ʀᴇᴅ ᴅᴀᴡɴ (ɢ. ʜᴀᴡᴛʜᴏʀɴᴇ)

ᴛʜɪʀᴛᴇᴇɴ

We are all sitting on the couches around the 'tv' screen. We managed to find some leftovers in the house and we assembled all of them to have a proper meal. On my plate there is a piece of cheese, a bit of lettuce and beans. I am enjoying every bite of my, for once, decent food and so does Finnick, who is sitting next to me. I look in front of me to see Katniss and Gale, sitting next to each other. For the first time in all these year, I'm not jealous, for now I know.
"So what's the weather like in LovyParadise? I didn't really have the time to watch the forecast." Finnick jokes, interrupting my thoughts. I have to say that even though I haven't really spoken to him in general, I really like him and consider him as a friend.
"You would know, of all people." I joke back. "How's Annie doing?" I ask, smiling.
"She's doing better. Thanks for asking." Finnick returned the smile. "How's Geather doing?" I sigh, faking disappointment.
"Finnick, I'm not gonna lie to you, when I first saw you I knew you were best friend material but I expected you to find a better name than Geather." I say taking a bite of my cheese. He looks at me smiling and scoffs, shaking his head.
"Heather Winters, aren't you pleasant to be around?" He says smiling, taking a bite of his own food and I crack a small smile. Suddenly, the screen in the middle of the room is turned on again. A dramatic music is playing and we see the picture of all of our unit. Hm, it looks like they're paying tribute. Why would they? When Finnick's picture is shown, he laughs silently. There wasn't a picture of me or Gale or Jackson, eventually.
"So, Katniss Everdeen, a poor, unstable girl with nothing but a small talent with a bow and arrows is dead." President Snow says, appearing on the  screen. "Not a thinker, not a leader. Simply a face plucked from the masses. Was she valuable? She was extremely valuable to your rebellion because you have no vision, no true leader among you. You call yourselves an alliance. But we saw what that means. Your soldiers are at each other's throats." The picture of Snow starts to fade abruptly and President Coin takes his place. Finnick and I share a confused look.
"Good evening. For those who don't know me, please allow me to introduce myself. I am President Alma Coin, leader of the rebellion. I have interrupted a broadcast from your President in which he attempted to defame a brave, young woman. "A face picked from the masses," he called her. As if a leader, a trues leader, could be anything else. I had the privilege of knowing a small town girl from the seam in District 12 who survived the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell and rose up and turned a nation of slaves into an army! Dead or alive, Katniss Everdeen will remain the face of the revolution. She will not have died for nothing. Her vision and ours will be realized. A free Panem with self-determination for all. An in her memory, we will all find the strength to rid Panem of its oppressors. Thank you. And be safe." Coin finishes and a picture of Katniss with the caption 'Remember the Mockingjay' is shown.
Katniss abruptly gets up, " Snow's in his mansion. Where is that?" She asks and we all gather around the table where a hologram of the city is shown.
"That's us." Cressida informs pointing at a building. "That's the city circle." She says now pointing a little further away. " It's at least 70,75 blocks north."
"Seventy five blocks?" Finnick asks surprised from beside me and Cressida nods.
"Nobody knows we're alive. This is our chance. These buildings. Do these look over Snow's gardens?" Katniss suggests.
"I-"Cressida says shaking her head.
"They do." Castor tells her.
"If he goes outside at all, I could get a clear shot." Katniss says.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves here. Whether they're looking for us or not, we are pinned down." Jackson informs us. "Hit that button. Scan for pods." She orders and Katniss does so. Little red dots appear all over the hologram.
"About every ten steps." I say.
"Yeah, that doesn't even show the new ones." Gale tells me.
"So we can't go anywhere in the streets." Finnick sighs.
"And the rooftops are just as bad." Jackson concludes.
"There might be another way." Castor says after a pause. I knew exactly what he meant.
"Underground." I think out loud.
———————————-——————————————
"My brother knows these tunnels really well." Castor says, as he is the last to descend the ladder. " He worked sanitation down here. Right after they made him an avox." Pollux makes small steps toward the other hallway of the tunnel and we follow close behind. I can sense Pollux's unease; I can tell that he's been traumatized by this. His brother does too and he slightly comforts him. "Hey, hey. You're gonna be okay. Look at me. Look at me.  We're gonna get through this I promise." Pollux takes a deep breath and starts walking slowly.
"Took is five years to buy his way outta here. He didn't see the sun once." Castor tells Katniss and I understand why he's acting like this. I would have done the same.
-————————————————————————
Further in the tunnels, Katniss is in front of us holding the holo  and looking for pods. We heard the sound of a train coming and we immediately started running behind a wall for cover. I pin myself on the wall and Gale comes next to me. We share a quick look.
"We're too exposed here." Katniss points out after the train's departure. Pollux looks at her and gestures to keep going. We run to the other wall and he points at a door. He opens it and we enter behind him. There was a ladder and we climbed down. Once we are all downstairs, we continue our journey with Katniss leading the way along side Pollux. We stop. She is scanning for pods.
"All clear." She says and we go on. After some minutes, we enter a small tunnel. Suddenly, air violently comes out of a tube located on top of us. All of us bent down until it's over.
"Everyone okay?" Cressida asks.
"Yeah." Katniss replies. We continue our way and enter another tunnel full of water till my shoulders. The surface of the water slowly starts to get lower until it reaches our feet.
"All right everybody, we're gonna need to stop here for a hot and get some rest, yeah.?" Jackson says referring to a little room in the left wall of the tunnel. Katniss goes in first and I follow her.
"I'm gonna take first watch." Jackson tells us. "All right settle in everybody."  I sit down on the floor and take a look at my injury. Gale joins me and sits down next to me.
"You okay?" He asks mentioning my wound. I nod and lean my head backwards, on the wall and before I knew it, I was in a deep sleep.
I woke up from Jackson, whispering something to Katniss. Katniss gets up and Jackson takes her place. It was probably Katniss's turn. I shift my head from Gale's shoulder, waking him up too.
"You know, the Capitol, they used tracker jacket venom on me." I hear Peeta say to Katniss. "That's what doctors in 13 say. You were stung once too. Real or not real?"
"Real."
"When they used the venom on me, they would show me pictures of my life. But some weren't real. They changed them." He sighs. "At first, they all... They all blurted together. But now, now I can sort them out a little. Like the ones that they changed, they have this quality...It's like they're shining, they've been glossed over."
"You should get some rest." She tells him.
"You're still trying to protect me. Real or not real?"
"Real. That's what you and I do. Keep each other alive." I feel Gale shift. I look over my head and see that he is already looking at me. I crack a small and he smiles back, sadly. I put my head as it was before and I close my eyes. He puts his hand around me and I drift to sleep, once again.