Chapter 10: Flicker

Blazing lights. Splintering agony. Darkness. Icy water. Choking. Burning. Darkness again.

"Did you know I sponsored you, too?"

"...You're the one who saved me?"

Blazing lights. Splintering agony. Darkness. Icy water. Choking. Burning. Darkness again.

His parents caught a fast-acting flu one winter and tucked themselves away in their bedroom to recover and try to avoid giving it to Lee. They weren't too far down the addiction spiral at the time and stayed away from their morphling stash while they were sick. For whatever reason, morphling made things like the flu feel worse.

He told himself he just wanted to try it once when he stole the first dose, just wanted to understand. But the feeling was too good. It almost made him happy.

He was barely twelve.

Blazing lights. Splintering agony. Darkness. Icy water. Choking. Burning. Darkness again.

"He's an inner-district shit, Lee."

"I did get reminded of that, Linus. Whenever we were with other people. But then we'd end up alone and he'd drop the act and be so...He's clingy, for one thing. Didn't expect that."

"So he's a touch-starved inner-district shit."

Blazing lights. Splintering agony. Darkness. Icy water. Choking. Burning. Darkness again.

His parents were passed out on the couch. A thunderstorm raged outside. His stomach felt hollow.

A girl about ten years older than him was singing to her dying ally on the TV.

Blazing lights. Splintering agony. Darkness. Icy water. Choking. Burning. Darkness again.

"It's dangerous. What we are doing."

"Being born in Six is dangerous."

Blazing lights. Splintering agony. Darkness. Icy water. Choking. Burning. Darkness again.

The seconds ticked by as the booming voice of the announcer died away, echoing down shadowy corridors in every direction.

A part of Lee wanted so badly to step off his pedestal before the minute was up.

The mind fog wouldn't come during, only sometimes before and after, during the stretches he lay half-awake on the floor. He wished the fog would take over every empty moment, but it didn't.

Time dragged on into meaninglessness. The fog had just receded yet again, leaving him with the sporadic, uncontrolled twitching in his limbs, the taste of stale blood in his mouth, and the sound of his own breath rasping through his aching throat. It seemed very quiet outside his cell.

Maybe it's nighttime. But the cell lights are on again.

Until, suddenly, they weren't.

When a minute passed and he started to hear distant commotion, he pushed himself into a sitting position, using only his right arm as his left was becoming more and more useless. He could hear shouts now, but between the distance and the persistent buzzing in his ears, he couldn't make out any words.

He did hear the cell door open with no warning, and instinctively flinched away from the dim flashlight beam that struck his face a moment later. He hadn't managed to open his eyes fully again before someone knelt in front of him and a hand covered his mouth.

In the dull yellow glow from the flashlight, he realized that, instead of a guard, he was looking into the face of a thin, dark-haired woman. She swallowed as her gaze flickered around the dark room, and the way she held her jaw gave away who she was in a second.

An Avox.

Dropping her hand from his mouth, she gripped his right wrist and gave it a tug. Numbly, he stood as she did, stumbling out of the cell after her. Flashlight illuminating the path in front of them, the Avox led him along empty hallways, through narrow doorways, and down steep staircases as the sounds of pandemonium faded.

What is this? A trap? A mind game? A prison break?

At some point, the woman handed him off to another Avox, a man this time. Able to half-carry Lee, he upped the pace as they entered what seemed to be a bewildering network of tunnels well below the Capitol's streets. Lee gradually became aware of another pair of footsteps behind them; a glance over his shoulder told him next to nothing as the available light was still limited to small yellowy beams.

Eventually, they came to some kind of cramped room full of crates and lit by a dangling lamp. The Avox deposited Lee onto the narrow bench that ran along one wall. As Lee gasped for breath, another male Avox stepped inside and guided Kori to sit down next to the Six. The one who had been helping Lee handed them each a full water bottle, retrieved from a nearby crate, while the other scribbled something down on a pad of paper for them to read. Stay here. Safe for now.

Then they left, leaving the two Victors alone.

Kori blinked down at her water bottle, then looked at Lee. "Is this a rescue?"

It took several tries and a couple gulps of water for Lee to get out any kind of response. "...Maybe?"

"I hope so." She drank some water, leaned gingerly against the wall. Like Lee, she was in a dirty gray shirt and shorts, and even in the weak lantern light, he could see that almost all of her visible skin was covered in bruises and cuts. She still looked far more alert than he felt, and her voice was surprisingly steady. "There was a power outage."

"Seems…" He winced as a dry cough forced its way out of his throat. "...like that."

"My guess is something happened in Five. But it'll come back on. The Capitol has backup sources closer to home." Glancing over, she added, "Beetee told...Well, not me. He told Kiro once, and Kiro told me." She shivered. "It's cold."

I'm having trouble feeling anything like that. It was almost like having the fog back, only worse because he knew that right now the tingling and numbness he felt all over wasn't just in his head.

They sat there in silence for a while, drinking their water. Lee gave up halfway through his bottle, both because he didn't think his stomach could take it and because his fingers kept spasming.

Kori noticed. "I've been hearing you."

Hearing me scream. "...Yeah."

"They've been beating me up lately. Hasn't...hasn't been like it was. They started on you recently?"

"...Snow needed to send a message."

Another Avox arrived before Kori could ask or he could clarify. The newest stranger brought some more water, a dented thermos of thin soup, and a couple blankets. Eat then sleep, she wrote on her own pad of paper. Will have to move soon. She left as quietly as she had come.

Lee managed a couple mouthfuls of soup, then wrapped one of the blankets around himself and leaned against back against the wall. He wasn't sure if he actually feel asleep or just passed out.

Kori shook him awake what felt like seconds later. "They said the power's back on, but they found us a way out. We have to go."

"They" turned out to be the several Avoxes that had just arrived, including the two men who had brought Kori and Lee to the storage room and the woman who had taken him out of his cell. Another couple brought clothing: simple underclothes, long-sleeved shirts, sturdy pants, padded jackets with hoods, thick socks, boots. None of it fit perfectly, and the items all seemed a bit worn, but the quality was good. Capitolite castoffs, maybe?

They were prompted to have more soup and water as they changed; while the others remained out in the tunnel, signing to each other, one Avox typed out the plan for them on a computer tablet.

Lee hoped Kori was having an easier time grasping the finer details than he was.

There are two train lines direct to District 5, one is shorter and was finished a few years ago. A rebel attack damaged the newer one near to the Capitol right after the Games. The Capitol switched to the older one to keep control of some D5 power sources. We think the rebels got control, caused power outage. The damaged railway is unguarded past the Capitol border to save resources. We have heard the rebels patrol it often. We can get yo u out through tunnels, send you along track. Rebels can find you. Save you.

When the Victors responded to all of this with more confusion than enthusiasm, the Avox added something and held out her tablet again. We hear many things, know people who help. If you stay much longer, you will die. Power outage messed with security, best chance we have.

Kori turned to Lee. "I don't want to die in the Capitol."

His brain cleared enough for him to think, I can hardly stand, my voice is practically gone, I can't stop the fucking twitching, but... I can't go back in that cell, either. Dying trying to escape sounded like a vast improvement. "...I'm with you."

For some reason, Kori seemed startled by that. She rapidly gathered herself and turned back to the Avox. "We're ready."

As the typing woman led them out of the room and a tall man joined her, Lee saw that the others were all gathered around another tablet, seeming excited.

The rebels got some videos through the Capitol blocking right after power returned , the woman typed . Not all of us have seen yet. We have to go now.

"Firewall," Kori mumbled. "It's called getting it through a firewall."

Seeming amused by this, the man and woman began guiding them down the tunnel. Behind them, Lee heard a voice coming from the group's tablet. A singing voice.

I've heard it before.

A long time ago, he'd heard it on the TV. Not the song, just the voice.

Are you, are you, coming to the tree?

They strung up a man, they say who murdered three.

Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight in the hanging tree.