The Countdown

Her body lurched forward, the only thing keeping her from falling off the chair were the chains binding her arms behind her back. Blood trickled down her mouth, fresh blood.

"24 hours left…" One of the rebels hissed.

Sweat ran down the back of her neck and chest. She was delirious from being beaten and chained, from lack of food, sleep, and water. When she tried to respond her lips dryly rubbed together. Nothing but a rasped breath came out.

"Maybe we should move, she tried to tip them off."

The leader of the team, Nyx, was staring at Pandora, "No. They won't find us. They can only do so much with a name and incoherent list of details."

"But—"

"I said no, my orders are stay in place until the second team arrives."

Pandora coughed, blood spilled out of her mouth onto the floor.

"I don't know what you think I've done…but I'm not your enemy…please, let me go."

Nyx looked up from his gun, he smiled slowly, calculatingly, "Interesting words from someone who is being given favors directly from the Capitol government. You're everything our cause is against, and the worst part of it is that you should know better."

Her wrists fought against her chains and she lifted her eyes, "I am not here to fight battles!"

"You're exactly right, Miss Sullivan, you're here to make an impression."

He firmly placed a clock on the table in between them, it was set for a countdown.

"And in 23 hours and 58 minutes you'll see how serious of an impression it will be."

"I haven't done anything wrong—please—"

"You haven't done anything wrong?!" His laugh menacingly echoed through the metal room. Some of his rebel friends smiled, "You murdered people for the sake of entertainment—"

"No!"

"You killed them and now you're making a profit out it, and you're not even ashamed. All of Panem sees your face across screens, they see these oh so charming interviews and hear your carefree words…. You know I remember your games, I remember watching the coverage of them."

Pandora's eyes darkened, she clasped her lips together tightly, trying to hold back tears of pain and fear.

"Adler here knew the girl that year from District 3. You remember her don't you?"

She lowered her swollen and bruised eyes.

"I didn't kill her…."

"No, but you watched as she got torn to pieces by eel muttations."

Her gaze slowly moved to Adler's face, "I am not a murderer."

"Is that what you tell yourself? I wonder what your friend would say back. The one you killed in cold blood."

Instantly she saw his face: Marius's eyes as she slid the knife into him. Goosebumps rose all over her skin. She could feel her frozen heart cracking in agony.

Nyx laughed, and cocked his gun, "That's what I thought."

When he rose from his seat Pandora's watery eyes lifted. He pressed his palms against the table, his smile was equal parts sadistic and amused.

"You aren't innocent. If anything you're worse than the Capitol. You smile and sigh like a good little doll, you're against the people's cause. You're the epitome of everything that's wrong with the Capitol, and it will be a pleasure when that clock runs out to bring a little justice to the corruption."

She knew he meant what he was saying, but something stirred inside her. Though rationality was trying to tell her to shut up and listen she couldn't stop herself.

"You're a hypocrite and a coward," she suddenly spat back through blood and breathlessness, "You lock me up and call me a murderer. How many people have you murdered, Nyx Starson?!"

He leaned closer, broadening his smile, "It's not murder if they're animals."

For a heartbeat she drew back in surprised horror.

"Oh look at you—does it offend you when I call your Capitol flesh-peddlers animals?"

Her eyes fluttered. She was trying her damnedest not to cry but it was hard to stare into the soulless eyes of Nyx and not. For all she knew he had been pushed over the edge by something the Capitol had done to someone he loved, but she didn't care. The longer she looked into his eyes the more she saw the warped light in them. He would burn the Capitol the ground, children and all and he would do it for a cause that was bigger than himself, a cause that there was no way he could properly fathom. She hated what the Capitol had done to her, what President Snow had done to her, but never had she wanted to destroy people, to murder just to make a point. Quickly she recalled Mironov's story about his wife and daughter being slaughtered by rebels, Pandora couldn't help but wonder if this was the same lot that did those terrible deeds.

"I know people in the Capitol that are more human and kind then you could ever hope to be!"

Her words came out like a growl, pointed and sharp. Even she was surprised that she had said them, surprised at how much she believed them.

"And when they find me, I'll be happy to see you hanged, but something tells me a far worse fate rests on your horizon, Nyx Starson. You're nothing!"

His fist bashed against her face so hard that it threw her to the ground, chair, chains and all. Her breaths fought against the dank floor. Stars swirled in vision, when they finally cleared she felt someone grabbing the fabric of her coat and pulling her back up.

She was eye to eye with him now. The chair was still bound to her body by the chains but she was clear off the floor. Blood ran down her face from a gash just on the edge of her cheekbone.

"For someone who claims to not support the Capitol, you have a funny way of showing it."

Suddenly he unsheathed a knife and placed the tip to her throat.

"Maybe I should cut you right here."

"Nyx don't! The Captain told you our orders, we wait!"

Pandora shifted her eyes to his face and clenched her jaw. She was challenging him.

"Nyx!"

He stared back at her. She knew he meant it, but slowly he loosened his grip on her.

"I heard you the first time—" he mumbled angrily.

A crack sounded as he fully let go of Pandora, sending her and the chair back to the ground. She could feel the chair wobble for a minute, but the rebel stopped it with sole of his boot. He was glaring down at her when she looked back up.

His eyes twitched to the countdown, "Tick-tock."

Anger and terror was surging through her veins. She tried to bow her head but chains tightened around her body and arms, pulling her into a contorted position. She closed her eyes and thought of every misdeed she had done. A tear rolled down her cheek as she recalled the way she spoke to Finnick, a painful wish broke through her shadowy thoughts. She wished he would come back, she wished he had never left. That he would rush through the darkness and save her with his burning light.

But he was gone. Gone forever.

Her eyes shifted to the countdown.

23 hours and 30 minutes left.

A scorching headache rattled her brain and insides suddenly. Time was running out.

"Nyx Starson. He's a native of District 9, sir. Age 28. He has no living family. I ran backgrounds on his genealogy list, his old brother died in the 51st Hunger Games. I checked with a few peacekeepers in the area, he hasn't been to his stationed job in several months."

"Why wasn't the Capitol informed of this before?"

"The peacekeepers said he was so inconsequential they didn't see a point, sir."

General Trajan sourly rolled his eyes and glanced at the identification pictures on one of the tablets. Sure enough it was the same face as the one in the video. Same glasses, same bitter expression, only younger.

"This is why we can't count on common peacekeepers…any updates on the other voices?"

"Not yet, sir."

"Well, get moving. We only have 20 more hours!"

Adric could hear his father's shouts from across the room. He peered up from the screens he was studying for a split second. Hearing the amount of time left made his saliva taste like acid, made urgency swallow him whole. He returned his gaze to the blueprints and pressed his fingers to the screen.

He was scanning every exit even air vents. His lips pursed.

Mironov had left soon after the live video feed, he couldn't bear to be around the tension and chaos, but his words still clung to Adric. He had to get to Pandora.

"Any new finds?"

His shoulders straightened to the sound of his father's voice.

"I think I know where she is."

He pressed the screen twice, letting a cross sectional blueprint rise up.

General Trajan narrowed his eyes, "Hydra-Dam."

Adric pushed his hair away from his forehead, "Yes. I've reviewed the live feed several times. Pandora's descriptions coupled with some images I was able to gather from the background suggest—"

"Less words, Adric."

"Right—" he peered back to the screen and brought up an image taken from the video, an image of pipes, very unique pipes, "You see these—they are the exact same ones as the pipes that run along the flooding chambers of the dam. I think they have her there."

"The rebels aren't stupid. They know what she shouted as well, they've moved most likely."

"Not if they're counting on us thinking that they stayed in the tunnel systems. Logistically speaking the tunnel systems and the interior of the dam could be confused."

"So how are you sure?"

"She said she heard water."

"Could have been pipes carrying water."

"I know I'm right, sir."

Trajan stared at his son and then the cross-section. He seemed to mull over their conversation for a split second.

"I'll have squad 34 go out to District 1 and check."

Adric widened his eyes, "With your permission I'd like to go along, sir."

"No."

Trajan was about to turn around but Adric stopped him.

"Father, I need to do this. I'm one of the best young Officer in the military, I know my way around District 1, I've been there several times. I can do this."

Trajan corner-eyed him.

"Tell me something, Adric. Are you doing this for her or are you doing it for your Capitol?"

Adric dropped his hand. His eyes lowered so fast that it made Trajan grimace.

"She isn't important to you. She'll never be, Adric. You've spent so much time trying to be her friend. You're better than she is. It's not healthy to consort with lesser people like her. They start to put strange ideas in your head."

"If she's not important than why are we trying so hard to save her?"

"Because she is imperative to the President."

"I can do this, father. I can get her back, and—and I'll do it because it's my duty as a soldier to. All I want to do is help, please let me do this."

Trajan studied his son's face. It was hard to tell what went on behind his father's cold eyes. Most of the time he was expressionless, his stoic face was something that had been burned into the retinas of Adric's eyes since he was a little boy. He feared that face. He feared it more than death. At one point he was sure there was love in those eyes, but it had all washed away long ago. His brow knitted together as he thought of his mother—it had all darkened when she died. All that was left was this sharp and rattled relationship he had with his father. Adric didn't know what love was, he didn't know how to feel it or see it, like his father he had been numbed and muted by death. He wanted to convince himself he was going to District 1 just for Pandora but it wasn't the truth, he wanted to prove that he was good enough. Prove he was worth a damn.

His father leaned back and lifted the walkie to his lips.

"Jarvis, this is General Trajan."

Static.

"Yes, sir?"

"Round up Squad 34. I want Hydra-Dam searched. This is a priority class mission, Jarvis. I want the jet ready in under an hour."

"Right away, sir."

"And Jarvis?"

"Yes?"

"Officer Adric Pedersen will be traveling alongside with the squadron leader, you got that?"

Relief swept over Adric, but it felt pressed and stale. There was no reason to feel relief. He hadn't saved Pandora yet. He couldn't breath until he had.

"Yes, sir."

"That'll be all."

Trajan lowered the walkie and cleared his throat. His cold eyes landed on his son's face.

"Thank you, father."

"Don't thank me just yet."