An Extra Tribute

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"Peeta!" I scream as he smashes her head into the glass window feeding into the room. They roll down onto the floor with Peeta putting everything he has into choking her out. I try to pull him off, my hands wrapped around his shoulders as I repeat his name numerous times. But, even beaten, he's so much stronger than I am. Dad and Boggs aid me in my rescue of Katniss, but it's no use. He won't budge. "Peeta! Get off!" Katniss' eyes roll back in her head and that's when Boggs grabs the folding chair. He hits Peeta hard in the head with it, effectively knocking him out. I launch to the side with him, catching his head from banging against the tile. A few doctors come in and pull Katniss up onto a stretcher and begin rolling her out. Both Boggs and Dad look at me. I nod.

"You go," I sigh. "I've got this. Make sure she's okay." They follow the stretcher out of the room and I'm left alone with an unconscious Peeta. Two guards come in and put him on a stretcher as well.

"Wait, where are you taking him?" I ask.

"That's classified, Miss," one says.

"I'm classified," I argue. "Coin would tell me. Where's he going?" The other sighs.

"We're taking him to a more secure room. We don't know how stable he is or if he'll do this again," he replies. I open my mouth to argue, but I know that they're right. We don't know if he'll do it again or who he'll do it to. But, I know he won't do it to me. At least, I hope. I mean, he kissed me, so it's an educated guess.

"I'm going with you," I announce. They look at each other with annoyed and bored expressions before nodding.

"Fine. The president will be there, so you can talk to her after this," they give in. I walk alongside the stretcher as they roll him down the hall to the farthest room in the back. There's only one window which is made with one-sided glass, so he cannot see into the large room behind the window. There are cameras filling the room and when I enter the back room upon request by the guards, I see that they also have audio on him. I watch through the glass as they strap him down to the bed, restraining his arms, legs, and torso. Precautions.

I hear footsteps and see both Heavensbee and Coin behind me. Heavensbee stays where he is while Coin comes by my side. She puts her hand on my shoulder as we look into the room where an unconscious Peeta lays lifelessly.

"I'm proud of you," she says. I look at her with furrowed eyebrows. "You got everyone out of the Capitol with no casualties on the part of your team. You did good."

"It was Boggs," I object. "He led our team. Not me."

"He told me how you took charge, Noah. How you went with them to get Johanna and Annie even though you'd already grabbed Peeta. How you led yourself and Hawthorne into an intense battle in order to get Parker out. How you fought with vigor and threw the bomb when you deemed it necessary. You saved their lives," she says gently.

"It was a team effort," I say. "But, thank you." She nods. We wait in silence for a few moments before she speaks again.

"We don't know what the Capitol did to him, but we'll figure it out," she assures. I nod.

"Right. I want to stay here with him," I tell her.

"I don't know about that, Noah. We need you," she argues.

"Peeta needs me. He has since he got kidnapped by Snow and tortured for information on you that he didn't have. Since you didn't help him," I say with a glare.

"We'll see. We still need you on the field. Now, I think that Katniss will be more inclined to get out there and we need you with her."

"I'll go, but I want to be here with him. I can help him here and you need him up and fighting as soon as possible, or Katniss and I will both be completely out of it."