Chapter 17 :

Effie was terrified sick.

But the strange thing was that she was more terrified for Haymitch than for her own safety. The white shirt Chaff had lent him was soaked through with blood on his left side and he looked far too pale under the neon lights.

She was acutely aware of the squad of Peacekeepers armed to the teeth behind her and even more so of the man who had tried to kill her once already and who was now standing right in front of her, clearly determined to succeed this time around. All she wanted to do was run back in that bathroom and hide until the whole thing was over but she could not, would not leave Haymitch behind.

"Miss Trinket." Head Peacekeeper Fari spat. "Get out of here before…"

"I will not." she snapped, jutting her chin that little bit higher. Eyes bright, chin up, smile on, her mother's voice echoed crystal clear in her mind. "Lydes… It is Lydes, isn't it?"

The Ghost tightened his hold on Haymitch that little bit more. It was barely noticeable. She only knew because Haymitch's face contracted in pain and he strained his neck trying to get the nose of the gun from under his chin.

"Yeah." the killer said.

His voice was completely normal, a slight accent, nothing out of the norm with Peacekeepers who came from Two. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. The deep rough voice of a cartoon villain?

"Lydes." she repeated with her most charming smile, her hands lifted in front of her to show she didn't mean any harm. "You do not wish to hurt Haymitch. It is me you want, is it not?"

Stay calm, she told herself, stay calm.

"They need to back off." the Ghost ordered. "Or…"

He jerked the gun harder against Haymitch's throat and Effie's hands flew higher in a futile peace offering. "They will. They will leave. Or we will leave. Whichever you prefer."

"Effie…" Haymitch muttered with obvious difficulties. "Stop… Being… Stupid…"

"You hush now." she retorted, pursing her lips at him. He looked terrible, so terrible her heart clenched in fear that he was going to die right there, right in front of her…"You hush, do you hear me?"

"You will go nowhere." Fari echoed behind her. "Step aside and let us…"

"Do you know how valuable a victor is?" she snapped back. "Never mind when a victor is the only one a District has to boost? You can contact anyone you like, I guarantee they will support me in this: any victor is more valuable than an escort. Look how quickly they replaced us. You cannot replace Haymitch that easily."

"Bullshit." Haymitch mumbled.

"Shut up." the Ghost shouted, jerking away and dragging Haymitch two steps back with him. "We're going. The roof. Yeah. We're going to the roof. I'm keeping him hostage and she's coming with me and…"

"You know it's over, Lydes." Fari cut him off, gently but firmly. "We know everything. You know you won't escape again. Come in quietly and it will play in your favor."

"What? Like the odds were in my favor?" Lydes sneered. "Like they were in my little sister's favor? In my girlfriend's favor? That's what those bitches always say. May the odds be in your favor. They weren't in theirs, yeah? I showed them."

"You certainly did." Effie said quickly. "Showed us, I mean. I will follow you. I will let you do whatever you want. Please… Please, let him go."

The Ghost's sneer only deepened. "That's disgusting. You know how many victors fuck escorts?" He shook Haymitch hard. "How do stand it? They're bitches. The sluts' hands are fucking red with blood! You want that on you? That gets you off?"

That man was deranged.

She had known it before, of course, you didn't kill so many women because you were sane. But she hadn't really understood how deeply the madness – the hatred – ran. The man was fractured. Whatever had happened to him – or his sister or his girlfriend – it had shattered him.

And Haymitch's sharp round of bitter chuckles wasn't helping keeping him calm.

"And you think my hands are clean?" Twelve's victor challenged. "You think yours are?"

"I'm doing everyone a favor getting rid of them." Lydes spat. "It's their fault. All their fault!"

"How?" Haymitch insisted. "They don't make the rules. Fuck, you want to kill someone who's responsible, go for Gamemakers. Go for victors. Go for fucking President Snow. Escorts are at the bottom of the food chain. Easy preys. But maybe that's why you did it, yeah? Went for the easy target cause that's all you can handle."

"I'm going to kill you if you don't shut the fuck up." the Ghost warned. He jerked the gun so hard under his chin that Haymitch's head flew back.

Effie could see his Adam's apple working hard each time he swallowed, she knew he must have been in pain and only still conscious thanks to the adrenaline no doubt.

"I will come with you." Effie promised. "Just let him go. Let him go."

"So they can shoot me?" Lydes snorted. "No way. He's coming. You're both coming. And they're not following. If they follow, I shoot him."

"They won't follow." she promised quickly. "They won't."

"The roof." the Ghost hissed. "We're going. Now. You go first."

Effie turned to the Head Peacekeeper. "Let us through. Do not attack."

"Miss Trinket." she gritted through her teeth.

"Do not dare jeopardize Twelve's victor's safety." she insisted.

Haymitch mumbled something behind her, something she was pretty sure was an order for the Peacekeepers to do something and not let her jeopardize herself but it didn't really carry.

Fari glared at her, glanced at the fidgeting psychopath and then clucked her tongue. "Dammit, Trinket… I hope you know what you're doing."

She gestured to her Peacekeepers to move back into the corridor, to back away from the bedroom…

It was a weird feeling to walk out of the bedroom and lead the way up to the roof. Unlike Haymitch, she was unrestrained but she felt trapped all the same. She could hear his labored breathing right behind her, could hear the Ghost's heavy footsteps…

When her hand closed around the handle to the door's roof, she briefly closed her eyes and wished with all she had she wasn't making the biggest mistake of her life.

She wouldn't let Haymitch die for her.

She wouldn't.

"You lost people…" Haymitch rasped out, just as she opened the door. "You said… Sister. Girl."

"I didn't lose them." Lydes growled, showing him through. "The bitches took them."

The night air was almost shocking on her flushed skin. She felt delirious. Feverish. It wasn't dark though, not with the lights from the city flashing in the sky. She could see both men clearly, could see the gun and the blood on Haymitch's shirt.

"They were reaped." Effie guessed. It wasn't that big of a leap.

"Shut up." the Ghost snapped. "You don't get to talk."

"Ain't the escort's fault, then." Haymitch scoffed. "Two… Volunteers…"

Two only ever had volunteers. They had an academy designed to produce the best tributes. It was always so complicated to organize Reapings in Career Districts…

"They reap a preselected pool." Lydes snarled. "You know that."

"Of volunteers." Effie insisted. "Your sister and your girlfriend had to have volunteered."

"I told you to shut up!" the Ghost shouted, briefly turning the gun in her direction.

Haymitch tried to take advantage of it. He must have a knife hidden in his sleeve because he twisted around and tried to stab him… The pain in his side must have been too much for such a sudden move because Lydes had no problem pinning him back against his chest. This time, he pressed the gun against the side of his head.

"You stay put or I shoot you." Lydes warned. "I should anyway. I should have killed Brutus Gunn too. How you can fuck them…"

"We've been over this…" Haymitch chuckled but it was fake and pained and Effie wanted to throw up with nerves because she could see he was still losing blood… "We ain't better than they are."

"Of course, you are." Effie whispered, taking a step toward them. "I am ready now. You wish to finish what you started, do you not? You wish to strangle me."

He had to strangle her because if he turned the gun on her…

"Come closer." the Ghost ordered. "Come closer and I'll let him go."

"No." Haymitch sounded strangely winded, panicked. "No. You said you lost people… That's why you're doing this, yeah? I lost my brother. Lost my mother, my girl… Lost everyone I loved once. Don't. Don't make me burry another one. Don't…"

Effie's heart clenched and then started racing faster, so fast her head started spinning. She was so nervous her stomach was twisted in knots and she was certain she was going to be sick.

"Everything will be alright, darling." she whispered – for Haymitch's sake or her own, she wasn't entirely sure. "Everything will be just fine."

She slowly inched closer to the two men. It was weird how everything seemed to be so much in focus. She noticed everything. The cool blow of the soft wind, the exact shades of the color beams in the distance, the faint beat of music that came from somewhere nearby… Everything seemed enhanced.

When she was close enough to touch, she stopped. "Let him go. You promised you would."

"Effie." Haymitch begged, twisting in the man's grip, trying to hit him, to gain time for her, something… "Effie, run. Run."

"Ladies never run." she retorted. "They endure."

The Ghost tossed Haymitch to the side like he was a sack full of potatoes.

In the short seconds that it took him to fling her victor away, Effie abruptly pulled back and reached for her wig.

Startled, the man made a grab for her and found himself with the business end of a small pink handgun pointed at him.

She didn't give herself the opportunity to think.

She pulled the trigger again and again and again and again until the gun clicked empty every time she pressed her finger.

The Ghost was down – still breathing, barely knocked out,, but down – and she kicked his own gun as far away from him as she could.

There was a loud sound of metal being broken down and Peacekeepers invaded the roof, led by Fari. Because of the gunshots, she supposed.

Effie rushed to Haymitch's prone form and skidded to her knees next to him. It hurt. Her skin got scratched. And she didn't want to care because they had just escaped a serial killer but she did because it hurt and it was distracting and Haymitch was bleeding out and she didn't know what to do and…

There was another gunshot and she looked up to see the Ghost had stopped breathing and never would again. She had aimed at his chest and, at such a close range, it had been enough to take the breath out of him despite the bulletproof uniform, maybe one bullet or two had even made it home, but Fari had kicked his helmet off and had shot him right in the head and there was no protection from that. The spectacle was gruesome to the extreme.

Another Peacekeeper kneeled down next to her and she startled badly but the man ignored her, turned Haymitch on his back and pressed on the wound on his side.

"Haymitch." she whispered, cupping his cheek. His eyelids were fluttering open and closed as if he was trying to focus on her. He tried to say something but it came out a gurgle and her eyes filled with tears. "Haymitch, please, do not die on me. Please. I… I…"

A medic team rushed on the roof, pushed her away and started working on him, cutting his shirt with scissors, shouting at each other for constants and pads and meds…

Peacekeepers were shouting at each other's too. Fari was talking into her radio, probably reporting to Seneca or someone higher on the food chain…

So much noise…

She pressed her hands against her ears, curled up with her legs against her chest, barely realizing how cold the concrete ground was under her butt. She could still see Haymitch's face, his closed eyes, his shallow breaths…

She started crying. Ugly heavy sobs that made it so hard for her to breathe because of her bruised throat…

"Don't die." she told him over and over again even though he probably couldn't hear her. "Don't die. Don't die."

She wasn't sure how long she sat there watching. It must have been minutes but it felt like hours by the time sometimes wrapped a blanket around her and she found herself encased in strong arms, one of them shorter than the other.

"It's gonna be okay, love." Chaff's familiar voice promised in her ear. "You'll see. Our boy's too stubborn to die like that. He's gonna be fine."

She didn't like Chaff on his best day.

But, right then, he was probably the only person in the world who cared for Haymitch as much as she did – who loved him as much as she did – and so she turned around, locked her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Easy." he groaned. "Got a bump on my head the side of District Seven. Good thing they got the bastard or I'd have skinned him alive."

"I shot him." she told him and, as if the words made it more real, it sank in what she had just done. She had shot a man. She, who had always been so certain she would never be able to hurt a fly, had shot a man. She started shivering. "I shot him with Viola's gun."

Chaff froze for a second and then wrapped her tighter in the blanket. Probably because her shivers were turning into whole body shudders, she thought. He shifted so he had one leg on either side of her too, pressed his stump on her back of her head so she was facing away from the medics and Haymitch, so her head was resting against his chest…

It was an intimate embrace and not one she would have allowed if…

"Good job, love." Chaff praised gently. "Good job. Can I get some help over here?" She tried to whirl her head around, scared that it was about Haymitch, that… Chaff was holding her too tight his voice immediately turned soothing again. "Everything's fine, love. Everything's fine. You try to relax." She was still shuddering hard and she was aware someone was towering over the two of them. She could feel the rumble of Eleven's victor's voice against her ear when he spoke. "She's going into shock."

"I am not." she tried to protest. "I need… Haymitch…"

"Don't you worry about Haymitch…" he told her in that same gentle tone. "I've got him. I've got both of you. You just rest now. You did good, love. You did very good."

She had shot a man.

She wasn't sure how that qualified as good.

But there was a prickle on her neck, a syringe she hadn't seen coming, and next thing she knew she was slowly falling into a deep warm slumber against Chaff's chest.

Only the epilogue left! I hope you enjoyed this chapter? As I said in the first chapter, it was my first foray (is that the right spelling) into thriller genre so I hope it wasn't too bad! Tell what you liked or didn't like! Was Effie bad ass? Did Haymitch indirectly confess or did I blink XD? Is Chaff warming to our favorite escort? Let me know your thoughts!