Lethal Charm - THG [1]

15

"So besides Brutus and Enobaria who's left?" asked Katniss.

They had moved back to the tree line on the beach.

"Maybe Chaff. Just those three." Said Peeta.

Knox shook her head, "Enoch too so four." She said.

"They know they're outnumbered." Said Finnick, "I doubt they'd attack again."

"Maybe not Brutus and Enobaria but Enoch is an arrogant jerk." shrugged Knox.

"Would he attack a group alone?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Knox said.

"Well we're safe here on the beach," said Finnick, "we'll see him coming."

"Even if we didn't we'd probably be fine," chuckled Knox, "he's very incompetent."

"So what do we do?" Asked Johanna, "we hunt 'em down?"

All of a sudden there is a scream from somewhere in the trees, a scream of a young girl, "Katniss, help me!"

"Prim!" Katniss screamed, leaping to her feet and running into the jungle, "Prim! Prim!"

"No!"

"Katniss! Katniss wait." Finnick yelled, grabbing his trident and running after the girl with Knox close behind him.

"Katniss!"Johanna grabbed Peeta, stopping him from following.

"Prim!" Katniss yelled as she ran "Prim!" The screaming continued. Knox ran as fast as she could to try and catch up with Katniss.

"Katniss! Help me! Help me!" Katniss shot an arrow at a bird which the screaming had been coming from. The screaming stopped as the bird died. Knox and Finnick finally caught up with Katniss. "Katniss! You okay?"

In the distance, a woman's voice screamed, "Finnick!"

"Finnick, no it's not her," said Knox, it was Annie's voice that was screaming for help.

"Annie!" Finnick took off running, "Annie! Annie!"

"Finnick! it's not her." said Katniss, stopping him from running any further, "It's just a Jabberjay. it's not her."

"Well how do you think they got that sound?" asked Finnick, "Jabberjays copy."

"Knox!" a young male voice screamed, a voice that Knox had never expected to hear again, "Knox! Help me! Please, Knox!"

"Lenox?" Knox whispered. She quickly shook her head, coming to her senses, "It's not real," she whispered to herself, taking a deep breath.

"Knox!" it was her father's voice this time. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, taking a deep breath and shaking her head, "It's not real." She must have looked crazy to anyone watching.

"Katniss!" screamed a male voice Knox didn't recognise but Katniss did, "Gale."

"Knox!" This time the bird imitated Johanna's voice. More birds began to scream, imitating different voices. There were so many that the voices started to become indistinct screaming, quickly becoming unbearable.

"Come on, come on, come on!" The three of them turned and took off running through the jungle back towards the beach. The Jabberjays followed them screaming in different people's voices.

Johanna, Peeta and Beetee were standing not far in front of them but just as Katniss had reached Peeta she ran into the forcefield and started to panic.

They were stuck.

Despite knowing it was futile, Knox frustratedly slammed her fist into the transparent force field with a desperate grunt, to no avail.

They were trapped.

Her knees gave way under her and she sank to the jungle floor pulling her legs to her chest and tucking her head between her knees, covering her ears as best she could but to no avail as she could still hear the screams of her father, Johanna and Lenox all around her.

⚔️

Knox had her eyes screwed shut and her head was between her knees as she sat, rocking slightly on the forest floor with her arms wrapped around her legs tightly.

She couldn't tell if the screaming had stopped, she could still hear them but she didn't know if it was real or just in her head.

Johanna crouched down in front of Knox after checking on Finnick, who was staring straight ahead of him in shock. Johanna lifted Knox's head from between her knees and placed her hands on either side of her face. "Hey, it's over now," she said gently, "Are you okay?"

Knox's face was stained with dried tears but they had long stopped falling. She let go of her legs with one arm and took one of Johanna's hands from her face, holding it, "I'm fine," she said, her voice was airy and her eyes drifted to the ground in front of her, staring at it.

She raised Johanna's hand to her lips and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles but didn't pry her eyes away from the floor.

"...they won't touch Prim alright." Knox heard Peeta say to Katniss.

"Your fiance's right, the whole country loves your sister." said Johanna as she stood up, still holding Knox's hand, "If they tortured her or did anything to her," Johanna scoffed, "forget the districts, there would be riots in the damn Capitol."

Johanna looked up, "Hey! how does that sound Snow?" she yelled, "What if we..." she turned around, dropping Knox's hand, "what if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can't put everybody in here!"

Everyone stared at her with traces of disbelief, bar Knox who was gazing at her with a glimmer of adoration in her eyes.

"What?" she asked calmly, "They can't hurt me. There's no one left out there that I love." she sighed, "I'll get you some water, come on Knox" she gently pulled Knox to her feet, bringing her with her.