Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
Once Remembered
It will never again be forgotten.
Part Three – The Hunger Games
Chapter Five
Theo and I scouted over to the green building that Light had directed us to. Only… it was blue. There was only one building in the entire city that wasn't gray or bland, and it was the short blue building we looked down upon. Light was evidently color-blind. Through the glass we could see people moving, and I made out Carmen from District Nine perfectly at one point.
Once we could be certain that there weren't any traps waiting for us, except for the occasional scouts, we returned to the ground and got closer. We started to circle the building, and almost finished a full speculation round, when Theo tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to him, and he pointed to a label.
Electricity Generator
My eyes widened. This building was what controlled the electricity in the city. That was why they were gathered here, and they had the District Five people too. I thought of Heath, and his female district partner, Jillian. Jillian and I had nothing against each other, but she didn't look too happy when I made a fool out of Heath. And of course, Heath's feelings towards me were nowhere near welcoming. They were probably all for Malphite's murderous plans for us. I didn't even want to think of the possibilities that were available to them now.
When we rounded to the front entrance, we saw Bud from District Seven standing guard. I didn't want to take my chances with his hostility for me, though he had appeared as one of the kinder tributes. Theo and I returned then to our hideout, and waited patiently for Enerem or Laura to come back for us, and perhaps tell us what the hell was happening.
Theo suggested that we abandon the hideout. He didn't trust Enerem or Laura one bit.
"I trust Enerem." I insisted though I didn't trust her as much as I was making my voice sound, "And I'll give Laura the benefit of my doubt if Enerem believes her." I didn't know why I was defending Enerem, but my instinct told me I should. My instinct that had spontaneously taken a share of my trust, it hadn't always proved to the best results, but it wasn't wrong yet.
"Melanie, we're competing in the Hunger Games. Only one of us can make it out of this alive. Can you afford that kind of trust?"
I bit my lip. "I'm giving you that kind of trust."
It worked with Light, and damn, it worked with Theo. He swallowed and looked away. He knew my line of trust was thin and we were walking on a wire with our relationship. I could have very well killed him in his sleep.
"What if it's an accident?" Theo suggested all of a sudden, he was desperate.
I stared at him. "Do you trust me?"
His answer was immediate. "Yes." It surprised me.
"Then believe in me." I whispered. He was reluctant but nodded.
Another day was coming to a close, just before the day officially ended, a canon sounded. It was the canon of when a tribute died. Theo looked at me and I looked back, we wore similar expressions. Had they begun turning on one another? Who had died?
We didn't care crawl out of the sewers yet, because it had become dark. The moonlight was surprisingly bright, but there were no streetlights. We again, covered ourselves with the blankets we'd taken when we escaped, and then we waited for sleep. I was almost asleep when the dim, flickering light suddenly went out.
"Theo?" I called into the darkness. It was so absolute, because we were locked in a room underground in the sewers. I started to feel mild panic. I didn't even remember where the key for the lock was. We could end up trapped in the room forever. I felt mild claustrophobia developing and took a deep breath to calm myself.
"Melanie?" He called back, his voice was cautious like mine.
I started scrambling around, and then finally, light. The flashlight I'd received from Winter, I was so goddamn grateful. I shone it on the ground, and then moved it to Theo. His eyes were wide, understanding.
"Winter knew."
"So did Fuchsia." I added. "That's what they were doing in the Electricity Building. They've taken out the electricity."
Theo gave a small laugh. "In a city without any natural resources, I think they've just given themselves a huge advantage."
I looked at the flashlight in my hand, it was only a matter of time before it would inevitably run out, and then we would be quite literally, left in the dark. I didn't think that Winter would be able to send us many batteries. No one had ever received batteries in a game before, but it was bound to be expensive. I gulped.
That was when we heard a knock on the door.
It was the special knock that I had discussed with Theo. Enerem and Laura had heard me use it. I got up slowly with the flashlight, while Theo went to the door, ready with a gun. If this was an ambush, we weren't going without a fight.
Theo opened the door and pointed his gun just as I flashed the light at Enerem and Laura. They looked at me with surprised eyes, then to Theo's gun aimed at them. He lowered it slowly.
"You have a flashlight?" Enerem gasped.
I nodded warily and invited them inside. I closed the door quietly before locking it up again, keeping the key safely in my pocket so we would be able to get out if the flashlight were to run out.
"We came to warn you," Laura began. Her eyes were watchful as she glanced from Theo to me. "They have penetrated the electricity and cameras."
I felt my jaw drop. "Cameras?"
Laura nodded. "The cameras they use to watch over us in the games? They've hacked into them, and they've seen this room."
"How can you be here then? They'll know you're traitors!" I almost shouted.
"Enerem recoded the cameras, they think it's a malfunction as control has been terrible anyways. They won't be able to do anything until the morning. They only know that you're in this room, they have no idea where you are." Laura explained.
"I thought you guys would have some trouble. We tried to make it before the electricity was cut off." Enerem clarified.
"How did you get away from them without being suspicious?" Theo asked skeptically. I could see the distrust in his eyes.
"I'm supposed to be checking the power generator. They want to control all the power in the city, and gain control of all the cameras, then corner you and kill you. That's their game plan."
And an excellent game plan that was. "So we have to act fast if we don't want to be killed." I finished.
Enerem nodded. "They're not even bothering to look for you now. They just want the cameras. If they get it…"
"We're as good as dead." Theo finished.
Something sounded outside the door then. We all froze. I looked at Enerem, suspecting her immediately, but she shrugged. We were all tense. I picked up my gun, as Theo gave his a firmer grip. A weird sound, like a low buzzing was coming from the door.
"You guys didn't get followed?" I questioned.
Enerem and Laura shook their heads. I could tell when they were telling the truth, or when they thought they were. I nodded and passed them both a gun. Laura cocked hers and went to the door. She opened it and shot before even looking. We all froze before she screamed. A snake had pounced at her leg and bit her. She screamed as she shot it. Several more snakes, perfectly white and oddly resembling President Snow, jumped on Laura. Before we could do anything to help her, she was covered by the snakes.
We couldn't shoot at them either, because then we would risk shooting her. We should have, because she appeared to have struggled painfully for a while before she finally fell limp. A canon shot sounded outside. Things sped up from there, Theo shouted a few incoherent words at us and Enerem pulled me back. He reached for something from the bag, pulled something and threw it. The explosion was close, too close and the sound almost deafened me. I was the only one who hadn't thought to cover my ears as the grenade went off.
The explosion had fazed the mutts. Long enough for Theo to grab a few things and for us to bolt, Enerem was pulling me along, I was too dazed to function on my own. We ran quickly through the sewers and I was surprised with how quickly Enerem was reacting to the new mutts that ran along the way. She shot at them without a second glance, a perfect knock to the head every time. Theo made me climb the ladder first, and I did mindlessly. Enerem was next and finally Theo.
As I climbed, I realized that it had indeed been too long since the gamemakers tried something. That was probably what killed the other tribute too. I helped Enerem and Theo make the final stride up when I was already out. It was still in the middle of the night, and dark. I turned off the flashlight so we wouldn't waste any energy. Every second left in the little thing was precious.
We caught our breaths once we were all out. Enerem began crying.
I hugged her. I realized after I had my arms around her, that I wasn't acting like I so often did with the girls at school, but I was sincerely sorry for Enerem. She was good, and I didn't feel right watching a girl like her suffer. Laura's death was probably the first she had ever seen.
"Come on, we have to get out of here." Theo said. He was right, we were in the middle of the street. Slowly, I got Enerem up on her feet again, and walked her to a nearby building for shelter. We didn't dare go back into the sewers again. A couple minutes later, we heard a hovercraft by us and somehow extract Laura's snake-bitten body from the sewers. Her collar was flashing red as she was hauled out by some sort of magnetic attraction.
Enerem watched from the window with thick tears in her eyes. They were genuine unlike my phony ones, I could tell. She was just a poor girl who had this nightmare thrust upon her because of the malevolence of the Capitol. My teeth clenched in the anger she didn't have.
Author's Note
PI.E : 3.14
-creativename