Forbidden romance | Finnick Odair

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Opal found her heart rate increasing as the gap seemed to get smaller "You're okay O," Finnick soothed from behind her. They sidestepped their way past the first apartment and broke into the second one. In that apartment, one of the bedrooms had a door that was marked with utility instead of a bathroom. Behind the door was the room with the entrance to the tube. Messalla frowned at the wide circular cover, for a moment returning to his own fussy world. "It's why no one ever wants the center unit. Workmen coming and going whenever and no second bath. But the rents are considerably cheaper." Then he noticed Finnicks amused expression "Never mind."

The tube cover was simple to unlatch. A wide ladder with rubber treads allowed for a swift and easy descent into the bowels of the city. They gathered at the foot of the ladder, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the dim strips of light, breathing in the mixture of chemicals, mildew, and sewage. Pollux, pale and sweaty, reached out and latched onto Castor's wrist. Like he might fall over if there wasn't someone to steady him.

"My brother worked down here after he became an Avox," said Castor. Opal looked down, of course, who else would they get to maintain those dank, evil-smelling passages mined with pods? "Took five years before we were able to buy his way up to ground level. Didn't see the sun once." Under better conditions, on a day with fewer horrors and more rest, someone would have known what to say. Instead, they all stood there for a long time trying to formulate some sort of response.

Finally, Peeta turned to Pollux "Well, then you just became our most valuable asset," Castor laughed and Pollux managed a smile. They were halfway down the tunnel when Opal realized what was so remarkable about the exchange. Peeta sounded like his old self, the sweet boy she had been introduced to before the quarter quell. She glanced back at him as he trudged along with his guards Gale and Jackson, his eyes were fixated on the ground, his shoulder hunched forward. So dispirited. But for a moment, he was really there, and for Katniss's sake, Opal hoped he would return. Peeta called it right. Pollux turned out to be worth more than ten Holos. There was a simple network of wide tunnels that directly corresponded to the main street plan above, underlying the major avenues and cross streets. It was called the Transfer since small trucks used it to deliver goods around the city. During the day, many pods were deactivated, but at night it was a minefield. However, hundreds of additional passages utility shafts, train tracks, and drainage tubes form a multilevel maze.

Pollux knows details that would lead to disaster for a newcomer, like which offshoots might require gas masks or have live wires or rats the size of beavers. He alerted them to the gush of water that swept through the sewers periodically, anticipated the time the Avoxes would be changing shifts, and led them into damp, obscure pipes to dodge the nearly silent cargo trains. Most importantly, he had the knowledge of the cameras. There weren't many down there in that gloomy, misty place, except in the Transfer. But they kept well out of their way. Under Pollux's guidance, they made a good time- a remarkable time, if you were to compare it to their above-ground travel. After about six hours, fatigue took over. It was three in the morning, so Opal figured they still had a good few hours before their bodies were discovered missing, they'd search through the rubble then the whole block of apartments in case they tried to escape through the shafts, and then the real hunt would begin.

When Opal suggested they should rest, no one objected. Pollux found a small, warm room with humming machines loaded with levers and dials. He held up his finger to indicate that they had to be gone in four hours. Jackson worked out a guard schedule, and, since Opal wasn't on first shift, she wedged herself in the tight space between Katniss and Finnick and went straight to sleep. It seemed like only minutes after when Jackson shook her awake, telling her she was on shift. It was six o'clock, and in an hour they had to be on their way. Jackson told her to eat a can of food and keep her eye on Pollux, who insisted on being on guard the entire night. "He can't sleep down here." Opal dragged herself into a state of relative alertness, she ate a can of potato and bean stew and sat against the wall facing the door.