AN
Sorry, it took so long to update.
"Finally…" Clove breathes a sigh of relief as she sees the old warehouse where she prays Katniss is still alive inside.
Reaching the door and knowing it will be unlocked Clove lets herself in hoping she isn't too late. There's a good reason why Mitch doesn't bother with locks, and even the Peacekeepers avoid this rundown warehouse, and that is because Mitch is a monster and a Victor of the Hunger Games making him untouchable to everyone but Snow. Clove hopes she isn't too late fearing that Katniss will be just another one of Mitch's countless victims.
"I don't want her to be like them!" Clove has seen Mitch's handy work first-hand countless times as the Peacekeepers pull the bodies of his victims out of the river or finding them dumped in the forest. Clove can remember clearly the painful expressions on their faces and the Peacekeepers carried their bodies through town not bothering to cover them up. "I can't let her be like them!" Clove runs deeper into the maze of rooms inside heading for where she knows Mitch does his business. "I won't let Mitch hurt her!"
Clove burst through one final set of doors this time they were made of metal and thick enough to have stopped anyone from getting in or out if Mitch ever felt the need to lock them. Fortunately for Clove today, Mitch never locked them, and she feels like she could collapse when she sees Katniss not only alive but unharmed from what she could tell. Then her blood boils when she sees the handcuffs around Katniss's limbs and Mitch staring at her with a knife in his hands a look of shock etched into his face.
"Well, what a surprise," Mitch chuckles after he quickly recovers from the shock of Clove's sudden entrance. "It's not every day you pop by Clove, so what can I do for you?"
"I… I want you to let Katniss go," Clove tells him, but any attempts to sound intimidating quickly goes out the window she stutters.
"And why should I do that?" Mitch asks with a smirk. "Cato gave her to me after all."
"Because…" Clove starts but can't answer. She can't think of any reason that Mitch will accept.
"So unless you want to watch…" Mitch moves closer to Katniss, aiming the knife in his hands right at her. "I suggest you leave because I am about to get started."
"Don't touch her!" Clove yells drawing her own knife, making Mitch laugh.
"Or what Clove?" Mitch asks, stepping towards her. "You think you can stop me?"
She can't. Clove knows she doesn't stand a chance against him. Mitch is an experienced fighter who trained for the Games and then won them. He was skilled enough that he even got a job as an instructor at the Programme until Mitch was fired for killing several of his students in what he calmed was accidents, but no one brought his story. Mitch loves violence and lives for it. Taking a step back, Clove can only hope she can throw her knife faster then he can run because she knows once he is on top of her Clove knows she is dead.
"Come on Clove, if you think you stand a chance then stop me," Mitch narrows his eyes at her. "Or leave if you value your life. I'll give you to the count of three to run and if you are still here when I reach zero I will kill you Clove… one."
Clove doesn't move and does her best to stop her hands from shaking. "I can't beat him," Clove bites her bottom lip. "He's too strong."
"Two…"
"I can't leave Katniss," Clove takes a step back trying to put some distance between them, but Mitch matches her movements stepping forward whenever she backs away.
"One…"
"I have to stop," Clove's grip on her knife tightens.
"Zero…" Mitch says, sounding pleased to have someone else to kill. "I warned you Clove. You should have walked away, but now I am going…"
"Freeze!" A group of Peacekeepers suddenly burst into the room tasers drawn instead of their usual guns. "Drop the weapons!"
Clove complies seeing the red dots of the Peacekeepers weapons aimed at her as well as Mitch. Mitch however just smiles arrogantly at them refusing to let go of his knife.
"Come on guys, do you really want to do this?" Mitch asks them. "Or do you want me to tell Snow that his Peacekeepers are interfering with one of his loyal Victors?"
"That won't be necessary," Clove is surprised to see Graham enter the room next along with the Head Peacekeeper. "The President will be hearing from me about why one of the Tributes selected for this year's Hunger Games didn't make it to the Games if you don't drop your weapon and release the girl in your custody."
"Why now?" Mitch asks, throwing his knife down hard enough to dig into the floor. "You never cared before."
"Members of the Programme are worthless until they are selected for the Games," The Head Peacekeepers explains. "But once they become Tributes then they are too valuable to let you touch them and even the President who doesn't care about you… hobby will have something to say about the death of the Tribute."
"Fine," Mitch growls throwing a set of keys hard enough at Clove they nearly knock her over when they slam into her chest. "Take her then get out of here."
Cove wastes no time in getting Katniss uncuffed and hugs the girl once she is free but quickly lets her go when she regains her senses, but Katniss pulls her back in.
"Thank you," Katniss cries into her shoulder, and Clove slowly hugs her back, rubbing Katniss back as she continues to cry. "Thank you."
Cato smiles as he enjoys a bottle of beer he smuggled while he pictures what Mitch is currently putting Katniss through right now. "I should have stayed and watched," Cato groans realising he missed out. With Glimmer currently missing having disappeared some time ago saying she needed some space to figure out a solution to their problem with Clove and with Clove herself drifter further from his grasp, there is nothing that can make him happy right now other than thoughts of Katniss suffering. Even the acholic drink in his hand doesn't taste as good as it should.
"Nothing is going right today," Cato mumbles to himself as the door slides open and Brutus storm's inside.
"You really have done it now," Brutus tells him smacking the bottle from Cato's hand causing it to smash against the wall. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are that Katniss was found unharmed inside of being sent back to District Twelve in a body bag?"
"Who care's about that bitch!" Cato yells jumping to his feet only for Brutus to push him back down.
"The Gamemakers and President Snow, to name a few," Brutus answers. "Tributes aren't like the others you have disposed of as people actually care what happens to them. If she would have died, then you would have been lucky to have only been kicked out of the Games as I'm pretty sure Snow could have had you killed over something like this or had the Gamemakers made your life hell once the Games begin."
"I doubt they would go that far over some dead slum rat," Cato replies meeting Brutus's glare with a defiant stare.
"You are wrong because people do care about her, about you and about every other Tribute here undergoing trainer because the Capital sees them as assets and that means that heads will roll if anything happens to those assets," Brutus explains. "You will not harm her or any other Tributes until you are in the arena. If you want to make it to the Games, then save whatever bullshit grudges you have about Katniss until you are in the Hunger Games and then you can do whatever you want with her. Until till then, she is a valued asset, make sure to remember that next time you think of doing something like this again."
The mayor's house has never really felt like a home to Madge. The massive building that looks well maintained by the Districts standards, the fact their family has an Avox working for them and that Madge has never had to put her name forward for Tessera has left her isolated from the kids at school and hated by many of them except for a few. Katniss who was distant at first but slowly warmed up to her over time and Gale who admitted recently to despising Madge when they first met but now a bond has grown between them that is stronger than anything Madge has ever felt before.
Touching the meat on her plate to her lips, she remembers the way Gale's lips felt against hers as he stole her first kiss. It wasn't gentle and romantic in the ways Madge has read about in books but rough and sudden, and it was perfect. Madge couldn't explain the kiss as anything more than just wonderful as Gale's lips opened her up to feelings she has never felt before. His rough lips left her feeling so warm a fuzzy that Madge couldn't think of anything else but the kiss and when he pulled back and said his goodbyes Madge wished their lips never parted.
"You seem happier lately, dear," Madge looks up and across the table towards her father. It is just her and her father tonight as Madge's mother is trapped in bed with another headache which seems to be happening more frequently recently. "Has something happened recently?"
"Nothing of note," Madge manages to keep her face straight as she lies. She can't tell him about the kiss she shared with Gale last night, Madge knows he will never approve of their relationship.
"You don't have to hide things from me, Madge," Her father tells her. "I have noticed that lately you have been smiling more and wearing your best clothes more often than you usually do. I'm not going to force an answer from you, dear, but I want you to know you can tell me anything that's on your mind."
The rest of the meal passes by as it does typically with mostly silence apart from their cutlery scaping their plates and her father asking Madge a few questions about how things are at school while Madge asked him about his work until they were both done eating and went their separate ways with Madge going to her room and her father going to share a drink with the Head Peacekeeper in his office.
Cray always gives Madge the creeps so she moves quickly before he can give her that hungry stare of his and shuts herself in her room, locking the door behind herself. She trusts her father won't let Cray touch her and she knows the Head Peacekeeper has enough sense to not try anything with the mayor's daughter, but Madge can ever feel safe with him around unless there is a locked door between them. Walking over to her bed Madge does what she usually does when he is around and hide under her blanket until he leaves knowing from experience that sleep will elude her as long as Cray is around. The only difference is that this time, this time she wished for Gale to be here with her holding her close with his long, muscular arms.
Rue can't stay still as she worries for Katniss pacing back and forth in the entranceway of the training centre waiting for her to return. It has been nearly an hour since she ran to Graham begging him to help Katniss after she heard about what Cato had down but still no sign or word of what is happening has made it back to Rue. At this rate, Rue is going to dig a groove into the floor with her constant pacing, and the receptionist is starting to get annoyed with the nonstop footsteps echoing throughout the room. Rue doesn't care about that though, right now all she cares about is getting Katniss back safely.
"Maybe I should have followed after them?" Rue is starting to regret staying behind more and more, but at the time the fear of losing dight of the Peacekeepers running with Graham held her back. The fear of becoming lost in some strange, unfamiliar town frozen the young girl in place and left her with only regret and unceasing worry for company. "I should have gone with them," Rue bites her lips in frustration for her cowardness. "Maybe I could have been helpful?" Rue doubts that she could have been, but she still wishes she had done something other than wait at the training centre for news of Katniss's return. "At least then I would have known whether she was safe or not."
Rue doesn't know what is worse, the fear of the unknown about Katniss or her anger that she couldn't have helped her. Rue releases her lip as she starts to taste blood hating herself for being so useless, but all those fears vanish when she hears the front doors open and turns to see Graham with the Peacekeepers escorting both Katniss and Clove. Rue smiles and runs towards them, startling the Peacekeepers who would have moved to intercept the young girl if Graham hadn't have stopped them with a wave of his hand.
"Katniss," Rue nearly knocks the District Twelve girl over as she runs into her and wraps her arms around Katniss's slender body. "I'm glad you are okay."
"You should thank Clove for that," Katniss replies with a weak smile nodding towards the Career.
Clove turns her head, not comfortable with all the praise she has been given by everyone on their way back to the training centre. Looking embarrassed and annoyed at the same time, Clove looks down at the floor, hoping people would lose interest in her quickly. All her life Clove has been praised for her ability to ending lives, but today for the first time she received acclaim for saving one, and she isn't sure if she likes the feeling or not.
"It was nothing," Clove mumbles as she moves to go, but the Head Peacekeeper stops her.
"Not so fast." The Head Peacekeeper tells her, stretching out an arm to block her path. "I still need to take a statement from you and miss Everdeen before I can let you two go."