5:2 A life raft for three.
We quickly grind to a halt. Our crash landing is uncomfortable, but this part of the craft remains intact. Being strapped to the bunks prevents any serious injury. I check Kaycee and Lucas and both seem fine. Kaycee even seems to have enjoyed the experience.
I unstrap myself and the children in case we need to evacuate the craft. Gunfire and the sound of explosions not far away warn me that someone is still firing a weapon. Laura returns with a man wearing a medic's insignia on his uniform. He gives Cato, Jane, Elena, Beetee and Finnick an injection. A few moments later all five of them start to regain consciousness. The medic says it will take a few minutes until the grogginess wears off. Which is a few minutes we may not have. Laura begins unstrapping all five of them from their bunks. The medic leaves her to her task and disappears on some other errand. I put the children on the bunk and help Laura.
"We are safe in here for the time being," says Laura, all signs of her former nervousness have gone. "This part of the craft is armoured. We've landed in a lake. We're alright as long as the flotation bags remain intact."
As if to prove otherwise, I point to a slow but steady flow of water coming in through the door. We are slowly sinking.
"Cato, wake up. We're in danger. We need to abandon this craft … now!" I say as I try to steady Cato onto his feet. He flops back onto the bunk … It's too soon for him to move unaided.
"Huh? … Katniss! … You're safe …" begins Cato, still not fully aware of what is happening.
Laura stays with me as we try to speed up the recovery process. The water is knee deep and almost up to the level of the bunk mattress by the time we feel it is safe for everyone to move.
"No time for questions at the moment," I say. "We're on a flying craft which has crashed into a lake. We need to evacuate at once. This is Laura. She will show us the way."
Laura takes my hint and guides Beetee to the exit. Jane and I pick up Lucas and Kaycee and follow close behind. Cato and Finnick bring up the rear. It's not far to the open exit, which is just above the water line. It is the middle of the night but fortunately there is a full moon. The flotation bag near the exit is still intact, but clearly other bags around the craft are not. There's no sign of anyone else, but at least the aircraft that attacked us has gone.
"There are only two life rafts left!" shouts Laura. "They can only hold three people each."
"I'm a good swimmer," says Finnick. "The children are only small, so shouldn't affect the raft too much."
We launch the two life rafts. Cato, Elena, Kaycee and I take the first raft, while Laura, Beetee, Jane and Lucas take the second. Finnick swims next to the second raft. We can't see any other rafts in the dark and the nearest shore is about a hundred metres away. There is a steady off-shore breeze blowing us away from the nearest shore and is causing the water to be choppy. The rafts may become swamped and we could all find ourselves swimming. With Cato's help I strap Kaycee to my back in case we all end up in the water. The small paddle with the raft is not much use travelling into the wind, so we turn towards the far shore. We can just make it out in the moonlight, but it means crossing the centre of the lake where the water is at its roughest.
It's a long hard slog but by taking turns at paddling we finally make it to shore about two hours later. We became separated from the other raft early on, and we only caught glimpses of it during the night. When we last saw it it was about thirty metres from us, but that was over an hour ago. Once we are ashore we search for the other raft. After a short search we see it about to make landfall about half a kilometre away. There's no sign of any of the other rafts on this side of the lake, so they have either landed elsewhere or they sank.
We collect the small emergency kit from our life raft and start out to where the second raft is about to land. By now dawn is breaking and the sky is much lighter. With the dawn comes the sound of more flying craft. Four in total and coming from the east.
"District Thirteen craft," says Elena. I've no idea whether she knows or is guessing, but it is reasonable to presume a rescue mission has been organised for first light. Our rescuers must know roughly where our craft crashed as they fly low over the lake before turning towards the far shore. Two of them begin to land as though they have spotted some of the surviving crew. The other two craft turn in opposite directions to slowly scan the shoreline for more survivors. At its speed of travel it will take the nearest one about ten minutes to go around the lake shore to where we are.
"You need to make a decision," says Elena. "I've no intention of letting them take me to District Thirteen for interrogation. Our allies in District Thirteen have their own agenda in this rebellion. I intend to cut across country and make my way back to District Eight. I've no idea where we are or how long it will take to reach civilisation. You can come with me or you can join Jane and the others and go to District Thirteen."
"We are coming with you," says Cato. "I don't take kindly to being drugged and kidnapped."
"Kaycee and I are with you too," I add, making a point that I'm no longer a slave who can be told what to do, and Cato is no longer my master. Cato at least has the courtesy to look sheepish at his presumption. I give him a quick kiss to show his lapse is forgiven.
"I think these mountains are the ones we can see from District Twelve," I say when we are far enough away from the lake to risk a good look around. It would make sense if they were. When I was at school the teacher once said District Thirteen was located somewhere to the south-east of District Twelve.
Before we left the lake we hid the raft. Since then we have been careful to hide our tracks. So far there is no sign of pursuit. If the searchers believe us all dead, then it will work to our advantage for now.
If I'm right, then we are about a ten hours walk from my former home in District Twelve. If we can keep up a brisk pace we will reach it sometime this evening. The dried food in the raft's emergency pack will keep us going for today. Tomorrow we will need to trap and hunt game if we haven't found habitation, or if it is unsafe for us to enter the town.
We keep to the forested areas and avoid going too high into the hills. While it would be faster travelling above the tree line, we could be easily seen from a searching aircraft. None of us believe those in District Thirteen will assume we have been drowned without some tangible evidence. Luck smiles on us when we come across the abandoned road that must have once connected Districts Twelve and Thirteen. The road is overgrown and obviously hasn't seen a vehicle in many years.
The trees either side of the road provide a canopy to hide us from above. We make excellent progress and by late afternoon we can see signs of habitation in the valley ahead. The coal mines and smoke from coal fires create a distinctive sight and smell which confirms we are nearing District Twelve. Only there is far more smoke than I remember and the intermittent explosions are not something I associate with my former home town. Something is very wrong.
The explosions have stopped by the time we get near enough for a better view. The town is on fire and thick black smoke rises high into the air. Then, in the distance, we see people coming along the road towards us. We wait and watch as they come nearer. About forty in total. I recognise my friend Gale Hawthorne in the lead. I'm about to run towards him when Elena pulls us all into the trees at the side of the road.
"Stay hidden," says Elena. "If they are heading for District Thirteen they will report that they have seen us. It will give the searchers a direction in which to look for us. We can't outrun their flying craft."
I can't fault Elena's logic, so despite my desperate need for news about my family and friends, I stay hidden as Gale and the leading group of refugees pass us. Cato sees Prim and my mother among the stragglers at the rear of the group. He taps me on the shoulder to point them out. They are busy tending to some of the injured people as they walk along. I silently sigh with relief when I see them. I look for some of the other people I know, but can only see a few. Hopefully there are more survivors following further behind. Unfortunately, I fear there won't be.
