Morning had risen and Katniss had a dream she would be glad to forget. She dreamt of a city not unlike the one she was in, burning. Screams of men, women, and children ripped through the air as they were trampled and eaten by giant naked humans, their bodies deformed bodies emitted steam, and their expressions ranged from stupid blank faces to annoying permanent smiles. Katniss got out of her sleeping bag and began to roll it up. As she tightly bunched up her bag into a heat-trapping fabric cylinder, Katniss heard a strange sound. Katniss looked out the window as the sound came again, it sounded like a pulley with a fast moving cable attached to it. As the sound became more clear, Katniss heard laughter accompanying the sound. "Keep up lover boy!" shouted a male voice, it was familiar slightly. "Cato, be careful!" shouted another voice, this one was female, also familiar to Katniss. The owners of the laughter came into view, swinging on what seemed to be those devices that Katniss saw at the cornucopia. The tributes who swung around the corner that led to the cornucopia were Cato, from District Two, and Glimmer from District One. Two more tributes followed them, Clove and Marvel, Katniss saw a third person on foot behind them. From what Katniss could discern, the devices they used had a grappling system that stuck into stone walls and allowed the users to swing great distances. The career tributes seemed to be enjoying their new toys, save for the one on foot. The careers landed, Cato landed on his feet, staggering a little. Glimmer landed with cat-like grace, Katniss saw a bow and quiver strapped to her back. Marvel and Clove almost fell on their rears but kept laughing. The tribute on foot began to come into Katniss' view more clearly. "You sure she went this way?" asked Cato, his voice amplified by the emptiness of the city, "yeah I'm sure" replied the other tribute, his voice was more than familiar. "The woods are that way and she'd go there" said the tribute boy, pointing in the distance. Katniss then and there, recognized the tribute; Peeta. "Alright, but if you're just leading us on a goose chase…" said Cato, "well, it's going to happen to everyone alive sooner or later." The careers laughed as Peeta stood silent, he noticed in a distant building, a shadow move from a window. "What?" Cato said, the laughter ceasing, he looked where Peeta did. "Nothing," Peeta lied, "just thought I saw a shadow." Cato looked back at Peeta, "let's keep moving." Katniss was jogging through the ruined streets, passing wreckage and blood stains that were there for God knows how long. Katniss truly felt dwarfed compared to the structures around her, especially the titanic wall that towered above the whole arena. As Katniss ran she felt that the air was unusually quiet. Suddenly, there was a canon, Katniss thought a tribute had died, but her thought was quickly concurred as an explosion washed burning heat past her. Katniss felt her heart leap as she tried to process what happened, just as another canon sounded, another explosion formed in front of Katniss. Without thinking twice, Katniss turned and began running away from the explosions as another canon sounded. Katniss ran as fast as she could, more heat washed past her, she could hear the explosions getting closer. Looking away from the road ahead of her, Katniss tried to find the origin of the canons. The booms of the canons were distant and almost faint, Katniss looked up at the wall, she could see oblong forms moving atop it; canons. Even though the canons that marked the deaths of tributes also marked the loss of young life, Katniss would have preferred those canons rather than the ones bombarding her. The explosions became less frequent, just as Katniss thought she was nearly safe, an explosion took out a building only yards next to her. The explosion blasted a flaming piece of debris that grazed past Katniss' right thigh, she screamed in pain. Katniss ran further, burning pain shooting through her body as she took each step. A nearby alley came into view, Katniss headed for it as fast as her leg could take her. Ducking into the alley, Katniss breathed heavily and got to examining her wound. The debris had burned the cloth on her pants and blistered her skin red, a painful, ugly mixture of a wound. Katniss tried to put pressure on the burn by pressing the sleeve of her shirt to the wound, that only made it sting more. The explosions and canons had subsided, but Katniss' relief was short lived as the sound of whipping cables came into earshot. Katniss dared to look out of the alley, she saw Cato swinging into view followed by the rest of the careers. Cato and the careers landed, Peeta ran behind them, looking peeved at his "allies". "There she is!" Marvel shouted, pointing at Katniss' face leaning out from the alley. Katniss gasped and got to her feet, she ran deeper into the alley, there was an opening ahead leading to houses by the edge of a forest. "There's no escape Everdeen!" Cato shouted, the careers had reached the alley. Katniss heard the unsheathing of a blade, she quickened her stride and then turned to the right as she left the alley. Katniss ran past more ruined buildings and ducked into one with a gaping hole. The home inside was a mess, wooden chairs and cabinets littered the floor, Katniss ran further inside. A flight of wooden stairs lay on the right side of the house, Katniss ran to them, she quickly dashed up the stairs. The room above the ground floor lacked half a roof, opposite the stairs was the roof side that remained intact. Messy beds with blood stains on the white sheets were shaded by the roof. Katniss imagined one of those giant monsters taking out half the roof and snatching children as they slept in the beds, carrying them to its greedy maw. Katniss tried to shake the image out of her mind, she needed to focus. Katniss could still hear the shouts of the careers, they had stopped using their devices for the time. Katniss quickly rushed to the farthest corner of the room, where she could easily be missed by gazing eyes. The careers continued to shout, their voices becoming fainter. Katniss sighed as they nearly ceased their obnoxious taunts, but the hunt was far from over. "Where'd you go?!" Marvel shouted, the careers had dashed down the path they thought they saw Katniss take. "She's probably in one of the houses" Peeta suggested, the careers slowed their speed. As they stopped, Cato looked around, "alright we'll split-" Cato was about to initiate a plan before a loud sound cut him off. "Was that a canon?" Glimmer asked, the sound came again, closer this time. "That's, too loud to be a canon" said Peeta, Cato shushed him as the sound came a third and fourth time. The location of the sound came from the street behind the careers, muffled by buildings on the left. Cato turned around, the other careers looked his way as a large toe came into view from behind the buildings. "Hide" Cato said sharply and ran to a nearby house, the careers scattered and ran towards potential hiding places. Peeta ducked into a house behind the one Katniss was squatting in (unbeknownst to Peeta). The house he ran into was a one floor home with one corner destroyed completely, Peeta ran through the wrecked corner and crouched in the shadows. The frightening thudding sound continued, Peeta tried to keep his breathing silent, his heart began to pound hard against his ribs. The sounds continued, please don't find me, Peeta prayed. Katniss saw several of the careers scatter amongst the buildings, she kept track of them so they would not take her by surprise. Katniss hoped that in her current hiding place, she would not befall the same fate of the possible residents of this house. The careers she saw had ducked into houses nearby, too close for comfort. Cato had hid in a small outhouse-like home, he had cracked the door open to see the approaching thing. Clove and Marvel were hiding together under an overturned cart, Katniss hoped that the thing would step on it so she would have to avoid fighting them. Glimmer was almost clearly in Katniss' sight, hiding in a narrow alley, bow and arrow drawn. Katniss' heart raced as the thing came into full view, this one was slightly larger than the one she saw the night before. This thing had bug eyes, a rotund body with too small arms, and seemingly buzzed black hair, its expression was a blank one. As Katniss examined this thing, she heard a whistle, similar to a bird's, from the trees nearby. Katniss looked and among the branches saw faintly in the shadows, Rue. Katniss looked at the thing, it was standing still and looking around as if searching the area, showing no use of its other senses. Katniss looked back at Rue, the little girl had climbed farther on the limb she was on. Rue pointed at Katniss, confused, Katniss pointed at herself to confirm Rue's gesture. Rue shook her head and pointed lower, Katniss followed her finger's target to be a stone sitting in the middle of the room's floor. Katniss guessed what Rue meant; throw it, distract the thing, and run away. Katniss looked at Rue, then the rock, and then at the thing which was looking away from Katniss. Katniss looked at the careers, she could possibly throw the rock at them to give them some grief. Katniss contemplated her targets, Cato was nearly invisible, and possibly the most vulnerable. Marvel and Clove were also vulnerable, but they would see the rock being thrown. Glimmer had an easy escape, but Katniss wanted to get her bow, and that device used to swing between buildings. Katniss breathed in deeply and stood up, she rushed silently over to the rock and picked it up. Marvel and Clove saw Katniss, their expressions turned menacing. Katniss turned to face Glimmer, she threw the rock as hard as she could at the poor girl, then ran down the stairs. As Katniss stepped down the stairs, she heard the rock echo through the city's emptiness, then the thudding from the thing. Katniss glanced out a shattered window to see Marvel and Clove getting out from their hiding place. Katniss reached the bottom and ran to the hole where she entered from, she ducked out of sight. Katniss peered over the stone, she could see Glimmer in the alley, she looked panicked, too much to move. The thing's noises became more frequent, it was moving fast. The thing soon came into Katniss' sight, it turned to where Glimmer was, the girl screamed and aimed her bow. Glimmer gasped and fired at the thing, her arrow pierced its giant eye, but the thing barely seemed to noticed. Glimmer screamed and turned, suddenly she felt herself being pulled back, the straps of her quiver digging into her chest. Glimmer unloosened her quiver, it fell off, she tried to run but felt the air being squeezed out of her moments later. The thing had wrapped its fingers around Glimmer, she dropped her bow as her arms were pinned to her sides, she screamed horribly. Glimmer was lifted into the air, out of the alley. The thing moved Glimmer close to its face, Glimmer screamed and pleaded for it to let her go, the thing just stared at her. Then the thing opened its mouth and moved its hand close to it, Glimmer screamed as a dark red enveloped her vision. "Glimmer!" Marvel shouted as the canon sounded, Katniss remained behind the hole, she saw the thing consume Glimmer. Several shiny objects stuck in the thing's back; knives thrown by Clove. The thing had chewed on Glimmer's corpse and then dropped what was left to engage the other tributes. What was left of Glimmer was her body from the waist down, the device she had worn seemed intact, better yet, the bow and arrows were lying in the alley. Katniss made her move as soon as the thing moved away from her sight, she leapt through the hole and ran to Glimmer's remains. Katniss did not look back as she reached the remains she tried not to look at the gore that stained the ground. Katniss went to at undoing the belt on the device, her fingers became slippery with blood as she undid the clasp. Katniss looked quickly at the thing, the careers were running away from it, throwing whatever had an edge at it; stones, knives, spears. Katniss focused her attention back to the belt, she slid the leather strap out of the clasp and held up the device. The device had some weight to it, Katniss ignored the blood and began strapping it on herself. She moved as quick as she could, when it was snug enough, Katniss ran to the bow. The careers were shouting curses at the thing and at Katniss, she picked up the bow and slid it on her back. Katniss rushed to the quiver and began strapping it on her back, she was clumsier at this as she ran further out of the alley. When the quiver was on, Katniss picked up the triggers that were dangling off the device, she held them as she thought one would. As Katniss ran out of the alley she heard Peeta's voice from behind her "Katniss, look out!" Katniss did not know where to put her attention, on Peeta, or the fast-approaching thing that suddenly appeared as she left the alley. Katniss gasped as a large fist cast a shadow over her. Katniss instinctively squeezed the right trigger, suddenly, she was pulled forward, away from an early demise as a cable launched from the device and stuck to a stone roof. Katniss screamed in surprise as she went, she hurdled through the air and landed, tumbling on the roof. Katniss stood up and looked back, the thing that surprised her was still targeting her, it began moving towards Katniss. The roof she landed on was long, Katniss began to move like a train moving out of a station, picking up speed with each step. As Katniss reached the end, she jumped and pulled both triggers, two cables launched out and stuck to a tall stone building a few hundred yards away from Katniss. She flew through the air, Katniss felt the wind take on the feeling of water, as if she was being pulled through dry cold water. Katniss landed feet first, slamming against the side of the building, the harpoons at the ends of the cables stuck firmly in the stone. Katniss felt as if she was standing flat on the ground, as much as she hated the Capitol, this gear was truly something else. Katniss looked back, the thing was still chasing her. Katniss released the triggers slightly, she was able to shimmy down the wall. When she reached the bottom, Katniss retracted the cables and began running again, around the building. Suddenly, another one of those things, this one was bigger, came lumbering along a street near Katniss. The thing seemed to see her, Katniss tried to act quickly, she launched two cables out. The harpoons stuck into a wood structure, Katniss was pulled forward, very fast. Katniss suddenly felt her head hit something hard as she flew into the wood structure. Katniss blacked out. Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert had joined Levi's group to examine the large dome that had appeared behind wall Maria. The group was mounted on horseback, they were fast approaching the dome. "What do you think this new appearance is, Armin?" Finnlè asked over the beat of the horse's hooves. "I've never see the likes of it before, Finnlè" said Armin, "but I hope it has nothing to do with the titans." "I don't think titan's are intelligent enough to build something like that" said Eren, he whipped his reins lightly, moving his horse faster. "It is also too clean-looking for it to be titan related" said Levi, "now move faster, I want to get there before sundown." "But it's barely half a mile away," said Finnlè, "and it's only half past noon." "If you keep talking, it'll take longer" said Levi, Finnlè remained silent as he rode faster. Mikasa did not know what to think of this new appearance, except that no titan could have built it. If it was man-made, it was certainly an advance in architecture. "Could it be a new form of defense?" Mikasa suggested, "repelling the titans I mean." Armin looked at Mikasa thoughtfully, "that it most likely something to consider" he said. "If it is defense against titans, why did the humans who built this not contact us?" Eren said, "they're probably selfish" said Finnlè. The group neared the dome under half an hour, as they did, they dismounted a few yards away from the dome. The area the dome was in was a sparsely wooded area, they tied their horses to some trees, thankfully titans did not eat animals. The sky and trees reflected off the dome's surface of hundreds of pentagons. Armin looked up as far as he could from the base of the dome, marveling its size. Finnlè stepped close to it, he almost touched it before Levi moved his hand away from the dome. "We don't know what it is," Levi said, "don't touch it until we do." Finnlè stepped back, Mikasa and Eren stepped next to Armin, and looked at the dome's surface at their eye level. The surface, along with reflecting images, seemed to ripple like water. Eren picked up a small pebble by his foot, he bounced it in his hand and then threw it at the dome. "Eren!" Mikasa said as the pebble made contact, suddenly the images on it shifted, from reflections to what looked like a stone house or structure, then vanished. "Did you see that?" Armin said, surprised, he took his eyes off the top of the dome when the pebble struck the dome. "I think there's something behind the dome" Eren said. He picked up a pinecone a foot behind him, then threw it at the dome, the same thing happened but the pinecone bounced off the dome blackened. "I think if we touch it we'll get burned" said Finnlè, "you don't say" said Levi. "I guess the only way into the dome is underground" said Armin, "if we're going to find out more about this, we should go inside." "We don't have any shovels, do we?" Mikasa asked, Armin went over to Levi's horse and removed a small shovel from the saddle. Armin came back and began digging in front of the dome. "That's my shovel, Arlert" said Levi, "you don't say" said Finnlè, softly. Levi smacked the back of Finnlè's head, Finnlè made no noise of pain. Armin kept digging until Eren offered to take the shovel, then he dug while Armin explained how he planned to enter the dome. "We dig a large enough hole that snakes under the dome and then we crawl through it" said Armin, "do you think that the buildings behind the dome are ruins from Shingasina?" Finnlè asked. Eren stopped digging as horrible memories were triggered, Mikasa and Armin exchanged sad looks. "Possibly," said Mikasa, "we'll find out when we get there." Eren sighed and continued digging.