A/N: OK This is the last chapter until ~ Feb 7. Thanks for reading, and have a great couple of weeks!
The district communications group is broadcasting news almost every night. Sometimes it's about the clean-up or rebuilding efforts. They're also providing information about a new electronic credit system they are trying to set up. Registered citizens will be given credit which they can use to get provisions at the distribution sites. Anyone working to help the rebuilding efforts gets additional credits, which can be used to buy extra food, clothes, or non-essentials. There aren't many places right now to buy things anyway, since only a few shops have been able to stay open through the fighting. Apparently the rebels want to provide incentives for shops to reopen, and creating the credit system is part of that. The same system will be used to allow people to register problems with infrastructure or storm damage that needs to be addressed, and the rebels will track what needs to be done and prioritize people to work on them. They're really working hard to get some semblance of normalcy in the district.
At the store, Naiya tasks me with updating the electronic tablet with inventory that survived the storm – the store is fine but a window in the store room was broken, soaking some of the inventory. They've already cleared everything out and are already receiving new provisions, but until the electronic system is updated, everything's a bit of a mess because nobody knows what provisions are where. Obviously Rose is working with all the local distribution sites to get a better picture of the situation. At least I feel useful again. It's a little awkward with my arm in the sling, but as long as I have a table I can set the tablet on, I can use it one-handed. It´s taken the better part of a week to get everything up to date, though.
Tonight Johnny fried some fish for dinner, I think because Rose is visiting. Naiya said she could stay at our place tonight - as long as there was no "hanky panky" I think is how she phrased it. Spinner reluctantly agreed that Rose and I would share the bed and he would sleep on the floor tonight. While we're eating, we watch the television for the latest district news when the screen changes to a familiar-looking rebel reporter. She explains that the rebels have launched a fresh assault on the mountain fortress of district two, and then they cut to footage of the attack. They show hoverplanes bombing the upper reaches of the mountainside. It starts slowly, with a small avalanche on the southern slopes, gradually broadening, gaining energy as it races down the hillside. Then another avalanche starts, and another. Soon, the mountain seems overrun by the massive avalanches, collapsing the slopes of the impenetrable fortress. Thick clouds of dust and debris billow up from the avalanches and encase the mountain. Throughout the broadcast, there's no sign of life from the mountain. The broadcast ends unsatisfactorily, promising live updates through the night. We head to bed, since Bear promises to wake us if anything happens. I haven't shared a bed since I used to climb in my parents' bed when I was very small, so I'm not used to it and I perch carefully on my side and hope I don't kick Rose in my sleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night Bear comes for us. He wakes me first, whispering about Katniss, then wakes Rose, Spinner, and Johnny, who's in my usual spot. He tells them they've announced a live broadcast of the Mockingjay in district two, as we all hurry out to the front room to see what's going on. Johnny sits anxiously on the edge of the couch. He looks ready to explode so I sit next to him and take his hand to reassure him. Bear joins us and instinctively I reach for his hand as well.
It must be a live feed of the district square, which is now lit brightly by spotlights cutting through the dark night. And in the center, there's Katniss on the steps of the justice building. Katniss - it's been weeks since we've seen any new footage of Katniss, so it's a bit of a surprise. She's in that amazing Mockingjay outfit again. Bear squeezes my hand.
Katniss launches into her speech, "People of district two, this is Katniss Everdeen speaking to you from the steps of your Justice Building. …"
But then there's some confusion, loud noises and smoke in the background. Katniss pauses mid-speech. Then we hear the sound of gunfire, and the lights go out in the train station. A second later, the lights are out on the steps as well and only the empty square is lit. People are staggering from the train station into the light carrying weapons. There's a flickering of flames lighting the silhouette of a train in the station.
My hand tightens on Bear's as Katniss rushes into the square, toward the staggering crowd. She yells shrilly, "Stop! Hold your fire! Stop!" She's almost reached a bloodied, staggering figure when suddenly his gun is trained on her and she retreats a step, raising her bow above her head. He's injured, bloody, desperate. His lips move, but we can't hear him.
She answers him, but her words make no sense at first. Then she says, "We blew up your mine. You burned my district to the ground. We've got every reason to kill each other. So do it. Make the Capitol happy. I'm done killing their slaves for them." She drops her bow to the ground and kicks it to him. My jaw drops open in shock.
Again, the man's lips move, as he stares up at her looking disgusted. Rose, frustrated, asks no one in particular, "What's he saying?" I glance her way with a shrug. Nobody says anything.
"I am." Katniss tells the man.
She describes watching the mountain fall, her angst over killing people in the districts. She's on her knees, pleading with him. She looks up toward the camera, calling out, "And you up there. I come from a mining town. Since when do miners condemn other miners to that kind of death, and then stand by to kill whoever manages to crawl from the rubble? These people are not your enemy. The rebels are not your enemy. We all have one enemy and it's the Capitol. This is our chance to put an end to their power, but we need every district person to do it."
Katniss reaches out her hand to the man in front of her.
I glance over again and see Spinner and Rose, their eyes locked on the screen, hands tightly clasped. Then I too am focused back on the screen. "Please join us" Katniss implores. Her head tilts up and away from the man, as if trying to address all of us, all of Panem.
There's a gunshot. Her body jerks backward and collapses to the pavement.
"No!" I cry.
My friend has been shot on live television. This can't be happening. There's no time to even process it because the scene is still unfolding before us. Bear eases his hand from mine, forcing me to relax my death grip on his fingers. I hadn't even realized how tightly I was holding on to him. "Sorry," I mumble, flexing my own stiff fingers. Then his arm wraps around my shoulder and pulls me ever so slightly toward him, nestling me against him. When I glance back at him, he's looking at the screen.
As rebel medics rush to her aid, there's a skirmish at the edge of the square. The shot didn't come from the man Katniss was near, but from somewhere else further back. More gunfire, and we watch anxiously, trying to figure out what's happening. The injured workers of the fortress are turning on one another. They all look alike, smudged by smoke, bloodied from injuries, so it takes a little while to figure out that most of what's happening is actually district two workers turning on the Capitol troops, joining the rebel cause.
Johnny, still transfixed by the screen, is telling us that there's no blood where Katniss was laying, so she might have had some protective armor or something. Mainly he thinks that if she were in serious trouble, we'd have been able to see blood pooling by where she laid, and he's sure there wasn't any.
After awhile, the screen switches back to a reporter at a desk, who informs us that district 2 has been won, what few Capitol troops remain are in various stages of surrender. The districts are united with the rebel cause. Nothing is said about Katniss.
There´s nothing to do but sleep, but I can´t sleep. Back in the bed, I lay perfectly still while Spinner snores on the floor and Rose twists into the sheets next to me. I stare into the darkness, wondering what´s become of Katniss, of my parents, of the world I once lived in, crying silent tears.
In the morning, we're all still bleary-eyed from lack of sleep. There are new propos airing already, showing footage from the districts in their battles against the Capitol. There's even some footage of the Marina attack in district four. Reporters announce that the districts are united in freedom, and now the combat forces will turn their attention to the Capitol. Rebel squads are being reorganized for the assault to come. In each district, there will be stations set up to recruit soldiers to go to the Capitol. The Mockingjay, they say, is alive, and recovering in an unspecified medical facility. I hope it's true. If Johnny says she's okay, I trust him. I have to trust him, I can´t lose someone else.
Rose wants to come with me to the store, but needs to swing by the command center first, so after breakfast the two of us head out for the command center together.