Make Them Burn

People of Panem, We Fight, We.... We....

CHAPTER 6: PEOPLE OF PANEM, WE FIGHT, WE.... WE....

I get up just in time to make it to Everdeen's stupid propaganda shooting. Finnick and I are wandering around the set, and Haymitch is watching from the control room. He knows Everdeen wouldn't want yo see him.

They're about to start shooting, so Finnick goes up to Everdeen to deliver the line he's been preparing all morning. "They'll either want to kill you, kiss you, or be you."

I too, decide to approach her. "Hey, Mockingjay, just remember why we're doing this, okay? For my little daughter, and for your sister, Prim. They've had to grow up too fast."

Her eyes soften, and she nods.

"Fire is catching," I tell her, reciting Lilyanna's line. Then I retreat back to Finnick.

Everyone's so excited, proud with their work. It's almost time for dinner, but they insist on continuing. They want just one line that they can work into a short propo to show to Coin.

People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice! Isn't that just a mouthful of drama? That's Everdeen's line that the District 13 people have prepared.

Fulvia passionately tells Everdeen what has supposedly just happened around her, like bombs and dead friends. Everdeen looks ready to vomit.

Fulvia clears out and the smoke machine kicks in. Someone calls action. Everdeen holds the bow over her head and yells, "People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

There's dead silence in the room. That was unbelievably bad. If people liked me enough to become the Mockingjay, I could do better than her.

Finally, the intercom crackles and Haymitch's harsh laugh fills the set. He contains himself just long enough to say, "And that, my friends, is how a revolution dies."

Everdeen storms out.

***

We gather around the huge table in Command. Coin, Boggs, and the rest of their group. Plutarch, Fulvia, and Everdeen's prep team. A group from 12 that includes Haymitch and Gale, but also a few others I don't know. At the last minute, Finnick wheels Beetee in, accompanied by Dalton, the cattle guy from 10.

The first thing Haymitch does is to show the footage they just shot.

"All right." Haymitch says when it's over. "Would anyone like to argue that this is of use to us in winning the war?" No one speaks. "That saves time. So, let's all be quiet for a minute. I want everyone to think of one incident where Katniss Everdeen genuinely moved you. Not where you were jealous of her hairstyle, or her dress went up in flames or she made a halfway decent shot with an arrow. Not where Peeta was making you like her. I want to hear one moment where she made you feel something real."

Quiet stretches out and I'm beginning to think it will never end, when Fulvia speaks up. "When she volunteered to take Prim's place at the reaping. Because I'm sure she thought she was going to die."

"Good. Excellent example," says Haymitch. He takes a green marker and writes on a notepad. "Volunteered for sister at reaping." Haymitch looks around the table. "Somebody else."

The next speaker is Boggs. "When she took Rue on as an ally."

"Who didn't get moved at that?" says Haymitch, writing it down.

"I cried when she drugged Peeta so she could go get him medicine and when she kissed him good-bye!" blurts out Octavia. Then she covers her mouth, like she's sure this was a bad mistake.

But Haymitch only nods. "Oh, yeah. Drugs Peeta to save his life. Very nice."

"When she sang that song to Rue. And covered her in flowers." I say, finally giving Everdeen credit. "Because Rue was just a little girl to the Capitol, and Everdeen showed people she was much, much more."

There's silence for a second, and I'm starting to think I've said the wrong answer. But then Everdeen gives me a grateful look.

The moments begin to come thick and fast and in no particular order. When she extended that hand to Chaff on interview night. Tried to carry Mags. And again and again when Everdeen held out those berries. Love for Peeta. Refusal to give in under impossible odds. Defiance of the Capitol's inhumanity.

Haymitch holds up the notepad. "So, the question is, what do all of these have in common?"

"They were Katniss's." Gale says quietly. "No one told her what to do or say."

"Unscripted, yes!" Beetee adds gleefully. He pats Everdeen's hand. "So we should just leave you alone, right?"

Everyone laughs.

Fulvia sighs. "Well, that's all very nice but not very helpful." She says. "Unfortunately, her opportunities for being wonderful are rather limited here in Thirteen. So unless you're suggesting we toss her into the middle of combat-"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Haymitch exclaims. "Put her out in the field and just keep the cameras rolling."

"But people think she's pregnant." Gale points out.

"We'll spread the word that she lost the baby from the electrical shock in the arena." Plutarch replies. "Very sad. Very unfortunate."

The idea of sending her into combat is controversial. But Haymitch has a pretty good case. "Every time we coach her or give her lines, the best we can hope for is okay. It has to come from her. That's what people are responding to."

"Even if we're careful, we can't guarantee her safety." Boggs reminds him. "She'll be a target for every-"

"I want to go." Everdeen breaks in. "I'm no help to the rebels here."

Coin raises her eyebrows. "And if you're killed?"

Everdeen shrugs. "Make sure you get some footage. You can use that, anyway."

"Fine," says Coin. "But let's take it one step at a time. Find the least dangerous situation that can evoke some spontaneity in you." She walks around Command, studying the district maps. "Take her into Eight this afternoon. There was heavy bombing this morning, but the raid seems to have run its course. I want her armed with a squad of bodyguards. Camera crew on the ground. Haymitch, you'll be airborne and in contact with her. Let's see what happens there. Does anyone have any other comments?"

"Wash her face." Dalton says. Everyone turns to him. "She's still a girl and you made her look thirty-five. Feels wrong. Like something the Capitol would do."

Coin adjourns the meeting and I catch up with her. "I'd like to ask you if I can give Haymitch a touch of alcohol." She's about to counter me, and tell me to go back to my Compartment, but I continue. "He's addicted, and you completely cut off his supply, no warning. He looks bad, you have to agree. So if I could ease him out of it-"

"No." Coin says. "There's the risk of you and Soldier Odair drinking lots of it, it falling into the wrong hands, Soldier Abernathy getting to addicted and searching for it-"

"Fine." I huff. "Can I go to 8 this afternoon?"

She thinks for a moment.

"It'd be fine with me." Boggs says.

Coin turns to him. "You really think sending a mentally unstable Victor with no training into a combat zone would be safe?"

"You're sending Everdeen, aren't you?" I say.

Coin ponders this. "Alright, go. But do not get in the way of anything."