The Victor from District 10

Chapter 40 - Vote

Tigris, the woman who looks much more like a feline than a human being, must have undergone countless plastic surgeries.

"Plutarch said you could be trusted," says Cressida.

Katniss removes her scarf and wig so Tigris can recognize her. Tigris gets up from the stool she was sitting on and approaches a panel, which she soon opens and we see is some kind of hiding place. She goes downstairs and we follow her.

"Did Snow ban you from the Games?" asks Katniss. I'm confused as to what she means by that. "Because I'm going to kill him, you know."

I can see a smile forming on Tigris's face. When we arrive at the hiding place, we look around. It's a basement. When we've all entered, Tigris quickly goes back to the store and locks us in.

Cressida, Pollux and I improvise beds with the fur coats we have here, while Katniss tends to Peeta's injured wrists (because of the handcuffs). We also organize the food and medical supplies.

"I don't honestly think there's any point in setting up a guard. Let's just try to get some sleep," Katniss breaks the silence.

None of us contradicts her, as we're all very tired. Each of us crawls into a makeshift bed and tries to sleep.

I wake up and see that only Katniss and Cressida are awake. I grab a can of food and eat in silence, Finnick's death now weighing heavily on me. I let tears escape from my eyes.

Katniss waits for the rest to wake up to confess her lie.

"Katniss, we all knew you were lying about Coin sending you to assassinate Snow." I say, my voice breaking because I was crying.

"You knew, maybe. The soldiers from Thirteen didn't," she replies.

"Do you really think Jackson believed you had orders from Coin?" Cressida asks. "Of course she didn't. But she trusted Boggs, and he'd clearly wanted you to go on."

"I never even told Boggs what I planned to do,"

"You told everyone in Command!" Gale says. "It was one of your conditions for being the Mockingjay. 'I kill Snow.'"

"But not like this," says Katniss. "It's been a complete disaster."

"I think it would be considered a highly successful mission," says Gale. "We've infiltrated the enemy camp, showing that the Capitol's defenses can be breached. We've managed to get footage of ourselves all over the Capitol's news. We've thrown the whole city into chaos trying to find us."

"Trust me, Plutarch's thrilled," Cressida adds.

"That's because Plutarch doesn't care who dies," says Katniss. "Not as long as his Games are a success."

Peeta is the only one who hasn't expressed an opinion so far. Katniss turns to him.

"What do you think, Peeta?" Katniss asks him.

"I think... you still have no idea. The effect you can have." he says. "None of the people we lost were idiots. They knew what they were doing. They followed you because they believed you really could kill Snow."

Now we just have to work out a plan for the final part of the mission: Katniss has to kill Snow.

"What we need is to get him out in the open," Gale says. "Then one of us could pick him off."

"Does he ever appear in public anymore?" I ask.

"I don't think so," says Cressida. "At least in all the recent speeches I've seen, he's been in the mansion. Even before the rebels got here. I imagine he became more vigilant after Finnick aired his crimes."