Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Hijacking State

The cold collar was uncomfortable around my neck, making it harder to control my trembling.In that suffocating machine, I listened to the rattling of rotating parts in my ears, while a voice from the machine told me not to move, and I wondered if I could still breathe.Now, at least I'm out of that machine.Even now, having told me there is no longer any permanent harm, I desperately want to breathe. My biggest concerns—damage to my spine, damage to my respiratory system, damage to my veins and arteries—were ruled out by the doctors.Bruises, hoarseness, sore throat, and odd coughs are nothing to worry about.It will all be fine.Mockingjay doesn't lose her voice.So where was the doctor who diagnosed me as mad?I'm just not allowed to speak right now.I couldn't even open my mouth to thank Boggs when he came to see me.He reassured me that some of the soldiers were wounded far worse than this when they were fighting.

Thanks to Boggs knocking Peeta down with a punch, I didn't get mortally wounded.I know if Haymitch wasn't defenseless, he'd come to my rescue too.It wasn't easy to catch Haymitch and I off guard at the same time, all because we were so preoccupied with getting Peeta, worried about his torture in the Capitol, and ecstatic that he had been rescued, that we let our guard down.Peeta was insane at the time, and if Peeta and I had met in private, he'd have strangled me. No, not a state of madness.I remind myself, hijacked state.That's what I heard Plutarch say to Haymitch as I wheeled down the aisle.hijacked state.I'm at a loss.

Not long after I was attacked, Prim came into the room, and she clung to me, adding another blanket over me. "I think the doctor will be able to take the collar off soon, Katniss. Then you won't be so cold." Mom is having a complicated surgery, so she doesn't know about Peeta attacking me yet .Prim grabs one of my clenched hands and rubs them gently until my fingers slowly separate and blood flows through my fingertips.She was about to rub my other hand when the doctor appeared.My collar was removed and I was injected with pain and swelling medication.I lay quietly on the bed according to the doctor's instructions, trying to avoid causing neck pain.

Plutarch, Haymitch, and Beeter had been waiting in the hall for the doctor to allow them to visit.I don't know if they told Gail, but Gail wasn't here, so I guess they didn't.Plutarch asks the doctor out, and orders Prim to do the same.But Prim said, "No, if you guys have to let me out, I'll tell Mommy what happened. And I warn you, she never wanted the Hunger Games people to film Katniss, especially You didn't take good care of her." Plutarch felt ashamed, but Haymitch giggled, "I'd stop being serious, Plutarch." So Prim stayed. "Well, Katniss, Peeta's condition has taken us all by surprise," Plutarch said. "In the first two TV interviews, we noticed that he was getting worse. Obviously, he He was abused, and we thought his poor mental state was the result. But we now speculate that there was more to his current state than that. The Capitol used an extremely rare technique on him called hijacking. Bit?"

"I'm sorry," Beetle said, "I can't explain all the details to you, Katniss. The Capitol keeps this torture technique very secretive, and I believe the victim's condition is precarious. All we What we do know is that it's a fear conditioning mechanism. The word hijack comes from Old English and it means 'to capture' or more precisely 'to seize.' We think the reason for using this word is Because this technique is related to the intervention of the killer bee venom, the killer bee kills the person first by 'catching', so this technique is called hijacking. You were stung by the killer bee when you first participated in the Hunger Games, so it is different from us The good thing is, you have a personal experience with bee venom."

fear.hallucinations.The painful feeling of losing a loved one.Bee venom attacks the nervous system in the brain that controls fear. "You must still remember that horrible feeling. Did you still experience confusion afterwards?" Bit asked, "That is to say, it is impossible to judge the authenticity? Most survivors who have been bitten have reported similar situations." Yes.I recall seeing Peeta after the bee venom, conscious at the time, but not sure if he'd rather take on Cato to save me, or if it was all in my imagination. "Because the memory system is also changed, it is difficult for the victim to recall the past." Bit tapped his forehead and said, "It concentrates people's memory at the front of the brain, and then artificially changes it, and then changes it Now, imagine that I ask you to remember something—whether through verbal communication or watching a video—and then give you a certain dose of bees while the new memory signal has not disappeared. Poison. Not enough to knock you unconscious for three days, but enough to plant fear and doubt in your memory. Then, the feeling will be stored in your memory for a long time."

I feel very uncomfortable.Prim asked the questions on my mind for me. "Is this what they do to Peeta? To erase the memory of Katniss from his mind and twist it so it's scary?" Bit nodded. "It was so scary that he thought she was threatening his life, so he wanted to kill her. Yes, that's our theory at the moment." I put my arms over my face, it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen.Peeta won't forget that he loves me...no one can make him forget. "But you can make him better, right?" Prim asked. "Oh...there's very little data on this. Arguably, none at all. Even if hijacked states have been restored, we have no records of them," Plutarch said.

"So, you're going to try, right?" Prim insisted. "You're not going to lock him up in a room and leave him to suffer, are you?" "Of course not, we'll try our best, Prim," Beetle said. "We just don't know how far we can go. I guess those horrible memories are the hardest to get rid of. These are the memories we normally remember. The strongest part." "We don't know what part of his memory has been altered other than that of Katniss. We are setting up a team of psychiatrists and military experts to try to find a solution. I am personally very supportive of his full recovery." optimism," says Plutarch

"Really?" Prim said sarcastically, "Then what do you think, Haymitch!" I moved my arms a little so I could see Haymitch's expression through the gap.He was unusually tired and out of spirits.He said, "I think Peeta's going to be okay, but... I don't think he'll ever be the same again." I folded my arms again and shut them all out. "At least he's alive," Plutarch said, seemingly losing patience with us all, "Snow delivered a death sentence to Peeta's stylist and his pregame team, live on TV tonight. We don't know what happened to Effie Trinket. Peeta was hurt a lot, but he's here, with us. He's in a very different place than he was twelve hours ago. Let's start by Think about it, okay?"

Plutarch was trying to cheer me up, but his announcement of four, maybe five, imminent sentencings backfired.Peeta's pre-game prep team.Effie.I tried to hold back my tears, my throat was sore and congested, and it was difficult to breathe.In the end, the doctor had no choice but to inject me with a sedative. When I awoke, I wondered if I could only fall asleep with a sedative in my arm.I'm glad the doctor won't let me talk for a few days because I also have nothing to say and nothing to do.I became a model patient.My immense exhaustion, both physically and mentally, was interpreted as compliance and self-discipline.I don't want to cry anymore, there is only one face in my mind: Snow's face, I silently shouted in my heart, I want to kill you.

Mom and Prim took turns taking care of me and coaxing me into a little liquid food.People kept coming to see me and tell me how Peeta was doing.The worst period of his bee venom has passed, and the doctors who treated him were all from the thirteenth district, and they were all people he didn't know. People from the 12th district and the Capitol were not allowed to visit him, so as not to cause him danger memory.Experts from the special medical team spent a long time studying his treatment options. Gail couldn't see me, and he was in the hospital with a shoulder wound.But on the third night, after I had an injection and the night light was turned on in the ward, he quietly came to my ward.He didn't say anything, just touched the bruise on my neck lightly with his fingers, as light as a moth's wing, then kissed my forehead again, and then left. The next morning, the doctors released me from the hospital but told me not to run and speak only when necessary.I don't have a schedule printed on my arm, so I wander around aimlessly.Prim made an excuse, slipped out of the hospital, and she took me to our newly assigned room 2212.This room is exactly the same as the last room, except that there is no window. Buttercup has also recently been given its allotment of rations and a tray of sand to make its nest under the bathroom sink.After Prim put me on the bed, he jumped on my pillow, trying to act like a baby in front of her.She picked it up, but her attention was all on me. "Katniss, I know you're upset about Peeta. But remember, Snow has had him for weeks, and he's only been with us for a few days. The old Peeta, love you Peeta, and possibly inside him, is coming back to you. Don't give him up." I looked at my little sister and thought about how well she had the good traditions of our family: Mom's healing hands, Dad's cool head, and my drive.In addition, she also has an ability that is completely her own, that is, the ability to see everything in complicated things.Is it possible that she is right?Can Peeta come back to me? "I have to go back to the hospital," Prim said, putting the buttercup next to me. "You two keep company, okay?" Buttercup jumped out of bed and followed her to the door, whining that she had left us alone.Asking me to keep it company is like being with an empty room.Thirty seconds later, I couldn't stand being locked up in this basement anymore, I dropped the buttercups and slipped out.In the maze of underground passages, I got lost several times, but finally I found the Special Defense Department.People walked past me and stared at the bruises on my neck until I had no choice but to turn up my collar over my ears. Gail must have also been discharged from the hospital this morning, and he is staying with Bit in the research room.With their heads down, they were concentrating on studying a sketch, measuring something with a ruler.There are other sketches on cork bulletin boards and computer screens.I recognized one of the sketches as Gail's sling snare. "What's this?" I asked gruffly, drawing their attention. "Ah, Katniss, you finally discovered our secret." Bit said happily. "What? Is this confidential?" I know Gail and Bit have been tinkering with something here, but I thought it was something like a bow and arrow. "Not really. But I feel a little guilty for stealing Gale away from you," Bit admits. I've been either disorganized, worried, angry, sick, or remade into a different person most of the time since coming to District 13, and I can't say Gale's not being around has bothered me.Besides, we didn't get along very well.Beet felt he owed me a favor, and I couldn't be bothered to correct him. "Hope you make good use of his time." "Come on, look," he said, waving me over to a computer screen. This is the weapon they have been working on.Utilized the basic principle of Gale trap and transformed it into a weapon against human beings.It should be said to be a bomb.The weapon exploits not so much the mechanics of the snare as the psychology of it.First, provide the basic conditions for human survival in an area, such as water or food.Then intimidate the prey, causing more prey to fall into the trap.Putting the prey's children at risk and thus attracting the real target, their parents.To lure prey into seemingly safe areas, in fact, what awaits them is death.In a sense, Gale and Bit’s focus is not on the wilderness, but on natural human responses, such as compassion.Detonate one bomb first, allowing time for others to rescue them, then detonate the second bomb, killing more people. "That seems like a bit too much," I said. "So it's going well?" They both stared at me—Bette puzzled, Gale hostile. "I guess there is no book that says there are rules that cannot be used against humans." "Of course. Beet and I follow President Snow's rules for hijacking Peeta," Gale said. Cruel enough, but straight to the point.I left without saying a word.I feel like I'm going to lose my temper again if I don't get out soon.But before I could get out, I was stopped by Haymitch. "Come on, we need your help at the hospital," Haymitch said. "What's the matter?" I asked. "They're going to try a new treatment on Peeta," he replied, "and they've got the person least likely to hurt him in District 12, someone with whom he can share childhood memories and who has nothing to do with you Relationships. They’re screening the right people right now.” I know it’s hard work, and the people who share their childhood memories with Peeta are mostly urban, and few of those people make it out alive.When we came to Lipita's makeshift treatment room at the hospital, we saw her sitting there, chatting with Plutarch.It's Delly Cartwright.As usual, she gave me that sweet smile like I was her best friend in the world.She gave everyone the same smile. "Katniss!" she called out. "Hey, Delly," I said.I've heard she and her little brother survived.Her parents, who owned a shoe store in the city, were not as lucky.She looked grown up, in the drab uniform of the 13th district, which was unattractive to anyone wearing it.Her long blond hair was not loose but tied back.Delly was thinner than I remembered, but she was one of the few people in District 12 with a few pounds of extra fat.There is no doubt that the monotonous diet of the thirteenth district and the mourning of the loss of her parents may have contributed to her emaciation. "How are you?" I asked. "Oh, everything has changed so much." Tears welled up in her eyes. "Everyone is fine in District 13, right?" Delly spoke the truth.She really likes the people around her, everyone, not just the few good friends she has been with for many years. "They really went out of their way to make us feel welcome," I said.I think it's fair to say that without going too far. "You were the only one chosen to meet Peeta?" "I guess so. Poor Peeta. Poor you. I'll never understand why the Capitol would do that," she said. "Maybe it's better not to understand." I said to her. "Delly has known Peeta for a long time," Plutarch said. "Oh yes!" Delly was excited. "We've played together since we were kids, and I used to tell people he was my brother." "What do you think?" Haymitch asked me. "Does it bring back memories of you?" "We used to be in the same class. But we didn't interact much." I said. "Katniss was always so good. I never dared to draw her attention to me. She hunted and went to Hopper's black market and everything, and everyone adored her." Haymitch and I couldn't help but stare hard at her face, wondering if she was joking.From what Delly said, it seems that because I am so special, I have almost no friends.wrong.I don't have friends because I'm not friendly enough.Let Delly brag about me. "Delie always thinks on the bright side of people," I explained, "I don't think Peeta can associate bad memories with her." Then I remembered something, "Wait a minute. I was in the Capitol Tet recognized the Avax girl, and I lied then. Peeta covered me by saying the girl looked like Delly." "I remembered. But I can't say, I don't think they look alike, and Delly wasn't there at the time, so many years of childhood memories resonated with him more." Haymitch said. "Especially Delly is such a cheerful companion. Let's try," said Plutarch. Plutarch, Haymitch, and I go to the observation room next door to Peeta.There were already ten therapy team members inside, pens and clipboards in hand.This one-sided glass and intercom system allows us to observe Peeta in the dark.He was lying on the bed with his arms bound.He didn't fight back, but his hands twisted back and forth uneasily.At this time, his facial expression was much calmer than when he strangled my neck, but he was still not as gentle and kind as before. When the door was gently opened, his eyes widened vigilantly, and then he looked confused.Delly tentatively crossed the room, but smiled naturally when she came up to him. "Peeta, I'm Delly, from home." "Dai Li?" The suspicion on his face gradually dissipated, "Dai Li, it's you." "Yes!" She was visibly relieved. "How are you feeling?" "It's terrible. Where are we? What happened?" Peeta asked. "Looks like it will work," said Haymitch. "I've told her not to mention the Capitol or Katniss, just to see how much she brings back memories of his homeland," Plutarch said. "Well...we're in District 13. We live here now," Delly said. "Those people say that, but it doesn't make any sense. Why don't we live at home?" Peeta asked. Delly bit her lower lip. "Something happened. I miss home, too. I keep thinking about the chalk drawings we made on the sidewalks. You did a great job. You remember you gave everyone Draw a different animal?" "Yeah, pigs, cats, dogs, and others. You say... something happened?" Peeta said. Delly was trying to work her way around the question, and I could see the sweat glisten on her brow. "It's really bad. No one... can stay there," she falters. "Stop talking, girl," Haymitch said. "But I know you'll like it here, Peeta. People here are so nice to us, there's always food and clean clothes, and school is so much more fun," Delly said. "Why didn't my family come to see me?" Peeta asked. "They can't come." Delly's tears flowed again. "A lot of people didn't escape from District 12. So we're going to start a new life here. I'm sure they need a good baker. You remember Did your dad teach us to make dough people? Boys and girls?" "There's a fire," Peeta says suddenly. "Yes." she whispered. "District 12 burned down, right? All because of her," Peeta said angrily. "Because of Katniss!" He started pulling at his straps. "Oh, Peeta, it wasn't her fault," Delly said. "Did she tell you?" he said, lowering his voice. "Get her out," said Plutarch.The door opened instantly, and Delly stepped back slowly. "She didn't have to tell, I was..." Delly said. "Because she's lying! She's a liar! You can't believe everything she says to you! She's a mutant the Capitol created to use against us all!" Peeta yells. "No, Peeta, she's not a…" Delly tried to argue. "Don't trust her, Delly," Peeta yelled frantically. "I trusted her in the past, and she wanted to kill me. She's already killed my friends, my family, and you don't even go near her! She's Mutants!" A hand stretched out from the door, pulled Delly out with a swipe, and the door closed immediately.But Peeta is still shouting. "Mutant! She's a nasty mutant!" Not only does he hate me, he wants to kill me, and he no longer believes that I am human.This is worse than strangling me. The doctors on the medical team around me were scribbling away, taking every word he said.Haymitch and Plutarch grabbed my arms and pushed me out of the room.They made me lean against the wall of the hallway, and it was silent.But I know Peeta is behind that wall and glass, still screaming like hell. Prim was wrong.Peeta can't come back. "I can't stay here anymore," I said dully. "If you want me to keep being a Mockingjay, you can just send me away." "Where do you want to go?" Haymitch asked. "The Capitol." That's the only place where I feel like there's still work to be done. "No. You can't go until all the jurisdictions are safe. The good news now is that, except for the second district, the fighting in all districts has basically ended. The second district is still a difficult bone." That's right.It has always been at the head of the jurisdictions, next to the Capitol.It's not far from Snow. After the second district is taken, I can follow Snow next. "Okay. Then send me to the second district."