Whatever was making the sound, it was approaching us. We were trapped inside the narrow darkness of the tunnels and apparently Snow knew that and had sent us some company.
Peeta yelled at Katniss to flee as she had frozen in place. "They're after me. We've to separate", she realized.
"But we're your guards", Jackson reminded her.
"And your camera team", Cressida added.
"Your friends ...", I stated.
"... and allies", Finnick finished.
"I won't leave you alone", Gale agreed.
We divided our weapons so Cressida, Messalla, Castor and Pollux would not be unarmed and quickly showed them how to use the guns.
After that we started moving as fast as possible, though the panic influenced the movements of the others and we were way too loud. Unlike them, I was used to move quietly in dangerous situations, but we were a team. So it did not really make a difference right now.
We arrived in a corridor that looked like a carriageway. We stayed close to Katniss due to her order as the voices of the mutts grew louder behind us.
Finnick pushed Katniss out of the way, right before a strange attack could hit her.
But it had been too late for Messalla. He was surrounded by bright light and it looked like the flesh was melting from his body like the wax off a candle.
Actually Peeta was the one who encouraged us to move on as we could not help Messalla anymore.
When we started running, we were welcomed by peacekeepers shooting at us. They were in the majority, but we were not called special unit for nothing. Although it did not come to a battle between us as they were killed by other creatures, who looked like a mixture between humans and reptiles.
We fled into another direction toward the surface. The ground was slippery and beneath us was a liquid none of us wanted to fall into. No one would get out of it again either.
Gale destroyed the bridge we had left behind us with one of his explosive arrows.
Several mutts fell into the liquid, but did not seem to care. Instead the others followed them and climbed up on the other side of us.
We were surrounded. The only way out of here was the ladder to the surface.
Leeg one and Jackson had stayed behind earlier to give us a headstart. That the mutts had caught up to us meant that they were dead now.
I had already climbed up the ladder, when Katniss pointed the light of Cressida's gun downward. Gale had just stated that no one but the mutts would climb up now. But Finnick was not here.
My eyes wandered down to him as he was struggling against three mutts at once. One was just about to bite his head off as my hands moved at an incredible speed and shot the mutt. I shot with two guns at once not even knowing how I was able to aim properly as the weight of the guns should have influenced me.
Finnick was wounded and disoriented. Without another thought I jumped down the ladder, the years of jumping off trees having been a great training. I supported Finnick toward the ladder, while shooting with my other hand. "Help!", I called up and some hands grabbed Finnick, while I fully concentrated on keeping the mutts away now. The movements of these creatures were unnaturally fast, but to me they appeared to happen in slow motion. Was this the impact of the adrenaline? I did not care as long as I finally managed to protect the people precious to me.
"(f/n)! Come up!", Katniss shouted.
I jumped up and climbed skillfully. Climbing was my element like swimming was Finnick's, drawing Peeta's and hunting Katniss'. Even the mutts could not keep up.
Katniss blew up the rest of the mutts with the self-destruction of the holo.
Now that my task at hand had been fulfilled, my whole body was shaking.
Katniss was busy trying to get Peeta to move on. Finnick and Gale were injured and Pollux had just lost his brother.
I tried standing but my legs felt like they did not belong to me anymore. My body could not give up on me now!
Katniss managed to get Peeta out of his panic by kissing him. He supported Finnick, while Pollux supported Gale.
Cressida pulled me back to my feet and held my hand. Just having her hand to hold onto helped me immensely. I calmed down a bit and we followed Katniss again. We entered an apartment and Katniss killed the woman the department belonged to without hesitation with her arrow.
I let myself fall onto the soft couch with a relieved sigh. After closing my eyes for a few seconds to calm myself down, I moved over to Finnick. His arms and legs had been bandaged. When? Gale's wound was also bandaged.
"Hey, Finnick. You alright?", I asked him softly.
He simply nodded, probably still in a shock state.
I decided to comfort the crying Pollux. He pointed on my necklace. "Yeah. Rue", I whispered, trying not to burst into tears myself now. I was not ready to think about Rue yet.
Our unit was pretty broken now. Gale and Finnick were injured, Finnick even in a shock state. Peeta was fighting against himself and his panic. Pollux was crying about the loss of his brother. Cressida tried acting strong, but was completely pale, and Katniss was most likely only acting out of adrenaline. I was a mild mixture of all of them. Though we all knew that staying here was not an option.
Snow was aware that we had been on the way toward the surface. It was only a matter of time until he would find us here. So we searched the apartment for something useful and found lots of clothes. We used them to dress up as good as possible, even used the wigs. But our wanted posters were everywhere and Cressida and Pollux might meet familiar people. So we had to hurry, while not looking suspicious.
It was not easy to stay calm, when the peacekeepers came our way, but we mimicked the behavior of the other citizens and the peacekeepers simply passed by.
Cressida was thinking hardly where to lead us. In the end we arrived at a run down store selling fur underwear. Tigris, a former escort, was the owner of this shop and apparently on our side. She hid us inside the basement where no one would be able to find us.
Now we finally had some time we urgently needed. Katniss stitched Gale's neck wound and took care of Peeta's wrists, while I inspected Finnick's injuries. In the meantime Cressida and Pollux built us some beds out of the furs.
Luckily Finnick's wounds were not severe. He had several bite marks that needed to be cleaned and bandaged though.
"You saved my life", he mumbled.
"We're allies right? And I promised Annie to look out for you." I smiled softly at him.
Slowly he came back to his senses. "That was pretty reckless. Johanna would have killed me, if you had died to save me", he noted.
I laughed nervously. "Well ... glad that didn't happen." I finished treating his last wound.
"(f/n), you're bleeding too", Katniss noticed looking at my left leg. She was right. I cleaned it up and took another bandage. Nothing serious.
Several days passed and it had been confirmed who of us was still alive. They were declaring us as dangerous and were tempting the citizens with a high prize money for handing us over. Hence I was even more grateful for Tigris' help.
The rebels were capturing more and more of the city, forcing Snow to evacuate the citizens. That settled that we could not stay here. At one point Tigris would be forced to take in refugees and we would be trapped inside the basement.
Snow announced that he would also take in refugees tomorrow morning. That was our chance to strike! If we could somehow manage to hide between the refugees, we could successfully approach Snow.
The next morning Gale handed his nightlock pill over to Peeta, if he should get caught by the Capitol. After all we had to leave him behind, because we could not risk him blowing our cover. He was surprisingly considerate.
A few minutes after Pollux and Cressida had left together, Finnick and I set off. Katniss and Gale would follow later. The freezing winter breeze hit our faces. Now I was glad that we were wearing such thick fur coats. The rising sun fruitlessly tried to brighten the day. It was so dark and snowy that you could barely make out the people beside you, which was useful as we had to hide in the crowd of refugees. Everything seemed to work out until I heard shooting behind us.
The rebels had arrived and where shooting from the roofs into the crowd. The peacekeepers returned the attack and the streets turned into another battlefield. I could not be sure, who my opponent was anymore, probably everyone except Finnick, although the shooting was not our only problem.
Apparently Snow had activated the pods again. A strange fog turned the skin of the people hit by it pink. A violet light let blood flowing out of noses, eyes, ears, mouths. Shooting, pained, desperate screams, battle cries, people calling out for loved ones, sobbing. My ears were overwhelmed by the horrible noises. But Finnick and I did not stop.
"Run!", he suddenly yelled and pushed me into another direction.
No time for explanations and no need to. He had triggered another pod. Four giant walls rose from the ground and surrounded us. They were closing in on one another. Soon they would crush us in between them.
"We've to climb!", I shouted and handed Finnick two knives.
The walls were smooth. So you did not stand a chance without the knives.
But unfortunately we were not the only ones trapped. Several civilians were trying to grab our feet. So we would pull them up with us, but instead they were pulling us down. I had no other option but to shoot them. Now I was even killing innocents.
I climbed up further and shot the people holding onto Finnick. In the end it had been me killing the people inside the trap, not the walls.
Finnick gave me my knives back and locked his eyes onto mine. "More than one victor, but also more tributes. Maybe it wasn't their fault, but they almost killed us. It was self-defense", he reminded me.
I nodded and we moved on. It was always the same, trapped in endless Hunger Games. After all that was the reason we were fighting. To finally stop this nonsense.
When we arrived at Snow's palace, I could not believe my eyes. Countless children were gathered in front of it, surrounded by peacekeepers and a rampart. If Snow had wanted them to be safe, he would have hid them inside a bunk or his palace. But here they were cowering in front of him, building a human riot shield.
Shouting overshadowed all other noises: "The rebels! The rebels!"
I expected more shooting, more pods getting triggered, but instead something else happened. A hovercraft with the coat of arms of the Capitol appeared over the children, causing a parachute rain. There was one thing every child remembered in Panem. Parachutes contained helpful items like food and medicine. The freezing, hungry, desperate children started opening the parachutes. But instead of revealing food aboutt wenty parachutes exploded at once. The snow turned red as body parts of the children flew to the air. It made me feel sick.
What had just happened? Why should Snow kill these children right now? It did not make any sense. The behavior of the peacekeepers neither. Obviously they had not known anything about this plan as they were trying to get behind the rampart to get to the dead and injured children, probably their own among them.
My gaze wandered to Finnick who looked just as horrified and confused as me.
When I noticed the paramedics of the rebels running toward the children, my feet moved on their own. They were children! Innocent children! No matter what war the Capitol and the districts were fighting, children should not be involved. It was wrong! I had to help them! They had just gotten drawn into this disaster like Rue. Basically like all of us tributes to begin with. That was what we were showing right now by treating the wounds of the 'enemies', did we not? That we were fighting to stop these pointless deaths of innocents.
I had no clue about treating serious wounds, but I had survived two Hunger Games, the riots in district 11 and so far this war. My knowledge might not be perfect but better than nothing.
That was when I spotted a familiar girl. Prim. We had talked a lot of times in district 13. About Katniss, Rue, Johanna, her cat Buttercup and our home districts. She was a lovely child and reminded me of Rue like Katniss had stated the other way around. So naturally I approached her to support her with the injured.
Just as I was about to reach her I heard Katniss calling out Prim's name. That took me to a halt for a moment as relief flooded my entire being. After all I had not been sure if Katniss was still alive until now.
I heard Prim replying to Katniss, but her words were cut out as another explosion erupted ripping all my senses away.
--------------------------
... well.
I had to save Finnick. That's all I gotta say after the end of this chapter ...