Chapter 25

Several people grab a hold of me as I try to launch myself toward an Avox. "We had a deal you fucker! We had a deal!" I'm pissed. "We had a fucking deal!" I scream trying to get to the door.

"Johanna look!" Someone shouts as I'm released. I nearly lose my balance and fall, but I recover quickly to seethe, as I watch the berries in Katniss' hand. They each take a mouthful.

"Those are poisonous berries!" One of the other Victors shout out.

"Wait! Wait! Ladies and Gentlemen, the Victors of the Seventy fourth Hunger Games!"

My mouth falls open. "Serves the bastard right,"

"He's so dead." Finnick says smirking.

"If Snow doesn't kill him, I will." I grumble as we're herded like goats onto the Hovercrafts to be transported back to the Capitol.

When we arrive we find Annie waiting for us with wide eyes. Finnick runs straight over to her. They speak quietly for a bit while I harass darling Enobaria.

"Jo!" My head snaps over and I walk to Finnick and Annie. "They want us three to do a photo shoot." Finnick explains.

I sigh and run my hand through my hair. "I'll go get my leather jacket."

I grab a jacket, a wife beater tank top and my signature fingerless gloves. Annie is dressed in a flowing sundress. Finnick is wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

We walk to the photo shoot sullenly. I'm tired of all of this. Finnick is immediately told to take off his shirt and the fan is turned on to blow back our hair.

I'm not in the first couple of pictures because they decide to cut my hair a bit.

"Don't worry, if you don't like it we can have it grow back to the way it was before." The hairdresser says perkily.

I roll my eyes and walk over cockily. I have my hair in my face in a cool bang style that covers both of my eyes. I'm told to sit in a chair in whatever way is comfortable. I prop my feet up on a table and tuck my hands behind my head. Annie sits next to me with her legs crossed. Finnick gives us an egotistical stare as we look like we're talking.

"I fucking hate this shit." I say to Annie.

"It is kind of annoying." She says vacantly.

The next couple of pictures are just of me. I stand tall and cross my arms.

"Now just of your face." The photographer says. "Pull your hair out of the way." I lift my bangs and give the camera a very slight smirk. They snap a couple pictures. "Perfect! Drop your lids! Give me a sexy look." I drop my eyes and smirk a bit wider. "Gold!"

They turn the fan back on to knock my hair back and pop my jacket to show my athletic figure.

"This is just stupid!" I say loudly. Then they hand me the ax. "Okay, I like this much better."

"Just do whatever the hell you want." The exhausted and irritated photographer mumbles. I rest it on my shoulder and Finnick and I start an argument.

"So how's it goin Annie?" I ask as she walks over.

"Here we go! Take sides. Johanna you protect Annie from big bad Finnick just like your sister."

"Really?" I ask glaring at him. "I was in a relatively good mood before you mentioned her."

"You call that good?" Finnick says laughing.

"I have the ax numb nuts." I say tilting my head with a blank look on my face.

He puts his hands up in surrender and Annie stands slightly behind me.

"Okay, I'm bored." I say throwing the ax across the room and walking to the exit. The ax sticks in the wood separating the two doors and I walk right out the door, past the ax, and down the street. Finnick and Annie jog to catch up to me, laughing hard.

"That was brilliant."

"Yeah, fantastic am I correct? I got tired of my 'sexy' look." I say rolling my eyes and shoving away someone begging me for an autograph.

"I don't know why they gave you that ax."

"I was close to killing someone." Annie goes pale.

"Sorry." I say realizing what I said.

She breaks down right in the street while Finnick gets her over to the side. I stand a couple of feet away with my arms crossed and a scowl on my face. A couple walks by, staring at Finnick and Annie.

"What are you looking at?" I snap loudly. "Get outta here! There's nothing to see!" They run quickly away. The street rapidly becomes deserted while Finnick manages to get Annie to calm down enough to walk back to the Training Center.

We separate and I find myself sitting in the District Seven dining room with a big bottle of Vodka sitting right in front of me. "Well fuck," I say grabbing the bottle and pouring a glass. I knock it back. "I really hate you ya know." I say to the bottle. "You suck." I pour another glass and play with it a bit. "Why do I even bother when it comes to you?"

"Damn it." I say laying my forehead on the table. "Why is this so fucking hard?" I shout throwing my head back, startling the Avoxes in the room.

I stand up and hurl the glass clear across the room and knock over the television in the adjacent room. I grab the chair and send it into the wall. I grab the collar of the nearest Avox and lift her off her feet.

I'm snarling and my eyes are lit with rage. Her blue eyes are wide and filled with fear and tears. Her brownish red hair falls out of her bun a bit and shapes her face. She's pretty, really she is, but the fear on her face contorts it slightly. As my fierce eyes meet her submissive ones my anger ebbs a bit.

I put her back down and smooth out her collar. "Sorry," I whisper. After all, it's illegal to talk to them. We're inches apart and our eyes meet again. I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and walk away. I kick a door off its hinges as I walk by.

Eugene walks around me, staying out of arms reach. The other Victors know me well enough, just stay out of arms reach, because I'm the strongest and the toughest; I'm the most violent and the most deserving of the life of a Victor.

I enter my room and smash a mirror. Blood stems from my hand but I ignore it and shout at the frame at the top of my lungs. "I will kill you!" I grab a drawer from the dresser and slam it into a counter. "I will, fucking kill you!" I sit on the bed and bury my head in my hands. "Scarlett's dead." I whisper over and over again.

I breathe a bit deeper and remove my hands from my face. The blood from my hands is covering my face. My hands are still bloody. I wrap them up in a t-shirt and get some sleep. I don't bother to wash my face.

I spend five days without leaving my room. The same Avox brings me food and water. I don't order anything but she seems to know me well enough. I get grapes every day. One day I see the grapes and I just can't help but sob into my pillow.

The Avox strokes my hair as I cry. It's our little secret. I'm invincible to the rest of the world.

Johanna Mason cries? She's human?

It's a miracle I speak English really. In all honesty even my parents wondered what the fuck went wrong when it came to me. What can I say? I'm a pain in the ass.

Not to mention, we're all wondering where my genetics came from. Soft spoken parents, blonde blue eyed, and here I am.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be quiet and sensitive. It would not last long. I jump up and take a shower quickly, checking the cuts on my hand. They're alright.

I run out of the room and down a set of back stairs. I run through the Capitol. I reach the gate and look at the Peacekeeper guarding it. "I need to see Snow." I pant.

I'm let in and I enter the office. Snow looks up in slight surprise. "Come to assassinate me again Johanna?"

"You wish." I say flipping my hair out of my eyes. "Well, I wish too, but we can't get what we want all the time. Let me kill Seneca Crane."

He's perplexed. "Why is this?"

"Let's just say, I know you aren't happy about his allowing both from District Twelve to win, and I have my own personal reasons, that I'm sure you already know about anyway, and I want him dead. Don't lie to me Snow. You want him dead too. Let me get my hands dirty." I say with a creepy smile.

He sits back in his chair. "I find no reason not to." He says narrowing his eyes at me.

"Awesome." I say smirking. "I'll need him brought to a secluded room with a chair. I need ropes to tie him down too."

He nods. "You heard her." He says to some Avoxes.

One of them leads me to the room while I wait for Seneca. He's shoved into the chair and tied down. He looks at me, his eyes wide with terror.

"How's it going?" I ask, waving everyone out of the room and locking the door.

He's paralyzed in fear. "I said," I shout at the top of my lungs. "How's it going?" He jumps back and I approach him. He can see my anger. I grip his throat tightly and bring him to eye level with me. "We had a deal." I whisper. "This is what happens when someone tries to play me."

I flip my switchblade and slash it directly below his eye. He gasps in pain. "I won the Hunger Games." I whisper. "I basically killed my siblings and best friends I killed Harry Scardina, and let us not forget the guy that killed Sabrina. I killed him too. How many is that? Twelve people Seneca. Do you honestly think you're getting out of here?"

I smile as I wipe the blood from his cut with my thumb.

"Not alive you're not." I laugh at the terrified look on his face. I push back away from him and walk back towards the door and lean against it. "I got special permission to do this. You probably knew it was going to happen right? You knew you were in trouble years ago. That's why you had that Manticore attack me right? Well, consider this," I pause for dramatic effect. "Revenge,"

He's shaking in horror. "I-I couldn't keep my end of the deal you see, its more interes-"

"Shut up," I interrupt. "You're going to die."

I walk back over and happily give him the death Clove was going to give Katniss.

It's hard to explain the rush of power I felt when his screams echoed around the room. I felt just so liberated. The surge for power, the rush of happiness, I felt elated for the first time in so long.

Finnick is in the District Seven television room when I come in and jump over the back of the couch.

"Where've you been?"

"Seneca Crane's dead now." I say smiling. "He screamed really loud."