The Runaway Victor | Book II

Chapter Seven | One Thing

Quinn sat on the long chair on the patio. Her blood boiling still, she could still feel rage in her entire body. Even through the morphling, she could still see it-- she could still remember it so vividly. And what made it worse is that she knew for a fact it was her fault. She had let her frustration towards the games get the best of her again, and she should have known that Snow would be watching her. How else would he have known?

"Quinn?" Annie asked as she walked up behind her. "Are you going to be okay?"

Quinn didn't say anything at first. She couldn't think of the right words to use. So she decided to just not say anything in response. Instead just let silence surround the two of them.

"Finnick told us what happened..." she said softly. "Mags is really upset too, maybe you two should spend some time together?"

"Go away, Annie." Quinn managed to say, "I just need to be alone."

Annie didn't say anything else, she only turned and left like Quinn had told her to. It was true though, she did just need to be alone. The last person she got remotely close to was dead.

She hadn't been back from the Capitol all that long at all. In fact, it may have only been a few hours. But she had gotten back to Four along with Finnick just in time to go help Elijah set up for the day.

"It was a disaster," she complained. "I let myself get too angry again."

"No such thing as too angry, dear." he replied, "And nobody thinks you got too angry, everyone thinks you have a right to be angry."

"Because they think I'm one of them...a Radical." she replied, "I'm not one."

"How long will it take you to realise that Radicals are so much more than just rebels? And people that look up to you?"

"They shouldn't look up to me!" she said sharply.

"Think of yourself this way, you were a spark. And yes, you started a lot more. But now they are spreading too." he explained, "You stand for what they believe in. That's not a bad thing."

She sighed, "But I don't want to stand for anything," she replied as she sat down in a hair and looked up at him. "I just want to be by myself in Victor's Village and just..."

"Sit there? Drink? Feel sorry for yourself?" he asked, as he sat down he raised an eyebrow sharply. Quinn stayed silent, "How has that worked for you so far?"

"But..."

"I'm not saying you have to do anything," he replied sharply, "But if like you said before, you just don't care about much anymore-- why not care about at least trying to end the games?"

"But I can't." Quinn stated stubbornly. "Snow hates me, hell...I hate myself at times too."

"But think of all those people out there who love you whether you like it or not. You helped give them a voice." he assured her.

"Well when you say it like that it doesn't sound too bad." Quinn sighed.

He smiled a bit, "But, don't you fret, my dear." he said as he gently patter her shoulder. "The best thing you can do is let things die down for now and get yourself together."

A few hours passed, and Quinn had left to have lunch with Annie, grab a drink, and then go back. When she was going back, Finnick went with her just to get out of Victor's Village for a bit. But when they stepped into the warehouse, they saw that it had been ransacked. Every counter that had been set up for the market was smashed. And it didn't make sense for the peacekeepers to get angry about the market. They had known about it for years.

Not far from where Elijah's counter was, Mrs. Andrews was shifting through whatever she could find that was left. But so far it looked like it was a whole lot of nothing.

"Mrs. Andrews," Quinn began, "What happened?"

The woman turned around, only to reveal that the side of her face was beginning to bruise.

"The peacekeepers came in," she said holding her hands out as if to show them. "They took some of us to the square."

Quinn and Finnick both ran to the square. A fairly good sized crowd had already begun to form. In the middle of the square there were three people. On their knees looking down at the ground.

"Finnick, executions are illegal." Quinn stated, as if he may not have known. But he was a well respected Victor-- the Peacekeepers might do something if he talked to them! "Finnick, do something!"

"Quinn, I can't do anything! What do you think I could do? They have guns, that's a hell of a lot more than I've got."

Quinn stared at him for a second. How could he not even want to try? Whatever those three people-- whatever Elijah was accused of doing, was a lie. Neither of them had stolen anything-- and they had never been in trouble for the market before.

"Hey!" she shouted as she pushed past a group of people. But just as she got past them, Finnick grabbed her arm.

The rest of the memory was too painful. She had seen executions before, of older orphans who broke a rule. But there was something different about seeing a pointless one over something that never happened. Now, all that she knew was she had one thing left.

Her title as Rebel Victor-- the title she had no idea how to use in her favour. Because so far, nothing had been in her favour.