Panem Dawn: Mockingjay Reimagined

Chapter Two: President Alma Coin

A few more weeks go by, and I am deemed well enough at last to be discharged from the District Thirteen hospital, Katniss and Finnick and even Beetee were discharged before me, although Beetee is now confined to a wheelchair. We don't know when, if ever, he will walk again as it turns out. But the mind is still brilliant.

This rebellion will benefit from Beetee's expansive knowledge of the technological. This probably explains why I rarely even see him anymore, except at the occasional mealtime sitting. As soon as he could sit upright they put him to work in the weapons department, gave him his own computer, and away he went, so I'm not as worried about Beetee.

Katniss and Finnick, that's another story. I guess I really just feel bad for them both because they've been just about as screwed over and messed up as I am. Katniss even more so actually, on account of what recently happened to District Twelve. Not to mention Peeta.

I don't know the entire story but from the sound of it, next to no one from District Twelve survived. Katniss's mother and younger sister were two of the few who escaped. And then there's Gale Hawthorne, who is still not my favorite person by any means, but thanks to Gale and a few of his friends from the coal mines, there are at least some survivors from District Twelve, even if only a small number. I have to give him that at least.

Finnick Odair is no longer that cool, confident, humorous symbol of glamour, sex, and victory I had met before we were all thrown back into the arena. Ever since he found out Annie was captured, that part of him seems to have been lost forever as completely as his former mentor. If he does anything these days, he's either trying desperately to find out if Annie's still alive, (and who can blame him?). Or he cries when he thinks no one's around and no one can hear him. Everyone, even someone like Finnick has a breaking point. I worry every day now, that he's standing closer and closer to the brink of falling apart.

The rebels around here all want Finnick to be a propaganda mouthpiece as much as they want Katniss to be their Mockingjay, which, given Finnick's history and who knows what kind of dark and disturbing secrets on the Capitol he has accumulated, would ordinarily make him ideal for that job. I just don't know if he can take it, or if he's even going to accept the offer at all.

The doctors around here might say it's just shock from the injuries that he sustained from when Katniss blew up that forcefield, but I know it's a lot more than just that. It's always more than just the physical kind of scars when you have to live a life like ours. Or as Haymitch or even Noah might have said, when you have to live life period.

Haymitch isn't in District Thirteen as of this time, he's in a rehab facility and being expected, probably for the first time in his post-Hunger Games life to sober up and lay off the bottle for as long as there's a war to fight and he'll have to stay in Thirteen anyway. Another thing about District Thirteen is that everyone is extremely pro-temperance.

We are all given our instructions to wait in a lineup to have our wrists tattooed with our individual schedules for the day. Maintaining a ordered and routinized existence for everyone is something they are absolutely strict about in Thirteen, but this really doesn't surprise me. I have to say the tattooing does however, even if it is only temporary. As soon as we take our scheduled evening baths or showers, the water washes it all away.

After everything else, at 11pm, it's lights out for everyone, unless they are working night shifts. Half the time, I suspect that Katniss doesn't even follow her daily schedules, probably because she hates being stuck in this place, without Peeta, and she might even be feeling sorry for herself. But there have been times when I've been guilty of the same thing, so I know I can't talk. I'm also just as worried about Noah as Katniss probably is about Peeta. They should have taken me.