Chapter 29

The claw inches closer and closer, my smile melts from my face; my defiant smirk is replaced with a grim glare. I know what will happen next. I won't be dying in the Arena like I thought I would, like I hoped I would. The claw reaches me, and the moment it touches my skin I'm paralyzed.

I ascend into the Capitol hovercraft above me. My heart is pounding right now. I know what happens after this. Once inside, I'm led to an office and shoved inside.

There sits President Snow in a desk much like the one in his mansion. I laugh haughtily, hiding my fear deep inside. "Told you I'd get my revenge. I told you. But no, you didn't believe me. Your spark has turned into a forest fire. We Victors set the hot coals, but Everdeen provided the spark." I'm inches from his face. "You can't control it now, and you won't be able to, ever. Let's watch you run around like a chicken without its head shall we?"

"You underestimate the power of terror Johanna." Snow tilts his head. "I like watching the way people react in a survival situation, and how they cope when they can't survive. Growing up, the Hunger Games were my favorite television show. They fascinated me."

He presses a button on a panel of controls. The lights dim as Enobaria and Peeta are shoved into the room. Peeta is unconscious and Enobaria is bleeding profusely. "Wake him up." Snow orders one of the Peacekeepers holding Peeta up.

He injects his chest with a vile of something. I'm guessing adrenaline, Volts told me about the idea of injecting adrenaline for energy. I know that adrenaline is what keeps me going in the Arena.

He groans drowsily and slowly grows more alert. He looks at me. "You attacked her didn't you, Jo?" He asks hoarsely.

"Yup, but she's okay." I nod solemnly. "I only did what was necessary."

"How sweet, let's get on with this shall we?" Snow interrupts.

A white curtain drops down behind Snow, and a projector projects a four paneled screen onto the curtain. Then the images are shown. "I believe that's Gale Hawthorne, Miss. Mason. I believe you thought he was particularly good looking. Especially more so than the late Seneca Crane. You killed him as I remember."

"What?" Both Enobaria and Peeta exclaim looking at me with wide eyes.

"Yeah, that's correct, who are the other three?" I nod curtly.

"That's the Undersee family. Mayor Undersee and his wife and daughter. Her twin was Haymitch's ally in his Games." Snow informs, rather pleased with himself.

"Yeah so what?" I ask rolling my eyes. "Get on with your point."

"There's the mine entrances. That should be interesting."

"I know who the others are." I say glancing at the scared faces of the two people in the final frame. "Sparky's sister and mother. Sick bastard. What're you gonna do?"

"Let's watch and see."

He flips open a glass case over a large red button, and presses it with the swiftness of a younger man. The electricity goes out in District Twelve.

I watch Gale mostly because I can't stand to see the other three. "We've got to get out of here Mom." Gale says quickly. "Go to the fence and wait for me there."

"Gale, Gale!" His mother calls as she's pushed out of the house with her little girl in her arms.

Gale bolts away towards the rest of his ratty neighborhood, ignoring his mother and siblings. "Get to the fence! Get to the fence!" He shouts as he runs down the street.

Then the bomb drops on the mine entrances. He falls to the ground, but he rolls up and gets right back to sprinting through the District. He shouts his mantra as people flee from their homes. I imagine that everything is covered in coal dust, every little nook and cranny in the District filled with flammable substances.

Gale goes straight to Victor's Village where Prim and Katniss' mother are leaving the house with medicines and bandages filling their burlap sacks.

"Get to the fence!" He shouts coming up to them. "Go now, it's going to get smoky and the coal dust all over the place is not going to help." He orders breathlessly.

Before Mrs. Everdeen can scold Gale for leaving behind his own family for them, he's off towards Town Square. He's knocked onto his back several feet as a bomb lands on the Mayor's mansion. Within seconds the entire square is engulfed in flames.

"Gale!" A chubbier girl shouts running up to him with the handful of survivors from Town Square. "What do we do?"

"To the fences!" He shouts leading them away from the approaching wall of flames. They meet up with a few miners and they find a large mass of people panicking by the fence. "C'mon! Pull it down!" Gale screams as he and his buddies from the mines join them, tugging the fence down.

The fence falls down and people flood into the forest. "Follow me!" He shouts as he runs through the forest and out of the camera's range.

I smile. "That didn't work out the way you planned."

Peeta had tears down his face. He watches me closely. I smirk as we see a glimpse of a few hovercrafts from District Thirteen. "Good luck," I sneer, glaring at Snow. "What're you gonna do to us? Torture us? Oh no, I'm so scared. I didn't see that coming."

He turns red. "Get her out of here." He orders with a sharp nod towards the Peacekeepers standing at the door.

"My pleasure, President Snow. Enjoy that title. It won't last long." I snarl as I'm thrown from the room.

I'm dragged away, I have a victorious gleam in my eyes and a maniacal laugh bubbles from my chest. Peeta and Enobaria are dragged in after me as our hovercraft slows down and lands, I presume somewhere in the Capitol.

We're dragged out and I can see the sun. I sniff the slightly chilly air with a sigh of content. It may be the last time I ever get to see the light of day ever again.

"Dungeon three, four, and thirteen." Snow orders as he walks out behind us.

"A dungeon, I didn't even know they made those anymore." I quip.

I notice the adrenaline starts to wear off of Peeta and he slumps. Enobaria faints from blood loss, I smile victoriously. "Once again, Johanna makes it out of the Arena relatively unharmed." I smirk as they shove a burlap sack over my head. "Oh no, help, help, I may die in here or something."

I'm lead down a corridor, I take a few turns and then I'm shoved forward. I trip over my own feet and land on the ground. I rip the sack from my head and take in my surroundings.

The walls and door are white, three of the walls are cement brick, but the third is dry wall. I'm confused as to why the dungeon wall is so easily breakable, but I probably shouldn't over think things. There's a drain in the center of the room. I wonder what it's used for. I walk around looking at every inch of the room.

I look at the wall to the left of the door, the dry wall. I put my ear to it. I can hear faint breathing. "Wow this wall is cheap." I mumble punching straight through the dry wall and into the other room.

I look inside to find Peeta unconscious on a little cot. His dungeon is similar, except for the cot. "You get a cot!" I say scandalized. "I call bullshit! Why does he get the cot? I get the drain. That's just low. Even for you Capitol idiots." I sit down against the wall.

Suddenly the door bursts open and I'm on my feet. Three Peacekeepers enter; I don't understand what they're here for.

"What do you want?" I tilt my head and cross my arms.

Then they lunge. One punches me in the face while another holds me down, while yet another kicks my ribs. I'm seeing stars and spitting blood as they continue my merciless beating. Everything happened so quickly, and I was so unprepared, there was no way I could fight back. Besides, they're all wearing armor.

Then, just as I'm on the brink of consciousness, they retreat, leaving the room.

I let out a pained groan, unable to get up. I can't breathe, I can't move, I'm coughing fitfully.

"Johanna?" I hear a weak voice say through the hole in the wall. I moan in response, I can't speak. "Have they done anything to you?" He asks limping over to the wall we share.

He arrives at the hole and gasps. "Johanna you're bloody and bruised! What did they do?"

"Doesn't matter." I groan, I enter another coughing fit and Peeta patiently waits for me to continue my explanation. "They'll go harder on me anyway. I'm the one with all the information. Is your bed comfy? I don't get one."

He gives me a worried look. "It's warm and fluffy. Johanna are you sure you're okay?"

"No," I moan miserably. "But I'll suck it up." I groan as I force myself up. "Fuck Johanna, you're such a wimp." I force myself onto all fours, panting. "I think I bruised a rib." I call out to Peeta. "They fucked me up. I've never lost a fight that badly before."

"How many were there?"

"Three," I cough. I pull myself to a standing position and hiss, grabbing my ribs. I whimper pathetically. "I'm such a fucking wimp. Damn Johanna."

"You're not a wimp, if you could see yourself, I'm sure you wouldn't feel so bad about the pain."

In three quick steps I have a hold of his shirt collar and pull him to the hole, he whimpers. "I am strong." I snarl crazily. His panicked breathing fans across my face. I slam him into the wall between us by pulling him closer and then pushing him away. He stumbles and lands on the ground, staring up at me with wide eyes.

Suddenly, I'm just angry. I'm so angry. I'm dizzy and I'm seeing things in threes, but I'm angry, I'm furious.

No one beats me up like that. Not me! I growl an animalistic snarl resembling Enobaria's throaty snarl. They killed my family, my friends, they took everything from me, and then they have the gall to torture me? The floor dips and I'm on the ground. I pull at my hair as I roar.

Then a very large Peacekeeper, wearing little armor, walks through the door. He's holding a whip. He smirks at the state that I'm in. But I don't think they realize how furious I am, how out of it I am.

He snaps the whip across my face as Peeta gasps in horror.

That is the final straw. With the most primitive of roars, I launch myself at him. He cracks the whip again, but I still advance. With a mighty swing of his hand I'm thrown back across the room.

He did not expect me to recover so quickly and torpedo into him. He's knocked off balance and I rip his whip from his hand. With a victorious cackle I fling the whip back, away from both of us.

We topple over together and I straddle his chest, slamming my fists into his face. Punch after punch, I can hear his nose break, blood squirts from his nose and mouth. I continue to pound my fist into his body and face until finally I'm dragged from him kicking and screaming and biting and snarling.

I throw at least two more Peacekeepers. Another wave is sent in with needles. Before they can shut the door I've flung myself at the army, gaining a needle and stabbing someone with it. They almost immediately collapse beside the first Peacekeeper. But then I feel the prick of the needle in my own arm and everything goes blank.

I don't know how long it's been since I woke up, and I don't know how long I lie on the floor, refusing to move and whimpering whenever I do.

I can hear Peeta in the other room. Sometimes he talks aloud to me, he doesn't really get a response, other than a grunt when he asks if I'm awake, but that doesn't stop him from talking. It's soothing.

I don't know how long we're like that. We both occasionally fall unconscious from exhaustion. So I assume it's been several days.

My body stops aching so much and I sit up against the wall. Eventually I start responding to Peeta when he talks, but it's short and uninformative.

Then they burst into my room. Two Peacekeepers and a whole team of nurses, and a single doctor in a white lab coat rush in. They push all of this equipment inside, including a bed with big leather straps, their shiny and sharp instruments glinting and clinking against each other.

"Mysterious." I say looking at them. "What're ya gonna do?"

None of them answer me.

The Peacekeepers wrestle me out of what little clothing I'm wearing. "Looking for some fun?" I ask with a smirk. They aren't looking for that kind of fun. They strap my arms and legs to the bed. "Wow, I knew you Capitol people were strange but this is a whole new level."

The doctor stands beside my bed, looking at me. I stare at him back. "Whatchya waiting for?"

He smirks. "I assume you aren't telling me anything until I actually cause you pain?"

"I ain't telling ya shit even when you do cause me pain." I reply, laughing. "Give it your best shot."

He smirks and picks up a scalpel. He starts with my left arm. "I see you already started here."

I look over to find Peeta watching through the hole in the wall. "Yeah well, I was young and stupid." Then he began. Short quick and deep cuts all around my body. I enter my own little fantasy world. Killing Snow, wrestling Scarlett, and making breakfast for Xavier. That's my fantasy world. It helps to drive out the sounds of my own grunts and groans.

Then, they set up this huge tube. They push me in and close the tube around me leaving my face outside. It turns on. I feel this intense stinging, but I don't know what's happening. I'm let out and pushed back onto the floor, my grubby clothes thrown next to me. My cuts caused blood to drip all over the floor and even on some of the walls, it's disgusting.

They leave as quickly as they came.

I groan as I stand up. I put on my clothes and walk back over to the wall Peeta is watching me through. I glance down at myself and notice that all of the cuts they made have scarred over.

"That was awful." Peeta whispers.

"It wasn't that bad." I shake my head. "Don't worry about me. I'm tired though."

"It's because you lost so much blood. I felt the same way when I got stabbed. You don't need to stay awake seeing as you're not bleeding anymore." Peeta says.

I have no idea how he can tell, the blood that beaded on my skin is soaking my clothes, and I look like a mess.

The rest of the day went pretty boringly. I slowly stretch out my sore muscles because of the shock they were given earlier, as Peeta and I talk to keep our minds off the inevitable. We're going to die here and there's nothing we can do about it.

I sit down again and I hear Peeta do the same on the other side of the wall. I pass out and I have no clue how long I was out for or what time it is currently. The doctors come back in with their equipment. Instead of wrestling me out of my clothes they just strap me to a star looking bed with straps positioned in a weird way.

There's a little handle connected to it, but I have no idea what it's for. "Now, we're going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer them."

"Okay, shoot."

"Where is Katniss Everdeen?"

"Not here. Clearly."

"Where did they take her?"

"Your mom's bed."

"Where is she?"

"You know I woulda thought you woulda figured that out by now."

"Is she in District Thirteen?"

"I wouldn't know, maybe her hovercraft got shot down or something, or maybe an inside job assassinator killed her already, a hundred things could have happened and I wouldn't know." I say rolling my eyes.

He pulls the lever once and I feel all of my limbs get pulled away from me.

"Which Victors were involved?"

"I don't know, you tell me, don't think we don't know you already knew who was a rebel and who wasn't. Honestly, are you that stupid?"

"How did you contact District Thirteen?"

"Fucked if I knew! I barely understand how myself." I say exasperatedly.

He pulls the lever again, and my limbs are twisted at the same time as they are pulled.

"Ow, really, have some respect!"

"Are they in contact with other Districts?"

"Yes, see they have this magical telepathic connection that allows them to communicate through walls." I answer sarcastically. "Again, I don't know! Incredible how much I don't know right? I'm just the muscle man." The lever is pulled again and it hurts. "Ah, okay that hurts. Cutting me up didn't hurt but this is different."

"Enobaria, is she involved?"

"Yeah she is. Just ask her some of the questions. She knows more about the nitty gritty stuff than I do." I lie believably. He narrows his eyes at me. "What?" I ask rolling my eyes. "Next question please."

"Are the nuclear weapons pointed at the Capitol?" He asks harshly.

"What's a nuclear weapon? Is it those bombs that made District Thirteen supposedly uninhabitable?"

"Yes,"

"Again, fucked if I knew!"

He pulls the lever and I feel my left arm pop out of socket. "Ah!" I shout.

My right arm and both my legs feel like they're on that painful edge between popping out of place and not, if I were to move at all, they would crack painfully.

"Fuck!" I snarl.

"Tell me what kind of technology that they have."

"I don't know!" I shout in his face. "I don't know! Even if I have seen it I wouldn't know what it did! I'm just some stupid punk from District Seven! I don't know." He pulls the lever and my limbs pop out of place. I scream loudly. I groan and pant after the pain dims a bit.

"Who are your inside connections? Do you have spies?"

"Yes," I make things up on the spot. "The District Five and Six stylists, and then we had a few connections in the Gamemakers tables. I don't remember their names."

"Let her out." They take me out of the straps and shove my joints back into their sockets. I sigh in relief after a bit of biting my lip in pain. I sink onto the ground covered in my dried blood.

They leave quickly. "Johanna, they'll understand. You were under pressure." Peeta immediately tries to comfort me.

I lay on the floor my body still tingling in pain. I groan in response. I stand up and look at him oddly.

"Johanna, they'll understand okay? They will understand you were being tortured-"

"Why couldn't I fall in love with a guy like you?" I interrupt him. My body aches, I'm exhausted, starving, dehydrated, maybe I'm not in the right state of mind, but I can't prevent what comes out of my mouth. He looks shocked at my question. "I'm always with the guys that want nothing more but my body. But you, you care. You care about everybody you know? I've been nothing but a bitch to everyone since I was born, and here you are more worried if I'm okay, if I'm emotionally okay, than about you. You could never see the light of day again and all you care is that everyone will understand that what I just did was justified!" I look at him desperately, he watches me with his mouth wide open. "You know the last boyfriend I had, I don't know if I could call him a boyfriend, but he tried to convince me to stop drinking. You know what I said to him? I told him to kill himself. Later that day the neighbor came over to tell me that he'd jumped from the roof." I ramble. "He was using me, I was using him, and I was a bitch to him, he was a dick to me. Why can't I fall for the good guys Peeta? Maybe things would be different." I lean against the opposite wall, away from Peeta. "Why can't I fall for the good guys?"

I slump on the ground exhausted, maybe I'm not in the right state of mind, I'm not sure that made any sense, but Peeta seems touched that I shared so much.

I lay there as Peeta talks and talks about his favorite childhood memories. I let him talk while I drift in and out of consciousness.

He's only a kid in this kind of situation. He needs as much emotional stability as physically possible when you're watching someone you know get tortured.

"I'm glad Katniss is with Gale though. I knew him and some of his friends. They didn't really like me because I'm a merchant kid, so they were kind of mean to me. But they stick together and lean on each other. So, I'm glad Katniss is with him. He'll take care of her." Peeta rambles at some point.

"Oh yeah?" I mumble. I'm thirsty and hungry and my voice is hoarse from my lack of talking for the last few hours. "It's interesting how you're not the least bit jealous."

"Oh I'm jealous. I want to be the one to take care of her, but I clearly can't and I know he will. As long as she's okay I don't care who she's with."

"You're the weirdest seventeen year old boy I've ever met. Most of them are trying to get in girls' pants and goofing off with their buddies. But you're writing poetry in your head about the dimmest girl I've ever met." I scoff.

"Katniss is brilliant." Peeta defends.

I look at him with raised eyebrows. "She somehow didn't realize you were head over heels for her for years."

Peeta is quiet. "She's not very socialized."

"That too." I shrug going back to staring at the ceiling. "Can we get some fucking food already?" I shout.

Peeta falls silent and I'm not sure how long we wait, before someone enters with broth and water.

"Finally, it's about damn time." I snarl taking the broth and chugging it. I then chug the water down and push the dishes away. They collect the dishes and leave. I can hear Peeta finishing up his own broth and water. "Very filling!" I say loudly. "Where's that plum stew?"

Peeta smiles grimly.

President Snow himself walks into my room with a little girl and what looks to be an assistant. She has a headset and a clipboard. She glares at me. The little girl looks a bit star struck. I stagger to my feet so that I can look them in the eyes. I give a charming, bright white, smile.

"Snow," I give him a bow. Even my respectful gestures are sarcastic.

The assistant looks a bit angry, but she remains silent.

"Johanna, have you met my daughter, and my granddaughter, Sandra and Jessica?" Snow says introducing me to the two beside him.

"Hey how's it goin?" I say cocking an eyebrow. "My name is Prisoner Number Four, and I'm a rebel."

Sandra, Snow's daughter narrows her eyes at me. "Are you proud of that?"

"No, I'm fucking proud of that."

"You're Johanna Mason!" Little Jessica says with wide eyes.

"Yep, you remember my Games really well? Or are you too young to remember?"

"I don't remember, but I've seen replays all the time!" She exclaims excitedly.

"Oh yeah? You've probably seen that one girl from two." I say stopping my smiling. "How I killed her. You probably saw me torture her to death. How frightened she was. Do you find that entertaining?"

She hesitantly nods. "A little bit."

"So do I," I stare at her perhaps a moment too long. She takes a couple steps back. "Teaching her how to deal with scary monsters? Those threats to society? Those that deserve worse than death?" I turn to Snow, plastering a dashing smile back on my face as I take a step forward.

Sandra glares at me. "Stay back." She warns.

"Now I know you saw my Games. You know what I can do." I hold my hand out as if to shake hers. She looks at me in disgust. "My bad, I'm from the Districts. Better not touch me. You might get a disease." I snarl sarcastically. "Especially not me, I'm filthy covered in blood and grime. You might get sick, might break a nail, and dishevel your hair. Wouldn't want that now would we?"

She turns red from anger.

"What?" I sniff my armpit. "Do I offend?"

Snow interrupts my own verbal slaughtering of his daughter. "We know that you were lying earlier today Johanna."

"Lie?" I say offended. "Lie? How could you think I would do such a thing? Who do you think I am? Some sort of punk? A scoundrel? Riff-raff? How could you? I thought you were my friend!"

"Is Enobaria really a rebel?" Sandra asks.

"Yes, why do you think we fight so much? To throw off the scent! If you catch one of us, there's no way the other can possibly team up with them. So therefore, only one of us would get caught. But, you know. The Capitol is mighty and powerful and as you bigwigs put it, the greatest place on Earth. You caught us both." I nod convincingly.

They turn and leave quickly the way they came and I sink back down to the ground, laughing loudly. A bunch of Peacekeepers burst into Peeta's room and drag him out while I laugh. I cackle and laugh and giggle for hours before Peeta is shoved back into his room.

I'm still laughing when he crawls over, looking beaten. "Still laughing?"

"It was funny!"

"Not that funny."

"Then maybe the pain is getting to my head." I snicker with an evil smile.

The door bursts open again. "Jeez, twice in one day!"

This time all they do is shove a pill down my throat and push me back into the room. "What's this thing do?" I ask, about to stick my finger down my throat to throw it up. "You guys suck at your job. You're supposed to make my life terrible!"

The doctor laughs at me. "Oh it'll get worse. Your mother died of cancer; this is one of the older treatments for that particular disease. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease."

"Okay? What does that mean?"

"Let me know when your hair starts falling out." I frown at him in curiosity.