Y184-09-02 T 06:50:01
Day 3
Behind them, the radar was beeping incessantly; in front of them, they watched the tributes move out onto the wires of the elevator. Lexus waited patiently until they were all on the wire, then tapped on a control panel to send the elevator to the top floor. They watched on the schematics- while there were no cameras inside the elevator shaft, there were enough sensors to paint an infrared picture of the tributes. Seven bodies on a wire, climbing faster and faster as the elevator ascended.
"Come on, come on," Seneca hissed.
Six jumped from the wire without consequence- the seventh and last dropped, bounced against the edge of the door, and was dragged out of the elevator shaft before the elevator reached the top floor. From there, infrared cut out.
The tributes had made it to the arena hatch, and they were all still alive.
Which meant they were all about to die.
Seneca growled, slamming the heel of his palm into a control panel. "God-damn it!" He sighed, dragging a hand backwards through his bedraggled hair. "They're going to activate the failsafe and detonate the explosive bolts, now, and we're going to die and they're going to die and-"
Lexus stared at the elevator.
"Shut up," he murmured. Seneca fell silent as Lexus pulled holograms through the air.
"There's cameras in the elevator, right?" Lexus asked.
"-Right.."
"And there's screens, they display mood lighting, right?"
Seneca frowned. "Lex, what are you doing?"
"The only thing left to do." Lexus connected up a small webcam in front of them and waved his hand to begin streaming the video. The elevator cameras flickered as they focused in onto seven tributes in various stages of disrepair and exhaustion.
All seven tributes turned as Emil pointed; Lexus looked at Seneca with pained eyes.
"Tell them the truth," Lexus sighed, and he turned on the audio.
Theon frowned as Emil pointed towards the elevator. The back of the elevator, which true to Capitol tradition had displayed mood lighting on glassy screens, cut out to black. And then flickered.
And then two men appeared on the screen. One, dark skinned with spiky silver hair, seemed familiar but not recognisable. The other, however, light skinned with his precisely sculpted beard and red-and-black clothing, was unmistakeable.
"Uh, hi," The silver-haired man said awkwardly. "I'm Lexus-"
"-And you're Seneca Crane," Theon said sharply over the top of Lexus, gesturing to the man next to him. Seneca shifted uncomfortably.
"Yes, I'm- Seneca Crane, Head Gamemaker-"
"-We know who you are." Elizabeth cut in, her eyes dark with savage hostility Theon had never seen before. Elizabeth had always seemed nothing less than collected, but faced with these Capitolians on a screen had become nigh-catatonic wih rage. "What is this? Are you going to threaten us? Kill us?"
Seneca almost looked like he was going to retaliate against Elizabeth's rage, but he seemed to half-crumple into himself instead.
"No," he said, "I mean- yes. We were. But god knows you kids are hard to kill."
"You tried your best," Emma said with a sardonic smile. "Ripping apart kids with mutts- is that what gets you off in the morning?"
"This isn't a debate about morals," Lexus said urgently, glancing away from the camera to something behind him. "You think we'd be talking to you right now if we had any other choice?"
"You might to boost your ratings," Theon commented. "Let's torment the rebels with our high-and-mighty Capitol knowledge."
"Oh, for the love of-" Lexus snapped, his eyes wide with a mix of frustration and fear. "We're all going to die if you open that hatch, you asshole, so yeah, maybe you should listen to our high-and-mighty Capitol knowledge, because we know a hell of a lot more than you, you fu-"
"-Lexus!" Seneca interjected. "We don't have time for an argument."
"Yeah, well, neither do we," Quint said, making his way towards a bank of computers. He hesitantly hovered his fingers over the keys and Lexus jolted forward in horror.
"No, wait, listen-"
"We're done listening to the Capitol," Elizabeth said, following Quint to the computers.
After hearing the collected voice of Seneca Crane in their lives for so many years, hearing him scared was a surprise to Theon.
"You're about to kill us all!"
"Yeah, no kidding," Elizabeth said with a dry tone. But something in Seneca's voice gave Theon pause.
"What do you mean?" He questioned with a frown. Seneca's eyes turned on him over the screen.
"There's explosive bolts connected to the hatch; a failsafe if ever you people tried to take it. If you undo that without the correct codes, you'll destroy the arena." Seneca shifted. "But that isn't the main problem."
Cesal blinked. "Blowing up the arena isn't the main problem? What is, the President sending us an angry letter?"
"The President's sending in gunships," Lexus said. He looked behind him again, eyes wide with more fear than frustration now. "They're going to be here any minute now. We evacuated the arena staff, but if you exit that hatch, they're going to kill us all. Or worse."
"What's worse than being killed?" Emil questioned with a frown. Theon cut them off; the dangers and the revelations were roiling in his brain.
"So what you're saying is, even if we don't blow the bolts, if we leave this arena we die anyway?"
"If you just come back down, stand down," Seneca said, "I promise, I'll do what I can. I'll try to stop them killing you. It's the least I could do."
"Yeah." Emma said then, shaking her head. "It really is."
"Look, there's no way any of us get out of this okay. We got out who we could, but we're going to be the scapegoats for this instead; but not if we all stand down."
"They're sending in gunships and you think standing down's going to make them stop?" Glace said sharply. She stepped forward, into the full view of the camera. "One thing we do learn in the Districts is that peace does not begat peace. If the Capitol are sending in gunships-" she swallowed, nervously, and Theon was surprised to see this blatant emotional response in someone always so careful not to display emotion. "-Then we're all already dead, no matter what we do."
"Look-"
"Give us the codes."
The group turned to Quint- the camera shifted and refocused on him.
"What?" Lexus said.
"You're all clouded by the contradicting facts," Quint said, "But the only solution left open to us is clear. Lexus Valerian- you're the head of the Capitol Technological Innovation Committee. I've seen the propos. So think about this logically. The Capitol are sending in gunships, and they're going to raze everything. The only way we survive is if we all escape. If you give us the codes, we don't destroy the arena, and you can make your escape as well as us, before the Capitol arrives. But if you don't, we detonate these explosive bolts, and we all die."
"Escape where?" Seneca said. "The wilds?"
"If that's all that's left open to us," Quint said. "If that's the only safe place left."
"This is crazy- we'll all die out there!" Seneca said, but Lexus tilted his head slightly, eyes clouded.
"Or we all die in here," Lexus murmured. "That's it. That's all there is."
"Lex," Seneca said, "You're not considering this, right?"
"What other choice do we have? We both knew the Capitol wouldn't care if we stopped the rebels or not. It was death or re-education- or this. That's all there is."
"Give us the codes," Quint said. "And we can all get out of here before the Capitol arrives."
Lexus paused a moment.
And then, animated, he sprung into action, moving off-camera.
"Okay, Seneca, how long have we got until the gunships arrive?" Seneca, to his credit, sprung into action as well, moving to the back of the room.
"Ten minutes, according to radar," His distant voice said from the back of the room.
"Okay, then you better not mistype this, kid, because we have one shot at this," Lexus said sharply as he pulled open a hologram. "Hit F12, and then input-"
Quint typed a string of numbers and letters almost as rapidly as Lexus could say them. As they did so, Theon looked anxiously around the tiny room, filled with computer banks- there was barely enough room for the seven of them to stand comfortably in it.
This was what his life had become, in mere days- from Theon Veux, adoptive son of a Peacekeeper, trained for killing, to Theon, nameless, allied with rebels, a revo in all but name.
He would expect to feel different to who he was, but he didn't- he still felt like him. This felt like it was always meant to happen- that he had been crafted by homelessness and training and blood and pain, just for this.
This was always going to happen, no matter how his life had been. He was meant to end up here, among six others, escaping from the Capitol, from the entirety of Panem.
Lexus came to the end of the string of codes.
"Have you got that?" He asked, and Quint frowned at the screen.
"I'm pretty certain."
"Pretty certain's not certain. If you typed that in wrong, we're all dead."
"We don't have time to check- the gunships are coming in in two minutes flat," Seneca said sharply. Elizabeth nodded.
"Everyone ready?"
"No," Lexus laughed nervously.
"Then get ready to run," Elizabeth said. "If we meet you outside, though- I'm not guaranteeing your safety."
"Duly noted, we'll keep our distance if we live," Seneca said dryly. "Quint, if you press F12 again, you'll enter the code. Do it."
Quint bit his lip, hovered his finger over a single key.
He pressed it.
Above them, a metal hatch, locked and bolted to the ceiling, clicked open.
"We did it," Cesal murmured.
"The gunships are coming in, now," Seneca said urgently, voice becoming more distant as he and Lexus ran out of the room. "I'll see you kids on the other side."
"You better hope not," Elizabeth retaliated. She jumped, pushing at the hatch- Theon walked over and opened it with her. Sunlight spilled onto his face- real sunlight, for the first time in a week. There was no substitute for the real sun, for its real warmth- for the smell of summer and the breath of wind.
"No matter what happens," she said, "We're a team in this."
"Blah, blah, team, rainbows, blah," Cesal said dismissively, "Let's get off this damn dome before we all get killed."
Theon grabbed the hatch's edge and pulled himself up. "Need a hand?" He offered to Cesal.
"Oh, ha, ha," Cesal said. "I'm short, but I'm not that short." He had to jump for the hatch, but still managed to pull his way up. The rest of the group followed- Glace refused help, despite her injuries, and then all seven of them stood in the sunlight, on top of the arena, outside for the first time. Theon squinted into the sunlight, trying to make out where they were in the light.
That's when the barrage began.
Eagle One, we have eyes on the arena," A crackling voice came over the radio. Coriolanus shifted the metal device in his hand, surveying it as he spoke.
"You are authorised for scorched-earth policy, Captain. But if you have the option for live recovery, do so. The more alive to pay for their crimes, the better."
"Roger," the voice said. An aide came over to Coriolanus.
"Sir, a number of hovercrafts from the arena have been apprehended at the border." Coriolanus walked with the aide to the Situation Room, where a number of his staff had assembled.
"Passenger manifest?" He asked sharply.
"All staff but Seneca Crane and Lexus Valerian- Josiah Lyman has executive control of the staff onboard," an aide said. "Josiah has stated that he was ordered to evacuate by Crane."
"Who apprehended them?"
"The Capitol Border Patrol- they did a flypast and ordered them down just outside of District Twelve. They're stationary and waiting for orders, sir."
Coriolanus smiled, shaking his head.
"Ah, Seneca," he said, picking up a copy of the passenger manifest and looking it over. "Taking the blame for your whole staff's crimes. It's brave." He looked up at his staff, idly tearing up the passenger manifest.
"The arena suffered a major and unforeseen fault with its weapons facilities, primarily the fault of Seneca Crane and Lexus Valerian. Tragically, there were no survivors. We'll offer professional counselling for all Capitol families affected by this sudden and tragic loss."
The staff were silent.
"-Sir?" One said, her voice shaking.
"Order the Patrol to let the hovercraft go. And then shoot it down. None onboard are to survive. Bury everything. Am I clear?"
One staff member was shaking violently. "Sir, Josiah Lyman is on that hovercraft. He's my cousin."
"And he is now an enemy of the state," Coriolanus responded sharply. "Are you?"
The staff member was still shaking violently, but she said no more.
"Order the Patrol to raze them to the ground. In the meanwhile, I have bigger problems to attend to." He stood, and the whole room had to stand with him. "Good morning."
He left the room, walking slowly but certainly, turning the metal device with the olive-branched eagle emblazoned upon it in his hands.
If the rebels wanted a war, a war they would find. But it would be over before they could so much as raise their weapons.
Bullets ripped into the glinting steel around them and Cesal moved more with instinct than fear- he sprinted across the slippery metal dome, away from the group, desperate for some kind of refuge, just a moment, so he could just see-
He slipped on the sloping metal and found himself sliding, yelping in fear and horror as he accelerated down the dome. His eyesight was improving against the glare of the sun now, and he could see he was at the top of a huge dome, huge enough to encase a replica Capitol- it dwarfed the pines around them, and beyond that- forests, forests and nothing more. The dome they stood on, and that he was currently sliding down, had a 'platform' of sorts at the top, and then a steep slope down, nigh-vertical as it sloped to the bottom. There was a scaffold framework around it, and it was this that Cesal now grabbed- he winced as he slammed against part of the scaffold, his torn insides screaming in pain as he half-hung and half-sat on the scaffold of the the arena.
No longer surrounded by a hail of bullets, no longer descending rapidly, Cesal could finally give time to understanding his surroundings. The dawning sun's glare was glinting off of a shining metal hovercraft, gun turrents half-hidden in the shadow it cast. The group had dispersed rapidly as the hovercraft had opened fire- Cesal couldn't see them all, but he could see Emma hastily unpacking paracord from her backpack, hiding behind a larger scaffold- he could see Glace, observing as the hovercraft lifted and changed its course.
They were on the side opposite the rising sun, as hidden and safe as they could be. Cesal knew he was safe hanging here- if Emma had enough paracord to fashion some ropes for the nigh-vertical point at the bottom of the dome, they could comfortably escape by climbing down the scaffold.
A week ago, he would have done that.
But the thin, healed scar on his side told him he couldn't do that, not anymore.
Not when he didn't know where the rest of the group was- where Emil was.
The hovercraft repositioned, aimed, fired a missile. It hit the base of the dome, and it shuddered violently.
It was now that Cesal scrambled up the dome, across the exposed top where no scaffold hung, in plain sight of the hovercraft.
"Guys!" He yelled over the top of the roaring engines and creaking metal. "You need to get over here, right now!"
He heard a sound of assent from three- Elizabeth and Theon scrambled up over the side, and Quint followed behind not so far from them.
What he heard from Emil chilled his blood.
A scream, high and pain-stricken, and it kicked Cesal's adrenaline rush into overdrive. Before the group could yell at him to stop, slow down, that the hovercraft was coming back, he had sprinted across the slippery metal, slid down to the scaffold, climbed hastily down to where Emil was clinging to the metal in plain sight of the sun and the hovercraft.
Emil looked up at Cesal helplessly, his blonde curls glinting in the sunlight and the bloodied flesh of his leg glittering just as bright.
The hail of bullets had caught Emil on the right thigh, and perhaps his knee as well. It was a marvel Emil was still clinging to the scaffold- from the bloodied streaks on the steel, Emil had mostly slid down the dome until he had managed to grab onto the outhanging metal. His leg was bleeding and torn, his grey clothing soaked in blood- Cesal would hazard a guess that some pretty important ligaments had just been severed.
Emil was in clear pain, but as Cesal approached, climbing precariously from steep scaffold to steep scaffold, he managed to speak.
"No!" He gasped. "It's- coming back." He looked up at the huge gunship, its roar of engines- it was moving from point to point at the bottom of the dome. Another missile fired- another shuddering impact at the base of the dome. The hovercraft began to rise back to the top of the dome.
"Go!" Emil gasped.
Unfortunately, Cesal had never been good at doing the logical thing under pressure. Two weeks ago, a lifetime ago, he had volunteered for Cutch Hassan, simply because he could not bear to watch his friend die if he could be there instead.
And now, faced with a Capitol gunship and an injured ally- an injured /friend- Cesal did the wrong thing again.
He climbed down, wrapped his arm around Emil's shoulder, and began to take Emil's weight as he pulled them back up the scaffold.
"COME ON!" Emma yelled from the shadowed side of the dome. "JUST LEAVE HIM AND GO!"
"NOT HAPPENING!" Cesal yelled back as Emil and he came to the top of the dome. Every step was impossible- Cesal was bracing Emil against his injured side in order to support Emil's injured leg, and Emil was struggling even to hop across the slippery and inclined metal surface of the dome. They only made it halfway across before the hovercraft came back up, and with a horrified yell Cesal had to push himself and Emil back down the hatch to avoid the hail of bullets that clattered against the metal, tearing through the open hatch and inches from their sides as they rolled away from the opening.
Cesal looked up helplessly at the sunlight he had fought so hard to get to.
If the hovercraft remained, he might never see it again.
The arena shuddered around them as they sprinted through the labyrinthine depths of the basement levels. Seneca gasped, gesturing desperately for Lexus to stop- Lexus groaned and staggered to a halt, sucking in breaths as Seneca did the same.
"Where are we gonna go?" Seneca said, his voice shaking. "If we even get to the exit, where are we- there's nothing- we're hundreds of miles from home, Lex, stuck in a forest."
"Right now, we're stuck in the arena, so howabout we save it and go?" Lexus prompted, pulling Seneca upright by his shoulder. Cheeks flushed and eyes fearful, Seneca moved back into a jog behind Lexus.
And then the earth roared, and then it moved. The fluorescent lights flickered and cut out as around them concrete walls heaved and cracked. Seneca could hear Lexus yelling. He could hear the rush of igniting oxygen.
He knew that the Capitol Guard hovercraft must have fired a missile almost directly beside where they had been standing.
Just our luck, he thought vaguely as the dark world around him ignited. He felt something slam into his side, crushing him; pain like he had never felt before, and then- nothing.
Quint stared in horror from behind his vantage point of scaffold as Cesal threw himself and Emil back down the hatch. The hovercraft's machine gun turrets spun; bullets flew against the surface of the arena's dome.
"They're good as dead," Theon said. His voice was weak, but he held it firmly against shaking. "The hovercraft has them in their sights. They're good as dead."
"We can't just leave them there," Elizabeth murmured. Emma, already climbing down the shaking, creaking scaffold, seemed not to share the same view.
"We already have one injured that needs help climbing- we don't need two," she said. "No offence, Glace."
"None taken," Glace gasped out. She, too, was already climbing down, despite the thin sheen of sweat on her face betraying the pain she was in. Despite her tightly bandaged arm, the blood was starting to show through the wrappings- if she didn't get down and get medical attention soon, she would probably bleed out.
"We can't just leave them there," Elizabeth said, but her voice was already betraying her resignation to the obvious.
"Elizabeth, it's not a matter of 'if' the hovercraft circles over here and sees us, it's when. We need to cut our losses and go- they can't escape, not in the Capitol's crosshairs." Theon led Elizabeth to the scaffold and started to climb down. He looked back up at Quint. "Are you coming or what?"
Quint did not answer.
Cesal Nesbin, the tribute he had stabbed, who had nearly died at his hands. He had stabbed him out of fear, and rage, and- yes- out of a selfish desire to live. To complete the mission. To win the Games.
But now they had escaped the Games- his mission, his purpose, in opening the hatch to the outside, was done now. They did not need him on the outside.
But he could do one last thing. One last solution to one last problem.
Quint was a mechanic. He fixed problems.
"CESAL!" He screamed from behind the scaffold. "WHEN I GIVE THE SIGNAL, GO!"
Cesal's voice was faint but furious. "WHAT?!"
Quint closed his eyes, willing the headstrong tribute to understand, just this once.
"JUST TRUST ME!" He yelled.
"Quint!" Glace yelled from below through a haze of pain. "What the hell are you doing?!"
Quint watched the hovercraft- he squinted past the glare on the glass windows, to the pilot within.
He wondered if the pilot would feel remorse for this.
He jumped up and sprinted out from behind the scaffold, onto the sloping, open platform of the top of the dome, waving his arms, making as much of a distraction as he could. He watched as the hovercraft's gun turrets whirred and turned, towards him.
"NOW!" He screamed.
Out of the corner of his eye, as he ran in the opposite direction, he could see Cesal and Emil stumbling up, out of the hatch, leaving a bloody trail towards the side of the dome the others were escaping from.
He ran, and ran, and bullets chewed up the steel behind him; closer, closer, but it didn't matter now.
Over the sound of bullets hitting his flesh, his arm and side, over the feel of pain, Quint could hear a voice screaming his name.
He collapsed and slid on the dome. He felt steel arms embrace him.
The world went dark.
Six tributes climbed down the scaffold. The pilot could see them.
The pilot sighed. He really, really hated individual shots; he preferred missiles, if he had to kill. It felt more impersonal.
And shooting down unarmed kids wasn't really his thing. Still, he had been instructed- his orders were his orders, and they were from Eagle One. He was a member of the Capitol Guard- he did not disobey orders.
Still. One child shot down and recovered was enough for the government to torture. It would be enough for them.
It would be more merciful to kill the rest.
The pilot raised the hovercraft, flicking open the comms link to the Capitol as he did.
"Base, this is Hawk Seven-Epsilon. Recovered one alive but wounded- all others missing." His skin crawled as he watched six tributes climbing down the dome. This was the only merciful thing to do. "Permission needed to drop cargo, over."
"Permission granted."
"Roger."
The pilot sighed. He looked at the back of his plane- a bleeding child lay there, recovered by the inbuilt crane. Hopefully he wouldn't die before he returned- Snow wouldn't be happy without his toy to play with, he knew that much.
Then he turned back to the window. He had raised the hovercraft several hundred meters now- it would not destroy it entirely, but it would do enough.
He pressed a button.
"Cargo dropped."
Beneath him, he watched a metal cylinder drop.
Beneath him, the arena ignited, crumpled, dropped.
They would likely all be dead now.
It was the only merciful thing.
The pilot rose his hovercraft, watching his rotors beat the smoke in the air. He flew away into the dawning sun, watching the horizon.
He knew that whatever was to begin, it was beginning now.
The characters of Jacquerie shall return on June 5th in Ivaylo.
Until then, as ever, and for the final time in Jacquerie-
Thank you for reading.