I walk straight past Haymitch, back towards the control room, urgent voices there aswell.
"No, I'm sorry. We talked about this. There's no way I can get you to Four. But I've given special orders for her retrieval if possible. It's the best I can do, Finnick."
Plutarch Heavensbee's voice. Followed by something to low for me to make out, but presumably Finnick.
"Don't be stupid. That's the worst thing you could do. Get her killed for sure. As long as you're alive, they'll keep her alive for bait," says Cahsmere."Just like Gloss and Everdeen's sister."
They fall silent and turn as I enter the room."You left them behind. You left Katniss behind. My sister. And Madge and Curie and those other girls. Everyone in the Capitol, too, Effie, Johanna, and Terra. You left them all for dead."
"We always knew there was a chance not all of us would get out,"Plutarch says, not ungently, but anger still bubbles up in my chest."We had to set priorities. You were one, obviously, and the other was Olive Kentwell. District Two is wavering and they are vital to our efforts to take down the Capitol. There needs to be something keeping them in rebellion, keeping them from being subdued entirely. We think that might be Olive."
He pauses, maybe waiting to make sure I still follow, and I give him a jerky nod. I don't trust myself to respond without snapping right now. Plutarch takes this as a cue to carry on."As for those still in the Capitol when we left, it's too soon to say whether they actually are still there. We have no ways of communication with other hovercrafts at the moment if we don't want to alert the Capitol to our wherabouts."
Again he stops speaking, looking slightly hesitant, but in the end, he does go on."Everyone involved in the operation is well aware of the risks."
"Everyone aware there even is an operation,"I say, digging my nails into my palms to keep calm."And I'm guessing leaving people behind was not actually your plan?"
I almost jump out of my skin when a hand drops onto my shoulder, even though it's gentle."Drop it for now, kid,"Haymitch says."Want me to finally explain everything?"
I nod and we move away from the others to sit down together.
There was a plan to break the tributes out of the arena from the moment the Quell was announced and they realised what it would do to communications between districts. The victors from almost all districts had varying degrees of knowledge about it, although the amount of victors aware of what was happening was rather different. Most victors from Five and Three knew, but in One it was only the Addlington twins, for example. Plutarch Heavensbee has been, for several years, part of an undercover group aiming to overthrow the Capitol. Celeste Horan was only roped in last year, after Heavensbee noticed her rigging small things in my favour during the Games. They made sure the wire was among the weapons. Avalon was in charge of blowing a hole in the force field but Curie was made aware of the plan just in case. The bread we sent into the arena was code for the time of the rescue, just like I suspected. The district where the bread originated indicated the day. Three. The number of rolls the hour. Twenty-four. The hovercraft belongs to District Thirteen. Bonnie and Twill, the women Katniss and Rory met in the woods, were right about its existence and its defense capabilities. We are currently on a very roundabout journey to District Thirteen. Meanwhile, most of the districts in Panem are in full-scale rebellion.
Haymitch leans back, apparently done with his explanation."Any questions?"
Before I can reply, Celeste Horan lets out a gasp of shock that makes us all wheel around and check the monitor she's facing. I don't really know what I'm seeing at first. Hovercrafts over woods. Vaguely familiar woods. Then Haymitch lets out a curse."Bombers. They're sending bombers to Twelve. They're actually doing it."
"We have to stop them,"I say desperately. Plutarch is already hurriedly speaking into a handheld device, Celeste typing into a control board almost frantically, Fulvia checking dials and numbers, talking to no one in particular."Too late to stop them. Thirteen might be able to run interference to get some survivors out. Assuming there are any. We're going right by the scene soon, we could pick up -"
"Too dangerous,"Plutarch cuts her off,"We have the Mockingjay on board."
That's when I decide staying calm can go screw itself. I grab a glass of a nearby table and fling it against the wall, narrowly avoiding hitting Plutarch in the head.
"You will go help my friends. You will save as many people as possible. Or you will find another Mockingjay!"
There's a moment where everyone just stares at me but then the two former Gamemakers exchange a quick look and start ammending their orders.
I can't really tell how long it takes us, but finally, finally we're taking people on board. They're all covered in soot and burned to varying degrees but I can't really bring myself to properly look at their injuries right now. I scan the people – and there's surprisingly many of them – to find my loved ones.
"Rory! Gale!"I shout as I finally spot them, dragging an unconcious man between them. It takes me a few seconds to realise it's Madge's dad. But that thought gets wiped away when I see who's walking behind them. The rest of the Hawthornes, Taftan and – "Mum!"
I run over towards her and throw myself into her arms. She holds me like she has no intention of letting go ever again, peppering my face with kisses and crying.
"What happened in the arena?"Gale finally asks, his face pale and his eyes wide in terror. I can't make myself look at either him or mum as I shake my head."The Capitol got them."
)o(
Last update of the year and indeed last update of this story! Next up is the third installment of this series, which is as of yet still unnamed, though I did get some great suggestions, so thanks for that! Still need to figure out what I'll go with. Not 100% sure it'll start next Sunday, it might be the week after that... See you all in 2015! Have a great end to 2014 and a greater start into the new year!
Until then, my darlings xx