Don't own Hunger Games.
"How long till he recovers?"
"Three weeks physically. He never received adequate treatment when in captivity. That allowed the wounds to fester. He's lucky he was only there a week. Any longer and he might have lost an arm, might have even died. That and he needs rest. They probably kept him awake as part of the torture."
"You said physically. What do you mean by that?"
"Whatever they did to him in there...I don't know. There's something in his blood. I've yet to find what it is. All I know that it's a hallucinogen of some sort. He was full of it. And it's potent. He probably thought that he was being tortured by demons the entire time."
"Oh, god."
"Ma'am-"
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! How can I?! That's my son that went through all that! For all we know, he may be afraid of his own shadow now!"
...
"Do we know what they did to him?"
"Physical torture seemed to be simple beatings with some knife wounds on his arms. They weren't trying to kill him, only prep him."
"For what?"
"Possibly for higher doses of the hallucinogen. I have some people looking through Capitol records to see if we can't find what they were trying to do."
"Uhhhhh..."
"Alto?"
I shift, enough to tell them that I'm awake. I have trouble opening my eyes; they feel like someone welded them shut and added a hundred pounds to them. I hear them walk to my bed, and after a good three minutes pass, I finally get my eyes open.
"Christ alive... Uh...Anyone-" I swallow, but my mouth is dry. "Anyone here?"
"I'm here Alto." That's my mom. She's to my right while a doctor takes the left side of the bed. Haven't seen him before.
"C-can...can I have some water?" It feels like I just ate pure cinnamon.
Mom's quick to fetch the water. Within a few seconds she brings a cup to my lips. As I feel the cool liquid flow down my throat, I don't notice that I've shifted forward slightly, my shaking hands grasping the cup as I empty its contents.
"More please."
As my mom gets me more water I take a really good look at her. Like I said before, she has no bandages that I can see; doesn't seem injured in anyway. She's wearing a simple red shirt and some worn jeans. Her hair and skin aren't dirty, meaning she hasn't been out fighting, though that's fine by me. But she has a small bruise on the right side of her neck.
"Question." I say as I look at my mom.
"Anything Alto."
"How did...you get out of two?" I'm surprised she's even alive after what's happened.
"Just before the Games began. Free Panem came for me. I thought I was being arrested at first." She said with a small laugh.
"From what the soldiers told me, she was ready to fight back with a knife. We had to sedate her to get her on the hovercraft."
"Did she hurt anyone?" That explains it.
"Scared the hell out of a few men, but no." The doctor smiled.
I give a small laugh of my own, but stop when my ribs protest. I rub them gently while eyeing the doctor. "Finnick?"
"Sleeping." He motioned to the bed a few feet from mine. Finnick's on in, in a similar state as I am, but he's snoring loudly.
"Sleeping like the dead. Uh, I could do the same thing right about now." I look at my mom. "Is, um, anyone I know here?"
"A majority of the shelter occupants made it out."
"Just like Peeta said. But the Old Man's dead. Were you able to get anyone out of the Capitol?"
"Only one person." The doctor says. "Everyone's waiting outside for you to wake. Should I let them in?"
"What kind of question is that?" I smirk.
The doctor smiles in response and motions at the door. With his hand he waves it in a way that says "come here." So the door opens, and the visitors come pouring in.
"Prim?" She's the first to my bed. He hops on and embraces me. She knows I'm injured so she does so very carefully.
"I thought District Thirteen picked you up."
"Free Pamen got to us first." Her mother replies for her.
"Peeta! Nlron!" Peeta's still in his military garb while Nlron is wearing his everyday clothes, though his arm's in a cast.
"The hell happened to you?"
"Really? You're asking me that? If anything, the hell happened to you?" He points to me.
"I dived head on into hell. Got back out but screwed me over in the process." I shake my head, but grab it after as a dull pain awakens. When Madge enters I release a sigh of relief. "It's good to see you're okay Madge."
"I could say the same to you, though you've seen better days." She smiles and nods her head.
"Hell of a lot better then I was a day ago." I wink at her playfully. She gives a small laugh, and Peeta frowns a little.
"Hey."
"Oh please Malark. If I wanted her, I'd already have her."
"Oh god. Here we go."
"No, I'll save that for another time. So why isn't everyone else here?"
"You think they can all fit in this room?"
I glance around for a moment. "Uh...no?"
"Idiot." Everyone but the doctor seems to say.
"Oh!" I bring my hands to my heart. "You wound me with your cruel, cruel words."
"He's just woken up and he's already like this."
"Some things just don't change Peeta."
"A-Alto?"
My breathing stops at the small voice I hear at the door. It's a voice I'd recognize anywhere, but it seems so impossible that it could be her that I don't react immediately. Everyone eyed me curiously, then eyed the newcomer, just as I do.
She's not wearing her elaborate clothes anymore, wearing a simple white t-shirt and pants. Her hair's undone, nearly reaching the ground. Her pale skin is painted with black and blue swirls, as well as some bandages on her arms and under the shirt. She didn't come out worse for wear then I thought anyone could.
"S...Salaya?"
It's not even a thought of what I do next; it's an action. My body moves on its own. I literally jump from the bed, pulling out my IV out of my arm, which I don't feel. My legs refuse to support me since I fall face first to the ground. Everyone crowds me at that moment. I don't pay any mind to them as I force my weak body to do as I want it, getting to my feet quickly while grabbing the bed for support. Salaya's closer now, having seen me fall, and I'm able to close the distance by using what I had that now passed as strength to push myself off the bed and into her. My arms wrap themselves around her as she does the same, and she's suddenly supporting most of my weight.
"Y-you're alive! You're alive!"
She doesn't respond, somehow knowing that I may need the counseling that she's here in my arms and not some figment of my imagination.
"W-w-when the peacekeepers dragged y-you out of the room, I-I-I thought you were-" I can't finish. My eyes are already spilling tears.
"It's okay Alto."
"Just give me a minute." I'm still not convinced she's really here. I had it through my mind that I would never see her again, that the Capitol would torture her or kill her. Not that she'd be here in the flesh.
I suddenly recall my prep team. "Portia? The others?" I look at her. She gives a small shake of her head.
Dead.
"They killed them when they got to you, didn't they?" I ask.
"Yes." She replies simply.
"Did they get Cinna too?"
"He's dead. Katniss's prep team vanished shortly after."
"Probably thirteen."
"Okay, that's enough. You need your rest Alto." Salaya gets her arms around my waist and lifts me off my feet. I give a small yelp of surprise and have to grab her shoulders to keep from falling. She then carries me back to my bed.
"Well this is degrading." I say dejectedly as she places me down. I can see everyone in the room roll their eyes.
"Only you Alto." Mom says as she throws the covers over me. The doctor goes ahead and puts my IV back in. He turns to the others. "Okay everyone. Let Alto rest. He needs to heal." Everyone gets the memo and funnel out of the room, wishing me a quick recovery. The only one left in the room is the doctor.
"Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Is it natural to have the urge to run from my friends?"
...
"Can you answer a few questions about the torture you went through?"
I can't stop the chill that travels up my spine. That week... I don't... I can't...won't...
"Um." You can hear how uneasy I am. "D-do we have to do that now?"
"You'll have to do it eventually, but I can see that you're not ready yet. I won't push you. But I need you to answer me when I ask this."
I give him an uneasy look. "And that would be?"
"Do you know what they were giving you? To make you hallucinate?"
I visibly relax. It's very easy to answer this question, since the doctors nearly shouted it to the top of their lungs when they first started the torture.
"Tracker Jacker venom."
"I don't think we've met before."
Salaya looked up, her gaze resting on the brown haired women before her, and she could assume who this was.
"We haven't. I'm Salaya. I...use to be part of Alto's prep team." She motioned to to her. "You're his mother?"
The women laughed slightly, nodding. "Lilia. What gave it away?"
"He's talked about you. A lot."
She smiled. "Really?"
"Sometimes he couldn't stop."
Both women laughed, but sobered quickly, their minds wandering to the boy that was currently recovering from his injuries.
"He's told me about you too. Told me how you supported him through everything."
"He's helped me too. Through things I've always kept buried. He means a lot to me. Like a son if I'm so bold."
...
"How is he?"
Lilia's lips turned to a frown. "Obvious signs of torture. His injures from the Games could have cost him his life if he was there for another few days. But..."
"But?" Salaya almost didn't want to know.
"When I asked the doctor about his condition he said that they had flushed a chemical out of his system. A hallucinogen he said, that he was full of during the torture. For all he knew, he was being tortured by demons in the eighth ring of hell."
"Oh my god." Salaya cover her mouth. Lilia nodded in agreement, her lips quivering slightly.
"They'll probably ask him if he knew what they used on him, and look into what they were trying to do specifically." She wiped one of her eyes quickly. "I don't like what they did to my son. What they've done to him since the 74th Hunger Games. When he was out, I could hear him talking in his sleep. Some of the things I heard..." She needn't say more. They both knew what he was reliving.
"Rue... Fash... Mags... Cato... Brutus... Only names."
They both stood there silently, praying that the boy they cared for dearly could make it through this.
"Tracker Jacker venom?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I was under it's influence most of the time. Maybe a minute I was venom free, but for the rest of the day I'd be filled with it."
"And what did they do to you?"
"What do you think?" I say defensively. The doctor raised his hands to signal that he wouldn't broach that topic yet. I took a deep breath.
"Sorry doc."
"No need to apologize. I shouldn't have asked. Like I said before, we'll leave you be, but sooner or later you'll have to speak about the experience to someone."
"Got it. So, uh, how long till I can stand?"
"Three weeks."
"Three weeks!?" I'm dismayed. "I can't stay in this bed for three weeks! What the hell am I supposed to do for three damn weeks!?"
"Sleep would help."
"Even with all the fucking nightmares I have, right?" I growl. "I hate sleeping. I always see their faces. Every. Damn. One. How could anyone sleep through that?" I look at him. "Could you?"
"I wouldn't know."
"But say you went through what I did. Could you?"
"Truth be told?" The doctor looked at me. "I couldn't. Not without my wife."
"Married?"
"And a father of two children. A little younger then you are."
I smile a little. "Just another thing to live for."
"And you still have more than a few." The doctor pointed out.
I nod as I look at the door my friends and family just walked out of. "Yeah. I do."
"Okay." He says as he injects a liquid into my IV. "I've given you some more painkillers, so you may feel drowsy in a moment. I know that you don't want to sleep but sleep is the best thing to do now. When you wake next we'll feed you."
"Um. As embarrassed as I am asking, can someone be here before I wake up? Anyone?" I ask while looking at my feet. I feel like a damn child for what I'm asking.
"Sure. Get some sleep son." He pats my back gently before leaving the room.
My eyes are dropping a few minutes later, and my body starts to get heavy again. I make myself comfortable, sinking into the bed as I turn my head to the right, spotting a clock on the desk.
2:53 AM
"Morning Katniss."
I fall into a long, nightmare filled slumber.
"Guys?"
"Yeah?" Alto's group of friends turn to look at Madge.
"Did you notice anything...different? To how Alto looked at us?"
They all remained silent. They'd all be lying if they said they hadn't. It would be difficult for anyone else to notice it, but they'd been around Alto long enough to see things.
"He looked...scared...of us." Madge sounded like she was going to cry, but no tears were present.
"What the fuck did they do to him in there?" Nlron's functioning hand became a fist.
"Something no one should go through."
