Chapter 43: Stare Into the Void

The bombings last for the better part of three days.

As soon as President Coin gives the all-clear, after many hours of not feeling any tremors from up above, the whole of District 13 emerges from the bunker and ascends the many floors up to our living and work quarters. Aside from a thick coating of dust and a slight ceiling cave-in within one of our Command Ops centers, there is virtually no significant damage. We are so far underground that, even when striking no-man's land, the Capitol's bombs and their aftershocks would never have reached us as far down as we were. Still, it was a close one, and we're all just thankful to be alive.

Peeta's critical warning – clearly done at great risk to himself – elicits grudging praise from most of the people of Thirteen, even those who had previously branded him a traitor. After a closed-door session in which it is rumored that Coin spends an exorbitant amount of hours playing and replaying my son's last interview and the warning he gave, the President finally agrees to the last outlying condition Katniss leveled. Peeta will be granted full immunity, if and when he should ever be recovered. My goddaughter sees that Coin makes it explicitly clear that Peeta will never set foot in the district's dungeons or be treated in any way like a prisoner. Coin agrees. Good. I don't want my son to be so much as next-door neighbors with Brutus… who is now back in solitary confinement, much to Cecelia's consternation. But if Coin is ever going to punish us for saving a POW's life, she makes no moves to reprimand either Cecelia or me.

But the truly stunning announcement is Coin's decision to authorize the rescue mission that Proximo presented to her months ago. The President taps the ex-Training Center official to assemble and lead a team into the heart of the Capitol to extract Peeta. On a recommendation from Katniss, Proximo chooses Gale as one of his first recruits. Eager to see battle, the strongly built Seam man accepts.

Needless to say, Belle is less than thrilled about her lover risking his life. Where Gale is concerned, Johanna Mason likes it even less. After one planning session, Gale, Katniss and I emerge from High Command to find the female Victor from 7 waiting for us. Coin had just laid out our timetable for the mission; she expects for Proximo and his team to be ready to ship out within the next week – apparently, we are waiting on something from Beetee, and that it will involve Katniss and me and possibly Finnick. Coin assured us that this piece of the plan will be presented to us at our next meeting tomorrow.

The normally irascible axe girl is unusually soft as she floats to Gale's side. "What is it?" she asks, peering up into his face.

Gale sighs, running a hand over his face. "The President made clear this mission is risky. It has to be a dead-of-night operation and conducted efficiently for it to even have an outside chance of working. Even then, the probability of being caught remains…. significant."

Johanna looks stricken. I know she once said that no one can hurt her, because there is no one left whom she loves, but her expression now makes clear: she cares for Gale and his safety. Deeply. She squeezes his palm, and Gale sends her his most confident smirk. "It'll be all right, Jo."

"But what if it isn't?" she searches his eyes.

"What makes you think it won't be?" Gale's grin broadens, trying to put his girlfriend (at least I presume she is his girlfriend – they've been kissing like they're together) at ease.

Johanna shrugs, her big, brown eyes glistening with tears. "A feeling. I used to think everything would be all right, as long as I had control. Then Snow made it clear who's really in charge."

Gale tenderly brushes her russet bangs out of her eyes. "Your family?" Evidently, she has opened up to him about this. I only know the broadest brushstrokes of the story myself: when Johanna first won the Games almost five years ago, President Snow predictably tried to whore her out the way he did Cashmere Delacroix. The way he did Finnick. The way he did me. Johanna bravely refused, and in response, Snow had her family murdered. Even then, Jo was never put on the prostitution rotation; perhaps Snow feared what she might do to his clientele. The whole sorry episode might seem like it ended in a draw, but I can tell who really won – it has clearly haunted Johanna, who is now trembling.

Glancing up at Gale lovingly, Johanna suddenly blasts out:

"Will you marry me?"

Katniss and I look at each other, doing our best to keep from gawping in shock. We've joked about possibly making an honest woman out of Johanna Mason, but this…. still, I have to admit, her proposing first is classic Jo.

Gale is blinking rather rapidly at her question. Then, beaming, he takes her by the waist, pulls her against him and kisses her passionately. Johanna melts into it instantly.

"Yes," Gale murmurs against her lips. "Let's do it before I have to leave."

Johanna gasps with joy and leaps into his arms, climbing him like a tree. The couple staggers back into the far wall, heatedly kissing and beginning to rock their hips against each other.

Katniss and I eye each other again. "We should… give them…" My goddaughter splutters uncomfortably.

"Yeah, yeah, we should go." And doing an about-face, we run as silently as we can down the hall so the newly engaged couple can be alone.


We watch as Johanna and Gale bring their faces quite close to each other, embrace and kiss deeply, causing the small congregation of close family and friends to burst into applause. Immediately, all three of Gale's younger siblings – Rory, Vick and little Posy – rush forward to tackle their big brother, interrupting the wedding kiss. The new Mrs. Hawthorne doesn't seem to mind, throwing her head back and laughing musically.

When Gale and Johanna had gone to Coin asking for help throwing together a wedding, the President hadn't lifted a finger, and even objected loudly, claiming that throwing lavish parties was well outside District 13's budget. The newlyweds simply went ahead and mounted a ceremony their way, enlisting help from comrades to push some mess hall tables aside and clear a space in the common area one evening after supper.

Connor Murphy, Johanna's only remaining fellow Victor from 7 and who has made quite a name for himself in the Mechanic's Garage of Thirteen, escorts Johanna down the aisle to give her away. Dalton, a former cowhand from District 10 who is also an ordained minister (a risky title, as all religious observances are strictly forbidden in Panem; Dalton explains to me how he self-taught himself benedictions in the ancient, forbidden languages) blesses and marries the couple. Gale and Johanna decided to blend marriage traditions from both their homelands to feel that they are now truly man and wife. Johanna was quite taken with the concept of a Toasting, listening attentively as Gale and Katniss had shown her how to do it. I was proud of Katniss for making this effort, not only because she and Johanna have not always gotten along, but also because such a tutorial would surely remind her painfully of Peeta. And indeed, she got emotional one time, and to her fellow Victor's credit, Johanna noticed and was genuinely comforting.

As we watch now, Gale and Johanna feed each other a piece of burnt bread, compliments of my husband's baking skills. Giggling, they kiss again, Dalton chortling at how they are so eager.

The next part of the ceremony, according to Johanna, is the silliest part – the District 7 marriage custom is to traditionally chop down a sapling and lay it flat on the ground. Then the bride and groom are to jump over it when prompted. I remember Chaff telling me how his people in neighboring District 11 do something similar, a tradition that apparently dates back to the slave-holding days of the ancient American South. Unfortunately, we are deep underground and beneath a no-man's land, just bombed and with no healthy trunks to speak of, much less to cut down. Luckily, someone manages to find a long piece of lumber from the Wood-Working warehouse that suits Johanna's purposes nicely.

It does appear a little ridiculous, and much laughter is involved, when Gale and then Johanna have to "jump the log." Johanna laughs as she lifts up the skirts of her simple white dress – something borrowed from Hazelle, her new mother-in-law – and hops over the piece of lumber. Gale tugs his new wife close and kisses her again to cheers and wolf-whistles; closing her eyes, Johanna casts her bouquet of wilting daises and weeds aside. Annie Cresta is the lucky person to catch it.

Eli Cartwright – moving slower these days but with a face as nicely aged as a bottle of wine – strikes up a tune on his fiddle so the bride and groom can have their first dance, and the evening ends with Gale carrying Johanna across the threshold of her apartment while we folk from Twelve sing the traditional wedding song.

The next morning, Johanna has to watch her new husband depart on a high-stakes mission.

Beyond being clearly nervous about leaving his blushing bride, Gale is also ticked off that he has to take orders from Proximo, whom he clearly doesn't trust. The hostility is on open display as Gale complains to Katniss about her mother's boyfriend leading the team… even when Proximo is standing right there. Neither Gale nor Johanna has ever cared about things like tact. They're plainspoken people, they speak as they find - I guess they really are a perfect match.

I am immensely pleased when Katniss comes to her likely future stepfather's defense. "He knows the target better than anyone, Gale! Auntie and I have been in the Training Center – it's like a labyrinth. If you want to get in and get back out with Peeta alive, you need Proximo!"

"And how do you know he won't guide us right into a trap?" Gale snaps. "I don't trust him!"

Katniss turns to look at Proximo with a small smile. "I trust him." Proximo blinks, and even appears to be emotional, deeply moved.

Gale stews for a moment more before grumbling, "Fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to say goodbye to my wife." He crosses over to where Johanna is waiting and kisses her rather indecently. She kisses him back fiercely and wraps him in a tight hug.

"You'd better come home to me…. you hear?"

Gale pecks her lips one last time and heads for the plane. Drifting over to us, I take her hand in solidarity. After hugging Proximo goodbye, Katniss joins us and we watch the hovercraft lift off and zoom out of the hangar bay.


Not an hour after Proximo, Gale and their team have left, most of the Mockingjay's team is aboveground for the first time since we shipped out the District 8 weeks ago.

No-Man's Land is quiet, mist hanging thick in the air; Boggs and an advance team have checked and cleared the place of any sign of radiation from the Capitol's bombing.

However, as Cressida and Pollux, the camera crew, lead us down into a small valley, Katniss pulls up short and claps a hand to her mouth. The entire valley where we are to film is covered in white roses.

Almost immediately, both my goddaughter and I double over, hacking and wheezing from the foul smell of Snow's little gift. Katniss has a worse gag reflex then I do, she is practically dry heaving, and soon, she and I both feel warm hands rubbing the smalls of our backs. Finnick is bent over us, studying us with sympathy and companionable concern.

Beetee's plan is to have Katniss and Finnick film a propo together – a longer one than the usual 15-second, 30-second ones Katniss has been churning out with ever-improving quality. In it, they will have to come up with something that will spark the Capitol – especially Snow's - interest, to distract them from when Proximo and his team are breaking into the Training Center. Finnick had been the one to come up with the idea – secrets. Lots of them. Finnick has acquired many dark secrets from the Capitol elite over a decade-long prostitution career. Not really having many secrets, Katniss told me she has one thing she will contribute; she only hopes that it won't tip Snow off, which tells me that whatever she is about to say has something to do with my son.

Beetee's hope is for us to film all of this preferably in one take, bring the footage back down to him in Weapons Development, and he will prepare it to hack into the Capitol mandatory programming this evening… which should be right around the time that Proximo's team will be entering Capitol airspace.

Sadly, Snow has, either knowingly or not, ruined our scouted filming site. I don't know if Katniss will be able to do what she needs to do surrounded by dying white roses.

"It's OK…. It's OK…. don't focus on the roses. Don't even think about Snow. When you're filming, focus on me. Just on me," I tell her quietly. Blinking back tears, she nods and I smile gently, guiding her over to a rock in the center of this little dip of a valley. Katniss takes a seat on it, not deigning to glance at the roses scattered about, and I nod to Cressida. The digital communications director had asked me if I wanted to divulge all my secrets, but I declined. It would mean talking about being whored out. Talking about Haymitch… that would be far too painful, even if Katniss already knows all (or at least most) of this.

When the red light goes on and Cressida signals her, Katniss begins:

"I first met Peeta when we were small, on our first day of school. He walked right up to me and told me he was going to marry me. I didn't believe him then, and it wasn't until he first kissed me, the morning of our first Reaping, that I thought he might truly love me." She laughs a little – a rare and beautiful sound. "The first time we kissed, I pushed him away. But really, I didn't want to. I was just scared. It wasn't until we were 14 that I started kissing him back."

Everyone in the clearing is enraptured. It is so silent, you could hear a pin drop.

When Katniss finishes her spiel, Finnick takes her place on the rock. Unlike her, he actually uses the props around him, plucking one white rose and running the stem between his fingers.

"And now we come to our favorite subject: Coriolanus Snow. Such a young man when he rose to power. Such a clever one to keep it. How did he do it, you might ask? I'll tell you in a word: poison."

And Snow is not the only one on whom Finnick has the goods. He divulges truly nauseating secrets from some of the cream of the crop of Capitol society. By the time he finishes, Cressida has just about run out of film, and it takes a minute for Pollux to sign, Cut. Cressida has to speak the directive, almost to remind herself to turn the camera off.

We managed to do it all in one take. We hurry the footage back underground to Beetee, who immediately sets to work. Then he tells us to wait in the mess hall for the evening meal.

At dinnertime, Capitol programming comes on. I already know this is because Beetee has "let in" Capitol servers to our communication channels. Once he has them…. he springs the trap. An address from President Snow is hijacked by Katniss and Finnick divulging not only their deepest secrets, but also everyone else's, including those of the President. Beetee fights fiercely for control and then keeps it for well over forty minutes. The entire propo is shown before the Capitol finally kicks him off their servers.

At the end of the meal, we dash up to High Command and President Coin lets us in right away. She is beaming the most genuine smile I have ever seen from her.

"Target extracted. Well done, soldiers," she nods to Katniss and Finnick as her advisers erupt into applause and cheers.


Proximo, Gale and the others land safely back in the hangar bay by the next morning. As I enter the bustling space, I can see and hear Johanna and Gale, cloaked in shadow and moaning as they make love in a darkened corner.

"Auntie!" I turn to see Katniss running to me, just as I am approaching Boggs to ask what no doubt is also on my goddaughter's lips. "Is he…?"

Boggs smiles at us both. "Mr. Mellark has been taken to the medical ward for treatment. He is banged up in a few places, and a little disoriented still, but otherwise appears to be all right."

A beaming smile of happiness has come over my goddaughter's face. "Would you like to see him?" I lightly touch her arm. She nods her head dumbly, and I smirk. "Come on, then."

We head down to the medical ward, and are directed, oddly, to the psychiatric evaluation sector where I used to visit Annie.

"Be gentle with him," Boggs advises us before admitting us. "He's had quite a time of it."

Katniss and I enter a room with a one-way window lining one wall. Circling the medical cot, I look upon my son, alive and physically here, with me.

His shoulders are hunched, and his blonde hair has darkened a little so it is more sandy-blonde in color. There is a black eye over his right iris. Scratch marks here and there. He appears gaunt and sullen.

Next to me, Katniss is gazing at Peeta as though she has never seen him before. For his part, Peeta studies her, confused.

A beaming smile of hope and besotted love emanating from her, Katniss reaches out to caress him.

Peeta reaches out too…. to wrap his hands around her throat.

The two ex-tributes stagger back into the far wall, and I gasp in horror as I try to leap into the way to break it up. Katniss cannot get any air with which to cry out, not that it matters – I do most of the yelling.

"Peeta, what are you…? – Peeta Haymitch Mellark – stop it!"

I think fast. Seizing the free IV stand and wielding it like a staff, I clop Peeta over the head with it. I do so regretfully, and try not to whack him too hard. Peeta groans and slumps forward, but doesn't turn and attack me, much less let go.

I hear the hydraulic door opening, and shouts of, "Peeta, NO!" Then, my other three boys – Danny, Jonadab and Rye – tackle their loved one all at once, pulling Peeta away from Katniss even while he thrashes under their tangle of limbs. Katniss slinks to the floor, coughing and wheezing as her lungs breathe in air. Angry, red marks are around her throat.

Danny has no choice. Pinning Peeta in a wrestler's hold my littlest has known since he was ten, my husband punches his youngest son in the head, knocking him out cold.