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Underground. Which Opal hated. Like mines and tunnels in 13. Underground, where she dreaded dying, which was stupid because if she did die above ground, the next thing they'd do would be bury her underground anyways. The Holo could show subterranean as well as street-level pods. From looking over Katniss's shoulder she could see that when they went underground the clean dependable lines of the street plan were interlaced with a twisting, turning mess of tunnels. The pods looked less numerous, though. Two doors down, a vertical tube connected their row of apartments to the tunnels. To reach the tube apartment, they would need to squeeze through a maintenance shaft that ran through the length of the building.
"Is this a bad time to say I'm claustrophobic?"Opal tried to lighten the mood. They could enter the shaft through the back of a closet space on the upper floor.
"Okay, then. Let's make it look like we've never been here," said Katniss. They sent the empty cans down the trash chute, pocketed the full ones for later, flipped the sofa cushions smeared with blood, and wiped traces of gel from the tiles. There was no fixing the latch on the front door, but they locked a second bolt, which would at least keep the door from swinging open on contact.
Finally, there was only Peeta to contend with. He planted himself on the blue sofa, refusing to budge. "I'm not going. I'll either disclose your position or hurt someone else."
"Snow's people will find you," said Finnick.
"Then leave me a pill. I'll only take it if I have to," said Peeta.
"That's not an option. Come along," said Jackson.
"Or you'll what? Shoot me?" asked Peeta.
"I'll knock you out and drag you with us," said Opal "Which will both slow us down and endanger us."
"Stop being noble! I don't care if I die!" he turned to Katniss, pleading with her "Katniss, please. Don't you see, I want to be out of this?"
Katniss shook her head "We're wasting time. Are you coming voluntarily or is Opal going to have to knock you out?" Peeta buried his face in his hands for a dew moment but then rose to join them.
"Should we free his hands?" asked Homes.
"No!" Peeta growled at him, drawing his cuffs in close to his body.
"No," Katniss echoed "But I do want the key." Jackson passed it over without a word and Katniss slipped it into her pants pocket. Homes pried open the small metal door to the maintenance shaft, where they encountered another problem. There was no way that the insect shells would be able to fit through the narrow passage. Castor and Pollux removed them and detached emergency backup cameras. Each was the size of a shoe box and probably worked just as well. Messalla couldn't think of anywhere to hide the bulky shells, so they ended up dumping them in a closet. Leaving such an easy trail to follow frustrated Opal, but they couldn't do anything else. Even going single file, holding their packs and gear out to the side it was a tight fight.
Opal found her heart rate increasing as the gap seemed to get smaller "You're okay O," Finnick soothed from behind her. They sidestepped their way past the first apartment and broke into the second one. In that apartment, one of the bedrooms had a door that was marked with utility instead of a bathroom. Behind the door was the room with the entrance to the tube. Messalla frowned at the wide circular cover, for a moment returning to his own fussy world. "It's why no one ever wants the center unit. Workmen coming and going whenever and no second bath. But the rents are considerably cheaper." Then he noticed Finnicks amused expression "Never mind."
The tube cover was simple to unlatch. A wide ladder with rubber treads allowed for a swift and easy descent into the bowels of the city. They gathered at the foot of the ladder, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the dim strips of light, breathing in the mixture of chemicals, mildew, and sewage. Pollux, pale and sweaty, reached out and latched onto Castor's wrist. Like he might fall over if there wasn't someone to steady him.
"My brother worked down here after he became an Avox," said Castor. Opal looked down, of course, who else would they get to maintain those dank, evil-smelling passages mined with pods? "Took five years before we were able to buy his way up to ground level. Didn't see the sun once." Under better conditions, on a day with fewer horrors and more rest, someone would have known what to say. Instead, they all stood there for a long time trying to formulate some sort of response.
Finally, Peeta turned to Pollux "Well, then you just became our most valuable asset," Castor laughed and Pollux managed a smile. They were halfway down the tunnel when Opal realized what was so remarkable about the exchange. Peeta sounded like his old self, the sweet boy she had been introduced to before the quarter quell. She glanced back at him as he trudged along with his guards Gale and Jackson, his eyes were fixated on the ground, his shoulder hunched forward. So dispirited. But for a moment, he was really there, and for Katniss's sake, Opal hoped he would return. Peeta called it right. Pollux turned out to be worth more than ten Holos. There was a simple network of wide tunnels that directly corresponded to the main street plan above, underlying the major avenues and cross streets. It was called the Transfer since small trucks used it to deliver goods around the city. During the day, many pods were deactivated, but at night it was a minefield. However, hundreds of additional passages utility shafts, train tracks, and drainage tubes form a multilevel maze.
Pollux knows details that would lead to disaster for a newcomer, like which offshoots might require gas masks or have live wires or rats the size of beavers. He alerted them to the gush of water that swept through the sewers periodically, anticipated the time the Avoxes would be changing shifts, and led them into damp, obscure pipes to dodge the nearly silent cargo trains. Most importantly, he had the knowledge of the cameras. There weren't many down there in that gloomy, misty place, except in the Transfer. But they kept well out of their way. Under Pollux's guidance, they made a good time- a remarkable time, if you were to compare it to their above-ground travel. After about six hours, fatigue took over. It was three in the morning, so Opal figured they still had a good few hours before their bodies were discovered missing, they'd search through the rubble then the whole block of apartments in case they tried to escape through the shafts, and then the real hunt would begin.
When Opal suggested they should rest, no one objected. Pollux found a small, warm room with humming machines loaded with levers and dials. He held up his finger to indicate that they had to be gone in four hours. Jackson worked out a guard schedule, and, since Opal wasn't on first shift, she wedged herself in the tight space between Katniss and Finnick and went straight to sleep. It seemed like only minutes after when Jackson shook her awake, telling her she was on shift. It was six o'clock, and in an hour they had to be on their way. Jackson told her to eat a can of food and keep her eye on Pollux, who insisted on being on guard the entire night. "He can't sleep down here." Opal dragged herself into a state of relative alertness, she ate a can of potato and bean stew and sat against the wall facing the door.
Pollux seemed to be wide awake. He was probably reliving those five years of imprisonment all night. Opal looked at the sleeping soldiers, crew, friends, and husband and she wondered how many of them would ever see the sun again. Would her and Finnicks child get to see the sun? When her eyes fall on Finnick, whose head rested right by her feet, she saw he was awake. She wished she could simply run away with him and leave this whole mess behind. Then she settled for something she could accomplish. "Have you eaten?" she asked. A slight shake of his head indicated he hadn't. Opal opened a can of chicken and rice soup and handed it to him. He sat up and tilted the can, chugging back the soup without really bothering to chew. The bottom of the can reflected the lights from the machines. "Animal," she muttered under her breath referring to the way he was eating.
Finnick laughed passing the can back to her, in the fluorescent light, the circles under his eyes looked like bruises. "There's still time. You should sleep." Opal soothed sorting out his bedhead. Unresisting, he lay back down. Shortly before seven, Pollux and Opal moved among the others, rousing them. There were the usual yawns and sighs that accompanied walking. But Opal's ears were picking up on something else, too. Almost like a hissing. Perhaps it was only steam escaping a pipe or the far-off woosh of the trains. She hushed the group to get a better read on it. There was a hissing, yes, but it was not one extended sound. More like multiple exhalations that form words. A single word. Echoing throughout the tunnels. One word. One name. Repeated over and over again. "Katniss."
The grace period had ended. Perhaps, Snow, had them digging through the night. As soon as the fire died down, anyway. They found Leegs 1 and 2's remains and briefly felt reassured, and then, as the hours went by without further trophies, they began to suspect. At some point, they realized that they had been tricked. And President Snow can't tolerate being made to look like a fool. It didn't matter whether they tracked them down to the second apartment or assumed they went underground. They knew they were down there and they had probably unleashed something, a pack of mutts probably, bent over finding Katniss.
"Katniss," Opal jumped at the proximity of the sound. She looked frantically for the source, katana at the ready, seeking a target to slice.
"Katniss," Peeta's lips were barely moving but there was no doubt it came out of him. Just when she thought he seemed a little better. "katniss" Peeta's programmed to respond to the hissing chorus, to join the hunt. He began to stir. There was no choice. She positioned her katana to his throat, he'd only feel it for a split second. Suddenly he was sitting up wide-eyed in alarm, short for breath. "Katniss!" he whipped his head to Katniss "Katniss! Get out of here!"
Katniss stood up hesitating, "Why? What's making that sound?" she questioned looking at Opal.
Her voice was alarmed "I have no idea," she looked around at the anxious faces and pulled Finnick to his feet.
"I don't know. Only that it has to kill you," said Peeta "Run! Get out! Go!"
"Whatever it is, it's after me, It might be a good time to split up," said Katniss alarmed.
"But we're your guard," said Jackson.
"And your crew," added Cressida.
"I'm not leaving you," said Gale.
Opal looked at the crew armed with nothing but cameras and clipboards. And then there was Finnick with two guns and a trident. She suggested that he give one of his guns to Castor. Eject the blank cartridge from Peeta's, load it with a real one, and arm Pollux. Since Opal and Katniss had their katana and bow they handed their guns over to Messalla and Cressida. There was no time to show them anything but how to point and pull the trigger, but in close quarters, that might be enough. The only one without a weapon was Peeta, but anyone whispering Katniss's name with a bunch of mutts didn't need one anyways. They left the room free of everything but their scent, but there was no way to erase that. Opal guessed that the hissing things were tracking them because they hadn't left much of a physical trail. The mutts' noses would have been abnormally keen, but possibly the time they spent slogging through water in drainpipes would help to throw them.
Outside the hum of the room, the hissing became more distinct. But it was also possible to get a better sense of the mutts' location. They were behind them, still a fair distance. Snow had probably released them underground where they found the Leeg sister's bodies. Theoretically, they should have had a good lead on them, although they were certainly much faster than the squad. Opal found her mind wandering back to the monkeys in the Quarter Quell and the other monstrosities she had witnessed on television over the years, and she wondered what form these mutts would take. Pollux and Katniss had worked out a plan for the next leg of their journey, and since it led away from the hissing she saw no reason to alter it. If they moved swiftly, maybe they could reach Snow's mansion before the mutts reached them.
But there is a sloppiness that came with the speed: the poorly placed boot that resulted in a splash, the accidental clang of a gun against pipe, even Katniss's own commands issued too loud for discretion. They had covered about three more blocks via an overflow pope and a section of neglected train tracks when the screams began. Thick, guttural. Bouncing off the tunnel walls.
"Avoxes," said Opal immediately "That's what Darius sounded like when they tortured him."
"The mutts have found them," said Finnick.
"So they're not just after Katniss," said Cressida.
"They'll probably kill anyone. It's just that they won't stop until they get to her," said Gale. After his hours studying with Beetee, he was most likely right.
"Let me go alone. Lead them off. I'll transfer the Holo to Jackson. The rest of you can finish the mission." Katniss blurted out clearly overwhelmed.
"No one's going to agree to that!" said Jackson in exasperation.
"We're wasting time!" said Finnick.
"Lisen," Peeta whispered.
The screams had stopped, and in their absence, Katniss's name had rebounded in startling proximity. It was below as well as behind them now "Katniss." Opal nudged Pollux on the shoulder and they started to run. The trouble was that they had planned to descend to a lower level, but that was out now. When they came to the steps leading down, Pollux and Katniss were scanning for a possible alternative on the Holo when Opal started gagging. "Masks on!" ordered Jackson.
There was no need for masks. Everyone was breathing in the same air. Opal was the only one losing her stew because she was the only one reacting to the odor. Drifting up from the stairwell. They cut through the sewage. Roses. She began to tremble. Opal swerved away from the smell and stumbled right out on the Transfer. Smooth, pastel-colored tiled streets, just like the ones above, but boarded by white brick walls instead of homes. A roadway where delivery vehicles could drive with ease, without the congestion of the Capitol. Empty now, of everything but them. Katniss swung up her bow and blew up the first pod with an explosive arrow, which killed the nest of flesh-eating rats inside. Then they sprint for the next intersection, where one false step would cause the ground beneath their feet to disintegrate, feeding them to something called the Meat Grinder. Katniss shouted a warning to the others to stay with her.
Opal followed closely behind but an unmarked pod lay in wait, it happened silently she would have missed it if Finnick didn't pull her to a stop "Opal!" She whipped back around, katana ready for a fight. Two of Gale's arrows already lay useless side the wide shaft of golden light that radiated from the ceiling to the floor. Inside, Messalla was as still as a statue, poised up by the ball of one foot, head tilted back, held captive by the beam. Opal couldn't tell if he was yelling, although his mouth was stretched wide. They watched utterly helplessly, as the flesh melted off his body like candle wax
"Can't help him!" Peeta started shoving people forward "Can't!"
At the pressure of Finnick's hand against her shoulder, she turned away from the grisly thing that was Messalla, she made her feet go forward, fast, so fast that she could barely skid to a stop before the next intersection. A spray of gunfire brought down a shower of plaster. Opal jerked her head from side to side, looking for the pod, before she turned and saw a squad of Peacekeepers pounding down the Transfer. With the meat grinder pod blocking their way, there was nothing to do but fire back. They outnumbered them two to one, but they still had six members of the Star Squad, who aren't trying to run and shoot at the same time. Blossoms of red stain their white uniforms. Three-quarters of them were down and dead when more began to pour in from the side of the tunnel the same tunnel that Opal flung herself to get away from the smell, from the - those weren't Peacekeepers.
They were white, four-limbed, about the size of a full-grown human, but that wasn't where the comparisons stopped. Naked, with long reptilian tails, arched backs, and heads that jutted forwards. They swarmed over the Peacekeepers, living and dead, clamping onto their necks with their mouths and ripping off the helmeted heads. It seemed to only take a few seconds before the Peacekeepers were decapitated. The matts fall onto their bellies and skitter toward them on all fours.
"This way!" Katniss shouted, hugging the wall and making a sharp right run to avoid the pod. When everyone had joined her Katniss fired into the intersection and the meat ginger activated. Huge mechanical teeth burst through the street and turned the tile to dust. That should have made it impossible for the mutts to follow them, but Opal was unsure. The hissing burned her ears, and the reek of roses made the walls spin forcing her to grab onto Finnicks arm for balance "Forget the mission. What's the quickest way above ground?"
There was no time for checking the Holo. They followed Pollux for around ten meters along the transfer and went through a doorway. Opal was aware of the tile changing to concrete, of crawling through a tight, stinking pipe onto a ledge about half a meter wide. They were in the main sewer. A meter below was a poisonous brew of human waste, garbage, and chemical run-off bubbles by them. Parts of the surface was on fire, other emitted evil-looking clouds of vapor. One look told them that if they fell in, they were never coming out again. Moving as quickly as they dared on the slippery ledge they made their way over to a narrow bridge and crossed it. In an alcove to the far right side, Pollux smacked a ladder with his hands and pointed up the shaft.
Katniss share a quick glance with the squad and something tells her that something was up "Wait! Where is Jackson?"
"She stayed at the Grinder to hold the mutts back," said Homes.
"What?" suddenly Katniss was lunging back for the bridge, willing to leave no one to those monsters when Homes pulled her back.
"Don't waste her life, Katniss. It's too late for her. Look!" Homes nodded to the pipe, where the mutts were slithering onto the ledge.
"Stand back!" Gale shouted. With his explosive-tipped arrows, he ripped the far side of the bridge from its foundations. The rest sank into the bubbles, just as the mutts reached it. For the first time, Opal got a good look at them. A mix of human and lizard and god knows what else. White, tight reptilian skin smeared with gore, clawed hands and feet, their faces a mess of conflicting features. Hissing, shrieking Katniss's name now, as their bodies contorted in rage. They lashed out with their tails and claws, taking huge chunks of one another or their own bodies with wide, lathered mouths, driven mad by their need to destroy Katniss. Despite its toxicity, the mutts began to throw themselves into the foul sewer. Along their bank, everyone opened fire. Opal chose her daggers without discretion, sending daggers flying into the mutts' skulls, They were mortal, but only just. No natural thing could keep coming with three daggers planted in their heads. Yes, they can eventually kill them, only there were so many, an endless supply pouring from the pipe, not even hesitating to take to the sewage.
The others were shouting at Opal, but she couldn't seem to respond. Strong arms lift her as she stabbed a mutt whose claws had just grazed her ankle. She was slammed onto the ladder. Hands shoved against the rungs. Ordered to climb. Her wooden, puppet limbs obey. The movement slowly brought her to her senses. She detected one person above her Pollux. Peeta and Cressida and most importantly Finnick were below. They reached a platform. Switched to a second ladder. Rungs slick with sweat and mildew. At the next platform, her head had cleared, and the reality of what was happening hit her. She began frantically pulling people up the ladder, waiting for him. Peeta. Cressida. Katniss. That was it. Before she knew it she was scrambling back down the ladder when one of her boots kicked someone.
"Climb!" Gale barked at her. She was back up, hauling him in, peering into the gloom for Finnick. "No." Gale turned her face to his and shook his head. Unirform shredded. Gaping wound on the side of his neck.
"Let me go!" she screamed in his face her eyes contorting to that of a wild animal, Gale once again tried to grab her which ended with him having a knife to his throat "Don't fucking touch me!" Katniss shined Cressida's gun light down the shaft shooting the mutts that were trying to tear Finnick apart, Opal panicked and began to throw the last of her knives each one hitting a Mutt "Finn, Climb!" He nodded rushing up the ladder.
Opal hauled up his beaten body just in time for Katniss to yell "Nightlock, Nightlock, Nightlock!" Katniss released it. Opal pulled his body into her hunching against the wall as the explosion rocked the platform and bits of mutt flesh shot out of the pipe and showered them. There was a clank as Pollux slammed the cover over the pipe and locked it in place. Pollux, Gale, Cressida, Peeta, Katniss, Finnick and Opal. They were all that was left.
"Finn?" she placed one hand on the side of his face and the other on his chest, while Cressida was banging him and treating him with special Capitol ointment that should have been able to keep him steady until he could see a real doctor. Opal stared into his eyes, they were colder than usual "Finn, come on. Speak to me" The lump in her throat hurt and the tears in her eyes stung, she grabbed a hold of his hand placing it against her stomach "Please for our family. For our baby, you must say something."
"Baby?" Katniss questioned.
"Yes, a baby," Finnick managed to blurt out, Opal turned to him with a warm smile pressing her lips against his for a moment.
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