"So, where to now?" I ask Finnick who is directly walking behind me and who should be able to know our exact location.
"Just keep walking, I'll tell you when to go left. Just try to walk with purpose, now you just look shifty," Finnick says.
"I am walking with purpose because we have a purpose!" I whisper furiously.
I look around to see if anyone recognizes us but the Capitolian people either look down to protect their makeup from the snow or are in an extreme hurry to get back to their safe homes. Apparently even people from the Capitol don't feel at ease at times like these.
I continue walking towards…where? Where am I going to?
"What are we doing here?" I turn around to ask Finnick.
"What?" he asks confused.
"What are we doing here?" I repeat. "Why are we in the Capitol? We're never here when it's snowing, we should be at home."
Finnick turns around to look at an equally confused Peeta. Why is Peeta with us? And what are we doing in these ridiculous clothes?
I'm about to remove the large yellow coat when Finnick stops me.
"What are you doing?! Keep that on!"
"Why?"
"Johanna," Peeta says in a soft voice. "What's wrong?"
I shake my head, tired of this games they're playing with me. "You tell me! What are we doing here? And why the hell does my arm hurt like this?"
Their faces change from confusion to understanding in an instant.
"We're on a mission," Peeta informs me.
"A mission?"
"Yes," he continues. "To capture or kill president Snow. We're part of the rebellion. No one can recognize us which is why we're dressed like this. Do you remember now?"
It takes me a few seconds before I actually do remember. It's all coming back now. Thirteen, the explosion, the death of Boggs, the tunnels, the mutts…
I nod slowly. "Yes, yes I do remember."
Finnick's clearly not fully convinced but he nods too and says we have to move. We don't move for long though, since my legs suddenly stop working again. I collapse against the floor and try to get up as quickly as possible in an attempt to not draw the attention of the Capitolian people but I can't move my legs. The last time it happened it was over in a second but this time it's lasting longer.
"You have to help me," I whisper weakly.
Finnick and Peeta silently nod and pull me up by my arms, each of them supporting me as we casually continue our walk.
"This is a disaster," I mutter. "What is happening to me?"
"It must be the venom," Peeta says. "Venom from the mutts. I think that's what causing the temporary paralysis, memory loss and potential other things. How are your legs now?" he adds.
They put me down and I discover both legs are working fine again. Like Peeta said, it's temporary but it's very inconvenient considering the fact that we have to stay unnoticed.
I notice fewer people are roaming the streets and it's getting darker. I grab Peeta's wrist to check the time and see it's almost eight o'clock.
"Maybe we should find another safe house, to stay the night. If we keep walking, we'll get caught," I say.
Finnick isn't too comfortable with the idea of wasting more time but reluctantly gives in, saying some rest would be good. "Plus, we have to check your wound again and change the bandage," he adds.
Peeta opens a random door and enters the building. Finnick and I follow him up the stairs until he stops to knock on a door. No answer.
"Okay, how do we open the door without making too much noise?"
Finnick points his trident at the lock and pushes a button to make electricity run through it. With a soft click, the door swings open.
"Nice," I mutter approvingly.
He winks at me. "You know me, I don't do anything if not with class."
We let ourselves fall onto the sofa stacked with an abundance of cushions.
"We need to have a plan," I say while rubbing my eyes in the process. I didn't realize how tired I was until I actually sat down.
"It's simple," Peeta says, "Get into Snow's mansion."
"Yeah, such a simple plan. Why don't we just walk over and ring the doorbell? I'm sure he'll let us in, considering we're old friends and all," Finnick says sarcastically.
"Why don't we think about the how-part of the plan later? I'm exhausted," I almost whisper, unable to keep my eyes open.
"Johanna? Johanna!" is the last thing I hear Finnick say before I drift off to sleep.
When I wake up, Finnick and Peeta are both asleep as well, Finnick lying on the other sofa and Peeta sitting in a comfortable looking chair. Dirty plates in the sink indicate that they've already eaten. How long was I asleep? Must've been at least an hour or two, potentially more…
I decide to make me some dinner but I'm a terrible cook so I just end up eating a box of chocolate-flavored cookies. It's not a square meal but I've had worse.
When I want to throw the now empty box in the trashcan I accidentally slam the lid on it too loudly, waking up Finnick.
"Oh you're up," he says sleepily.
"Yeah, sorry," I say, referring to the noise I made.
"Don't worry about it, I'm glad you woke me up. We have to change your bandage."
Truth be told, I completely forgot about my arm but now that Finnick mentioned it, it hurts like hell again.
Finnick gets up to look for some first-aid kit while I take place at the table, thinking that's the best place to take care of wounds.
"So this is all I could find," Finnick says when he enters the living room with his arms filled with tubes and bandages.
"To treat burns, to disinfect," he reads from a two tubes, putting the latter aside for use.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" I ask nervously. My arm really hurts and I don't want him to do any more damage.
"Just stay calm, okay?" he replies. "Take off your coat."
I hadn't realized I was still wearing the coat, probably because I feel cold all the time. I'm not sweating so I don't have a fever, I think, but I do feel cold whereas Finnick is walking around in his very thin shirt.
When my coat's off, Finnick tentatively removes the bandage, trying to do any sudden movements that can hurt me.
"What have you been doing while I was asleep?" I ask him.
"Oh we ate something and then we secured the place, barricaded the door and checked for cameras in the hallway. You know, just making sure no one knows we're here and no one can find us."
I nod.
When the bandage is completely off, I almost vomit and I see Finnick gag as well. My arm is about twice the size it normally is and the flesh has an ill-looking green color. Saying it's disgusting would be an understatement.
"Oh shit!" I exclaim, crunching up my nose.
"Don't worry," Finnick says. "It's just infected."
"Infected?! I've seen infected, Finn, and that is not infected. That is fucking gross!"
"Stop being such a baby," he says, swallowing hard at the sight of it. "When I say it's infected, it's infected."
"What's infected?" Peeta's voice suddenly emerges from his chair.
"According to Finnick, my arm," I respond. "But it's not infected. Come on Finnick, my legs go limp when they want to, I had memory loss today and my arm looks green. Green! It looks like a giant overripe cucumber!"
"When this is all over, we'll get it looked at," Finnick concludes, not knowing what to do other than putting on a fresh bandage.
Right when I put my coat back on, the television screen lights up, revealing a peacekeeper instructing everyone to take in refugees. He tells us even the president is providing shelter in his mansion.
Finnick, Peeta and I share looks, each of us obviously thinking of a plan.
"It's a trap," I finally say.
"What?"
"Snow letting people into his house, it's a trap. He knows we're still alive and he also knows we're on a mission to kill him so we'd obviously want to be in his mansion where he is. He's not stupid. He expects us to disguise ourselves, like we're already doing, and ask for shelter in his house so we can kill him there."
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Finnick muses.
"I know," I say proudly.
"But that still leaves us with no plan," Peeta says.
We all turn back to silence, thinking about ways of entering his house unnoticed.
"There is a way…" Finnick begins but hesitates to finish.
I know where he's going. We can't walk into Snow's trap and we also can't lure him outside so we have to get in. And if can't go in through the front door, or any door for that matter since there'll be peacekeepers everywhere, we have to go through somewhere else.
"The tunnels," I conclude Finnick's sentence with a sigh.