Your reactions were exactly as I expected. I take it I didn't disappoint you too much, then?
A sound ripped from my mouth. It wasn't exactly a scream or a gasp. More like…a very loud and frightened whimper.
Cinna's mouth was open slightly, and a thin stream of dark blood was trickling down his cheek. My brain was working slowly, as if my head was full of honey. Finally, I got one thought through. I just murdered my old friend in cold blood. He was one of the only people I could trust in the Capitol. I thought he was on my side. But he wasn't. He was a spy, only meant to get on my good side, to be trusted. But I just murdered him!
I couldn't help but feel horrible and guilty inside as I pulled the knife from his chest. I had to go over it many times in my head to convince myself it had to happen. Cinna is a Capitol spy. He lied to me. He betrayed me. He nearly killed me and my sister. He did kill my best friend. At that thought I stopped dead. Cinna was the tone who killed Gale. Well, I didn't know that for sure. It could have been one of his accomplices, and I had a pretty good (or bad) feeling about who they were.
Finnick had tied them down pretty good, so they were completely unable to hurt us in any way. I glanced over at Finnick, who looked white with shock. Apparently he recognized my old friend, too. I pinched myself hard to clear my head and knelt by one of the thrashing people. He (or she) tried desperately to keep the hood over his face, to hide from me, but it was no use.
I grabbed hold of the back of the thick hood and yanked down, hard. My stomach dropped down to my feet, as my presumption was confirmed. The head sticking out of the cloak was chubby, frightened, and most certainly recognized. I was looking into the terrified face of Octavia.
Struggling and whimpering, Octavia pleaded with me. "Katniss, Katniss I didn't mean to! Please don't kill me! You have no idea what he threatened if we didn't catch you! I wasn't ever going to hurt you. It was all him! Don't—"
I silenced her by brandishing my stained dagger an inch from her throat. "Shut up!" I snarled. "Finnick, gag her will you?"
Octavia sobbed and whimpered as Finnick ripped off the material of Octavia's hood and tied it tightly around her mouth.
I knelt by the next person, who I had no doubt about her identity. Sure enough, when I ripped the hood off, the bony face of Venia stared apprehensively back. Instead of crying and franticly pleading like Octavia, she just trembled and flinched when I motioned for Finnick to gag her as well.
When both of them were taken care of, Finnick and I stood over them, scowling.
"I really just find it hard to believe that they betrayed you." He was saying. "You were so close. And after all you have been through, the lies they told you." Finnick bent low and put his face close to Venia's. "But of course they couldn't care less."
I was just trembling in rage. I knew I didn't want to kill them like I did Cinna. That sudden bloodlust feeling had passed. Before I turned them into the officials, however, I planned on interrogating them. When I pulled up an empty box in front of Octavia and sat down on it, Finnick shifted.
"Would you like me to leave you to it, Katniss?" He started to take a step towards the door, but I stopped him.
"No. Please stay, Finnick. Just in case I pass out or something. Stay close. Act as a witness or whatever." I took a shaky breath and turned my infuriated face to Octavia, who was getting her gag removed by Finnick. "You are going to answer everything I ask you honestly and quickly, you got me? If you even think about lying again, I just might have Finnick tie you up and do what he wants with you. That might not be the best. So you understand me?"
With tears in her eyes, Octavia nodded.
"Last week my best friend Gale was murdered. Do you know who did it?"
"Of course, she does, Katniss. It was—" Finnick started, but I held up my hand for him to stop and turned back to Octavia.
She nodded slowly, shaking from head to toe.
"Was it you?"
She let out a sob and frantically shook her head.
"Was it Cinna?"
Octavia hesitated, and refused to meet my eyes.
"Tell me!"
She winced at my yell. "Okay! It-It was Venia and Cinna both."
I sucked in a sharp breath. "How?"
Octavia began to cry softly, but kept talking. "He was wandering around, and Cinna s-saw him and came back to us. We were in this room. He told us the best way to get to-to you would be through someone you loved. S-So we jumped him and took him into this room. O-Over there…" She pointed her head towards the back corner. If I wasn't mistaking, there seemed to be a stain on the floor, but I didn't look too hard. "It was Venia who kept him quiet while-while Cinna—" She sobbed even harder and squeezed her eyes shut. "He slit Gale's wrists!"
Now I was crying too. The room was filled with two different types of crying; Octavia's, which was frightened, and mine, which was angry and grief-filled. My breath rasped through in and out of my throat. "So you three are the spies."
She nodded. "And the Capitol. Tell me about the Capitol. You and Venia told me before that it got abandoned and Snow was killed. Now is the time for the truth." I gripped the knife hard in my sweaty hand.
Octavia let out a cry of pure terror. "I can't tell you! I can't, I can't! You have no idea what he would do to me!"
"Who?" Now both Finnick and I were leaned so close to her, with both terrified and eager looks on. "Was it Snow? Is President Snow still alive?"
With only a second of hesitation, Octavia took one look at the blade in my hand and nodded. "He's alive. And he sent us. If he finds out I told you… Oh the things he will do to us…" Octavia groaned in agony and slumped forward.
"He won't find out. You'll be with us the whole time. Now tell me what happened to the Capitol. All of it, and the truth."
Venia gave her accomplice a warning look, but Octavia continued anyways. "It was almost like I told you. The Capitol people went mad! They rioted around everywhere, burning what they could. Snow heard about it and-and summoned hovercrafts. He told everyone that if they wanted to live, they would come with him and start a new nation completely obedient to him. If there was the slightest inkling of disloyalty, they would undergo terrible torture." Her eyes shone painfully at the memory. "Only some people ca—"
"How many?" I snarled.
"Four dozen!" She cried, flinching away again as if I would hurt her if she didn't tell me. "Four dozen followed him into the hovercrafts and the rest of the Capitol people w-were bombed. No one was left alive. Once he made sure everyone was dead, Snow gathered up the bodies and took them away so there wasn't any evidence. Th-then the hovercrafts were flown for a few hours to a place he promised no one would know they were there. He told me, Flavius, Venia, and Cinna to go to Thirteen because we were the most trusted by you. Y-You liked us. Flavius was hesitant though. He told Snow that he didn't f-feel comfortable killing you because he liked you. He was loyal to you Katniss. Take comfort in that. But when dear Flavius told that to the president, Snow tortured him, but Flavius finally died from it. By then I was so scared to disobey him that I agreed and came with Cinna and Venia to here."
"And your mission?" I ran my tongue over my dry lips, feeling the anger rising in my chest again. "What exactly did he tell you to do?"
She trembled, and cast her memory back, closing her eyes. "He-he told us to kill Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, no matter what cost. A-And kill anyone that got in our way or would help us get any closer."
That part made my heart nearly stop dead. They wanted Peeta too? I silently thanked God that he hadn't been touched. "What were Cinna's thoughts? Was he okay with murdering me and Peeta?"
Octavia's face grew pale and almost...eager. "H-He wanted to! He said he had put up with your 'fire crap' long enough and wanted to kill you himself."
Fire crap? I frowned slightly at that, but kept going. "Okay, I understand that part. I understand most of it, actually." I glanced up at Finnick, who was looking angrier by the second. At any moment he would pop. "Do you have anything you would like to ask, Finnick?"
He did pop. Finnick launched himself at Octavia and pinned her down on the floor. She screamed and began thrashing again. "Why did you do that to Annie?" He shouted, eyes gleaming with fury.
"Do what? What did I do?" Octavia was screaming, too.
"Annie's first baby." Finnick was trembling. "You took her and used her for experiments. Don't deny it!" He spat when Octavia was about to speak. "I know you did."
I gaped open-mouthed at Finnick. He had never told me Annie had a first child. And I especially didn't know the kid had been taken and used for experiments.
"I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't know any such thing happened!" Octavia cried, helpless and scared, under the pressure of Finnick's hands pinning her. "Please…"
Finnick took several deep and shaky breaths and got off of her. His eyes looked watery and vulnerable. I didn't know whether to comfort him, or leave him alone. I settled with putting my hand on his arm.
"Right, well," I stood up with Finnick and gazed back down at the two women in disgust. Octavia seemed sorry enough, but it was Venia who I actually hated. She didn't seem sorry at all. The only thing I saw in her eyes was the worry she had for her own life. "We need to get the officials."
"I will." Finnick volunteered eager for a reason to have time alone. With a concerned look at me, he ducked through the door and closed it behind him.
It was an effort to stay standing on my weak legs. The interrogation took every ounce of energy I had left in me, leaving me with only exhaustion and horrible pain in my recently-operated-on shoulder. There was no doubt I would have to go back to the hospital and have further work done on it.
Time passed as slow and thickly as honey. I was actually surprised when the door got kicked open and a flood of Officials poured into the room. Four people grabbed both Venia and Octavia. Two others hoisted Cinna's dead body up onto their shoulders.
One Official came up to me. "Are you okay, Mrs. Mellark? We are dealing with highly dangerous criminals, here."
Dots of white obscured my vision and my legs finally gave way, sending me crashing into the Official. I felt myself swung up in his arms. "Come on, Katniss. Let's get you back home."
If only I knew where that was.
Hahaha! I was just about to end that chapter with Katniss blacking out again, but I didn't! Aren't you guys proud of me? But Microsoft kind of screwed up and in the middle of the chapter there appeared these black line things. So if they are actually there in real life, I'm sorry. I'll try to fix it…