A/N: Enjoy :)
I sigh, leaning back in the hard metal benches. Soldiers surrounding me gulp down food ravenously, but I have no appetite. I feel nauseous, and even the thought of having a slice of bread makes me want to vomit.
"Hey, Katniss," Finnick says, sliding into the seat next to me. "Katniss? Are you okay?"
I force myself to nod, but regret the movement immediately. "Y-Yeah. I'm fine."
"No, you aren't." He puts his hand to my forehead. The gesture is so intimate and strange that I pull back. "You've got a fever."
"You can't tell that!" I protest.
"Ah, but I can, 'cause I'm the Magic Medicine Man!"
I roll my eyes. "Finnick, we don't have time for this. We have to go catch up with the rest of the group."
He nods. "You're right. But we aren't going to do it while you're sick."
Despite my protests, after breakfast he leads me down the hallway and to the doctor. He checks my temperature, frowning when he sees the number. "'Yer right. She's got 'erself a fever of hundred 'n three. Do ye have any other signs of a cold?"
I shake my head quickly, ignoring the nausea at the sudden movement. "I don't even feel warm," I lie.
Finnick sighs, turning to the doctor. "She's not telling the truth. She's warm and is feeling nauseous."
The doctor looks at a sheet of paper. "Well, there aren't any other soldiers getting sick 'ere. So either you picked it up from somewhere else or- have you been taking morphling lately?"
My thoughts flash to Johanna, even as I try to think back to the last time I had taken it. When was it? On the plane? No, it had to be more recently then that. My side hadn't hurt yet... but morphling only lasted a few hours. How could that be possible... unless Johanna was somehow getting it to me. Avoiding Finnick's eyes, I slowly nod my head.
"Ah, that's it." The doctor sets down the sheet of paper. "You must've just taken too much of it. What have you been taking it for?"
"I got stabbed in the side," I mutter, my hand instinctively moving towards my wound. He gestures towards my shirt and I nod, allowing him to pull it up to my ribs.
"That needs to be rewrapped. And you're going to need something to ward off an infection." He sets to work wrapping up my side and gives me large dosages of medicine to swallow.
"Either way, cut the morphling intake in half. Now that you're wound has started to heal,you need less. Morohling taken without a physical wound can make someone sick, so watch out."
A soldier appears at the door. "Doc? I think-" he coughs violently. "I think I've got something."
"Come in," the doctor sighs, and I hurry out into the hallway to get out of his way.
Finnick raises his eyebrows at me, waiting until the door shuts to speak. "Since when have you been taking morphling?"
I sigh, already headed down the hall towards our room. "Since I hurt my side."
"I've never seen you take it," Finnick argues. I ignore him, picking up my pace.
I burst into our room, not bothering to actually check and see if someone is in there. I'm not disappointed- Johanna sits on her cot, fingering one of the liquor bottles. She smirks when she sees me, then takes a swig out of the bottle.
"How have you been giving me morphling?"
The smirk gets bigger. "Oh, what, you didn't notice? I was putting it into your food."
"How did you get it to me today, then?"
"I didn't. Your side should start hurting in a little while. Really, you should get that checked by the doctor."
I glare at her, not amused. "I did. You know what he said? I've been taking too much. I'm supposed to cut it in half."
Johanna rolls her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. You'll be fine." She takes another swig out of the bottle, puckering her lips slightly as it leaves her mouth. "I drink this solid, don't I?"
A thought occurs to me. "Johanna," I say slowly. "How much of that have you had?"
She shrugs. "A few bottles, give or take a bit."
I gape at her. "And- and you aren't feeling bad at all?"
She shrugs then takes another sip. "I guess after a while it starts to lose it's effect." She takes another swallow, coughing slightly, then turns her attention to Finnick. "So, Odair... what's the plan?"
"We're gonna give the morphling you've been hoarding to the hospital, then we're gonna go find Gale."
She snorts. "That's a terrible plan. Do you even know where he is at all?"
"Nope. But hopefully we will soon." As he speaks he moves around the room, touching random things, picking them up. Only after he has returned to the doorway do I realize what they are.
"You- she had that much morphling?"
In his hands he holds several empty liquor bottles as well as several full ones. Johanna scowls, reaching forward to snatch them from his grasp, but he simply holds them above his head.
"You're not getting these. We need to find Gale and the rest of the platoon, and the only way we're going to do that is if you focus."
She rolls her eyes. "Honestly, it doesn't seem like we're eve going to find him. You have no idea where he is, you have no idea where we're going to go, you have no idea how we're getting there- hell, you don't even know if they're going with anyone!"
He smirks at her. "Actually, I do. I talked to Captain Brutus. Apparently, he sent the platoon out towards the city center. Snow is hiding out in his mansion, and although the city is heavily guarded- perhaps more then anywhere else in Panem- they really don't have a choice. The Captain ran me through the whole thing. They're heading underground towards the center of the city, disabling the traps so that, in case it's necessary, troops can follow them. Once they disable the traps their plan is vague. Either the sharpshooter Leona will kill him or they'll try to break into his house. It depends on what happens on the way in."
"And what do you intend to do about that?"
"Well, clearly, since they'll be disabling traps on their way into the city and they will have to wait for the clear after each they'll take a lot longer then we would- say, if you were walking through safe zones underground cleared for troops. We can follow their path into the city, not having to worry about traps, and then catch up to them- wherever they might be."
Johanna shrugged, getting up from the cot. "Sounds like a decent plan to me." She turns to Finnick. "When are we leaving?"
An hour later we're getting into a pod, preparing to go to the Capitol. Evan, Ethan, Niles, Stuart, and Captain Brutus are all coming with us- in short, everyone who was supposed to go on the mission but didn't.
I share a pod with Johanna and Finnick, and although these are meant for four soldiers, it's cramped. Finnick crushes me and Johanna together in the back next to the medical supplies and weapons and takes the entire front and control panel. As soon as the top comes down on the vehicle everything gets dark. The bulletproof glass seems to keep the sun out- or rather disguising us. As the pod precedes down the side of the hill and into a nicely concealed entrance I am sure the black body of the vehicle blends with the shadows.
"Organize those," Finnick calls back as he carefully leads the pod into the tunnel. "We need the guns all fully loaded. Katniss, I think there's a bow and some arrows back there for you. Sorry, Johanna, don't bother looking for an ax- all I could score you was some knives."
Johanna rolls her eyes, pulling two blades from the mishmash of supplies. "These?" The knives are covered in dried blood, two filthy handprints formed on the hilt from the substance. Grimacing, Johanna takes a rag from the floor and rubs the knives carefully, taking a hilt and sticking them in it when she finished. She starts pulling bullets out and loading them into guns.
I have no idea where she getting the bullets nor how to load a gun so instead I start looking through the supplies for the bow Finnick mentioned.
At the bottom of the stack I find it. Complete with my sheath, it's the bow Beetee made me with the GPS navigator. I take it out, examining it. It seems to be in perfect condition, but I don't have time to wonder how Finnick got it here before he interrupts my thoughts.
"Johanna, do you have those ready?"
I look up, surprised to see Johanna already has the guns loaded and we are somehow already deep into the tunnels. The first pod that contains the twins and the Captain rounds a corner above us. The second, with Stuart and Niles, follows soon after. Carefully and deliberately Finnick slows the speed of the vehicle as we approach the dark hole that leads to the deep tunnels.
The moment we pass through a wave of red light passes over me. Despite the pod's protection against light this seems to have penetrated the vehicle. I don't like it.
The path we seem to be following gets narrower and narrower and slowly it begins to tilt downwards. My ears pop several times. Soon the path is almost vertical. Just when I think we are going to have to go back up the road evens out and the red lights fade, leaving us in blackness.
Despite the lack of light Finnick guides the pod after the others, careful for traps. However, it seems that the other half of their platoon did their jobs, because no trap comes. As the pod rolls through the area, faintly outside the window I can see gunpowder and debris scattered on the ground. I stop looking.
I'm not sure how much later it is that the vehicle comes to a stop. I'm not too worried until Finnick grabs one of the guns Johanna loaded.
"Air pollution level?" Finnick asks her, trying to look out of the tinted glass to figure out where the other two pods went.
Johanna glances down at something and I realize there is a control panel in the back that is similar to Finnick's. "Low. As low as it can be at this depth."
"I'm getting out. If something happens, Johanna, you take control of the pod."
"What do you think is going to happen?" I ask, ignoring the look Johanna shoots me.
"There could be a bomb or a trap that they missed." Finnick prepares to shove the door open. "Katniss- if I get hurt...tell Annie that I'm sorry."
I find myself nodding, and he grips the gun tightly.
Then the bomb explodes.
A/N: Review or PM me with comments :)
