"No, no, no, no, no," said Caesar firmly. "Get back in that hovercraft, you are not going any further."
"I outrank you, Soldier Flickerman," said Meela, marching over to him and the others. "If anyone's giving orders here, it's me."
"And I outrank you, Soldier Roth," said Crewe, who had joined Caesar. "So I agree with Flickerman, you can't be here, and if you won't listen to me, you'll listen to Praxis."
"Then he'll have to have me dragged back to Base, because I'm not leaving."
If Caesar and Crewe were incensed, it was nothing compared to Praxis. "Soldier Roth, what in the hell do you think you're doing? I gave strict orders to my daughter to not allow any unfit soldiers to leave Thirteen, so you tell me how it is you managed to get here despite lockdown and protocol!"
Meela would have answered, had a missile not shot the hovercraft out of the air at that exact moment.
"Cover!" Praxis hollered.
At least three of the new soldiers were smashed underneath the bulk of the hovercraft. Katniss was closest to Haymitch and he fell on top of her to protect her from the flames and fragments of hovercraft shooting down at them as Crewe took up the same position over Meela and Caesar dropped beside them. Once rubble had stopped raining from above, Haymitch felt something burning down the back of his shirt and rolled off of Katniss, shaking his uniform to rid it of the stray piece of debris that had somehow fallen down in there.
"We're under fire, two o'clock!"
In the position Niles pointed, Haymitch saw Peacekeepers dotting the roof. It was too far for any of the scatter guns they had, but maybe Katniss's arrows could make it. Haymitch motioned at the Peacekeepers and Katniss nodded, but when she attempted to rise, bullets kept her pinned down.
"We need to provide some cover fire," said Haymitch. "On my mark, everyone fire at that roof. Ready…now!"
As one, the three teams and remaining additional soldiers shot at the roof as Katniss stood up, took aim, and let loose one of her explosive arrows that had a short delay, but then blew up every occupant on top of the roof.
"Move out!"
They ran single file with Praxis, Bastian, and Bacchus leading since the latter two knew the city well to help guide Praxis towards the City Circle. For a pregnant woman, Meela was doing an incredible job of keeping up with them, but Haymitch was concerned that the vigorous activity had caused her to already lose the babies. The thought had evidently occurred to Crewe and Caesar as well, for they called Praxis to a halt to ask him for an air evac.
"We can't lose another hovercraft just to lift a pregnant soldier out of here," said Praxis. "I can't risk so many resources for one person, especially if that person deliberately put themselves in this situation."
"I can keep up," said Meela. "I passed the simulations with a better score than anyone else here. Just because I have babies inside me doesn't mean I'm useless."
"But if you die, so do they," Crewe reasoned. "I'll volunteer to stay behind with her until the rebels clear the area, commander."
"We can't waste the manpower. You still have a team to lead—"
"What, all three of them?" Crewe challenged. "A victor, a second-in-command, and boy who's on his feet less than a day after he was stabbed? They don't need me; Meela does and she can't continue."
"You will continue to lead your team, soldier, or I will have you arrested for insubordination. The war isn't going to come to a stand-still for a pregnant woman! Sort your priorities, or prepare yourself for a life behind bars."
"Crewe, don't be stupid," said Meela. "I told you I can handle myself and I can. We keep going."
"You're going to get yourself killed!" Crewe snapped back at her and at this point Haymitch could tell that he wasn't play-acting his concern for her. He may not be the father of her unborn children, but he was her best friend and the fact that she was here and not back in Thirteen had him fuming beyond measure.
"Guys, this is not the time to argue," said Flax, turning his head to the south. "Do you hear that?"
It was indistinct at first, but as the seconds dragged by and the noise ordinance died out, Haymitch heard it. Animalistic roars. No domesticated animal sounded like that; whatever was coming their way, it was feral, or more likely, mutts unleashed from one of those Dark Day traps Caesar had mentioned.
Waiting a second or two more allowed them to see the mutated forms coming their way and allowed them to put on a double burst of speed to outrun the beasts.
They were definitely mutts, half-human, half…something else, but they had mottled grey and brown fur and claws the size of Haymitch's head. Unlike animals, however, they could run on two legs and they were gaining. Praxis had everyone with a gun stand abreast and shoot until their clip ran empty before peeling off to run, reload, and wait for his signal to make another stand further down the street. Haymitch was third to last with Caesar and Niles behind him and Katniss in front of him. When she tapped his arm to let him know that she was taking off and that he should follow shortly after, he hoped that he saw the mutts dwindling in numbers. He touched Caesar's arm as he turned and ran. When Caesar and Niles leveled with him, all three of them put new clips in their weapons and fired blindly over their shoulders.
Of all of them, Flax was the fastest runner and Farler the slowest, but the two were best friends, so while Flax remained behind to give Farler time to run for it, one of the last mutts latched onto his arm and bit down to the bone. Flax tried to shake the thing off, but the incredible jaws clamped around his arm were more powerful than his entire body. He punched the mutt in the nose to no effect and then was lifted into the air by his arm alone.
Cyan cut the mutt's legs out from under it and drove his sword through the thing's head so that its teeth released Flax and the latter dropped, nursing his arm. Haymitch saw that he had at least ten bullets left in his clip and ran back in to use them, but Caesar drew his attention instead.
"Run, Haymitch!" Caesar yelled, firing into the mutts while running backwards.
A mutt grabbed Cyan over the shoulder, ripping five long shreds through his skin before it spun him around and with one swipe, opened him up from hip to hip. Cyan screamed, falling to his knees as the mutt went in to rip his head from his neck. Jax launched his spear at the mutt which took it through the face and made it fly back a good ten feet. The boy went to retrieve his weapon and Haymitch walked slowly, almost dreamlike towards Cyan who was crying for his brother as his intestines spilled out of his middle and onto the pavement.
All Haymitch could think of as he saw Cyan lying in his own innards was how similar he looked dying to Cobalt. Their mouths gaped in the same way, their eyes had the same squinted look, their feet hammered the ground in complete agony. Haymitch found that his knife was in his hand without ever remembering pulling it out and he took a step towards Cyan, prepared to perform the same act of mercy as he had for Glaze.
But the bullet that blew out Cyan's brains came from Caesar's gun. "Keep moving," he told Haymitch tonelessly as he helped Flax up by his good arm.
Way in the front, Bastian and Bacchus were alternating the lead position as they sprinted from street to street, letting the other take charge depending on who was closer to the street they needed to get to. Just slightly ahead of Haymitch, Gerrod didn't see the Peacekeeper coming at him from behind the cover of a street vendor shop. Meela put a round in the Peacekeeper's helmet and continued on without missing a step. She sounded like she was on the verge of collapsing due to her shallow breath from trying to supply air for her babies.
"Slow it down," said Crewe, taking notice.
Veering off of the main path to take temporary shelter inside a hotel lobby, Praxis did a head count and his face fell. "Where's Cyan?"
"Mutts got him," said Caesar, offering Meela the rest of the water from his canteen.
"We're losing too many people," said Katniss. "That's three in less than twenty-four hours—"
"That's war, Katniss," said Haymitch.
"This is just like the Games, trying to get to the high ground while everyone dies around you in a bloodbath."
Haymitch knew she hadn't meant for it to sound as bad as it did, but the effect her words had on the other victors, Jax, and himself was instantaneous. Silica bowed her head in memoriam for her brother and Jax put his arm around her, glaring around at them as if daring them to call her out in her moment of weakness.
"We aren't going to save anymore lives by sitting here," said Slone, absentmindedly running his fingers over the bullet holes in his shield. "How far is it to the City Circle?"
"I'd say roughly two blocks forward, unless we're diverted, then we'll have to go by way of the canal," said Bacchus. "But we're about to enter the hot zone, so if you have other teams in position, I'd let them know that you're coming in from the southwest."
Praxis relayed the orders to hold fire and then brought out his map to show the rest of them.
"We're approximately here, if our Capitol escorts are correct," he pointed out their location. "Teams have taken the buildings north, east, and southeast of the City Circle and set up field infirmaries. That's where Soldier Roth will cut out once we're in sight."
"And you," said Farler, nodding at Flax's maimed arm.
"Flesh wound," said Flax indifferently.
"No, you'll be getting that taken care of before you engage in anymore combat, soldier," said Praxis. "As will you, Stave. You've had too many reversions to not consider it a problem, so you'll have to remain in the buildings. The rest of us will restock on supplies and then proceed on and be reassigned into squads who'll concentrate on specific sectors of the Circle."
"Any word on where Snow is?" Stave questioned, seemingly unbothered by being taken off of the battlefield.
"As soon as the Games shut off, he retreated into his mansion and there've been lookouts posted around the clock to see if he tried to sneak out."
"He could have made it to his bunker," Bastian suggested.
"That was one of the first locations our people destroyed. Snow has two options now; wait for us to come to him, or commit suicide."
"I don't care if he does either—"
There came a rattling on the pavement outside and Niles cried out for everyone to hit the deck. The handheld grenade exploded just outside the lobby, caving in the front so that they were trapped inside and already at a danger of breathing too much dust as they were plunged into complete darkness. Crewe managed to find his flashlight and lit up the close, muggy air.
"Side entrance, side entrance!" coughed Bacchus.
With a hand on the person in front of them, they followed Bacchus to the entrance just behind the concierge's desk. As they went, it was Farler who asked the question that was on all of their minds: How do they keep finding us?
"Do you think they have us bugged?" wondered Gerrod.
"Impossible. They may be able to hack into our frequencies, but they can't have put any devices on us."
"They'll be firing at us as soon as we exit the building," said Niles.
"Then we'll go left once we hit the street and head north again as soon as we get a chance, which should be just one street over," said Bacchus.
"We need some cover. Who has a smoke grenade?"
Slone offered up his last one and tossed it into the street where it blew up, shooting bright yellow gas in all directions. Sure enough, they heard the gunfire as they pressed themselves against the building and moved to the left. By the time the last person had cleared the hotel, the gas was gone, but no sooner had they reached the next street over that more gunfire followed them. They drew together, returning fire and moving as a unit away from the onslaught.
One bullet found its mark in Silica's calf muscle and she yelped, tripping over herself and nearly taking out Praxis in the process. Still jogging, Jax and Slone grabbed her when another bullet made Bacchus drop as it passed through his shoulder blade. Half of the group paused to run back and help him, but he was already staggering upright.
"Don't stop!" Bacchus ordered. "Caesar, Bastian, you know where to go from h—"
A jetsream of water knocked Bacchus off of his feet, pinning him down with its weight as Peacekeepers advanced on the team, wielding a fire hose. Bacchus tried to stand, but a Peacekeeper used her electric baton to volt the water and Bacchus suddenly went stiff, screaming in clipped octaves as his body absorbed every single crackle of energy.
Katniss looked like she was going to be sick as she watched Bacchus's body still flopping around like a struggling fish even though he was dead. Haymitch steered her away.
"Don't watch—"
"Missile!" Niles thundered and Haymitch elbowed Katniss aside just in time to be launched like a projectile as the missile hit the ground behind him. He skidded quite a distance on the cobblestone, cutting his chin and chest as his uniform ripped open so that his skin burned against the bare stone.
He heard ringing as the pavement flew up to smack him in the face and he struggled to find some sense of equilibrium. He put up his hand, waiting for someone, anyone to take it. Praxis began to drag him by the sleeve towards the others who were retreating into a thicker block of buildings. Before he had completely gotten back his senses, Haymitch found himself being shoved by the commander.
"Keep going!" Praxis hollered, stopping in the middle of the street to blast through the wall of Peacekeepers. His automatic jammed and he threw it aside, taking out his pistol to replace it as a bullet went through his arm. The commander kept firing as another went through his thigh. He reloaded and got off an additional two shots before the Peackeepers sprayed him with bullets and after his body stopped its reactionary dance of death from the impact of so many projectiles hitting him at once, his body crumpled.
"Haymitch, come on!" shouted Flax, tugging at Haymitch's arm.
"This is Soldier Abernathy," said Haymitch into his microphone as he found his voice, switching to the universal link. "Commander Septum is KIA. Battlefield command transferred to Soldier Holbrook. Base command transferred back to Thirteen."