Border of District 7
A dozen sets of eyes look up as Amber and I burst into the room being used for headquarters. Marching straight to Haymitch I shove the invoice in his hands. "This is a list of building supplies from last year, and it matches the list of suppliers used at Victors Village," I say, breathing heavily, not from my sprint down the hall but from the adrenal pumping through my body.
Haymitch takes the paper from me and nods as he looks over the order. "Lot of lumber and drywall that's for sure," he mutters scratching his unshaven chin. "Looks like someone was building something big."
I point to the line at the bottom of the page, "There are delivery coordinates," I nearly shout. His eyebrow shoots up to his hairline and Johanna snatches the document from his hands. Running to a computer she taps at the keyboard furiously and pulls up a topographical map. After a moment of studying it, she waves over the blonde investigator that she interrogated back in the Capitol. I join the detective behind Johanna.
"The wilds?" Johanna asks.
The investigator nods her head. "Yes," she confirms reaching for the mouse and expanding the view with a few clicks. "This is about two and fifty hundred miles to the north, north-west," she says, then clicking to another screen. "Hum, this is good news. Back before the war this was a vacation town called Shelter Bay and it says here that a few hundred town staff still live up there," she smiles.
Excitement and anxiety rush through my veins making me lightheaded. "When do we leave?" I ask, the room of soldiers, detectives, and victors.
Haymitch stands and puts a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think Paylor's going to let any of our crew go up there," he tells me evenly. I shake my head, "I'll stay in town. I won't interfere; she has my word," I state. Haymitch sighs. "There could be more to do here," he offers.
"I'll stay and work on the invoices," Johanna offers, but Annie interjects. "No Jo, you go with them, you have skills they may need. I'm better suited for doing the invoices." Looping an arm over Annie's shoulders Effie pulls her into a side hug, "I'll stay and help too. I can do invoices and help with little Finn," she states.
Haymitch throws his hands in the air, "We haven't even been cleared to go," he shouts.
Johanna chortles undeterred. "Then get us cleared Old Man."
A Hidden Bunker
The room before me is a living room/dining room/kitchen combo and it's quite spacious. Directly in front of me is a three-piece living room set, all furniture covered with dusty yellowed plastic. To the right of that is a dining table with four or six chairs but I can't be sure since it too is covered in the same plastic as the sofas. The kitchen is tucked in the far corner but I'm not able to make it out clearly with the small amount of light I have. On each side of the room, there is a door. The one by the kitchen is closed but the one to my left is slightly ajar. I have no idea why or who put this down here but based on the undisturbed layer of dust on everything, they haven't' been here in a long time, if ever.
Easing into the room, I cautiously push the door on my left open and peer in. It's another hallway, a fairly long one with four doors along the corridor, two on one side, one on the other, the last at the very end of the hall. Behind the first door, I find a bedroom that contains two sets of bunk beds sans their matters or bedding, two small tables and four chairs and two dressers. The room across the hall from the bunk room is filled with exercise machines and maybe a medical bay area. The next room I explore is a bathroom. It's a very commercial feeling room, set up like those by the training rooms in the Tribute Center, not like in a home. There are three sinks, 4 showers shower stalls, and four toilet stalls, all bone dry. "So far so good," I mutter to myself, satisfied that all the rooms I've inspected insofar are as abandoned as the front room. At the very end of the hall is the last door in the corridor.
On hunters' feet, I pad down to it and crack it open. "What the…" I breathe, taking a small step into the cavern in front of me. The room in front of me is very large, so much so, that I can't see the far wall. Based on the reverb of my steps I suspect is quite cavernous. The area I can see, however, seems to be set up in three distinct sections. To my right is a 10-foot section of the wall is covered in switches, dials, and buttons, the nerve center of this thing I imagine. The center and largest area contains about 20 rows of ceiling-high, 8-foot-wide shelves, all neatly crammed with storage boxes. The rows of shelves extending into the darkness beyond. On the right, very near the door where I stand, are multiple desks with computers on top of them and along the wall about 25 filing cabinets. All the desks and computers are covered in the same dusty plastic I spotted in the front room.
Someone, a number of someone's based on what I've seen so far, planned to live down here that much is clear. Who would have the ability to set something like this up? It wouldn't be a district person, there's no way even a well-off family could afford all of this, not to mention how would the building it while under constant peacekeeper watch. Maybe a Capital citizen or politician with nothing else do with their money? A head peacekeeper? As I make my way over the wall of controls, I absently wonder why, whoever it belonged to, never showed up.
Holding the flickering light of my candle up to the panel in front of me I study the mess of controls. There is no way to know if this even place works anymore, but it can hurt to try. Just to my left, I spot a large red lever labeled Main Bus. I stare at it for a moment before reaching over and taking the dust-covered handle in my hand and pushing it in the direction of the arrow painted on the panel it's mounted on. With a soft click, I hear a distant sound of a machine starting up with a gentle hum. "So far so good," I sigh. Moving along the panel labeled Operations with switches and dials labeled: lights, heat/ac, water, sewer, power collection, broadcasting. I can't keep from biting the inside of my cheek. What if switching these on alerts someone to my location? I shrug, I've already turned on the main bus switch so it might already be too late. I notice on the main door in the tunnel that I could lock it from the inside, so I can hope for the best and sleep somewhere warm and dry or head back up to the ground level and keep on running. The very thought of it makes my legs ache. I need to rest, and this place is my best bet. Without further preamble, I begin to flip switches and turning knobs. Above me, I hear the sound of buzzing then slowly the room begins to brighten. Blowing my candle out, I mindless pick at the wax that has fallen into my skin as I look up at the lights. I was right, this place is mammoth. Lights the size of barrels hang suspended for a vaulted ceiling that at its high point if at least 3 stories up. I now see that ladders and walkways are suspended along each wall. I climb up the nearest one to get a better look at the space. It's astonishing. The room goes back for about a half-mile. There are lines and lines of shelves all heavy laden with gray storage boxes labeled with their contents. There appears to be everything from clothing and bedding to food and farming equipment. In the very back of the room are the mechanics of what I've just turned on. A generator, a well with an electric and manual pump, fans that turn and bring in fresh air, from where I have no idea, and numerous other machines I can't identify. This place would have been a godsend all the year's Gale and I dreamed of running away into the woods.
I climb back down to the floor and make my way back out of the bunker and up the tunnel. I need to secure the top hatch before settling in for the night. Before long I have both hatches closed and locked and I begin pulling the plastic off the furniture. The couch looks very inviting, but I pass up for the kitchen. I try the tap and to my delight, the faucet sputters then begins flowing. The water is a little dark for a moment but quickly begins running clear. "I might be dreaming, but if that's the case at least I'm going to dream of a full stomach.