Electric Heart (Coriolanus Snow)

13

Sally rose to her feet, wincing at the cuts that now covered her legs from the sharp rock.
Coriolanus followed her lead, standing with a grunt.

Her first instinct was to spot Wybie, but found herself staring at the people beyond the enclosure. There stood a weatherman that she knew well, Sally had seen him on the television before.

"Okay well! We'll give them a chance to stand up and catch their breath!" He said. Sally squinted, seeing that there were cameras in front of him. He was broadcasting, a microphone in hand.

"I'm jealous of that entrance." He joked. "I'm Lucretius Lucky Flickerman, a man who needs no introduction! You all know me as your favorite weather man- and amateur magician. But guess where I am today!? Here's a hint- that right! The capital zoo, where this years tributes will be held here on display behind these bars for your viewing pleasure. That's right! All twenty four of them!" Flickerman turned to gesture inside the cage and his eyes widened at the sight of Coriolanus Snow, who looked on the verge of a panic attack.

"What in the gem of panem? You see-that's an Academy rouge, no?" He asked the camera crew, who looked just as lost.

"Hello you! Yes! Sir in the red! What are you doing in there?" Flickerman yelled, but Snow was frantically looking around the enclosure, and his breath was so heavy that Sally could hear it.

"Well, aren't you going to own it Snow?" She asked him flatly, a glare on her face.

Flickerman was still yelling to him, and he'd yet to give a response. His jaw tightened angrily and Coriolanus met her eyes. "Follow me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Sally hissed, crossing her arms in an awkward manner.

Coriolanus rolled his eyes with impatience. "Look- if it was up to me we wouldn't be anywhere near each other, but right now you need to follow my lead, for your own good."

Sally hated to admit he was right but nodded stiffly, looking away.

"A response would be greatly appreciated!" Flickerman nagged annoyingly.

Coriolanus began towards the metal bars of the cage with Sally at his side, she noticed his nerves didn't seem to be improving. "Don't breathe so fast, they'll know you're nervous."

"I'm not nervous."

Sally sighed as they came to cage's edge and suddenly fear pricked her insides. She hated attention, she hated cameras. In all the adrenaline of the games, Sally had forgotten to think, and now that she'd started, she didn't know if she could stop.

Thoughts of the thousands and thousands of people in panem watching her panicked expression was enough to make her want to disappear.

"Who are you sir? What are you doing in the cage here?" Flickerman asked.

Coriolanus smiled as two children approached the bars. "Hi." He said. "How do you do? My name is Coriolanus Snow, and this is my tribute, Sally Davenport from District five." He gestured to Sally, who paled and stepped away one foot.

"Hi!" One of the children, a little girl, smiled at her. Sally's mind was falling blank. "Hello. Nice to meet you." She said it quickly, like she was throwing up the words, and felt Coriolanus's body stiffen to her side.

The girls' attention quickly turned away from her to something behind her, and Sally whirled around to see the soft looking girl with the rainbow dress. She smiled like she knew of Sally's nerves.

"Hello there." She knelt down to the child. "What's your name? I'm Lucy Gray Baird."

"My name is Pontious!" The other child, the boy said, and then pointed to the girl. "That's my sister Venus, she's only four."