The 23 Cannons Trilogy

Crushed Dreams

The arena burned. Thick billowing clouds of smoke drifted through the air, threatening to suffocate anything they came in contact with. Higher up, the layer of toxic fumes continued to grow larger and larger, gradually descending towards the arena. Kylee estimated that they had maybe just over half an hour before the red-hot fumes choked them all. However, the good news was that for the most part, the sections of the sky had stopped falling. The onslaught had ceased. But every now and then, she would catch a small piece falling to the ground, exploding somewhere in the distance.

Markus stood beside her as they looked around the burning wasteland that was the arena. The stench of smoke was heavy in the air. She looked at where the houses once stood. All that remained was a thick fog of dust and debris that was slowly beginning to clear. If there were any tributes in there, she would not be able to see them. This thought also bothered Kylee. With the scale of destruction, there surely would have been at least one casualty. Yet no cannon had fired. Kylee turned to Markus, who also seemed perplexed.

"Any ideas on what the hell just happened?" she said, shifting on her feet. The mild cuts sustained from jumping out of the window stung like a bitch, but she did not complain. It was a miracle that they had both escaped with their lives.

"Not a clue," Markus said. "This seems like some crazy endgame stuff, but just after entering the final eight? Something's up."

"Yeah," Kylee said, looking around. In the distance, there was a massive wall of smoke from the centre of the arena that seemed to slowly be spreading outwards. She almost contemplated whether or not the smoke from the woods or the sky would kill them first. It then hit Kylee: they had less than thirty minutes left alive. Half an hour for the victor to emerge, unless the Gamemakers stayed their hand. "I don't think this is the doing of the Gamemakers, though." However, other evidence pointed towards outside interference.

"I have an idea," Markus said.

"What is it?" Kylee said. "I'm all ears. Well, for the half an hour we have left alive anyway."

"I'll be quick then," Markus said. "Basically, Alexis, my district partner, was spewing the biggest pile of anti-Capitol crap before the Games. And she's also smart as hell. If she managed to trick the sponsors, then she may have managed to pull this off."

"That's not good," Kylee said. "If this was caused by another tribute, then there's a chance that the Capitol will leave us to die if a victor doesn't present themselves before the arena kills us all."

"You're right," Markus said. "Then what do you suggest?"

"Isn't it simple?" Kylee said. "Flat-out kill spree. Anything that moves, we kill it. Then, when there's nothing left, we give it our all and one of us gets out alive. Got it?" She could feel the tension and pressure. Every second that passed talking was one less second that one of them would live for. And for the first time, Kylee realised that she could very well be dead within the hour.

"Sounds good," Markus said. "Only thing now is to choose a direction to go."

As Markus said this, however, the dust and smoke from the houses began to clear. Kylee was the first to notice, although this was only by four seconds. Just a little up ahead from the houses, they could make out four figures running: the other tributes. For just a brief moment, Kylee was confused as to why they were running away from everything but the realisation dawned on her immediately.

"Oh my god," she said.

"What?" Markus replied.

"They're going to try breaking out," Kylee said, pointing at the four figures. "They're taking advantage of the chaos, and they're going to try and escape the arena."