Panem Dawn: Mockingjay Reimagined

Chapter Twelve: Us and Them

Alyssa's P.O.V

I couldn't believe what was happening in front of me. Katniss had obviously just went over to see Peeta, as I waited by the door, had the intention of being there for him. Just as I had known that Peeta had always been there for Katniss, again and again. No matter what the odds were that were stacked against them. No matter how Snow tried to destroy us all in the Third Quarter Quell.

And I watched in horror as Peeta's hands closed around Katniss's throat, like he wasn't Peeta at all anymore. Like he was some kind of a bloodthirsty, predatory monster. Like a mutt.

And I realize, this isn't Peeta at all, they did something truly unspeakable, evil to Peeta in the Capitol. It was like they turned him into a mutt. Their own cruel little weapon, to murder Katniss. And I spring into action.

"PEETA, NO!" I scream, as I launch myself at him, trying with all my strength to stop his attack, to make him let go of Katniss before he strangles her to death. "STOP IT PEETA! YOU'LL KILL HER!" But it is no use, and Peeta slams Katniss into a cabinet as the glass shatters and he turns quickly on me and strikes me so hard in the face that stars begin to dance around me as I sprawl to the floor, and I can feel the beginning of what will be a black eye. And he continues his attack on Katniss, even as she struggles weakly to escape him.

It is right around this time that Noah bursts in, having heard the violent struggle, and bellows, "THE HELL YOU WILL!" And he proceeds to knock Peeta out. Then he yells at the security that hurries in, "HURRY ALL OF YOU AND GET HELP! WE NEED A DOCTOR!" And several medical personnel move quickly and lift a motionless Katniss onto an emergency stretcher. And others do the same for Peeta, but for him they are doctors from the psychiatric ward of the hospital, and they also use all the belts on the stretcher to make sure he stays secure there.

Oh God. Oh God.

Noah then hurries over to me. "Alyssa, did...did Peeta hurt you?" And I stand while he helps me up. "Nothing very serious. I'll just have a lovely little shiner on my pretty face for a little while. Oh Noah!" I hug onto him, and he holds me close. "What have they done to Peeta?"

"I don't even know all the details of it myself, and I was a prisoner of the Capitol myself for the past weeks, same as him and Johanna, and Annie. We were all locked up in the same building around the clock, except for when Snow wanted to dress us up, parade us around, and use us for another one of his disgusting propaganda videos about how the districts could never survive defying the Capitol, and that anyone who does will pay the ultimate price. But I think it's something similar to what they did to Annie Cresta because she didn't die when they expected her to. It was also a cruel punishment for Finnick because he mentored her and was held accountable for it." Noah says bitterly. "Now it's Katniss and Peeta's turn."

"And Peeta warned all of you about the bombs on Thirteen. They knew in the end they would never get Peeta to operate against the Rebellion or1 betray Thirteen by beatings and threats alone. So they hijacked him to kill Katniss. That's my theory at least. I couldn't do any damn thing about it, still having to play my own games to keep surviving myself. Gods Alive, I've never been more sorry for those two."

Even though I knew that the last thing either of them would want, especially Katniss, was pity, or perhaps even sympathy, I understand it. Ever since the 74th Hunger Games, several of the worst things imaginable seemed to keep happening to them.

At some point, a nurse with a very purse-lipped, dissaproving look, and Noah's parents must have entered the room, to see the two of us holding onto each other, with Noah's lips pressed against my forehead as we just stood there for a while, until Noah finally says, "You should go for now. Get some ice or something for that eye. I'll hopefully be out of the hospital soon. I'm enlisting for the battle missions in District Two and the Capitol. I'll do anything to bring Snow and anyone still loyal to him down."