Good day everybody! The next chapter's ready, and it's once again time to check in on our protagonists! Can the tracker jackers' targets avoid being stung? We shall soon find out…
Sacrificial Material Again…Seriously?
How many tracker jackers were there?! Rue had slingshotted all of her pebbles now, and she had been (and still was) receiving assistance from the rocket ship's remaining passengers. And yet it still wasn't enough. There were still plenty of venomous muttations flying after the rebels who were going on foot (not to mention the three newly arrived Peacekeeper hovercrafts, which had by now turned invisible), and strangely, none of them were acknowledging the presence of the other rebel teams. Even though so far, they were the only ones attacking them in some way. An even stranger fact was that four of the people who had unexpectedly begun helping Nessa's friends had now rushed away from the conflict, which also continued to go unnoticed by the tracker jackers.
Once she'd used up the last of her ammo, Rue, who had been perched on the ladder and hovering outside so she could use her slingshot effectively, climbed back into her team's vehicle and stood in the space between the pilot's cabin and the cargo bay, saying, "I'm starting to doubt the upgraded tracker jackers are what the Capitol wants to punish us with. Those kinds of mutts choose just one target and stick to it no matter what happens, and these ones aren't doing that with us or everyone who's still in the rocket. In fact…I'm sorry, but…it looks like their real targets might be your friends, Nessa."
"But what do we do now?" Nessa asked from inside the cargo bay. "We have to save them before they get stung!"
"They're upgraded tracker jackers," said Katniss. "Any part of their original design could have been changed, including their target decisions. They will go after us, but not until Effie and Golias are stung first. If they really do possess magical abilities, then that means they're a bigger threat to the Capitol."
Upon hearing that theory, Nessa's eyes widened in fear. "Oh no. Golias, Bongo, and I made it so our best friends could have our powers too! So that means Lili and Yuri could get stung too!"
Once again, Clove had to repress her rage from within another hovercraft area. That meddlesome girl from District 11 had been right of course—the tracker jackers weren't after her and her teammates, but Nessa's friends from home. It was almost a relief that Fire Girl was so convinced otherwise that she'd unknowingly stopped her cover from being blown, but it wasn't a relief. Because the last thing the Career wanted was to actually feel glad on a subject that focused on Katniss Everdeen; a subject other than her being dead, which she frustratingly still wasn't. To feel proud of her would mean not hating her! AND SHE HATED HER WITH ALL HER HEART!
"Wait, what?" Geolo called from the pilot's cabin. "You gave kids that young…such a large responsibility that could go wild if it's in the wrong hands?"
Astilbo nodded. "That's how the rocket was made in the first place. It used to be the abandoned house near ours, but once we got to it while we were on the run from some Peacekeepers—"
"Peacekeepers?!" Rue cried, rushing into the cargo bay in disbelief. "The ones from our district?"
"We weren't looking for trouble, sis! Matt accidentally kicked a bucket at one, and we had no choice but to—"
"Matt's here too?!" Nessa exclaimed.
"There was an auburn-haired boy around Yuri and Lili's age in the rocket with my siblings," said Rue. "And he clearly wasn't from Panem. But you guys could see him from the windshield, that was how we even found out my siblings were there! I thought you knew he was with them as soon as I saw him."
Clove rolled her eyes and entered the cargo bay to join the conversation. "Well excuse th—us—for paying more attention to your safety than the possibility of yet another nation outsider being in a rocket ship with your siblings! And by the way, Fire Girl was the only one who bothered to go to the hatch and watch you climb! Everyone else just stood around the windshield with their backs to it, waiting for you to get your brother and climb back up!"
"Everybody quiet!" Nessa snapped, her sudden fierce tone startling everyone in the room. "We need another way to stop the tracker jackers from stinging Effie and my friends. Now!"
Everyone stared at Nessa in stunned silence once she had finished giving out her instructions, and she quickly softened. "Sorry, it's just most of my friends are in trouble, and we don't even know where Bongo is yet. And I'm worried about Foxface too…"
Without a word, Rue sat next to Nessa and put her arm around her, then along with everyone else, quickly started thinking about what to do. Thresh thankfully came up with an idea in an instant, and revealed what it was by looking directly at Clove and pointing to the backpack she was wearing.
"No," she immediately told him. "There are weapons in here, but…they're too risky in this kind of situation. I mean…what if they accidentally hit—"
"If you're the one who throws them, there won't be any accidents," said Rue. Although as soon as those words came out, she realized that simply letting Clove go out there and launch the contents of her pack at the tracker jackers would be a much worse idea than having herself or anyone else in the hovercraft, who were good aimers but not nearly as good with knives as she was, do it. Clove was a Career that was undoubtedly trying to sabotage them—what if she did slay Nessa's friends instead of the tracker jackers, but on purpose? There was no way anyone was risking that. Absolutely no way.
While most of the rest of the team noticed Rue's expression, correctly guessed what she was thinking, and inaudibly agreed with her, Thresh glared at Clove in suspicion. "Still secretive with your stash?"
"I'm just saving everything in my backpack for a much bigger threat, okay?" Clove said, her voice now cracking a little. "The tracker jackers might be dangerous, but for all we know the Peacekeepers have some weapons that do exactly what they do and more!" She then seemed to realize how nervous she was sounding and inhaled for a second before adding more calmly, "Just…trying to play it safe so you can all survive."
Before anyone could respond to her statement, Nessa replied, "That's great, but…what can we do to help my friends? Hurry, we have to think of something quick!"
Quickly, everyone resumed their attempts to formulate a solution. Luckily a few seconds later, Toolip clapped her hands and said, "I know! We just have to start a fire and get everyone down there to make the tracker jackers fly right into it! Then the smoke from the fire can make them calm and goofy long enough for all of us to escape!"
"No, water's what we need," said Fern. "We have to make sure those tracker jackers don't hunt us down again in case the second time they try succeeds. And water on tracker jackers can easily—"
Suddenly, before she could finish, Geolo let out a loud gasp of shock from back in the pilot's cabin. "Geolo! What is it?" Rue called, worried.
When two seconds passed and the tribute from District 3 didn't respond, Katniss, Rue, and Thresh all rushed into the pilot's cabin to see what had caused him to react that way. The good news was, he was still safe and okay. The bad news, however, was…well, outside of the hovercraft, the unthinkable was transpiring.
Neither Effie nor any of her remaining companions knew what Beetee's plan was, or why he specifically needed Wiress, Finnick, and Annie to help him put it into action. But that was the way it was, and until the foursome did whatever the intelligent mentor had in mind, the rest of the group was stuck having to continue running away from the persistent tracker jackers.
It was a scary experience for all of them, but despite that, there were a few benefits within the current circumstances. One of them was the fact that Matt (and Iris and Daisy; Yuri and Lili hadn't yet had a chance to tell their friends that they were in the rocket too) were still ramming into the insect mutts on purpose. It was a slow process because they could only take out so many of the dangerous creatures, but it was something. Another benefit was that Yuri didn't have to do the running part, since Golias was carrying him via his trunk, and soon the same went for Lili, since shortly after the mentors from 3 and 4 left, she leapt onto Effie's neck and began riding on it.
Though even Big Big Friends and the most fit of Hunger Games victors had their limits when it came to tense chases like this. They would have to stop to catch their breath at some point, but the mentors, all having experienced and witnessed several suspenseful moments like this thanks to the Hunger Games, knew better than to stop without making sure they were far away from the tracker jackers and Peacekeepers first. Effie pushed forward too, because while she hadn't ever sprinted this long for her own sake before (her, Golias, and Bongo's first escape from the Peacekeepers hadn't lasted quite as long as this escape and back then she hadn't even needed to run along herself), she had seen enough Hunger Games footages and been present for enough of Haymitch's advice to various tributes from District 12 to know that simply soldiering on, as hard as it felt, could very well be the difference between life and death.
Unfortunately, never previously having been in a scary position that took this long to run his way out of, or even having received the not-much-but-still-something experience that Effie had, pushing through no matter what just wasn't something Golias was used to. Not in this kind of situation anyway; he could push through when he needed to wait to go to the bathroom (even if it was an emergency), and he could also do it when he was stuck in a space too small and tight for his giant form (yes, that had happened to him) and desperately needed to get out, but in any other scenario he couldn't. Maybe it was just because any other scenario only happened once or even twice, if at all, and that wasn't exactly enough times for him to really get used to it. He wasn't sure, and he wasn't about to let himself wonder if that was the case. This wasn't the time for that.
Anyway, Golias had to stop, just for a second. But right before doing so, he tossed Yuri off his trunk and onto Effie's neck, hoping there was still enough room there since Lili was already on it. She, albeit just as breathless as he now was, surged ahead of him before he could see for sure if there was enough room, and the mentors instantly did too. He then stopped and tried to catch his breath as fast as he could, and at the exact same moment, Blight realized what he was doing and went wide-eyed with worry.
There was no time to think, or even give Johanna and the other mentors any last words. He knew what he had to do, and it would most likely be the last thing he'd remember himself doing. But he needed to do it, or else the Capitol would get exactly what they wanted. So, just as Haymitch and Seeder also realized Golias was no longer in front of them, Blight dashed back the other way as fast as he could. He braced himself as he ran, and then threw himself in front of Golias just before the nearest tracker jackers could touch him.
"Noooo!" Johanna screamed, screeching to a stop as soon as she glimpsed her partner-in-mentoring leaving and then heard him yelling in pain as the tracker jackers stung him instead. Haymitch and Effie kept going despite their concern for their companions, but the rest of the group stayed behind and took action. Chaff immediately came to Blight's aid and began helping him courageously kick, punch, swat, and use fists to squeeze the life out of every tracker jacker that came near. Simultaneously Cecelia, Johanna, and Seeder tried to guide Golias away from the scene, until he regained his energy two seconds later and ran without any assistance.
There were still many tracker jackers present though, and even with the rocket available to help them out, it was clear that Blight and Chaff wouldn't be able to defeat them all despite their best efforts. So while Seeder went with Golias in case a few tracker jackers flew past their current two opponents (which was the case, but she was quick to throw her wig at them and successfully use it as a hunting net), Cecelia and Johanna threw every garment they'd borrowed from Effie's residence at the tracker jackers who stayed in the swarm, which not only inspired Blight and Chaff to do the same, but also succeeded in either killing or trapping many members of the swarm on the ground long enough for them to get stomped on by the present male mentors.
The rocket made things easier for them too, but by the time every garment the foursome had had been thrown, there was still about fifty tracker jackers left. And even worse, right after they'd finished tossing everything they had, Chaff and Blight collapsed, both of them having been stung way too many times by now.
Geolo was open-mouthed in shock. All this time, the "Capitol residents" who had saved Katniss and Nessa's American friends from the Peacekeepers were really tribute mentors in disguise. No wonder they'd looked strangely familiar! It was obvious now, because two of Katniss's saviours were now lying on their backs, their disguises thrust off in order to rescue one of Nessa's friends from home. Rendered unconscious thanks to the tracker jackers. And near them, those who were in the rocket were still ramming into as many insects as they could, while Katniss's third saviour (whom Geolo now fully recognized as District 7 mentor Johanna Mason) and another disguised mentor that Katniss herself recognized as District 8 mentor Cecelia, having used up everything they had, reluctantly ran off to catch up with their remaining teammates. The tracker jackers, of course, wasted no time in chasing after them.
The only ones who were even more stunned than Geolo were Rue and Thresh. One of the mentors down there was none other than Chaff, who, despite having resorted to alcoholism after winning his Hunger Games, had taken it upon himself to help both of them (mainly Thresh, since he was technically the tribute he was assigned to, but still) develop and/or increase strategies of theirs for the sake of their lives.
Both of his tributes were exceptionally skilled as it was, but that didn't mean Chaff's advice and humor ever went unnoticed. Thresh had found him helpful and surprisingly easy to relate to despite the conspicuous differences between their personalities, and Rue…well, she'd known from the beginning that Chaff longed to someday rebel against the Capitol. One of his arms had been amputated during his Hunger Games, and he could have received a prosthetic arm once he was released from the arena. Yet he'd ultimately refused, and something about the whole scenario just gave her some positively audacious vibes about him. And now there he was, almost completely covered in tracker jacker stings, while both of his tributes were for the most part safe and sound.
As for the other mentor, whom the tributes in the pilot's cabin identified as Blight, one of the District 7 mentors, well…despite none of them having known him as well as his bloodbathed tributes had, it was still heartbreaking to see him on the ground, with all those stings. He'd been an admirable man; only participating in combat when he absolutely needed to back in his Games, feeling true regret every time he had to take an opponent's life. Being noticeably polite and respectful towards all of the fallen tributes he'd competed with during any public interviews ever since first becoming a victor, and somehow always avoiding being lectured by the Capitol for it.
At some point in the Training Centre's gymnasium, Thresh had even overheard this year's female tribute from District 7—easily recognizable since she always wore her blonde hair in two fancy ponytails—telling her district partner that she was so glad to have Blight as her mentor. According to her, he was the most caring adult aside from her parents that she had ever met, and he gave off an energy that made her feel like she would always have someone there to comfort her during hard times. That is, alongside her district partner, whom she was apparently also very close to. Such a sweet man…and now he was almost certainly reuniting with both of his tributes, wherever they had gone…
"We need to follow Fern's plan," Katniss suddenly murmured, snapping all three of her companions out of their mourning. "Now."
"Yeah. Well…good thing the Capitol's now stocked up with waterfalls," commented Geolo. He then thought hard, and in the blink of an eye he knew exactly what needed to be done. "Alright," he told his companions, "I'll need someone to get onto the ladder. But first I'm going to steer us back to the rest of the other team."
"What in the world were you thinking? The tracker jackers were just going to cut you some slack and leave you alone?"
"I wasn't thinking that," admitted Golias.
"Then why did you stop and make the others go back and get you?" Haymitch questioned. He'd guessed the elephant was inexperienced with fights for survival ever since first meeting him in person and was trying to be as gentle with him as possible, but then again, based on the severity of what had just happened, it was hard not to get even a little direct. All the tributes he'd mentored over the years before Katniss and Peeta had been pretty inexperienced, but none of them had ever done anything quite as foolish as this guy had just now.
"Don't get mad at Golias," said Yuri. "If I'd been running that long I would have stopped too."
"But those bees are trying to sting us!" Lili retorted. "And none of us want to get stung, remember?"
Haymitch shook his head. "Those aren't bees. They're tracker jackers, and they're about a thousand times worse than bees. If even one of them stings you, you'll feel a lot more than just a prick in your skin. So when those things catch up to us, take my advice and don't stop running. Even if it tires you out. Does everyone understand?"
"I do," replied Lili, frowning in a rude kind of way.
"Lili, your manners," Effie reminded her.
"I told you!" the girl shot back. "I'm supposed to tell people to watch their manners! And don't say I'm 'neglecting' them, because I never do!"
Things would have escalated from there in an unpleasant way, if Seeder hadn't intervened using genuine politeness. "Everyone, can we please focus on these topics later? As we speak, the rest of the rebels in the Capitol are either in danger or fighting against it."
Her companions didn't even have time to react, for as soon as she finished her last sentence, Johanna and Cecelia charged forward, now minus their Capitolite disguises and minus Blight and Chaff. There were still several tracker jackers chasing them, followed closely by the rocket, but despite those circumstances, Johanna looked more angry than scared.
"Where's Chaff and Blight?" Golias worriedly asked.
"They're goners, and it's all your fault!" Johanna bellowed. "Seriously, how could you do something so—"
"This isn't the time to lecture anyone, Johanna," said Cecelia.
Johanna stared at her in shock as they caught up to the remainder of their group and they all dashed forward together. "Really? You really think this isn't the time?! After what happened back there, why aren't you in agreement that what he did has to be addressed right away in case he does it again? Do you want inconsiderate stuff like that to cost us anyone else? Well?!"
Luckily, before anyone could reply, the hijacked hovercraft appeared above them, and its ladder descended into view. Climbing down it was a figure that, despite the dark night sky, Seeder soon recognized as Rue, who at that moment called, "Everyone! Get the tracker jackers to follow you through the closest waterfall! Hurry!"
Hearing the sound of a gushing waterfall not too far ahead of them, Golias edged in front of the rest of the group and picked up speed, awkwardly proclaiming, "Uh, last one to the waterfall is, um…the last one to the waterfall!"
The mentors raced after him, and Rue climbed back into the hovercraft to inform her allies and present siblings that the plan they'd formulated was starting to come into effect. Upon hearing the news, Nessa sighed with relief. If Lili (not to mention the majority of the rest of her friends) had gotten stung by those tracker jackers all because she'd wished herself into the body of a woman from Panem, she would never have forgiven herself. Especially if they'd been stung too many times…
"We've still got the other hovercrafts to deal with," Astilbo reminded everyone, loud enough for those in the pilot's cabin to hear him. "How do you plan on taking out those obstacles?"
Geolo thought hard. "The only thing we can really do is blow them up. Then once they're gone, we'll have no choice but to retract our ladder out of sight, turn our hovercraft's camouflage setting back on, and evacuate the city."
"Why'd you turn it off?" Thresh questioned him. The hovercraft had been visible at least since he and Clove had been dragged out of the hospital, and he would have brought that up sooner if there hadn't been so much else going on.
"I did it thinking we'd be able to get Sonia back onboard," confessed Geolo, sighing. "Because if everything was invisible, she likely wouldn't have been able to rejoin us. Then she was captured, Katniss told me about Nessa's friends being there and went back for all of them, and then I just forgot about the hovercraft being visible."
"But what about Nessa's friends and the rest of my sisters?" Rue asked. "When it's time to leave the Capitol, we're going to bring them with us, right?"
Reluctantly, Geolo said, "Your sisters, yes. In fact, all the rebels down there aside from…aside from Sonia, Blight, and Chaff…can go with us. But Golias, well…he's too big to fit through the hovercraft's entrance, so…"
"Well we can't leave him behind," said Katniss. "He's likely just as vulnerable as Nessa when it comes to war. Even with his magical abilities."
"But if we bring him with us, anyone would be able to see him because he won't be able to come into the hovercraft. He'd have to be transported by a claw or something, in plain sight. I really don't like saying this, but he's better off staying in the Capitol with at least some of the mentors he's with."
"Geolo, we can't leave him behind," insisted Rue, hoping with all her heart that Nessa and everyone else in the pilot's cabin couldn't hear the conversation they were having. "Golias is Nessa's…friend! And knowing her, she probably won't be able to keep it together as easily knowing we can't bring him along. There has to be a way we can bring him with us, there has to be!"
Katniss seemed to notice something about the way Rue paused when she said "friend," but nonetheless, she reluctantly tried to push it aside for the moment. She admired the girl's determination to bring every member of the other rebel team along in their upcoming Capitol evacuation, and everyone could sense it, but there was also no denying the fact that Geolo was right. It was deeply unfortunate, but due to circumstances beyond their control, they simply had to leave someone behind. Someone besides Sonia and the other team's recent casualties.
"Blow them up," Thresh finally said, interrupting the melancholic silence that had risen within the vehicle. He could understand why everyone in here felt the ways they did, but this just wasn't the right time to be having this discussion. Blowing up the Peacekeepers' hovercrafts had to come first, or being left behind wouldn't be the only dilemma Nessa's elephant friend would be faced with.
Golias, Effie, Yuri, Lili, and the remaining mentors held their breath as they sprinted directly through the waterfall they'd just arrived at, the tracker jackers right behind them. Luckily, because they were a lot smaller than their targets, once they flew into the heavy stream of water, all of the remaining tracker jackers sank to the ground. They couldn't fly with their wings soaking wet, so they could only collapse helplessly. And as soon as they did, while the rest of the team along with those who were in the rocket continued forward without a backward glance, Johanna, Haymitch, Seeder, and Cecelia wasted no time in stepping on and fatally squashing every last one of the venomous insects.
However, they couldn't celebrate yet. Once the tracker jackers were all dead, the three extra hovercrafts came back into sight.
Everyone realized Thresh's point and snapped to attention. Geolo steered the hovercraft higher into the sky so that they would be just the right distance above the other three hovercrafts, which thankfully turned visible at that moment. He made sure he reactivated the invisibility setting before they got too far up, and once they were in the right spot, he pressed one of the red buttons in that specific group (the group he'd directed Sonia towards during the arena breakout). An even bigger missile than the one used to blow up the arena's ceiling quickly flew out of the vehicle and into the left Peacekeeper hovercraft, blowing it to smithereens—half of which struck the middle hovercraft, where the tracker jackers had come from, causing it to catch fire and sail to the ground, where it crashed. Just to be sure all the Peacekeepers in that thing were finished off, Geolo sent another missile into the middle hovercraft, fully destroying it. Luckily Golias and everyone with him were by now too far away from the scene to get hurt by it in any way, but that didn't mean they didn't shield their eyes once they saw the two vehicles' destruction.
Hearing the explosions, Nessa worriedly called, "What's going on?"
"Nothing bad," Geolo reassured her, "just making sure the Peacekeepers' hovercrafts won't be a problem anymore!"
"Then you'd better do so with the last one," said Katniss, pointing forward.
Geolo turned his attention back toward the windshield, just in time to see the hovercraft on the right leaving the area. The Peacekeepers inside of it clearly knew they would be taken out next if they stayed put…but for some reason they weren't making any attempts to blow up the hijacked hovercraft as revenge.
"What's it doing?" Rue wondered. "Its passengers have to know where we are, even though we're invisible."
"Try flying a little lower," advised Katniss. "But don't get too close."
Gulping nervously, Geolo took her advice, making sure they stayed camouflaged as he did. And in an instant, he noticed something none of them had been able to see a moment ago (something about the bottom of the villains' hovercraft) figured it out. The Peacekeeper hovercraft was going to target them, but for now it had a more important target to go after. A target that the hijacked hovercraft's passengers were unfortunately just a second too late to save.
A large magnet was slowly being lowered out of the last Peacekeeper hovercraft; all the rebels down below could see it as the vehicle approached them. It was a long way off the ground, but the mentors knew better than to underestimate anything that came out of a Capitol hovercraft. A sentiment they were right to feel, because as soon as the magnet came into view, the rocket—which Iris, Daisy, and Matt were still in—suddenly flew directly upward despite its thrusters directing it forward. In a second, the rocket clanged against the magnet, and not even Matt putting the thrusters on full power could succeed in freeing it.
Also hearing the clanging noise, Golias stopped in his tracks, which Effie would have lectured him on if she hadn't at that moment noticed the tracker jackers were no longer behind them. Yuri and Lili then turned to see what had caused the noise, and instantly the former fearfully pointed at the sky. "Look! That huge magnet's got our rocket!"
"And Matt and the others are still in there!" Lili added, just as scared as Yuri was but not willing to admit it. "Someone's gotta go save them!"
The chains the magnet was attached to were then slowly elevated into the extra hovercraft, taking the rocket along. Inside of it, Iris, Matt, and Daisy were now realizing what was happening and desperately trying to either (in Daisy's case) break the windshield glass or (in Matt and Iris's case) open the ceiling hatch. Yet the glass was too strong and the hatch wouldn't budge, since the roof was attached to the magnet. So, before they could blink, the threesome were trapped not only in the rocket, but also in the depths of one of the Peacekeepers' vehicles.
Those of the hijacked hovercraft's passengers who were in the pilot's cabin could only stare at what they'd just witnessed in utter worry and disbelief, though none more so than poor Rue. Two of her younger sisters were still in that rocket! And now the Capitol's Peacekeepers had them…and why weren't Golias, Effie, Yuri, and Lili doing anything to rescue them?! They were obviously aware of the abduction, but instead of using their scenery-changing powers to do anything to help, they were just talking to each other! Why weren't they doing anything?
"What's going on now?" Fern called. "Did you blow up the last one yet? 'Cause I can't hear anything…"
No one dared respond. Rue could only stand there, debating on what she should do. She could tell by Geolo's expression that he knew he couldn't blow up the last hovercraft now, or her missing sisters and Matt could never be recovered. But if the rebels on the ground weren't going to do anything about this, what could they do? It was extremely tempting to just get on the retractable ladder and try reasoning with the Peacekeepers before they hurt her sisters, yet even under this amount of pressure, she knew that wasn't the best idea. But then again, she didn't at all want to just stay here and do nothing while Iris and Daisy were being kidnapped!
"I…I'm sorry, Rue," Geolo finally said. "I-I should've known there would be a magnet installed in that one…"
"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known that would happen," she told him. "But we have to do something. We have to get my sisters out of there!"
"Guys?" Fern called. "Did you hear me?"
Before anyone could answer her, Geolo peered out through the windshield and let out another loud gasp of shock, though this one was a bit muffled because he placed both hands over his mouth while he released it. Once again, Katniss, Rue, and Thresh all crowded around to find out what he'd seen, though this time they were joined by Fern, who was anxious to see what was going on after a while passing with nobody replying to what she was saying.
At this point, Effie could hardly believe her (or technically Nessa's) ears. She could understand why Golias and Yuri had both frozen up in fear once Lili had said someone should go save those who were in the rocket, but she hadn't predicted what happened after that. Lili had not only confirmed that some of her friends needed to be saved, but also given a particular saviour name: Golias.
Once he'd heard her say this, Golias had gasped only slightly, but the amount of fear on his face was the exact opposite of slight. "Me?!" he'd exclaimed. "Um, well, I would, but—"
"But what?" Effie was now inquiring. When his only response was a series of incomprehensible stuttering, he didn't have to say anything at all. His fear of the Peacekeepers or the pressure of the circumstances they were in—whichever it was—had by now gotten the best of him. Even though all four of them had powers to protect themselves.
"Fine," Lili stated. "Effie can do something to save our friends."
"Uh, yeah," Yuri immediately agreed, clearly wanting to avoid being thrown under the bus himself.
How two children this young could possibly be so impolite, the District 12 escort doubted she would ever understand. Though she now knew lecturing both of them on their manners wouldn't make things any better, since she'd tried that already (particularly with Lili) and had not succeeded in getting through to her. Even if Matt and a few others weren't in danger, the best thing to do would be to simply let what they'd just said go, and do as they pleased…except there was one problem, which she addressed right then and there: "Well alright, but…what exactly should I do?"
"Just go up there and tell the Peacekeepers to let them go," Lili instructed. "And if they won't do it, then get them out yourself."
"It isn't that simple, Lili. When they've taken a prisoner for rebelling against them, you can never just talk to a troop of Peacekeepers."
"But we have to do something to save everyone in our rocket," pleaded Yuri. "Matt was the one who gave that one Peacekeeper a booboo by mistake, so they're probably maddest at him!"
Golias jumped in surprise. "Wait…Matt hurt a Peacekeeper by mistake? When?"
Effie, even more stunned to hear that than he was, would have asked about this subject too, if she hadn't been interrupted by two unpleasant sounds from behind the group: a louder sound of rushing water than the sound produced by the waterfalls in the city, and the sound of Johanna screaming in not anger, but fear. Then suddenly she, Cecelia, Seeder, and Haymitch came rushing toward them, a gigantic amount of water chasing after them and, in the process, flooding the city.
It all happened quite fast, but miraculously. Somehow, one glance at the approaching flood, and another glance at the pavement, and Effie suddenly received a flashback to when Bongo and Golias had used their layout-changing abilities to ward off the Peacekeepers on their first morning in the Capitol. Perhaps maybe…if she just kept calm…closed her eyes…and focused…
The flood caught up to them, as did the mentors, and they were instantly all swept away by it. However, in the nick of time, something happened—something that, with closed eyes, could only necessarily count as an odd sensation. The rest of the information regarding it, as Effie discovered once she opened her eyes a second after it started, was simply astounding. She, Golias, Yuri, Lili, and the mentors were riding through the water in a pink inflatable raft, with a transparent bubble-like dome over it to keep them from falling out. A raft that definitely hadn't been there before. A raft that she had wound up creating, with the powers being in Nessa's body had granted her.
"Nice move, sweetheart," commented Haymitch, noticing the look of accomplishment on the escort's face and quickly guessing what had transpired. "Except how's this going to help us get that rocket back?"
"Sweetheart?" Yuri asked, and then he along with Lili grimaced. Golias, meanwhile, tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle despite the still-suspenseful situation.
Realizing the reason for their reactions, Haymitch immediately added, "And for your information, that first part was not a more-than-just-friends compliment."
Johanna cringed and looked away from her companions, thus noticing that the hovercraft that had captured the rocket was now flying after them. "Okay, can we just focus on the rescue now? Before anyone else gets sacrificed?"
"Guys, seriously, what are we going to do?!" Fern pleaded. She'd just found out that her two absent sisters and Matt had been captured by the Peacekeepers, and like Rue, she was determined to save them before anything bad happened to them. Unfortunately, with Golias, Effie, and their companions apparently currently only focusing on protecting themselves from the sudden flood in the city, coming up with a rescue plan was pretty hard to do.
When a few seconds passed and nobody seemed able to think of an idea that would work well, Geolo studied everything that was going on below them. The other hovercraft was still chasing the raft that contained the other rebel team, a giant claw now being lowered out of it. A claw big enough to grab the raft, even with that dome over it, and capture it just like the magnet had captured the rocket Iris, Daisy, and Matt were in…
Geolo sighed in despair. "Let's face it. There's nothing either of our teams can do. We'll be captured too if we try to save them, and if the Peacekeepers are deliberately trying to take most of Nessa's friends in when they already know what they're capable of, they must have more stuff that can overpower them. Like the upgraded tracker jackers. If we want to go through with our evacuation plan…we'll have to leave those three behind."
"We can't," Rue pushed on, "not them. They're innocent! They're only here because we turned against the Capitol first. We can't let them get hurt in our place!"
"Yeah," agreed Fern. "My siblings and I formed a team together long before we met Lili, Matt, and Yuri. We promised we'd always be there for each other, and this is the worst possible time to break that promise!"
Tears welled up in Geolo's eyes, and not wanting to fight against the sisters' opinions, which he respected and most certainly didn't want to disagree with, he turned to Thresh. He expected him to stand up for Rue and Fern due to his clear respect for the former, but to his astonishment, he said nothing. He didn't have to; his expression told them everything. He wanted to rescue Iris, Daisy, and Matt too, but as painful as it was, he also agreed with Geolo's assessment of the situation and wanted to keep everyone still here safe. And he knew Geolo knew that was how he felt; that was obvious too.
Desperately trying to keep himself from crying, Geolo turned to Katniss to see what she was thinking, only to discover her mud-caked backpack sitting on the floor where she'd been standing. "Hey," he said, "where did Katniss go?"
Rue, Fern, and Thresh jumped a bit as they noticed she was missing too. "Did she go back into the cargo bay?" Fern asked.
As if on cue, Katniss walked out of the cargo bay at that exact moment, for unknown reasons looking tense and nervous. Like she was steeling herself to do something. Right behind her came Nessa, who was worriedly saying, "No, let me do it! They're my friends and best friend—"
"No," Katniss interrupted. "It has to be me. If they believe me, then the price I'll pay will be scarier than you can imagine. Just remember, I'm trusting you with my sister's life, and my mother's. Oh…and…and my friend Gale's too. You shouldn't have a hard time finding him."
"But I wanted to take you to America too, Katniss! And what do I tell your family and your friend when we find them and they see you're not with us?"
"The same thing you'll tell Sonia's parents. That I, like she did, had to sacrifice myself for the sake of the escape."
Geolo and the 11s exchanged looks of horror. No. No way. She wasn't really about to do what it sounded like she was going to do, was she?
"Katniss," asked Rue, swallowing hard, "what exactly…did you tell her? And the others?"
The female tribute of District 12, albeit shakily, explained, "We may not be able to save the kids inside that rocket ship, but…I may be able to convince the Peacekeepers to take it easy on them once they are imprisoned. I just have to convince them that if anyone should um…be punished in a worse manner…it's me. Not anyone who only came to search for you, Nessa. If that leaves them unmoved, I will also tell them that the magical abilities possessed by Lili, Yuri, and Matt are actually possessed by me, and that absolutely nothing can deactivate them. And that if anyone dares to harm them or your sisters instead of me, they will pay dearly no matter what happens."
Nessa sniffled. "There's gotta be another way to save them. A way that can keep all of us safe. Please…"
"There isn't," mumbled Thresh. Then, in an even quieter tone that the others almost didn't hear, he whispered, "Sorry."
Once he heard the normally-stoic tribute say this, Geolo sagged downward in his seat and began letting out a miserable but silent sob. Why…?!
"And what if they don't buy your story?" Clove called from inside the cargo bay. "I mean, you? Asking to get hurt as if you don't have anything to lose?"
"The Capitol still believes me and Peeta are star-crossed lovers," said Katniss. "As far as they're concerned, now that he's gone, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get back with him."
Once again, the hovercraft was plunged into an uncomfortable silence, this time as everyone realized the heartbreaking truth. If anyone wanted to keep Rue's captured sisters and Matt alive and well, then Katniss's plan to sacrifice herself was their only hope. First Peeta, then Sonia, then Blight and Chaff, and now her. Except this time it was a planned sacrifice, which had to be done to prevent three more. Nobody said so, but everyone (with the secret exception of Clove of course) in the hovercraft agreed with Nessa. If only there was another way…
Finally, Rue stole a glance through the windshield, and after seeing that the claw had not yet succeeded in grabbing the raft, she turned back toward Katniss. Now teary-eyed herself, she swallowed again, then suddenly rushed forward and hugged the soon-to-be-sacrificed tribute as tight as she could. Nessa hugged her too, and reluctantly whispered, "Thanks, Katniss. I really really wish you didn't have to do this…"
Katniss fought back tears of her own as she returned both hugs simultaneously. "Just promise me you'll all stay safe. And no matter what, do not let anything happen to Prim…"
"Nothing'll happen to your sister," assured Rue, knowing Prim's name all too well due to having watched a video of the District 12 reaping while on her way to the Capitol's train station. "But…you have to stay alive. Not just for Iris and Daisy either. Even before Nessa told us about her plan, I wanted you to live."
"I'll do what I can, Rue," murmured Katniss. "But…but in case I never make it back to you…I—"
"Katniss," Fern interjected, "I really hate having to interrupt this, but if you want to make your move, it better be now. The Peacekeepers' hovercraft just started trying to reel your other friends and the mentors in, and I don't know how quickly they can break through the raft dome and get out of being captured."
Katniss unwillingly released Rue and Nessa, who were left embracing only each other. She then stepped toward the hovercraft's exit, climbed onto the ladder, and asked Geolo to lower her down.
Oh…dear. Just when things couldn't be more dramatic…
Be sure to stay tuned for the next chapter to see what happens next.