The Hunger Games: Uprising!

Chapter 15

Once we've all assembled in the hanger the squad go over their plan with Gibbs and Joel. Beetee arrives with some new ammunition. Special defence has developed a new explosive tip round that can be used in their current weapons. It's hoped that these will be more effective against the mutts armour.

Beetee signals for me and Gale to follow him and he leads us over to a weapons chest. He removes the fire arrows from our sheaths and hands us some new ones. "What are these?" asks Gale.

"It's something we came up with after the war. These arrows can be used to electronically jam a pod or surveillance camera. They explode on impact and create a pulse that disables them. Use them sparingly, if too many cameras go down in a given area they'll know something's up. Okay?"

We both nod.

We all board the drop ship and take our seats. It's about a 3 hour flight to district 4 and I soon doze off. I have a happy dream, of being with Peeta living in our house in district 12. Our children playing in front of the fire on a winters night. I'm all of a sudden shaken awake by Gale.

"We're landing on the ship Katniss. Get ready"

I nod, undo my safety belt and join the line of soldiers ready to disembark. There's a loud thump as we touch down and the ramp lowers. We walk out into the bright sunlight and take in our surroundings. I've never been on a ship before and I'm slightly shocked at its size. Probably half a kilometre long with a large white structure at the rear. You can smell fresh fish from the holds of the ship, and feel the smooth rumble through my feet from the ships engines.

The squad unload our equipment and the drop ship lifts off and activates its cloaking device so it can't be seen as it flies back to 13.

We're directed down into a large store room where we'll wait until we leave for the tunnels. It's damp and smells of rotten fish. We lay out a sheet of plastic and sort out our supplies from the drop ship. I suddenly get a queasy feeling in my stomach. I put my hand on the wall and can feel the roll of the ship. Gibbs see's me and smiles. "No sea legs Katniss?"

"No, I've never been on a ship before" I look at Gale and he looks just like I feel.

Soft laughter fills the room and I smile even though I know I'm the butt of the joke.

"Don't worry Katniss. We'll be in the river soon and the sickness will pass" says Joel.

He's right. Once we reach the calmer water of the river the ships movement steadies and I start to feel better although I can still feel it when the ship changes direction. The others snack on some rations but I've lost my appetite and I eventually nod off into a restless sleep.

I wake suddenly. Noticing that the ships engines have stopped. Gibbs comes over to us.

"Get yourselves ready we'll be going topside in a minute. It's dark out and we can't see any guards but that doesn't mean they're not there. Follow my instructions and you'll be fine"

We both follow the squad up the steps to the main deck. It feels good to breathe in some fresh air. No words are said as we make our way to the stern of the boat then wait whilst the rubber boats are readied for our short trip to the drainage tunnels. I look around taking in the strange looking buildings of the Capitol.

"Okay let's go" says Gibbs

Gale and I climb over the rail and decend down the rope ladder to the rubber boats bobbing about in the water.

"I just got over feeling sick from the ship and now this" says Gale

I know what he means I'm already starting to feel ill again.