Make Them Burn

The Hovercraft

CHAPTER 1: THE HOVERCRAFT

When I wake from my drug-induced slumber, I find blurry figures staring at me.

I can at least make out a jittery Finnick, who's face is concerned. He's saying something I can't make out. My vision is clouding, but that's just a side effect of being drugged. Am I asleep? No, the pain is too real for me to be asleep.

As my vision clears a bit more, I see Plutarch Heavensbee and Haymitch too.

"What-what happened?" I ask dazedly.

They exchange a look. Finnick moves right next to my cot. "The arena broke, remember Alex?"

I nod slowly, and take a deep breath. As my memories come back, so does my vision. Everdeen broke the forcefield. I killed Brutus. Brutus killed Chaff. Winston is Brutus's son...

Finnick comfortingly takes ahold of my hand and my suspicions arise. What has happened? What is he about to tell me?

"Finnick?" I ask. "Where's Lilyanna?"

He gulps. "When the arena broke, the Capitol and District 13 sent out hovercrafts. Some went to pick up tributes, but the rest... they bombed District 12, and others..." Finnick trails off.

"Where'd the others go, Finnick?" I ask quietly.

Finnick gulps again. Tears are streaming down his face delicately. "They went to District 4, and to District 5."

My grip on his hand tightens. "Where is my daughter Finnick?"

He sinks to his knees and begins to sob violently. "They're in the Capitol, her and Annie!" Finnick puts his head in his hands.

I am not sure if I am crying. I sort of lose all feeling and control. My limbs are randomly jerking, my eyes are blinking out of control.

Plutarch grabs a nearby syringe and gently injects it into my shoulder. The world fades more than it already is, and I close my eyes.

***

When I resurface, I'm on my cot again. This time I notice Everdeen and Beetee on two cots nearby. Where are Peeta and Johanna? They must be awake and with Finnick and the others. I stand up, and resolve to find answers. When I walk towards the door, it automatically opens for me. Only Haymitch, Finnick, and Plutarch are in the room. Haymitch takes a step towards me as a precautionary measure. But I brush him off and sink down in a chair. Pulling Plutarch's tray of food over to me, I begin to gnaw on a roll.

"Chase. Onnie. Georgina." I say. "Now."

Plutarch begins, not seeming to mind that I stole his food, "Onnie died of a heart attack the day you went into the Games. Georgina... has been executed." He pauses.

Onnie and Georgina dead? Both my surrogate mother and sister? Lilyanna in the Capitol? This cannot get any worse.

Plutarch sighs, and I know it's about to get worse. "Chase is unaccounted for." He says. "The Capitol pins him as a wanted fugitive. He was nowhere in sight when they went to pick up Lilyanna. She was with Zero Robbins. They waited and waited for him to come home so they could take him, but after a few days he never did, so they just left."

My face is ashen. Chase left? He abandoned my daughter? No, it isn't true.

"He must've just gotten lost." I say, even though I know it's a weak excuse.

Haymitch places a hand on my arm, but I jerk it away. "He's still not been sighted, Alex." He says in the closest tone to soft as I've ever heard his voice.

I look up at him. "He left her, didn't he?"

They all nod.

I push the tray of food away, suddenly not hungry anymore. So not only are Onnie and Georgina dead, but Lilyanna is in the Capitol, and Chase has betrayed me.