Hi all! I am so sorry that it has been so long! This is probably how it will be with updates, as I am a full time student right now and do not have much free time. I will be trying my best to get a new chapter out to you whenever I can! As always, I love the feedback! It really helps me write. Please comment! Thank you!
Chapter 6
Gale's POV
I can't stop the thoughts racing through my head. I don't think my brain can comprehend what my eyes just saw. My heart is racing as if I had just run a marathon. I try to rub my eyes and see if they are seeing properly. I look back at the frame of footage frozen on the screen. There is no fucking way that this is happening.
I could recognize their faces anywhere. There's no way that it's not them. But how? It's not humanly possible. I saw them die.
Sterling seems to regain his speech as he looks over at me, "Is that - is that who I think it is?" he asks in a very timid voice. I honestly don't know how to reply. I really don't. There is no way that this is happening right now.
"I think it is" I reply, starting to become more sure of myself. I look back at him and I hold his gaze as I add, "Finnick O'dair and Peeta Mellark are alive".
Sterling stares back at me completely awestruck. I completely understand where he is coming from, as I am still having difficulty coming to terms with the whole situation. I really don't understand how this happened. It just doesn't make any sense. They died. I saw it happen. I mean I guess we never went back to check, but it sure sounded like they were dead. We shut the doors to the tunnels and you could still hear their screams. The mutts were eating them alive. Their screams haunt my sleep, and I know that they haunt Katniss's too.
"We need to act fast." I say as I begin to take control of the situation, "There must be a reason as to why they are coming to our attention now. What are they after? Why now? Do they want to be found? Most importantly, who are they with?"
The other peacekeepers in the room look shocked. No one knows what to do with themselves.
"I need all of you to go through footage from the tunnels the night that we all thought that they were killed. There must be something there." I look back at Sterling and all the other people in the room, sweeping my gaze from on to the next. "We need to look at all Capitol security footage from the last week, month even. However far back we need to go until we find them.
"This is our time to show that the new intelligence agency that we have in place is working and useful." I make eye contact with everyone in the room. "Lets find ourselves some dead victors."
As everyone gets to work scrutinizing security feeds, I make a phone call to a friend in District 7. We need all the help we can get.
The phone rings twice before it is answered, "Hey, Bitch. What do you want?"
"Well hello to you too. Nice to hear that you're still alive out there Jo."
"Hows my favorite peacekeeper doing?"
"I'm doing fine. Except for the fact that we may have a very serious problem on our hands."
Johanna's tone changes immediately, no longer happy and chipper, but serious and stone cold, "Gale, don't fuck with me. What's going on?"
"We've got a security breach in the Capitol. Not like anything we've seen before."
"Gale, spit it out! What kind of breach are we talking?"
"We think that there is a capitol underground that wants to bring back the old ways from before the rebellion. There were two men who managed to get into the capitol building using an unidentified persons card to scan in twice. We still aren't sure if they have done anything that is worth a panic. They had peacekeeper uniforms on in the footage that we have, but get this, the seal on their breastplates is the old Capitol one. That's not event the best part though, guess who they are."
"Let me guess. Some high-class snooty Capitol idiots."
"Not even close," pausing for a moment, "Finnick and Peeta."
"Sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say Finnick and Peeta? As in the Finnick and Peeta?"
"Yes"
"You're saying that two dead men are walking the hals of the Capitol?"
"I am"
"You're fucking with me."
"I wish I was. We need you to come out here as soon as possible. We need all the help we can get right now."
"I'll be there as soon as I can. I need to call Kat and Annie though, I was supposed to go out to Annie's to see them. Wait, have you told her yet?"
"Fuck no. What am I supposed to say? You're dead lover is still alive after three fucking years and we don't know how or why or even where he is?"
"Alright, I get it." she pauses for a moment, "What the fuck, Gale. How is this happening?"
"I wish I knew, I really do."
"Okay. I will be there first thing tomorrow."
"See you then." Shit. "Wait! Jo, you still there?"
"Yeah."
"Promise me that you won't tell them anything. At least not until we know what is going on. You know how many things could go wrong if they find out too soon."
"Don't worry. My lips are sealed."
"Thanks, Jo."
"Yeah, but you owe me."
I smile to myself before hanging up the phone.
The control room is complete mayhem when I walk back in. People are everywhere scrambling to piece together every bit of information that they can from the last three years. We still can't find them anywhere. They were just here, how far could they have gotten? I find myself an open screen to work with. Scrolling through all the camera angles a, looking for the two people that I never thought I would see again.
I hear a frustrated sigh behind me and turn to see Sterling running his hands through his once styled hair. He makes eye contact with me and I can tell that he feels hopeless.
"Okay. We need a new approach to this." I state. The focus of the room begins to focus on me. "They have been able to hide for three years. We need to think outside of the box a little bit. We know that they haven't left the Justice Building, so I say we split into search groups, go back there, and tear the building apart until we find them. Commander Mason is coming in on the next available train from District 7. Her and I are the ones here who know them well enough to have an idea of what to look for."
"I will stay here with my team and keep searching through the old video feeds, looking for any past signs of them." Sterling announces.
"Sounds good. The rest of you, gear up and meet me at the front gates in two minutes. We are heading out and I need all of you to be prepared."
"Yes, sir." The other peacekeepers respond.
Everyone disperses and I head to the weapons locker. I grab a stun gun and adjust my bulletproof vest. I pray that we find them without a fight. I can't let Katniss down again. I need to bring him back to her, whatever it takes.
The trucks pull up in front of the Justice Building and we file out onto the sidewalk. I stand on the steps of the building to get their attention.
"Okay, we meet up with all the other peacekeepers, split up into search groups, and search this building from top to bottom." I keep my authoritative persona. "Let's go!"
The peacekeepers rush through the doors and I follow close behind, speaking into my communicuff to President Paylor, "They are still here. In the building. I think we can find them. Keep the building in complete lockdown. I'm not leaving until we find them."
We run through the halls, push through doors, before reaching the Peacekeeper headquarters. We are met with the president and fifty or so bewildered peacekeepers. "Alright," I start, "my squadron come with me. The rest of you split into your squadrons. We are going to search this building from top to bottom. No one stops until we have them. Everyone stay in touch and don't lose sight of your group. Let's go!"
Everyone begins to move about the room into their groups, mine gathers around me.
Paylor comes up to me, a look of concern in her eyes. I step away from my group as she begins to speak in a hushed tone, "How?", she asks me, "How can this be? Are you sure its them?"
"I wish I had an answer for you, I really do. We must have missed something that day. There is nothing else that I can think of." I reply.
She looks me dead in the eyes, "You need to be the one who finds them. You and only you are to bring them to me. Do you understand? I need this to be a matter between you and me. I do not trust everyone here to keep their emotions in check if they are met with two people that are supposed to be dead."
"You have my word. I want to find them more than anything. I will bring them to you, I swear to it."
I turn back to my group and look each of them in the eye and nod at them. We are in agreement. We are going to find them if it is the last thing we do.
The hallways are quiet except for the beating of our boots against the pristine marble floors. We make our way deep into the depths of the building. It has been almost forty-five minutes and we still have nothing to show for it. The way that we are headed will bring us to a part of the building that hasn't been used since before the rebellion. I never thought I would ever be down here. The halls are deafeningly quiet and I can hear my heart pumping in my chest.
We halt in front of a large black door at the end of the hall. I rest my hand on the door knob, take a deep breath, and twist, letting the door swing open in front of me. We enter a dark, cavernous room, lit only by the beams from our flashlights, and the light coming from under a door across the room, about fifty feet away.
I raise my hand and motion for the rest of the group to remain quiet. We walk across the room, careful not to make any noise. I come up to the door and grab the handle. I turn and look at the men behind me, "Turn the flashlights off and do not say a word until I give you the okay." They all follow my instructions and we are left in a void of darkness. Once again I take a deep breath before twisting the knob and letting the door open slowly, my other hand resting on my stun gun.
I am met with two sets of eyes looking back at me, both dull and utterly lifeless.
"Well, fuck."