2 years later, the 3rd Quarter Quell,
Finnick:
Snow's words. Pretty much stating he was going to recycle the victors back into the arena. Kat looked at me with wide eyes, not ever wanting to go back into that retched place. Annie ran into the room, crying, and slightly hyperventilating. I held both of them close to me, never wanting to have them leave me, or me leave them. Kat wasn't crying, but still upset. Over the past two years, she's become stronger, both mentally and physically. She learned from Jasper's brother how to shoot a bow and arrow, and is adept at it now, and all of her skills seem to be well rounded. She's grown much taller and gained muscle weight, so she can't run as fast, but is still faster than I am.
"We had better get ready for this," I state.
"I'm ready, I'll be strong," says Kat.
Annie is still sitting, not completely in touch with reality. I comfort her, and Kat goes to choose clothes for the reaping for the three of us. She's become slightly girly, and hasn't trained for anything, except learning how to shoot, in case we may need to hunt in the wild if there's a rebellion. She still wears District 2's necklace around her neck.
I still couldn't believe Snow was giving us such short notice, the reaping being tomorrow. Kat came back holding a gorgeous dress that belonged to Annie. She tapped her shoulder, and showed it to her. Annie grinned. Then, I realized, it was less than 24 hours away, a mere 15 hours. I went to my room, to see my old reaping outfit on my bed. I lay it aside on my desk chair, and just lay in the darkness. Thinking about Snow, Annie, and the Games, mainly. How Snow could do this to the past victors, all of the absolute hell we went through , we had to watch our allies die, watch the other child from our district die. I start crying again, knowing I'm alone. And then I think of my father. Last year, he had gone out to sea on a great fishing expedition, and never came back. Mother thinks he died, Kat is more optimistic, not very much, though, and thinks maybe he found new land and the natives burned the ship.
I'd never really thought of lands outside of Panem, until she said that. The Capitol and the government don't give us information on lands besides ours, and they don't give us very much info on that, either. That's why they have the electric fences, to keep us away from the other districts. I sigh, and finally try to sleep. I dream of a perfect world, Kat finally finds the one she truly loves, Annie and I are married with children, the Games are outlawed, the best dream I've had ever since finding out I had to go into the arena. I wake up to a scream, and find out it was just Annie having a nightmare. I sleep with her for the rest of the night. In the very early morning, our cat, Opal, climbs into our bed and curls up at the end. I stroke her for a bit and go back to sleep. When I wake the next time, it's bright out, and Mother is cooking breakfast. Kat is already up and at the table, looking very well slept, even though she says she doesn't feel like it. Annie wakes soon after I do, looking perky and alert, and eats breakfast like somebody from District 12 would. Kat just moves her food around, taking small bites here and there. I swipe one of the shrimps off of her grits, and she smacks my hand playfully.
Soon after, we dress into our reaping outfits, and head out. When we reach our destination, there's quite a few men and women here. Mags would've been here, but she died the night before. It's rumored that she died of a heart attack when she learned she might have had to go back into the arena, but I didn't believe it, she was a strong woman. I think of District 12, having only 3 victors, and if it weren't for last year, there would've only been one. I think of the Everdeen girl, having to go back because of her being the only female, but I think that was Snow's plan the whole time, to get back at her for the berries. I had never realized how many victors our district had until now, I had never really counted or paid attention to them. There were probably about 30 of us. Annie and Kat stood together, hand in hand. Keema stood bright eyed and happy on top of the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the reaping will not begin for another thirty minutes! So, talk amongst yourselves, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"
Most of us groaned, especially me. I just wanted to get this all over with. I sat on a nearby chair, and put my head between my knees, thinking. Thinking how I thought last night in bed. What felt like an eternity later, I asked a man walking by how long it had been since she made the announcement, and he looked at me with a smile, and said three minutes. I groaned, again, thinking of the eternity thirty is going to be. He sat next to me, and we talked. His name was Leemus, and he was in the 45th games, and he won when he was 18, and was now in his late forties. He said he didn't mind if he got reaped, as he pulled something the Capitol didn't like, though he didn't say what, and it got his family killed. He had a wife and 2 daughters. He apologized for our family's loss, my father's disappearance, and he said he knew him long ago, and he was one of the best men he knew. After a long talk with him, Keema came back up to the stage and began her usual reaping speech. Leemus shook my hand, wished me luck, and walked off somewhere.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, ladies first!" She reached her hand into the bowl, and plucked out a name.
"Annie Cresta!"
Annie screamed and started to cry, and I helped her with the long walk up to the stage. She shook Keema's hand shakily, and introduced herself.
"Now, are there any volunteers?"
I expected silence, but I heard a small voice say, "Me."
Keema looked surprised. She looked around. "Who said that?"
I saw a slim young female walk into the aisle. No, not again. "I said, me. I volunteer as tribute to replace Annie Cresta."
"Well, Miss Odair! What a surprise! Come on up! Annie, you may return to the audience." Annie tried pulling Kat's hand, to get her off the stage, but she wouldn't move, she just brushed her hand away and walked further onto the stage.
"Alright then! Now, for the men!" she reached her hand into the boy's bowl, and I suddenly realized that she had strange long nails tapered to a sharp point, painted a sickly neon green.
She unfolded the paper she plucked out, and let out a sharp gasp. Suspense, I guessed, but after she read the name, I would've been surprised too. "Finnick Odair!"
Kat's expression turned from upset to completely blank within seconds, and she crumpled onto the stage. There were a few screams from the audience, and I ran up the stair to help her up. She was completely out, so I held her in my arms.
Leemus began running up to the stage, horror in his eyes, only to be shot by a Peacekeeper. The audience screamed again, and his last words were, "I.. volunteer."
Keema's usually bubbly and sweet expression faltered, and she began to shake. "Any.. other volunteers?" Nobody. The Peacekeepers ruined my last chance of having a complete family, only one, or neither of us were going to come out of the games, and I was pretty sure Snow was going to make sure that rule was enforced during the Quell, no matter our relationship to the other tributes. Kat finally came back around, only to see Leemus dead, the Peacekeepers carrying him away.
She stood up straight, and brushed off her outfit. We were escorted off the stage by Peacekeepers, and taken directly to the train station, which I thought was strange. Once again, we were paired with Darien and Emmelia. Darien didn't look at me the whole time, and kept muttering sorry to me whenever he brushed against me or accidentally caught my eye. There were other tributes on the train, from 1, 2, and 3. That would probably mean they were picking up the tributes in district order. I recognized the tributes, Cashmere and Gloss, brother and sister, much like Kat and I are, Enobaria and Brutus, and Beetee and Wiress. My sister was chatting with the other siblings, cracking up laughing with them. After picking up all the tributes, Districts 1-11, because 12 took their own train, we arrived in this great dining room with an array of foods. I skip eating, as I'm no longer hungry. I go early to get styled, doing the usual routine, which is much less they do with the girls, and handed me over to the main stylist. He put me in this strange golden net, and tied it strategically around my groin. Great, that's just what I need to make people take me seriously. Then I go to an area full of horses, and grab a handful of sugar cubes, and see the girl from District 12.
"Hello, Katniss," I say as if I've known her all my life.
"Hello, Finnick," she says casually, although she looks slightly uncomfortable.
"Want a sugar cube?" I ask her, offering my hand, which is piled high. "They're supposed to be for the horses, but who cares? They've got years to eat sugar, whereas you and I.. well, if we see something sweet, we better grab it quick."
She refuses politely, and says, "But I'd love to borrow your outfit sometime."
I noticed she was in her outfit as well. "What happened to the pretty little girl dresses, Katniss?"
"I outgrew them," she says, her face serious.
I lean against the wall and take the collar of her shirt between my fingers, and start with some other useless talk with her, just trying to bug her. I notices some other tributes around, all fed and in their outfits already. Kat walked in the background, and winked at me and Katniss, knowing I enjoy messing with their minds, the tributes, that is, and made a heart with her index fingers and thumbs, and kept walking on by. I talked to her about my prostitution, but lightly, seductively. I get closer to her, almost touching her lips, and ask her if she has any secrets worth my time. And what does Katniss Everdeen do? Blush. Soon after, our conversation is over, I toss another sugar cube into my mouth, and saunter off. The Mellark boy goes over to her, and asks her what I wanted, and she says something, and claims I make her skin crawl. I laugh quietly to myself, as that was my plan all along.
"What was that all about?" asks Kat, "You looked pretty comfy with her."
"Oh Kat, I'm just messing with her a bit," I grin.
"Please." She laughs.
"Yes, you know who I love. And it's not her."
"Whatever you say," she winks and gives me a playful shove, and walks away.
Then I see Peeta Mellark go over to my sister, and I tense up. Somebody walks behind me and simply asks, "Problem, Finnick?" it was Katniss again.
I loosen up, and turn to her. "Not at all, dear Katniss."
"Who is that pretty young girl you came here with, she looks a lot like you, or is that what all the people look like in your district?"
I find an opportunity to mess with her again. "That's my wife," I say, with a completely straight face.
Her face is priceless, a mix of horror and disgust. "You're joking! Really, Finnick, she looks familiar, but I can't quite place it. I know she's a past victor, or she wouldn't be here. Did you marry another victor without telling the world?"
"That's Katie Odair, my wife, Katniss," I grin, "and we're happily married." I used a nickname that only our dad called her when he was around.
She motions for Peeta and my sister to come over. She grins and asks, "What's it like to be married to Finnick, Katie?"
The expression on Kat's face was even more hilarious than Katniss'. She started choking a bit, and shoved me really hard. "Oh my God, Finnick! What did you tell her?" she started laughing, her face turning a bright shade of red.
"That you're my wife, dear Katie, and we're happily married!" I give her a big kiss on her forehead.
She laughs again, her shade of red mellowing down to a soft pink. She extends her arm to Katniss, and shakes her hand, and she's still laughing, a bit uncontrollably. She kept laughing between words. "Don't listen to him, ever. I'm Katherine Odair, his sister."
"Oh, I remember you now, you were in the Games the before I was. That year was particularly difficult to watch, with you grouping with the careers and then.." her voice trailed off. "The deaths."
Kat's left hand involuntarily flew up to the necklace, and started playing with it, her face still smiling. "Yeah, but you know, it's gotten easier, but not much. You and Peeta are incredibly lucky to have the Gamemakers allow two tributes out of the Games. Cherish the relationship you have with him, Girl on Fire.
She turns to Peeta and talks with him quite a bit, and I walked around aimlessly, thinking of strategies, and how I had to watch the others in the training arena, uncover their strengths and weaknesses. I saw my sister walk by, looking around, when Enobaria came around the corner and slammed her into a wall, I tried to go over there, but Brutus held me back. I could hear everything they were saying.
"Hey, 4, I'm going to absolutely demolish you in the arena this year, and you don't have your little lover boys to protect you this year. Oh, what were their names? Jasper, and Roman?"
The way she said his name made the anger well up inside of her, and she spat in Enobaria's right eye. She then tugged Kat's hair back, making her give out a little yelp. "Just because you and your pretty boy brother are both strong and attractive, doesn't mean you're going to win this. You're much too small anyways."
"Let her go, Enobaria!" says one of the Gamemakers as they go by. "You too, Brutus. You two will have plenty of time to go attacking them in the Arena."
We were let go, and Brutus had to let one last dig in, "Nice net, 4. It really accents your bare torso." But he also seemed a bit distracted too, but I couldn't quite tell where he was looking. Then I saw it, he was staring at my sister, at her chest. Sure, the net dress that she was put in covered everything, but they were still extremely noticeable. I leaned over to him and grinned, "Like what you see in her, Brutus?" he nodded his head slightly, a barely noticeable blush coming over his cheeks. "Really? Now just image my face whenever you see her, because if you mess with her, I swear you will be the first to die in that Arena, and that's not a threat, that's a promise." I had hid a cube in one of the folds of my net. "Sugar cube?"
He shook his head, and I walked off. "Wait," he says. "I want to talk to you."
"What?" I snap, "It can't be important."
"Is your sister's happiness important, or not?" His words send a chill down my spine.
"Well, of course, what is it?"
"It's about Roman," my heart felt like it stopped, "I heard he," he was cut off by a group of Gamemakers.
"Training time! Let's hurry, you two, you can talk later!" says one of them, and they push us towards the arena.
The training arena looks the same as it has when I first trained here. Enobaria was up for the throwing knives, and Kat had to pass the target real quick, and Enobaria threw the knife right at her head. Kat's eyes widened, and ducked.
Peeta ran up to her, and asked, "Are you okay? You're pretty swift, Odair." He helped her up onto her feet, and berated Enobaria. "What was that, you could've killed her!"
"Oops, I didn't see her, sorry." She rolled her eyes, and went right back to shooting.
I was after Kat, to show my skills off, and to try to get the best score. I felt incredibly nervous, although I wasn't sure why, as I had already done this before. So, of course, first of all, I showed them the dazzling Finnick smile, and got to work. I came out feeling refreshed, and I went back to my room, wondering what Brutus was going to tell me.
"Come on, Finn, the scores are almost up!" Kat patted the seat next to her.
I sat there, and turned on the television. Caesar Flickerman was on there, announcing some so called 'important' news about the Quell, and then got to scorings. Then he finally got to 4.
"District 4 female!" Kat stood up, and bent her knees a bit. "11!"
She gasped, and did a little victory dance. It was lower than two years ago, but this year, the judges were the legendary ones from as far back as the 40th Games. But she was still happy.
"District 4 male!" Caesar smiled his legendary smile, "12!"
"Oh my gosh, Finnick!" she squealed a bit, and grabbed my hand, and we did a little dance together. "That's amazing!"
"We can do it, I know we can."
Kat:
The news of our scores absolutely thrilled me. Finnick had a chance, he's strong and handsome, and me, I'm going to get destroyed by Enobaria, most likely. The games were just a few hours away, and I started getting a knot in my stomach, and I felt incredibly lightheaded.
"Finnick, I don't feel well." I clamped a hand on his shoulder to steady myself. My vision began to blur, and then darken, until all I felt was nothing.
I woke up to hear doctors muttering things about me and the games. I sat up, and removed the needle from my hand and the other things they stuck to me. I went to find somebody, and one of the doctors saw me, and smiled.
"Miss Odair, are you sure you want to be moving around?"
"Why, what happened?"
"You collapsed on the floor of your room! Gave your brother quite a scare, will you be ready for the games? They're just two hours away."
"Yeah, but can I eat something first? I'm really hungry."
"Well didn't you eat this morning, with the others?"
"Well, no, not really. I wasn't hungry, and I didn't eat breakfast, or dinner last night," they looked at me shocked. "I just wasn't hungry, I'm not trying to starve myself. The Games has been putting a lot of stress again."
"Alright, alright. Let's get you out of that gown, and send you to be dressed for the Games, then we'll get you something to eat."
So I went again to see Tenney, who dressed me in a blue jumpsuit that fit my body like a glove, and a strange belt with a purple liquid in the buckle. "Um, can we do something to cover my, erm, chest?" My chest was much bigger than girls my age, and I didn't want them to be in the way during the Games. He just laughed.
"You should cherish that gift, they've grown quite a bit since the last time I saw you!" he grabbed a jacket from a wardrobe that was in the room, and put me in it. It wasn't much better, but it was sure better than nothing. I pulled the necklace from the inside of my jumpsuit, and put it in my jacket, away from sight, but I knew it was there.
"You look stunning, Katherine. You're starting to become a gorgeous young lady! Now, it's about that time again. Time for 'entertainment' for Panem," the way he said entertainment made me grin. He clearly did not like the Games. "Now you go out there, and fight to the death with your allies and your older brother, and make the world proud, just as you did before." He led me to the cylindrical elevator, just as he did before, and hugged me. Soon after, I could see the arena. I smiled, there was water, and there were tridents in the back of the Cornucopia. This arena was made for my district. I could see Enobaria, grinning evilly at me. I figured out my strategy, and then I heard the timer, and I sprinted as fast as I possibly could, and swam across the river equally as fast. I looked to my right and saw Finnick kill the man from District 5. Then I saw a man with yellowish skin and sunken in eyes running to the Cornucopia. I got a trident from the back of it, and threw it at the man's head, and he was gone, and I fetched the trident. I also picked up a backpack, but Katniss shot an arrow at my direction, only because who it was meant for dodged it. I dropped the backpack, and ran to the right, only to find more water, and run into another tribute.
I fumble for my trident, and look up, only to find Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick standing above me. I grab my trident and stand up.
"In a hurry, Kitty Kat?" Finnick asks teasingly, and I smirk at him.
"Sorry," I mumble to Peeta, and he laughs a little, and so does Katniss, and tells me how she did the same thing the year before with a girl she called Foxface.
My body started giving up on me, but I wasn't quite sure why. I knew it wasn't from hunger, because I ate only a couple hours before the games. Something else. Something I've never felt before.
"Hey, guys, you go up ahead, I'll try to gather things that are lying around."
"Are you sure you'll be safe? We're up against victors, not just regular children," says Peeta
I wave my hand, and they go ahead. Finnick looks back, and I smile. Well, smile the best I can considering the way I feel.
I feel as if pain, agony, and despair has washed over me. My legs start to go wobbly, and I fall on my back. And then I see a person towering over me, but I can't move, or see, because my body won't move and my vision is becoming blurry. But it looks like a woman, and I fear it's Enobaria, and my fears are soon confirmed when they start to speak. "Hello, Odair, did you enjoy your beverage during meal time today? I added an extra surprise to it."
"You poisoned me?" I ask, my words slurring.
"I'm afraid so. Now, let's take a little walk! Get up, or I'll injure your pretty little face," she knew that I was unable to, and smiled. The blurriness was going away.
"You knew him, did you not like him?" I ask her.
"Damn, what was in that poison? What the hell are you talking about, 4?"
"You know who I'm talking about, very well," I pull the necklace out of my jacket, and a wave of familiarity washes over her face.
"Oh, him. I trained him, but I didn't know him. As for me liking him, he was brutal while training. Admirable, but not likable. He was a fireball. You seemed to take a fancy to him, and you know what they say, never like somebody too much in the arena. Eventually they'll turn on you and kill you, or they'll die," she sighs.
"Why haven't you killed me, 2? Didn't you say not to make allies? You're a vicious bitch, and I'm surprised I'm not already long gone and out of this arena. You know, being paralyzed and all, and being an easy target?"
"I didn't say not to make allies, I said never like somebody too much in the arena. There's a difference. As for your question, the careers chose to go Carrigan on you.
So three others came from the distance, and started to drag me. I felt like I was going to cry, but I felt too dry to do so. So I just shut my eyes tight and wished it all away. Somebody threw me onto a hard, cold surface, and I realized I was in a muddy and watery cave. Gloss pulled out a knife, and my eyes widened. He kneeled down, and grabbed my foot. The other tributes and I were all wondering what he was doing, and then I realized, and started to scream. And one of the absolute worst pains shot up my body. I shrieked so loud, that I had never heard anybody, or anything so high pitched. They left then, and I laid there, now being useless to the games. I closed my eyes, and thought of my family, created an alternate ending for my father, one in which he comes back alive. I drift off to sleep, a peaceful one, and have lovely dreams.
I was sleeping for days, on and off, hungry and thirsty. I would quite literally kill somebody for food or water, only if I could. I heard movement on the outside of the cave, but soon went away. This was probably their plan, to cut my Achilles tendon and leave me here to either starve to death or die of dehydration. I then heard music, music that would come out of a musical box. Where have I heard that before, I thought? Then I knew. It was a parachute, possibly containing something that could possibly help me survive. Most likely, as I wasn't very entertaining lying around in a cave. I dragged my body to the parachute, and then dragged myself back. I found a bottle, about the length of my thumb, and popped it open, and found pills, with a note on the inside.
Hey there Sweetheart, I talked with your mentor about getting you these, and although we haven't met, I thought you'd like to get back on your feet. Take these pills, and get out there and make a mess. ~Haymitch Abernathy.
I silently thanked the man named Haymitch, and popped a pill in my mouth, and swallowed it dry. Where my cut was, started to feel better already. They call it medicine, I call it Capitol magic.
I heard another noise on the outside, and heard two men discussing the force field that was on the boundaries of the arena, and about Katniss destroying it. They poked their heads in, and I played dead.
"That's weird, why is she here? Is she dead?" asked a voice, which I recognized at Peeta's.
"I don't know, let me check. I see she got a parachute, lucky girl," Finnick.
"Finnick?" I ask, noticing how raspy my voice is.
"Which tribute are you?" he asks, keeping his distance from me, just in case I was hiding something that may harm him.
"I'm your sister. Now get over here and help me up."
He swiftly walks over, and assesses me, and discovers my issue. He looks at the note and the bottle of pills. "Are these for healing?"
"Yes, but that's not important. Can I eat or drink, preferably both?" my throat feels like fire. "I haven't had anything since I entered the arena, Gloss cut me on the first day."
He chuckled, grabbing a bottle and some fish out of his bag. "Have you even killed anybody?"
"The District 6 male, at the Cornucopia. Hey, about what time is it?"
"Maybe around 10 or 11, day 3."
I eat and drink, and take another pill, and then I could finally get back up on my feet, and grabbed my trident, which laid about ten feet away.
"Where did you think I was?"
"I thought you might've died, honestly, and they forgot to show you. It isn't like you to avoid making allies."
"Who's left?"
Peeta answers. "You, Finnick, Enobaria, Katniss, Johanna, Beetee, and I, so that makes 7."
I nod, and start to feel tired again, so I go back to sleep. I'm woken by an explosion like sound, and Finnick and Peeta smile. I conclude it's the force field, and I stand, and am able to stay standing. Suddenly, I can hear hovercrafts zooming by, and we gather everything and run outside. We run to the edge of the arena, which takes us about 5 minutes. We run around the perimeter until we find Katniss, Beetee, Johanna and Enobaria. They all look confused, and are looking up. Hovercrafts are flying overhead, and everybody starting running, and I stupidly run in a direction nobody else seems to be running in. I act as if I'm at the Cornucopia, running to get the only weapon. I'm much slower, as my Achilles tendon isn't fully healed, but it can't be in too bad of shape if I'm able to run. A hovercraft lands in front of me, and I run to the right, straight into the force field. I get back up, and become very dizzy, but keep going on, not knowing what going into one of those hovercrafts might bring.
Soon, a hovercraft lands, and men in Peacekeeper uniforms run after me, and I speed up, which causes my whole right foot to hurt, but I keep going. Then another hovercraft lands, which only means one thing, they're trying to surround me. A hand grabs my shoulder, and I whip my head around to see a woman in a Peacekeeper uniform, which was odd, because I only knew of two women Peacekeepers. I broke free of her grasp, only to run into the other end of the force field, which was slowing me down a lot. I ran diagonally, and saw another hovercraft, and tried to run around it, only to run into a group of Peacekeepers.
I scream for Finnick, but hear nothing in return.
The group of men walk towards me, and I'm still flat on the ground. I try to scramble to get up, but fall right back down, and they carry me to the hovercraft, with me squirming around, trying to break free. When I get on the hovercraft, I see Beetee and Katniss, both attached to machines, and Plutarch Heavensbee . He leads me to some sort of operating table, and lies me down on it, and pulls out a needle full of liquid, and before I have time to object, inserts it into my right calf, and a blissful feeling shoots down my leg, and into my foot. I'm guessing it finished the job of healing the tendon. I lay there, and see Katniss get up, and she grabs a needle. She goes into another room, and I can hear a man's voice I don't recognize, Plutarch, and somebody else. Finnick. I try to get up, but I still feel dizzy from running into the sides of the force field that weren't blown up. I lose my footing and crash down, laughing a bit. I get back up, only to fall again, this time on my face, but I'm still laughing.
"Beetee? Is that you? Stop making a commotion," says Katniss.
I'm laughing, and it finally dies down, and I finally find myself again. I stumble into the next room, and cling onto the wall. "Hello Katniss. Did I miss anything?"
"Only address Katniss, eh, Sweetheart?" asks a man with longish hair and a beard, and his voice is the one I didn't recognize from earlier.
"Sorry, not quite feeling myself, after getting shocked twice by the damn force field. Hello Katniss, Finnick, Plutarch, and, um," I pause, so he can tell me his name.
"Haymitch."
"Ah. Haymitch. Thank you for the medicine," I turn to Finnick. "You look like absolute hell." I laugh darkly.
"I feel the same way I look, then," he looks ragged, and I guess that I don't look quite fancy myself.
I find a mirror nearby, and what I see actually makes me jump back a bit. My hair is frizzy, my eyes and cheeks a bit sunken in, clothes tattered, dirt and scuff marks everywhere, and I notice my ribs protruding a bit. Plutarch invites me to eat, and I thank him. He and the others talk about rebellions and how it was vital for Katniss to blow out the force field. And they say we're going to 13, and a fog of confusion sweeps over Katniss, Finnick, and I.
"What?" I ask. "There is not 13, and there hasn't been for years. It's a wasteland."
"Bonnie and Twill, a woman and teen from District 8, believe that there is, it's just underground. Who knows what we'll find?"
"Wastelands, most likely. Sorry for not having much hope in this, but really. Why hasn't somebody discovered it already out of curiosity of some sort, and told people? How did the Eight's believe to be civilization there?"
Katniss looked down at her plate. "A Mockingjay."
I smile. "Excuse me?"
"You know how they always show the people live at 13?" she asks, and I nod. "Well, if you look closely, a Mockingjay in the corner will fly away, every single time."
"And this is sufficient information to drag ourselves all the way there? A bird? What if it's true, that there are still toxic fumes, and after all this, we end up dying?"
"I don't know. Just trust us."
I roll my eyes, and I realized something. "Where are the others? Peeta, Enobaria, and Johanna?"
"We think the Capitol took them." My eyes widen. "Oh, but we don't think they'll harm them."
"Not harm a baker's son? What makes you think that, he's just another pawn."
Katniss' eyes flicker with a sort of fire when I say that. "A pawn in their games," she ignores my question.
"Something bothering you?"
She snaps back into reality. "No. It's just something the District 2 boy during my year in the games said that was similar."
District 2 boy. It feels like a knot ties in my stomach. "Cato?" I ask, and she nods.
"I once knew him," one of her brows rises. "His family liked seafood, we were their supplier. He and his family came to Four a lot to get it, and while my parents and Finnick were stocking them up, he and I talked a lot about the Games and sometimes simply the things we liked. When he wasn't acting cocky and arrogant, he was actually quite pleasant to speak to. I couldn't watch your Games anymore when Cato had Peeta in a headlock, I just knew it wasn't going to end well, either for him, Peeta, or both of them. I hid my eyes until I heard a cannon, and I looked up and saw Peeta and you together on the Cornucopia, and I knew he was gone forever. We had one of those strange bonds, something more than friendship, and less than siblings, but nothing romantic, either."
Finnick looks up. "You always have strange bonds with District 2 boys," I gave him a look so sharp he cringed a bit.
I ate my meal in silence, because I said what I had to say. Then Katniss spoke again. "You remind me of my sister. The things around you have caused you to age too fast. The Games, they do horrible things to people. Make fifteen year olds act like they're in their thirties. They steal your childhood," I nodded, knowing I felt the same way.
We arrived in 13, and were led underground, and discovered Bonnie, Twill, and Katniss were right. There is civilization. I stared in awe at the place, something so hidden, but yet so out in the open. Finnick holds my hand, and I squeeze his and smile. We finally made it, made it to a place where hopefully, just maybe, we can be safe. We're taken to a room, where a man is making a speech about being loyal and respectful. The man looks familiar, but I can't quite place it. I poke at my ribs, upset at how painfully thin I am. I crave more food, and maybe a glass of water, or two. I stare at the man, the facial structure, the hazel eyes, the skin tone, the hair color. It was driving me insane, trying to think who he was.
He finishes off stating his name, Reynold Carrigan. Carrigan. Oh my god.
He steps off the stage, and I follow him into another room. "Excuse me, young lady, you're supposed to be with the rest of the group."
"You're a Carrigan."
"Yes, are you looking for my son, young lady? He helps with the new recruits. He would be in the training room."
"What is your son's name?" I ask, my heart drumming in my chest, waiting for him to say the word, the key to my happiness.
"Roman."
I start to cry. He's alive.
Roman's alive.