Chapter 3: The fight for District Twelve
[Summer in the year of the 75th Hunger Games]
Darius and I looked at each other, and then we continued to observe the two Capitol hovercraft circling above our district. The one above the Seam dropped something which looked like a large egg, and when it touched the ground, a loud and violent explosion resulted, flattening a number of homes completely and damaging a lot more. As most Seam homes were built from wood and not sturdy, that was not hard to achieve. For a moment I thought about the poor Seam citizens now also losing their homes, but I did not have much time to dwell on those thoughts. A few more of those bombs were dropped on other Seam areas, and as much as we could see from our hidden post, few of the Seam buildings survived intact or at least with only minor damage. The other hovercraft, the one circling above the town, dropped multiple smaller boxes, and when they touched the ground, we could see yellowish gases coming out of them, slowly expanding between the Merchant buildings and shops. Darius got pale and told me:
"They are using poison gas!"
I asked:
"Do you think that we are we safe out here?"
"We should be" he replied. "I learned about that gas at peacekeeper training, and the gas is supposed to dissipate within less than one hour. Further, the wind blows away from us."
When the two hovercraft had completed their jobs – no exploding bombs had been dropped on the Town and on the Victor Village, but gas had been blown everywhere – they started to circle again, as if they were searching for someone or something.
"They must be confused by seeing almost nobody" Darius explained.
And indeed, one of the pilots was smart enough to enlarge the search radius so that the area outside of the fence was covered as well. Over an area not too far from us, another gas bomb was dropped, and Darius suspected:
"Maybe they are just dropping bombs in all kind of places, to make sure to get those who might have fled outside."
"But sure they can't see our group from above?"
"No, I do not think so."
The hovercraft dropped a few more bombs, but suddenly stopped doing so and gained height. From the corner of my vision I saw something approaching, and when I turned my head there was a big airship in the air.
"Look at that!" Darius had seen it as well. "We might be getting help. What did they call those huge things?"
"Zeppelins, I believe" I replied. "Wow, this thing is really huge. I wonder if they can do something about the hovercraft."
"I sure hope that they can!" the peacekeeper replied. "If they cannot, the hovercraft might just destroy the entire forest."
One of the hovercraft turned towards the airship and fired something which looked like a rocket. The rocket hit the big airship almost center, but passed through the hull without being slowed down much; the zeppelin did not look like it was really damaged much. Of course, compared to the huge airship, the rocket seemed like a bee stinging a bear, but shouldn't it have exploded?
In retaliation, something started to glow at one of the pods arranged around the hull, and what looked like a beam of light hit the hovercraft. Whereas light did not appear dangerous, something must have happened, because the hovercraft started to wobble; after a couple of minutes the pilot failed to keep it under control, and the whole vehicle crashed into the forest violently. It looked unlikely that there might be any survivors, but Darius spoke into his wireless radio and suggested to Purnia to send a small team towards the crash site; maybe they could also recover a few weapons.
The other hovercraft turned away, but was also hit by a light beam a couple of minutes later, when it was already further away; it did not crash right away, but seemed to be in trouble, and it made what looked to be a safe landing further away to the southwest. Darius spoke into his radio once more and asked for a larger team to be sent in that direction.
Once this was done, he looked at me and asked:
"Ryan, do you know what that light weapon was?"
"I have no idea, Darius" I replied truthfully. "I would not have thought that light can do damage like that, and neither do I understand why the airship did not take damage from the rocket."
"The latter I might be able to explain" he responded. "If that rocket was similar to what we used to have in some of our armored vehicles, it will explode once the sensor in the head cone detects a collision with a hard surface, like a wall or a sheet of metal around a vehicle. Obviously, it did not find that."
"Good point" I nodded. "If that zeppelin is kept in the air by something in the hull being lighter than air, the hull cover must be very thin and lightweight, and maybe the sensor did not register it as an obstacle."
Darius nodded, and at this time I was glad that I had actually paid attention in school when a physics teacher had talked about stuff I expected to never to see in action. In the final year, a teacher had demonstrated how a hull of thin cloth, filled with hot air, actually lifted itself, and he had hinted that there were gases around being much lighter than air, although this was hard to imagine.
There were still more questions, but we did not have enough technical expertise on airships to address them properly. For now, I walked back to the camp to report details, whereas Darius stayed at the outlook post.
Back at the camp, Mayor Undersee was eager to get a more detailed report from me. Haymitch was next to him, and just when I had finished talking, a distorted voice was heard from a big device which was placed close to us. Haymitch turned around and spoke into what looked like a microphone, and he appeared to give directions to somebody. When he had finished talking, he explained:
"This device is a wireless radio, and I have just talked to our allies in the airship. They will come down in a larger meadow north of us, and they ask for assistance to properly tie the airship to trees."
Mayor Undersee nodded, and we collected a few volunteers, mostly strong young men like Gale, Marc, and myself. When we got to the meadow, a few ropes started to drop down from the airship, and Haymitch, who had been told what to do, called out to us to grab them and knot them to sturdy trees. When this was done, winches on the airship tightened the ropes, and the zeppelin pulled itself down until some kind of gangway could be safely lowered to the ground from the main pod attached just below the giant airship.
As soon as the gangway was down, a door opened and three people came down, an older man in a strange uniform and two women in modified peacekeeper garbs. The older of the women introduced herself:
"Gentlemen, my name is Twill, and next to me is my daughter Bonnie. We are formerly from District Eight, but now with District Thirteen, and it is great to meet you all. The officer next to us is Oberstleutnant Klein, the representative from our allies in Europe."
The officer spoke now, too:
"Hello everybody, and I glad to be here. My English not so good, not native language, please excuse that."
The mayor replied: "And we are glad that you showed up at the time you did. My name is Mayor Undersee, and I represent District Twelve. Well, at least I used to."
The officer nodded, and Twill spoke again:
"With your permission, Mayor Undersee, we would like to send a small team into town to check for gas and potential radioactivity; is that all right?"
The mayor nodded, and ten minutes later three people came up from the airship, dressed in odd garbs, completely enclosing them.
Twill explained:
"Those three people wear chemical suits, protecting them from any gas which might still be there."
While the three scouts walked towards our homes, the mayor invited our guests to our camp to discuss the situation. Once we got there, some food was handed out and drinks were served, and the mayor provided an update on our situation. Later on, we learned about the situation in Europe. Apparently, Central Europe had suffered less during the Great War, and they had recovered quicker. They had also lost the majority of the population, but most of the infrastructure was still intact. Specifically, they had managed to stay a democracy, and the dominating state over there, in Central Europe, was now called 'Bundes- und Alpenrepublik Bayern und Österreich' ('Federal Republic of Bavaria and Austria', official abbreviation 'BARBÖ'), inheriting culture and language mostly from former Germany and Austria. As we were told, this state comprised former Germany and Austria, or more specifically those parts which were left after the climatic cataclysm and the great flood; it also included some eastern stretches of former France, northern Italy, and parts of Poland and Czechia. It had been formed not by force, but by a decimated and starving population happily accepting help.
Some countries, like the Netherlands, had been annihilated by the rising of the sea level, and others, like the United Kingdom, had lost most of their influence, caused by war and flooding. Today, people lived in peace in Europe and prospered, though in much smaller numbers than before the war.
For many decades they had ignored events outside of Europe, but a few years ago a decision had been made to send Zeppelins to other continents, and here on our continent they had been able to reach District Thirteen first. Learning about the overall situation, they had decided to support the rebellion and our fight for freedom, and this support might well be the critical factor helping us to win. At least, the fight against the two hovercraft had been both interesting and promising.
We were promised to get more details later, but for now we needed to focus on the current situation and danger. One of the first questions was, of course:
"When can we get back to our homes?"
Bonnie took that one:
"We have sent troops to the highest elevations of the mountains around here, and they will see if more Capitol hovercraft come in. The troops are also setting up RADAR sites to extend coverage, and you have seen what we have done to the last two hovercraft."
"What is RADAR?" I asked.
"It is technical thing to see enemy come even when weather bad" Oberstleutnant Klein explained. Well, that would have to do for now.
"So, I guess that you can move back tomorrow, if you want, provided that our search team finds the air clean again."
"What about food?"
Twill nodded: "This is going to be a problem. The maglev lines are interrupted, and we may take months to restore traffic between districts. Our European allies are willing to send ships with food and other merchandise, but we need to find a place to unload them first. As soon as the war is no longer in a critical phase, we can send a little food with zeppelins, but for now we need all airships for defense."
Darius was back with us now, and another peacekeeper had replaced him at the observation post.
"Does this imply that President Snow will have no way to attack us further?"
"We can set up an anti air battery in the district, and unless he sends more than three or four hovercraft, another attack is very unlikely to succeed. We are keeping him busy in areas more critical to him, so that I do not expect that."
"So, this implies we are cut off from Capitol rule and fully on our own now?" Mayor Undersee wanted to know.
All three of our guests nodded.
"Well," Darius said, "in this situation I believe that I can let you know that we do have an emergency depot in our district."
The mayor looked at him: "What are you talking about, Darius?"
"Many years ago, starting even before you were born, Mayor Undersee, an underground depot was built under the peacekeeper headquarter building. The entrance is carefully hidden and access is possible with a secret code only. The Capitol had always been aware that our district relied on food supplies and such from other districts, and the maglev lines are not well maintained. If a longer interruption occurred, like a bridge going down, and no trains could get to us for months, people would die, and the President wanted the coal miners to live and work after all. So, at a time when only very few hovercraft were available, a large underground depot was built, and it was filled over time with food, clothes, and some other necessities. Its existence was always known to a few selected and trusted peacekeepers only, and I happened to be one of them, introduced to the secret by former Head Peacekeeper Cray. I may be the only remaining peacekeeper here knowing about that; all of the others had left with Cray, and Purnia had not yet been introduced to the secret."
We looked at him and almost could not believe what he said. Specifically Purnia looked very surprised, and obviously she had not had a clue about that. Eventually, the mayor asked:
"So, you have the code and can get us in?"
Darius nodded: "Indeed. Just before Cray had left, I was down there together with him for an inspection. After all, some of the food needed to be replaced from time to time before it is no longer safe to eat."
Of course we'd need to see what was actually in there, but even if only half of what Darius had claimed was true, that depot would certainly help a lot. Once this was discussed, we also learned a little more about District Thirteen, and when night came upon us, my head was almost bursting with all of the news. Before we retired for the night, I asked if they knew anything about the tributes from the arena, and Twill told us that this was kept secret:
"This is part of an operation we cannot risk getting exposed. I realize that you want to learn about your two tributes, but you will need to wait for an official statement, I am afraid."
Well, that was that. I had asked the mayor what we could share with others, and he just announced that we'd try to have as few secrets as possible,. Learning about our allies, in particular, should boost morale, and he only suggested to keep the underground depot information back until we had looked into it first at least.
An exhausted Primrose came back to me when it was already dark. Staying in an unknown environment had worried many citizens, and some of them just needed others to talk to them and comfort them. Mabel, Primrose and Lizzy had been busy all day long and barely had enough energy left to eat something. I helped by pushing small pieces of meat directly into their mouths, of course paying special attention to my fiancée, completing feeding with a few kisses as well.
When we were about to retire for the night, I needed to help Prim to shed her clothes down to her underwear, and she was almost asleep on me before I was finished with her. When I finally had her in my sleeping bag right on top of me, I started to provide a very short summary of what I had learned today, but only a few minutes later I stopped talking as I noticed that both Prim and all others around me were already asleep.
On the next day the chemical team was back, and they pronounced the air in the district clean. As Darius had predicted, the poison gas had dissipated and was not a problem any longer. A few peacekeepers lead the way, and our trek started back into the fence.
When we had reached our main road, an odd parcel was right on the road, and something glittered from it, indicating that some valuables might be in there. In addition, there was a sign outside saying 'Brown's best sweets and jewelry'. Despite a warning from one of the peacekeepers, a few citizens I did not know rushed ahead to check it out, and when they got close, an explosion occurred, killing three people instantly.
"What was that?" the mayor asked around.
Darius had an answer: "That was obviously a booby trap. I guess that the hovercraft dropped that, hoping to attract and kill more people."
"Are there more of those around?"
"Let's check."
Peacekeepers swarmed out and actually found four more of those strange crates. They were all detonated with rifle shots, and finally we could all get back to our homes. Well, not exactly of course. The merchant section was almost all intact, the Victors' Village had not been touched at all, but most of the Seam had been totally annihilated; maybe Snow had assumed that the rebellion was mainly driven by miners in our district.
On the other hand, the district had lost about half of the population; almost everybody who had stayed behind was now dead, either killed by bombs or by gas, except a small group of miners and families who had been hiding in the mines. So, overall, we had enough intact houses, but some of them would have to be redistributed. The largest homes were the ones in the Victors' Village, with twelve nice houses. Each of them could easily have ten or more people living in them, and using them only for a single person would have been a waste of resources.
Eventually we were getting to the main square and noticed that the buildings around the square, including the Justice Building and the peacekeeper's headquarters, seemed to be undamaged as well. Just before we fully stepped on the square, I saw some movement on the roof of the peacekeepers' headquarters building, and I mentioned to Darius and Purnia, who were both close to me:
"It is good to see that you already sent an advance party ahead."
"What advance party?"
I pointed to the roof, and at that moment a few shots rang out. Most of them missed, but Purnia screamed and dropped to the ground. Darius and I pulled her into cover, behind another building, and Prim got to work on her right away; her mother joined her moments later.
I heard Darius cursing, and than he explained:
"I bet that those on the roof are Udo and John. They had supposedly left when Thread was recalled, but I was almost sure that I saw them around at night a few times. They had always been very loyal to Snow, and whatever they plan to do cannot be good."
"How do we get to them?"
"This will be a problem. There is only one access to the roof, and they probably have that blocked. We can wait until they run out of food and water, but if they are smart, they have some supplies with them. Even worse, they might have some more fellows with them inside."
Marc Pherson had stepped to us and he had an idea:
"Wait – maybe our allies with the zeppelin can help? Using that light gun they have, from the air?"
Darius looked at him and smiled: "Good idea, boy; let's ask them."
Haymitch now also approached, and he contacted the zeppelin crew with his wireless radio. Gale and a few others were still out there and help with the launch, and soon the giant airship approached. While we waited, Darius had sent a few peacekeepers to both the front and the back entrance, and they had orders to get inside at the same time the zeppelin attacked. Indeed, the light beam weapon managed to disable both bad guys on the roof, and we could see the three peacekeepers at the front entrance kicking the door open and entering. About five minutes passed until the troop leader came out again and raised his thumb; he shouted:
"All clear!"
The zeppelin crew also radioed down to Haymitch that they had not seen anybody else on any other roof, so that the area should be safe now.
Mayor Undersee lead Haymitch, Darius and me into his office once he was sure that the area was cleared and safe. Purnia should have been here with us, but she needed to be treated, and Darius filled in for her. First, we had a quick discussion on housing. We decided that the largest families were going to live in the big houses in the Victors' Village, and they would have to share. For instance, the Hawthorne family and the Pherson family, who were good friends anyway – they had been neighbors in the Seam – would get one house together. As most merchants still had their houses, they were going to stay in them, and as most Seam people had lost their homes, they got new ones either in the Victors' Village or in the Merchant section, claiming whatever empty houses were available there. As the Town homes were on average larger than the tiny Seam houses, we still had a surplus of home available, and some houses, in particular those ones which had not been used for years, like to apothecary next to the bakery, were not touched for now.
Also, at least for the time being, Katniss' and Peeta՚s homes were not taken over. The entire district respected what they had achieved, and there was a common agreement to no take anything they owned. Haymitch, on the other hand, offered right away to open his home for our allies and guests. This distribution of homes kept us busy for most of the day, so that we did not have time to inspect the underground depot at all.
At the end of the day I was exhausted, and although it was not Friday, Prim joined me above the bakery. She barely managed to have a quick shower and brush her teeth before she dropped on me, and after a few minutes of lazy back scratching she was asleep. I wondered for a few moments why some of the best times I had with my girlfriend were when she fell asleep on me before I dozed off as well, resting in the knowledge that our very own District Twelve was now really ours to manage. The future promised to be challenging, but good.
[Author's Notes: If you want to understand what a 'Zeppelin' looks like, you may want to search for the real 'Hindenburg' zeppelin of the 1930s; it would just be even larger and more modern, and of course using helium rather than hydrogen.
The military rank 'Oberstleutnant' is a German officer's rank, equivalent to a 'Lieutenant Colonel' in the US Air Force, I believe.]