Chapter 16- Operation Jabberjay Flight

DISTRICT FIVE

They were killing everyone.

There were screams heard all throughout the district square. Rig Peckerwood watched the electricity plant he owned burn, engulfed in rebel fire. Honestly, he'd wanted to see it burn now. He'd wanted it for a while, but hadn't said a word.

Blood was coating the streets he could see like icing.

The bodies were the candles on the deadly cake, mashed around in disarray. There was also chanting, but he couldn't catch the words. He hoped it was: "Down with the Capitol! Down with the Hunger Games!"

Kellie came up beside him, with his nephew Cog and nieces Semolina and Polly behind her. She looked at hi0m and then out the window: "What is it?" she asked.

All he could do was point to the hovercraft now taking to the sky, "She's coming home."

Juniper POV

"STOP!" Claudius Templesmith and his echoing voice was urgent. Nicki and I ran out of the cave as we heard canon shots, two more. That must leave only five of us. "Citizens, may I present to you the victors of the seventy seventh annual Games," he sounded breathless.

"Huh?" Nicki and I looked at each other, confused.

"We're going home," a little girl said as she appeared at my side. I knew her as the girl from 3. Also out of the shadows came Boggs and a muscular boy whom I guessed was the only Career still standing. He must be Nash, of District 2.

"Wh0o…?" Nash started, but he didn't finish.

The hovercraft lowered, and we climbed in. This craft looked nothing like the one that we frequently sa0w on TV, not up to Capitol par. This one had simple leather couches thrown inside at odd angles and the0 windows were a bit dusty. Once we were all in, it lifted off.

We were going home.

Nicki POV

We were going home. Home. All I could do was smile as I thought of my father and aunt and cousins. I sat by a boy (who was possibly a Career, or I'd guess so on his size) who had dark blonde hair and a soft shape to his face. He smiled at me. "Hi, I'm Nash."

"Hey, I'm Nicki."

"I thought that was really nice, what you did for the boy," he said looking at me with sincerity. I guessed it wasn't Nash who had killed Roan, but the other Career boy (the one who Juniper killed with throwing a knife at the night before).

"Thanks," I said, sadly.

"Were you and he in love?" Nash asked.

"Not really, but I was his friend," I was explaining. "He might have liked me."

"I don't see how he couldn't fall for someone as nice as you are." This Nash guy was fascinating. He wasn't brutal at all like most Careers. In fact, he was… sweet.

"Hey do you guys know where we're heading?" the singsong voice of little Moss interrupted me.

"Back to the Capitol for now," I guessed.

"What I want to know is how we managed to get the Games stopped? Has the Capitol finally comne to see sense?" Boggs asked.

I hoped this guess was right.

Katniss POV

We went to greet our tributes on the roof of the Training Center. Haymitch and Effie decided to tag along with us. "How were the Games suspended?" Peeta and Haymitch asked at once.

"Did you guys hear about District 5?" I asked Haymitch and Effie.

"And 6, 7, and 9," Peeta added in for me.

"No! What's been going on?" Effie asked as she fluffed her hair in worry.

"Uprisings have been going on all over," I said as we stepped on to the roof as I saw the grimy hovercraft land. "They don't want it to become nationwide as they kill off tributes from each district, so it was suspended," I explained.

"How awful!" Effie squeaked.

We had figures walking off the hovercraft ramp now. There were five of them, fewer than I had expected honestly. Three small, but now muscular girls and two tall and fit looking boys came towards us. "Juniper! Boggs!" I called out to my tributes. They dismantled from the group and walked towards us.

'You guys okay?' Peeta asked, trying to be the good mentor before me.

"My hands are scraped, but other than that I'm okay," Juniper said. She looked at Boggs.

"Minor concussion," he filled in, "but I rgink it'll be okay."

"I think we ought to get them some care anyway," Effie said and she beckoned to my tributes to follow her. "Come darlings!"

They looked at Peeta and me, and we smiled, signifying for them to follow her.

Gale POV

My mind has been blown in to the next century.

They cancelled a Hunger Games because of uprisings after the death of the boy from 5. At least a third of the districts had finally come to see they'd had it. I loved this. I felt like dancing.

Score: Districts of Panem- 1, Capitol-0 .

Let the real Games begin.