17.
"Have you figured out where we are?" Effie asked.
He glanced at her over the map spread in his lap and half in hers. She was looking at the road ahead, closely following Annie's truck, both hands on the wheel in the perfect ten to ten position. Her drumming fingers were betraying her frustration though. He watched the metallic red painted nails dance up and down for a few seconds, wondering how she always managed to sneak that kind of stupid things out of raids and scavenger hunts. Coin might have forbidden colorful clothes or anything that could be interpreted as a personality statement but Effie didn't abide by those rules. She was wearing a fisherman's jumper, complete with a sailor cap on her head. Fashion statement, she had said when he had ventured a question, and it also hid her dirty hair from sight. She would kill for the opportunity to shower, he knew. He would too, to be honest, and he wasn't picky about that kind of things.
"Between a dead crop field and even deader cows." he sighed, letting go of the map. It reminded him of their first meeting when he had almost swerved his truck into a rotting cow corpse to avoid running over her… Good times, he thought.
"Charming." she scowled. "Deader isn't a word."
"Sure it is." he argued.
"Dead things don't stay dead, so I think it's a word now, Effie." Katniss offered from the back seat where she and Prim were engrossed in a cards game of some sort.
"See?" He waved at the girls on the back seat with a shaky hand. "It's a word."
She rolled her eyes, obviously unconvinced. "It doesn't tell me where we are."
"Somewhere in bloody Nebraska, that's where." he sighed. He wasn't particularly enjoying their stay. It was cold, damp and he was sure it would start snowing before too long.
"Thank you, I believe I knew as much." Her drumming on the wheel became even more restless. "The huge sign 'Welcome to Nebraska' was a straight give-away, I must confess."
Katniss and Prim both looked up with raised eyebrows, surprised by the sarcasm. She was usually nothing but politeness and smiles in front of the others. Haymitch smirked, well-used to her sassy comments.
"Well, someone is cranky today." he snorted.
"Someone is tired of running around in circles." she snapped. "Their itinerary makes no sense at all. If they would just tell me where they want to go, I could plan a better route and a schedule. We could be in Thirteen in no time."
"I know." he offered. She was good with planning and sticking to schedules and he was good with strategy. If they had let the two of them do as they thought fit, the whole group would have reached the bunkers by now. Coin, however, refused to give out the exact location. Every morning Plutarch gave them new directions and every morning they drove seemingly at random. Haymitch understood that they were trying to avoid the most populated regions but that made for a twisting path. They were constantly going back on their steps it seemed. The food was starting to become scarce, even with Katniss and Gale's regular hunting trips, they were all starting to get very frustrated and Effie and Haymitch more than others. Effie held a grudge the size of Texas about the way Haymitch's withdrawal had been handled and Haymitch was concerned with the dismissive way the President was treating them. "Cheer up, sweetheart, at least we're still alive."
There was a perfectly synchronized grunting from the back seat.
"Did you have to say that?" Prim whined.
"You're going to jinx us!" Katniss complained.
"Please." Effie huffed. "We are on the run in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and we're governed by incompetent morons. It can't get much worse than this."
Haymitch almost face-palmed. Prim certainly did.
"Now we're jinxed, alright." he grunted with irritation. "What did you say that for?"
She frowned and glanced at him. "I beg your pardon?"
"It can't get worse." Katniss replied with a sigh. "You can't say it can't get worse. Now, it's going to get worse."
"It's like a scientific process or something." Prim nodded wisely. "You should have watched more movies."
"Don't be ridiculous." Effie laughed. "We aren't in a movie. Nothing will happen because I said our life can only improve."
"It's the apocalypse, sweetheart." he reminded her for the thousandth time. "I think we are kind of in a movie situation."
"Ridiculous." she insisted. "How can you believe in such things?"
"With zombies in the backyard?" Haymitch replied. "Easily enough."
She looked at Prim in the rear-view mirror. "Nothing is going to happen, dear, I swear. Neither Haymitch nor Katniss believe it will either, they are just joking."
"Are we?" Katniss winced. Effie gave her a pointed glare in the mirror and Katniss rolled her eyes. "We are. We… Watch out!"
Effie was still looking in the mirror when Finnick's truck swerved abruptly to the left. She braked instinctively but that wasn't enough to avoid the lonely figure walking in the middle of the road, it rolled on their windshield which – miraculously – didn't smash.
"Oh, crap." Katniss hissed.
Crap was an accurate description, Haymitch figured, his blood running cold at the sight of the group of zombies shuffling along the road. What did you call a group that large? A herd? He didn't have time to ponder the thought, he grabbed the wheel and pulled it to the right before Effie could bring the car to a stop so they wouldn't get hit by the truck following them. They toppled a few more zombies over and found themselves in the middle of the weathered field on their right. Gale didn't stop in time and drove straight into the group of zombies, that was the last thing he saw of their friends.
Effie had trouble controlling the car. She must have sped up in panic, the truck was going too fast and it slid dangerously over the muddy earth.
"Slow down. Slow down." he instructed.
How she managed to stop the car without any of them breaking their neck, he didn't know. They weren't saved, though. There were zombies in the field too albeit less. He grabbed his gun and bolted out before they could get too close, barely noticing Katniss and Effie doing the same.
Katniss' warning cry came too late.
He had taken two steps out of the truck when something jumped on his back from the roof. His gun flew out of his hand and he readied himself for a bite that never came. A shot rang out and the mutt on his back became a dead weight that Katniss kicked away with her boot.
"Good shot, Effie." Katniss sounded relieved.
Haymitch took the hand the girl offered, immediately finding Effie's eyes. "I never told you I'm damn glad you tried to become an actress, did I?" Because if she hadn't taken those shooting classes for that movie she never played in, life would have been a tad harder.
"Do try to remember you aren't allowed to die on me." she replied but there was an amused twinkle in her eyes. "Sweetheart."
"I told you you would walk if you ever called me that again." he growled but then there was no time to joke around. Katniss was already shooting arrow after arrow, Prim had climbed out of the truck and was clutching her knife despite her sister's instructions to get back inside… He and Effie started shooting but…
With the tremors in his hands, he was missing more than he hit and they were getting low on ammos.
He exchanged the gun for the knife and ignored Effie's protests. He lost himself in the fight. It was easy, all that he used to know really : kill first and think later.
And then it was over.
There were only dead zombies around him. Katniss was already picking up her arrows with Prim's help and Effie was looking at the road in utter horror. Gunshots and screams were still ringing out over there.
The rebels' SUV was parked a few feet away from the main fighting zone but that hadn't saved them. He could see the corpse of one of Coin's lapdog on the hood. The President and Plutarch were standing on the roof and shooting on sight while the other soldier was trying to keep zombies at bay. The rest of the group he couldn't quite see. The sun caught the gleam of Johanna's axe here and there, she was swinging that thing like crazy and had considerably helped cleaning up the herd. He spied Annie and Finnick on the roof of their own truck.
"Back in the car!" Haymitch ordered. "Now."
Nobody even thought about discussing his command, they scrambled up into the truck. Haymitch took the wheel, Katniss exchanged the bow for a gun which was easier to manage at close range and they were gone. He drove them around and right to the thick pack of zombies. Johanna and Finnick were doing a good job at protecting Annie but the boys were still missing and their car was still covered with zombies and mutts.
"Make each shot count." he told Effie and Katniss. He didn't make the mistake of taking the car too close to the group of undead people. By the time the zombies realized there was another possible source of meat, the mutts were already running toward them. Haymitch made sure he wasn't going too fast for them or they would abandon the chase. The respite was enough for Peeta and Gale to get out of their car and finish the remaining zombies.
"I'm going to brake." he warned the girls, keeping his eyes on the five mutts in the rear-view mirror. "And then we are going to get rid of them really fast. Prim, you stay in the car, on the floor where they can't see you. Seatbelts on, sweethearts."
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Effie asked.
"No." He did it anyway.
The mutts were smarter than zombies but not smart enough to predict that kind of maneuver, they ran past the truck when he braked abruptly. It gave Haymitch, Effie and Katniss the time they needed to get out and shot them before they turned around. Effie took two down, Katniss two others and he managed to hit one, shaky hands or not.
"It wasn't such a bad idea, was it?" he smirked.
Effie's mouth pursed in a thin line and she looked at him with obvious disapproval. "Is it really an appropriate moment to gloat?"
It was. They could handle regular zombies well enough and he could only see around six of them left. Johanna, Finnick and Gale were dispatching those quickly. He opened his mouth to tell her just that when a yell gave him goosebumps. It was followed by Katniss' own shout, he barely had time to turn around before he saw the girl jumping on a mutt – one that had been clever enough not to fall for his ploy. They never killed mutts with knives, it wasn't clever to get close enough, but this mutt went down with Katniss' knife drilled deep into his brain. And that was when he glimpsed Peeta.
"No!" Effie breathed out and then she started running and Haymitch had no choice but to follow.
By the time they reached the teenager, the rest of the zombies were dead. It didn't change anything. Katniss had already rolled up Peeta's jean and there was no denying the bleeding wound on his calf. The two teenagers were looking at each other completely horrified.
"Fuck." Johanna spat, before kicking the closest corpse. "Fuck!"
"No." Effie repeated firmly and she pushed Johanna aside to kneel next to the boy but it was Prim who had the smartest reaction. She sneaked past Finnick and Johanna, completely disregarding the blood, took her belt off and tied a tourniquet. Haymitch didn't know where she had learned to do that but Katniss didn't look surprised, perhaps she was too stunned.
Effie, meanwhile, was clutching the boy's hand in his own and rocking a bit. "You won't turn. It's nothing. You won't turn."
"Welcome to the land of denial." Johanna snapped. "Of course, he will turn. One bite, you turn."
"Shut up." Katniss barked at her. "Shut the hell up!" She grabbed Peeta's other hand. "Effie's right. You won't turn. It's going to be alright. It is."
"The infection spreads through the blood." Annie said softly, a hand on her stomach.
"He needs to be put down." Coin's voice rang out from behind them. "I'm sorry but it's the human thing to do."
"Just try." Katniss growled, her free hand on her gun. "Just try."
"I concur." Effie glared at the other woman, also clutching her gun. "Try."
"Maybe it would be best." Gale's voice was hesitant. "He's going to suffer and…"
"Shut up!" Katniss warned him and the boy did.
"Stop it!" Prim shouted suddenly, placing a hand on Peeta's forehead. The boy was white as a sheet and breathing hard through the pain and the fear. "You're upsetting him. Stop it."
"Through the blood?" Haymitch asked Annie in the silence resulting from the girl's outburst. "Then it hasn't spread yet? Maybe it's still in his leg?"
Annie frowned and then comprehension dawned on her face. "Yes. Yes, it could work but we need to do it quickly."
"Do what?" Finnick placed a concerned hand on Annie's shoulder, she was pale.
Less pale than Peeta when Haymitch delivered the next part, though. "Cut the leg."
"Cut the…" Johanna trailed off thoughtfully. "Are you sure than will work?"
"Only one way to find out." Haymitch replied. "Your choice, boy."
Peeta's eyes were wide and it wasn't hard to see the sheer terror on his face, he was clutching Katniss' and Effie's hands like a lifeline. And then he nodded.
"We… We can't do that." Effie objected. "None of us know how to amputate. This is not a sterile environment. We don't even have any alcohol to…"
"We have alcohol in the car." Plutarch offered despite Coin's glare.
"You what?" Effie roared. Haymitch was sure that if she hadn't been so worried about the boy, she would have bolted to her feet and punched Heavensbee as unladylike as it was. "I've been looking for alcohol for days and you…"
"Not now, sweetheart." Haymitch cut in. "It can wait."
"If we're doing this, we need to do it now." Annie added. "Haymitch, do you know what to do?"
When precisely had they decided he would be the one to do it? Annie was the one with a degree even if it was in marine biology… Unfortunately, his years working with the CIA taught him more than he would have liked. "Yeah. Someone better knock him off. Mason, I need your axe."
"I will do it." Johanna offered even though she didn't look thrilled by the prospect. "I'm better with an axe than you are."
"I can help." Finnick said. "I've seen my share of amputations on boats."
Everyone moved at once. Plutarch went in search of alcohol, Annie took Prim back to the car even though the girl offered to help, Gale and Coin took watch duty and Finnick readied himself to knock the boy out. Katniss and Effie refused to leave him.
"Wait, wait!" Peeta called, before Johanna could strike. He sounded desperate, he looked desperate too. "Do I get a kiss?"
Katniss flushed a bit. "When you wake up."
"Promise?" the boy insisted.
"Promise." the girl replied.
Peeta forced a smile on his lips and shrugged. "I can work with that."
Then Finnick knocked him out and Haymitch detached himself from the situation. Or he tried to, at least. The next fifteen minutes went by in a blur : swinging the axe down, cauterizing, making sure it wouldn't get infected, wrapping the lump. He sent Katniss and Effie away early enough : Katniss looked about to retch and Effie was so white he was afraid she would faint. His hands were shaking so badly before the end he had to let Finnick carry the boy into his truck. They couldn't stay there any longer, the blood would attract more zombies, they couldn't drive at random either.
"He will need antibiotics." Annie explained the rest of the group. "Anything to stop an infection and to reduce a fever, we can't take any risk. We can't keep on driving either."
Annie wasn't doing much better than Haymitch was. All the blood had made her go white and he was sure she was fighting off the same kind of panic attack he was. He had caught her pressing her hands to her ears more than once in the corner of his eyes. She was doing her best to remain in control though. They didn't have time for panic attacks.
"There is a hospital not too far away." Effie said, looking up from the map she and Plutarch were studying. "We should find a house. Peeta won't be able to travel for a few days."
"We are low on gas anyway." Plutarch added, before Coin could pitch a fit. "We should organize a raid."
"Let's find shelter first." Finnick decided. "Then I will go check out the hospital."
"I will go with you." Katniss offered.
"Me too." Gale volunteered.
"It's settled then." Finnick agreed. "Are all the cars still working?"
It only took a few minutes to check that they did indeed. Katniss and Effie both followed Haymitch to his truck where Peeta was lying on the back seat, still out cold.
"I'm taking Katniss." he told Effie. "I want you with Johanna."
Johanna overheard him, rolled her eyes but nodded discreetly behind Effie's back.
"But we are a team…" Effie started arguing.
"I don't want you in that car if he turns, Effie." he growled. "Go with Johanna and stay safe."
She opened her mouth to object but Katniss opened the truck window. "Could you take Prim with you and make sure she's alright?"
Effie's blue eyes traveled from the truck to Haymitch and then to Prim who was clinging to Gale's arm obviously upset by the whole ordeal although she, unlike her sister, didn't seem troubled by the sight of blood. In the end, Effie conceded defeat and nodded but she grabbed Haymitch's wrist before he could get into the car.
"Don't play the hero." she admonished quietly and then rose on tip toes to press a chaste kiss on his cheek. "You're in no state to drive, let Katniss do it."
He didn't trust Katniss behind the wheel if they had another unpleasant meeting with zombies.
"None of us are." he shrugged, then hooked a hand behind her neck and pulled her into a proper kiss that made Katniss groan in disgust. "Stay alive, sweetheart."
"You too." she whispered before walking over to Johanna's truck. He watched her free Gale from Prim's grip and then hug the girl for all she had worth before Johanna barked at both of them to get into the car or to walk to the next safe house.
"Do you think he's going to make it?" Katniss asked as soon as he had started the engine.
He steered the truck behind Johanna's before answering. "Maybe."
"He used to give me bread." She swallowed with some difficulties and looked through the window. Haymitch pretended he didn't see the tears shining in her eyes. "When my dad died, mom stopped working and we were kind of broke… Everybody knew it at school. He stole some loafs from his parents bakery and he left them in my locker. He got into trouble with his mom over it. I never thanked him. I pretended I didn't know it was him. It was…" She trailed off.
"Humiliating?" Haymitch offered. That was how he would have felt if he had been in her shoes.
"I was in his debt." She chew on her nail nervously. "I don't like being in anyone's debt. We saved each other so many times since then, I think we're even. But I never said thank you for the bread."
Haymitch was ill-at-ease. Effie would probably have handled this particular conversation better. "You tell him when he wakes up, then. Besides, you kind of owe him a kiss, sweetheart."
She glanced at the back seat with worry carved on her face. "Maybe I should have kissed him before." She bit her lower lip and stared at Haymitch. "Do you think I should have?"
"Do I really look like the gossiping kind of guy?" he sighed. "Talk about your crushes with Effie or Johanna."
"You're the one always saying I should stay away from Gale." she scowled.
Once or twice. He had advised her to stay away once or twice. It wasn't always. She was a drama queen. "Gale is a good guy but he's impulsive, angry with the whole world and too eager for a fight."
"He's my best friend." she warned him. "He isn't…"
"You asked." Haymitch snapped. "It's your choice, kid. But, see, every time we're in the middle of a fight, I see Peeta trying to protect you and Prim."
"Gale does too." she argued stubbornly.
"Yeah, he does." he granted. "When he's not too busy counting how many zombies he's killed to beat Johanna."
"That's unfair." Katniss folded her arms over her chest like an overgrown spoiled child.
"Maybe. Maybe not." he shrugged. "But from what I've seen, Peeta's devoted to you and you only pay attention when it suits you. You don't deserve him."
"I know I don't." She turned around in her seat to watch the boy and outstretched a hand to brush the hair out of his eyes. His forehead was damp with sweat. His body was going into shock. They needed a place to stop and fast. He honked to alert the others and speeded up, hoping they would understand. They did. Finnick picked up the pace and Johanna followed. "We're going to save him, Haymitch. I don't care what the others say. We are going to save him."
He hoped she was right because when were the odds ever in their favor?