Chapter 36: Cell Block Tango
On what I judge to be the next day, I roll out from under my cot and peer through the bars of my cell. The area around the Cornucopia appears deserted. At least now, I am confident that I can work in peace.
Seeing the malfunctioned lock on my door gives me an idea. Unclipping my Mockingjay pin from my jumpsuit, I stick the point into the lock and try to pick it. It doesn't work.
With my thin frame, I attempt to simply slip through the bars. It doesn't work.
I try to lift the cot up and use that as a battering ram to break down the door…. until I realize the cot is bolted to the floor.
Growling in frustration, I lash out at the first thing I see - the air vent in the back of the cell - and give it a mighty kick.
My foot goes right through it.
Pausing, I kneel down and examine the thing. That's when I realize: it isn't an air vent at all. It's a replica of one, made out of some kind of paper….
Pulling back the fake vent reveals a hole chipped into the concrete - a hole big enough for a person to crawl through. I decide to follow my instincts.
Crawling through the hole, I emerge into what looks like a narrow utility corridor, maybe three feet wide. I go along it until I reach a dead end. Well, this doesn't really help me at all!
Then, I notice the maze of pipes attached to the wall to my right. I take a deep breath, and begin to climb the plumbing.
Before I know it, I have emerged onto some kind of concrete platform. Chain and bars cover one entire wall. When I peer through and look far below me, I realize: I'm on the roof of the cell block itself.
Yet, I'm still inside the building. But is that what the Gamemakers intended? Even if a tribute's cell door did open, is the entire arena encased in the prison at large? Somehow, I doubt this theory, for if it were true, there would have likely been few other places for my competition to go. They would have circled back and likely found me still trapped in my cell by now.
My eyes suddenly fall on a large, cylindrical object lying on the floor of the cellblock roof. I examine it. It looks like a fan. Beside it are some metal bars from what may have been a grille. And if these objects fell, like I surmise they may have….
I follow my gaze upward. And there, through a hole, I see daylight. But it looks like I'd have to jump to reach it….
Seeing one bar still horizontally across the far end of this hole, I steel my resolve. I am not exactly a tall person, but maybe if I….. I bend my knees as far as they will go and then spring up, reaching with my hand. My fingers just brush the bar and I drop back down. I try again.
This time, I get a hand on the bar and like a gymnast, pull myself up until I can shimmy through the short concrete shaft into sunlight.
I am now on the roof of the whole cell house. Looking around me, I can see other buildings that look like ruins: a lighthouse, a water tower, another building's roof in the distance, and farther out, the remains of a dock. I can hear birds cawing, and waves crashing against the rocks….
Am I on some kind of shoreline? And why would you have a prison on a beach? Peering over the edge of the roof, I spy the door to the building I just emerged from. Over the entryway is a sign that looks partially torn and with faded lettering, but I can still make out the words:
ALCATRAZ ISLA
This prison is not on a beach. It is on a island. Alcatraz.
Oh, God. The arena is an island prison.
"FREEZE!"
I whirl around to see two girls charging towards me. I recognize them as the girl from 6 and the girl from 9. Retreating from the edge of the roof, they both surround me, one in front and the other behind. And I have no weapon. I am trapped!
In front of me, the girl from 6 pulls a knife. My hunter's ear picks up the notching of a bow behind me. They mean to kill me, so I quickly ask before they can:
"How did you get up here?"
Six's eyes narrow. "Our cell doors wouldn't open. But we found that the air vents at the back of our cells were fake. We crawled out and climbed up here."
So I wasn't the only one who got trapped. I can hear the arrow being drawn back behind me. I decide I will have to do everything I can to save myself. I ask one more question. "Is this really an island, then?"
"Looks that way to us," I hear Nine behind me. "But does it matter? You'll be dead in a minute."
Not if I have anything to say about it, I think.
I hear the arrow's release and immediately hit the deck. I hear a scream and know that Nine has hit her ally instead. I look up to see Six, the arrow in her stomach, lunging for me. I twist around just before we collide and pull her into a backward roll, before kicking out with my legs. I propel my enemy over my head, over the head of her ally and off the edge of the roof.
And in the commotion, I got my hands on a weapon: Six's knife.
I have barely kick-flipped to my feet when I sense Nine reload. I spin, dodging her arrow as it comes at me. As she desperately grabs for another to reload, I fling my knife. She glances back up, but too late. The blade impales itself into her head and she collapses to the concrete.
BOOM. BOOM. I sink to the roof, overcome with relief. I got myself out of sticky situation, but I am not done yet.
Cautiously, I approach the opposite edge of the roof and peer over. On the rocks below, just behind a chain-link fence, lies the mangled body of the girl from Six.
Then I remember the hovercraft will be coming for the dead. I rush to Nine, prying the bow from her hands, as well as her quiver. She still has plenty of arrows left. Now I feel much better about my chances in these Games.
Hovercraft collect the dead, and I decide to stay on the roof for the rest of the day. That night, the faces of my two kills appear in the sky.
I sigh. I have not gotten hungry quite yet, and I achieved my objective for the moment, which was to get out of my cell. But tomorrow, I know I will have to hunt. Hunt on a small island mostly populated by man-made ruins.
I have escaped the cell house. Now I just need to get down from it.
A/N: For those still recovering from that little twist, Katniss just happened to end up in one of the cells, and followed the escape route, of the 1962 Alcatraz escapees, which is argued to be perhaps the only successful escape from the prison and one of the most intricate jailbreaks in American history. Review, review, review, please!