Electric Heart (Coriolanus Snow)

14

After Coriolanus was ushered out , Sally was again alone, and in a zoo enclosure.

She knew she shouldn't feel alone. She had Wybie, and the other tributes who were going through the same thing as her.
But Coriolanus was a reminder of her safety, the safer life she used to have in the capital.

"Was all that true?" Wybie asked, sneaking up behind her. He had blood on his face from a deep cut on his left cheek. "He was one of your old classmates in the capital?"

Sally nodded reluctantly.

"You never mentioned someone named Coriolanus being your friend."

Sally scoffed. "He's not my friend. He never has been."

"Oh really?" The shrill voice of the redheaded girl rang in her ear, and Sally was shoved into the dirt.

"Hey!" Wybie protested angrily, but he was quickly held back by a large brown haired boy, much stronger looking than he was.

The redhead put her foot down hard onto Sally's chest, who also hadn't eaten in what felt like ages, unable to fight the weight.

"Isn't this interesting?" She grinned, showing off a row of crooked yellow teeth. "A little capital girl in the hunger games."

"She's not from the capital!" Wybie argued. "She was born in the districts just like the rest of us!"

"Shut up pretty boy." She turned to Wybie, swinging and punching him hard in the face. Wybie grimaced, spitting the blood out onto the dirt below him.

"Coral stop. Shouldn't we be saving this for the games?" The brown haired boy asked. Sally was grateful for it. She was beginning to run out of breath.

The girl, Coral, bent down, still pressing the foot of her boot onto Sally's chest, and was now inches from her face.

"You think you're special huh? Little capital girl thinks she's better than us." She laughed, the spit saliva onto Sally's cheek. Sally writhed beneath her grip.
"I can't wait to kill you in the arena while all your little capital friends watch."
Coral picked up her foot and slammed it down hard into Sally's stomach, before chuckling and walking away.

Once Wybie was released he rushed to Sally's side, helping her to her feet. But he wasn't the only one. Lucy Gray, the pretty girl in the rainbow dress was suddenly beside her, looking genuinely concerned.

"Are you alright?" She asked in her heavy southern accent.

Sally nodded. "Fine."

"You can come sit by the rocks with us." She offered, pointing to the corner of the enclosure where a large dark skinned boy was sitting under the shade of a large stone rock.

Sally and Wybie exchanged a glance before agreeing, following Lucy Gray to the corner, a distance away from the other tributes.

"This is Jessup." Said Lucy Gray. "He doesn't talk much but he's real nice."

Sally smiled at Jessup, who gave a weak nod in reply, and she was quick to notice his bloody neck.

Lucy Gray must've seen her staring because she quickly opened her mouth to speak again. "He got bit by a bat on the train. There were tons in our compartment. He shielded me so I could sleep."

"You two..." Wybie began. "You were friends back in your district?"

Lucy Gray nodded. "Yeah believe it or not. I was with the covey, we're a singing group who travel from district to district. But the peacekeepers rounded us all up in twelve, that's how I ended up there. Then I met Jessup. What about you?" She was looking at Sally. "That's true isn't it-that you were a student at the academy?"