Chapter Text
When I get my breathing and shivers in check, I glance upwards, just as the moon blinks out of sight, plunging the sky into complete darkness. Either the arena's broken, or the Gamemakers just found out about our little stunt. A bitter taste fills my mouth as I remember Ampert's still up there.
I scale the ladder as quickly as my frozen limbs allow. As my hands reach the last rung, an ominous creak rumbles through my body. A chunk of the sky breaks off and crushes a swathe of the forest, releasing a cloying scent so strong I nearly faint. The midday sun glares through in its place- not the perfect yellow circle of the arena, the real sun. It's been so long, I'd almost forgotten what it looked like. I wince at the bright light- it's a pleasurable sort of pain.
With enough light not to run into a mutt by accident, I see Ampert running towards me. I haul myself to the surface and am about to hug him, to celebrate, as another chunk of the sky crashes down between us. I skirt around the mass of mangled wires and stage lights. Ampert finds me first. His arms wrap around me, and I wince.
"Easy," I say.
His eyes are practically glowing with glee.
"They'll be here soon," he says, glancing at the gaps in the sky, real and blue and bright.
I laugh and squeeze his shoulders.
"Who?"
"Our allies."
I stare up with him as the sky of the arena cracks open like an eggshell. I hope Maysilee's alright, but I don't have much time to worry as a hovercraft swoops down through the opening, and a ladder drops down right in front of me. It doesn't quite look like a Capitol ship.
"Is this our ride?" I ask Ampert. he nods. I jerk my chin toward him. "You go first," I say.
It's then that the chirping begins. I glance down. It's a small thing, with soft brown fur which glitters gold in the sunlight, and big blue eyes. I don't think much of it until it scurries over my foot and sinks its teeth into Ampert's thigh. Mutts.
His eyes widen as the horde of squirrels surges out of the forest.
Ampert's shaking. He’s too scared to even fight for himself. I grab him and throw him onto the ladder, then tear the first squirrel from his leg. Blood spurts from the wound.
"Climb," I bark.
I wait for him to go up a few rungs before I clamber up myself. Panic closes my throat as a squirrel jumps onto my foot and climbs up my chest. I catch it with one hand and squeeze as tightly as I can, just as countless more swarm at the bottom of the ladder. A jolt of electricity runs through my body, and I find myself unable to move. Two more squirrels jump up, and are frozen to the ladder as it slides upwards.
I find myself staring at the mess I've made of the arena. The picturesque forest, the meadow, the small, snow-capped mountain, are all littered with bits of the arena, cameras and snake-like wires strewn everywhere. Then, I catch a glimpse of blonde hair at the bottom of the mountain. It's Maysilee. She looks up and shouts something I can't hear. I'm powerless to reply.
Above me, Ampert reaches the top of the ladder, and a pair of unfamiliar arms pull him into the hovercraft. The squirrels chase after him. Two gunshots ring out above me.
I'm a metre from the top when the mountain explodes. *Maysilee.* The ladder suddenly retracts, and I'm thrown into the hovercraft as the door slams shut behind me.
I land hard on my back, and the sudden coldness of the floor makes my body tense up. There's another gunshot, and I realise I must have let go of the other squirrel when I was pulled in. The sudden darkness blinds me for a moment.
I squeeze my eyes shut and force myself not to sob. For all I know, there's another craft and she's already on her way back wherever this craft came from. I take a deep breath in and notice that the sweet smell that has plagued my nostrils for the past few days has been replaced by something more musty and sweaty. Something real. I will never be able to smell roses again without breaking into tears.
"Any chance we can get anyone else?" says a familiar, drawling voice.
I keep my eyes shut. Maybe they'll slip up if they think I'm unconscious.
"I'm not sure. Why didn't you tell us it was a volcano?"
Plutarch, then.
"Obviously I didn't know."
He sounds genuinely apologetic, but then again, he is Plutarch. It takes all my energy not to run to wherever the pilot is and hijack this hovercraft myself. Get everyone out of the arena.
“We should go back,” Ampert says, his voice flat. He’s somewhere behind me. “No newcomer left behind.”
“No,” says Beetee. It doesn’t surprise me to know he’s here. “It’s too risky.”
I think I hear Ampert sniffle, then someone pulls open my eyelid and blares a light into my pupil. I curse and curl into a ball. When I finally open my eyes and sit up, someone unfamiliar is leaning over me, still holding that godforsaken flashlight.
I’m on this flat, metal plane in the centre of the room, a couple meters from the trapdoor, but across from me is a long, thin table lined with chairs. Plutarch sits in one of them, sipping on a glass of water. He looks as smug as ever. Mags and Wiress are nowhere to be seen. There’s this lady though, opposite Plutarch, who I can’t quite figure out. She’s holding one of the dead squirrels like it’s a toy she just confiscated from a child, and staring at me with a strange gleam in her eye. Beetee’s leaning against the cockpit door, one arm around Ampert, who’s still sniffling. No one else catches my eye.
The flashlight-bearer stands up and turns to Plutarch.
“Well?” Plutarch says.
“He’s not concussed.” I recognise her voice as the other one from earlier.
It’s then I see the screen at the back. My throat closes up. It’s the arena. And it must be a live feed, because it seems to be showing the aftermath of the eruption.