XXXI

...

As the hovercraft begins to lose altitude, the craft's structure begins to vibrate. And as the craft settles itself on the grounds, my hands begin to shake. Despite knotting them together, it only seems to make them tremble in unison. I can't seem to make them stop. The last time they shook was before my fight with Cato when I watched Gale and Cato fight during our hand to hand combat training. Cato held him in a headlock. Gale's face reddened and that vein in his forehead popped out as he gasped for air. Then it happened. My hands shook and my head went fuzzy and I didn't know what to think, what to do. I almost snapped in the moment. Clapping his hand on his shoulder, Mitch draws my attention away from my hands.

"Come on, sweetheart. We landed."

Nodding my head, I grab my pack from off the floor and sling it over my shoulder. I step behind Mitch and follow him out the hovercraft. The base camp is not as I imagined it. It's no District 13, no underground safe haven. It's all out in the open, for all of Panem to see; one just had to look under the shedding crowns of the trees. If anything, the camp reminded me of the Hob back in 12, what it was before Snow bombed it all to ash or whatever Gale told me what happened while I was... away. Tents and crates of supplies are spread out through the forest. People in black and gray and mix matched clothing wander about. Everybody is a soldier, armed with guns and knifes and axes and crossbows. Everybody is important. And they're all here with the same purpose, to take down Snow.

"Come on," Boggs calls out from the front of the line, "I'll show you where you'll be staying the next week before we're shipped out to the Capitol."

I, along with the rest of the squad, follow in his footsteps. The line we had exited the hovercraft in falls apart into an uneven blob of sorts. Jackson, Mitchell, and Homes fall no less than a foot behind Boggs, Haymitch and I stand behind them and Gale stands beside me, Cato falls in line just behind my shoulder as if watching over me, and Finn and Jo lag in the back whispering back and forth to each other. We all travel in line behind Boggs. He takes us through the entire camp, pointing out other commanders and squads, explaining the processes other groups have gone through to get us to this point, noting the level of security the camp is under and what would occur if we found ourselves under attack. It isn't until we come to the edge of the camp that we come to a halt.

Boggs offers us up a small smirk, "Set up camp, get some rest. Tomorrow we'll have a sit down and discuss the mission."

With that, Boggs falls silent and the squad begins to divide up. Pairs disperse, staking claim over the small openings between the trees in which we'll inhabit for no more than a week's time. Boggs and Jackson. Mitchell and Homes. Finn and Jo. Gale and... he looks to me, opening his mouth as if he was going to ask me something but Haymitch steps in between us, clapping Gale on the shoulder and letting out a series of incomprehensible grunts before turning Gale around and walking off into the forest to stake claim for their tent. Gale and Haymitch. Which left me and - and Cato.

He gave me a thin expression. "Okay?"

I nod, not knowing was else to do and of course Cato nods as well, leaving me without any clue or idea of how I am to decode what he is thinking. I am left to trust my gut - what normal people do - yet, my gut tells me two different things; which one is right I don't know. All I know is that my hands begin to shake again - well, begin to shake worse than they had been shaking moments prior and I can't stop them. And so I don't speak and neither does he. We remain silent and wander off like the rest of the squad. We worked in silence. It takes us no more than a couple minutes to pitch our tent and lay out our sleeping bags. Then it's silence.

Two hours, forty-seven minutes, and nineteen seconds pass before Cato speaks up. "Do they ever stop?"

"They?" I ask, turning my attention toward him.

"Your hands," he nod.

Ah...

"I've recognized it before," he tells me, guilt plaguing his voice.

"Sometimes... it's just kind of hard to make them stop," I admit. "Once it took two days... I was happy to sleep when they did."

Nodding his head we fall silent. Yet, he moves. He unzips his sleeping bag before reaching across to unzip mine. I don't move I fear of what he might do, of what might happen. And so I continue to lay there, my hands clasped shaking under my chin. Once my bag is unzipped he moves his closer, until the fabric of the bags overlap with one another. We lay no more than an inch or two apart. Again, as he had done earlier, Cato gives me a thin expression before reaching over so my hands are clasped in his. They stop shaking.

"Get some sleep," he notes, offering me a reassuring smile.

...

In the morning, I find myself pressed up against Cato's chest. My head is tucked under his chin and his hands are still clasped around mine. They're still.

...

"We've been assigned a mission, to assassinate President Snow," Boggs announces. "We'll be leaving in three day. Other squads have already left in hopes of making our mission to execute. A hovercraft and a pilot will be assigned to us by tomorrow. On Thursday, we'll load the craft with the supplies given to us and anything else we can get out hands on. Then, our pilot will fly us out on Friday. We'll be leaving before the sun rises. We'll be flown out to the outskirts of the Capitol, an area which has been excavated due to a series of bombing that occurred about two weeks prior. There, we'll be about seven miles from the President's mansion. We'll unload our supplies, the craft will leave, and we'll be left to our own resources. Our goal will be to move three miles a day so by our third day in the Capitol we'll be within a mile of the President's mansion. Then, we'll act accordingly and carry out our assigned mission."

...

Cato's arm wrap around me, pulling me back against his chest and clasping his hands over my trembling ones before I even realize what's happening.

...

It's raining when we're dropped off in the Capitol. Thick clouds hung in the sky. There was not a ray of sunlight. The atmosphere was dark, gray encasing everything it could touch. And the rain, it was heavy. Our rainproof uniforms were of no use. Within seconds we were soaked to the bone. That wasn't the rains only form of wrath. We couldn't see see much either because of the rain, but what we could see was not welcoming. The metallic city shined even in a moment of darkness. It was horrendous. A fine example of Snow's accomplishment; a desirable power structure built on off of poisoned actions by a poisoned man.

Grabbing me by the elbow, Gale pulls my attention from the ever consuming gloom of the Capitol. "Come on, Catnip, we got to get a move on."

And without question or second thought I fall in place behind him. We clear out of the middle of the road and go off to the side by one of the abandoned buildings where Boggs stands with the rest of the squad. He nods his head at us when we join the group, not breaking from his speech. Going over the day's plan for the hundredth time, I zone out. Boggs was leading the squad in our assigned mission yet, we would physically be following in Homes and Finn's footsteps. They were our navigation experts. Homes and Finn lead the squad along the Capitol streets, that is with the assistance of a device Beete and Wiress created specifically for our team. They called it a Holo. It was a map, one that depicted all aspects of the Capitol, both above and below. It entire layout of the Capitol was embedded on the electronic block. Yet, that wasn't all. It was more. It detected things as well supposedly. As Finn had explained it to us back at base camp, it had a sonar device in it like the hovercrafts. It picked things up: hovercrafts, humvees, soldiers, structures, missiles, bombs, traps, everything and anything.

"Hey?" This time it's Haymitch to grabs my attention. "You okay, sweetheart?"

I nod, giving up my attention to Boggs who hands the podium over to Homes.

"We'll be clearing three miles today if everything is to go as planned." Homes states. "We won't be trending into any inhabited areas of the Capitol yet, as Boggs said that doesn't mean we're in the clear. We don't know what's out there, we have an idea, but that doesn't mean Snow doesn't have any surprises awaiting us out there.

We'll be heading northeast into the city, following the most direct route toward the President's mansion unless things change, the route we reviewed during our sessions at base camp. And we'll take as much time as we need, but stride to stay on schedule. Finn and I will lead the squad using our knowledge of the Capitol to the best of our ability, but if the Holo says otherwise or Boggs does, we'll follow their lead instead... Understand?"

We nod in agreement before Boggs gives the nod of approval and the Homes activates the Holo. Then we're off, walking down the abandoned Capitol street. The rain doesn't let up, if anything it comes down harder. Another reason for us to stay close to the metallic structures that line the streets. Yet, as much as the buildings do a good job at hiding us away, the rain still comes down. Some of it is blocked, but enough of it still rains down on is, soaking into our uniforms and filling our boots.

We trek on for a mile or so before we come to a halt. Homes stops and then Finn and then one by one everyone else in the squad comes to a stand still. Homes looks from the Holo to Finn and back again while Finn stands stiff eyeing the Holo. After a long moment his lips move and a series of curses fall out over his lips. Homes on the other hand doesn't say a word and instead stands petrified. I'm not the only one that notices the stiffness that rest in the air, to notice that something is off. Everyone does. Boggs is the first to make a move though. No one else does, nor should they probably. There was a set chain of command for a reason. But I can't help myself.

I wish I didn't. The image on the Holo made my stomach curl. One look and I wanted to puke. Finn's eyes connected with mine and his lips began to move, he knew what I was thinking, but I didn't bother to listen to him tell me so, I couldn't. I pushed past him and Boggs and the rest of the squad. My hands began to shake and the rain kept coming and it was all too much and I didn't know what was happening and... When I came to, I found myself on my knees. Cato was kneeling in front of me. His hands were clasped around mine. They weren't shaking, but they wanted to; yet he didn't let them. He kneeled in front of me, his hands clasped around mine in the pouring raining. His black, combat uniform clung to his frame, even the bulletproof vest. The rain pelted against his skin. His hair hung across his forehead and droplets caught themselves in his eye lashes. His eyes were focused on me.

"Hey?" His voice was low, cautious. "Katniss?"

Looking at him, at the concern that plastered his face I was happy it was raining; if it wasn't then he would be able to see my tears.

"Katniss?"

"How do I know if I can trust you?" I find myself whispering, my hands begging to shake, the shiny images fighting their way to take over my mind.

"I don't know…" He tells me honestly, "I don't know how you're suppose to trust me, but I know you know who you can't trust."

Snow, but still… "It's a death trap."

He nodded in agreement and from behind us, somewhere in the rain I could hear Jo letting out a sadistic laugh, one that was spewing in sorrow. "Welcome to the 75th Hunger Games, everyone."

"And may the odds be ever in your favor," Finn gruffed knowing they weren't, that we had been dropped into not only a battlezone, but an arena designed to make sure we would not come out victorious.