DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Hunger Games or the film/novel Don't Say a Word. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit out of this and all of the charcters, unless otherwise noted, belong to their respective owners, the great Suzanne Collins and Andrew Klavan.

Chapter 14: Unfavorable Odds

Sunday is the day that is usually known as the day of rest. It's a day where one can run the errands they are unable to do during the busy workweek. It's a day when lunch or dinner with the family is at the top of everybody's list— a day when it is perfectly acceptable for one to lounge in bed all day, nursing a hangover or for no reason at all.

However, on this particular Sunday morning, Annie Cresta was doing anything but relaxing. She was currently pacing back and forth in her office, contemplating whether releasing Katniss was the best thing to do. Cinna was due to arrive any minute to take her away. She had tried to get in contact with Dr. Aurelius last night and early morning, but had failed miserably. Now, all there was for her to do was wait as the minutes ticked away on the clock above her desk. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when Finnick walked into her office until she literally bumped into him.

"Finnick!" she yelled as she rubbed her arm.

"Sorry Annie," he said, "you should really watch where you're going."

Annie rolled her eyes before she went to take her seat behind her desk.

"What do you want Finnick?" she asked.

"I just wanted to see how you were holding up," he said as he sat in the chair in front of her.

Annie let out another sigh, "Alright I guess. I-mean there's nothing I can do anymore. I've called Dr. Aurelius so many times that I've completely filled up his voice mail box."

"Don't worry Annie," he said, "I'm sure everything's going to turn out fine."

"I hope so."

"What are you going to do with Peeta? I-mean I don't know about you, but I would hate it if I suddenly went back to janitor duty after I was the only reason why Katniss started to speak."

"I gave him the day off for now. Why bother having him hang around here when Katniss is leaving, you know? I don't know, maybe I'll just sign his papers so he could leave. I-mean what else can he do here? Katniss was the only reason he had to come. But now that she's leaving, I see no use in keeping him around."

"I guess you're right."

There was a silence that filled the room. Finnick began to fill the silence by tapping his fingers on the armchair and offering Annie a smile. It wasn't just any smile though. It was the smile he specifically used when he wanted something. Annie had seen him use it plenty of times when he was trying to get into some unsuspecting girls pants.

"So," said Annie as she looked at her friend, "what else did you want?"

Finnick cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean, what else do I want?"

Annie rolled her eyes.

"Don't look at me like that Finn. I've known you too long to know that you just didn't come in here to ask about our former janitor."

Finnick put his hands up in a surrendering gesture, "Ok, you caught me. I actually came in here to ask you about Effie."

"What about her?"

"Oh you know," said Finnick with a shrug of his shoulders, "the usual things—where she's from, what she likes. That sort of thing."

Annie looked at her friend with confusion on her face.

"Why does that even matter?" asked Annie.

"I was just doing some research before I have a particular conversation with her" said Finnick with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Finnick, how many times have I told you that this is a hospital—my place of work? It's not a dating service! Even if it were, what about your girlfriend?"

"We're not technically together at the moment."

"At the moment? What does that even mean?" exclaimed Annie before she waved her hand dismissively, "you know what? I don't even want to know. But how can you even think of anything like that at a moment like this?"

Finnick smirked and leaned forward in his chair to respond before a ringing was heard. He took out his phone from his pocket and gave a small sigh.

"Hold that thought," he said before he stood up, "I'll be back."

Annie rolled her eyes as he left the room.

Minutes seemed to pass as Annie sat at her desk, drumming her fingers over her desktop. She looked at the clock on her computer monitor and noticed that it was 10:30.

'Hmm,' she thought, 'that's odd, Cinna should have been here by now.'

Once again, she thought back to the argument she had with him. How could he be so dense to believe that Katniss would do better somewhere else? What if it didn't work? What if instead of helping her, they were just harming her? What if she ends up in the hospital again? What if she actually succeeds in killing herself?

'This is an outrage!'

It's not her fault that Katniss couldn't open up! It's not her fault that someone was following the poor girl! As Annie sat there in her office, she began to compile a list of people she could blame.

She blamed Katniss' foster mom for not taking the time to actually get to know the girl. She blamed Dr. Aurelius for giving her a patient like Katniss. She blamed Finnick for not wanting to talk to Katniss like she had asked him. She blamed Effie for always giving her terrible news. She blamed Peeta for not getting her talk to doctors.

But most of all, she blamed herself for not getting her to open up and for not helping her throughout her stay at the hospital.

Yes, although it was much, much easier to blame others, Annie had realized that she had no one to blame but herself. Maybe, if she would have tried just a bit harder, then Katniss wouldn't have to leave and she wouldn't feel as guilty as she did now.

Annie was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost jumped out of her seat when Effie ran into the room.

"Effie," she said as she noticed the flustered expression on the receptionists face, "w-what's wrong?"

"W-Where's Finnick?" asked Effie.

"He's taking a call. Why? What's wrong?" asked Annie, sensing the anxiety in Effie's voice.

"I just received some information that I think you guys should both know."

"What's going on?" asked Annie.

"I-I just got off the phone with…"

"Sorry about that Annie, it was my girlfriend. She just wanted to know when I was going home," said Finnick as he walked back into the office.

He suddenly stopped in his tracks when he noticed that Effie was also in the room, struggling to catch her breath.

"Hey Effie," he said, "I was just asking about you."

"Can't it wait?" asked Annie, "She was just about to tell me something she says we both should hear."

"Oh," said Finnick as he sat in one of the chairs, "well by all means, go ahead."

"As I was saying," said Effie, "I just got off the phone with Octavia, Cinna's assistant."

"What did she say?" asked Annie.

"Sh-she said that Cinna was found dead in his hotel room this morning."

"Dead?" gasped Annie.

Effie nodded her head, "Yes, dead!"

"Oh my god!" said Annie as she brought her hand to cover her mouth.

This just couldn't be happening. How could the man she had just seen the day before be dead?

"Are you sure?" asked Annie, "You're sure it was Cinna? Cinna Parker?"

"How many Cinna's do you know Annie?" said Effie as she began to nervously wring her hands, "Octavia said that she woke up and was getting everything ready to come get Katniss. She noticed that they had 10 minutes till they were scheduled to be here and he still hadn't left his room. She tried knocking but she never got an answer so she had to call the front desk and when they broke in, they found him face down in the bathtub. The cops said that it looked like someone broke in last night and hit him in the back of his head while he was bending down to turn the water off for his bath.

"They could've given him a fatal blow to the head," said Annie, "and even if the hit didn't kill him, it was enough to knock him out."

"Exactly," said Effie, " they're saying he must have fell in the bath tub and drowned with all the water in the tub."

Annie looked at Finnick and noticed that he was staring off into an invisible point on the floor. There was no emotion evident on his face. It was almost as if he seemed unfazed by the news they just heard.

He must have felt her eyes on him because he suddenly looked up and met his eyes with hers.

Instead of seeing his calm and endearing green eyes, she was shocked when he found them cold and icy. It was as if they became darker with intensity and anger.

"This is bullshit," he finally said as he ripped his eyes away from her and directed his harsh glare towards Effie, "How can he be dead?"

Effie shrugged her shoulders as she tried to pry her eyes away from his cold stare,

"I-I don't know," she said.

He sighed as he looked back at Annie.

"Well…what the fuck are we going to do now?" he asked as he tried to contain the anger in his voice.

Annie sighed before she looked at the two adults in the room, "I-I…I honestly don't know."

"C'mon Gale!" yelled Peeta from the bottom of the stairway, "We have to get to the rink early if we want to beat the crowd!"

His dark haired friend slowly limped down the stairs, "hey, why don't you try going down the stairs with a cast on your leg?"

Peeta just rolled his eyes as Gale finally made it down the stairs and limped towards the living room with his crutches under each arm.

"You know," said Peeta as he walked after his friend, "you're lucky that I actually let you in my house. Most people would just laugh at your stupidity and not even acknowledge you or your broken leg."

"Well it's not my fault that I fell down the stairs!"

"Yea, just like it wasn't your fault that Madge's dad caught you guys fucking around and that's why you had to run out of her house before he could catch you guys again."

"It's not my fault she can't resist this," said Gale with a cocky smile as he began to flex his arms.

"Right," said Peeta with another roll of his eyes.

"Hey at least I'm getting some instead of working with psychotic people! I'm sorry that you're miserable while I'm getting my action."

Peeta stopped to think for a moment and inwardly smirked at how untrue Gale's statement was. He wasn't miserable. He hadn't been miserable since Katniss happened.

A small smile appeared on his lips as he suddenly remembered the soft kiss he shared with her the day before. He remembered her round, moist lips and the feel of her small hands against his rough ones. He could still feel the tingling sensation he felt when Katniss kissed him back. He couldn't believe that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

However, as much as Peeta wanted to be with her, he knew that it would never happen, not as long as she was leaving. He gave a loud sigh as he realized how much he's going to miss her. He was going to miss her petite body and her silver eyes. He was going to miss her long, wavy hair and the beautiful smile she would give him when he said something funny—mostly at his own expense. However, what he was going to miss the most about her was her soft angelic singing voice that filled his soul with something akin to love. He didn't know for sure, but he swore that when she sang, even the birds would stop to listen. It was undeniable. He was a goner.

Yes. Peeta Mellark, Panem High's Football captain and Fresno Hospital's resident janitor was going to miss Katniss Everdeen, the suicidal girl. He was going to miss her so much that last night, before he went to bed, he added something to the list of things he really wanted to do. There, on his list, right above going sky diving, he added finding Katniss Everdeen.

"Peeta?" he heard Gale say as he snapped back to reality.

Peeta turned to look at his friend.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you ok?"

"Umm…yea," he said as he scratched the back of his neck nervously, "I just kind of zoned out for a bit."

"Yea, you seemed to be doing that a lot lately. What are they feeding you at that hospital?"

Peeta rolled his eyes, "Where's Prim at?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her all morning."

"Gale, I told you to wake her up for me!"

"Yeah, well you also told me to hurry my ass up and change. I couldn't do both with a cast on my leg! So I figured that Prim was smart enough to wake herself up," he said as elevated his foot on a pillow and laid back on the couch.

"Gale, I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed Peeta as he ran up the stairs.

He walked toward Prim's room and knocked on the door twice.

"Prim, time to get up!" he yelled.

However, he received no response from the other side.

He knocked again, "Prim, if you want to go ice-skating you better get up now. You know there's always a big crowd on Sunday's!"

Still, he got nothing. Peeta sighed as he knocked harder this time.

"Primrose, if you don't get out here right now, I'm leaving with out you!"

He was once again met with silence. Frustrated, Peeta banged on the door before he opened it.

"Prim get u-up…" he stopped in mid sentence and looked around.

There was no one in the room. The sheets were thrown back giving the impression that she had just gotten out of bed. The clothes that Peeta had laid out for her last night were also gone along with her boots and her skates.

That was odd. He could have sworn he hadn't seen, nor heard her all morning. He rolled his eyes and stepped out into the hall.

"Prim! Where are you?" he yelled as he looked in the hall closet as well as his parent's room and the bathroom.

"Prim, we don't have time for this!" he yelled again as he opened his bedroom door only to find it exactly as he had left it. He walked over to his closet, but found nothing there.

He sighed as he walked out into the hall and down the stairs.

"Prim c'mon we have to go! It's not time to play!" he yelled as he walked into the kitchen and found it vacant. He walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where he found Gale in the same place he had left him before.

"Gale," he said, "have you seen her come down here?"

Gale shook his head, "no, I told you I haven't seen her all morning."

"That's weird, she wasn't upstairs."

"Maybe she's in the basement or something."

Peeta shook his head, "no she's afraid of going down there alone."

Gale shrugged his shoulders, "well, she's a big girl now. Maybe she grew out of it and found another hiding spot."

With a sigh, Peeta headed back to the small hallway that led to their backyard. Once he reached the door leading to the basement, he opened it and made sure to flick the light on first.

"Prim?" he said as he slowly walked down the steps, "Are you here?"

He reached the bottom on the steps and looked around. He found nothing but stacked boxes upon boxes next to the washer and dryer.

He groaned in frustration as he ran back up the stairs.

"She's not there," he told Gale as he walked back into the living room.

"That's weird," said Gale, "maybe you didn't look hard enough?"

Peeta groaned again as he ran up the stairs.

"Prim!" he yelled, "This isn't funny anymore!"

He looked in every room again only to find no one there. He walked down the steps once again but stopped when he was halfway down.

"Alright, I give up!" he yelled to no one in particular, "Come out now! You win! I can't find you!"

He waited to hear her familiar laugh signaling that whatever game they were playing was over. However it never came.

"Prim if you're not out here by the count of 10 we're not going! This isn't a game!" he yelled again.

"One!" he began as he took the steps down to the first floor again, "two! Three! Four!"

With every number he yelled out, he took a step down.

"Five!"

Step.

"Six!"

He swore he was going to punish her for this.

"Seven!"

He couldn't believe she thought giving her older brother a heart attack—after he's taking her to her favorite activity—was funny.

"Eight!"

Suddenly, he looked down towards the front door and noticed something on the floor that he hadn't noticed before.

"N-nine…" he trailed off as he moved closer to the door to examine what he found.

There, lying on the floor near the door was Lady, Prim's stuffed goat, the one that she wouldn't go anywhere without.

"How did you get down here?" he asked himself.

He tried to look for any other sign of Prim before he looked towards the door and noticed a small crack between the door and the frame, almost as if it was opened before. His eyes threatened to jump out of their sockets as he suddenly looked up and noticed that the chain connecting the sliding lock to the door was snapped in half. He heard himself gasp as he suddenly realized that someone had broken into his house. He quickly stood up, yanked the door open and ran outside.

"Oh my god! Prim!" he yelled as he looked up and down the street.

However there was not a soul in sight. There were no cars parked on the street, except his own. There was no sign of life as he ran down the street yelling her name as if he expected her to just jump out from behind a tree. He didn't know where he was going. He couldn't see anything. His vision was blurred with tears that were falling freely from his eyes. His breath was getting shaky now. He felt like his heart was going to jump out from his chest any minute. His head was pounding as he ran in the middle of the street and looked back forth yelling for his lost sister.

"Prim!"

He made it down two blocks before he stopped to catch his breath. No! This couldn't be happening. Not to him or to Prim. How could someone just walk in un-noticed and take her from her bed? How can they take her away right under his nose? Why did he not check on her during the night like his parents usually did? Why didn't he double-check the locks last night? Why? WHY?

"Prim!" he yelled again as he ran back towards his house.

He stopped in the middle of the yard and looked around again. He was about to yell again when he suddenly heard a ringing noise coming from an inside pocket in his jacket. He reached down and took out a sleek phone—sleek enough that he didn't even notice that he was carrying it around with him. Peeta swore he had never seen this phone before in his life. He looked at the caller ID but found that the number was restricted. He pushed on the answer button and spoke into the speaker.

"H-Hello?" he said with a shaky voice.

"What's your worse fear Peeta?" asked a sharp, chilly voice.

"Who is this?"

"We have Primrose."

Peeta took in a shaky breath, "what the fuck did you bastards do with her?"

"Now don't you worry your little heart Peeta. Prim is fine. She's quite comfortable actually, although she was crying about dropping Lady for a while. But other than that she's just peachy."

"I don't believe you!"

"Fine, don't."

"Let me talk to her."

"I don't think so."

"Please!" yelled Peeta as tears began to spill out of his eyes.

The voice sighed, "Fine, but after this you shut up and listen, got it?"

Peeta nodded his head even though he knew the speaker wasn't able to see him.

"Peeta?" he heard the familiar small, meek voice on the other line.

"Prim!" he exclaimed, "Where are you? Are you ok?"

"Peeta, I wanna go home! Why can't I go home?" she cried from the other end of the phone.

"You will! I promise I'll go and get you alright? I'm not gonna let any of those bastards hurt you."

"That's enough Mr. Mellark," he heard the voice say again.

"No, please! What are you going to do with her?"

"I've already let you talk Mr. Mellark. If you want your Primrose to be kept safe, then I suggest you shut up and listen. Got it?"

Peeta once again nodded his head as he went to sit on his front steps, preventing him from collapsing to the ground in agony.

"Good. Now, I'm aware that you've become a rather close acquaintance with a certain Katniss Everdeen. Or should I say Bonnie, Cecelia or Posy? I can't really keep up these days."

Bonnie? Posy? Why did all these names sound so familiar?

"I don't understand."

"Oh, I'm sorry. She hasn't told you yet, has she?" the voice let out a dark laugh that sent shivers up Peeta's spine.

"W-What are you talking about?" asked Peeta. He failed to see how Katniss could have anything to do with the disappearance of his sister.

"To put it simply, Katniss Everdeen is not who you think she is."

"But, what does she have to do with Prim?"

"Just about everything," continued the voice, "you see, Ms. Everdeen has something that I want. It is a six digit number that's locked away inside her troubled mind. All you have to do is get that number for me. When you do, Prim can go home."

"T-That's it?"

"Yes, it's that simple."

"B-But she's supposed to be leaving today."

"Don't worry about that. Ms. Everdeen's trip is being temporarily postponed. So, do we have a deal?"

Peeta let out a shaky breath. If he didn't do this then Prim would be gone forever, not to mention that his parents would never be able to look him in the eyes again. If he didn't do this, then he would never be able to live with himself. Prim was the only person in this world that mattered more than anything else. He had to do this, because if he didn't, then he would have nothing more to live for.

"Deal," he said into the mouthpiece.

"Perfect! Now here are the rules," said the dark voice, "rule number one, don't say a word. If you do, you can say good-bye to Prim. Rule number two; I make the demands, not you. That means no asking questions and no speaking unless you are told to. Lastly, rule number three, always answer the phone. Understood?"

Peeta let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. He knew he had to do this. In order to save Prim before it was too late.

"I asked you a question," said the voice.

"Yes."

"Good. Now, you have exactly 96 hours to get that number for me. I suggest you start now."

"W-What if I can't get it by then? Y-You're not gonna kill her are you?"

The voice laughed again, "Now what ever gave you that idea?"

Peeta let out a sigh of relief but was quickly cut off when he heard the voice laugh again.

"That would be such a waste. I have some friends that would love to have Prim around for their special needs."

"I swear if you touch her, I'll…"

"You'll what? Hit me in the head with a football?" he laughed again, "You're already wasting time by threatening me. Now go inside and make sure your friend doesn't break his other leg by falling off the couch."

Peeta gasped as he ran inside towards the living room. He felt his eyes widen even more when he saw Gale struggling to stay on the couch while reaching for the remote. He quickly went over and helped Gale stay on the couch before he stood up and looked around.

"That's right," said the voice, "I can see you and I can hear you. Wherever you go, you will be watched. So I suggest that you be smart and do exactly what I tell you to do. Remember you have 96 hours left."

Peeta nodded his head, now fully aware that he was being watched.

"Good, now go and hurry. We don't want young Primrose to miss her ice-skating trip, right?"

"No," said Peeta through gritted teeth.

"Now that's the attitude I like," said the voice with an icy laugh.

Peeta was about to hang up before he heard the voice call to him again.

"Oh, and Mr. Mellark?" he heard the voice say, "may the odds be ever in your favor."

My apologies for the severely long wait. I'm trying desperately to get back into the swings of things. Please let me know if anyone is still interested in reading this.

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