Ignite The Flame Within | Cato Hadley X Male Reader | Vol. 2

10 ~ Just The Beginning

I remember the day I met Mirren. It was about a week after I had returned home from the Capitol. I was still getting used to the life that I was being forced into, and right from the start, he was always there for me. Johanna was the one to introduce us to one another and on the surface he had looked scary. Even when I had seen him at the reapings, he had always just looked terrifying. His tall figure and dark eyes along with the fact he was one of the strongest victors ever made him a force to reckon with.

He was someone I had never imagined I would speak to, but like I said, right from the moment we met, it seemed like we clicked together. Just like Johanna, he was somebody who understood my pain, my suffering. He understood the struggle a victor faced.

Even with everything I talked to Sky about, he could still never understand what it was like. But Mirren could. Johanna and him had become a safe place for me to vent about anything that was bothering me. They were the people that I trusted more than any other friend I had. Simple because they were always there. Just a few doors down.

I knew I couldn't lose Mirren, so I tried to do everything in my power to make sure that didn't happen. Sky and I were holding Mirren up, each of his arms draped over the other's shoulders as Ellie followed closely behind. Her cries were now dried out, her voice horse. The only thing we could think about was getting Mirren to my house so I could try to save him.

"We're almost there," I mutter as we approach my front door. My feet nearly trip over themselves as I struggle to walk up to the stairs.

"Go get the door, I got him," Sky says while moving toward my side so that he can hold Mirren steady. I quickly rush up the steps and knock on the door as hard as I can. I heard someone running to the door, it was Ana. She unlocks everything before pulling the large wooden door open.

"Clear the table!" I yell, Ana flinching a bit before disappearing. I turn around and am quick to grab Mirren's arm and help pull him up the stairs. He was groaning lightly, a dark trail of his blood leading through the melting snow. Sky lifts him to me, my legs sticking out to stabilize myself as the weight pushes me back.

The sound of a door slamming can barely be heard as Johanna's voice quickly follows. "What the hell happened?" She screams while running over. Her hair was unkempt and messy. She must have just woken up.

Her arms are quick to wrap around Mirren. "A peacekeeper shot him," I let out as the three of us lifted him, bringing him through the door and into our kitchen.

"Lay him down," Ana orders. The table was still dusted with crumbs of whatever she was cooking for herself. Our movements jerk upward so we can get him up on the table. I quickly reach for his clothes, tearing them off so he is left in nothing but his pants.

His torso was coated in a mixture of sweat, dirt, and dried blood. My hands traced over him as I felt tears forming in my eyes. He was dying. And I knew I couldn't handle watching another person die. I had to do everything I could to save him.

My dad rushed in from the other room. He was cleaned up, thankfully for us he must have been sober. "Here!" He says while handing my sister a bag.

She zips the bag open, slipping a metal tool out, and quickly walks over to Mirren. Her hands shake as she takes in the scene before her. I had been teaching her the same medical care my mom had taught me and she had been taking classes meaning she was perfectly qualified, but this was still the first person she had ever had to operate on.

I move to her side, slipping gloves on and grabbing a tool as well. "You got this," I whisper, her breaths steadying. Her hands reach over the table, the tool slipping into Mirren's wound. I notice her struggles so I reach in to help, holding his wound open with my tool in an attempt to give her a better view.