I like this chapter, but I hope it's not too long. I made cheese buns yesterday. They were good. Recipe from Hunger Games cook book. Ha,
Random Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games
Uniform, check; bow, check; shoulder cam, check; ear piece, check; a pickle, check. I've been having a crazy appetence for pickles and Dr. Odessa kindly got one for me. She laughed when I told her I needed a pickle. I wonder if she could get in trouble for stealing pickles for pregnant girls. I put the plastic bag with the pickle in my hood. I don't know when I'll be able to eat it. We're on the hovercraft to District 8. Other aircrafts flock toward the district with more rebels and supplies. Beetee and Gale sit silently. They look like they're concentrating. Poor Finnick. He borrowed a uniform and planned to sneak onto one of the hovercrafts. A female soldier recognized him. He was ordered to leave the Hangar, which he did obediently, but he was mad.
District Two is in a mountainous region. A large mountain is surrounded by multiple villages. The mountain houses the Peacekeeper Headquarters. At the foot of the mountain is the town square. I remember it when Peeta and I were on the Victory Tour. Seeing the families of Cato and Clove, brought back painful memories. Villages near the mountain are still guarded, but farther ones are rebel villages. The rebels have been trying to acquire the Headquarters and have had no success.
District Two is actually a really beautiful place, but it's the site of the Peacekeeper Headquarters and it is known for their Career Tributes. Those factors put it down on my list. The mountain air is energizing and I think it's helping my health. Gale and I hunt in the woods near the rebel villages. The game we catch is used for the soldiers. Gale, and Beetee stay with the soldiers, but I'm constantly moved from different households, for safety. I repay the household with game. People found out Mockinjays are hazardous to your health.
We're called to an assembly. The commander from 2, Lyme, takes us on virtual tour of the Nut. (The nickname of the mountain, because it's such a hard nut to crack.) Hours go by of trying to come up with a realistic plan. Taking the entrances has been attempted so many times before and has failed.
"The next person who suggests we take the entrance better have a brilliant way to do it, because you're going to be leading that mission!" Lyme was getting frustrated.
Gale speaks up. "Is it really necessary that we take the Nut? Or would it be enough to disable it? Thinking of it as a wild dog's den," Gale continues. "You can't fight your way in, so you have two choices. Trap them or flush them out."
"We've tried bombing the entrances. They're set too far inside for any real damage."
"I was thinking more about using the mountain. Avalanches."
"We'd have to design the detonation sequence with great care. Maybe a team could plant bombs in the generators so there would be no power and no call for assistance. And if we do start the avalanche, there's no hope in controlling it." Says Beetee.
"We don't need to control it, if we're not concerned in taking the Nut. Just trap them."
"They could still escape through the train tunnels." Says Beetee.
"Not if we blow it up." He adds. Everyone thinks about it. Some have worried looks on their faces, and some are actually proud. Gale is sort of scarying me.
"You don't know how those District two people ended it up it the Nut," I say. "They could be there against their will, and some of them are our own spies."
"You said we had two choices." Says Boggs. "We can flush them out. We just cut off communication, avalanche the mountain and leave the train tunnel alone. We can meet them in town square."
"Heavily armed I hope." Gale says.
"Heavily armed. We'll take them prisoner." Says Boggs.
"Let's bring Thirteen into the loop now," Beetee suggests. "Let Coin weigh in."
"She'll want to block the tunnels." Says Gale.
"Yes, most likely. But you know, Peeta did have a point on the dangers or killing ourselves off… I've been researching… It's worth a conversation." Says Beetee.
Gale and I were not part of that conversation. Most of us were called to leave the room. I took Gale hunting so he could blow off steam, but I think he's mad at me for countering him. Later, We were told a decision was made, and a plan was to be executed the next day.
"Plan Review." Says Boggs. "Team 431 will go into the Headquarters and plant the bombs. Outside forces will plant bombs outside of the mountain itself. We exit the Headquarters, and get to point B. Then we'll be dropped off, with team 312, to the town square. That is when the avalanche will start. The Nut will be caved, so that everyone has to come out through the train tunnels. This is where they will surrender or we will launch an attack. Understood?" says Boggs.
"Yes sir," a bunch of soldiers say in union. Gale is examining his gun. I don't get a gun. I don't want one. In self defense, yes I'll have to kill people with my arrows, but it still bothers me. Gale has the opposite opinion. It seems he looks forward to using that gun on those people in alliance with the Capitol. It was him and Beetee who designed the bombs we're using. It reminds me of all the Capitol talk he would say when we were out in the forest hunting. He always spoke violently against them. I hate them too, but I thought it was all just talk. Now he's getting his chance.
The hovercraft hovers a little above the mountain, which caves the Peacekeeper headquarters. We slide down poles that grow till it's just a few inches from the ground. Gale is below me and a soldier is right above me. Guns are already going off. I think a bullet just went by my ear. There are Peacekeepers trying to stop our invasion. The ones on the roof are quickly taken down.
"Stay behind me okay?" says Gale over the noise. I nod, and we all start making our way into the mountain. We find a porthole and slide down the ladder. Boggs leads our team and the crew through tight hallways. We occasionally encounter Peacekeepers, but it seems Gale is always the one taking them out. We reach an end to the tight hallways, and that's when Boggs decides to go for the main hallways. A soldier kicks open a door. We're walking down the hallway, always looking around us. It looks like we are in the dorms.
"Here!" Boggs shouts. Another soldier kicks open a door and we find some kind of generator. Why would they have a generator by the dorms? Gale plants the bomb with the help of a soldier named Rike, an expert on explosives. "We need the Main Generator." Says Boggs. Oh, this isn't even the big one. We go down at least ten flights of stairs and we reach the bottom floor. Boggs orders a breach. A small bomb is attached to a heavy door. "Back up!" We get a few feet away from it and then Rike detonates it with a grin on his face. My ears are ringing, I fall on my butt. Castor turns the camera toward another soldier.
"Katniss, come on." Says Gale, giving me a hand up. He pulls me up and we continue. We go into a large room, with a high ceiling. Up on the metal balconies are about 50 Peacekeepers. Boggs orders us to fire. I don't know if the few on our teams can take them all out. I'm shooting arrows with small tazers. An arrow gets a guy in the chest, and then he, and others around him, are shocked severely. They fall to the ground. I don't know if they're dead, but they won't be getting up.
There are still so many Peacekeepers. Boggs yells "Now!", and Rike presses a button. The ceiling is crumbling down, because of the first smaller bomb we planted. Our teams escaped to the next room. We have to move fast, or we'll be caved in. We go down a flight of stairs and get to the lower level. We run ahead to the basement. A bomb is used to open the locked door. It's very hot, from the generator, and pipes are blowing steam. Gale and Rike begin to attach the bomb. I hear footsteps and see shadows approaching the basement.
"Incoming!" I say and everybody else turns toward the entrance. The crew is still filming, even under attack. Peacekeepers shoot their guns blindly. Boggs tugs me down behind a crate.
"Cover the bomb!" He shouts. I quickly begin taking out Peacekeepers with my arrows. Gale and Rike steadily work on the bomb. There are only a few Peacekeepers left when I hear Gale shout out in pain.
"Gale!" I shout. He has been shot in his upper chest. I run over to where he is and pull him behind cover. Rike continues working, while some soldiers cover him. No, not Gale.
"Gale, hold on." I say. He puts his hand over his wound. I have to stop the bleeding. From one of the pockets on my leg, I take out a bandage. I put it over his wound and tape it there tightly. It will have to do for now. "Pressure," I say, and he slowly puts his hand over it. I press on it with his hand.
"Katniss, up front!" a soldier beside me shouts. I load an arrow and shoot at the Peacekeepers. A few go down. I get behind the crate and load another arrow, but apparently my arm was not covered. A bullet grazes my arm. I yell out in pain, but I try to keep going. Rike finishes planting the bomb, and now we have to escape.
Rike and another soldier quickly pick up Gale and we all exit the basement. We're running up the flights of stairs, and my heart is pounding so hard, I think it's going to come out. We're almost to the roof. I'm aching but we're almost there. Boggs climbs up a ladder and pulls me up. A ladder is dropped down from a hovercraft. Boggs tells me to go up, when I look back for Gale. The ladder mechanically rises up and see some kind of net dropped. The soldiers climb up and Gale is brought up with the net. Gale is taken to the back of the hovercraft. I want to be there with him, but Boggs tells me to stay here.
The hovercraft drops us in the town square. Gale stays on the hovercraft. There are more of the rebel soldiers here. Large screens are on buildings. These screens were used to show our faces to the crowd during the Victory Tour. They must have despised our faces.
The main bomb is detonated and we wait till they all come pushing out of the tunnels. Cressida attaches a special microphone to my uniform. Through my earpiece, Haymitch informs me that'll be making a speech. The sound will come from the emergency audio. Then my image will be shown if they get one of the screens to work. But I felt dread as soon as I heard "speech". I'm not really good at making speeches.
"I don't know if I can do this." I say into the earpiece.
"I'll be feeding you the lines. You could save a lot of lives, Katniss," Haymitch says. And with that I walk to the top of stairs of the Justice Building and turn on my mike. Then I seen the trains come in and wounded people begin to push out. A young man with a head wound staggers, dragging a gun. He trips and I see scorch marks down the back of his shirt, and suddenly he's just another burn victim.
I run down the stairs to the man. "Stop!" I yell to the rebels. "Hold your fire!" I'm reaching to help, when the man with bloody gash on his head points his gun at me. I put my bow on my back and show him my intention was harmless.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't shoot you." He garbles.
I freeze where I am. This seems too familiar. He plans on shooting me, and I have no good reason he shouldn't. "I can't." I say. The man is perplexed. "We've got every reason to kill each other. So do it. Make the Capitol happy. I'm done killing slaves for them." I drop my bow.
"I am not their slave."
"I am. I've killed Cato… he killed Thresh… he killed Clove. It's just a circle of killing for the killing of another. Nobody wins. Except the Capitol. They always win at their game, and I'm tired of being part of it." I crouch down to the man's level. "They're making us fight against our friends and even our families. Why are we letting them force us to kill each other?"
"I don't know," says the man. I stand up and look to the rebels.
"We aren't here to kill. We're here for change." I look back to the man. "We're here for you to help us. If you go on our side, we can fight the Capitol and win. They won't have their protection. They can be stopped. The dictatorship, the Hunger Games, will all be rid of. We need District 2. We need everyone, so we can put an end to their power. Please, join us! Show them that they can't rule the Districts anymore!" The man lays his gun on the floor. We've done it, but a quick look at the screen and it seems otherwise. I see myself getting shot.
I added some parts to the event in the book. Less boring, I think. Thanks for reading. Reviews are awesome.
-cheezebuns