Firecracker: The 99th Games Book One

Arena, Day 11 Part 7

This was ridiculous. Why could no one find the source of the cyberattack on the Hunger Games arena?

Jemima had no idea where her precious tributes were, no idea whether they were still in the arena or were long gone. None of the Escorts she saw had any news, and the Mentors she met were even more out of the loop than she was; many of them had stopped watching the Games when their tributes died.

She finally returned to her Gamemakers and found some of them missing.

"Where are Souma and Rolf?!" she demanded.

"They went off to investigate," Sheila reported. "We...we still have nothing in here."

"Nothing?" Jemima echoed. She threw up her hands, shaking her head. "How on earth could this happen...?! You are telling me someone shut us out of our own arena and none of you can find a way in?!"

"Maybe the arena is broken!" No Ha snapped. "Have we considered that?! I kept telling Justine to fix the d*mn thing!"

"But Luka maintains the arena," Justine pointed out. "And he's been out sick for the past few days."

Something about this conversation made Jemima realize something. If this was an inside job, she had left a glaring hole in her airtight arena.

If the force field was down, they could get to the maintenance tunnels.

It clicked. Furious, Jemima stormed over to Justine. "Shut every gate in every maintenance tunnel. Send in the Peacekeepers and their dogs. I want every inch of those things combed from start to finish!"

Justine nodded, hesitating slightly.

"What are you waiting on, Jacoby?!"

"I--I don't control the tunnels," Justine said meekly. "Luka does. And he gave his jurisdiction to Souma for the time being..."

"Someone close the d*mn tunnels!" Jemima roared, slamming her fist on the panel.

"I'm on it!" Leaping from his chair, Meri skipped over to Souma's empty station, tapping a large red button. "I love pressing big red buttons! I wish Souma and Rolf could see this!"

~*~

Piero and his new alliance could see the ladder to their escape in the distance. Asahi was waiting, and Fuyuko and Hinata had apparently also elected to stay behind.

At the sight of them, Fuyuko beamed, running towards the middle of the room. "Piero! Marco!"

"Fuyu!" Piero laughed. Finally, the end was in sight. Finally, everyone would be okay...

Naoki's foot caught on a loose brick. He tumbled to the floor with Marco, yelping. Marco cried out in pain, flinching.

"Are you two okay?!" Piero blurted.

Cerys hurried over and held out his hand to Naoki, pulling him to his feet. They stood directly beneath the metal gate separating their path from the final room, clutching each other's hands. Naoki ushered Cerys forwards, bending down to help Marco stand.

"I'm so sorry," he blurted. "Are you okay?! How's your stomach?"

Marco groaned, but nodded. "I-I'm--I-I'm okay, i-it just...hurts..."

A light above the gate blinked on, casting a harsh red glow into the room. The gate began lowering at a rapid pace.

Naoki looked up just as he was lifting Marco back into his arms, eyes wide with horror.