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OLD NIGHTMARES.
THE GROUP OF TRIBUTES SIT UP ON THE BEACH, Emori leaning up against one of the trees as she listens to them.
"So besides Brutus, who's left?" Katniss asks.
"Maybe Chaff. I'm not sure," Peeta responds and the group nod in response. Emori cannot help but feel a little fear at that, she doesn't want Brutus to die. However, she also doesn't want Finnick or Reed, and to an extent Peeta, to die. The idea of losing all those people and being the one alive at the end terrifies her. How do you bounce back from that?"
"So what do we do? Do we hunt them down?" Johanna asks the group when they're suddenly interrupted by multiple screeches.
Katniss' head snaps up and Emori's follows suit when a male voice can also be heard. She sucks in a deep breath as it gets louder and before Finnick can reach out to grab her, the young girl sprints into the trees with Katniss hot on her heels — both wanting to reach their siblings. In reality, Emori knows that Cato cannot physically be here but she desperately holds onto the hope that he is.
"Please! Please!" She hears Cato pleading and she manages to move even faster if it's actually possible. The screams of Katniss' little sister are completely blocked from her mind, only caring about her older brother who sounds like he's in an immense amount of pain. "Kill me,"
"Cato! Cato! I'm coming," Emori yells as she moves closer to the excruciating sound that she's hearing. As she pushes through to the clearing, she's surprised but also not, that there's nobody there. His yells can still be heard and her eyes move to the birds in the trees, each of them screeching in the same tone. Anger overcomes her and she grabs a knife, launching it straight into the bird.
The noise stops and she sighs in relief, the fact that it's stopped bringing her great sense of peace. However, the sound echoes in her ears, much like it has for the past year when she's been sleeping. Those were recorded — they'd actually used the audio of his death against her to hurt her, to wound her beyond repair and she's unsure whether or not they've actually been successful in doing so.
"Emori!" A voice calls and she looks over to Finnick who has Katniss with him. "You're ok," he sounds relieved with the second part of his statement and she offers him a small nod in response.
"Finnick!"
Emori instantly recognises the voice as Annie Cresta and watches helplessly as Finnick runs straight for it. The two younger victors share a glance before following after him so that they can help him calm down. They know that it will hit him hard as well, Annie is probably the person he cares for the most in the word.
