The Fandom Hunger Games (A Novella by @voldymorte_and_valour)

Section 6.3 of Chapter 6: Arrivals

6.3 - On the Capitol Hovercraft-TMI:

             Emma and Julian were now safely on the hovercraft, and they were being escorted by some Pact members that were their own age. There were no windows save for the ones in the cockpit, so they couldn't really see what was going on outside. They sat down on the benches along the side of the vehicle, and strapped themselves in. The ground began to rumble, then, and moments later, the hovercraft took off. It rose upwards with little difficulty, and started moving forward, Julian thought how it would have been so much more calming had they been able to enjoy the scenery, and the urban beauty of the Capitol. He wondered about how the Hovercrafts worked, able to go straight up and come straight down whenever the pilots willed it to. Lost in thought, admiring the design of the aircraft, he did not notice what was happening around him. The clouds had changed, turning from white to bloodred in less than a second. Suddenly, the smell of smoke filled the air. The young Pact members looked alarmed, but the Captain quickly assured the cabin that this was merely wildfire. Julian turned to Emma, who was wide-eyed herself. "What the hell, how does the smell reach this high??" Julian asked. "I don't even know, there shouldn't even BE fires in this part of Panem, according to what I have read." Julian shook his head, and tried not to imagine the situation down below. When he had his head in his hands, and Emma was fighting off sleep, the Pact members all looked at one another and nodded. They pulled their weapons out, and then cut their straps. Both Emma and Julian did not notice, at this point. The Pact members rose as one, and made their way to the cockpit. After a quick hushed discussion with the pilots, they all donned parachutes. The pilots smiled knowingly. The leader of the youth who had taken up with the Pact went to shake the Pilots' hands, then he checked over his own parachute, and looked over at Julian and Emma. It pained him to leave these two to die, for that was against his morals. Yet, his family was in danger, and he had no choice. It was either join or watch his loved ones die, and he knew which to take. He was a kind guy for the most part, and had tried to make Julian and Emma feel welcome on the hovercraft. He had dark hair and brown eyes, to match his naturally tan skin. As the Pact members jumped out one by one, this leader had a change of heart for a second, and placed parachutes on Emma and Julian's laps, slowly, slowly. He gave them one last look, then jumped out. The pilots ejected at the same time, and the hovercraft had no one to direct it. As the vehicle started to go up and up, it started tilting at a 45 degree angle. Then it started tilting more. That's when the objects inside the plane began to slide backward. As the heaviest of objects hit the door, Julian started to wake up. Suddenly, the engine started to sputter. Black smoke was emitted, and he knew that this was not the wildfire anymore. The hovercraft stalled, and began to fall backwards back down to earth. Julian opened his eyes when he felt the air pressure change, and yelled when he realized what was going down... Them. Emma woke with a start the second Julian started yelling, and looked around for a way out. Julian yelled "CORTANA" at her, and she understood right away. She pulled out her beloved sword and cut the straps holding them to the seat, first her own, then his. She gestured to the spare parachutes and while Julian started opening the packs up, went over to the window in the cockpit and looked for the eject opening. "JULIAN," she shouted, pointing towards a hole that had been covered by an object. Julian ran over, handed a pack to Emma, and as soon as both of them had it on, they began to move the object. Through their combined strength, they managed to shove it aside. They looked through the opening, yet couldn't see a thing clearly because the hovercraft was spiralling as they fell. Julian, with a lot of effort, managed to shimmy his way up to the window again. The ground was coming up way too fast to do anything. He signalled Emma to jump, and she did. He followed quickly. They managed to open their parachutes as the first of the skyscrapers came into view, the ground directly below. They floated down, and watched as the smoking hovercraft collided with the pavement, slamming into it with such force that there was a massive jarring explosion. Flaming shrapnel sent flying by the explosion came upward, and as Emma and Julian were lower now, it shred their parachutes into pieces. Emma and Julian looked at each other the whole time they fell, and they unknowingly managed to direct their bodies into an invisible force-field. They bounced up, then slammed into the ground. All they saw was darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------