The Runaway Victor | Book II

Chapter Twenty-Eight | Refugee

The air was full of tension after they got into the protection of the thick trees. It wasn't because the three of them were focused on the sky, and listening for a ship. It was because of two other things, the idea that the Capitol would blitz them as soon as they thought they were in the clear and the fact that Hannah wouldn't stop nagging Orion to sit and take a break. It wasn't hard to see that he didn't have the energy to keep going much longer. his arms were wrapped tightly around himself as if he were just crossing his arms. But every so often Quinn would catching him putting a bit of pressure on his side where he had been shot.

"Do you think they were watching for us?" Quinn asked, breaking the silence and catching up with Orion's long strides that were beginning to get shorter.

Orion thought for a moment. They all had considered the idea that Thirteen had given up and no longer was waiting for them to get there. However, just as Orion began to nod and looked down at Quinn to reply to her, there was the familiar sound of a ship nearing them. The three of them stopped in their tracks, waiting for the feeling and sound of a firebomb striking the ground. But it never came, instead the sound of the ship began to get louder and the wind from it began to make the trees sway.

They all stared up at the giant ship that began to hover over the tree tops. The belly of the ship slid open, like the ships in the arena had. But instead of a giant metal arm extending itself down to reach them, strong cords fell from it. There were three people too, they each had a backpack on as they slid down the cords. They each wore a black military uniform with straps of their shoulders to hold various things onto their back.

Quinn examined the ends of the cords and saw that they had multiple clasps too.

"Orion Snow," a man with dark skin extended his hand out towards Orion. "Boggs," he nodded respectively as Orion took his hand. "President Coin has been anxious for you to arrive."

"We would have been here sooner but we ran into a few...problems." Orion replied, his voice was barely audible over the sound of the ship that was above them.

"Quinn Maverick, honour to finally meet you." Boggs replied, holding his hand out to Quinn too. "This is Vessalmen," he said motioning to a man with fair skin and blue eyes, "And Franks." he motioned to the final man, who had fair skin like Vessalmen and piercing green eyes.

Franks walked over to Hannah, Vessalmen to Quinn, and Boggs stayed with Orion. They each pulled off their backpack, and they dug out a sturdy harness of sorts. Vessalmen hooked it around Quinn before attaching the clasps onto it so she was attached to the cord. Franks and Boggs did the same for Orion and Hannah.

"Hold on to the cord," Vessalmen ordered, "Keep yourself stiff so you don't get tossed around too much. Once you're up, they'll check you out and take down some information." he explained. Franks and Boggs each finished up explaining the same thing to the others before Boggs turned his head and spoke into something on his shoulder.

Suddenly there was a vibration flowing through the cord, probably because of the gears retracting it back into the ship. Quinn was lifted from ground, the wind from the ship causing her to sway in the wind. Her hands gripped the cord tighter when she glanced down only to see that she was getting higher and higher in the air. The ship wasn't far above the trees, but it was high enough that she had to look down at trees in the air. She didn't need to try to keep her body stiff. She had never had to be so high, only attached to something by a few hooks and a cord. As soon as she felt someone grip the back of her harness, she let go of the cord so she could get pulled into the ship.

As soon as she was in the ship, someone was rushing to disconnect her from the cord before they pushed it back out for Vessalmen. She could feel her heart pounding, she could feel her palms sweating, her hands shaking, her breathing was short and quick like she had just finished running.

"Not a fan of heights?" a man chuckled as he grabbed hold of her arm and helped her stand. Then he walked her over to a seat like the ones she had been in going to the arena. "It's alright, that's probably the last time you'll have to deal with them."

Quinn shakily nodded as she sat down, "Yeah." she said quietly as she looked back towards the opening in the ship where Hannah was getting escorted away from.

"You aren't in too great of a shape, Mr. Snow." a man stated as he pushed the cord back out for Boggs. "Get some morphling and a stablizor." he added looking back towards another person.

"What? No, it's not that bad--"

"Don't worry, Mr. Snow, you'll be asleep for the whole ride and you'll be in Thirteen before you know it."

The man who had seated himself next to Quinn cleared his throat. "We've got most of the information we need from you already, just look over this and then scan in your finger prints."

Quinn glanced up at him, he had fray hair and wise looking brown eyes. She slowly nodded and took the tablet from him and looked it over. After she scanned each finger print a man with a white patch on his chest with a red cords came over. He asked her a few questions, like if she had been hurt like Orion. If she had any lingering injuries from her games, then he checked her heart rate, her breathing which was still a bit off from the heights. Then he checked her reflexes, then checked her temperature.

He gave her a kind smile, "Looks like you check out great, Ms.--"

"Quinn." she corrected him.

He chuckled, "Well, Quinn you seem to be in good health. When we get to Thirteen you'll be given your own apartment and a good meal."

Quinn sighed with relief. She didn't have to keep running anymore.