Sunshine | Finnick Odair

| part 15 |

A handful of us are moved into an additional class, the tattoo on my arm lists it as S.S.C., short for Simulated Street Combat. Deep in 13, they've built an artificial Capitol city block. The instructor breaks us into squads of eight and we attempt to carry out missions gaining a position, destroying a target, searching a home - as if we were really fighting our way through the Capitol. The thing's rigged so that everything that can go wrong for you does. A false step triggers a land mine, a sniper appears on a rooftop, your gun jams, a crying child leads you into an ambush - that one's a real weakness being a mother. Part of you knows it's fake and that they're not going to kill you. If you set off a land mine, you hear the explosion and have to pretend to fall over dead. That's kind of fun. But in other ways, it feels pretty real in there-the enemy soldiers dressed in Peacekeepers' uniforms, the confusion of a smoke bomb. They even gas us. Johanna, Katniss and I are the only ones who get our masks on in time. The rest of our squad gets knocked out for ten minutes.

Cressida and her crew tape our little trio on the firing range.
I know Finnick is being filmed as well. It's part of a new propos series to show the rebels preparing for the Capitol invasion. Peeta started showing up for our morning workouts. The manacles are off, but he's still constantly accompanied by a pair of guards.

Just a few days before the first troops are to move out, York unexpectedly tells Johanna, Katniss and me she's recommended us for the exam, and we're to report immediately.

There are four parts: an obstacle course that assesses your physical condition, a written tactics exam, a test of weapons proficiency, and a simulated combat situation in the Block. I wasn't even nervous about the first three but when we got to the finale task I feel my anxiety begin to rise in my chest.

You go through alone. There's no predicting what situation you'll be thrown into. One boy says, under his breath, that he's heard it's designed to target each individual's weaknesses. My weaknesses? They could nail me to the wall on any number of things.

Johanna's called three ahead of me, and I give her a nod of encouragement. I wish I had been at the top of the list because now I'm really overthinking the whole thing.

As my names called I quickly shake away my thoughts. Once I'm in the Block, a certain amount of training does kick in. It's an ambush situation. Peacekeepers appear almost instantly and I have to make my way to a rendezvous point to meet up with my scattered squad. I slowly navigate the street, taking out Peacekeepers as I go. Two on the rooftop to my left, another in the doorway up ahead. It's challenging, but not as hard as I was expecting. I'm within a couple of buildings from my goal when things begin to get fucked up. I see a peace keeper standing their with a gun to Finnicks head. My weakness. This is fucked up to say the least. It reminds me off the Capitol. I feel tears begin to prick my eyes but I quickly blink them away as I head towards the goal. I hear a gunshot knowing that means they've killed Finnick. This isn't real. It's just a test. I reassure myself as I continue to run. Please only be a test.

I make my rendezvous point. When I exit the Block on the far side, a soldier congratulates me, stamps my hand with squad number 451, and tells me to report to Command.

Boggs smiles at me.
"Let's see it." I hold out my stamped hand.

"You're with me. It's a special unit of sharpshooters. Join your squad." He nods over at a group lining the wall. Finnick. I run over to him pulling him into a hug.

"I'm okay" he assured me.
"I had the same"

We were both each others weakness. I'm guessing 13 wasn't going to sink as low to show holograms of our kids getting killed otherwise I definitely would of had a mental breakdown.

Plutarch stands over a wide, flat panel in the center of the table. He's explaining something about the nature of what we will encounter in the Capitol. Plutarch enters some sort of code on a keyboard, and lights begin to flash. They're in an assortment of colors and blink at different speeds.