Chapter 3
My arm was being shaken, bringing me out of my sleep. I could smell human waste.
"Up sweetheart, get dressed and ready to be welcomed by your adoring people," my eyes are half open and I watch Haymitch take a drink. He's still resting a hand on my arm when he looks back at me, "We're back in the Capitol." He says in a surly tone.
I want to slap Haymitch's hand off my shoulder and turn over and burry myself in the covers, but looking at Haymitch I could tell this was not his first drink, and this would just result in me dowsed in white liquor and him sprawled on top, so I waited till he half drunkenly made his way to the door and then I got up and grabbed the pile of clothes at the end of the bed. It took me a moment to register what I was holding, but when I did I dropped them as if they were a venomous snake and started to back away towards the corner when the door opened and the prep team came in. Venia in the lead sees the pile of clothes first and recognizes them and is stunned at first, but then turns on her heels and darts out of the room. Flavius and Octavia are more slow and just shrug at Venia's sudden need to leave and with smiles go to the pile and each pick up pieces of clothing, unfolding them. The natural color drains from Octavia as she holds up the tribute shirt and jacket and Octavia springs backwards yelping like he'd been burned by the belt and pants, flinging them away. I stand a good ten feet away, shaking in the corner I have backed myself into. Venia walks back in and sees Flavius still holding up the clothes and briskly walks towards him and rips them from his hands wadding them up.
"Stop flaunting them in front of her!" she snaps. Flavius comes to his senses and starts apologizing and I manage to get its fine out. I look to Venia for an explanation but she shakes her head, "Haymitch will tell you."
The clothes feel like acid to my skin going on and I give my prep team so much trouble because they're so afraid of my reaction to every bit of it. They don't clean up any of the blood, fix my nails, or even my eyebrows which I know Venia was itching to do. They simply dress me, undo my braid, redo it and send me out to Haymitch, whispering, "She almost looks like she's back in the Games." And with my Mockingjay pin back on my tribute jacket, I do. For a third time I feel I am going back into the arena.
When I get out to the hall and walk down to the open door with the smell of food rolling from it, I feel like the person I'm about to see will be Cinna, and our destination is not the grand Capitol, but the arena.
"Haymitch you better have a damn good reason for putting me back in these!" I say before I even really make it inside the room, but when I do I stop. Haymitch, standing, is accompanied by Plutarch.
"Easy sweetheart. Sit down, have some rolls and hot chocolate first." I could tell Haymitch felt uneasy at the sight of me in my tribute uniform again and was avoiding looking at me as much as possible. Plutarch, although a little uneasy was smiling and more able to look at me. I move to the table of food and sit down. I reach for a roll as Haymitch had suggested, not really caring for it. Before I can even take a bite Haymitch is speaking again.
"Ok Plutarch, tell her your bonehead idea." Haymitch says plopping into a seat and taking a drink.
"Now Haymitch, this is just as much yours as mine." Plutarch remarks taking an apple off the table, then suddenly as if a thought occurs to him he glances at me and smiles. "You wouldn't happen to be planning to shoot this out of my hand would you?" The idea is so ridiculous and funny, I have to laugh. Plutarch eases more into his chair.
"Don't, tempt her Plutarch," Haymitch says surly taking a drink.
I feel a little more eased with the comic relief when I turn to Haymitch, "Does Effie know you're still drinking?"
"Yes, and until this mess is over she understands I'll keep drinking." He turns to Plutarch. "Now tell her your plan before I shoot the apple. And trust me, I'm not a great aim, so the arrow might miss the apple and hit a better target." Plutarch frowns at Haymitch's threat and then good naturedly sets the apple down.
"Katniss. We are going to the Capitol," he says slowly. This isn't news. "We are going to drop Peeta off to be cared for." This is news. "Then we are taking you back to the 74th Hunger Games arena." My heart stops. Wait did I hear that right? "We've dressed you in your original tribute uniform for the cameras." Cameras?
"Haymitch?" I ask in an unbelieving voice.
"Don't look at me sweetheart, it's all Gameboy's doing. Didn't even know about it till Venia came to me."
"What is? Why am I going back?"
"We want you to find the nightlock and stand where Peeta and you stood at the beginning of the rebellion." I start shaking my head completely confused and lost.
"But don't I need Peeta for that?"
"Yes, this is why you'll be doing other things as well. Paying your respects to Rue, finding the cave, visiting the tracker jacker tree, until Peeta arrives."
I shake my head, "I can't do that. I can't go back to the arena. I could barely get into these clothes. Why do you even still need propos, the war's over!" I say rising from my chair.
"Exactly, we want you to show how the rebellion began and show the past is past. Then later, we'll have one more called the future is the future. I think you might like that one." Haymitch clears his throat and sits up straight.
I look at him and in a pleading disbelieving tone say, "Haymitch, please, you can't think this is a good idea, it's pointless, really!"
He takes away the bottle from his lips not about to take the drink he was. "It's not what I think sweetheart, it's what Panem thinks." He pauses. "But yes, I think it's pointless. The war's over Plutarch, no need to bring the memory of the Games back."
"Haymitch, we aren't trying to bring the Games back, we are trying to put them down!"
"Do they have to be put down by going back to the arena and making the victor relive her nightmares? Especially in the exact same clothes?"
Plutarch takes a cup and studies it and doesn't look away from it, "We want it to be authentic."
"You can't get authentic without the tributes and you are not doing anything with mutations Plutarch." Thank you Haymitch.
"No mutations Haymitch, just the victors and the arena." I start backing away from the table. "Katniss where are you-" Plutarch starts to ask getting up.
"I need to see Peeta." And I start to leave.
"But we're not finished!" he calls after me.
"Let her go." I hear Haymitch say.
Peeta's room is empty. Tubes and wires hang loose from the machines and the bloody table is just that, a bloody table. Panic sets in and I spin around to find my mother wiping her hands on a red stained towel.
"They're preparing him to be dropped off." She says. I move around her silently and go off to the hangar and find the two medics holding the unconscious Peeta between them on the stretcher. Effie and my prep team stand behind, but make way for me when they see me coming.
"Katniss, aren't you supposed to be in a meeting with Haymitch and Plutarch?" Effie asks. Same Effie. I nod and go to Peeta and stare at his pale face. His chest rises and falls slowly. I take his cold hand and ignore the eyes ore eye ears around me.
"Peeta, you're going to the Capitol, and you're going to get better," I state. Then I pause for a moment, not sure about the thing I'm about to say. I take a deep breath, "I won't be coming with you, I'm being taken back to the arena." I lean closer to him, so close I can feel the heat from a developing fever, "I'll be waiting for you Peeta Mellark, so don't think you can skip out and die and leave me there." I whisper, searching his face all the while for a sign. I sigh when I don't see one then I kiss his forehead, "I love you." I stand up straight.
"Katniss?" I hear Plutarch. I turn and see him standing at the doorway of the hangar. "Katniss are you coming back to the meeting?"
I give a short nod then look back at Peeta. "Don't forget, I'm waiting in the arena for you Breadboy, don't make me wait long." I start to let go of Peeta's hand when I feel the slightest twitch in it, a grabbing gesture but before I can fully comprehend it I've already let go. I stare at Peeta, eyes wide.
"Katniss?" Plutarch calls, shaking me out of my shock. I turn and glancing once more at Peeta, hoping his blue eyes would be open, but then I disappointedly turn back and walk to Plutarch.
"Let's get this over with." I mutter when I reach him.
"Of course," he says and leads me back to the meeting.
So according to Plutarch, I am to be followed around by a camera crew and have the arena cameras turned back on following me as well. Activating the cameras also will mean having to re-activate the entire arena, and all the untriggered traps they hadn't gotten around to deactivating permanently along with it. My job is to make the people realize the reality of the Games and to make them understand how important it is to forget them. Easy for them, they didn't live them. It is also my job to show how the rebellion began, and it's over, but for the most of that, I'll need Peeta.
I stand in the hangar telling everyone bye and I'll be back by my birthday, for Effie, because she is having a breakdown about what she'll do if she has to cancel everything and uninvite everyone, and then I watch them leave with Haymitch beside me still holding his cheek from the slap Effie gave him.
"She said she'd never kiss me while I was drunk," he said grinning. He lifts the bottle to his lips and drinks. "Guess I'll never get a kiss."
"I'm surprised she even touched you. You need a shower Haymitch." He scowls at me.
"Look who's talking, I'm not covered in dry blood sweetheart." He says and takes another drink.
"I'd rather be covered in dry blood then dry vomit," I snap.
Haymitch shrugs, "You get used to it."
We had to drop everyone off at the Capitol Hospital so we could go to the training center to pick up the camera crew who'd been living on the District 3 floor. When we arrived Haymitch and I were lowered onto the roof, leaving Plutarch in the hovercraft.
"Now just let me do all the talking sweetheart, you stand there and look like a victor." Haymitch opens the door and scowls. "We'll have to make a detour, you need a shower first."
"So do you. No one's going to take you seriously when you look like you've swam in a lake of filth." I say as I pass him. He follows me down the stairs.
"You just worry about yourself sweetheart. You know where it is." He says when we reach the hall. I nod and move toward my tribute room.
When I open the door there's somewhat of a shock. It hasn't changed since I had been thrown in here to be contained after shooting Coin, except for one thing, a red haired boy stands by the bathroom door, no older than Prim would be, and I knew something wasn't right.
"What's your name?" I ask testingly. The boy looks at me frightened but does not answer, cannot answer. He's an Avox. This should not be, he shouldn't be here.
I back towards the door, "Haymitch!" I yell starting to turn and leave. The boy frantically looks around then rushes towards me clamping his hand over my mouth just as I'm about to yell Haymitch's name again. The boy with fear in his eyes shakes his head vigorously and puts a finger to his lips to indicate to be quiet. I stare at him.
"Are you a new Avox?" I ask under his hand. He looks at me confused then removes his hand and I repeat the question. He nods and holds up the number two. "Two days as an Avox?" He shakes his head. "Weeks?" He nods. "Who made you and Avox? Why?" The boy shakes his head and grabs my arm and starts pulling me to the bathroom. When I refuse to move he points to the bathroom the clasps his hands together in a begging motion then starts tugging me towards it again. I follow this time and he leads me to the shower were the boy shakily presses the shower settings and motions me in and stands waiting. "Wait outside." I instruct and he bows and quickly backs out of the room and closes the door. Who turned him into an Avox? I wonder as I strip off my uniform and undo my hair. What did the boy do? What's his name? I start asking myself as I step in the shower.
When I finish and step back out the boy's there looking away with a red face holding a towel out in front of him to me.
I take it, "You don't have to serve me." I say as I wrap the towel around me. He looks at me and nods sadly and walks out and comes back in with my tribute uniform neatly folded in his hands. He presents them to me and I take them. He steps out and closes the door.
After drying myself, putting the clothes back on, and braiding my hair I feel somewhat refreshed, but the atmosphere of my surroundings and what I'm about to go do, smother that feeling.
The boy follows me when I leave the room and move down the hall towards Haymitch's rising voice, "Where did you get these Avoxs?"
"As I have said, the Avoxs have been mind for years. They decided after the war to stay, and I pay them for their labor I assure you." A deep Capitol voice says. I look back at the boy at this statement but he shakes his head.
"You've got a lot of nerve Mr. for trying to lie to me." Haymitch says dangerously low.
"I am not lying!"
"You really think I'm-"
"Yes I really think you will because-" I step around the corner into the room, in view and his sentence is dropped. Haymitch is staring down a man, arms crossed, with a stocky build. His eyes are a piercing sea green and his hair, including his little goatee and mustache was an unnaturally golden color. His eyes break from Haymitch to look to me and narrow, then in a flash open and he smiles, "So you are the great Katniss Everdeen! The girl who was on fire, the Mockingjay, and beautiful face of the rebellion," he crosses over to me and takes my hand and kisses it, then looks up at me with a chilling smile. "It is wonderful to finally meet you, the cameras do not do you justice." He drops my hand and steps back. He's in a clean navy blue suit, a white shirt, gold vest and a blood red tie. In his lapel is a white rose. I feel suddenly, extremely sick and start backing up.
Haymitch clears his throat, "Katniss," he says with a hint of warning. I freeze and look at the clean, well dressed Haymitch. "This is Mr. Hustler, he was a Gamemaker and now head of your film crew." I stare at Mr. Hustler, who with eyes that seem all too familiar now stare back.
His smile, familiar also, widens. "Please call me Mac." He says never looking away, and I see it. It's there, if you get rid of the facial hair and the color of the hair, it's there. The younger, stronger version of Snow. The snake eyes and twisted smile. I feel like I can't breathe, like a ton of coal has been dropped on my chest and the dust has closed up my throat making it impossible to get what little oxygen I could. "Samuel!" He snaps and the Avox boy moves out from behind me and stands almost trembling in front of him. "Go get the crew." Samuel nods and runs off towards the elevator.
"Exc-" My voice is a little high so I take a deep breath and clear my throat. "Excuse us would you please Mr. Hustler, I-"
"Mac." He interrupts good naturedly.
"Mac." I say with a forced smile. " I need to speak with my mentor a moment."
"Not at all, go right ahead." And he moves off to the other side of the room.
Haymitch moves closer with a look of irritation, "This better be good."
"You wanted me to spill the secret, here it is, Peeta told me to 'beware Snow's mutt.'" I glance at Mr. Hustler again thinking about my idea of another hijacked person. "I think that was what attacked him."
"But his was a hu-" I see him coming to the same realization, "That would mean someone was hijacked." I nod.
"Anything seem strange or familiar about Mr. Hustler?"
"Besides the fact he still has Avoxs," he shakes his head. "Not unless being too sophisticated and mannerly is strange."
I frown, "What about his eyes, his smile? Did you see the white rose?" Haymitch is trying to put it together in his head.
And then I see him slowly drawing the conclusion and he shakes his head disapprovingly, "Katniss, you aren't suggesting-"
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting, he's the mutt!"
Haymitch shakes his head again, "That's absurd, Katniss, Plutarch's known this man since he became a Gamemaker and he has given no reason to be labeled as a mutt. Sure it's odd he wears a white rose, but that's not a reason to name him as such."
"Haymitch, I'm telling you, there's just something off about him."
"Well, you'll be the one with the weapon now won't you." He says ending the discussion. Doesn't mean he can't try and strangle me, think to myself. I feel a small hint of anger at Haymitch for not believing me.
The elevator opens and two strong looking men come in carrying equipment, both obscured by it, "Just let me do all the talking sweetheart." I nod and follow Haymitch frowning, almost scowling, as he moves closer.
"Just set those down over there boys." Mr. Hustler says pointing to a corner. One peeks around the equipment and nods and walks to it with the other following. I watch them as they set them down gently then turn.
"Gale?" I ask incredulously.
"Hey Catnip."
"How? When?"
"Just about an hour ago. Mac called me for help."
"You-you know him?"
Gale nods, " He was in Two for a while, fled there from the Capitol and joined the rebellion." He moves to Mac and smiling slaps him on the back. "He was a great commander of the hovercrafts. He was in charge of them when we were in the Capitol." That would make him apart of the Silver Parachute Bombing.
"I don't want all the credit, I had help." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Gale was friends with a murderous mutt.
"Wonderful. We have a schedule to keep according to Plutarch, so if you and your crew could head up to the roof we could leave." Haymitch says. Wow, he almost sounded like Effie. Note to self: Get Haymitch a drink A.S.A.P.
Mr. Hustler nods and starts walking towards the door that leads up to the roof, he calls over his shoulder, "Samuel, Avelen, come." Samuel moves into step quickly behind Mr. Hustler and from out of the shadows a girl the same age or younger than Samuel comes and falls in step behind Samuel, her head bowed.
Haymitch clears his throat, "No Avoxs."
Hustler stops and turns. "These two have been with me for quite some time, they're like family. If they cannot go, then I cannot and must apologize." Haymitch raises his eyebrows then thinks a moment. "Sir this is my final offer. Otherwise you may find a new film crew." Haymitch mulls this over.
"Fine," he growls. "But they better get proper sleep, food and treatment. They will not be made to do anything without pay, and I better see that money exchange hands the moment they do something." Samuel and Avelen exchange weary looks behind Mr. Hustler's back. Mr. Hustler thinks a moment then smiles, showing his to white teeth.
"Of course, they get that anyways." But I have the sense to know he's lying through his shiny white perfect fanged teeth.
"Then by all means," Haymitch says gesturing to the door that lead to the roof. Mr. Hustler nods and begins walking again. When he realizes Samuel and Avelen are not following he snaps. They jump and hurry to him. The unnamed crew member nudges to Gale and nods to the equipment. Gale nods in understanding and they both go gather up the equipment and follow Mr. Hustler.
I start to follow to when I feel Haymitch's hand on my shoulder stopping me. I look behind me at him and his face is a mixture of a scowl and puzzlement, "He hasn't given me a reason to distrust him, but him still having Avoxs is disturbing, keep clear of him until I can sort out if he can be trusted or not."
"I don't trust him period." Haymitch looks at me.
"I'll take that into account. In the meantime, keep some type of weapon with you always and conceal it. We don't want him to know we have doubts."
"I don't have doubts Haymitch, I know he can't be trusted, and to ease your 'doubts' maybe you should talk to Plutarch to Gale since they're real chummy with him." Haymitch removes his hand from my shoulder.
"I will sweetheart, thanks."
Mad at Haymitch for not believing me and mat at Gale for having a friendship with the guy I stomp my way down the hall and up the stairs to the roof to get on the hovercraft.