18.
"We can't wait anymore." Annie declared, her shaking hand on Peeta's forehead.
Effie folded her arms over her chest in an attempt to keep warm. On the couch of the abandoned house they had made camp in, Peeta was sweating heavily in the throe of a fever but the rest of them was as cold as could be. Coin had vetoed the idea of starting a fire and nobody had really argued the point. They were low on ammos, half of their group had left for the hospital in search of meds and Peeta, Annie and Prim would have been liabilities in a fight – not to mention Effie trusted Coin, Plutarch and the remaining soldier only as far as she could throw them – they really didn't need to attract zombies.
"I'm sure they will be back soon." Plutarch offered. He was the only one from the rebels group to take any interest in Peeta's fate and he was also very much ignored by the rest of them so he wandered back to Coin.
"Is it the leg or is he turning?" Johanna asked from her perch on the arm of the couch, at Peeta's feet. Well… Foot, Effie supposed.
"The stump looks clean. I don't think it's infected." Prim offered after taking a look at the wrapped leg. It was cut at the knee but it was very obvious it wasn't the work of a surgeon. Effie couldn't even glance at it, it made her stomach churn. "The fever could be from shock, I think…"
"Or he could be turning." Johanna pointed out. Her fingers were twitching like she was hitching to reach for her knife.
"I don't think so." Annie sighed. "Prim's right. It might be the pain… His body is… He could really use meds right now."
Effie burrowed further into her leather jacket. Haymitch, Finnick, Katniss and Gale had been gone for hours now… They should have been back already. It was starting to get dark outside…
"They will be back any minute, I'm sure." Prim offered, trying to sound reassuring.
"Are we really doing the thing when we bury our head in our ass?" Johanna sneered. "They've been gone for almost a whole day. They should already be here. Everything could have happened."
"I am sure they are fine." Effie snapped, for Prim and Annie's peace of mind as much as her own. She wouldn't be able to handle anything happening to Haymitch right now. "They must have been delayed."
"Let's hope it won't take them much longer." Annie countered. "Peeta's body needs help."
The three women were looking at Effie waiting for an input from her.
"We passed a building on the road…" she recalled. It had been too big to even think about using it as shelter, offices for a company of some sort… They had figured it would be crammed with zombies and they couldn't really take the risk of a massive clean-up with a wounded on a their hands. "They may have an infirmary…"
"You know what else they will have?" Johanna snorted. "A pack of starving zombies."
"Do we have a choice?" Effie retorted, her eyes on Peeta. He was thrashing a little, turning his head this way and that to escape imaginary enemies. He calmed down when Annie petted his hair. "I will go."
"Alone? Yeah, I don't think so." Johanna scowled. "I don't want Haymitch kicking my ass 'cause you got yourself killed on my watch."
"I'm coming with you." Prim decided, turning her back on the teenager to look at her. "I know what kind of meds we need."
"Certainly not!" Effie exclaimed at the same time Johanna shouted a "Like hell!".
Prim frowned, obviously annoyed. "I can handle myself, Effie, I swear."
"You are staying here with Annie and Johanna." Effie declared, her decision taken. "You will be safe and…"
"You are not going anywhere alone." Johanna cut her off.
"I am in charge of my own life, thank you very much." Effie spat. "I don't need your permission or Haymitch's to do anything."
"Then I don't either." Prim argued. "I want to help. I'm not a kid anymore. I can… I can use the knife, Jo and Katniss showed me how. And I trust you to protect me. We will be fine."
"It is a completely different situation." She shook her head. "I am an adult. You are…"
"Oh, come on!" Prim huffed with too much bitterness for a child her age. "Do you really think there is such a thing as childhood anymore?"
Effie glanced at Annie who had placed a hand on her stomach but she didn't venture a comment. That particular debate could be put on hold for now.
"The kid got a point." Johanna argued. "Just so we're clear, neither of you is going anywhere without me, end of discussion."
"Do you want to leave Annie and Peeta here alone without any protection?" Effie lowered her voice so it wouldn't carry to the rebels in the next room. "I don't think it's a particularly good idea. Me going alone is the logical choice."
"Yeah, maybe if you're fucking stupid." Johanna shrugged. "You're not going without me and the kid does know her stuff. She should be safe enough with me there. Annie will manage on her own until we or the others come back, won't you?" The question was directed at the young woman kneeling on the floor who nodded.
"I have my gun." Annie whispered. "If anything happens…"
"You don't hesitate to shoot." Johanna's voice was harsh. "You can have a meltdown later, got it?" Annie kept nodding as if she wanted to reassure herself as much as the others. Effie remained unconvinced but Johanna turned to her. "Your call, Trinket."
It was a complete dilemma. Effie didn't trust the rebels and she wasn't thrilled by the idea of leaving anyone with them for sole protection but on the other hand… Katniss had specifically told her to keep an eye on Prim and she was reluctant to leave her out of her sight. Annie, despite being vulnerable, could probably handle herself if she really had to and she could do that more easily if she had no one to worry about but herself. Besides, Effie really didn't know that much about medicines…
"Alright." she agreed reluctantly. However, as soon as Prim was out of earshot, she placed a hand on Johanna's shoulder. "You have to protect her at all costs. If it comes to a choice…"
"There will never be a choice to make." Johanna sneered, shrugging her hand off. Effie nodded to herself, happy for once for the younger woman's hostility. At least she knew Johanna would put Prim's safety first and foremost.
Coin wasn't happy at all with their plan and stepped in their way. "I strictly forbid it."
"Bite me." Johanna spat, lifting her axe in a threatening way.
Effie had never been a particularly violent person but each time she saw the President, she was seized with the urge to punch her in the face. She refused to give in to that kind of vulgar instincts however so she just lifted her head, chin jutting in the air with all the dignity a superior upbringing could provide. For a second, she forgot her bloodied clothes, her dirty hair and the smell of sweat that seemed to cling to her body no matter how much of her stolen perfume she sprayed on herself.
"Do try to stop us." she invited Coin. "Please, I insist."
Coin's calculating eyes roamed on Johanna's axe, the knife Prim was clutching in her fist and the cutlass in Effie's own hand. The President wasn't a stupid woman unfortunately. She stepped aside, muttering something about "good riddance".
Johanna rolled her eyes once they were out of the house. "Fucking bitch."
For once, Effie wasn't inclined to chide her for her colorful vocabulary. The rest of the group had taken Haymitch's truck so they climbed in Annie's, it was a fifteen minutes drive to the building they had in mind. Five minutes in, Effie had exhausted all the exertions for caution she could give Prim and a heavy uncomfortable silence settled in the car. The furthest from the abandoned house they drove, the more Effie regretted having allowed Prim to come.
"Do you think Katniss loves Peeta?" the child asked out of the blue.
"Love is a joke." Johanna huffed from behind the wheel, her eyes straight on the road ahead. She was probably wary of another encounter with a pack of zombies.
"You don't mean that." Effie countered softly.
The other woman glanced at her with a mocking sneer. "I do but you're such the perfect princess I don't expect you to get it. You still believe your knight in shining armor is coming to sweep you up your feet even in this shitland, don't you?"
"There is nothing wrong with believing in love." Effie argued. "It is a beautiful thing and it should be nurtured."
"Do you love Haymitch, Effie?" Prim leaned forward on the back seat, obviously very curious about her answer.
"Well…" she stuttered, blushing a little. That was quite a private topic.
"Of course, she does." Johanna snickered.
Effie glared at her but that had never affected Johanna before and it certainly wasn't upsetting her now. Prim eagerly scrambled closer, sitting almost at the edge of her seat. "What does it feel like?"
"Cramps." Johanna scorned.
She couldn't very well let Johanna's bitterness be the sole answer to Prim's questions, Effie decided, the younger woman would traumatize the girl. "It feels like…" She came to a halt, trying to find the best words to describe it. "It feels like your skin is humming. It feels like something warm lights in your chest each time you see the person you love. You don't need to breathe, to drink or to eat, you just need him and when he's not here you miss him so much it's like an ache in your heart."
"That was quite the poetic bullshit, Trinket." Johanna declared. "Please, don't write a book."
Effie and Prim tacitly decided to ignore her.
"Does Haymitch love you like that?" Prim was being too curious.
Effie turned her head, suddenly fascinated by the landscape. What Haymitch loved or didn't love was anyone's guess.
"Haymitch loves to fuck her." Johanna laughed and it was mean and cruel.
"No need to be so crude." Effie snapped.
"No need to kid yourself either." the younger woman shrugged. "He's not the kind who falls in love except maybe with an especially fine whiskey."
The unpleasant topic was dropped when the company building loomed into view. Fortunately, there were no zombies in sight so they got out of the car, weapons at the ready. Effie glanced at the huge golden logo on the front, some sort of bird with wings spread wide circled by laurels; the name of the company was displayed on equally huge golden letters: Capitol.
"What do you suppose…" she started only to be interrupted by Johanna.
"Don't know, don't care." Johanna snapped. "We're doing this the clever way. In and out. Kill everything you find but do it in silence or I will kick your ass. Prim, stay close to me. Trinket, try not to get yourself killed."
The sliding doors were smashed and they had no difficulties getting in the building. Effie frowned as soon as she was in the lobby, it was… too clean. They could see traces of blood on the walls and on the floor in the decreasing light of the late afternoon but there were no corpses, dead or deader as Haymitch would say.
"Where are the bodies?" Effie whispered.
Johanna shrugged and waved them, in the direction of the stairs. They climbed them in the dark, Johanna first and Effie last, Prim safely in the middle. They were all ready for a fight but it never came. There were absolutely no zombies and the silence was deafening : no moan, no shuffling, no snapping of jaws…
"Something's not right." Johanna declared when they reached the first floor. It was an open space office with desks crammed around the room separated by cheap plastic walls. There were traces of blood there too but no corpse to explain them.
"Maybe they have a good cleaning company…" Prim joked.
"Quite dedicated." Johanna snorted before inspecting the closer desk. "Check this out!" She held out a black purse.
Effie glanced and wrinkled her nose. "It's been out of fashion for three years and it was ugly even then." Her two companions stared at her and them exchanged a look. She couldn't repress a sigh. "What have I done now?"
"Do you know everything isn't about fashion?" Johanna sneered, rummaging in the bag until she found what she was searching for. She proudly showed them the basic painkillers bottle. "Women have cramps, women take meds. Check out the other desks."
Prim hurried to do as she was told. She wandered two feet away and stumbled on something. Everything happened so fast Effie barely saw anything. Something flew in the air, Prim shrieked in fear and then it was over. Johanna was at the girl's side in a matter of seconds and forced her to crouch, her axe held high, scanning their surroundings for their enemy.
"Hello?" Effie tried to sound cheerful but it came out mostly scared. She hid behind one of the desks. "We don't want any trouble."
"Next, you will say we come in peace." Johanna snapped. "Get out of there, you coward!"
But nothing moved. Nothing changed.
"Prim, are you hurt?" Effie asked, craning her neck to get a glimpse of the girl.
"No…" came the shaky response. "It barely grazed me… Lucky I'm not tall…"
"Lucky, yeah." Johanna was obviously fed up. She jumped on the desk, gun in hand, to get a better sight but then, she froze. "There isn't anyone here."
Effie warily came out from behind the desk. "How is this possible?"
The youngest woman climbed down and picked up something from the ground. She was holding a really thin string. "The place is booby trapped."
Effie looked around. Her skin was tingling in foreboding. "Perhaps we should try our luck somewhere else."
"You're kidding?" Johanna scowled. "Bloody coward is too chicken to come out. We'll scavenge what we can. Just be careful where you step."
They searched every little cubicle, every drawer and every purse all the while being careful not to trigger anymore traps. There were quite a few of those strings at ankle level. Still, their spoil was far from being impressive.
"We need more medicine…" Effie shook her head at the mere two tablets of pills they had. "These one aren't even that strong…"
"Could come in handy sometimes." Johanna shrugged, pocketing the pills.
"I found the infirmary!" Prim exclaimed proudly, pointing to an evacuation plan on the wall. "It's on the next floor."
Johanna and Effie didn't need to say anything aloud, they both glanced at the big windows at the same time. The sun was setting, it would be dark soon and they didn't think to bring torches…
"We will be quick." Effie finally decided. "We need to go back to the car before it gets too dark."
"Your call, Trinket." Johanna repeated for the second time that night. Was it because she was the oldest or because she had taken to mother them all around that she was suddenly in charge of tactics when Finnick and Haymitch weren't there? Either way, as much as she enjoyed responsibilities, she wasn't sure she wanted this one.
"We have to try for Peeta." she insisted. "He deserves our best."
"If he's not already a bloody zombie you mean." she sneered but she shrugged. "Let's do this now. Kid, you stay between me and Trinket at all times."
"Trinket and me." Effie corrected her.
It only owed her a glare.
Despite Johanna's very loud concern the stairs weren't trapped and they managed to get to the next floor alive to everyone's relief. The silence in there was almost heavier and more oppressing. They followed the different corridors for a few minutes, taking a customary glance in each room they passed. It was exactly the same as below : blood but no corpses.
"Anyone else feels like the back of their neck is prickling?" Johanna hissed at some point.
It didn't call for an answer so Effie didn't give her one but she could only concur. She felt… watched. The silence didn't seem natural either. Their breathing was almost too loud and she was very sure all of them were holding their breaths more often than not. She instinctively adjusted her hold on the cutlass but it still felt clumsy in her hand even though Haymitch had tried to teach her time and time again. Some people were just better with a gun, she supposed…
"I think we already went that way…" Prim frowned.
"Yeah?" Johanna sounded irritated. "I don't know, maybe. It's like a fucking maze in here!"
Effie swallowed back a suggestion to go back to the car. Johanna was right, whoever had designed this building had made this floor an impractical clutter of small rooms linked by twisting corridors that didn't seem to follow a pattern. They stopped at a crossroads between four identical corridors. The dying light of the sun didn't reach that far and they were almost in total darkness.
"It doesn't feel right…" Prim looked like she was regretting her insistence to come on this desperate mission.
"No." Effie agreed wholeheartedly. "It doesn't." She walked to the closest room with a window, hoping to find another one of those handy plans on the wall but she couldn't see anything. She wandered further and…
"Trinket!" The warning came too late and Johanna's weight on her back was equally futile. Her foot hit something that wasn't the floor and before she understood what was happening, she and Johanna were prisoners of a sort of wooden cage in a tangle of limbs. It was very small and obviously meant for zombies rather than grown people. She understood the reason for the protection easily enough. The room was stocked with enough food to feed a small army. Someone had been hoarding food in the Capitol while the rest of them was starving outside…
"Fucking brilliant, you stupid bitch!" Johanna was mad and she didn't even try not to step on Effie as she got up, rattling the wooden bars. Her axe was on the ground, on the other side of their prison cage with Effie's cutlass.
"What do I do?" Prim asked nervously, obviously hesitant to drop her knife to pick up the axe. Effie wasn't sure she would have been able to swing it anyway. "Jo, what do I do?"
"You shut up, kiddo, that's what you do." came a man's deep voice from another corridor. He whistled appreciatively as soon as he saw them trapped in the cage. He had graying hair, dark glistening eyes and Effie's skin started crawling at once. "Check this out… Two lost chicks and a duckling."
"Keep it down, Cray." Two other men came into view. The one who had just spoken was middle-aged but still very fit and his eyes held the same cold cruelty as Coin's. The other one was much younger, red-hair, probably around twenty-five and he eyed them with something akin to fear. Effie was pretty sure he wasn't afraid of them but for them and given the way Cray was looking at her and Johanna, there was indeed cause for worry.
"Sorry, Sir." Cray mumbled.
"Military." Johanna hissed low enough that Effie was the only one to hear.
Military wasn't good, Effie though. She felt something like lead drop in her stomach. Coin and the rebels were military but those three men clearly weren't of the same sort. They were wearing what appeared to be fatigues : combat pants and heavy jackets with the star-spangled banner on their shoulder. They weren't rebels, they were regular soldiers who probably wouldn't be happy to learn they had been traveling with the President of the rebellion.
"Drop your weapons." the older one asked. He was obviously in charge.
"Yeah, sure." Johanna snorted.
The man moved almost too quickly for Effie's eye. One second he was standing there, the next he had an arm around Prim's throat and a gun on her head. Her knife fell to the ground.
"No!" Effie gasped, both hands in the air in a pleading fashion. "No, please."
"Colonel Thread, she's just a kid." the youngest of them argued, obviously uncomfortable with the way Prim was being treated.
"Shut up, Darius." Cray ordered.
Effie slowly reached for her gun and dropped it between the wooden bars, intentionally forgetting about the blade Haymitch insisted she kept in her boot, away from prying eyes. Johanna reluctantly did the same with her own gun and the knife strapped to her thigh.
"Feel better now?" Johanna couldn't help but taunt.
Effie nudged her not too gently in the stomach. "Let me do the talking, you can be in charge of the killing." she murmured under her breath.
"Are there more of you?" Thread asked calmly.
"No." Effie lied without any hesitation. "We're alone."
"No man to keep you warm at night, honey?" Cray's laughter was just as repulsive as the rest of him. "That's sad."
"Are you sure?" Thread insisted, ignoring his subordinate's jab. His gun was pressed more firmly against Prim's head who gasped in fear.
"Yes." Effie lifted her hands in front of her again in a gesture of peace. "Please, don't hurt her. She's only a child. Please."
"Is she yours?" the colonel asked with a frown.
"She's… She's family." Effie stammered. "I'm responsible for her."
"I'm sorry, then." Thread shrugged. He let go of Prim and pushed her in the direction of the cage. Effie was quick to catch her through the bars before she could fall or get hurt. They hugged each other as tight as they could. "Kill them."
Thread's order almost didn't register.
"Son of a bitch!" Johanna yelled, attacking the bars with her hands and feet. "You coward!"
"Colonel, please." Darius stepped forward, his eyes darting to Prim. "She can't be more than thirteen… She's harmless."
"Would you rather we keep her, private?" Thread rolled his eyes. "We can't afford to waste food."
That was a sorry excuse given what Effie had spied when she had first entered the room.
"Then let her go." Darius looked at Johanna and Effie but he didn't argue their case, as if he already knew that fight was lost. "Let her go, Colonel. She might make it on her own."
"Alone outside at night?" Thread shook his head. "She will be dead before dawn."
"Please." Effie cut in, petting Prim's hair soothingly. "Please, give her a fighting chance. Please."
Thread stared at her for a long time, then at the girl and he shrugged. "Alright. Get her out of the building, Darius, but let's be clear, I see her again around here and she's dead."
Prim screamed when Darius grabbed her around the middle to tear her away from Effie and Effie had trouble holding back her own tears. Her shouts for help echoed for the longest time.
"You did good." Johanna granted reluctantly in a low whisper.
"Take care of them, Cray, and burn the bodies afterwards. I will be in my room." Thread declared and then left without even glancing back.
"Damn shame." Cray mumbled, picking up Johanna's gun. "'Been months since we saw a woman…"
"It has been a long time since we saw a man too, you know." Effie replied. A plan was starting to take form in her head and she felt as if the hidden blade in her boot was burning her skin.
"Yeah?" the man made a face. "Even more of a shame. We could have had the best of times."
"Who says we can't have the best of times now?" Effie smiled, letting her jacket fall to the ground. She was disgusting but Cray obviously didn't notice.
Johanna didn't ask what she was doing but soon enough, her own coat was on the floor and Cray was almost drooling.
Acting seductively was second nature for Effie and she thought it would work better than Johanna's perpetual provocative attitude so she took the lead. She grabbed the bars and leaned against it, making sure he had a good view of her chest. "If I have to die… Isn't it customary for someone sentenced to death to be offered a last cigarette?"
"Try a cigar, honey." Cray snorted. He seemed to debate with himself for a few seconds but then he must have decided they were quite harmless because he tucked the gun at the back of his pants and walked closer to the cage. She forced herself to stay still even when his hand brushed her cheek and then tangled in her hair to press her face against the cage. She felt sick to her stomach when he crushed his mouth on hers but she chased any thoughts of Haymitch away and she responded to the kiss as eagerly as she could. "Okay." the man said, his hands left her hair and trailed down to grope her backside. "Okay, let's do this. The Colonel doesn't need to know." He glanced at Johanna appreciatively. "You will have to wait for your turn, honey. Blondie is going first."
Johanna's smile had a dangerous edge to it but Cray didn't seem to notice.
He pulled on a string and the cage fell flat on the floor, ready to trap someone else again. He kept his gun trained at Johanna so neither of them could get any ideas and once Effie was off the wooden planks he triggered the mechanism. Johanna was behind bars once more but she never lost her smirk.
"Now…" Cray said, putting the gun away before turning to Effie. "Where were we?"
She swallowed the urge to throw up when he placed his hands on her waist and put his lips on her neck right there in the middle of the corridor. She caught Johanna's eyes above his shoulder, the younger woman lifted a challenging eyebrow and Effie forced herself to get over her revulsion and reached for her boot.
Time to put her plan into motion.