A/N: Thanks to mangesboy01, MJElliot and RealFiction for reviewing! The support is appreciated :)
Most of the dialogue in this chapter is from Chapter 26 of 'Catching Fire'. I hope you enjoy today's chapter :)
"I'm gonna burn it all down
I'm gonna rip it out
Well everything that you employ was meant for me to destroy to the ground now
So don't you f*** me around because I'll shoot you down."
- Billie-Joe Armstrong, 2009.
The 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Third Quarter Quell) - Day 3, 10.30 pm
Johanna Mason (24), District 7 Female (victor of the 67th Annual Hunger Games)
Green Day - Horseshoes and Handgrenades (2009)
As I stand guard with Katniss and Peeta, I catch a glimpse of the ten o'clock wave hurtling towards the beach through the trees on my right. No cannons become of it, which is a shame, as I was hoping that maybe Brutus and Enobaria could've found themselves caught up in it, which would lower the risk of Beetee's plan. Then I remember that our excuse for Beetee's plan is to kill Brutus and Enobaria, so if they're still alive, that's a good thing. For now.
As the last of the wave spends itself, its energy dispersing into the water that surrounds the cornucopia, Beetee calls us over away from our guarding position, ready to explain the intricacies of his plan to us. Looking at the lightning tree, I can see that Beetee and Finnick have wrapped his coppery wire hundreds of times around the tree, one end tied firmly to a broken branch that lies on the floor, the other end on the coil of unused wire in Beetee's hands.
"We need to move quickly," Beetee tells us without explaining why, although I guess he's paranoid about having the lightning strike before we're ready. "Johanna, I need you to go with Katniss down through the jungle, unravelling the wire as you go," he tells me. Great. Looks like I'm stuck with Katniss. Let's just say that we haven't been the best of friends since we formed this tentative alliance for Plutarch yesterday morning. "Go right down to the twelve o'clock beach and drop the rest of the wire, spool and all into the water. Make sure it sinks. Then run for the jungle. If we're quick about it, you'll be safe."
"I want to go with them as a guard," Peeta says, and I can sense Katniss tensing beside me. He'll make this even worse. Really, I'd be fine alone. I don't need either of them.
"You're too slow," Beetee says, thankfully, turning down Peeta's request. "Besides, I'll need you on this end. Katniss will guard. There's no time to debate this. I'm sorry. If the girls are to get out of there alive, they need to move now," Beetee says, handing the coil of wire to me. I guess he really has cut it thin on the timing side. Katniss and I are the fastest through the jungle terrain, so I begrudgingly admit that if I'm to have a guard, she's my best option.
"It's ok," Katniss reassures Peeta. "We'll just drop the coil and come straight back up."
"Not in the lightning zone," Beetee reminds us. "Head for the tree in the one-to-two-o'clock sector. If you find you're running out of time, move over one more. Don't even think about going back on the beach, though, until I can assess the damage."
"Don't worry," Katniss tells Peeta as she kisses him, which makes me cringe. "I'll see you at midnight." Then she lets go of him and turns towards me. "Ready?"
"Why not?" I shrug. She's clearly no happier about being teamed up than I am. But we have a role to do, and we can't fail Beetee, Plutarch and the others waiting for this move back in to Capitol, either. "You guard, I'll unwind. We can trade off later."
We move down the slope without incident, without conversation, for at least ten or fifteen minutes. We work up a good rhythm without need to talk. I keep unravelling Beetee's wire, Katniss has an arrow ready, keeping a lookout for Brutus, Enobaria and Chaff. I guess we're around halfway there when we hear a clicking sound spring up in the jungle near to us, indicating that it's past eleven. Just an hour to go until the fireworks begin.
"Better hurry," I tell Katniss, breaking our perfect silence. "I want to put a lot of distance between me and that water before the lightning hits. Just in case Volts miscalculated something."
"I'll take the coil for a while," Katniss says, putting down her bow to reach for the coil of golden wire.
"Here," I say, handing over the burden. It's more work to lay down the wire than to guard, especially when no-one's here. Both our hands are still on the metal cylinder when we feel the faint vibrations running through the wire, and wire springs up at us, tangling around our hands and bunching up at our feet. It takes a moment for me to realise, but I understand that someone has cut the wire between us and the lightning tree.
Something has gone wrong. Chances are that whoever it was - and I assume it's Brutus and Enobaria - are following the wire to our position right now. I don't see how or why it was meant to help, but this wire was crucial to Beetee's plan, and without it, I can only assume that we won't be able to break out of the arena. The Games will be back to how they should be. Survival of the fittest. May the best man - or woman - win. Unless Beetee has a backup plan, and I wouldn't be surprised either way on that. He's put a lot of thought into this, only to see it fail. But then I'm sure he'll have some sort of alternative. So what do I do?
Play the Games as they should be played, or continue to support Beetee's rebellious alliance. The Games. The rebellion. The Games. The rebellion.
Oh, to Hell with it.
Katniss is still groping for an arrow when I raise the spool of wire and crash it down onto her head. She crumples beneath the metal cylinder and drops to the floor. It won't kill her, but I'm sure she'll be incapacitated for long enough for me to strike the final blow. I drop to sit on Katniss' chest, pinning her to the floor, and pull out my knife, about to commit the act that I should have done thirty-six hours ago. This alliance was never going to work. Not properly, anyway. There were too many variables to consider. Surely Plutarch knew that when he got in touch with us last week, asking for our co-operation?
I'm about to slit Katniss' throat, ending her once and for all, when I'm reminded of what Plutarch actually recruited us for. Yes, the alliance was part of it, but we also gave our lives away, promising to sacrifice ourselves to save the mockingjay. And here I am, about to strike the death blow. Annoyingly, at this point, I can't just leave her here without alerting the Capitol that we're on the same side, but I can't just kill her, either, no matter how much I might want to.
Remembering Brutus and Enobaria I settle with a compromise, trying to maim Katniss as much as possible without killing her, so that she'll be safe while the tributes of Two will pass her off for dead, should they stumble across her, buried in the vines on the jungle floor.
My knife settles on a new target; Katniss' left forearm. As I dig the knife in, I'm mainly just trying to create an impressive-looking - and certainly painful - flesh wound, but it's only when the knife jars against something that I remember the tracker embedded in her arm. I realise that if I can force that out - a massive slap in the face to the Capitol, who never want to lose sight of a tribute in the arena - then Plutarch will think that I'm firmly back in his corner and will hopefully forgive my assault of the mockingjay and cover for my far darker motives. Somehow I force the bloody metal and plastic contraption out of her and throw it away into the trees. I've left her with a bloody, gaping hole in her arm. She'll lose a lot of blood, but she should live. Hopefully. Maybe. Not that I care, anyway.
Hearing heavy footsteps approaching - with that tread it could only be Brutus - I try to make the most of the situation, covering my hands with Katniss' blood from the hole on her arm and smearing it across her face, making the head wound look far more serious than it really is. It'll be a concussion, at worst, but now it looks as if she's half-dead.
"Stay down!" I hiss at her, hoping that Katniss will take the hint and play dead when the surviving Careers arrive. Then I'm on my feet, my bloody knife in one hand and an axe in my other that I've just pulled from my belt. I dash away into the jungle, trying to put as much distance between myself and the Careers. For a few moments I'm indecisive, as I struggle to work out where I'm meant to go. But then I remember that I have chosen the rebellion, and that Beetee may still have use of me.
Sighing, I begin the trek back towards the lightning tree, not sure who or what I will find when I arrive.
Still, I've got a job to do, and I've got no choice but to put all of my energy into getting the mockingjay out of here alive.
A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed :)
P.S. As of this chapter, I'm making slight formatting changes (just adding horizontal rules at certain points), which I'm going to go back and implement into previous chapters. While I'm at it, I'm going to add in summaries for the first twenty-five Games, as I know that quite a few people were after them being added. I'll be adding them throughout the next couple of days :)
