A MockingJay Story Part 1 Chapter 8

The doors finally opened. The light shining through unconsciously made Shay smile. She ducked under Haymitch before he could say, "they're back."

Shay burst into the room, moving passed the doctors and nurses. She scanned the area for her friends. She saw a few nurses surrounding a girl, arguing with them.

"Joanna!" Shay said. She ran over to her, giving her a hug. She pushed the nurses over to embrace her.

Joanna have her a lighthearted hug back.

Shay let for and noticed Joanna's hair was gone. "What did they do to you?"

"This," she pointed, "was nothing."

"Still beautiful." Shay said, holding Joanna's hand.

Joanna rolled her eyes. Her face was sunken in from the months of malnourishment. She had dark circles around her eyes and her skin was all pale.

Joanna flinched when a nurse put another needle in her. She ripped the IV out.

"That's to help you." Shay said. "You need carbs and vitamin D."

Joanna glared at her with her head leaned down. Through Shay and the nurses, she could see Finnick and Annie happily reunited.

Shay gasped, "The others." She said. She stepped back, making her way to a small hallway in the room.

She practically bumped in Liam when she turned the corner. He didn't even react to it. Shay wrapped her arms around him. He didn't return the favor. "Liam. Oh, we were so worried." She released her grip on him, facing him. "Snow knew you were there."

"They let us leave without hesitation." Gale said, standing by Liam and Katniss.

"Why would they do that?" Katniss asked.

"Does it matter?" Shay asked. "They're here, right?"

"Peeta is in the other room, just though there," Gale pointed.

Katniss nodded and started walking over to that room.

"And Violet?" Shay asked. She glanced at Liam. He looked like he was far away. Like his mind was somewhere else.

Gale glanced over at Katniss. She was still walking down to that room, out of earshot.

"Don't tell me you couldn't find her?" Shay worried. She looked back at Liam, who hadn't moved. He didn't even look her way. He just stood their, with his shoulders slumped.

Gale, Liam and the legion of volunteers went down the prison line. The lights were all red across the hallway. One by one, they received the victors.

Annie was confirmed at first. She didn't want to go with them, thinking it was a trick, until they mentioned Finnick.

Joanna smirked upon seeing them. "Took you long enough." She said. "If only you'd come a few days sooner. I'd still have hair." She stroked the side of her face with her hand.

"You're welcome." Liam said, confused.

Her face got cold. Her expression got dark, as if she remembered something. "Why now?"

"Opportunity." Gale said.

"The electricity is down. They're running on generators here. It's going to take the a while to reboot the security." Liam said. "We can talk about that later. Let's go. There's still others we have to save."

In the next room, they found Peeta. He was smaller from the last time they saw him in the 75th games. He looked worse than all of them. He flinched when Gale touched his shoulder.

"It's okay." Gale said.

"We're here to rescue you." Liam said. "The Capitol can't hurt you anymore."

Liam helped Peeta stand up, while Gale moved to the next room. A few other guards followed.

Liam looked at Peeta, searching for a reaction. Was he happy or sad? Angry or relieved?

Another gaurd came and helped Peeta with walking down the halls to the escape hatch.

Liam walked towards the next stall. One guard turned back to see Liam and put his arm out to stop him.

Liam looked at him confused and pushed past him. Gale and the others pushed him back out of the room, not letting him in.

"Let me in!" Liam shouted. "Let me see!"

"We need to leave now." Gale said, blocking his entry into the room.

Liam finally got past them, catching a glimpse of what they didn't want him to see. At first, he just saw blood. A huge puddle of it. His heart raced upon the sight of it. Then he was the body it belonged to. It was his sister.

Liam fell to the floor, crawling over to her. Her body was so still. Her arms were laid around. Her throat had a deep cut across it. Her eyes were still open.

"We found her." Gale said back in the infirmary at 13.

Shay's heart started pounding, fearing the words he might say. Anticipating the words, but hoping she is wrong.

"With her throat slit." Gale said.

Shay began shaking. Her throat burned as her eyes filled with tears. She shakily covered her mouth.

"I'm so sorry." Gale said. He opened up his coat. "We did find this in her room." He held a leather bound journal in his hand, offering it to her.

Shay slowly grabbed it, holding it to her chest as she fell to her knees. She held it with both her hand and and cried loudly. She fell to the ground, bringing her head to the tile floor.

There was a loud commotion in the room where Peeta was. Several nurses, and Boggs and Gale ran into the room. Peeta had attacked Katniss. They couldn't get him off of Katniss, so Boggs knocked him out.

Shay turned her head to the side. Through the blurred vision of her tears, she saw a small figure in the doorway looking at her. Clara.