Chapter 3: Disappear We Will
The week mark on the Quell arrives. And at long last, Johanna Mason and Haymitch Abernathy are driven together for the grand finale. The battle to see who will become the Victor of Victors.
Wade has by now joined Pliny in supporting Johanna, so our numbers our even. Two mentors on two mentors.
The final fight is bloody and awful. But Haymitch gives as good as he gets. And he has an even better advantage: in his last Top Two battle, he faced an opponent who was also good at using axes. And he bested her.
Just as he bests Johanna now, disarming her from one of her own axes and using it against her to behead her. But before Claudius Templesmith can announce that Haymitch Abernathy has won the Quarter Quell again -
Haymitch turns the axe on himself. He dies instantly.
Peeta and I gape in horror. The Games will have no Victor.
All at once, Peacekeepers burst into the Mentors' Bar, their guns drawn.
"RUN!" Wade yells. The black boy leads us out a side door, and we fight our way through secret passageways guarded by Peacekeepers, getting our hands on guns and shooting through the rest. Peeta and Wade make excellent fighters as they lead the way, but I am a good shot with the semi-automatics myself. It's not much different from shooting a bow.
At last, our quartet reaches a platform with a hovercraft in deep night. We sneak aboard and Pliny takes command of it.
"Hold onto your hats, boys and girls!" she orders. And she spirits us away into the night.
Panem erupts in rebellion. The Capitol is invaded and it will likely soon fall to the Rebels. The Hunger Games will be abolished, which is proven true by the new government that emerges triumphant, and President Snow is executed.
Pliny lands the hovercraft in the wilderness and we abandon it, eventually making our way on foot back to District 12. The Victors' Village there is almost as bombed out as the rest of the Districts, except for one mansion. My mansion. The mansion where Peeta and I will decide to spend the rest of our days.
We part ways with Wade and Pliny. Holding hands, the new couple decides that they will head for the South, hoping to find a new home. Together. They plan to get married.
Peeta hugs both farewell. "Good luck and Godspeed," he tells them.
I follow suit in my hugs, lingering with Wade. "Thank you for getting us out of there," I express to him.
Wade grins and pecks my cheek. "You are more than welcome. We're Victors." He shakes Peeta's hand, and then he and Pliny disappear into the woods, headed for parts unknown. It is only many weeks later that Peeta and I get a letter from them, reporting that they safely returned to Pliny's District 7 and got married in secret.
Peeta and I get married ourselves, having a traditional Toasting. Several years later, I agree to have a baby. Two babies, in fact. As Peeta and I watch our children play in the Meadow, we are grateful that they will never know how there are much worse Games to play.