Mermaid

A groan slips through my teeth.

"Katniss!" Annie's voice swells with relief.

My eyes flutter open and I recoil when the light from the lantern stings them. I allow them time to adjust and survey my wooden prison.

Annie and Madge are tied near each other; Johanna is near me on my left. I can clearly see that their wrists are an angry shade of red; I assume mine are the same. The ropes binding us to the rafters are rough and tight.

"Oh Katniss you're awake!" Madge exclaims. "How are you feeling?"

I inspect myself, the pain is surprisingly less than the last time I was aware. Whatever that awful liquid was it worked and I was grateful. I curse internally; I owe my life to another, a human no less.

"I'm alright. I feel much better, truly I do." Annie and Madge look relieved. Johanna looks irate. No doubt because, like me, she knows that there is thanks owed to the humans.

I vaguely recall the gentle touches of the male who had come to my aid. I never did get a chance to see him, but the tones of his voice resonated familiarly in my memory. I could not place them, but I felt as if I had heard them before.

"Katniss, we've spoken with the humans. They've agreed to help free us." Madge says in a hopeful tone.

"I know." I reply in a monotone. They look at me quizzically. "I vaguely remember hearing you speak of it."

Before we can continue speaking the sound of men returning resounds through the wooden planks.

An older, tall, blonde haired, scruffy looking man appears first. Following him are three men. One is lanky with greasy dark brown hair and cold calculating eyes. The next is another blonde man with harsh muscles, and eyes dark with greed and malice. Lastly is an older man, with graying hair and a full scraggly beard, and whose lips are pulled into a nasty sneer.

"Well," the second blonde man snickers, "how are my little ocean vixens?" His voice bleeds with false kindness.

We do not dignify him with a response.

It aggravates the men that we refuse to speak. It shows plainly on their faces as they twist into snarls.

The younger blonde approaches Johanna; he lets his hands trail through her hair, moving it aside for his lustful gaze. She hisses and snaps her teeth at him. Startled he steps back.

"What a bunch of sea-whores. Captain Snow is right; you belong in the circus…or dead for all I care. As long as I get my money." He growls before slapping Johanna across the face. Her fair skin reddened from the impact. She shrieks, not in pain but in anger.

Sadly any anger, pain, or otherwise only encourages these sick and evil men. They cut locks of our hair and cut off our scales. All the while mumbling that they will be worth a fortune. Then simply for their own game they mar our upper bodies with cuts and gashes. They smile, lips twisting into deformed and defiled versions of what they are meant to be. Such evil creatures, humans, they take pleasure from the pain they cause others. It is a repulsive joke that they find humor in.

Their torture continues, the pain pulses through my body, and our blood trickles into the barrels of water below…staining the salty water. After a long while they depart with their tokens, laughing as if they had enjoyed a childish game.

…:::…

Man

"Peeta." Thom's hushed and panicked voice rouses me from my slumber.

I jolt up in my hammock and nearly fall out of it.

"Peeta. Cato, Marvel, Brutus and Thread went visiting the prisoners. They returned bragging of their exploits and carried trinkets of scales and locks of hair."

His voice is filled with anxiety. The dread I hear matches that which has settled in my stomach. It churns to think of what horrors they have inflicted.

"Tonight." I sternly say. He nods. We will visit tonight. Tonight we will free them. We must, before anything worse can happen.

A/N: I know it's just a short one today but I promise another one is on the way soon! Please read and review!