Katniss P.O.V.
I go over and over in my head what I'm going to say to Coin, and each time, I find a flaw. But I can't keep doing this. I have to get this over with.
My hand hovers over the door handle for a moment before I finally pull it and step into the room. My heart starts racing, and I swallow hard when Coin notices me.
"Have a seat," she tells me. I take a deep breath and sit down at the table. "I'm guessing you've heard about what I plan to do tomorrow."
"Yes," I reply drily. "I've heard."
"And I assume you know why you're here."
"Not exactly," I say. "But I can make a pretty good guess. You're hoping I've changed my mind."
"You've guessed right," Coin tells me. "I've figured that after everything that's happened, you would have had a change of heart."
"You mean after you threatened Peeta?" I ask.
"I thought I made myself clear. That was not a threat."
"Could've fooled me," I say. "Look, believe me, I know why you want Snow dead. What I don't understand are the details."
"Care to elaborate?"
I take a deep breath. This is it. I can't make a mistake now.
"You insist that I be the one to kill Snow during a public execution," I begin. "But when I turn down the offer, you decide to do a private execution right away. I can't help but to wonder why."
Coin just shakes her head at me. "You're a lot more observant than I gave you credit for, Katniss."
I shiver at hearing her say my name.
"I know you're not very fond of me," Coin says. "And I also know that once Snow is gone, I won't be your first choice as leader."
"And that makes me a threat," I say.
Coin gives me a smug look. "Nothing personal," she says. "It's just that I can't aford to have any threats stand in my way. But, at the same time, I also can't afford to have your blood on my hands."
"You were hoping that Snow's followers would take care of that," I say.
Coin just stares at me for a moment. She gets a satisfied look on her face before leaning in as close as she can from across the table.
"So you have got it all figured out," she says. "But I'm willing to bet that one little detail you didn't think about is the fact that you'll need an alibi to prove that you weren't the one to kill Snow."
My heart drops. That's what this meeting was about. To get me away from anybody who might see me so there's no way to prove me innocent. There's no wintnesses. It's my word against Coin's.
That means Snow is already dead.
His loyalists will be after me, and I'll always be looking over my shoulder.
But my fear quickly turns to relief when I remember what I came in here for. Proof. And I got that.
I can't let my guard down yet, though.
"You're unbelievable," I say as I stand up. I try to keep a nervous tone to my voice. "You're just like him."
"You can drop the act, Katniss," Coin says. "Honestly, did you think that I wouldn't have the room searched before I asked to meet with you?"
I quickly grab onto the back of the chair as my knees give a little. The room being to spin, and I feel sick.
"I left the cameras up," Coin continues. "I figured I'd play along with your silly little game. Ms. Everdeen..."
"Mellark," I say through gritted teeth.
"You should know that I could see and hear everything," Coin says without missing a beat. "I run an underground military operation. I have cameras everywhere. I can't believe you weren't smart enough to figure that out. I knew the moment you said that I was no better than Snow. I heard every word of your plan. It was a good plan, but obviously not good enough.
"Now, you got me to confess, and you have it recorded. There's nothing I can do about that now. But good luck, Katniss, with trying to get the truth to everyone else."
I don't say another word. I turn and get out of the room as fast as I can. When I'm out in the hallway, Haymitch immediately takes the recorder from me.
"Get her somewhere safe," Haymitch tells Gale. "We have to hurry."
"What's going on?" I ask Gale as he starts dragging me down the hallway.
"Don't worry about it. Let's just get you to your room," Gale says as he holds out a gun.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Like I said, don't worry about it."
We get ready to round the corner when a bullet zips by. I gasp as Gale pins me to the wall with his right arm while he stretches his left arm around the corner and fires the gun. He looks down the hallway before pulling me forward.
Gale quickly switches the gun to his right hand before he wraps his left arm around my shoulders. He pulls me down another hallway, but not before a gun goes off behind us. I gasp when I feel a burning pain on my left shoulder, and I cover the spot with my right hand. Gale fires a few shots in the direction that the bullet came from before turning to me.
"You alright?"
I nod my head and pull my right hand away from my shoulder to find it covered in blood.
"It hit me," I say as tears form in my eyes. My head is still racing trying to figure out where things went wrong. But, most of all, I'm scared for Willow.
"Gale," I sob as I cradle my stomach in my hands.
"Hey, listen to me," Gale says. "You're going to be alright. Okay? You both are." Gale looks down the hallway and takes a deep breath. "Your room is just eight doors down. I think you can make it."
My eyes widen. "What about you?"
"I'll hold them off," Gale replies. "Hurry. Do not open the door for anybody but me, okay?"
I nod and swallow hard. "Okay."
Gale looks back around the corner before nodding at me. "Go!" I take off running as fast as I can being almost seven months pregnant. I'm shaking so much that it takes me a few seconds to get the door opened. Once I do, I shut and lock the door behind me.
I flinch when I hear the gunshots start. My knees finally give out, and I sink to the floor, leaning my back up against the wall. Willow starts going crazy, and I lay a hand on my stomach.
"It's okay, baby girl," I say through tears. "You and Mommy are okay."
That's when a thought enters my mind.
What about Peeta? What is Coin having done to him?
My thoughts are cut short when someone swiftly knocks on the door.
"Katniss, it's me," Gale says. I reach up to unlock the door, and Gale quickly steps into the room. He shuts the door and turns the lock back into place.
"That should hold them off for a while," Gale says as he helps me up off the floor. "You alright?"
"Yeah," I say. I look over at my left shoulder and wince when I see a stream of blood going down my arm. "Well, sorta."
"Come here," Gale says as he leads me over to the bed. I sit down, and Gale hands me the gun. "If anybody gets through that door, you shoot them."
I nod my head, and Gale walks off to the bathroom. He comes back carrying a rag, and he sits down beside of me on the bed.
"Here," Gale tells me as he presses the rag to my shoulder. "It just grazed you, so at least we won't have to dig a bullet out of your shoulder."
"What happened?" I ask in a strained voice.
Gale takes a deep breath. "We came to get you the second we saw you were in trouble," he begins. "One of Coin's soldiers tried to stop us. That's how I got that," Gale says as he motions towards the gun. "I didn't kill him, but he won't be waking up for a while."
"And what about the recording?" I ask. "What happens to it?"
"Well, I think the best thing for now is to hide until the timing is right," Gale tells me. "I don't think it would be wise to go with plan A while we're on the run from Coin's soldiers."
"And what are we supposed to do? Just hide until they give up?" I ask Gale. "We can't hide in here forever, and I think if they want me bad enough, they'll break the door down."
"I know," Gale says as he finishes cleaning up my wound. "But for now, we'll stay here as long as we can. Besides, you need to lie down and get some rest."
I give Gale a look. "Are you crazy? Sleep at a time like this? Gale, people are dying out there because of me."
"This isn't your fault, Katniss. It's not because of you. It's because of Snow and Coin and the fact that they're so power hungry they don't care who they hurt."
"Gale, you don't understand," I say quickly. "We have to get that recording out. If Coin was telling the truth and Snow is dead, then it's almost too late. She'll be the next president of Panem by tomorrow, if not sooner."
Gale takes a deep breath and looks back over at the door as if debating something. "Look, you handed it off to Haymitch. Alright? He'll take care of it."
I swallow hard and nod my head. "Okay," I say.
"The only thing we can do is sit here, so you might as well relax," Gale tells me. "Go to sleep if you can. No offense, but you look exhausted, and there's no telling when we'll have to take off running again."
"Yeah. I guess you're right," I say reluctantly.
"Don't worry about everything else," Gale tells me. "I'll guard the door."
I nod again, and Gale goes to sit down at the foot of the bed. I lay down and curl up under the covers, being careful of my throbbing shoulder. I lay a hand protectively over my stomach and close my eyes.
I've not been asleep long when I feel an intense pain across my stomach. I gasp and sit up, causing Gale to look over at me.
"Gale," I say through clenched teeth as I cradle my stomach with both of my hands. "Something's wrong!"
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Guys, I've had this chapter written for a few days, but I haven't felt like typing it up. I'm sorry. I go back to the doctor Wednesday for a second opinion, so hopefully I'll get to feeling better and I'll feel like updating more often. Also, I haven't forgotten about Complete, I'm just needing some ideas, so if ya'll have any, please message me.
I have a question for this book. I have an idea that I don't exactly like, but I feel like it needs to happen. But, I will need your permition to kill a character off. I won't say who, but I will say that it won't be Katniss, Peeta, or the baby. So, do I have your permition to kill off a character 😂 I feel like this question won't go over too well.