Don't own Hunger Games.
"What is it they want us for?"
"They didn't ask for us, but we need to know how district 13 is doing in the war."
"Do you think it could change that quickly? When the were picked up from the arena, I heard we had a few districts."
"This is war. Anything can happen. It's like the Games. You have to expect everything to go wrong at a moment's notice."
"I'm sorry you have such experience."
"So am I." I say. We pause in front of the door. "Any more questions?"
Flora glances at herself, then to me. "Maybe we should have worn clothes?"
I stare at her, then glance down at myself, only a hospital gown concealing both of us. I was in such a hurry when I heard there was a meeting that I just jumped out of bed.
"A little late for that, isn't it?" I say dryly.
"Hey, you're the one who dragged me out of bed." Flora raises her hands. "You want us to get better but if you keep doing this you'll only stay in that room longer."
"Fine. After this meeting we'll stay as long as we have to. Stop patronizing me."
"I can see why Alto took such an interest in you." Flora whispers under her breath absentmindedly.
I give her a sad smile. "It's because I talked back and was the only one who wouldn't stroke his ego. At least on purpose anyway." I think back to my first Games, when he tricked me into saying how handsome he was.
Flora looks like she's seen a ghost after realizing what she said. "I-I'm sorry I brought it up."
"It's...alright, Flora." I say as I take a deep breath. "It's...still hard, knowing he's gone."
"We'll get through this Katniss. I'm here for you, any time you need me." Flora says as she takes hold of my hand, giving it a squeeze.
"I don't know how I'd still be sane without you here." I say.
"I think it's the other way around Katniss." She replies. She motions to the door. "Well, after you."
I push the door open. Everyone pauses as we walk in, so it's unknown what they were speaking of. Gale doesn't look to good, if only because of the massive scowl on his face, though that disappears as he lays his eyes on me. Coin, who's on his left, seem in an even worse a mood. Everyone else seems worried about something.
"See Flora. Something happened for them to look like this."
"I'll take your word for it next time." She replies.
"Shouldn't you two still be in hospital beds?" Gale asks with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't tell you how to take care of yourself." I tell him.
"Katniss."
"Oh, quiet." We move to the table. Everyone doesn't make a sound and simply watch us as we situate ourselves. When done, we glance back at them, Flora with a neutral expression while I have an eyebrow raised.
"So what's happening out there?"
"A lot." Gale answers, seeing it as futile to argue with me. "And none of it good."
Coin speaks. "Through our extensive intelligence network, we've discovered a second rebel movement. We don't have much besides a name. They call themselves "Free Panem."
"And that's a bad thing?" Flora asks.
"It normally wouldn't be. We would have the potential to become allies and join our forces. But Free Panem wants nothing to do with us. Whenever we try and open lines for communication, they ignore them. We tried sending a diplomat to their front lines, even told them we were coming, and Free Panem immediately open fire on them. No questions, no warnings, just a spray of bullets and missiles. No survivors." Gale states. His scowl grows as he continues. "The second bad is that both Free Panem and the Capitol are using technology that we're not familiar with. Take this for example." He pulls a picture from somewhere and hands it to me.
I have to say, I've never seen anything like it. It was...something. Maybe a hovercraft. It had two engines, at least I think they are, it's front was pointed, it's wings massive, and smooth looking. Very smooth looking, and through I had no idea of what it was, it looked dangerous. Like a predator.
"From what I've been able to scrounge up on Capitol intelligence." Plutarch says. "I've surmised that these vehicles are from the Pre-Panem, when this country was still known as the United States. I've only found a name and a specification. The aircraft is called a Raptor, and it's a stealth fighter."
"Stealth fighter?" I've never heard of such a thing.
"An aircraft specificity designed to destroy other aircraft. Stealth means it's invisible to radar. We can't see it coming, which means it has a huge advantage." Plutarch give a grimes.
"Those and other Pre-Panem aircraft have been picking our hovercraft out of the sky. We've had to hold back on them because we're loosing so many. The other problem is that both the Capitol and Free Panem outnumber us heavily, more then we even thought. We had control of three, five, seven, ten, eleven, and twelve. It's been twelve days, and we're barely holding onto ten. Free Panem and the Capitol have pushed us out of all of them, and they may do the same to us in ten. We're taking a beating from both sides."
...
...
"Damn it." I curse as I take in the information. "So basically what you're saying is that we're out of this war? That we've been beaten?"
"Not yet. We're sending troops to ten to keep what we already have and I have more massing at the boarders of twelve. We've been getting reports that the district is seeing some of the heaviest fighting in the country, so the Capitol and Free Panem may be wearing themselves down there. If we time it right, we can take the district quickly." Coin says.
"I wasn't aware that district twelve even existed still. Wouldn't the Capitol send bombers to destroy it?" I ask.
"They did, but Free Panem blew them out of the sky. They want the district bad." Gale says.
"They may want the district solely on the point that the rebellion started there. That and they can use it as a base of operations once they have it under control. They can easily turn it into a fortress if the need arises. It has the perfect terrain; it's in the mountains with massive forests surrounding it and if they take the train, they can deny heavy troop movement to the Capitol." Flora buts in. "They can do anything with it really."
"How the hell did you come up with that?" I turn to her.
"You have to remember Katniss that I was a Career. I was born in twelve but raised in two. They teach you to look at everything in detail, see what someone could do with something to give them the advantage."
At that, a young man bursts through the door, his hand filled with paperwork of some kind. He only gives us a second before quickly walking to Coin. He hands her a paper before he bolts out the door, leaving all except Coin confused. She looks at the paper, bringing it up close to her face, her eyes sliding left to right for a few seconds before she crumbles the paper in her hand. She tosses it onto the table.
"The Capitol just pushed us out of ten, and our troops massed at the boarders of twelve were discovered. They fell back, a quarter of their number intact. Free Panem to blame for this one." She says, her face straining to stay neutral. Her voice, however, shook in anger at what she said next. "They used napalm."
Everyone seem to know what napalm is except Gale and myself, as we give confused expressions. "Napalm?"
"A gel like substance that burns very easily, and keeps burning for a long while. Think of coal dust, only like a gel that sticks to everything, then make it burn twice as hot, and for ten minutes straight."
I get it through my head, as does Gale, and I think of the soldiers who suffered through that. Burning to death isn't a good way to go. Not at all.
"Bastards." Gale seethes.
"We're at a huge disadvantage now." Coin says. "A good portion of our force was wiped out because of that attack. We don't have the numbers at the moment, and surprise isn't on our side anymore. We can't touch them. So we'll let the Capitol and Free Panem fight it out."
Gale slams his fist on the table. "Damn it! We can't just sit here and do nothing!"
"I don't like it anymore then you do boy, but let's face facts; the Capitol and Free Panem are much more powerful then we believed them to be. And Free Panem was an unexpected movement we never accounted for, as with the technology. The most we can do is gather our forces and wait for the opportune moment. Until then, no other offensives will be conducted against both forces. You don't have to like it, but you must deal with it." Coin brushes past us. At that, everyone else exits the room, giving Flora and I nods as they pass, and before long, we're the only ones in the room.
"I don't think thirteen was ready for this kind of war." Flora says as she stares at the door.
"You think?" I reply with some agitation.
"What gets me is that they've been preparing for this rebellion for years. They should have everything ironed out, in the bag, or at least in some control." Flora continues. "Someone obviously screwed up."
"And that just makes things harder for me." I groan. I rub my eyes.
"Alto, if you're listening, help me out here."
So here it is. First chapter of the last story in the "V2" series. Kind of sad really.