Thanks to the rain and the influx of Career supplies, we have plenty of water for now. We might as well do something to keep the Capitol from getting bored with us and sending punishment, so tunnel exploration it is.
I don't know how long the flashlight is going to hold out, but we have a torch ready and we're pretty well-rested. I'm sure I can spot anything suspicious. How we'll deal with it, well... If it's a trip wire, we'll step high. If it's something we can't figure out or get around, I guess we'll go back. Anticlimactic, but safe. I'm sure the viewers will understand.
As per our competition, Athena negotiates the two of us into the front. Trucy and Jinxie are in the middle, while Simon and Klavier stay at the back. Other tributes are more likely to attack us from the rear, at least. Any danger ahead of us should be a matter of turning back, and Athena and I can handle that as well as anyone else here.
I glance at her as I turn on the flashlight. We're... still allies and friends. I don't have any real reason to doubt her. She can't be hiding anything that suspicious if she wasn't lying about losing her memory of the bloodbath. She was good friends with Clay; she wouldn't have killed him, or be willing to cover for anyone else who could have. Maybe she subconsciously remembers the knife, but that only means I might be able to ask her about it later.
And for all I know, my bracelet isn't a one hundred percent accurate lie detector. I didn't spot any tells—granted, I was too startled to actually look for any—so I may have just been too tense myself.
In the end, I'm glad to have her at my side. I can't say she's never a handful, but she makes good enough company.
I take a few careful steps before giving the area another sweep of light. More monotonous rock. It might be getting a little smaller, but it's still not a problem for any of us. Possibly it could be for Simon if it really starts getting cramped.
Ah, yes, Simon. I guess he's a nice addition to the alliance, although I can't figure him out for the life of me. He hasn't actually maimed any of us yet, so that's a good sign. And if he's here because he thinks it would be better for Athena, he's not going to mess up the alliance too much, right?
I... I don't know. But judging from the Career battle, Athena has some sway over him. I can at least feel partially safe while she's around.
At least, safe from a certain swordsman. The rest of the arena, this tunnel included... not so much.
"Do we need to slow down?" Trucy's voice is a little too loud for my liking, but she is right behind me.
"For what? We've been going pretty slowly already." I turn around, training the flashlight on the others behind me. Trucy has her back to me, and Klavier is lagging a few feet behind Simon, keeping a hand to the wall.
"Nein. Sorry, I was..." He shakes his head and smiles. "I can kick it up a notch, don't you worry."
"Okay." Trucy turns around, but I don't follow suit just yet.
"Your leg hasn't gotten infected or anything, has it?"
"No, it's actually healing quite nicely." No tells, at least. I'm sure he would know better than to lie about that when some of us have susceptible wounds.
"All right..." I turn the flashlight back to the tunnel ahead of us and walk.
After a while, we manage to dodge a trip wire, but nothing else has jumped out at us. The flashlight has given out for no clear reason, but our torch is ready in little time. We're still walking two by two, and the ceiling hasn't come down much.
A few dripping stalactites appear, but they're small and more lumpy than spiky. The most imminent threat seems to be to the integrity of my hair gel.
I briefly consider asking Jinxie for my jacket back, but we still don't have a real sling. It's no big deal, anyway.
The ground starts to roughen up, and suddenly I can actually hear our footfalls. This seems a lot more natural than before—did the Gamemakers not alter the cave any more past this point? That would mean no traps, but also not much to keep going for.
The arch of the ceiling becomes more of a jagged mess, and the area widens out before Athena stops me.
"What?" I dodge to the side to keep her from clotheslining me.
She holds up a hand, looking ahead intently. I scan the area, but nothing seems out of the ordinary.
"I hear breathing."
"Breathing?" I press a finger to my forehead. "You mean, besides ours?"
She nods. "It's faint, but it's definitely coming from somewhere else. I can't say for sure it's breathing, but..." She taps her earring. "It's definitely something along those lines."
Trucy folds her arms. "Maybe it's a draft or vent kind of thing?"
"Could be," Athena acknowledges.
"Or perhaps it's something much more dangerous." Simon's eyes flash. "I say we end this farce. Clearly there's nothing to be gained from it."
"Yeah, it doesn't seem like we're going to get any supplies from this place." I wave the torch around some, but it only reflects off the pale rocks so much.
"But there's a stream! And cave water is supposed to be pretty fresh, right?" Trucy runs a finger over the curtain-like column next to her. "I bet it would be really hard for the other tributes to find us if we camped here."
"Oh, that's true." Jinxie, rubbing a petal of her flower between her fingers nervously, steps to Athena's other side. "I'm... not sure about the lack of sunlight, but it does seem pretty nice."
"But there's no wood down here, and the torch is going to run out eventually." I turn the flashlight in my free hand. "Even if this would turn on, it wouldn't last indefinitely, and—" when I toy with the switch, it actually comes on. Startled, I nearly drop the fiery torch, but Athena snatches it. "A-and, uh, then we'd just be in the dark."
"Though we wouldn't have to stay indefinitely." Klavier glances at the rest of us. "In fact, we must be traveling on before long if the Games are going to keep up pace."
That's true... The Gamemakers will kick us out before too much time passes, or bring someone else in. No place is safe for long here. I guess this really wouldn't be that bad of a shelter, if I could find a good spot where nothing is dripping on my head.
"Hmm..." Athena peers ahead again. "You know what? All right. If it turns out to be safe, we can stay here. We should probably look into that breathing noise, though."
Simon glowers before stepping up. "Very well. What direction, precisely?"
Athena pauses before pointing ahead, a bit to the right. "There."
Simon jerks his head up, and Taka takes off toward the sound. The flapping of his wings trails off into silence that isn't broken until he returns. Landing on Simon's shoulder, he hunches over a bit.
...What is that supposed to mean? I don't suppose Simon is actually going to have a conversation with his pet.
But it only takes a minor shift of the light to see something in Taka's beak. Simon holds up a hand, and a clump of hair falls into his palm. He spreads it out a bit, frowning the whole time.
"Is it... human?" Klavier peers around Simon's shoulder.
"No." The 2 lets the fur fall from his hand. "Nothing pale enough to be native to this darkness, either."
Athena frowns. "But then it would have to be..."
Either something that managed to wander all the way down here, or—more likely—something the Gamemakers placed here.
"Well, I had fun spelunking!" She spins to face the exit. "Let's go—!"
She freezes for a moment, and even I can hear a faint rattling. That can't be from the stalactites.
"Come on!" When I surge forward, no one has any trouble following suit. I can't push my way to the front before the space narrows, but I at least make it to the middle with Trucy, Athena just behind me and Jinxie keeping up with her. Ahead of me, Klavier is limping, but it doesn't look like I'll be tripping over him anytime soon.
"Whatever it is, it's definitely coming!" Athena hollers. Being in the back of the pack must be killing her with how fast she can run, but as long as it doesn't actually get her killed...!
I try to push ahead harder, but I must be going full blast already. We have a pretty good head start, though, right? It depends on what's coming after us...
The flashlight cuts out.
Jinxie screams in surprise. With a yelp, I fiddle with the switch, but it's no good. We're back in the no-technology zone, I guess.
Behind me, Athena still has the torch, but the light is pretty weak, especially when we're hurtling through the tunnel like this. At this rate, the fire's going to go out. But what's worse, sprinting in the dark or letting the animals—probably mutts—catch up?
Neither sounds very good...!
I manage to get the torch from Athena and pass it to Simon, but it's definitely starting to die. I have the lighter if I have to use it, but can such a small flame stay lit like this, let alone get a bigger fire going?
"Athena! Can you tell how far back they are?" I try.
"Too far for me to pinpoint them, at least. But definitely closer than they were!"
Great, great...! They're catching up, then! How far do we have to go? What are we even going to do when we hit daylight? Just start fighting them? We'd better not fall off the side of the mountain in the process.
"Have they made it into the narrow section of the tunnel?" Simon calls.
"Yeah! We have to keep going!" Athena says. "It really sounds like they're catching up...!"
Shoot! What are they? What can we do about them? Maybe if we slow down, Trucy could land some hits. "How many are there? Can you tell?"
"Give me a minute!" Athena falls silent before gritting her teeth. "E-either four or eight! I don't know how many legs they have, and I can't separate it all out in this mess."
That's too many for me regardless.
Simon has managed to keep the torch from going out, but the light hasn't gotten any stronger. We can either see ahead or behind, by the looks of it. The tunnel is curving some, though, so I can't take the light away from there. I bet the monsters aren't close enough to see, any—
Athena shrieks, and I can just see a gleam of pointed teeth behind her.
Y-you've got to be kidding! "Athena!"
"I'm okay!" She gets out her knife and flings her arm back with a loud grunt. It doesn't sound like it connects. So there's still a little bit of distance. We can't be too far from the entrance, right?
I try the flashlight, but no luck. When did it go out on the way here? We had probably been walking for... fifteen minutes?
"Aaagh!"
Simon trips but manages to stumble ahead rather than fall over. I don't ascribe any reason to it until Klavier hops.
"The trip wire!" I jump after him, but we've nearly ground to a halt because of Simon missing the trap in the poor light. I pivot to make sure Athena stops in time, but she barely bumps into me.
The ground rumbles underfoot, and I only spend a second looking for whatever we triggered before the stone starts crumbling.
Nothing's dropping from the walls or ceiling as far as I can tell, but the animals behind us are growling and yelping as the ground goes to pieces beneath them.
Of course! The trap is going to be designed for tributes heading into the tunnel, not out of it. This could be to our advantage!
But the closest monster hasn't fallen yet, leaving Jinxie to bat at it with the clipboard until she loses her grip and the paper goes sailing backwards at us. The ground is still falling, though, and it's clear the beast is scrabbling just to stay where it is.
Then Trucy and Jinxie lose their footing.
I lunge, but Trucy is too far behind me after the holdup. Athena snags her wrist, and Trucy grabs the front of Jinxie's sling. I hook my arm in Athena's elbow for support, but the ground under Jinxie is gone.
Trucy struggles to keep her grip, but it's hard enough backpedaling to keep from falling over herself. The ground is falling faster than she can keep up, and she starts going over the edge.
As Simon reaches for her arm, Athena tries to stand her ground with the pitfall widening towards her. With a growl, the 2 corrects himself to lunge for Athena.
"Back up!" Klavier stomps down on the trip wire he seems to have loosened. "We need to back up!"
"Well, give us a hand!" I scream back, tugging as hard as I can. With Simon on the case, it's not as hard to get Athena toward us, but Trucy's struggling to get up the side of the wall now. Jinxie is still in her grip, though I can't see how she's doing.
Klavier gets behind Simon and me to pull, and we make a group heave. We've moved a little, at least.
Jinxie shrieks, but when I check, she's still there.
How far down does the pitfall go? Can the animals still reach her?
"Jinxie!" Trucy struggles to reel her in, but it doesn't work so well with only one hand.
We all heave again, but it's only enough to keep up with the falling floor.
"We have to try harder! Come on, you guys, I'm starting to slip, too!"
"Rrgh!" I try to give Athena an extra pull, but it's no good on my own.
Another scream draws my eye to Jinxie—her free hand is on the knot of her sling.
Before I can say anything, she drops.
"Heave!" calls Simon regardless, and I have no choice but to go with it. This time, we pull Trucy onto solid ground.
"Jinxie!" On her knees, she hurries back to the edge, holding a hand out. "Jinxie!"
The ground hasn't stopped rumbling. None of us are safe yet.
I can still hear Jinxie somewhere below, but I block it out as I dart over and scoop up Trucy.
You got me out of harm's way when my friend was dead. I have to do the same for you.
Trucy's still screaming, but everyone else knows to run.
I'm not sure when the rumbling stops, but the cannon fires just as daylight appears ahead.