A/N: Story is coming to an end! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, again, I used some quotes from the original books, so be warned, you will probably recognize a lot of this chapter!
The next morning, we pack our supplies up and continue our journey towards the Capitol. We see a mutt here or there, but for the most part, it's quiet. Too quiet for my liking.
After maybe an hour of walking, we finally see what we were waiting for. It isn't a large pack by any means, maybe twenty, but they're walking together towards the Capitol. It's time to find out how they're getting in.
The squad begins putting their gear on, and I have to give it to Beetee. The armor is surprisingly realistic compared to the mutts we've seen. Even the helmets look similar to their heads, with a clear visor to see out of, as well as see your squad's faces. Once our gear is fully on, we continue following them.
"Where are they going?" I ask as we follow them, a few hundred yards behind.
"To the mountains…" Boggs says, almost amazed. "So that's how he hid them for so long. There must be caves in the mountains that he turned into an underground system."
"Are we still going through with this?" Peeta asks. I haven't even told him about what Boggs told me. I haven't had the chance.
"Yes," Boggs says. "But be warned, it will be extremely cold. There is a reason the Capitol built their city next to the mountains. To keep intruders out. Not only will it be cold, but the terrain may be rugged as well. This won't be an easy task, but it's the only way into the Capitol undetected."
He wasn't lying. After a few more hours of following the mutts, the temperature seems to drop drastically. By the time the mountains are in view, I'm shaking in my gear.
Boggs leads the way as the mutts enter a cave, which looks like it could be man made. The steel steps and lights leading throughout seem to answer that my thought for me. We walk behind the mutts undetected, until the small hallway opens into a large room, with hundreds, if not thousands of mutts crowded inside.
"If these things even look at one of you wrong, shoot," Boggs says as he slows down. We may not make it out of this alive.
"What are they doing?" I whisper as I try my best not to overreact about this. The only good thing about this situation is that they can't tell that we aren't one of them.
We continue to push through the crowd of slimy creatures, getting bumped into and hissed at by plenty of them. But still, none of them attack, thankfully. I can't see what it is they're after, but something is in this room that's attracting them towards it.
The smell is awful. I don't know how they smell anything at all other than their own odor, because I can barely stop myself from gagging the whole time.
A few minutes of squeezing by these things goes by before I can make out what it is they want. A large glass window, seemingly unbreakable, acting as a barrier between the mutts and three people I recognize immediately. My prep team, chained to a wall unconscious.
These three weren't left there for no reason. Snow must've somehow knew we were coming through here. He wanted me to see them.
"It's a trap," I say. "We need to go, Snow knows we're here."
"What? We can't just 'go', there's hundreds of them surrounding us!" Johanna says behind me. I turn towards Boggs and nod.
"Blow it up!" I yell as I get ready to shoot. He grabs the Holo from his side and says into it, "nightlock. Nightlock. Nightlock." He throws it as hard as he can, as far from us before it explodes.
I can't hear a thing. I can't see either. Smoke and rubble cloud my vision, and I scream for Peeta but can't seem to find him.
Suddenly, I see him. "What are you still doing here?" he hisses at me. I stare comprehensively. "Are you mad? Get up! Get up!" I rise, but he's still pushing me. "Get out of here Katniss, go!"
I begin to move, away from the chaos, away from the gunshots, but something feels off. My mind, it's playing tricks on me.
That wasn't Peeta. No, it was, but…
I feel someone pick me up off the ground. "It isn't your time, Soldier Everdeen. Follow me," Boggs says.
Something must have hit my head during the explosion. I can't focus, my mind won't let me. Am I even conscious?
I follow Boggs, hoping to find Peeta along the way. He knows I can't just leave him. I see Gale fighting off mutts from above, shooting through a hole in the ceiling, most likely from the Holo.
I'm starting to regain my awareness. That wasn't Peeta earlier, it was my own mind, replaying a memory from the Games. I send some shots towards a few of the mutts before I jump up, grabbing Gale's hand for help. Once I'm aboveground, I look down and help Boggs up.
I look around until I see Peeta, laying on the ground while another soldier tends to him. It's actually him this time. I run over, fearing for the worst.
"He's fine, just needs oxygen," the soldier says as he puts a mask on Peeta's face. "He breathed in a lot of smoke."
My attention is turned somewhere else. "Where's Johanna?" I ask, immediately dreading the answer. Everyone else is here. We're only missing her. "No…" I say when I see the look on Finnick's face. "What happened?"
"The mutts…" he says. I don't need any more details.
Johanna Mason is dead.
"We need to get out of the street," Boggs says. "We're sitting targets here."
There isn't time to grieve Johanna's death. I help Peeta up and follow Boggs towards a few large buildings to the left, shooting at the mutts that have managed to climb out of the hole in the street.
Once inside, I try to think of a new plan. I look over at Gale as he shuts the door behind him. Once his eyes meet mine, I can tell he's thinking the same thing. If only Peeta were on the same page as us.
I don't have a way to tell him, and it seems like a soldier is near one of us at all times. We make our way through the different buildings, sweeping each floor, looking for capitolites. If one of them sees us and makes a call to the authorities reporting where we are, we're dead.
My head is pounding, and I'm still seeing white dots in my vision. One of the medics does a few tests on me and determines that I have a minor concussion.
He recommends I stay back and wait for a medical evacuation, but that plan is shot out the window when armored vans pull up outside of the building we're sitting in.
"Shit, we need to move!" Boggs yells. We follow him down the stairs and out the backdoor of this building, towards the next. Running out in the open won't do us any favors, but running through the buildings is slowing us down. The building behind us is blown up by a rocket launcher of sorts.
We sweep the rooms as we run, making sure no peacekeepers are cutting us off. Gale leads Peeta and I, following behind Boggs, while the other soldiers are behind us. Explosions shake the houses we run through. These peacekeepers want us dead, but they're providing us a distraction. This is our chance.
"Peeta, follow Gale!" I yell as Gale turns a corner, running through a small alleyway. Peeta doesn't question it. Just like that, we've lost Boggs and the rest of the squad.
We continue to run, going through houses quickly. Gale busts a door open, greeted by an unsuspecting capitolite, whom he doesn't even give a chance to react before he shoots her.
"Come on, run!" Gale yells as he runs across an empty street. It's risky, but we have nowhere else to go. We bust through another house and decide to rest upstairs after sweeping the floors.
"Peeta, I have to tell you something," I say quickly. "Boggs warned me. Coin wants me dead. He told me to run, to take you and Gale, and get away from the squad. We can't trust any of them. I couldn't find an opportunity to tell you."
"Then what now?" Peeta asks as more explosions rumble off in the background. "We don't have much time until they find us."
"A woman named Tigris owns a clothing shop about ten blocks from here," Gale says as he holds out the Holo, showing us the bright orange pinpoint, telling us where to go. Gale's promotion may just be a coincidence, but I'm glad he got it, because this Holo will come in handy. "Apparently, she hates Snow just as much as us. She'll help us disguise ourselves among the capitolites as we approach the mansion."
"Then we'd better get moving," I say as I lead the way. The only good thing we have going for us is we lost our squad. Other than that, this mission couldn't be going any worse. The peacekeepers know we're in the Capitol, there will be hundreds coming soon.
They're blowing the buildings up behind us, which is concerning because that means that Snow has given orders for them to kill us at all costs. The good news is that they still think we're in those buildings somewhere, meaning we have time before they dig through the rubble, only to find we aren't there.
We slip through the buildings until we make it to the street Tigris' shop is on. So far, the Holo hasn't led us wrong. We've avoided every pod that we've come across, if they were activated.
"Run," I say as I lead, sprinting across the street towards the shop. I keep my head down, praying no cameras pick us up. But that is the least of my concerns.
The ground beneath me begins to crack, crumbling as I step. I turn around, trying to make it back to Peeta and Gale, but I'm too late. The ground splits open, trying to take me with it.
"Katniss!" I hear Peeta yell as he lunges towards me. I reach my arms out, trying to grab onto anything as I begin to fall into the pit beneath me.
Peeta catches my hand, stopping me from falling to my death. I hear mutts below me, waiting for me to fall. Hissing and growling fills my ears, making me fight harder to hold on. My hand begins to slip, no matter how tightly Peeta holds on. "Hold on Katniss! Gale!" he yells as he tries to pull me up. I keep slipping, trying my best not to let go. A song plays in my mind, one Peeta and I listened to in the Capitol. As Gale reaches us, I slip through his fingers.
Hold on,
I don't want to know what it's like when you're gone.
I don't want to move on,
I don't want to know what it's like when you're gone for good.
You're slipping through my fingertips,
A little bit,
By a little bit.
I didn't know that loving you,
Was the happiest,
I've ever been.
So I'm just trying to hold on.
I'm waiting to fall, to meet my death, but somehow, someway, Peeta has managed to catch my hand once more, holding me as Gale helps him pull me up over the ledge. "Thank you," I say to both of them quickly.
I don't have time to think as we run around the giant pit in the middle of the street and towards Tigris' shop. A grimy storefront, filled with mannequins in furry underwear. The place doesn't even look open, but Gale pushes the door open, setting off a dissonant chiming. Inside the dim, narrow shop lined with racks of merchandise, the smell of pelts fills my nose. Business must be slow, as we're the only ones here. We walk towards a hunched figure sitting in the back.
Behind a counter sits the strangest woman I've ever seen. She's an extreme example of surgical enhancement gone wrong, for surely not even in the Capitol could they find this face attractive. The skin has been pulled back tightly and tattooed with gold and black stripes. The nose has been flattened, barely existing now. I've seen cat whiskers on people from the Capitol before, but none so long. The result is a grotesque, semi-feline mask, which now squints at us. I stare at her face, wondering if her parents actually named her Tigris, inspiring her mutilation, or if she chose the style and changed her name to match her stripes.
"Plutarch sent us," Gale says as he walks over to her. Even when she speaks, she sounds like a cat.
"I see," she purrs. "Then I guess it's time to get to work."
She helps us pick out different costumes to wear along with wigs, scarves, and sunglasses. Quickly, we're all transformed into capitolites. We hang our boots by the laces around our necks to conceal them under our jackets and put on odd looking capitolite shoes.
She slides a panel at the base of the far wall, revealing the top of a steep stone stairway. She gestures for us to enter. "You can put your old armor down there."
Everything about this situation screams trap, but what choice do we have? If Plutarch trusts her, I guess we have to. We do what she says, getting rid of most of our gear. The only things we keep on us are our guns and my bow. I barely recognize Peeta and Gale.
"Don't come up," Tigris says quietly from the top of the steps. "Peacekeepers."
She pushes the shelf back in place, trapping us down here, in the dark. I pull a hanging chain to turn the light on in the almost completely empty basement, other than random clothing accessories and a television on a table. It's a small cellar with no windows or doors. Shallow and wide. Probably just a strip between two real basements. A place whose existence could go unnoticed unless you had a really keen eye for dimensions. It's cool and dank, with piles of pelts that I'm guessing haven't seen the light of day in years. Unless Tigris gives us up, I don't think anyone could find us down here.
I can hear boots above us, multiple pairs of feet walk around up there. We may not be leaving here for a while. Tigris could have turned us in, but if she were going to, we would have been caught by now, so I decide to trust her.
"Well, while we wait, we might as well figure out where we go from here," I whisper to Gale as he turns the Holo on.
"We're five blocks from the City Circle and Snow's mansion, in easy walking distance through a zone in which the pods are most likely deactivated for the residents' safety," he says quietly. "We can reach the mansion, but the question is, then what? I'm positive the mansion will be heavily guarded, under surveillance, and laced with pods that can be turned on with the flick of a switch."
"We need to get him out in the open," I say.
"Does he even appear out in public anymore?" Peeta asks.
"No, definitely not," Gale replies. "All of the recent speeches he's given have been from inside the mansion. Even before the rebels got here. He most likely got more vigilant after Plutarch aired Finnick's propo about his crimes too. I doubt he'll come out."
"He'd come out for me…" I say quietly. "If I were captured. He'd want that as public as possible. He'd want my execution on his front steps. Then one of you could shoot him from the audience."
"No," Peeta shakes his head. "There are way too many alternative endings to that plan. What if he decides to keep you and torture information out of you? Or kill you inside the mansion and display your body out front?"
"Okay, we'll keep thinking," I say.
I turn the television on, hoping it won't be too loud. Thankfully, it's muted. The latest Capitol news coverage is on, of course showing our faces, offering rewards to anyone with information on where they can find us. They emphasize how dangerous we are. They show us exchanging gunfire with the peacekeepers, and do a tragic tribute to the woman lying where we left her, killed by Gale.
Seconds later, the broadcast is interrupted by Beetee's break-ins. There's been a new development in the war. The rebels have began sending unmanned cars down empty streets to trigger pods. They've secured block after block with few casualties doing so.
"This can't last," Gale says, shaking his head. "In fact, I'm surprised they've kept it going this long. The Capitol will just deactivate certain pods and then manually trigger them when the rebels come into range." Minutes later, he was proven right. A car is sent down a street, setting off four pods. Scouts follow to make sure it's safe, making it to the end of the street. But once a group of twenty rebel soldiers follow, they're blown to bits by a row of potted rose bushes in front of a flower shop.
Once the Capitol takes back over the broadcast, a grim faced reporter announces the blocks that civilians are to evacuate. I begin marking the paper map, trying to keep track of the safe zones.
I don't hear peacekeepers above us, but Tigris hasn't called us back up, so I'm not sure what's going on. I'm hoping nothing has happened to Tigris.
"This is our chance, we need to use the crowds to sneak towards the mansion," I say impatiently. "But then again, every single person evacuating means another pair of eyes searching for the three of us."
"It's the best chance we have," Gale says. "We don't have much food left. We can't wait for District 13 to take the Capitol, it could be weeks. And besides, I don't think we'll be welcome back in 13 after we completely abandoned our squad. Something tells me we'll be on trial after the war is over."
"Yeah, none of the Victors are getting immunity because of me," I say quietly. "I disobeyed direct orders, meaning we're all screwed either way."
"We better make the most of it then," Peeta says as he stands up.
We eat a small meal, just to fill our stomachs as we wait for Tigris' return. We continue to watch the television, getting glimpses from both sides on where this war is at. Fortunately, it seems like they still have no idea where we are at. I thought of the possibility that a camera caught us on our way here, but apparently, we're safe for now.
On the television, we watch as a terse head peacekeeper lays out specific rules regarding how many people per square foot each resident will be expected to take in. He reminds the citizens of the Capitol that temperatures will drop well below freezing tonight and warns them that their president expects them to be not only willing but enthusiastic hosts in this time of crisis. Then they show some very staged-looking shots of concerned citizens welcoming grateful refugees into their home. The head peacekeeper says the president himself has ordered part of his mansion readied to receive citizens tomorrow. He adds that shopkeepers should also be prepared to lend their floor space if requested.
"That's why she hasn't told us to come back up," I say quietly. "Someone must be up there."
"Well, looks like we're spending the night," Peeta says.
The head peacekeeper comes back with more instructions for the population. It seems that this evening, there was an unfortunate incident where a crowd beat to death a young man who resembled Peeta. Henceforth, all rebel sightings are to be reported immediately to authorities, who will deal with the identification and arrest of the suspect. They show a photo of the victim. apart from some obviously bleached curls, he looks about as much like Peeta as I do.
"These people have gone crazy," Gale says. "We need to leave tomorrow morning. The longer we wait, the less of a window we'll have."
That night, we sleep on the pelts, which do help slightly, but it's still uncomfortable, and freezing. There doesn't seem to be heat down here. But I guess I can't complain much.
I curl up next to Peeta, and try to let sleep find me.
The next morning, Tigris moves the shelf and allows us back up. She confirmed my suspicions, that the peacekeepers came to tell her that she had to let people spend the night in the shop.
She does our makeup quickly, hiding any scars and blemishes that would give us away, before fixing our wigs and handing us handbags to conceal ourselves. Our weapons are hidden under our large fluffy coats. I don't think we're recognizable. I hope not, at least.
We thank Tigris, and exit the shop. Sharp, icy snowflakes bite my exposed skin. The rising sun is trying to break through the gloom without much success. There's enough light to see the bundled forms closest to you and little more. Perfect conditions for our mission. Gale, Peeta and I drop our heads and shuffle along with the refugees. Crying, moaning, and labored breathing fill the streets, while in the distance, I can hear gunshots from the rebels.
According to Beetee's break-ins, they're closing in on the mansion either today or tomorrow. Hopefully, we have enough time before they do to kill Snow.
"Stay to the right!" a voice orders, and I see the peacekeepers interspersing through the crowd, directing the flow of traffic. It's brighter now, even with the snow picking up.
Gunfire rips through the crowd, and several people near us slump to the ground. Screams pierce the air as a second round mows down a group behind us. The three of us drop to the street, scuttle the ten yards to the shops, and take cover behind a display of mannequins outside another clothing store.
"Who is it? Can you see?" Peeta asks us. What I can see nearly haunts me. A little girl, maybe eight, kneels beside her mother, motionless on the ground, crying. Another round of bullets slices through the girls chest, staining her coat red, knocking her onto her back.
"They're shooting from the roofs above, trying to hit the peacekeepers, but failing," I say. "Must be the rebels." I know I should be happy, our allies have broken through, but I can't take my eyes off that little girl.
"We can't shoot," Peeta says. "You both only have your bows now, you'd be alerting both sides of your presence."
"No, we need to get to Snow," Gale says in agreement.
We stand up and run along the wall of shops, pulling our scarves up over our faces a little higher in an attempt to stay hidden from the faces pressed against the window, watching what is happening.
Once we reach an intersection, we find a wounded peacekeeper, who asks us for help. Gale knees him in the side of his head and takes his gun.
At the next intersection, he shoots two more peacekeepers ahead of us. Now we all have firearms. Unfortunately, a third peacekeeper grabs Gale as he reaches the next street and throws his gun to the ground. Two more peacekeepers join him, and start to drag Gale towards an armored truck. "Gale!" I yell. He tries to fight back, but it's no use. He mouths the words, 'shoot me.'
I train my gun on his head, but my mind won't let me pull the trigger. I can't do it. I know he would do the same for me, because death is better than anything those peacekeepers may do to him while he's a prisoner, but I can't shoot my own best friend.
As they handcuff Gale, I shoot the peacekeeper holding his arms down inside the truck, while Peeta shoots the one dragging him. Gale falls to the ground as the peacekeeper lets go. Peeta shoots the last peacekeeper and runs towards the truck.
I'm seconds behind Peeta as the truck starts to pull away. I watch as he jumps inside the back of the truck, but I can't reach him in time. The truck moves for a few seconds before Peeta shoots the peacekeeper driving it. The truck swerved and crashes into a shop down the street, hitting multiple civilians on it's way there.
Peeta finds the key on one of the peacekeepers for the cuffs and frees Gale. They jump out of the truck as I reach them. "We need to move now!" Gale says.
We run down the street, until we're far enough away from the truck that nobody is looking at us anymore. "What's the plan?" Peeta asks as he tries to catch his breath. I'd like to know the same, but unfortunately, we don't have time to talk. We continue to run along the sides of the shops, until the street ends. We're almost in front of the mansion.
"This is it," Gale says. "Lay low, and hope we can make it inside."
Gunfire continues to tear through the crowd, to the point where it seems like the rebels don't even know who they're aiming for. It feels like more unarmed civilians are falling than the peacekeepers. I'm just hoping they don't hit us.
Screaming and crying is all I can hear. Children calling for their mothers and fathers and gunfire fills my ears. No matter how hard I try, I can't ignore it.
Another wave of gunfire from the rooftops sprays by me. Just when I think it stopped, I hear someone yell next to me. A voice I recognize, and hate to hear in such pain. I turn to my left and see Peeta, shot in his right leg.
Blood begins to soak through his pants, and stain the snow red beneath him.
A/N: I hope this chapter didn't disappoint with how it was written. I don't feel like there is really a better way to write the invasion of the Capitol other than how SC did, so it follows a lot of her concepts, but I tried to throw in my own twists here and there. Hope you enjoyed.
-JayOnFF