Burn: A Hunger Games Spinoff

Chapter 4

I come to recognize the red headed girl as Lavinia. I don't allow any hope of their survival—or mine—flare up. They've gone for, I'd say—maybe?—a week without any torture.
I gaze at them. I lock eyes with Lavinia. She stares at me for a couple seconds before her eyes flutter away.
After a couple hours, I hear them. Guards shuffling down the dungeons, searching for their target. I don't think it's me or Johanna this time. I think they're coming for 'the redheads' as they call them. I look at them pitifully. Darius looks at me, and I'm convinced he's come to the same conclusion. I try my best to convey it without words. I'm sorry, I want to say. I try to meet gazes with Lavinia, the Avox who cared for me in the Capitol, but her eyes are glued squarely to the floor. I guess I wouldn't like to see any pitying eyes if I thought I was about to die, either.
The doors to both their cells swing open and one guard steps into each cell. They start with Lavinia, and I silently plead for both their ends to be quick and painless. I'm the one who got them into this, and I feel like I should take responsibility for it.
The guard in Lavinia's cell uses some kind of shock on her, and I hear Johanna's quiet cry. I see the life drain out of Lavinia swiftly, and I am grateful that's all she had to go through.
Then, they begin on Darius. I hope for the same kind of shock for him, but instead, the other guard joins Darius's and helps beat Darius. It's a painful experience, and I can hear wretched cries and tortured screams, but the worst part of it is that I can see. I don't have to, it's not like anybody is obligating me to, but I do, because I, Katniss Everdeen, am the one who landed Darius—and Lavinia— in this treacherous position. I should suffer for it, too, if they have to.
Darius is bleeding, scarred, bruised, and cut when the guards are done, but still alive. That might be the worst of it, seeing his ragged, destroyed body on the floor, limp, and unfortunately, conscious.
I wish he could die while he rests, if he can even endure rest, so that his suffering could end.
I try not to, but eventually, I doze off, and I'm pulled into a restless sleep.
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"We wouldn't want anything to happen to them," says Snow. "Especially not because of you. It seems you've done enough damage to them already. Out of nowhere, my mother and Prim appear in the cell in front of me, where Lavinia's dead body still lies. "No!" I screech. Then Gale appears in another. And Finnick. And my father. Snow's body melts in front of me, and I'm almost relieved, until it melds into the form of Peeta. He cackles, "Look at it, Katniss! It's wonderful, isn't it?" I lunge for him. I tear out his hair, tear at his skin, and rip his limbs. He only laughs in response, "Fool," he says. "You're never going to beat me, Katniss. Never, and everybody will suffer for it.
One of the few memories that hasn't been...tampered with surfaces.
"Even me," whispers Peeta sadly. He disintegrates into black ashes and his remains are carried away by a sudden breeze.
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I'm startled awake by those last moments. I'm sweating and my heartbeat is quick. So very quick. I spot my cold meal on the floor near the TV. I'm famished. I crawl toward it feebly. I gobble it down quickly.
The dream replays in my head and makes me sick. Everything I just ate comes back up, and I reel away from the wretched smell. I scrunch my nose and back away as far as I can. I try to sleep, but it seems impossible. I curl up into a ball and quietly sob until day.
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The day is no better than night. Nobody bothers to clean the throw up, and the guards come back to torment Darius. They beat him again, and I hear his moans. He no longer screams, and I suspect it's only because he can't muster the energy for even that.
I cry for Darius, who I doubt can even produce tears anymore, for Lavinia, for my mother, for Prim, and for Gale. I punch the walls and the bars of my cell angrily.
My fists are bloody and raw, and skin has been begun to scrape off. When I can't hit the bars anymore, I kick them, causing constant rattling and stone to scrape stone repeatedly. I annoy the guards, but I don't care. I care about getting home, to Prim and my mother. About getting Darius out, and Johanna, but after hours of the guards beating Darius, it becomes clear there's no way he's coming back home to 12–or whatever is left of it, anyway—with me, if I make it, which is also highly unlikely.
I try to block out the moans and blood, and wait it out, but it seems like forever until it's over.
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When the guards finally leave, Darius has been reduced to a bloody pulp. The moment I see him, my mind goes to Cato, in the final days of the 74th Hunger Games. A bloody pile of remains, only it's worse now, because here, I can't even perform a mercy kill for Darius, and he has to wait for his death like this. I'm sure by next time the guards come around again, Darius is as good as dead.
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The guards never come the next day. Or the next. It becomes obvious they intended to leave Darius like this. Leave him to die on his own and rot in prison. It makes me loathe the Capitol more than I did before, to see what remains of his body. It's absolutely horrifying.
I try to go to sleep, but it seems almost impossible. Finally I manage sleep, but it's no better than it's been previously.
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Two guards stomp into the dungeon, where Darius's limp body lies. I doubt they can inflict anything worse on him, until they do. Darius's body is renewed. He's healthy—as healthy as an Avox can be—and untouched. The guards shrink into the mutts I saw in the 74th Hunger Games. They tear him apart, bit by bit, slowly and agonizingly. He screams, screeches, cries, and shrieks, but the mutts never stop, not until all that's left of him is fortunate flesh and oozing blood. He lies there, alive, but pained. He moans, "Help," he begs, but none ever comes. It happens over and over again, he's renewed and touted every day, it's a horrible kind tortu-

My eyes snap open as somebody rustles me awake. I push them away and launch to my feet, already lunging, though I doubt I could succeed in any battle in my state. Strong arms hold my body, though. I recognize this person.
I look up and I see Gale.