We Could Have Been Great

Chapter 11

The second they walk through the door Katniss and Peeta's heads snap up, wary expressions on both of their faces.

They are sat in chairs next to each other near the 'hospital' door. Katniss is sat rigidly, eyes fixed unblinkingly on Clove and Cato. Peeta is sat hunched over, head rested back on his hands and leg bouncing restlessly.

Both of them look nervous. But whether that's because of the two tributes who want to kill them standing right next to them or because they fear the consequences of the Capitol, Cato has no idea.

Either way, Cato helps Clove limp to the other end of the hovercraft. They are halfway there when Clove lets out a hiss of pain. She shifts her weight to her good leg and leans more heavily on Cato.

Worry floods through Cato as she stumbles.
Those freakish doctors better have fixed that wound otherwise they would regret it. Cato's sword still lay on the floor of the hovercraft and if Clove was still badly injured, he wouldn't hesitate to slit their weirdly coloured throats.

Clove rights herself but she's still leaning heavily on Cato. "You okay?" he asks quietly but it didn't make a difference since the words echoes off the metal walls and ceiling anyway.

"Yeah just- just give me a second. Did that creepy doctor tell you how long it's going to be like this? Because I can't even walk properly," Clove says through gritted teeth.

"Yeah she said it would be a few days."
"Could be worse," Clove sighs and they carry on walking.

They sit on the other end of the hovercraft and on the opposite side to Katniss and Peeta.

The hovercraft ride was tense and the closer to the Capitol they got, the more nervous each tribute seemed.
None of them spoke. The silence was closing in and Peeta was still bouncing his leg. Katniss was fiddling with her hands, picking at her chipped nails and Cato and Clove were sat straight and still. Unreadable. Just like they were taught.

But Clove was curled into herself slightly and her head was resting against the wall behind her. The wound was starting to hurt. Whatever the doctors had put on it to numb the pain was clearly wearing off.

But there was no way she was going to let it show on her face. Her whole life she had been told to never let her emotions show. That she had no room for feelings in her life. Not as a student in the Academy. Not as a tribute. And not as a victor.

But was she really a victor if there were still four of them alive?

The minutes shattered on the floor, slipping off the clock agonisingly slowly but finally, finally, the hovercraft slowed and began descending.

There were no windows, no way of knowing whether they really had landed in the Capitol or whether Snow had taken them to a remote location to kill them all for ruining the Games.

The craft landed with a jolt, pulling all four of them out of their heads. Everything was still for a few minutes, their worry growing by the second. Had they been forgotten? Was whoever was supposed to get them just running late?

No.
This was deliberate.
Make them wait. Make them nervous. Scare them. That's what the Capitol was good at. Almost all they were good at.

But Cato and Clove refused to be scared. They had been trained for this. And 12 both looked like they were beyond caring about what the Capitol wanted. They were probably brought up to hate the Capitol. Like the rebel scum they are.

The back of the hovercraft opens, the ramps slowly descending. Daylight pours in, shooting pain into all of their foreheads.

A few official looking Capitol freaks are stood at the entrance along with two peacekeepers.
"Welcome back to the Capitol, please follow us." Their words are strangely empty and robotic but their appearances are just as brightly coloured and unnaturally altered like every other person in the Capitol.

The four victors stand up, Cato's arm automatically going round Clove's waist. The Capitol weirdos have already started walking away so Cato and Clove quickly start following them with Katniss and Peeta close behind.

The keep walking into the training centre and into a lift. It takes them down so far that Cato is sure that they would re-emerge on the other side of the world but finally, the doors ping open.

They all walk out, Cato still helping Clove. She's pale but she's walking better.
"There is a room for each of you where you're prep team is waiting to clean you up," one of the brightly coloured lunatics says and gestures to each side of the stark white corridor.

Four door handles appear. Cato is reluctant to let go of Clove but he knows that they have no choice but to follow the rules. They have already pissed off the Capitol by giving them four victors. So the four of them split off into their separate rooms.

Clove walks into hers, struggling slightly without the help of Cato but her side feels better already.

There's no one there.
The room is empty apart from a single bed.
Something feels incredibly wrong.

Clove is just about to turn around and get the hell out of the room when she feels something sharp in her neck. Her limbs go limp, all control she has over her body slipping away.

The last thing she's aware of is the cold tiled floor pressed against her cheek.