NOTE: Another long chapter. This is about a mission, so there isn't as much Katniss and Peeta, but I didn't want this story to be only about that. I wanted it to have a core with the squad and such. It's also needed for the next chapter, which is what you've all been waiting for! Review!
"This is not a drill. Remember that." Jacobs said as I walked towards the end of the ramp. I looked out onto clear blue sky, with the ground far below me. I could see little black dots falling towards the ground. I was the last of my squad to parachute out. "Good luck Soldier Everdeen." I nodded at him and gulped. Then I jumped out of the hovercraft.
It was an ingenious plan really. We had to go in to district two and destroy a capitol arms production facility that was inside a mountain. The only way we could get in discretely was to go when they least expected us: during the day. Jacobs had been observing them and knew that they posted more guard at night because they expected an attack, so he decided to risk being seen in order to catch them off guard. The next part was getting in.
"Seriously?" I asked as Furman handed me a small bag. "We are gonna parachute?" It was hard to scare me with stuff like this after all I had been through with the games. I didn't understand why we would choose this method, plus the idea of jumping out of a flying hovercraft with only a piece of cloth to save my life was not my idea of safe.
"We're gonna catch 'em with their pants down." Jacobs said with a smile. "Hovercraft have a maximum height limit of about 5000 feet. So we're gonna go a little higher to drop you in. They're sensors won't register us up there, and we'll be going in under the radar." It was dangerous and risky. So many things could go wrong, but I guess that's why they sent us, the best trained squad in the rebellion. I put the small pack on my shoulders and fastened the harness around my legs and chest. I walked back to my seat next to Peeta.
I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "It'll be alright Katniss." He said. "You trust Commander Jacobs don't you?" I nodded. "He wouldn't send us in there if he wasn't sure this plan would work." He had a point. I had gained a new level of respect for our commander. He was a tactical genius, and he had outsmarted the Capitol in five separate missions before becoming commander of squad 451. If anyone would lead us in safely, it would be him.
I pulled my chute and felt it tug hard on the harness. I started to slowly float down to the ground. This was the worst part. When I was slowing down with a huge chute to identify me was when I was most likely to get shot out of the air, then it was a long fall to the ground. I looked down, felt nausceous, then quickly looked back up at my white chute. I couldn't think about that now. Jacobs told us to go somewhere else on the flight down. There was no way to defend ourselves, so we may as well try to be happy for what could be the last time. "Go to your happy place." He would say. "You might even get to stay there." He snapped with a snarl.
So I thought of Peeta. I thought of the last two nights and of all the nights before them. Falling asleep with his arms wrapped around me was all I could ask for. Things were getting harder. Coin was even more angry because Gale, who had become her new pet, was temporarily banned from training. The other day I had done a propaganda video and had broke down in tears when I remembered that I was encouraging people to die for a cause I wasn't even sure I believed in myself. Tears were plentiful, but somehow knowing I could come back to the shared compartments and talk to Peeta made everything better.
Peeta and I had been doing a lot of talking. After training, we would stay up all night talking about the games and about our families. I told him about my mother. How I was often frustrated with her, but it was only because I loved her and couldn't stand to see her in pain. I told him about how I still harbored negative feelings towards her because of mine and Prim's near death all those years ago. I felt the rage build up inside me. These were feelings I had suppressed for so long, unable to talk with anyone, but Peeta was such an amazing listener. He would ask questions at just the right times, stroke my hair, and hold me when I got emotional. Emotional moments were a thing I only shared with Peeta. In public or with others, I wore a hard, unreadable mask so I wouldn't appear weak. I couldn't afford that. After all, I didn't know who to trust ever since I was unsure of whether or not President Coin and I were on the same team.
Getting Peeta to talk was a little more difficult. He spoke of his family; old memories about the bakery and him hanging out with his brothers. He talked about his friends, but sometimes he got uncomfortable. I think somewhere deep down in his mind a part of his brain still blamed me for their deaths, so talking about them made it hard. He loved to talk about me though. He was constantly complimenting me. Every morning it was "good morning beautiful." During random parts of the day he would come up to me and say things like, "don't frown too much. You're way too gorgeous when you smile." Then he would flash his adorable grin at me and walk away. Of course my heart melted when he said things like that. Even I could act like a typical girl at some moments. The past two nights had been the greatest part of mine and Peeta's new relationship. We would talk, but eventually his lips would find mine, or his hands would find their way up my shirt. Then the talking was over. I didn't think I would ever feel this way about someone. When Peeta slipped his fingers inside of me, it felt like I had caught on fire. The first time he made me climax was a sensation that can never be replicated. I pushed my body into his and felt all of my muscles tense. "Peeta." I moaned into his ear. Then everything relaxed and I shuddered against him. I was most turned on after I had finished him though. When he moaned my name into my ear or bit down on my neck while in the moment, I would close my eyes and stroke my hand faster against him. Sometimes I would pull back and tease him until he begged for more. In these moments I became a different person. I was in control of everything, and I was doing something I wanted to that was pure ecstasy for me. Those moments were rare for me in the insanity that was being the Mockingjay. This was the farthest it had gotten between us. We only talked about sex once, when I told Peeta I wanted to wait. He said he would wait forever if he had to, and that was something he only wanted with me when I was absolutely ready, but I knew he was a guy, and the way he pushed the limits of what we were already doing suggested that he wanted more. When we were done, I would lay on his chest and he would run his hands across my back, a small smile on his lips. I would close my eyes and fall asleep to the sound of his steady breathing. This was where I went when I thought of my happy place. This was where I wanted to stay if I died.
"You're almost to ground level Everdeen." I heard Jacobs voice in my ear piece. It brought me out of my happy place and forced me to look down. The ground was rapidly approaching, and I tucked my knees to my chest to meet it. I hit the ground harder than I expected to, and ran with it like we were taught. I unattached my parachute and took got my bearings. I was in the middle of a forest, and I had to move now. Any stillness would make it easier for them to track and catch me. I started to walk in the general direction of where I believed our meeting point was. "To the left 15 meters through that crop of trees." I heard the commander's voice. "That's where you'll meet."
I walked through a clearing to the spot he indicated and saw Furman, Craig, Finnick and Johanna all there already. Finnick had a map out and was checking our coordinates with Craig. Jacobs would stay in the hovercraft and command lightly from above, but for all intense purposes Craig was the team leader on the ground. She was the oldest, the best soldier, and the most experienced, so it made sense that she would command our first mission. She still hated me, however, so I would be given the nasty duties. I nodded at Furman, who was cleaning his gun, and stood next to Johanna. "Where's Peeta?" I asked.
"How should I know?" Craig sneered from behind the map. "If your loverboy doesn't get here soon though, we have to move without him." I knew she couldn't be serious, it was all planned out. We had to go in with Peeta. I started to panic inside my head. What if she was serious? Would she really leave him out here to be Capitol bait? Just then, I heard footsteps behind me, and Peeta walked into the clearing. He limped slightly and I noticed it was his artificial leg. I went over to help him, but he shook me off.
"I'm fine." He smiled. "Its just a little harder landing when you only really control one of your legs." He turned to Craig. "I assume its time to move out?"
"You assume correctly." She pushed the map back towards Finnick. "Let's move team. Finnick and I will lead. Furman and Johanna take the middle. Everdeen and Peeta, you're bringing up the rear." We got into formation and moved through the woods. We were at the base of the mountain, so now we just had to hike up about fifty yards to get to our entry point. It took us about an hour because the terrain was slightly dangerous, but finally we got to an opening of the cave. Craig held up her fist, signaling for us to stop, then pointed forward, the signal to move. We stepped through the cave and into formation, we walked down a long tunnel that was used for sewage. It smelled awful, and I crinkled my nose and tried not to puke. We finally came to the end of the hallway, where there was a cavern that had a service ladder on one side, which was how we would enter the base. We stripped off our camouflage uniforms. There would be no need for them now. Underneath we wore the dark green shirts and pants of factory workers. Each of us had a badge. Of course there were guns and grenades in the pockets of our belts instead of the normal hammers and screw, but we looked the part. Johanna and Peeta each had packs. Johanna's had a charge in it that would make the room go deaf and blind, it was for our extraction. Peeta's held a first aid kit and some supplies in case our extraction was botched and we ended up alone in the woods. Craigs pack was the largest and hardest to hide. Inside it held backup clothes, but those were only to hide the real thing, a bomb that we would set up inside the core of the mountain. It was inside a small metal case, but it had enough force to blow up the entire factory, and hopefully none of would be inside when it went off.
We walked out the door and tried to act as naturally as possible, laughing and joking like any other group of workers. We split into two groups. Peeta, Craig and I went to the left, towards the central hub of the factory, while Finnick, Johanna and Furman went off to cover our backs, stationed at various positions in the room. We stopped at a small door, where Craig punched in a bunch of codes. The door slid open with a beep, revealing a long dark hallway, and Craig looked at me. "If I'm not back in five, get the hell out of here." She said, turning down the corridor with a look of fierce determination. I watched her disappear until the door slid shut again, then I turned and waited on the right side, with Peeta on the left.
I was on constant alert. Every soldier that passed by us was a potential threat. Everytime someone turned the corridor, I would flinch towards my gun. Peeta gave a wary look. "It's gonna be ok." He said quietly, turning away from the security camera we knew was mounted in the corner of the hallway to our left. The seconds ticked past like hours, and it seemed like Craig would never be returning. Peeta looked at his watch, then back at me worriedly. "It's been five minutes. She told us to go." I looked at the door, then back down the corridor. I didn't want to leave Craig. Sure she hated me and thought I was worthless, but she was still a member of our team, and I had a soft spot for her because I knew she had a rough life growing up, but this is what she would want; me to obey orders. I nodded and Peeta and we turned to head down the corridor. Then the door slid open and I heard shouts.
Craig sprinted out the door and hurriedly pressed the code to slide it shut. She into my eyes with a look that was a mixture of fatigue, uncertainty, and something I had never seen in her before: fear. She pointed down the corridor, so out of breath she wasn't able to talk, and pushed Peeta and I towards it. We started to sprint back the way we had come, and that's when I heard the sirens.
They were blaring from all sides, and suddenly I realized what had happened. Craig had been noticed by soldiers and forced to run. But did she finish what she was told to? We slid into a small passageway as a group of guards ran past. "I set up the bomb." Craig gasped, trying to catch her breath. "It's us getting out of here before it goes off that's gonna be a problem."
When we thought it was safe, we ran out into the open, and were immediately surrounded.
At least fifty guards all pointed their rifles in our direction. "Take them in," said one guard in the middle. Craig raised a pistol.
"Not without a fight." She answered defiantly.
"Weapons down!" The supposed leader answered. "You're way outnumbered. Give up now—"
"COVER!" I heard a familiar voice scream. I forced my hands to my ears, but it couldn't totally block out the deafening blow of the flash bomb Johanna had just set off. I looked around, my ears pounding and my heart in my chest. I saw Craig, Peeta, and Finnick running towards the door where I assumed our extraction point was. I was still stunned by the bomb, so I couldn't really remember exactly, I just started running to follow. Then, just as the world came into focus, I my feet come out from under me.
I stuck my hands out to catch my fall, yelling on the way down, and rolled to the side, but before I knew it, three guards were on me. Two had my arms, the other stood right in front of my face. It was the same one who was shouting orders and telling us to run. "On your knees." I looked into his eyes defiantly, but the two guards pushed me down. I could see Peeta behind the commander, he had stopped and turned around, starting to run back towards me, but Finnick caught him. "KATNISS NO!" I heard him scream. "Let go of me Finnick!" Finnick had about five inches on Peeta, but apparently seeing me in this state gave him unhuman strength, because Furman had to come over and help wrestle him down. They dragged him out the door as he screamed for me, but I knew this was how it was supposed to be. Commander Jacobs had given us specific instructions that if someone were to fall behind, we couldn't go back. They couldn't risk more lives for one team member. Of course Peeta wouldn't listen, but Finnick and Furman and everyone else wouldn't want to lose two of us.
I looked into the eyes of the guard leader as he pulled out a pistol and pressed it to my forehead, then I looked back at the door, I could still hear Peeta's screams, but he was gone. Johanna was the one holding the door open for them, and I could see a tear roll down her cheek as she looked back at me. She touched three fingers to her lips, then saluted me. I felt like sobbing, but I wouldn't give this man the satisfaction. I wouldn't give Snow the satisfaction. I heard the door close. I looked at the commander again, and I saw Prim. I saw my mother and Peeta and District 12, back in the good days. I was at Greasy Saes eating a bowl of dog stew. I was joking with Gale in the woods. I was laying with Peeta on the train during the Victory Tour. I saw my father and I hunting in the woods. All of these moments were what ran through my mind as I faced my death. I had survived two hunger games and the deaths of so many loved ones, and here I was, about to be executed.
"The order is to kill you immediately." He said with a grin. "I'm so glad I get to do it." He cocked his pistol. "Bye bye little bird." He said. I wouldn't close my eyes, I couldn't. If he was gonna kill me, he was going to look into my eyes and watch me die. Watch me die like I watched Rue. I heard a shot go off.
But it wasn't towards me. I saw the commander slump over. He had been shot once, straight through the head. When I looked behind him, I saw Craig standing there, gun in hand. "Did you really think I could leave you behind?" She snarled. Two more shots finished off the guards holding my arms, and I was up and sprinting. I was through the door and down the ladder before I knew it, rolling and sliding down the mountain top. I just had time to take cover under a shelf of rock with Craig, when the world turned red, and the mountain base rained in pieces over our heads.