Author's Note: In the last chapter, it was briefly mentioned that Clove had a sister who "did some unexpected things" in her Games. In this chapter, that will reappear and as will another aspect of those Games, why Thresh hates District 2 so much and why he was so close to Rue.

This is explained with much greater depth in my story The Sharp Knife of a Short Life. (Not Severed because Clove's back-story is different) but if you are curious and want to know some more about their back-stories and the people they knew who were in the Games, I would recommend The Sharp Knife of a Short Life.

~Behind this door, there's peace I'm sure. There'll be no more tears in heaven~

So that's it then. We're all from families of rebels. I just can't shake the thought that Clove had a sister who was in the Games too. Why would she volunteer then? Does she want to leave her family with no one?

Enobaria clears her throat. "So if any of you had the idea to kill each other, well, why don't you just think of the little conversation we just had?"

She leaves the room. Slowly, Seeder and the others follow. We're left alone. The brutal killer. The sadistic girl who is hiding something. Pretend lover girl. The silent one. And me. We all lock eyes for just a moment, confusion resonating in each of our faces. What now? How can anything be forgiven?

In an instant, Thresh leaps up. "That's it!" He screams.

The room rings with the sound. Everyone, even Cato flinches. They haven't heard him speak above a whisper. Thresh pants. "I can't stand this anymore. There's no way all that happened over the past days can just be forgotten. So many people were killed." He pauses. "At your hands." One shaking finger is pointed at Clove and Cato.

Katniss stands up with him. "I'm with Thresh on this. I don't know why you're the way you are, but you need to go. Just get out." She hisses between clenched teeth.

"No." Cato says, surprisingly calmly. "No." He takes a breath. "You've got it all wrong, Miss 'I'm -so -innocent' Okay, I get it. I killed a bunch of kids."

I suck in my breath. It's sick how casually he said that.

"But Clove didn't"

There is a momentary silence. I bite my lip. Clove and I are the only ones sitting, but instead of her giving me some kind of glare, she just looks kind of tired.

Thresh gives a sharp laugh. "Oh yeah? She's a Career. We're not idiots, Cato. She killed David, and all those kids in the Bloodbath and that girl from 8 and who knows who else?"

But Cato shakes his head. "Katniss, how many people did you kill?" He asks suddenly.

Katniss pales. "Three." She says softly.

Three? She killed three people? I knew I had a reason to be afraid of her.

"Clove here only killed two."

There is more silence. I think everyone refuses to believe that a Career only killed two people.

Clove looks up. "I think I can speak for myself now, thanks." She says this with just a hint of her sarcasm. "Anyway," she continues, "it was Marvel who killed David, not me. And it was Cato who killed that girl from 8. I killed the boy from 9 and the girl from 10. She jumped me, so that was all instincts. I didn't kill anyone else." She turns to Katniss. "So someone explain to me why I'm the murderer here and Fire Girl, who killed more than me, is the good guy."

But she doesn't wait for her answer. "Yeah, I get it. District 2 and all that. I don't know, maybe if you knew about my sister Jetta's Games, you'd change your minds. She shocked a lot of people then."

Clove throws a look back at Katniss. "And by the way, Lover Girl, your little friend wasn't killed for no reason. Marvel saw her up in that tree and he put two and two together. She helped you kill his partner. Don't think she died innocent with no blood on her hands. We're all murderers. Let's just face that right now."

And then, she is gone.

Cato looks back at us. "Just give her some time. Whenever she mentions Jetta, she usually has to spend some time alone."

I nervously swallow. I would never, ever dare to speak to Cato. He's a monster. But I have to. "Cato, what exactly happened to Jetta?"

He shakes his head slowly. "I can't tell you. I don't want her to be unhappy with me. She'll tell you when she's ready."

I sit back in my chair. "She's ever happy?" I blurt out. Katniss raises her eyebrows.

But Cato smiles. Actually smiles. It's a genuine smile like on every other teenage boy. It's disgusting how he can turn into a killer at any moment, but for a moment, I'm witnessing another side to him.

"Oh yes, she can be really happy. Especially when she was younger. I mean, she's always been serious, but she actually laughs really easily. And she's got the best sarcastic sense of humor." He pauses. "But you won't believe me. I think she'll always be a monster to you. Honestly, we just wanted some honor, but then all this happened."

The door opens from the hallway and a woman dressed all in white pokes her head into the room. "Dinner is being served in the Meal Room. It's located on the 16th floor. Your bracelets will be scanned according to what food you should be served." She pauses and the clipped, almost mechanic persona drops for an instant. "If you're not ready to be with other people or each other yet, I suppose I can make arrangements for you to be served in your separate hospital rooms." She closes the door.

Katniss looks directly at Thresh and me. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to get out of this cramped room." She stands to leave. Thresh and I get up to follow her, but Cato makes no move to join us. I pause for a moment to look at the thin bracelet around my wrist. I've just noticed it. It's plastic with something written on it. I squint to see it.

"Mentally unstable." I read out loud. Thresh raises his eyebrows and looks at his.

"I've got that too!" He exclaims.

Katniss makes a noise like a cough. "Me too."

Cato shrugs from his seat. "Not that any of you care, but Clove and I both have it." He shrugs again lightly. "Guess it's true for us. Enobaria told me they'd remove that label when necessary, but for now we can do whatever the hell we want."

Katniss makes another sound of disgust at him and we walk quickly out of the room.

Our footsteps echo in the hallway. None of us makes a sound. Well, it's not like anyone was expected to. Once we're in the elevator though, she turns to me.

"So you can talk." She blurts out.

I'm rendered speechless by this, which I find just a little bit funny. In fact, I almost smile. Still, I'm not even sure if I'm ready to talk to her yet. She murdered more kids than a Career? Still, there must be some explanation. "Ummm…yeah." I finally say.

Thresh shifts, but I can tell he's holding back a smile at our oh-so-intelligent conversation.

She shuffles her feet. "Sorry, I just never really heard you talk. I mean, that was stupid because I saw your interview. Maybe I just figured you were so traumatized or something that you just stopped. But that was pretty dumb."

I shrug. "I used to be the most talkative girl at my school."

They both look at me in disbelief.

"Hey, how come we're going down?" I ask to no one in particular.

Thresh answers. "Because it's all underground to keep anyone from knowing its existence. So if you press for the 16th floor, you're going 16 floors down."

The doors wing open and we enter a much wider corridor. A few people are walking down it, talking to one another. I can almost imagine it being a city street, except that they all head into a single set of doors. We follow the crowd and try not to look out of place. Needless to say, it does not work.

I try to talk to someone. "So Katniss, where's Peeta?"

She frowns slightly. "Getting medical work done on his leg."

Flurries of whispers chorus through the hallway as we try to make our way through the double doors. A man holds the door open for us with a look of shock on his face. I notice that we all have our eyes lowered as we get our dinner.

The actual food is filling. As for its taste, well, I can't afford to be picky.

I look around the gigantic room we're seated in. People of all ages roam around putting food on their trays or talking to each other. Children sit next to their parents. The tables are all crowded and yet they seem to go on forever. It's like an entire city can fill this one room. Except one thing is different. There is no shouting. In fact, I don't even see anyone laughing. Children sit quietly and adults talk in low voices. That, and everything is gray and white. I can't help a morbid thought from floating through my mind. Why aren't you all dead? Shouldn't those bombs have killed you all? How are you here? But I have never liked thinking morbid questions, so I push them to the very back of my mind.

Anyway, Katniss interrupts my thoughts. "You know, it's so strange. The Games never really touched me before this. I mean, every year I would watch two kids I didn't even know get picked and I'd pity them for a few weeks afterwards and then move on with my life. Then there'd be a speech made by some clueless, heartless Career that would me a little sick to my stomach, but I always thought I had bigger problems. And then, it was me. Do you know what I mean?"

I nod. "I know what you mean. I never knew anyone who was picked, except for a girl in my class when I was 13. I wasn't friends with her, in fact, I really didn't like her. But she had a large group of friends and the school was quiet for a long time after her death. But there were never memorials or anything. There never are."

Thresh clears his throat softly. "They got to me long before I was chosen."

I set my fork down, a piece of some kind of tough meat still on it.

"My best friend was in the Games when she was only 13. She was in Clove's sister's Games."

Katniss' spoon clatters to the table. "Wait; do you know what happened with her sister? What did she do?"

Thresh frowns, deep lines crease his forehead. "She did a lot of things a typical Career wouldn't do. Anything you can think of; Jetta did it. She made an alliance with a 12 year old with absolutely nothing to offer. It was just to protect her or something. It was completely unexpected. And then, she saved some kid from 10's life by killing the girl who was holding a knife to his throat. Then, they made an alliance. And fell in love."

My heart skips a beat. In love? What is with that family?

Katniss echoes my thoughts. "Well, what happened next?"

"Jetta killed my best friend, that's what. Heather, who I never realized before, but meant the world to me, died crying."

Again, my heart feels as if it's in my throat. "Why though?! She made an alliance with a 12 year old, but then killed a 13 year old?"

Thresh lets out a long, shaky breath. "That's not exactly how it worked. You see, Heather was the one who killed Jetta's little ally. She went completely insane when she was so young. Jetta was getting revenge or something. Heather had her cornered and it was the final five, so there wasn't much else Jetta could have done, I guess. But I still get so angry with her sometimes, even though both of them are long dead. Maybe that's why I could barely even look at Clove. She looks exactly like her sister."

Katniss stares at her tray as if it's intensely interesting. I vaguely remember Rue doing the same thing that first day of training. That was so long ago.

"And that's why I wanted to protect Rue." Thresh says softly. "I didn't want her to end up like Heather. I couldn't save Heather. She was so far gone at one point that she ripped off the token I gave to her. I just wanted to feel like I could save someone, but we all know that that could never work."

Katniss nods, a far-off look in her eyes. Eventually, we get up to throw our trays out and head back up to our Residential Floor.

He pauses. "Well anyway, Jetta didn't win. She was killed by some other Career. Her boyfriend from 10 was the winner. He was the first in history to have never made a kill, well, not really."

But the whole time I'm absorbed in one thought. Did Clove cry when she found out that her sister was never coming home?