Chapter 28

Appearances

Coulson

I join Haymitch at the fence – my hands are steady and I'm ready to answer questions. "What happened?" Haymitch asks me. "We heard gunshots ..."
"One of the Peacekeepers woke up, finally." The evacuation isn't exactly quiet. "I told him what's coming," at gunpoint. "He and several of the others decided their lives weren't worth loyalty to the Capitol, the others disagreed."

"You make it sound … quiet."
"I know." It's my nature – besides there are too many people around. "Why don't you go up to the Seam since people know you there? Send Johanna here to me, if you see her."

I fight almost constantly with the people coming in – everyone wants to send all their kids and every woman says she's pregnant and everyone insists their parents are too old to walk. I have to stick to my guns, and I know I'm still not going to have a seat for everyone who needs it. I just hope we can them all on the trucks.

Johanna joins me and she's much less diplomatic than me – she takes the little kids and old people she wants and doesn't take lip from the parents who want their kids taken too.

That's when Howard tells me the bad news. "You're not taking them to District 13. Just get them into the woods as far as you can and we'll make our way to them and pick them up a few at a time with …"
"That's unacceptable," I say, to the confusion of those around me. I want to point out they'll all die – headquarters moves way too slowly to get to us before the Capitol. But I don't dare say that in earshot of everyone else.

"Coin's refusing to let you in – at least you have a shot if you head for us."

"Hold on. Johanna, take over for me for a second." I look at my watch – our hovercrafts should be here by now and I don't know what's taking them so long. "If the hovercrafts come, load the first one and then get all of the second group on the second one and pull more from the crowd as they come in – they won't leave until they're full. If the pilot clears it you can add a few babies for the grandparents to hold in their arms."

I step off deeper into the woods, far beyond the earshot of anyone waiting, and open a different channel. "This is Lieutenant Coulson requesting a conference with President Coin's advisors. Phillip Coulson – Number 421962." I listen to static for a long time and then, to my surprise, the voice I hear isn't one of Coin's advisors … it's the woman herself.

"Lieutenant Coulson," she says evenly. She opposed my being taken into Fury's ranks because of my time in the brig – a lot of the District 13 soldiers went hog wild when they got away from 13's strict regulations, and she thought I'd be one. "Ma'am – with all due respect I think not allowing District 12 into your doors is a huge mistake. We've got eight thousand people here, eight thousand good, innocent people …"
"I'm afraid I cannot allow sentiment to affect this decision, Lieutenant." Not that the old crone has any sentiment. But I have to think how to spin it to her.

"I think you can, ma'am – not yours. The people's. Think about it – eight thousand people, snatched from the jaws of the Capitol to a new life outside of Snow's iron grip … Eight thousand people, saved by the generosity and courage of District 13 and their leader, President Alma Coin." I think Fury sees working for Alma Coin as a necessary evil – I do as well. As I talk to her, I hear the whirl of the hovercrafts and almost breathe a sigh of relief. "If you don't, they're going to die like rats in the forest and the Capitol will sell their deaths as justice and the cause will lose eight thousand potential soldiers and support staff."

"Very well. The doors will be open until the sirens go off – after that, you're on your own."

"Thank you, ma'am."
"If you want them safe, get them here ahead of the bombers."

"Understood." My line crackles dead, and I tune it back to talk to Howard.

"I convinced the President. We're going to District 13. But I wouldn't be surprised if she closes the door on us. But it's Plan A for now."

"How'd you do that?"

"I have my ways," I say mysteriously. "I have to go back – I moved aside so I wouldn't panic anyone."

I step back into the clearing and see Katniss loading a little girl into the first hovercraft. I think she's fine where she is for now. Gale's already brought two of the trucks, but he's not here right now so I assume he's gone for another one. "I already sent Thresh to start getting people off porches and double-checking the houses," Johanna calls to me as she shoves a man with no legs, none too gently, into a seat on the hovercraft.

"I thought Thresh was wounded."
"He was. He's holding up well though," Katniss answers as she starts fastening seat belts on some of the little ones. She manages to be a little bit gentler than Johanna – but comfort is not my concern right now. I open my mouth to try to impress this on Katniss, but then I notice who's choosing the people to go on the hovercrafts next.

I could break down, I could curse at headquarters for sending me Stephen, I could run over and hug him and check his wound – I can see the place where his uniform is torn and the skin underneath is covered in blood-soaked bandages – but I know how important appearances are and I don't want to panic the residents and I don't want Stephen to know I see him as a child, even though I do. So I head over to Katniss. "Do you have something from headquarters for me?" She throws me a trunk. I open it – yes! "Katniss, do you know where they keep the coal trucks?"
"Yes but I've never driven them."
"I have – I can help her," a middle-aged man says quickly.

"Go – in fact …" I take out one of the loudspeakers I was sent by headquarters and turn it on. It squeals with static but they'll be able to hear me. "Attention – who here has experience driving the coal trucks?" Almost all of the men and women over eighteen raise their hands. "How many are there in the District?" I ask Katniss.
"About fifteen," she answers. I pick twelve of the people at random.

"Go and get the trucks, bring them back here. Katniss, go ahead and go help load some more people," I say. With that, I go back to picking out people to load on the hovercrafts – now helped by Stephen.

"I'm proud of you, Stephen," I take a moment to tell him.

"You don't have to say that," he says modestly. I wish I had more time to tell him I mean it, but at the moment there's none to spare.

Duke comes back with the redheaded night watchman. I ask how they get around here, and the Peacekeeper knows what I'm asking. "I'll get the jeep – you can get quite a few kids in there."

"Go," I tell him. "Duke, stay – I want to take you with us. How good you think you are with that gun?"
"I can aim just about anything."
"Good." A gun will be no good against a hovercraft but it'll hopefully serve to calm everyone's nerves.

As soon as Gale comes back with the next truck, I stop him. "Gale, we have to start leading them out," I say.

"We haven't got nearly everyone yet," he protests.

"I know. Katniss can take the rest." At the sound of her name he looks up for her and finds her almost immediately – like he has vision specifically to pinpoint her.

"Katniss?" he calls.

"Gale!" She runs into his arms and hugs him tight.

"What about …"
"I saw our families – they're safe," she says quickly. They know they can't stay for long though – they let go almost immediately and she goes back to what she's doing – we've got the second hovercraft almost ready to go and the first one's been gone for a few minutes.

I reach in the trunk from headquarters and give Gale one of the four pairs of night vision goggles and take one for myself. I turn on the megaphone once again. "Listen up. Mr. Hawthorne and I are going to take whoever's already here. We're going to move quickly so if you're afraid of getting left behind wait – Ms. Everdeen will lead the rest of you. We've got a couple of hours before dawn – but we don't have time to wait. While we wait on dawn, I want everyone to hold hands or tie yourself to the next person or whatever you can do to physically connect yourself to someone. We do not want to lose anyone. Do you understand?" Most people nod but a few hang back – I decide that's good enough. "Everyone hold hands," I say, and take the nearest person's hand. "Gale – lead on."

We take off at a good pace. I know we can't maintain it but I wish we could. I can only hope that Tony and the airplanes and our hovercrafts buy us some time.