Why Can't There Be Another Way

Chapter 23

Athena

We eat up and cover our traces the best we can. The insect shells had to be left behind. They were too bulky for us to carry down to the tunnels. We also had to calm Peeta quite a bit before we could leave. He kept telling us to kill him because he pushed Mitchell into the pod. Hawthorne had no problem with that, but I can tell Katniss didn't particularly want to kill Peeta. Eventually, we decided Finnick and I would keep watch of Peeta as Pollux leads us around the tunnels.

We make our way through the tunnels, avoiding other Avoxes and pods in the process. After several hours of trekking, we rest up in a small room. I take the second watch, playing Real or Not Real with Peeta. I can't help much since I know nothing of District 12, but I can give him my insight to his hypothesis. He can start to make out the difference between what is real and what is due to the tracker jacker venom. Since I've never been stung, I tell him to ask Katniss, but I did say it was very possible the tracker jacker memories have a shiny feel to them.

At seven, we wake up. Katniss tells us to quiet down and I start to hear the faint hissing. They seem to be saying Katniss's name over and over again. Pollux leads us out. We ran to this colorful area, where Messala died in a beam of light. Cressida cried out to him, and I grabbed her arm as I ran past her. We continue running until we get ambushed by Peacekeepers when we reach the Meat Grinder pod. A few go down before the source of the hissing shows up. Lizard mutts. They reek of roses and seem to be wired to kill everyone. We run as they rip apart Peacekeepers. Jackson and Leeg 1 stay behind as Pollux leads us to a sewage system.

The lizard mutts catch up to us there. Our bullets do barely any damage to them. I throw a few knives but they prove to be just as useless as the bullets. The arrows Beetee designed work better. I throw a few grenades I took with me that have the same explosive as Katniss and Hawthorne's arrows. I throw them at the entrance to the sewers, hoping to get rid of the mutts outside. We urge Katniss to get up the ladder, then Peeta and the camera crew.

My hand reach for another weapon. It encircles around a mace. Not chained. Just a simple mace. But its spikes are laced with poison. I know because I made it myself. Finnick's story of President Snow inspired that.

"Go, go, go," Finnick says, spearing a mutt.

I smack a mutt before climbing. It makes a terrible hissing sound as the poison slowly works its way in its body. I make it to the top before Katniss decides to climb back down.

"No," I tell her but she's already going down.

"Climb," Hawthorne says from beneath her.

I hear Finnick scream.

"Finnick!" I yell, wishing Katniss and Hawthorne will hurry up and get up the ladder.

"Someone's still alive," Katniss pleads.

"No, Katniss. They're not coming," Hawthorne says. "Only the mutts are."

I help them get up, hoping to be able to kill enough mutts to allow Finnick to get back up. But the bullets, as I mentioned, are useless. Finnick tries to spear the mutts. There's only one way to possibly save him.

"Hawthorne, your arrows," I say since Katniss seems to be in a panic. "Hawthorne, your arrows," I repeat but he's not listening to me. He's trying to reassure Katniss. "Gale Hawthorne your fire arrows," I plead as I see a mutt jump on Finnick. I don't know if it's Katniss or me who screams. Maybe both of us.

Katniss repeats nightlock three times and throws the Holo down. A spray of water shoots up. I don't know who finds the cover to stop the water from spraying us. Meanwhile, Peeta is having an internal battle, which snaps Katniss back to her common sense. She rushes over to him while I start taking my anger out on Hawthorne.

"You could have saved him," I yell at him. I hear Katniss trying to reassure Peeta. He pleads for her to kill him, saying that he's a mutt. I barely pay any attention.

"I wasn't going to waste my arrows on a dead man," he yells back.

"Hold it," Cressida says firmly.

Katniss got a hold of Peeta once again. I take a breath to calm down. "Goodbye, Finnick," I say under my breath as we head out.

We emerge from the home of a Capitol woman. Katniss already killed her by the time I reach the top. We dress up, trying to disguise ourselves as best as we can. Cressida leads us to a shop. Inside is the most grotesque woman I have ever seen. Tigris. An old stylist. She hides us in a bunker of sorts, where we manage to sleep until it was closing time. We watched the news coverage then went back to the bunker.

The next day, we watched Beetee's news and the evacuation of the Capitol citizens. Tigris went out to collect information. We had enough time to make a plan until the next morning where we would be leaving. It's too dangerous to stay, especially since shops will be housing citizens soon.

The next day, Tigris gets us dressed in cloak to hide our weapons. Cressida and Pollux leave first. Then Katniss and Hawthorne. Finally, Peeta and I. We'll be acting as a distraction in case things went off course.

As soon as we stepped onto the streets, rebels began firing. I slammed Peeta into the side of a building. After the firing finished, I asked him if he wanted to go back to Tigris's shop.

"No," he replied.

We continued to make our way, avoiding as many pods as we could. The floor began to shake. I grab Peeta and we begin to run as the ground opens up behind us. We weave through the crowd as they all start to run to safety. Once the crowd got too thick, I lead Peeta to a side avenue and we continue to run. I make a turn to go towards the president's mansion. There is no longer a road on the main street.

In the distance, near the president's mansion, I see parachutes being dropped. Then a large explosion. I jerk Peeta to the side of a building as we wait. Once the coast was clear, we continued forward.

Medics have made it to the scene once we get there. But so have the second bombs. The force of the explosion throws me back, knocking the breath from my lungs. I think I'm on fire as well. The smoke is so intoxicating that I black out.