A MockingJay Story Part 2 Chapter 6
Back in District 13, Prim and her mom were worrying about Katniss. The news presumed them all dead but their bodies haven't been found. Only two bodies had been discovered.
Shay went to the infirmary to visit Joanna. One of the doctors when over to Shay, warning her that Joanna, had been "unstable today."
Shay slowly walked over to Joanna. "Hey." She said.
"Hey." She said back, looking groggy. She head swayed around.
Shay grabbed a chair, sitting next to her bed. "What happened?"
"They sedated me." Joanna said. "Still not worn off."
"But why?" Shay asked. "It's been a week. Why are you still in here? They even let Peeta out." She sat up. "They let you out for the wedding."
Joanna giggled creepily, but didn't speak. Her hair was slowly growing back.
Shay leaned back in her chair, feeling hopeless. "Did you hear that Katniss might be dead?"
Joanna shot a serious look at her. "No she's not."
"The Capitol thinks so. They bombed a building they were in. Well, someone was in it shooting at their guards."
"Did they find her body?" Joanna asked.
"No." Shay said, with a side smile.
"Then they're alive." Joanna said.
Shay gave her a small smile.
"Even your Liam." Joanna teased.
"Oh stop." Shay said, nudging her.
Shay read more of Violet's journal aloud to Clara. Clara had put the journal back in Shay's room when she brought it up during lunch time. She skipped to certain entries.
"Entry 244,
The baby is especially active today. He or she is kicking constantly. I want to be happy for this baby, but it only makes me miss Jerome more. It only reminds me of the horrors of the world that I can't protect them from."
Clara listened to each entry, picturing it in her mind. "Do you think Liam is okay?"
Shay nodded, "I'm sure Liam and Katniss will be back to us soon."
"And Finnick." Clara said.
"And Finnick." Shay said.
"Are they being good to my brother?" Clara asked. "The Capitol."
Shay paused, not sure of how to answer. "I don't know. I hope so." Shay blinked a couple times and flipped through the journal entries.
One page listed potential baby names:
Girl
Denise - after mom
Jane - after my older sister
Emily - or is that weird
Hope - cliche
Boy
Jerome jr?
Dillon - means "Ray of Hope"
Clara smiled, "I like those names."
Shay smiled a little, "yeah, me too." She turned to another entry.
"Entry 256,
I missed a few days. I have been sleeping a lot. They gave me a sedative for the pain.
I had the baby. It was shortly after breakfast, the water just came out. I thought I'd peed myself. I called for a guard. There was one outside my door. Guess they knew it was coming soon. The pain was excruciating but it only got worse when they took him away. Him. I have a boy. A healthy baby boy."
"I have a brother!" Clara exclaimed.
Shay gave her a small smile. "Yeah." She clearness her throat and closed the journal. "I thought Liam already told you."
"So. This is from mama. Her words," Clara said.
Shay smiled a little, shaking her head.
"Is that all for today?" Clara asked.
Shay nodded. "Yeah. She doesn't write much after that. The entries get really short."
"I still want to know." Clara said.
"Alright." Shay said. "But for tonight, that's all."
It wasn't enough for Clara. She needed to know more, not just about her mom but about these games. That is what everyone is fighting to stop. That is what Liam and Finnick and Katniss are out there trying to end.
Clara went down to the archives room in the lower part of the district 13 bunker. She found the VHS tapes from every year. They were each labeled with the year and the victor. The name she recognized was Patrick on the 42nd year. She pulled the VHS out and put it in her hands. There were so many names of people she knew.
Patrick - 42nd
Haymitch - 50th
Denise - 56th
Finnick - 65th
Jerome - 68th
Annie - 69th
Violet - 70th
Joanna - 71st
Shay - 73rd
Katniss and Peeta - 74th
So many of them. She pulled out each of the names an inch and reread the names. She considered which names to prioritize. She could fit two tapes under her shirt.
A loud clanging meant that someone was coming in the room. Clara quickly grabbed three VHS tapes and ran out of the room.
Back in her room, she dropped the tapes on her bed. She had Patrick, Denise, and Katniss and Peeta's game. She hid the tapes in her small nightstand drawer where she once hid the journal.
As the night fell, district 13 got more quiet. After lights out, Clara grabbed one of the tapes in her dresser and left her room. She quietly went down the stairs and entered a room with a old TV with a VHS tape player. There were a couple folding chairs off to the side of the room. She found a pillow and used it to sit on. She plugged in the TV and put the VHS tape in. After a minute, it started to play.
The video began with the reaping across each district. When it got to district 10, Clara realized whose year it was: Patrick.
He was 17 when he was reaped. He was an only child. For his skills test, he got a score of a 7. For his game, the tributes were all inside a huge room. It was like a fancy empty ballroom. As the tributes scattered around the place, Clara and the tributes on screen realized that it was a castle. Food was mostly in the kitchen. Once a group of allies found the kitchen, they guarded every entrance into the kitchen. There was a force field around the castle. Anyone who tried to leave out the front door or window was blasted back with an electrical surge. Maybe tributes found a room to hide in and guarded the entrance. The problem is, no one was fighting so the game makers made things happen, like rooms crumbling down, floods in the room, releasing a toxic gas in the rooms, or poisonous bugs to draw them out. Patrick ran up the stairs of the castle, making his way up to the top. He wasn't alone.
He had an alley in another tribute. She wasn't even from 10. She was a 12 year old tribute from district 8. Her name was Cate Peters. Patrick protected her in the games. He kicked another tribute down the stairs that tried to stab her.
At the top of the castle was a tower. Patrick and Cate found a dumbwaiter with food inside. Fresh bread, bottles of water, cheese, and raw eggs. Patrick split up the food between them. There was a window that was basically for decoration. The midnight announcement showed up in the sky when they peeked out the window. There was an old worn down desk in the room too and a bathroom. There were couches in the room to sleep on. They took turns sleeping. The first night, someone entered their room. Cate woke up Patrick. They didn't have any weapons between the two of them. Patrick quickly searched the room for something to use at a weapon. He kicked off a leg of the desk, using that as his weapon. A tribute barged into the room and charged after them, holding a butcher knife in hand. Patrick quickly used the broken piece of wood to stand the tribute in the heart. A canon went off. Patrick and Cate pushed the body outside of the tower room. The drown coming to collect the body would lead other tributes to them.
The next day, there was more food in the dumbwaiter. More bread and water. There was also bananas. Patrick took a bite out of the food first to make sure it was safe to eat. They stayed in that room all day, talking about life back home. They discussed their favorite activities, colors, animals, and skills they have. As the sun set, another tribute made their way up to the tower.
On the fifth day, there was no more food from the dumbwaiter. They still have plenty of bread left.
The following day, a horrible fog came out for the vents. Cate and Patrick had to leave the tower. The ran outside, only to immediately clash with another tribute from 3. Patrick didn't even hesitate to toss the other tribute from 3 over the railing. The canon went off just after they hit the ground.
With less than 10 tributes left in the game, the castle seemed empty as they ran through it, seeking a new shelter. Cate found a secret passageway behind a large painting. The two entered it, cautiously walking through. There were some traps like the bear traps on the ground or the spears the poke out of the walls. Beyond that was a small store room. They locked themselves inside for the rest of the day. There was a bag of raw rice and corn on the floor. As ponder dropped off a gift for them. It was in Patrick's name. It came in through the window. It was a small jack knife.
Cate and Patrick watched the midnight report that night. There were only 6 tributes left. 4 enemies left out there.
The next day a tribute found them in the store room. She stared at them hesitating to make a move. Patrick stood in front of Cate, gripping the small knife from the sponsors in his hand. The girl ran off in a other direction.
The footage on the screen showed that that girl ended up dying later that day. A career from 1 found her and stabbed her in the chest.
On the 9th day of the game, there were only 4 tributes left. Patrick and Cate relocated to another room in the castle after every couple days due to harmful bugs or gasses coming through the vents.
With so few tributes left, Patrick wanted to end the game. He wanted to go looking for them. Cate didn't want to be left alone so she went with him. They found one tribute in the ballroom where the game began. Patrick was able to kick them towards the window. The force-field around the castle shocked the tribute and blasted them back. Their body was smoking. A canon went off before Patrick could check their pulse.
The last tribute the found in the kitchen. She was a tribute from 3. She was 15 years old. Alicia Day. As soon as Cate and Patrick entered the room, the tribute from 3 started throwing kitchen knives at them. Cate ducked out of the way while Patrick stepped forward. He maneuvered closer to Alicia. He grabbed hold of her arm and they struggled over the large knife in her hand. She head-butted him and sliced his arm. Patrick quickly dashed over to the other side of the cutting table. Cate crouched under the table. She had a small knife in her hand. She reached it out quickly, stabbing Alicia in the leg. Alicia fell to the ground. This gave Patrick the opportunity to grab a knife in the knife holders on the counter.
Alicia grabbed Cate, holding her in front of her. Patrick held the knife in his hand and took a few deep pants. Alicia held a knife to Cate's neck. Cate elbowed Alicia, chasing Alicia to release her hold on her.
Patrick started to change after Alicia when Alicia reached forward and grabbed Cate, pulling her in form of her as a shield. Patrick was already running at Alicia full speed. He didn't have time to react. The knife was already in place. He stabbed Cate through her chest. The knife went through her body and into Alicia.
Patrick backed up, shocked and devastated by what happened. "No. No no no." He said aloud.
Clara covered her mouth, watching the scene. It was real. It wasn't some movie. She was a real person and she died. Clara knew Patrick was would win but it was still tragic. It was an accident. It was at Patrick's hand.
Cate as breathing heavily. She had tears in her eyes. Her body dropped to the ground.
"Cate!" Patrick cried. "I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry."
A canon went off. Patrick jumped at the sound.
Alicia has holding her chest, glaring at him.
"You!" Patrick said through his teeth. He got up,without any weapons, and jumped on her. He knocked Alicia to the ground. He grabbed her head and bashed it into the ground. He reacted this action until a canon entry off. He won.
Clara had to look away when it showed Alicia's death. Her body got really warm. She felt like she was going to throw up. The video ended with his victor ceremony. The video was about 3 hours long. She ejected the VHS tape and went back to her room quietly. In a couple hours, she would have to get up.
Then Clara remembered that she still had a few days off from school and played another VHS tape. She went back to her room and grabbed a VHS tape in the dark and came back to that room. The walk there and back gave her time to process what she had seen and think about it. She felt like she knew who Patrick was now. She felt like she understood him now. She wished that he was in District 13 with them.
This time she put in her grandma's game. She was 17 years old when she was reaped. She had an older sister. Clara remembered Violet telling her that their great aunt died when Violet was 5. She lived with them in the mansion. She got sick and died.
In her skills test, she got a score of an 8. In her interview, she seemed so cunning. She seemed to blend in with the people there.
For their game, it was a zoo. A zoo of mutts! Each section of the zoo had other mutts. There were dog mutts, large lizard mutts, and bird mutts. They were locked up for the first few days anyway. The zoo was also full of other dangerous animals, like a bear, a tiger, a kangaroo, and snakes.
Most tributes died from the animals. The tiger killed two tributes before a group of two from district 11 worked together to kill it with a tranquilizer gun and shooting it in the heart with an arrow on the third day. The kangaroo killed one and injured three others, breaking their arms. A career killed it on the fourth day in the games. The snakes killed 5 of the tributes. Their bite was fatal in a matter of minutes. They caused hallucinations to most victims. The bear killed four tributes. Two died in an attempt to kill it with the help of three other tributes. They weren't even allies but the bear was a bigger obstacle than each other. The bear was defeated on the fifth day.
That's when the mutts were released.
A bite from the mutt dogs was ill fated. The victims were infected at the sight of the wound. They lost all their energy. They eventually became paralyzed. Anybody bit would be helpless to defend themselves. They bit 4 tributes. Denise found one of them paralyzed from the waist down and only getting worse. They begged for death. Denise grabbed her arrows and stabbed one in their heart.
The bird bites would cause horrible hallucinations. They bit 5 tributes, being easier to locate tributes. Those bit went insane. One team of allies turned on each other, attacking each other until one was left, still hallucinating. They were from district 1.
The lizard bites were also toxic. They made the tributes lose their vision. They bit 3 tributes, including Denise. She was devastated, thinking that this was the end for her. She was bit on the 7th day, while reaching for a pear in a tree. It just jumped out and bit her hand. At first she didn't notice anything wrong. Then she slowly started to lose her vision. Everything had a dark tint on it. Within minutes, she was completely blind.
There were only 7 tributes left. One was hallucinating, three were blinded, one was paralyzed, with their body still not found, one with a broken arm, and one with a scratched up leg from the tiger.
Denise hit behind the tree. Soon her other senses took over. Her hearing sense was heightened allowing her to hear another tribute coming by. She quickly swung her arrows around until she hit something. She kept jabbing the arrows into them until she heard the canon go off. She killed the one with the broken arm.
The next day, someone else walked by but they didn't attack. They were also blind, Clara realized while watching.
A canon went off later that day for the paralyzed tribute. The one hallucinating got them.
The last two were Denise and the career from 1 who was still hallucinating. Denise was able to use her heightened senses to avoid his attacks and stab him with her arrows.
After a hovercraft took her away, they gave her a cure for the blindness caused by the lizard bite. The Capitol seemed really impressed with her. It seemed like she was a favorite among the victors.
Clara ejected the VHS tape and went back to her room. As soon as she lied down, the morning alarm went off.
Meanwhile in the Capitol, the Mockingjay troop went over the game plan. They were 75 blocks away from the Capitol. It would only get harder to remain unseen and undetected. The traps would be more frequent and deadly.
Pollux gave a look to his brother, signing that they could go underground.
"That's genius." Liam said.
"Unless they have that place surrounded too." Lieutenant Jackson said.
"They think we're dead." Katniss reminded them.
"Possibly dead." Jackson said. "They haven't let their guard down."
"It's not like we have another choice." Cressida said.
"It's our best option." Liam said aloud.
They made their way down the sewers unseen. They walked down that huge tunnels with Pollux in the lead, seeming uneasy. He knew this place better than anyone, but it wasn't easy for him to be back here.
When the group was tired, the found a place in the tunnels to rest for the night. Katniss and Peeta talked some more, trying to help his memory. He asked questions about the games.
A few hours later, they heard an awful sound. Something was in the tunnels and it was getting closer.
The troop grabbed their stuff and ran deeper into the tunnels.
"What was that?" Liam asked.
"Mutts." Peeta answered.
Liam didn't exactly know what that meant, but he was scared. He quickly moved behind Cressida who was behind Peeta and Katniss.
One by one, they climbed through a narrow passage. Lieutenant Jackson went last, using the flashlight on her gun to look for anything dangerous that might approach them. When the coast seemed clear, she went through the narrow passages. Moments later, something pulled her out.
"What is that?" Liam asked, horrified.
"Just run!" Peeta said.
They listened, darting down the tunnels, away from those creatures. They were tall, with scaly skin. There were about a dozen of them, curing after them. They killed Jackson in a second, breaking her neck.
The remaining troop sprinted through the tunnels. Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, Liam, Cressida, Messalla, Gale, Pollux, and Castor. The numbers would only get smaller.
Castor was falling behind the group. Everyone else was ahead of him. Pollux was nearly ahead of him, by a few feet.
One of the mutts caught up, and caught Castor, killing him instantly.
Pollux has no time to mourn his brother. The mutts were still after them.
The came to a large room with a narrow path surprised by sewer water. The mutts reached them, lunging after them. One mutt knocked over Liam. He used his gun to block the mutt's sharp teeth from hurting him. The strength of the mutt became no match for Liam. His arms lowered, causing the mutt to get closer to him.
Cressida knocked the mutt off of Liam. She held out her hand to him.
He took it and she lifted him up.
"Run for the exit," Cressida said.
"Where's that?" He asked.
She sighed and pointed behind him. "The ladder!"
Pollux found the ladder for them to escape through. He pulled it down and climbed up it.
"Right," he said, turing around and racing after it.
Peeta and Katniss were next to go up the ladder safely. She watched down the circular opening by the ladder as the others fought the mutts and raced to make it to safety. She was helpless to save anyone else. All she could do was watch like the districts watches the games. Gale ran up about 10 seconds later. Katniss was already safe. They didn't have a priority to save anyone else.
Cressida and Liam got on the ladder next. Messalla and Finnick were still fighting off Mutts. Liam turned back to Finnick and Messala.
"They'll be fine. We have to go." Cressida said.
Once Liam was up the ladder, Cressida jumped off.
"What are you doing?" Liam asked.
"Making sure you don't do anything stupid." She said. She shot at the mutt about to kill her friend Messalla.
He thanked her and made he way towards the ladder.
Finnick appeared to be right behind them.
Cressida and Messalla made it up the ladder safely. All that remained was Finnick.
He ran up to the ladder. He seemed to be safe. They would all make it out of that room. He took another step. The mutts left looked too far away. He took another step up the ladder. He was half way there. He was so close.
Before taking the next step, the mutts caught him. Two jumped out of the water. Two more caught him from behind, yanking him off the ladder.
"Finnick!" Katniss screamed.
"Finnick!" Liam shouted. He reached his hand out, down the ladder.
Gale pulled Liam back, to safety.
Katniss held the night lock pill bomb in her hand. A tear went down her face as she said the trigger words and dropped it down, destroying the mutts and Finnick. They closed the hatch, so they would be safe from the bomb.
