The Mentor. (Cato Hadley)

Chapter Twenty-Five.

Rewritten 03.31.2023

Finnick is just as shocked as I am at the sight of the Muttations, resembling huge wolves. We haven't gotten a good look at them quite yet, but I could see them from a distance. Definitely a Capitol creation, and definitely something to fear. "Do you still have your apartment?" I ask, staring at the television with wide eyes. I need to get out of this hallway, but no way am I going back in there with Brutus and his brainwashed attitude.

Finnick grabs my hand, leading me to the elevator as Cato rushes to the Cornucopia, getting as far from the Muttations as possible. We get in the elevator, Finnick quickly hitting the number four, shooting us two floors up like a bullet. We sit down on his couch, the two of us staring at the television blankly. Katniss is the next to make it the Cornucopia, stopping for a brief second to look behind her. Peeta is about fifteen yards away, the Muttations closing in on him.

"Go, Katniss!" Finnick clutches my hand tightly as the final moments of the 74th Hunger Games unfold. With Peeta's permission, Katniss scales the black cornucopia, and I'm sure the dark metal is hot enough to burn her hands.

Cato's vulnerable, lying on his side at the top of the Cornucopia, gasping for air. He's gagging over the edge, looking as though he's about to lose the contents of his stomach. Katniss views this as an opportunity, raising her bow at him to finish this once and for all. I shut my eyes tightly, burying my head into Finnick's chest as I merely hope that Plutarch can keep his promise.

"She's helping Peeta," at Finnick's words, I look up, watching as Peeta has reached the tail of the Cornucopia, the mutts hot on his tracks. Katniss yells for him to climb, which he does, as she shoots one of the mutts. She successfully kills it, but that's the first of what I've counted twenty of. Nineteen left, and she only has six arrows. Peeta reaches the top, and Katniss pulls him up the rest of the way.

Cato is still hunched over, but he's backed a few feet away from the edge, somewhere the mutts hopefully can't get him. "Can they climb it?" He asks the District Twelve tributes, the first look of fear I've ever seen on his face.

"Oh my god," the mutts stand up on their back legs, desperately trying to get to the three standing on the Cornucopia. "Finnick, they're the dead tributes!" The Gamemakers have used the DNA of the deceased tributes to create these things, each one bearing a resemblance to its human counterpart.

"That's Fisher, the boy from Four I asked Cato to kill quickly," I look at him with wide eyes as he says this, seeing the red, curly haired mutt with striking green eyes. When did Finnick get the chance to talk to Cato? "And there's Marina..."

One of the mutts with silky blonde fur takes a running start and leaps onto the horn of the Cornucopia, striking green eyes peering at the remaining tributes. That's when I see its collar, labeled with a diamond encrusted number one. "That's Glimmer." The mutt slips off of the metal, unable to find any traction with the metal. Katniss shoots at it, using her sixth arrow to shoot it in the neck. Eighteen mutts left, and only five arrows.

Each and every mutt resembles a fallen tribute, and I think the three of them are now starting to understand this. "It's them," Katniss points out, looking around frantically. "The others, Rue, Foxface, the other tributes. It's all of them."

"Do you think those are the tributes real eyes?" I ask Finnick, staring at the screen with curiosity. "Do you think they have their memories, maybe they're aware of who killed them and they want revenge." Finnick doesn't answer, as I didn't believe he would.

Cato is still lying down, but his breathing slows as he calms himself down. Katniss arms her bow, but I watch as she uses the fifth arrow to take out another mutt, one that can only be Clove. That's four more arrows, and seventeen mutts, and Cato doesn't have a weapon.