FIFTY SIX

THE REAL ENEMY

Her stomach growled. They'd been moving all day. It had been a day since Jim had died valiantly to save Panem. Talia had slept two hours last night before being awoken by the same nightmare that often plagued her dreams- the images of her parents- and Rossan's rotting corpse- burning at the stake in District 4. Finnick had been there, to hold her steady as she sobbed quietly into her bundled up coat to muffle her cries. They were finally entering the inner city where they would hopefully be able to infiltrate. They wanted to take control of Snow's most precious Capitol assets- the Training Centre, the Mansion and the Peacekeeper Headquarters.

"We'll stop soon," Jamie says from beside her, he'd heard her stomach roaring. "Mines the same,"

She smiles at him, "I can't wait for there to be a world where we're not constantly wondering how we'll get our next meal,"

"Me too, Talia, me too," He says softly.

Up ahead, Rover has gestured for everyone to halt. Everyone crouches down and Talia looks over her shoulder to see Finnick, holding his trident in hand. He smiles at her, that beautiful brilliant smile.

"I'm going to go-"

Rover's foot shifts and the concrete he stepped onto shudders. He'd activated a pod.

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Hanson yells. Talia rushes, grabbing Finnick's sleeve and tugging him as hard as she can. He runs, grabbing her arm to steady them both. They duck behind some debris just as Rover's foot lifts off the concrete block. He tries to run, but before he can move he is obliterated by an explosion that makes the ground shake violently. Finnick throws his body over Talia's, pressing her between himself and the floor, shielding the love of his life and their unborn child.

Talia covers her face with her hands, gasping for breath. Screams can be heard from behind the debris. Finnick peers over the top and sees Henry, his hands grasping at his face as his skin...melts away from the bone. The explosion was acidic. Finnick feels bile rush up his throat and flood his mouth. He jolts aside and heaves onto the pavement. Talia sits up and turns to see what Finnick saw. Her hand clutches her chest. Henry was collapsed to the floor, his sister, Jada screaming in agony at acid burning her own arms, but also at her brothers fleshless face.

Alana, who had been shielding behind a pillar beside Jamie, runs out into the open. She drops to the floor beside Jada and opens her backpack of medical supplies. She riffles around in it for a moment before producing a bottle of water, which she douses Jada's arms with. Jada howls in pain. The noise was sickening. Finnick and Talia emerge from their cover. Talia scans for the survivors. Henry and Rover are the only casualties. Hanson is ahead scouting the area when he stops moving. He looses a breath, looking over his shoulder at Talia, he begins to mouth, "Don't trust-"

Another explosion, not acid this time, but its two times the strength of the last. Talia's body flies back, but lands against Finnick's as a cushion. Finnick grunts in pain. Talia sits up quickly, blood flows down the side of her head. She drags herself to her feet, Finnick protests from the floor, but he's too winded to follow her. Her foot gives in and she falls against some debris. Her ankle was twisted. She yelps as she forced herself to walk on it. Talia clambers through the debris, coughing on the dust. Jada was crushed, and Alana too. Henry's melted face was smashed across the pavement. Talia throws up. She can't help it. The sight was too much. She wipes her mouth with a shaky hand and then observes the scene again. Alana, Jada, Henry, Rover, Hanson, they were all gone.

"Help! Help me!" A boys's yell. She drags her foot behind her as she rushes forwards. Under a fallen metal pole is Bobby. He's trying to shove the pole off his leg. Talia crouches beside him and begins to shove. Thats when she hears the click.

"Hands in the air,"

Talia gulps, her eyes closing as she slowly lifts her hands into the air.

"Turn, slowly," The voice is like poison.

Talia stands, her ankle felt like it was on fire, but she forced herself to stand straight, like a soldier. She turned and faced her enemy.

"I have been biding my time, Mrs Odair," The smile is wicked.

"I should have known...Actually, I think I did. The moment I saw those white roses on your arms I knew something wasn't right," Talia says.

Carmen Thistle grins, her pistol pointed to Talia's head. "President Coin sends her regards,"

Talia's throat clenches. Coin. Coin had sent her, not Snow. The real enemy. Talia looks down at Bobby, who was still struggling, trying to lift the pole.

"Leave the others, please," Talia asks, though she did not sound weak, she still hand authority ringing through her voice.

"No. Coin's orders. They are all rebel scum," Carmen says, she looks over her shoulder for a second, a falling piece of cinderblock catching her attention.

A second too long. Talia grabs a kukri from her back and lunges forwards, stabbing Carmen's abdomen and twisting harshly. Carmen drops the gun in shock and her head snaps back to look at Talia just in time for her fist to connect with her nose. Carmen's body sprawls across the floor. Talia takes the gun from her thigh and points it at Carmen's forehead.

"I am rebel scum, and you are a traitor of Panem. Your body will be lost in these ruins and your name forgotten. No one shall remember you, Carmen Thistle. I am the Pearl of Panem, and I will end the tyranny of Coin, and of Snow. You will not be here to see it. But I will win," Talia says. She looks up to see Jamie, holding Finnick up unsteadily.

It was her, Jamie, Finnick and Bobby left. They had been torn apart by two explosions.

"Get Bobby out," Talia says. "I'll take her down the road,"

Talia grabs Carmen and drags her to a stand. Talia keeps the gun pressed to Carmen's head and shoves her into a walk. They get away from the others and Carmen ducks and swings her leg up towards Talia's face. Talia jolts back, Carmen's boot swings past her face. Her gun fires. Carmen stands still for a moment. Her hand reaching up to cup the bullet wound that went through the side of her neck. Talia aims again, but Carmen drops to the floor, coughing blood. Talia stumbles forwards, leaning over her.

"Goodbye Carmen Thistle. Your name dies with me," Talia says. Carmen's hand reaches up to her, her eyes pleading as she splutters blood across herself and the floor. Talia aims her gun and pulls the trigger. Carmen's brains splatter across the pavement. Talia kneels down beside the woman and searches her pockets. She finds a photograph of Carmen and two women who look similar to her- perhaps sisters. Talia folds the photo and tucks it into her coat pocket. She closes Carmen's eyes and presses her three fingers to her lips. She lifts her hand to her side.

"May you find peace in death, Carmen," She says quietly, her hand falls to her side as Jamie rounds the corner.

"Peacekeepers, we gotta go,"

"Bobby?" Talia asks as she hobbles towards Jamie.

"Out, but we gotta move,"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Talia frowns. She finds the holo on the floor, she scoops it into her arms and looks towards Alana, Jada and Henry. Their bodies were trapped under layers of debris. They'd never be able to recover them. She looks at the holo, "We got an apartment block down that alley, take the holo,"

Jamie takes the holo from her hand and rushes back to the others. Talia salutes her fallen soldiers, her fallen friends and then rushes after Jamie. The Peacekeepers were a mile out, she could see them veering onto the street, at the end of it.

Finnick and Bobby were ahead, Jamie tailing them. Talia catches up, holding her gun in her hand to cover their backs. All of them except Jamie were injured. Jamie had been behind the pillar, hidden from the explosions.

They reach the apartments and make their way inside. They head up a few floors before they find the stairs had caved in, blocking the rest of the way up. Jamie kicks in one of the doors and does a quick sweep of the apartment. Its clear. Talia helps barricade the doors and they close all the curtains. Jamie, who was now carrying Hanson's sniper rifle and Rover's binoculars, settles down at the windows edge, watching the city beyond.

Talia sits down on the sofa beside Finnick.

"What injuries do you have?"

"I just hit my back and head, when you flung into me, I got winded," He says, he presses a hand to Talia's slightly bumped stomach. She glances around- but remembers that Finnick had told them. She reaches forwards and presses hand to his cheek. Before she can press a kiss to his lips, theres a thump. From her belly, from inside her abdomen. Finnick's hand doesn't flinch, but a soft smile forms on his face. She meets his eye as another kick lands.

"Wow," Finnick whispers quietly, only loud enough for them to hear. She strokes his cheek with the back of her fingers as the baby kicks one last time before settling back down. Finnick kisses her gently before lying down on across the sofa.

She looks across at Bobby, who was lying in an armchair, his eyes closed. He was a boy, a child. Thrown into a war.

"Bobby, are you okay?" Talia asks. He nods, but he winces. Talia stands up, her ankle protests but she ignores it. She crouches in front of Bobby and looks at his leg that had been crushed under the pole. It seemed fine, but there was blood. She lifts his leg and sees a jagged pice of metal protruding from it.

"Oh shit," She mumbles. Jamie looks over, sees whats wrong and walks over.

"That needs to come out," He says.

"Alana had all our medical supplies," Bobby says, shaking his head.

"Search the cupboards," Talia instructs Jamie. Jamie gets right to it. Talia cuts away the trouser leg of Bobby's combats using Jamie's knife and then props his leg up on the edge of the coffee table.

Jamie returns with a med-kit. He opens it up and lays out some of the supplies. Talia grabs an abandoned scarf from the sofa and hands it to Bobby.

"Bite this," She says. She takes the bottle of rubbing alcohol from the medical supplies and pours some over the wound. Bobby bites hard. Jamie nods his head at her and holds Bobby's leg steady. Talia takes the pliers and takes the edge of the metal between them. She looks up at Bobby, "Ready?"

He nods his head. She pulls. The metal comes out in one solid piece followed by blood. Jamie presses kitchen towels against the wound while Talia prepares the needle and thread. Jamie eases away the towel and Talia carefully begins stitching the wound closed. Its messy, but soon its over. She douses it with more rubbing alcohol which makes Bobby shudder with pain. Jamie checks on the streets below while Talia bandages the wound and then packs the rest of the supplies into her own backpack.

Finnick is asleep now, snoring quietly into the sofa cushions. Bobby finally relaxes, eating some beef jerky from his pack. Talia hunts the cupboards, finding a few tins and packets which she places on the coffee table. As she goes back to check for more the square ornament hanging from the ceiling above the coffee table begins to play a video. Finnick jolts awake and Talia stops what shes doing. Bobby sits up and Jamie turns to watch. Talia's mouth falls open in horror. Katniss's squad can be seen running from an activated set of pods. Peeta is with them, no doubt one of Coin's malicious plans. Pods blow up, fire guns at them, spray thick black tar at them all. Then Peacekeepers fire guns and grenades at the building they'd taken cover in. Tears slip down Talia's face.

Katniss and her squad were dead.

____________________

ok so, we all know Katniss & some of her squad aren't dead, but like, these guys don't know that :)))))

anyway, just wanted to address something here real fast: if you don't like Talia, please don't bother reading. She is the main character of this story, so you liking her is pretty important.

I've seen some comments saying that readers hate her or hate how she acts. But Katniss acts similar i n the original books, and so does say, Johanna. But no one hates on them for those actions. So please, ask yourself if you would say you hate Katniss or Johanna for doing the same things Talia does.

Also, a lot of comments say Talia is selfish. She is. I'm not afraid to say that she is. But a lot of people are selfish, and Talia acts this way because that is part of who she is- she gives everything to try to win, both in her games, in the quarter quell and now here, in the Rebellion. Talia is written this way to make her seem real, because I find that a lot of fanfiction and books in general, are often unrealistic.

Anyway, i put a lot of time and effort in my books, especially this one, and to have comments like "i hate your character" is really horrible and off-putting, so please consider the author's feelings before you post a comment.

Thank you for reading.

~cupidlies
❤️