Chapter 11 - Give Them Hope

It was the afternoon of Day 2

Blight, Johanna, Wiress and Beetee were not able to find food and water. The four were desperate. Sweat poured down their face from the blistering heat. They were hungry and were about willing to eat anything.

Johanna and Blight sat under a tree to hide from the sun's rays. But they could barely move their bodies as the lack of water and food had drained them.

Beetee had fallen asleep after hopelessly searching for food and water. And across from him was Wiress who was barely awake.

The heat had hampered Wiress' ability to properly think. She grabbed a couple of nearby berries, while sitting still.

After hearing the ruffling of grass, Beetee woke up and yelled, "Wiress, NOOOOOO!". But it was too late, Wiress had ate the poisonous nightlock berries and died momentarily.

BOOM!

Upon hearing the boom along with Beetee's screaming. Johanna and Blight mustered the little energy they had left to head towards Beetee and Wiress. They noticed Wiress' dead body as Beetee, and Johanna began to shed a tear.

Johanna then found a camera and pleaded for sponsors, "Please send food, water, medicine."

Meanwhile Finnick, Cecelia, Katniss and Peeta were taking a rest as they began taking their ascent into the hills leading them to the ruined city area. Katniss was fading in and out of consciousness, as Peeta carried her for most of the journey. She still wasn't able to muster the energy to speak.

Finnick was slow hiking through the terrain as the wound left by Enobaria began taking its toll on him.

After hours of running and climbing they took refuge in a cave in the hills.

"Damn it! We'll never make it out of her alive." Finnick complained. Cecelia put her hands over Finnick's shoulders hoping to ease his frustration.

As for Peeta, he rested Katniss on the floor hoping she would awaken. Sweat poured down Katniss' face, and her forehead was burning hot. It appeared, Katniss had gotten an infection from the incapacitating wound.

At times he would say to her unconscious body, "I wish wasn't so pathetic, "I should have taken the hit," "You're the toughest girl I know"... all to no avail.

Finally, when Peeta began sing, it reminded Katniss of her sister Prim, and she awoke to speak for the first time since the incident.

Katniss was dazed and hallucinating. The signing had caused her to mistaken Peeta for Prim. But Peeta could not tell what was going through Katniss' head.

"Would you forgive me?" Katniss whispered into Peeta's ear.

Peeta nodded and responded by saying, "yes, for anything."

After hearing those words, Katniss felt she could die without regrets and feel back into a slumber. Peeta cried, "NO!, Please, stay with me. We were suppose to get married... have a family together..." Tears fell from Peeta's face as he grasped Katniss's hand.

Finnick watched from a distance, and occasionally sunk his head down still feeling responsible.

The three of them heard a boom realizing another tribute had just died.

"Kat..." Finnick articulated in response to the canon fire.

Cecelia and Finnick came rushing towards Katniss as Peeta checked if Katniss still had a pulse... and she did. Peeta was relieved to know Katniss was still alive. However, Finnick and Cecelia looked at each other and had a bad feeling Johanna, Blight, Wiress and Beetee wasn't as safe as expected.

After letting the chilling reality sink in, Cecelia said softly, "Forgive me Larry," and proceeded to exit the cave. Before leaving, she looked Finnick in the eyes said tearfully as if it were her last words, "I need to do this, don't stop me."

Cecelia walked for hours backed where they had escape from. Her backtracking eventually led to her encountering Scorpion.

Scorpion stared into Cecelia's tear-filled eyes, but pity didn't exist in his vocabulary...

"If death is what you seek, death you shall get." Scorpion told the suicidal Cecelia.

"GET OVER HERE!" Scorpion yelled as her launched a kunai attached to a chain.

Cecelia didn't move as the kunai pierced right through her left leg. But then Cecelia screamed as it pierced through her and blood dripped from the wound. While she was screaming, Scorpion yelled "GET OVER HERE!" again launching another kunai into her right arm.

Scorpion repeated this process until each of her limbs where pierced and ensnared with chains attached to kunais. For the last kunai Scorpion launched it so it pierced under and around her collar bone, then wrapped around her neck, so that the chain attached to the kunai was strangling her.

Scorpion the tied each of the chains attached to her limbs and head around sturdy tree branches. He constructed them in a way so that one tug from a single conjoining chain would be able to tear apart all of Cecelia's limbs from her body at once.

While still screaming in pain, Scorpion walked up to a bounded Cecelia in chains. He proceeded to seperate her left and right shoulders so the bones connecting her arms to her torso were broken. Upon doing so Cecelia let out a loud "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!", so loud even Finnick and Peeta could hear her yell from their cave.

Next Scorpion proceeded to kick her in the left and right hip joint of the pelvis, so that the legs were loose and easy to pull apart. And again Cecelia yelled, "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" in agonizing pain.

Scorpion was about to give Cecelia an excruciating death. As Scorpion walked back to retrieve the chain ensnaring all of her limbs and head, she stared into a camera and begged, "People of Panem, Please Help Us!"

To finish her, Scorpion picked up the master conjoining chain and yanked so it hard, it tore apart all of Cecelia's limbs from her torso with blood gushing out each of the limbs as though they were geysers. The tug also resulted in her head to fly off into the horizon spewing with blood.

BOOM!

Even Caesar Fickerman paused momentary at Cecelia's death. But he regained his composure and told the audience, "Uh, Scorpion wins Flawless Victory!...the Capitol wins yet again!" In hopes it would re-energize the crowd.

The Capitol was mixed reactions having seen Cecelia's death. Some were resisting not to vomit their lunch. Some, like Effie, felt she was too kind of a person to deserve such a gruesome death and shed tears. But the majority of the blood-thirsty Capitol crowd cheered and applauded her demise.

As for the Districts, they cringed at the sight of witnessing all her limbs getting pulled off at once. Most of the districts liked Cecelia and Larry for they would annually make donations expressing condolences to the families of fallen tributes. And now this would be their last memory of such a kindhearted woman.

Larry had to cover the eyes of their three children as Cecelia and her limbs were being torn apart. Her children shouted, "Mommy, mommy!" as they saw Scorpion's kunai pierced her soft flesh.

Larry took a moment to let his wife's death sink in. And afterwards, Larry said to the television set, "Scorpion! You're going to fucking pay!"

Larry proceeded to call everyone he and his family knew to rally sponsorships for the remaining tributes. Phone calls amassed and money began pouring in for sponsorships. And in the Districts, everyone began donating what little they had to help the remaining tributes. It was as though everyone wanted to see the tributes unite to slay the evil Scorpion.

This was the largest pool of money the games had ever received in sponsorship.

About an half hour after hearing the canon fire indicating Cecelia's death, the tributes heard chimes... hundreds of chimes. Finnick and Peeta peaked outside of their cave to see the sky littered with thousands sponsorship parachutes.

Blight, Johanna, and Beetee noticed the same as they stared into the sky.

And so did Brutus as he emerged from his hiding spot.