Rue awoke in the dark, both figuratively and literally. She was aware of the fact her eyes, wrists, and ankles were bound, but not much else. Her mind was foggy, like she'd been drugged, and could not remember anything beyond hearing footsteps behind her. Slowly, after a little while, she regained her thoughts and memory.
She had been walking through the streets of her district, 12, at about 20 minutes past 9 P.M. Rue was rushing to get home because her journalist work had her in The Capitol for a while, and she had to pay a visit to her brother, Cinna. Her car hadn't been returned to her yet from her travels, so she was forced to walk about 6 miles in her business heels, which she was not too happy about. After 2 miles, she had oozy blisters, which freaked her out, and Rue wallowed in her awful mood as she took step after aching step across the darkened avenue. Then, she heard heavy footfalls behind her. Turning swiftly, a sudden rush of adrenaline consumed her, but she saw no one in the dark night. Ignoring her blisters, she began to speed walk, then run, but the steps continues still. A rock struck against her foot, and she began to fall, but not before an unknown arm caught her...and another whacked her with tremendous force on the back of her ponytailed head, knocking her out cold.
A knife cut off her blindfold, and Rue's sapphire-blue eyes unfocused in the sudden exposure to a bright light above her head. Still temporarily blind, the smudgy figure in front of her didn't match with the voice she heard.
"Are you sure this it the right one?" said a baritone, gruff sort of voice.
"Positive, absolutely positive," responded a higher, but equally gruff voice.
"Hey Rue," the baritone voice said to her, "remember me?"
Her eyes focused, and her jaw fell to the floor.
"C-C-CLAUDE?!"
"That's right, Rue! It's your grade-school buddy, Claude! And guess who's with me?"
Blood-red nails scraped at Rue's face slowly, leaving white marks on her cheek. A face, heavily coated with makeup, popped up half a centimeter from Rue's. Before she could take it in, the face smiled grimly and said, "It's HATTIE!!"
Claude stepped up beside his accomplice with an evil smirk. He was clearly thrilled by the fear behind Rue's blue eyes.
"I-I have 1 question, C-Claude." Rue made a fruitless attemtpt at appearing without fear. "Why kidnap m-me? If it's b-because I left school, that wasn't m-my fault."
"Sweetheart, this is so much bigger than you can imagine. When you left school, people began to wonder why little Mellark had gone right after the new teacher came. Ms. Trimmer wanted the old ways, the way things were before the final Hunger Games, and she fixed us to be just like her, and we want the old ways. Your parents are powerful, influential, and they don't think like we do, which is a problem. Origionally, we were just going to kill them, quietly, but then we heard of their children. Cinna fell away, and if he were to-heh heh-be hurt, your family wouldn't react as much as they would if it was their daughter, Rue. Little, perfect, sucsessful Rue, all alone in the dark, with no one to help her. But we offer them a chance to recover their angel girl: just give us 50,000 dollars and a TV spot where they say they want the old ways back. Really a small price for such a gem," he said as his clammy hand brushed Rue's injured cheek. She shuddered at his touch.
About this time, Cinna decides to bust in the door.
She had been walking through the streets of her district, 12, at about 20 minutes past 9 P.M. Rue was rushing to get home because her journalist work had her in The Capitol for a while, and she had to pay a visit to her brother, Cinna. Her car hadn't been returned to her yet from her travels, so she was forced to walk about 6 miles in her business heels, which she was not too happy about. After 2 miles, she had oozy blisters, which freaked her out, and Rue wallowed in her awful mood as she took step after aching step across the darkened avenue. Then, she heard heavy footfalls behind her. Turning swiftly, a sudden rush of adrenaline consumed her, but she saw no one in the dark night. Ignoring her blisters, she began to speed walk, then run, but the steps continues still. A rock struck against her foot, and she began to fall, but not before an unknown arm caught her...and another whacked her with tremendous force on the back of her ponytailed head, knocking her out cold.
A knife cut off her blindfold, and Rue's sapphire-blue eyes unfocused in the sudden exposure to a bright light above her head. Still temporarily blind, the smudgy figure in front of her didn't match with the voice she heard.
"Are you sure this it the right one?" said a baritone, gruff sort of voice.
"Positive, absolutely positive," responded a higher, but equally gruff voice.
"Hey Rue," the baritone voice said to her, "remember me?"
Her eyes focused, and her jaw fell to the floor.
"C-C-CLAUDE?!"
"That's right, Rue! It's your grade-school buddy, Claude! And guess who's with me?"
Blood-red nails scraped at Rue's face slowly, leaving white marks on her cheek. A face, heavily coated with makeup, popped up half a centimeter from Rue's. Before she could take it in, the face smiled grimly and said, "It's HATTIE!!"
Claude stepped up beside his accomplice with an evil smirk. He was clearly thrilled by the fear behind Rue's blue eyes.
"I-I have 1 question, C-Claude." Rue made a fruitless attemtpt at appearing without fear. "Why kidnap m-me? If it's b-because I left school, that wasn't m-my fault."
"Sweetheart, this is so much bigger than you can imagine. When you left school, people began to wonder why little Mellark had gone right after the new teacher came. Ms. Trimmer wanted the old ways, the way things were before the final Hunger Games, and she fixed us to be just like her, and we want the old ways. Your parents are powerful, influential, and they don't think like we do, which is a problem. Origionally, we were just going to kill them, quietly, but then we heard of their children. Cinna fell away, and if he were to-heh heh-be hurt, your family wouldn't react as much as they would if it was their daughter, Rue. Little, perfect, sucsessful Rue, all alone in the dark, with no one to help her. But we offer them a chance to recover their angel girl: just give us 50,000 dollars and a TV spot where they say they want the old ways back. Really a small price for such a gem," he said as his clammy hand brushed Rue's injured cheek. She shuddered at his touch.
About this time, Cinna decides to bust in the door.
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