Everything around me seems to fade away as I stare into the watery eyes of my mother. She looks up at me and says, "I thought you were dead." I am taken aback by her words. "But I always hoped…I knew you'd make contact with me in some way." She finishes.
A loud explosion close by that knocks us toward the edge reawakens my senses. "I have to get you out of here. Can you walk?" I know that running is out of the question but I have limited time to get her to safety before the plan gets too far behind schedule.
"I can try." She offers. I grip her by under her arm and glance to the sky. Bullets are raining down about two blocks away, then there are what looks to be torpedoes made for the sky a few blocks away in the other direction.
"Don't look up." I instruct her and half-guide, half-drag to the door located on the other side of the roof.
Haymitch's voice interrupts my thoughts again. "Okay, thought I'm not happy with your decision I'll help you out of this. This is an apartment building, that door takes you down into the emergency stairwell. Get down to the bottom level and there will be another door that will take you underground. We'll take it from there."
I follow his instructions with as much speed as I can manage with my mom. She's fading fast and I need to get her help from a healer with more experience than me before she gets to be too far gone. "Mom, inventory." I say to her as we're going down the steps. It's a kind of short hand that we developed in a dire health situation for her patients.
"I'm lightheaded, my ankle is sprained, if not broken. I have a laceration on my scalp that will probably need stitches. And I'm a little queasy." She says. I can't imagine why, I think sarcastically.
"I'll get you some help. Don't worry." I assure her. We reach the last landing and I say, "Just a little bit farther. I promise." Haymitch has stayed quiet. When I finally wrench open the door I wait for further instruction. I don't need any though. I hear pounding boots down the tunnel and look in the direction of the sound, seeing troops turn the corner and run toward us. They take my mother out of my arms and put her onto a back board. "No! I want to help her! Where are you taking her?" I scream. Arms grab me and slam me against the slimy wall of the tunnel. They hold me there securely and someone keeps yelling my name. Then I look at the person holding me. "What are you doing here?"
"Making sure you don't do anything else stupid!" Peeta yells at me. "Now come on, we need to get back out there!"
My head is swirling at the shock of seeing him. "She's my mother Peeta! I thought she was dead! What if you saw your mother? Wouldn't you save her too?"
"I understand Katniss but we have a carefully laid out plan that we now need to clean up because you threw it to Hell!" he yells.
"Why are you so upset?" I ask him. But then the pieces start to fit together. "You…you knew! You knew she is alive, didn't you? All along?" I accuse.
He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous." He releases me and I notice that we are alone once again. "Now let's go." He grabs my arm and pulls me back toward the door.
As he leads me back into the war I start to wonder what Haymitch was thinking, sending Peeta in to help me. Doesn't he know that this could ruin the plan? Of course he knows, but he's never cared about the possible negative outcomes. He has a contingency plan for everything.
Peeta takes me through the tunnels and motions to a ladder. I start to climb and then look down at him where he is standing at the bottom. "You're leaving now, aren't you?" I ask.
He nods and frowns. "Please stay safe." He pleads.
I smile grimly at him and wave a hand, climbing up into the street. I slide the tile back into place and look around, taking in my surroundings. Wow. Peeta has lead me to the exact place I am supposed to be. If I had gone straight back to the war and tried to get here from there it would have taken me an hour at least. I activate the Holo and proceed down the street with extreme caution. The rebels are succeeding in pushing both armies away from the President's Mansion. Luckily, because of the deteriorating Capitol army there is no security patrolling the perimeter of the mansion.
"Okay Katniss," Haymitch says, "here's what you do: walk in the front door."
I stop in my tracks, already surprised that I can walk through the City Circle, but through the front door of the President's Mansion? How can that be possible? "What?" I ask him.
"Listen, and trust. There are no guards inside the front hallway. The president has been moved away from the Capitol." He informs me.
"What? Where'd he go?" I do an about-face but Haymitch says my name.
"We have people tracking him. He got out right under our noses." There's a shout in the background but he obviously ignores it. "Now get back to the plan. Go on. Turn around and walk—no, don't! Don't go inside!" he suddenly shouts, making me cringe.
I train my eyes on the front door of the mansion and the front windows but I don't see anything. "What…why?" I ask, confused.
"Katniss, get out of there now! Go!" Plutarch suddenly commands in my ear.
I don't have to be told twice. I run down a side street and into an alley. "What's going on?" I demand.
"Johanna is dead." Haymitch tells me.
"They figured out that she was an imposter and they are going straight back to the mansion." Plutarch explains further.
I stop running, realizing that I'm going in the opposite direction I should be running…but it's too late. I can already hear their pounding footsteps. "What do I do?" I demand frantically.
"Find somewhere to hide!" Plutarch orders.
"Raise Hell." Haymitch says nonchalantly.
Taking a quick glance down to the Holo, I notice that there is a pod about one hundred feet in front of me that I can easily set off. But that can only be a distraction. Unless… "No problem." I say, drawing an arrow back and keeping my eyes glued on the end of the alley in the far distance. When the soldiers are close enough that I can separate them from each other and they don't look like a big blob I release the string, sending the arrow straight to the pod. I don't even stick around to watch the pod activate, I'm already running. There is an earth-shattering BOOM! that knocks me down and I can only think about how far away I am and how that would have been had I been right next to it.
I sprint down another alley that seems familiar. There is a neon pink sign flickering in one of the windows that catches my attention. It's about fifty feet away. The curtains are drawn and I suddenly have my own kind of flashback. A bloody neck. Rusty water. Stone walls. Bloody wrists. Canned food. A tense hug. A revealing conversation. Soft furs. Warm…furs. Furs. Furs!
I'm so caught up in my own head that I run past the shop. Luckily Tigris reaches out her hand and catches me by the elbow and wrenches me inside. She slams the door shut behind her and locks it tightly. She runs to the window and peeks through the curtains and then spins around and faces me, collapsing against the wall. "Thank you." I breathe out.
She nods and waves her hand at me. "Plutarch called. Said there's been a change of plan."
"Which is…?" I prompt.
"Stay here." She says.
At the same time Haymitch says, "Stay there." He pauses as I take it in. "Katniss, listen to my next instructions very carefully. This communication device is no longer safe to use. People could be listening in right now. Just know that you've performed well beyond our expectations and we are proud of you."
"Haymitch…are you saying goodbye to me? Do you think you're going to die?" I ask. He doesn't answer. I understand. "I'm going to die." There's no doubt. He's only put me in this tiny shop to make sure he gets his final goodbye with me.
When he speaks again his voice is thick. "We'll see if we can get to you when this is over. Oh, make sure Tigris can't hear you." I glance at her quickly and walk down the small hallway to the back storage room. I sit down on the floor underneath a rack of fur coats that cover my face and much of my torso so my voice will be muffled. "There are no guarantees though."
"I know." I say sadly. "Haymitch, thank you. At first you were my mentor but now you're so much more. You're almost like my second father." I confess.
"Katniss, please don't." he warns darkly.
"No, let me finish. You have helped me through so much. You're the only person in this world that knows me fully. You know exactly how I think and how I act in different situations." I tell him wholeheartedly.
There's a long pause and I start to worry that I've lost the connection. Finally he says, "Listen kid, changed my mind, I'm not gonna let you die just yet. Peeta is still out there and I'm keeping you alive for his sake…and partially my personal hidden agenda for you. Here's what you do: find something hard and shatter this earpiece."
I locate a small loom on the floor across the room from me. "Then what?"
"Stay alive." He instructs and I can hear the smile in his voice. "Listen and trust." He adds and I know that there is nothing else to be said. I wrench my earpiece out and set it on the floor. I take the loom and lift it, taking one last look at my only connection to my loved ones and then throw it down, cringing at the crunching sound. Tigris comes running into the room and stares at the loom.
"What are you doing?" she asks quietly.
I look over at her. "What I was told to do." I say vaguely and walk back to the rack of furs and sit down in the same place, feeling very much alone.
That's it for this chapter. Please review.
~PennStateGRL4eva~
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