The sirens startled her to the point that she pricked her finger on the needle she was using on the district smock. Sirens. Plutarch had never bothered to inform her which signs in the district meant what, but it couldn't be good. Effie had only a few seconds to consider it all before her door slid open.
"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" a familiar voice called in.
"Haymitch what on earth do you mean, what am I doin-"
"CITIZENS OF DISTRICT 13 PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE EMERGENCY BUNKERS WITHIN THE NEXT 15 MINUTES. WE HAVE AN IMPENDING ATTACK".
After the boom of the announcement there was a long silence. Their eyes locked as the last word of the transmission resonated through the walls.
"We've really gotta go" Haymitch stressed, pulling at her arm, and making her drop everything she'd been holding. Although she didn't argue, his face was sombre for once; eyes wide she knew the Capitol were coming. As it happened her sector was one of the last to be notified and the stairs had almost cleared completely by the time they reached them. Without thinking Haymitch grabbed her hand and began to lead the way running down the steps.
Not before long he began to hear something odd, closer to him than the siren wails. The strange little noise he could hear behind him, he saw was Effie beginning to hyperventilate. She was still dashing keeping up with him but her eyes were worried, darting everywhere waiting for the concrete to crumble. That moment it hit him that she had never been in actual danger before; from birth to when she stepped off Plutarch's hovercraft she had been protected from everything. Her rapid breaths increased as the sprinkler system went off and they started to be drenched in stagnant water. Still her feet followed quickly behind him as they descended down the flight of stairs.
Rust tainted rain continued to pour onto the steps, forming small puddles here and there on the imprinted steel. Too caught up in the rush to get her down from one of the top floors, Haymitch had forgotten to check if she even had shoes. The answer was apparent after one of Effie's bare feet suddenly slipped on the drenched metal, the clang of her leg against it rung throughout the stairwell. After slipping out of his grip and down a couple of stairs, she resigned letting her head fall into her hands.
"You alright?" he asked, rushing to check her leg to see the damage. Her hands abruptly batted his away from her leg. He was confused until he saw her lip was beginning to tremble.
"I can't do it Haymitch, I'm not cut out to live here, you should have left me behind" her voice broke, her tears disguised by the still falling rain.
The sirens still wailed as there was silence between them. Unsure what to do or what to say he simply sat down with her and quickly pressed his lips to hers, the tactic he always used to use in the Capitol when he was in trouble or just to daze her for his amusement, he now used only to remind her why she needed to survive. Their kisses were always messy, though those were more than others; the droplets ran down their faces as their lips met again and again. Her hot tears melted into the mix of it all as he pushed her slowly up against the railing, his hand resting comfortably in the perfect dip of her waist. Her breathing slowly returned to normal as her thumb stroked gently across his cheek.
"3 minutes till final closing, 3 minutes till final closing"
"Shit princess we need to go" Haymitch muttered as he pulled away, untangling his fingers from her hair that had been freed by the weight of the water. Before she could even reply he scooped her up from the stairs and flung her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. She gave a surprised yelp but was silent as she let him try to concentrate on sprinting down the stairs as safely as he could.
"60 seconds till final closing, 60 seconds till final closing" rung the system as they made their way through the doors. Still carrying her, Haymitch made his way to the back of the bunker, hoping that maybe there he could find an unoccupied mattress.
Finding one he managed to place her down and lay down on the cot with her.
Just before the first bomb hit.
Some newer citizens screamed but most were silent as the whole structure of the district began to shake. Effie was smart enough not to waste her breath. Her eyes just focused on the growing crack above their bunk and the dancing dust that fell every time Snow dropped another. People from her home were attacking her, they wanted her dead. Her state of mute was how Haymitch could tell things were serious, it was always the indication in the Capitol if things were really bad that she would fall silent around him, with just her silence she was usually able to convey to him everything she needed to. But that night, as the walls began to fall apart, there was nothing she desperately needed to tell him other than the fact she was scared. Really scared.
He noticed her lip began to tremble again and so he rubbed her arm gently waiting for the tears to return. After a moment he realized that it was not in fact her lip trembling, but her teeth had begun to chatter. Her soaked clothes had somehow managed to give her a chill amidst the heat of all the people cooped up in the bunker. Testing it, he patted his own jacket to see if it was alright. He then removed it and placed it over Effie's shivering frame, even in the warmth her lips had begun to turn blue. Although it too had been in the rain, the dry underground air mixed with the heat of him had dried out enough for the jacket to provide some warmth.
A tired whispered thank you was her reply. Sighing, she positioned her back against his chest, curling up so she could even place her freezing feet onto his thighs. The black jacket had slipped slightly and her bare shoulder was exposed, unthinking Haymitch kissed it lightly before pulling it back into place. If it had been different circumstances they would never have displayed such affection in public, but all of everyone's minds were so preoccupied with the then occasional hit on the building, they were free to lie as they were.
The blasts became weaker and less often. After five or so hours after the last one, they could hear several mothers advising their children that it was probably over and that everyone should try and get some sleep. Haymitch listened, not adverse to the idea, and neither was Effie it seemed as her eyes slowly fluttered shut. He tried to think of things he could do until daybreak but after he draped his arm over her and had his face had nestled into her hair, he too began to drift off, not fighting it for once – for who knows how long it would last?