Final Reality (THG Fanfic)

Chapter XX

I make Zara sit on my lap and scoot closer to Cathal so our conversation will be inaudible, if not muffled for the whole of Panem to hear. We must seem beyond suspicious to our viewers the way we’re sitting. “After the interviews,” Zara starts, “my mentor, Beetee Latier, your mentor, Sean McAvoy and District 12 victor, Haymitch Abernathy came to speak with me. They had proposed the plan to get Prim out alive, but ultimately to destroy the arena, therefore getting us out alive, too. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but they have been sending us hints. Cathal, you remember when we received that odd looking loaf of bread?” Cathal nods and Zara continues. “Each half of the bread was different as Prim pointed out. One was from District 4, and the other from District 2. You understand where I’m going with this?” Zara smiles smartly. “Thus leading us to easily trust Jaeda and Pommel.”

“Well, I think I play a significant factor in that phase,” I interrupt snootily.

Zara only laughs, but continues on. “Yes, Wren. And another hint was the twenty-four rolls of bread from my home.” At the mention f it, I pull out a roll from the parachute tied to my side and hand it to Zara. “The origin of the bread, three, indicated the day, and the number of rolls translated into the hour of escape, twenty-four.”

“So this is to end at midnight tonight?” Cathal asks, almost as if he doesn’t believe how fast these Games are turning out to be. “How is that going to work exactly?”

“I was just getting to that,” Zara responds, pulling a strand of wire from the reel. “Beetee instructed me to acquire this wire that he had invented to be able to conduct enough electricity to blow the force field. It looks delicate, and it is, but it will be enough to carry an electrical current. Really it will act like a fuse, but we have enough wire to do it a second time if we fail the first.”

I feel like we should be sitting at wooden desks with Zara in front of a blackboard, pointer in hand, teaching us about the history of the Hunger Games. “Where will we get hold of said electricity?” I ask.

“You’re the one who told us what happens every twelve hours,” Cathal replies, obviously a step ahead of me. “It doesn’t take a genius.” And it really doesn’t. The only thing in this arena with obtainable energy will be found in the twelve to one section, where lightning strikes the giant tree.

Zara happily nods and pats Cathal’s shoulder, proud of his intuitiveness. “Now, if we can wrap this wire around the big tree in the lightning sector, and pierce the force field when the lightning strikes, the whole thing will explode. However, for all of us to be saved, we obviously need to get ourselves off the radar. Aside from dying, there is one other way to do that,” she tells us, tapping at a spot on her right forearm. Trackers. “The others, of course, will receive a different proposition, but it will be the same nonetheless.”

We wait two hours before waking the group to introduce the strategy to “capture the careers”, since there’s really no use in attempting to hunt them down. It’s basically the same plan except we’ll be simultaneously electrocuting the water in the wheel and the damp beach. If the careers have been watching us, they’ve probably figured out about the clock, the food in the water and the horrors of the jungle. But they would obviously avoid the beach as we’ve claimed it as our territory. They would neither be in the confines of the jungle – it’s a nightmare. The tree line is really their only place of safety, but it’s also covered in damp sand. If it works, whoever is on the beach will be electrocuted. Otherwise, if there is no one, everyone has lost a food source. Which is completely fine insures Zara.

“At dusk, we’ll make our way to the lightning tree and cover it with the wire,” Zara instructs. “Prior to midnight, we run the wire from the tree into the water. Whoever is in the water or on the damp sand will be electrified when the lightning strikes.” Everyone agrees with the idea, even Jaeda, who is much better than the lifeless lump she was hours ago.