𝘕𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳.

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The squad was now in the deep tunnels of the Capitol. In the distance, Juniper felt the floor vibrating and pointed to the bright orange wall, signaling everyone to hide behind it.

The moment everyone hid, a train passed right by them. Juniper noticed it was full of peacekeepers and supplies, likely weaponry and ammunition. Katniss peaked around the corner and looked to Juniper and Pollux shaking her head.

"We're too exposed here, it's too risky." Katniss voiced, both girls looked to Pollux who looked hesitant, but he pointed a certain direction and led the group across the tunnel. Once they all made it across, Pollux opened up a grey door and everyone followed inside. Through the door was some steps, and Juniper realized there was a camera. She quickly took a knife from her belt and threw it straight into the camera. But it had already caught them.

"We need to hurry." Juniper called out. "There was a camera." 

Everyone hurried their pace down a ladder and Juniper made sure everyone made it through, she was the last one to go down. Finnick was waiting at the bottom for her and he grabbed her waist and lowered her down.

"I could've done the last few steps on my own, you know." She whispered, and Finnick shrugged.

"Yeah, but I want to be a good husband."

Juniper and Finnick manned the back of the squad while Katniss and Pollux continued leading everyone. When they first got into the room, it was ginormous, but the more the moved forward, the smaller it got.

They were now moving through a tunnel that was chest high with water, as they made their way from tunnel to tunnel, the water levels varied, but it was finally only up to their ankles before Juniper noticed some light coming up from ahead. 

"We're gonna stop here and rest for a bit." Jackson yelled out, and everyone was sort of relieved. They had been in the tunnels for almost four or five hours now. Everyone picked a spot to sit in and Jackson called first watch, Finnick picked out a place for Peeta to sit in. Juniper and Finnick sat close by.

Finnick opened his small backpack and gave Juniper a few pieces of bread he took from the apartment they stayed in back in the Capitol, it wasn't much, but they were both starving. 

"We're almost out of this." said Juniper, smiling. 

"How do you know?" Finnick wondered. They had been walking for a while, yes, but Juniper just had a feeling.

"Just a feeling I got." Juniper shrugged, taking a bit of the bread. Juniper took a look around the room, counting heads and seeing who was still with them.

Cressida, Messalla, Pollux, and Castor, the film crew. Peeta, Katniss, Lennox, Cashmere, Finnick, and Juniper, the victors. Finally, Jackson, Homes, and Gale as the soldiers. There was thirteen of them in total. They lost four already. 

Juniper rested her head on Finnick's shoulder and he rested his on top of her head. It was uncomfortable sleeping in all their gear and sitting up, but it was the best they were going to get. 

"Mutts!" Sylvia yelled. All of a sudden, Juniper was back in the 69th Hunger Games. It was all replaying in her head, the bodies of Colby and Sierra laying there, gone. This nightmare had played out too many times before, she didn't know why it kept happening.

The snake mutts emerged from the grass, Juniper would see her friends struggling to get up on the structure, she would see them get bit, then they would die.

Juniper woke up hyperventilating. Finnick lifted his head and Juniper grabbed onto his hand, he gave her a worried look but she just smiled and returned to her position. She tried sleeping again.

"It's just us four left." Wade spoke. "We can't stay in here forever."

"What do we do?" Sawyer asked. "Just split up and have a free for all?"

"We couldn't kill each-other." Sylvia said. 

Juniper froze, looking at her friends and running her hands through the grass. They were coming."We might not need to." She said. Everyone readied they weapons except Juniper, who quickly ran over to Sylvia.

"Get up there!" Juniper pointed to the top of the cornucopia, she clasped her hands together and allowed her friend to step on her hand. Wade and Sawyer followed exactly what they did, making it up.

Juniper turned to see the grass, seeing the snakes move through the grass and towards her. Her friends from above grabbed her arms and hoisted her up to safety, at least temporarily.

She looked at all of them, none of them were bitten. But this was just a nightmare, it wasn't real. But she somehow changed the affects of what happened, even if it wasn't. If she just thought ahead and moved fast enough. However, she was just delaying the inevitable. But why?

Someone tapping on her shoulder woke her up, it was Jackson. It was her watch now with Katniss. When Finnick realized what it was, he changed positions, not wanting to sleep if Juniper wasn't with him.

Juniper sighed, looking at Finnick and giving him a slight smile.

"What's wrong?" Finnick asked, and Juniper thought it was stupid to go on with her question, but she did anyway.

"Real or not real?" She wondered. "Wade, Sylvia, and Sawyer got bit before making it on the corncopia."

It was a silly question in her mind, not knowing if Finnick would even remember her games. She knew the answer, but her mind seemed to be playing tricks on her.

"...Real." Finnick whispered. He wanted to ask why, but he knew it was probably another nightmare. Why did it seem so real, her chance to change the way they died? But they still died anyway, no matter how many times she tried to change the outcome. It could've been her mind haunting her.

She stood up and stood near Katniss, who had her bow in her lap. Juniper sat on one of the railings. Katniss was sat right across from Peeta.

"You know the Capitol, they used tracker jacker venom on me." Peeta whispered to Katniss. Juniper looked down at the blonde, listening in. "That's what the doctors in thirteen said."

"You were stung once too, real or not real." Peeta wondered. Katniss nodded her head.

"Real." 

"When they used the venom on me, they would show me pictures of my life. But some weren't real, they changed them. At first they all blurred together, but now- Now I can sort them out a little." Peeta took a deep breath and continued. "Like, like the ones that they changed have this quality, it's like they are shiny and they've been glossed over." 

Juniper couldn't see Peeta's face clearly since she was above him, but she could tell he was struggling on sorting through his mind. Katniss seemed to notice how he was struggling.

"You should get some rest." Peeta nodded, agreeing with Katniss- but he didn't move. 

"You're still trying to protect me, real or not real?" He whispered. 

"Real." Katniss answered quickly, not leaving a moment for hesitation. "That's what you and I do. Keep each other alive."

Peeta went quiet after that. Juniper looked out into the darkness of the tunnel where the first emerged earlier, but she could barely see through it. She was glad Peeta was slowly making his way through his mind again. Juniper didn't know Peeta very long before he was hijacked, but the boy she befriended during the Quell was slowly returning. 

Juniper turned her head to look at Finnick, who had his eyes closed, but she could tell he wasn't really sleeping. He had a certain breathing pattern when he slept, it was weird to say, but Juniper had memorized it. It was usually slow and subtle, but now it was a bit hasty and uneven.

A weird humming sound was coming through one of the tunnels, Juniper got off the railing and stood up, looking out into the darkness. Katniss grabbed her bow and went to investigate. Right behind her, Peeta was struggling to sleep. Juniper turned around to see Lennox standing up from his position with the help of Cashmere.

Once Peeta woke up, a few things seemed to click in Juniper's brain. "Mutts!" Sylvia yelled.

"Mutts!" Peeta yelled. "They've released mutts!" Juniper ran to Finnick and helped him up, and she put a hand under Peeta's arm, lifting him off the ground as well. Everyone started grabbing everything and following Pollux, who was leading them out.

Finnick didn't want to let go of Juniper's hand quite yet, he held on tighter if anything. Gale and Pollux took the initiative, leading them slowly down the tunnel. Juniper started to get antsy. They needed to be quiet, but if they wanted to get out of here, they needed to hurry up.

After making their way straight down a tunell, Pollux pointing through a hole in the wall. He climbed through it and once he was done, Juniper went next, gesturing for Finnick to follow after her. 

Finnick passed his trident to Juniper made climbed his way through. Once he made it, Juniper handed him back the trident.

"What if I wanted to use that?" She whispered.

"I can't use your fancy blade things, so that's a no." He whispered back. Both were looking in the direction Pollux had disappeared into and a second later he peaked around the corner and gave a thumbs up. Finnick bent down and waved everyone to come through. Lennox and Cashmere climbed through, then Gale, then Katniss and Peeta.

As everyone else was climbing through, Juniper felt uneasy. She let go of Finnick's hand and put it on the wall instead, trying to focus.

"We need to go!" Juniper yelled, and the moment she did. Jackson was mauled by mutts on the other side of the wall. Katniss shot an explosive arrow at the area to slow them down, but it blasted her back a little. Finnick helped her up and the entire squad was running through the tunnels. It didn't help that their legs were drowning in water, it was slowing them down, but they kept going.

The took a sharp turn and continued following Pollux, but from the right, another hoard of mutts attacked. It separated the group slightly, cutting Juniper, Finnick, and Cressida off. Mutts completely tackled Castor, he was screaming in pain. Finnick tried saving him, but he got himself tackled by one. Juniper ripped the thing off of him and took the chakram off her belt, sticking the blade far into its neck. 

Finnick took out his gun and began shooting at the mutts, and when the passage was clear, the three continued running after the group. Cressida took their six, shooting at any thing that was following them. 

The group took a hard left, and they were now in an open room. A ladder going up, that would be the way out. However, mutts were coming from either side of the room. Homes was mauled and looked to be immediately killed.

Juniper threw one of her dark blue kunai at the mutt, electrocuting it and killing it instantly.  Another tried jumping on top of her, but she sliced its chest open with her chakram. She noticed Cressida getting jumped, and she ripped the mutt off of her from the back of its neck and slammed it down into the water, sticking her knife in its heart. 

Juniper lended a hand to Cressida and helped her out of the water. Cressida nodded her head as a thanks and Juniper returned the gesture.

She looked at the ladder and noticed Gale trying to climb it, but a mutt ripped him down and he fell into the water. Before she was able to go help, something grabbed her by her back and dunked her into the water next.

A mutt was clawing at her chest, and she wasn't able to fight back. She was losing air quickly. The struggling stopped and she was pulled up. She took a breath of and realized it was Lennox. He gestured behind her and she ducked, he swung his axe and chopped off a mutts head.

"Thanks." She said.

"Anytime!" He yelled back, going back to fighting the mutts. Juniper heard Peeta call Katniss's name as he was dragged into the water. Peeta and Katniss were both being attacked, and she couldn't save both. However, she saw Finnick's trident go through the Mutts back that was attacking Katniss. So she ran towards Peeta, slicing open the neck of the mutt that was drowning him and pulling him up.

"We have to get up the ladder!" Juniper yelled, killing another mutt that was about to attack her. Cressida pushed Peeta forward towards the ladder.

"Go, go, go!" She yelled. Juniper helped Peeta up onto the platform and he began climbing the ladder up behind Pollux. Cressida followed up right after him, shooting at the mutts beneath them. She needed her friends to get up first.  

Cashmere was losing a battle with three mutts against her, Juniper pulled her back by her shoulder and kicked one of the mutts down, taking her hand gun and shooting it in the head. She aimed at the other two and did the same thing.

"Go up!" Juniper gestured to Cashmere, who nodded and hoisted herself up onto the platform. She looked around, noticing Katniss, Lennox, Gale, and Finnick still fending off the mutts. Finnick grabbed Katniss by her arm, pulling her up and killing a mutt trying to sneak up on her from behind. Juniper ran towards the two, pointing to the ladder.

"Finnick! Come on!" Juniper yelled, pulling him by his vest backwards. She shot at the mutts coming their way, but ran out of bullets. A mutt was coming up on her right side, and she hit it in the head with the butt of her gun and kicked it down. Finnick climbed up onto the platform and pulled Juniper up.

"You go first!" He yelled, defending her with his trident. Juniper hesitated, but she knew Finnick wouldn't go up if she didn't go first. She took a few kunai in her hands and climbed up to a safe point on the ladder that was pretty high up, hooking her leg around the bars and turning.

"You now!" She yelled. Finnick turned and began climbing. A mutt grabbed at his feet, but Juniper sent down a blue kunai- killing it immediately. She one after another, either poisoning them or electrocuting them. Once he was right below her, she climbed up the rest of the way. 

"Lennox!" Finnick yelled, noticing Lennox was fending off the mutts from one part of the platform. Gale hoisted himself up too with the help of Lennox.

"Go!" Lennox yelled.  Finnick wanted to climb back down and help Lennox, but he looked up at where Juniper was. "Finnick, go!"

Finnick looked ahead and climbed up. Once he made it up safely, him and Katniss glanced back down the ladder, noticing Gale was climbing with Lennox right behind. However, a mutt grabbed onto Gale's back and pulled him back down, knocking Lennox down with him.

"Lennox!" Finnick yelled, he needed to get back down there. A hand stopped him though, he turned to see Juniper. A hand was covering her mouth as she barely saw the scene unfold underneath them, but she heard his screams. They were both being trampled by mutts. It wasn't possible to save them.

Katniss unhooked the holo from her belt and whispered nightlock three times, sending it down and exploding the place into a heap of flames.

"We need to keep moving!" Cressida called out, everyone stood up and began running. They were back in the regular bright orange tunnels. The moment they were out in open space, gunfire was being thrown their way. One bullet slightly grazed the side of Juniper's arm, but it never made entry.

Juniper hid behind a giant screen and took out one of her purple kunai. She peaked around the corner and impaled one of the peacekeepers in the stomach, and the area around exploded into purple smoke. Katniss sent an exploding arrow into another entrance.

"Let's go!" Juniper yelled, grabbing Katniss by the arm and moving her forward. Everyone was following Cressida and Messalla, and suddenly a beam shot from the ceiling and onto the floor, completely incinerating Messalla. 

Cressida paused to take a look at what had happened, but more and more beams started appearing. Another took out Pollux. Cashmere took Cressida's side and kept running with her, hand in hand.

Juniper took another purple kunai out of her belt and turned around quickly, not knowing if she would exactly hit anybody, but threw it. Another fog of purple filled the area behind them, screening the area from gunfire temporarily.

Spikes came from the ground and started tearing up the floor underneath them. Juniper and Finnick pushed Katniss ahead and kept on running, side by side. However, it was catching up slowly but surely. The moment Juniper felt it getting close enough to her feet, she jumped for it, landing a few feet ahead and rolling on the ground. Finnick had done the same thing.  The grinders had stopped.

They both took a few quick breaths and Juniper stood up, Finnick did as well, but he fell back down only to be caught by her. A bullet had gone completely through his shoulder, and one of the mutts from before had taken a good bite of his leg. Though he hadn't lost any limbs, there was certainly a lot of blood. 

"Come on, I got you." Juniper took Finnick's arm over her shoulders and tried walking. She couldn't run, but she could hold him up. The unit paused and looked at Peeta, who was struggling to get back in the right headspace. Katniss was trying to help him.

Then, they kissed. Finnick and Juniper looked at each other, and then back at the two from Twelve. Certainly unexpected, especially when they were being chased down. The two whispered something to each other and Katniss stood, grabbing Peeta's hand and running towards the rest of the group.

"Come on!" Cashmere yelled, jogging towards the stairs with Cressida. 

"I know where we are!" Juniper called out, remembering the street they were on that was a little too familiar. "Just go up those stairs!" 

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