"Chapter 2
"(Katniss' POV)
"My body aches I can't even bring myself to open my eyes. The only sense I can rely on is my hearing, but the only thing I hear is ragged breathing, and after listening for a second I realize it's coming from me. I try to relax and control it, but there is no use trying to control my ragged breathing.
"It was a lot harder to bring her back then we expected," a timid male voice says from somewhere to my left. "The amount of voltage was….too much. She will be very weak for a few days, we're lucky there wasn't any permanent damage to her heart
"Doctor Thane, the desired effect was to make it believable. Ms. Everdeen died, and I put my trust, a very valuable honor in you, to revive her which you succeeded in doing. Now with the threat of the rebels intervening diminished we have all the time in the world for Ms. Everdeen to regain her strength, so we can tear her down to the weak, and pathetic nuisance that she has always been.
"Yes, President Snow," there is the last sounds of footsteps then a door closing, and now I am alone. 'Open your eyes' I command of myself after a minute they flicker open and slowly adjust to the bright lights hanging above me. My head pounds with the effort to stay awake, and stay focused. 'Sit up Katniss' I lift my head an inch off the table I'm surrounded by machines that are connected by tubes to my body. 'These are probably the only things keeping you alive.' I lift my hand to pull the tubes out of me, but I lose the strength to keep my head up and it slams down on the table instantly knocking me
I'm running through the thick vines, and trees of the arena. The thick humid heat is assaulting me making me tired. "Katniss!" That was Peeta I run faster ignoring the pain and fatigue./span/em/p
"Peeta where are you?" I scream I continue running, then about 50 feet away I see him running at me.
"Katniss," He found me we're safe, he's safe. We run towards each other and meet in the middle I fling my arms around him and he clutches me to his chest.
"Peeta," I breath into his shoulder with relief. When I pull back and look into his eye I see complete horror reflected in them. "Peeta whats wrong?" tears begin to pool in his eyes "Peeta?" he looks down, and I follow his gaze to the spearhead sticking out of my stomach.
"No Katniss….No!" My legs buckle under me, but I feel no pain I feel no pull to let go of this life.
"Peeta I'm ok," but he doesn't hear me he just cradles me against himself, and sobs "Peeta I'm not dying," I beg for him to understand.
"I love you Katniss," I try to respond, but my lips won't move. I feel myself exhale one last time and then I stare unblinkingly up at him. 'But I'm not dead,' he bends his head and kisses me on the lips.
"I love you," then he takes his two figures and closes my eyes.
"Peeta!" I wake with a start. I'm all sweaty and my throat is dry I could almost believe I was back in the arena. As my breathing comes under control I realize I feel a lot stronger. My body no longer aches. The tubes are gone, and now I am in a metal chair strapped down with restraints. 'You're back to full strength. Now is when the fun starts,' I try and stay calm I knew what I was getting into when I came up with this plan.
"Ahhh my dear you're awake," my head wipes around trying to find him, but Snow isn't there. "I'm sorry, but I will not be attending your session today I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have a congratulatory dinner planned. But don't worry some of my most trusted staff will be…handling you today," the wall that I thought was solid opens and 3 peacekeepers march in 2 men and 1 women "I'll leave them too it then," I take a deep breath and prepare for whatever I'm about to endure.
"The woman of the group is obviously in charge. "Prisoner 131 charged with crimes against the capital, and rebellious acts which have resulted in the start of multiple uprisings," She walks around the room and stops in front of a section of drawers. "The punishments that will be carried out are for your own good. They will groom you into being what you are truly meant to be," I can't help myself from asking
"And what am I truly meant -?" I am smacked across the face before the comment has left my mouth. Then I feel the woman's hand pressing my head back, and a knife is slashed across my cheek. I grit my teeth as I feel the hot sticky blood dripping down my face and neck. The woman gets right in my face and says...
"Nothing. You are nothing, and nobody," she punches me in the stomach knocking the air out of me "So get used to it," I try and catch my breath as I stare daggers at this woman. She backs away with a vicious smile. "Soldiers, what is the action plan for 131's treatment plan?"
"To take away her memories," one of the men replies.
"By using trakerjaker venom we will take Everdeens memories, and turn them against her. This is a form of hijacking,
"Correct, but Soldier Dean, don't give the prisoner the satisfaction of using her name," she looks to me "As of now she doesn't have one," there is a knock on the door and a doctor comes in with a tray of needles filled with a golden honey like liquid. They're going to turn everything I remember against me. I begin to pull on my restraints.
"I..I will need a sample of DNA," the timid Dr. Thane requests. The woman peacekeeper walks up behind me as I continue to fight my restraints. She snatches my braid and pulls hard so I'm forced to tilt my head at an extremely uncomfortable angle.
"Don't fight it, it will only be worse for you in the long run….I don't think you'll be needing this," and with a fluid motion her knife cuts off my braid leaving my hair to fall at my chin choppy, and fringed. "How this for DNA doc?" she hands my detached braid to the doctor who stares at it in disbelief.
"I..I only needed…a few hairs,"
"Well now you have some extra," she laughs coldly.
"Thank…thank you Solider Heart," I snort how ironic I think to myself. Maybe her name is supposed to fill the void for where her heart should be.
"Have something to say?" She approaches me. I shake my head "I have a feeling I'm going to get sick of your attitude soon, and then maybe the President will let me chop out that tongue of yours," I instinctively press my lip tightly closed. "That's what I thought," she smirks and walks away. I examine Heart, something about her is so familiar, but I can't place it. She has short black hair, she isn't any taller than me her eyes are a very dark brown almost black. As she watches over the doctor she continues to absentmindedly throw and catch the knife at her side always crabbing the hilt. That's when it hits me who she reminds me of-
"Clove," I say aloud she turns her head and smiles at me.
"Figure it out?" Her eyes look almost black when she looks at me. I can feel the hate radiating off of her as she stalks back towards my chair. " Yes, Clove was my sister," I close my eyes at the confirmation of her statement.
"I'm sorry," I whisper and hang my head. I can't even fight her hate because I can justify it.
"Don't lie no one is ever sorry for their enemy's deaths, and you sure as hell are not the exception. Now shut up," she punches me across the face. My mouth fills with blood from my cut lip and I spit it on the floor without saying a word. If the situation was reversed and if Clove was sitting in this chair, and she assisted in killing Prim I would treat her the same exact way...or worse. "Are you ready to start doctor?"
"Yes," he sticks me in the neck with the needle, and I barely flinch "Please turn on the slide and we'll begin. You need to tell me who, my dear, is on the screen. Ok?" it only takes seconds for whatever drug the doctor is pumping into me to start working. I feel slow and groggy and a sheen of nervous sweat begins to break out on my forehead, but I answer.
"Ok," the first image comes up "Gale," I spit out before I can think better of it.
"What's a memory you have with Gale?" the doctor asks and before I can think about withholding my answer it comes out.
"Hunting in the woods of district 12 on Sundays," that probably was bad to tell him.
"And who is this?" I picture of Prim comes up it's from the first reaping, and it's the first time I've seen her since the reaping of the quarter quell/span/p
"Pr-Prim," I feel myself getting choked up "We used to sit in the meadow of district twelve," I feel terror coursing through me. I can't separate if its because I'm afraid for Prim or I'm afraid of her.
"Good now, who's-" My sob cuts him off before he can even finish the question. I don't know when tears started to spill from my eyes but now they are coming hot and fast. My body is shaking so hard and I try to cloths my eyes to block everything out, but its impossible.
"Peeta," the picture of Peeta on the beach in the quarter quell is immaculate. Her crystal blue eyes shining with a ghost of a smile.
"We have a good amount of footage of you two, but what is something you would do together that we didn't see?" The tears running down my face sting the cut on my cheek. I try to fight it this time and not tell them, but whatever they injected me with forces me to tell them. I feel like something dark is closing in around me, almost like one of my nightmares. I can't control myself when I gasp out the first things I think of.
"We did everything together he tried teaching me to bake, I tried teaching him to hunt. We'd go on picnics, we'd spend nights together…" My sobs cut me off "We did everything together," I cry out hysterically. I cannot comprehend the emotions coursing through me. I feel utterly terrified and confused. The world keeps shifting in and out of focus.
"Good," this continues to go on for hours. They continue to ask questions and if I give any sight of fighting it Heart cuts me with her knife or punches me in the gut. By the end I have multiple lashes on my body "That's all today," the lights come on and the last picture of Peeta fades. My body is still trembling eyes are wide and stinging. I don't feel as terrified as before but there is an underlying fear left in me. I try to convince myself that there is no reason to be afraid of Gale, Prim, or Peeta, but that the feeling won't go away. I have a feeling this venom they injected me with isn't going to completely leave mysystem. "The videos should be ready tomorrow, and then will inject the serum to see how she responds. The emotional ties are strong so the reaction should be promising," he leaves and leaves me and emotional mess with Heart, and the two other peacekeepers. Each of the men grabs one of my arms and unties them from their restraints.
"Don't worry we have plenty more activities planned for the day," Heart says over her shoulder as we head for the invisible door. The men drag me roughly down the hallway into the elevator going down. I don't know how far down the elevator goes, but I can tell we are deep underground. We exit the elevator and come to the 5supth/sup door on the right. Inside is a giant pool of water and two handcuffs dangling over it. I don't know if it is the left over injection inside me, but I cannot find the courage to be strong so I fight, cry, and scream trying to get out of the clutches of the 2 men, but they over power me.
Everything from my hips down is submerged in water. My hands are attached to the shackles above. "Ok I'm going to explain how this is going to work I will ask you a question, and you will answer if the answer is incorrect we dunk you," I am lowered into the water until my eyes are the only thing above the water. I try kicking to get my face out of the water, but its no use I'm about to black out when they rise me up so my face is out of the water. I gasp for air taking in as much as I possibly can, because I know I will not succumb to her game, so I need to make sure my lungs are filled with air. "What is your name?"
"Katniss Mallark," before I can finish I'm shoved underwater and my mouth and nose fill with water. No way am I going to make it easy to break.
I lose track of time. Everyday I am taken to a session with the doctor where I am injected with Trackerjacker venom. I'm questioned for hours and hours until my head hurts and shaking with terror from the drugs, trying to remember, and our session inevitably ending with me crying and screaming. I try to block out the images they show me but its impossible. In the back of my mind, I realize the images are becoming less and less familiar and more terrifying. Then Heart takes me to the tub where I'm nearly drowned repeatedly. Then I am dragged back to my cell where stale bread and water wait for me. And then once I've reluctantly faded off to sleep I'm woken shortly after by a male guard kicking, punching, and slapping me awake. Once ive passed out he leaves and I'm woken by the doctor the next morning. I survive I don't break I keep going I keep fighting their drugs and torture I'm determined not to break.
One night after a day of watching Peeta die over and over again watching 12 burned to the ground, watching me hold out the berries. Everything being contorted by the venom in my system. Then having to be revived because Heart got a little too excited and left me under water too long (not the first time). I'm dragged back to my room I don't even have a chance to fall asleep when the guard enters. I do not move from my place on the floor with my eyes closed waiting, but something is off. He doesn't rush in and begin his violent assault instead I hear a zipper and something drop to the floor I open my eyes just in time to get slapped across the face by a half-naked guard. I am so shocked I can't even fight when he pins me to the ground. I don't react I can't even feel anything anymore except the tears streaming down my face and that's when I feel something inside of me shatter. I have finally been broke.