Chapter 8
The Stowaway
"Looks like we have us a stowaway."
"What is she doing here?"
"What are we going to do with her?"
"Call the transport to pick her up."
"Oh. Let her stay."
"Leave her here. We're not babysitting Coin's Mockingjay."
"HEY." I yell back.
"Alright. Everybody calm down. We're not calling anybody. We're on radio silence" says the Sargent trying to regain order. "And we're not leaving her here." I look over and spot Emma. Expressionless. Just staring at me. Not interfering with the soldiers as they speak about me as if I'm not even here.
The Sargent says "Get out of the box Missy." Emma corrects him "Sargent. That's Soldier Everdeen." "Yes Ma'am. Everdeen. Out of the box. Stand over there." I get out of the box and walk towards Emma as the Sargent and his Corporal walk over to the side and talk alone. "Em. Let me..." She stops me and says "That's Captain." I start again and say "Captain. Let me explain. I just had to get into the fight. And this seemed like the only way. I was..." She stops me again, and while looking at the Sargent says to me"Quiet."
The Sargent approaches and says "Well Cap. We can't send her back or leave her here so I guess she's coming with us. I suppose we'll find something for her to do." "You're with me or Doc at all times" Em says as she nods towards the medic "Take my sidearm. It's only for short range so don't waste your ammo."
The Sargent comes over and introduces himself as Sarge. "This is Corporal Samcon. My number two. Doc, Mars, Cormath, Rogers, Breakway, Logan and Leto." Leto is one of the females and greets me "Welcome."
Sarge gives the command "Move out. Leto you're point, Logan rear." I file behind Em and we start to walk.
Sarge is an older man, and very large. As big as Thresh. Reminds me of him. He could be from eleven. Leto is a slight woman. Really just a girl. I don't think she's much older than me. Samcon is also a female but the complete opposite. She's six feet tall and muscular. Mars, Comath, Breakway and Logan are all big and muscular men in their mid to late twenties. I couldn't guess what district they were from or what they're occupations were. Doc is a little older and Rogers looks like a boy. I'm sure he's not but he looks younger than me.
We march. Fast. And mostly uphill. I can see large mountains in the distance. I've seen mountains like these when we were nearing The Capitol. The squad move like it is a single organism. They are quiet and communicate with hand signals. When the point thinks something is wrong, he squats and lowers his hand. We then all get down. When the point is out of visual range they communicate with bird like whistles. I want to find out what the mission is but we can't talk.
After two hours of marching through the woods we stop for a break. It's a good thing because I was getting a little tired. I move toward Em. She pulls out a pear and offers it to me. "Thanks." "I'm sorry Em...Captain. I saw this as the only way to get into the fight." "No time for that now, but you better do as I say. Understand?" she says as she stares at me. "Yes." I then ask "Yes. Can you tell me what the mission is?" Her response was "No. I'll tell what you need to know and when you need to know it."
Before I can talk to her about anything else Sarge says we're moving out. "We can talk later." We start our march again. We march for another hour when we suddenly stop. Something is wrong. I don't think we got a reply from the point with a bird-call. We're crouched down now when Sarge signals Em to the front. She points to me to stay with Doc. She moves up and talks to Sarge but I can't tell what they're saying to each other. Mars then gets down on all fours and Em stands on his back and peeks over the bushes and then gets down. She takes her weapon and screws something onto the barrel. It's thicker than the barrel and makes it about 18 inches longer. She then gets on Mar's back again stands up while Leto steadies her and she shoots twice. There is no sound from the gun. Three of the soldiers race forward.
We all move up and we see two dead peacekeepers and Logan talking to Sarge. "Sorry Sarge. They caught me by surprise." "No harm. It worked out OK." "Give me one of their weapons and the spare clips" Em orders. She turns to me and says "Take my weapon. I'll use this one, and give me my sidearm back. Do you understand how to use it?" I respond with a nod yes. I also ask how come the gun didn't make any noise. "It's a noise suppressor. Can't use it all the time though. It reduces the range and accuracy of the gun. Besides look how long it makes it".
Two of the soldiers drag the bodies into the brush and cover them."Cap. Someone's gonna notice they're missing and come looking for 'em." "I know. I'm sure their unit is close by. Let's get a move on. How long til we get there?" Sarge says "Ten or fifteen minutes" We move out.
We arrive at some train tracks and hide in the bushes. "How much time do we have?" "Almost an hour" answers Sarge to Em's question. "Captain, is this the Capitol?" I whisper. She nods yes. "How are we getting in?" "Taking the train. Of course."
