A/N: Readers! I beg for forgiveness for updating weeks late. School can slaughter a person mentally, I tell you. This chapter is especially long for y'alls sake :D Enjoy because a whole twist is introduced (spoiler, woops…)
Love you all ;)
-smyle-
"Don't be stubborn with me." My words come out forceful, hammering each syllable into the girl's mind.
"Do you look like my mother?" Johanna throws back. I grit my teeth together as she adds in "Thank God, no," under her breath.
"You expect me to believe you don't know where this district is, Johanna?"
"Of course not. I do know where it is. But I'm not planning on telling a Barbie-doll like you."
Behind me, a giggle escapes the mouth of Loo. I feel the heat rise to my face, causing my cheeks to pull back in hatred. I pinch my expanded lips together and squint accusingly at the bemused Johanna.
I raise my palm and smack Johanna across the face, leaving red streaks of blood to groggle in my hand's place. Immediate instinctual tears form on the brims of her eyes but she sets her jaw tightly, no clue of pain seeping from her face. Only an inhumane growl escapes her mouth.
"Will you tell me where the district is, or not?" I snap at her, tightening the bands cutting the circulation from her small arms. Her eyes try to dig holes into me as she raises her head for a millisecond, sending a glob of spit right at my face.
I crack—sending a wave of slaps onto her face. She takes each one solemnly, no noise escaping her parched lips. As soon as my anger dies down, I can feel the heavy breathing from her nostrils and the small gasp escaping Loo's mouth from behind me. Johanna throws her head down, not daring to glance my way as the vulnerability she is encountering extinguishes her boldness.
I take a deep breath, knowing what I must do.
"Johanna, dear," I sound. She growls under her breath, defining her as nothing like a girl—at least, not anymore.
"Johanna," I state in my commanding voice. She raises her head for the first time, a sudden tear falling from her mutated cheek.
A flicker of care sparks through me.
Just a flicker.
Because I swallow it up the next second and remember the embarrassment she and the rest of those stupid district people have caused me.
And that brings me back.
So I begin to toy with the little brute.
"So Johanna," I begin while taking a swift seat on a chair near her. From behind me, Loo settles into a different seat, pressing her hands against her pink cheeks as she enjoys our newfound and bound-to-be-interesting conversation. This heightens my spirits.
"You're not familiar with the name Landis, are you?" I ask absentmindedly. I know I hit her right in the gut when her bulb-like eyes blaze at me in a fury of fright.
"What?" she can barely whisper. Her legs seem to go limp under her. I could never feel more accomplished. I can hear Loo whistle lightly from behind me.
"Don't," Johanna begs as she sputters out her words. She grinds her teeth and stares at me as a fresh wave of tears circle her clammy face. I study my fingernails, noticing I need to book a manicure sometime next week.
"Oh Johanna, don't think I don't know those kisses you two stole behind the swing set when you were twelve. Or the time he took you home with him. Or the exchange of words you cherished oh. So. Dearly. In your heart. Did you really believe them, Johanna?" I gaze at her from above my fingernails. Satisfaction ripples through me as her undivided attention makes her skin crawl with the sweet sense of embarrassment. Something else is hidden in her eyes, and I know exactly where to continue.
"Why did you say no then?"
A cracked sob escapes her mouth as she places her head on her knees. I could pity her, but she isn't worth any of it.
"He offered you his life. His love. His future. But you couldn't even think twice. You were so selfish. And what did you leave him the next day when he was chosen as the tribute to die. He was too heartbroken to care for his life then. He didn't seem to care that his days would now be numbered. Do you think I chose him by chance, Johanna? I may be honest some times, but when I must make the games juicier, there is no mercy."
Johanna's choked sob cracks the deep tension. She hiccups over and over as she strains for her throat, probably wishing she could just slit it to terminate any such signs of weakness. She shakes her head, an act of denial, as she searches for any words to commit as an explanation.
"But he didn't love me. I—I saw him with her. Haley. She was the girl all the boys dreamt about. Of course he would grab any chance he got with her. His love for me wasn't real! Landis only went for things he couldn't get. I had been one of those things. But once he had me, he didn't want me anymore."
By the looks of it, it almost looked like she was trying to convince herself more than try to convince me. I press on a decent smile and shake my head. Poor, poor girl. She was always the type to jump to conclusions.
"Johanna, he didn't talk to her because he was interested. He was far from that. The only time he did talk to her was as a favor for a friend, Brutus."
Johanna cuts herself still as the realization hits her. Her jaw falls slack and she stays as a heap on the floor.
"Are you planning on telling me where this district is, now, sweety?" I didn't expect much from her.
"In your bloody dreams," Johanna challenges, her eyes lingering on my mouth when I exhale a breath. A slow smile creeps on my lips.
"Very well."
I snatch the remote off of the table in front of me, pressing down a button just as the iron door slides open on my command. Two guards march in, moving out of the way just as a young man emerges. He stands dutifully, waiting for my orders. His eyes slowly consume the room, lingering slightly longer on Johanna's trembling form.
"Impossible!" Johanna screams from her place, wailing in fright as she cringes within herself. "IMPOSSIBLE! GET HIM AWAY!" Johanna rages in fright as her ear-splitting screams shake the air around me. I can feel so accomplished sometimes.
The boy stands there, his abnormal golden eyes furrowed in confusion.
"Landis, show Johanna the powers I mercifully granted you," I order calmly. Loo lightly touches my shoulder from behind me, probably to warn me. I ignore her for the time being.
Landis, or should I say the mutated Landis, slides forward and lurches in front of the heaving body of Johanna. He wistfully falls to the floor and takes Johanna's hand swiftly into his perfect palm.
"Wait, Landis," I order. Landis follows, grasping Johanna's hand lightly but at the same time firmly.
"No, no, no, no," Johanna sobs over and over, her eyes never leaving Landis, who only stands a few inches away from her. Landis gazes over to me, no sign of recognition of Johanna branding his face.
"I'm sure you're familiar with the word 'mutt' Johanna," I begin. Johanna turns quiet, but she is taking in every word I say. "There is something you didn't realize about the Capitol. Our 'mutts' are not created from parts of the living. We manipulate the living." For the first time, Johanna turns to look at me, disbelief coloring her face.
"Yes Johanna, all the dead tributes of our previous Games have been brought to life just as we took their bodies into the hovercrafts. We hold that technology. Of course, once they are morphed back into life, we mess with their DNAs at our own will. They can't resist with their life source built into our technologies. They have no power because even if they end their own life, we are capable of bringing them back to life."
"You're lying," Johanna accuses. "If that were the case, the people of the Capitol would've used that technology as well. You wouldn't waste it on us."
"It's not healthy to downgrade yourself," I begin with a sneer. "But you see, Johanna, this powerful technology is hidden from the public. If we were to use it this way and that, overpopulation would have struck us decades ago. This technology is for government use on top secret situations. Building an army being one of them."
The last sentence takes Johanna by surprise. Her eyes flicker back to Landis who holds no expression. Confusion darkens her face as she gazes into his clowded eyes that hold no normal sense of life.
"What did you do to him?" she breathes, reaching to touch his face. Before her fingers reach his face, he flinches away, jumping back to the other end of the room in disgust and resignation. Johanna's hand goes limp and falls back to her side.
"What I'm doing is building an army out of the past tributes. The most powerful army known to mankind. With it, I can rule with total control. No district rebellions can roughen my path. The deaths of former tributes weren't just for the Capitol citizens' pleasure. I used them for my own benefit."
"You're crazy," Johanna jokes, eyeing me with a stone-hard glare.
"Landis, show this girl what you can do," I order absentmindedly. Landis charges towards her, lands on the floor before her, takes her hand in his, and smiles evilly as he stares into her eyes.
"Landis," Johanna breathes. She seems in a small trance before a ringing scream escapes her throat as a pained look crunches her face just as Landis crushes her hand in his in one swift move.
Beads of sweat trickle down Johanna's face and neck as she examines the lock Landis holds on her broken hand. Her screams turn her throat soar as she desperately tries to pull her hand back. Landis lets go suddenly and peers at Johanna with a new observation on his face. He takes an almost human-like tone to himself.
"You left me," he speaks in a gruff, unused voice. Johanna's face pales as she holds her broken hand in her other hand. Her heart seems to be beating so fast as her slaughtered breaths scratches her used throat. She stares at the boy she once loved and soon lost to the Games, making her the girl she became—rude and ignorant.
"My God," she cries out and she turns to look at me with tear-filled eyes.
"The key to changing these tributes into the most powerful they can be is using hatred, betrayal, or any strong feeling they held in their past life. We magnify them, making them invulnerable to everything around them. That is the only thing they can even slightly remember from their past life. Their hatred." I smile ferociously at Johanna who is beginning to weep out loud. I stand up and crouch down beside her, ordering Landis to stand back.
"Johanna, dear, will you tell me where the district is?"
I have smoldered and destroyed her weak spot—pounded it to the pulp. I have won this battle.
Between her chilling throbs, she nods in defeat as she cradles her broken hand, wishing she could die a million deaths than endure this.