The Blame Game:
Chapter 4:
Haymitch is kneeling next to Effie, who rests on the couch, uncharacteristically quiet. The rest of the tributes are focused on her, some in shock, others in mischievous satisfaction. "What do you mean, you killed her?" he screeches. "You couldn't have! At the time she was killed, you were dead to the world, fast asleep! I was with you the whole time!"
Effie clicks her tongue. "I know." She shakes her head. "But if it wasn't the knife, then it had to be me!" she insists.
Katniss frowns, and Peeta finally asks, "What are you saying?"
Effie sighs. "Look…" she says, "I'm not proud of it, but I may be at fault for some… ethic violations this round."
"Ethic…" Cecilia parrots, "violations?" She blinks. "In what way?"
Effie releases a sigh. "I knew The Careers were planning on targeting my tributes." She looks at them with obvious contempt. Both Cato and Clove admit to nothing, but their gazes shoot arrows across her way. "And my tributes this year are really….extraordinary…" She blinks at her star-crossed-lovers with affection filling her features. Peeta's heart calls out to her, and even Katniss seems affected. "I had enough of their plotting…so I thought, it's time to even the odds a little bit…" Suddenly, she pulls out a metal bottle, laying it on the couch. "So I put some of Chaff's gravy recipe in her training water-flask." She twists her face.
Cecilia gasps. Seeder shudders. Finnick mumbles "Ew!" and behind them, Chaff stands with the biggest grin splattered across his face.
Haymitch grabs the flask, keeping it away from his body as if it may come to life and bite him. "That's inhumane!" he growls, horrified.
"It was only enough to give her the trots for the first couple of days of the arena, not enough to kill her!" Effie clarifies, before sudden fear overtakes her. "Unless… she was allergic to it… and with the rash you found on her neck, it has to be the reason! Which means… I am the killer…" she mumbles, frightened.
Cato and Marvel exchange meaningful looks at that statement, a second before Cato bursts in, "Should have known it was you the whole time," he basically growls, reaching to grab her arm. "I guess there's poetic justice in this." Next to him, Clove smirks. "Now… we'll take you to Snow and—"
"No!" Haymitch and Chaff call simultaneously, which is enough to stop Cato in his tracks. Chaff stammers, "If anything… it's my recipe, so I'll be the one coming clean to Snow."
Haymitch shoots him a glare, then turns to Cato. "Nobody is coming clean or being turned in to anyone," he directs. Grabbing at the flask, he shakes it once. "This is as full as it was yesterday!" he claims, then throws the metal bottle at Gloss. The victor nods at his sister, approving. Cashmere takes a sniff, twisting her face at the smell. "Yuck," she mumbles, then sighs. "Well, obviously, my tribute hadn't touched this crap." she rolls her eyes. "Seems like you're off the hook, Barbie."
Effie's face stays emotionless and unreadable. Then Jason interjects: "Too bad we can't say that about the rest of us." His gaze is fixed on the high wall. "Look at the time."
They do. Indeed, Haymitch understands, they're running out of time, and not any closer to narrowing this thing down than they were an hour ago.
"Look," he says evenly, "we don't have a lot of time." He rubs his right temple and continues, "Which means, I'm gonna need some straight answers."
"Right!" Chaff nods his head dramatically.
"Starting with you!" Haymitch points at his friend callously.
"Me? Pfft," the victor huffs, looking around nervously. "What have I got to hide?"
Haymitch arches an eyebrow second before reaching his arm to pull something from underneath Chaff's belt. A wrinkled piece of paper. "Nothing but this?" he calls, waving the note around in emphasis.
Chaff emits a sound of protest, trying to reach and snatch the paper back from Haymitch's grasp. "Hey!" he calls, but Haymitch evades his hands. "Give it!" he yells, half whining.
Haymitch lifts his arm, the note now clearly out of Chaff's reach. "Now this has been missing from Glimmer's things since we first unpacked them," he determines, his glare still fixed on his friend. "I wouldn't mind betting that you know more than you're letting on…"
Chaff turns slightly red, taking two slow steps back. "Uh….Ohh…. Gueeuh…." he mumbles awkwardly, like a boy found with his hand in the cookie jar. That's when Marvel grabs at his shoulders from behind.
"Where do you think you're going…" his whispers dangerously, eyes wide, "…killer?"
"Ah….oh…" he tries, then snaps, releasing himself from Marvel's clutches. "Ok, ok!" he gives in. "Since it doesn't matter anyway…" He rolls his eyes. "Open the note, Haymitch," he says. "See what it reads."
"Mhmm," Haymitch mumbles before unfolding the note. There, with soft black ink, is a question. "'Are you in?'" Haymitch reads aloud.
"Are you in?" repeats Wiress. "What does it mean?"
Some of the tributes shift their poses uncomfortably at that, much to Haymitch's attention. "Ok, fellows," he folds his arms on his chest. "I don't know what the big idea is, but clearly some of you know what this is about…" He arches an eyebrow. "So unless you want to get screwed over by Snow personally, it's time you all come clean."
The girl from district 10 releases a sigh, and after giving her one of his disapproving glares, Aldeen's shoulders drop. "The note was sent by me," she admits. "We wanted to know if district 11 was trustworthy."
Haymitch makes a face. "Trustworthy? Trustworthy of what?!"
The short girl's lips stretch into an ominous smile, before replying, "Of being part of the plan…" At the rest's curious eyes, and her district partner's nod, she continues, "You see, not only the Careers can play dirty…"
5 days earlier…
Timmer growled, ignoring Aldeen's criticizing glare. "Will you relax, already?" She lands on the soft sofa at the 10th floor lobby. "Almira will notice something's different…"
"I don't care!" he snarls. "Did you see what happened back at the training center? District 10's going to be this annual laughing stock! And now…"
"And now, nothing," Aldeen replies, jumping off of the couch. "You think anyone cares? It's not like we're surrounded by sponsors, here. Not after that girl from 12 wooed them with her whammy."
"And I guess it has nothing to do with those Career thugs acting like they own the place."
She rolls her eyes. "Well of course you're right, but those are The Careers! They can do whatever they want!" she protests, then takes a second to think, before smiling. "But what that little girl did back there, taking that knife, driving Cato crazy… that was kinda epic…"
"Right," Timmer agrees, "and if a little brat has the courage to stand up to Cato, why are we afraid of him?"
She snorts. "Oh, I don't know, maybe he's a six-foot tall psychotic guy who swore to butcher us all in less than a week?" She sinks on the couch again. "I was positive that was the main reason…"
"Yes, but…" He tilts his head. "We're still in training… not the arena… and there's no reason for us to take his crap here…. And if we stand up to him now, maybe he'll realize we won't tolerate being jerked around." He shrugs.
"Huh." Aldeen ponders, "As crazy as it sounds… oh, what the hell, it's not like we have anything else to lose, right?"
He smiles wickedly, satisfaction written on his face. "So… don't supposed you have a plan…?" She arches an eyebrow.
"Oh, but I do…" he whispers. "But we're going to need the help of the other tributes."
Cato seethes at them, "So I guess that's the answer to the crap going on at our floor?"
Cecilia frowns. "Crap? What crap?" she inquires.
"Oh, you just name it. Gear going missing from the Career's training spot." Behind Clove, Finch smiles to herself.
"Lights flicking on and off on our floor," Marvel adds in irritation, as the girl from 3 is suddenly very interested in her fingernails.
"And, the 'best part'…" the female tribute from district 4 hisses. "For some reason, three days ago my shampoo started to smell like fish goo!"
Peeta holds back a chuckle. Jason snorts. This is hilarious!
"Ahh," Finnick interjects usefully. "So that's what it was…"
Haymitch presses two fingers to the bridge of his nose. They really don't have time for this. "So you were planning practical jokes at each other's expense… It's amazing just how much I don't care…unless you decided to take the practical jokes to a whole new level…?"
Timmer raises both palms outward and exhales, eyes wide, "Whooah, man. Nothing like that. We know the rules."
Aldeen shakes her head. "It was just a bunch of tributes trying to let off some steam," she defends. "Finch, Greta, Timmer, Skyton and I were on the sixth floor when this girl was killed. We got at least three Avoxes to witness it." The teens in question all nod in agreement. "We didn't touch this girl, dude."
Haymitch releases a puff of air. "You were trying to form an alliance." It's not a question.
Skyton nods again. "We were considering it. That's why we stayed up so late. That's where they found us when we were called in."
"So the note…" The victor turns back to Chaff.
"Asked if we were in on the plan…and the alliance," Chaff answers, for once a little more seriously. "I didn't know about their plan for The Careers, and it was sure as hell a 'no-no' for the arena… I mean, Thresh here is a lone player." Big Thresh folds his arms on his chest threateningly. "And I don't trust any of them with little Rue, so…"
"So…" Haymitch continues, "still doesn't explain your behavior."
"Actually, it does…" Thresh hums, his voice surprising even nearby Marvel, who takes a long step back. "After they didn't get the answer they were looking for, that little gang came up to me straight, after trying with Rue…They wanted me to cooperate with them."
"Then what happened?"
"He pretty much gave us the boot." It's Aldeen to respond. "Told us to get lost. But…he did agree to do something for us, though…" She smiles.
"Oh?" Johanna asks. "What was that?"
"To keep an eye on Glimmer," answers Skyton. "You see, she was acting weird for the last couple of days. At first we thought nothing of it. This chick was weird by nature. She kept going through the rooms, moving furniture around, opening and shutting doors. It might have had something to do with her disappearing diamonds, I guess. But we had the feeling it was more than that going on. Whatever it was, she seemed like a girl on a mission."
"And a Career on a mission is bad news for us."
"So I kept an eye on this chick." Thresh shrugs. "And I told Chaff about it."
"Yes," Chaff confirms, "and I went off to check the first floor for myself, to see if something was wrong…"
"And when was that?" Haymitch asks.
Chaff scratches his head. "Late at night, I guess."
"So you admit it!" Finnick yells. "Good radiance, Chaff! Don't tell me you killed that girl over some stupid unsuccessful alliance scheme!"
"Oh, please!" He turns to look at Finnick, furious. "I didn't lay a hand on her! And you should know that better than anyone!"
"What do you mean?" Katniss asks suspiciously.
"Only that I wasn't the last person to visit the first floor, or the common lobby!" He stares at Finnick accusingly.
"You mean…you saw her with Finnick," Blight says.
Finnick narrows his eyes at Chaff, then turns back to Haymitch. "I'll tell you what happened," he says.
About four hours ago…
Chaff's flashlight flickers on and off repeatedly. "Dangit," he mumbles, smacking the small metal, but it's no use. "Stupid batteries."
'There's really nothing there,' Chaff thinks to himself. What did Thresh expect to find here, exactly?
It seems like The Career pulled one hell of a party here last night, but… nothing really out of the ordinary for them…
Chaff's about to call off the little mission when he hears footsteps. "Crap!" he mumbles, tiptoeing towards one of the exits.
The light flicks on, and that's when Chaff notices a tall, blonde figure entering The Common Lobby. Glimmer, the female district 1 tribute. She comes to a halt in the middle of the room. "You want to tell me you know nothing of her plan?" she says, then turns around.
From behind the wall, the answering voice is one he recognizes well. "I'm telling you, Glimmer, you have nothing to fear from District 4. The alliance is strong as ever."
'Finnick?' Chaff is caught by surprise. What the…?
"There's a plot from some of the outline districts to stir up things in the arena. Trying to throw us off our game. Those pathetic wannabe winners are really losing it. I don't suppose you're part of this thing?"
"'F course not," Finnick says, approaching till she can basically breathe him in. "You know where our loyalties lie." His eyes sparkle.
"But you've been following me for more than a few days…" She smiles wickedly. "You like me, Finnick Odair? Is that the reason?"
His eyes are on her lips. He smiles back. "Well," he says, "you're not a girl to say no to, so…" He caresses the side of her cheek, leaning in to touch his lips to hers…
"Whaa…. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…." Chaff cuts through the story, pointing at himself, "That's not what I heard…" He protests, shaking his head at Finnick.
"There's a plot from some of the outline districts to stir up things in the arena. Trying to throw us off our game. Those pathetic wannabe winners are really losing it. I don't suppose you're part of this thing?"
"'F course not," Finnick says, approaching till she can basically breathe him in. "You know where our loyalties lie." His eyes sparkle with menace.
"Question is…where do yours?" he asks threateningly.
Glimmer stays unperplexed.
Finnick is right in her face. "Heard about your little plan to break the alliance on 4," he says, "and it wasn't Clove's idea. So let me tell you, if you for a minute think that we're going to be taken for fools…" A sparkling blade appears in front of her face."You're sorely mistaken."
"Oh, c'mon!" Finnick chuckles uncomfortably. "That's pure nonsense! Are you going to believe this bozo or me?" He tries to joke it off, but falls silent as the tributes all fold their hands on their chests, in deep suspicion.
He's like a deer caught in headlights.
"So, Finnick Odair with Glimmer, alone, and with a knife…" Skyton says slowly. "Wonder what's wrong with that picture."
It feels like time stands still.
Finnick sighs. "Crap," he finally says.
TBC.