"You're Anti-Katherine, right?" I respond back to her.
"What about it?"
"Thanks for sticking up for my parents and I. Now it's my turn to protect you." I don't get a response from her. Packer just sheathes his blade and picks my mother up by the neck.
"I'm tired of the games, Finnick. Choose the parent you wish to keep. They will both end up in our grasp anyway. You're just delaying the inevitable for one of them."
"That's enough, Packer." A familiar voice speaks up from behind me. I turn around and see the lady from the elevator surrounded by peacekeepers aiming their rifles at each of the Black Cloaks.
"President Valley... How dare you interrupt us..." Packer hisses at the lady.
"President Valley?" I think out loud to myself. At the sound of that name, a couple more pieces of my missing memory become complete. She warned me about these people once before just like she warned me about them in the elevator. As far as I can tell, she's on my side.
"We had an agreement." She continues. "The games have to continue. Both Peeta and Katniss need to be present. After that, it's open season." As she says this she glances at Katherine. Her facial expression changes once they make eye contact. She immediately grabs a rifle from one of the peacekeepers and aims it at Katherine's head. Katherine just lets a cocky smirk spread across her lips. Valley's index finger moves towards the trigger when I interrupt almost automatically. I stand between the woman, the rifle and Katherine.
"She's on our side." I inform Valley. She doesn't say a word and keeps aiming the rifle at us. "She's certainly dangerous but she was defending my parents and I just now." Valley gives me a look before lowering the rifle.
"The peacekeepers are going to escort you all back to the training center. The games are taking place five days from now. Make sure you're prepared."
"Aye aye, captain." Katherine says mockingly. Valley gives her a death stare before leaving the room. I turn my head to see all the Black Cloaks have evacuated aside from Packer. Before he turns to leave, he slips out a few parting words.
"If there's one thing you should take away from our meeting, it should be that you and the Mockingjay are never out of my grasp."