Back in the Capitol... happy reading!
(POV CHANGE)
I did it. I did exactly want Snow wanted. I made it as believable as I possibly could, and so I'm safe… for a little while. As soon as they stopped filming, I looked to Snow for a sign of dissatisfaction. I couldn't tell, and he didn't say anything before the peacekeepers led me back to the cells.
I'm in a different room than the room I was in when I got here. This one looks more like where a mentally-ill patient would be held, except I see the outline of a door in the semi-darkness. There's nothing in this cell except me. The first thing that came to mind is "Is there anything here I could use to kill myself?" Unfortunately, no. There is nothing in here except the walls, and even the walls are lined with a sort of thin padding. Snow knows my motives. He wouldn't give me a chance.
They undressed me from the dress and corset, and dress me in something like a hospital gown. I spend my time in my cell sitting against the back wall. There's nothing to do, but wait for whatever evil things they plan for me. I just want to get this over with. I'm wishing for death. If I'm dead they won't be able to use me, or threaten me with my child's life, so that I do what they want. Even if I did find a way to kill myself, I'm not sure I'll go through with it because of the baby. I don't know. I'm surely not going to let Snow take my kid's life, but if I do it, is it any better? Either way someone is ending his of her life before it even has started yet. If I do it, will Peeta understand? I feel sort of guilty for thinking like this, but it's the best I can hope for. I look down and put my hand to stomach. Tears are starting pools under my eyes. I'm sorry.
Much later, peacekeepers come to get me from my cell. I hear a loud buzzing noise, and then the loud noise of heavy metal doors shutting. Footsteps are heard walking to my cell's door. The door slides open, and two peacekeepers walk to where I sit on the floor. They grab hold of me by the arms. Their grips are tight, so I struggle to loosen them. They grip tighter and walk me out the cell. While leaving the prison floor, I count how many cells there are till the exit. I should know where everything is, if do I try to escape somehow.
When we're in the hallway I look for windows and vents. My search is obstructed when I'm pushed into the elevator. The peacekeeper blocks my view of the buttons of floors. I'm not sure which one I'm on. When the doors open, we go down a gray hallway, and stop at a door. One peacekeeper opens it and the other pulls me in by my wrists. Inside of the room is a table with a few chairs. What catches my attention is the chair furthest away from the table with restraints. I guess I'm getting the seat of honor.
I'm seated in the chair, and the restraints are tighten around my wrists. The peacekeepers step away from me and one of them slides the door open. President Snow walks in. He sits in a chair near me, but no closer than 3 feet. Although the distance, I still want to gag on his rose.
"Well Katniss, you did alright. It wasn't as good as Peeta, but you got the message out," he says. "I'm hoping you can help us further, as in what we don't know about the rebel plans."
"Don't you have your little spies for that?" I say harshly.
"They're obviously not there anymore, and we've never gotten any spies inside of the confidential planning."
"Well, I don't know." I spit out.
He scowls. "I'm sure you do. You were indeed the Mockingjay, were you not? You expect me to believe you have no idea what they're planning to do?"
The truth is I don't. Coin made sure of that. I might have been the symbol, but Coin didn't want me having any part in plans, except the ones that concerned me. I probably wouldn't have been useful. "I don't know."
Snow gestures to a peacekeeper. The peacekeeper takes comes forward with glass cylinders with openings at the top. My arms are put through the cylinders, and the openings tighten at my elbows. I see small tubes connected to a small gas tank the peacekeeper is holding. He begins to turn the knob, which allows gas to be released. I sit there and wait in apprehension of what it could be. The cylinders begin to fog and I feel the burning. I realize it's the same poisonous gas from the Quarter Quell.
It stings into my skin, and I feel the blisters forming. I shut my eyes and hold in my cries of pain. I can't run away from this like before. I'm forced to endure it, and I don't know how long this will be.
"What do you know?" Snow asks gravelly.
"Nothing!" I say through gritted teeth.
"Are you sure about that?"
Am I sure? Of course I'm freaking sure! I guess I could come up with a lie to ease this, but the pain is so great, I can't even think. I can't even think of anything except this agony.
"You were going to on a mission to the Capitol. They removed you from that mission, but they sent a replacement. What was that mission? What were you going to do?"
"Kill you!" I shout. He doesn't believe me and takes no heed to my words. He continues to press me into giving away any rebel information.
"Katniss Everdeen, you are not helping us. We don't want to involve anyone more into this, do we? I understand that you have some acquaintances in battle. That team made up of those tributes and your cousin. If you don't tell us what we want to know, I'll make sure they're the primary target."
The combine pain of the gas, and the suggestion of Snow's plan to kill Gale and them, is unendurably depleting. I can barely make myself speak, but I force the words out.
"There's a surprise flank coming from the north," I say with prostration. Snow looks to the peacekeeper. The peacekeeper stops the source of gas. The fog starts to slowly dilute, but the burning is still there.
"Continue," Snow says.
"Their primary attack in coming from the front, but another flank is crossing the mountains further north. They're attacking the mansion from there," I say.
Snow doesn't say anything. I can't read his expression, and right now, I really don't care to. It's the only thing I could come up with, and I don't know if it's true or not. Is he convinced what I said was true? I don't bother to look at him for fear he might see some kind of hint that I'm lying. I look to my arms, which move in wild contortions inside the glass. It's the effect of the gas. I've lost control of them.
"We're done for today. Take Katniss Everdeen back to her cell. We'll continue tomorrow," he says. He gets up from his chair and leaves the room.
The peacekeepers remove the cylinders and put cuffs on my wrists. My arms still jerk around, but they grab hold of them tighter and force them in front of me. A woman in a lab coat comes in with a small tub of water. She places it on the table and leaves. The peacekeepers push me forward. It looks like salt water, which I remember relieved the effects of the gas. I also remember the excruciating pain that comes with it.
Before I can brace myself, the peacekeeper dips both of my arms in the water. I let out a shout from the sudden and overwhelming pain of it. It starts to lessen, but I see the cuts of blisters all over my arms. It's a lot worse than last time, because of the amount of exposure.
I'm taken back to my cell. They remove the cuffs and leave a dish behind. I study its contents and hope it won't poison me. I'm very hungry, so I decide to take my chances to go ahead and eat it. It's stale bread and a mush of soft vegetables. I stomach it down, because this might be the only food I get for a very long time. Who know how long I'll be here.
The isolation causes me to think depressingly. I come up with a mental list of my faults and mistakes. The worst is causing the pain and death of people who are involved with me. An example: everyone in 12. All those lives are gone, because of me. Another mistake was being overcome by my feelings, and letting Peeta in. I should've never told him I loved him, even though I really do. I love him so much, but that night before the interviews should've never happened. I wouldn't be pregnant. I wouldn't have stayed in District 13 and have been kidnapped. I wouldn't be in this cell. I would've gone on that mission to the Capitol, killed Snow, and got taken out myself. I wouldn't have had to worry about a second life being ended because what I chose to do.
My thoughts finally erode from my mind, and I fall asleep. The dreams are getting more vivid and terrifying. I always wake up suddenly at the end of it and look for relief, but there is no relief when I wake up. They're actually not as bad compared to reality.
A buzzing noise, shutting of heavy doors, and footsteps put me on alert. The door slides open and a single peacekeeper comes in. The large peacekeeper walks toward me. "Get up!" he says.
I stand up from the floor where I slept. Then suddenly I get this idea of making a run for it. Not very smart, but I don't think about consequences and decide to try. When the peacekeeper is close enough to me, I duck and run out behind him. I make it out the door, and run down a hallway, but I reach a gate which is clearly locked. I run into to the gate- I don't know- expecting it to break at contact. It doesn't, and I'm left with a painful shoulder. I hit the gate in frustration. The peacekeeper runs to where I am. He roughly grabs my arms and holds them behind me. He kicks the back on my knee and I fall to the ground. He puts the cuffs on, and then pulls me up roughly by my arm with the sore shoulder.
The guard slides an ID in a slot by the door. I notice the buzzing, indicating the doors unlocking. He opens the door and pulls me forward. Before we leave the dungeon, I see a sign saying all gates unlock in case of fire. Fire. There's no possible way I could start a fire here, so I give up on the idea.
I'm back in room where I was questioned. The peacekeeper straps me into the chair, but doesn't reach for the cylinders. Within a few minutes, Snow walks in with a woman in a lab coat. Snow takes a seat in front of me, while the peacekeepers and the woman stand next to the wall.
"I warned you, but you decided to make up lies," Snow says. Damn it! He figured out my lie.
"I'm very disappointed in you. I thought we had an agreement that you would help us. You clearly tried to fool us, so you will receive the appropriate consequence." He looks ominously into my eyes.
"I've told you. I don't know anything," I spit out at him.
"Still lying, are you? I've sent a message to my generals informing them that the rebel team 451, must be eliminated."
"There's nothing I can tell you! They're not even a real combatant team. They're not part of the attack."
"They're very much a part of all of this. I was planning to take them out anyway. Those victor tributes thought they could somehow surpass the Capitol, but we'll show them different. The districts need an example to be demonstrated to them."
I pull against the restraints repeatedly, but my strength does nothing. Snow actually laughs at my attempt. This just makes me angrier. I spit at his face, and it makes his stupid grin disappear. He furrows his brows and slaps me across the face.
"They're not the only ones facing consequences," he says, while getting up. "We have special arrangements for you as well." He mutters something to the woman in the lab coat I don't quite catch, and then leaves the room.
My face is throbbing, and I can feel the blood rushing to his hand print. The woman walks up to me and holds a syringe filled with a small amount of liquid. She injects into my arm and I tense up while I see the needle inserted. She takes it out of my arm and throws it away. I don't feel anything. I guess it's just not taking effect yet.
"I've already set up the speakers in her cell. The venom should take effect in just a moment," she says in a low tone to the peacekeeper.
"What did you inject me with?" I ask angrily.
"trackerjacker venom, sweetie," she answers toneless.
The peacekeeper takes me back to my cell. He removes the cuffs and locks the door. Great, just great. I've been injected with trackerjacker venom. As if I haven't had enough nightmares. I'm afraid to even begin to think what it could do to an undeveloped baby. I sit against the far wall and hold my knees up to my chest. It will take effect any minute now. All I can do is wait. I sit still, listening to my palpitating heart, but then the silence in my cell is broken by a piercing scream that makes my blood run cold. It's Prim's. The screams continue, and then there are cries. She calls my name to help her.
"Katniss help me! They took me from the camp. I don't know anything!..."
No, it's no real, I tell myself. It's the same trick with the jabber jays. It's all fake. It's not real. The screams and cries continue, and even though I tell myself they're not real, they still make me cringe. I cover my ears, but I still hear them. Then I start to think; what if they're not distorted recordings? What if Snow actually has her here? This causes a new sensation of dread. I try to forget I even thought it, but I can't. I can't ignore the possibility that she's at the mercy of Snow's ruthless plans. And it's not just Prim. I hear Gale, Finnick, Johanna, and then Peeta.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the venom kicks in. The screams are joined with actual images of what is causing their screams. Closing my eyes does nothing, because it's all in my head. My prison cell morphs into the Hunger Games arena. I watch all of them die gruesome, terrible deaths. It's all too much, and I can feel myself choking on my sobs.
I'm slowly regain my perception back. It's still slightly hazy and dream-like, so it still seems like I'm hallucinating. The screams are gone, but I occasionally get a disturbing image through my head. I feel the floor against me, and slowly sit up. I loosen the tension of my muscles and take deep breathes. They come out shallow. I put a hand to my cheek and feel the moist trails of tears. It's over I tell myself. The screams are gone.
How did he get those screams? I want to think they're just distorted recordings, but the feeling in my gut says otherwise. Did Snow capture them? Did he get Gale, FInnick and Johanna? And Peeta? How could he have gotten him from District 13? No they can't be here. It was all just a trick; horrifying, cruel, and horrendous. They almost succeeded in breaking me, if that's what they're planning to do.
But I won't break. Not just yet.
Depressing thoughts may come from depressing circumstances, but don't get down from this. There's still HOPE! Even if it's "breaking". Oh jeeze that was bad joke.
111 Favs calls for something special. 175th review gets to ask plot related question. I'll let you know, and you can decline if you don't want to spoil the story. I think it's like 172 reviews right now. Thank you for reading.
-cheezebuns