Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
Emeria Delilah Echavoque, 15
Even when she was playing The Game - with Silverie, she'd always had Silverie - Emeria had rarely, if ever, run straight towards danger.
Zephyr had shown no such hesitation when he saw the woman about to shoot the scarlet haired girl. He had yelled and ran straight at them, and just like the other woman, whose gun had exploded, their guns began to malfunction.
Emeria thought for a moment of leaving him, of running straight to the door. He had helped Celeste betray them.
Something stopped her, and she grabbed his arm, dragging him back into one of the aisles. Unlike with the first woman, whatever he'd done to the guns this time didn't seem to have fully worked, and they were firing off bullets everywhere.
"What did you do?" Emeria shouted, but maybe Zephyr didn't hear her, because he was more interested in peering around the corner of the aisle to get a look at the door. He rested his hand on that last pod to support himself as he looked round it.
"Celeste," he replied.
That backstabbing freak–
Except Emeria was starting to think that maybe she wasn't, maybe this had been her plan all along–
The pod Zephyr was touching began to crackle, sparks spitting from the bottom of it. Emeria grabbed Zephyr's shoulders and yanked him backwards as thin white smoke began to gush from around the door.
"Celeste, sprinklers!" Zephyr shouted.
"Do you see–" Emeria started – and water began to pour from above.
Right.
So Zephyr could… cause things now. Apparently by asking his backstabbing sister to make them happen. This was Emeria's life now.
And Silverie wasn't in it.
The barrage of gunshots from the hijackers seemed to stop, even if it was temporary. Emeria grabbed Zephyr's arm and dragged him towards the door. "Let's go!"
The barrage of gunshots from the hijackers seemed to stop, even if it was temporary. Emeria grabbed Zephyr's arm and dragged him towards the door. "Let's go!"
He didn't argue, and they shot across the pod hall, slamming into the doors and tumbling into the corridor beyond.
Another player had already left ahead of them, and was racing towards the main entrance. Emeria cast a single glance over her shoulder at the pod hall, fearing that someone working for the hijackers might come charging out after them. None did. But they couldn't have gone unnoticed and there was nowhere to hide in this corridor.
Emeria grabbed Zephyr's arm, pulling him along with her as she took off. She'd wanted him dead while they were in the arena, she remembered vaguely. She'd wanted him to suffer, the way his sister had left everyone else to.
That all seemed so stupid now. She might hate his face, she might want to punch him right in his stupid nose, but she didn't want him dead.
The door clattered behind them.
"Do the lights thing," she hissed.
Zephyr raised his hand towards the lights. "Lights."
They flickered, but remained lit.
Zephyr frowned. "Celeste! The lights!"
This time the lights flashed, off, on, off, on, off– and remained off. There was still a glow ahead though, the bright blues and oranges of the main entrance.
They could get there.
They could live.
Ares Gilmore, 15
The guard's chest exploded even as they watched and his shadow staggered backwards. For a moment it stayed upright, the way Luminescence had done, and then its knees buckled and it crashed into the water flooding the hall.
Marcellina squeaked at the gunshot, shying against him. Iridescence was still, one of her hands pressed to the pod nearest her for what was clearly support.
"They're shooting each other?" Ares whispered, trying to make the pieces fit together in his head. Nothing made sense here.
Things came together better a moment later, as more figures in black Game jumpsuits appeared from the aisle beside theirs and hurried through the Emergency Exit.
"Come on. Before anyone comes to investigate," Ares whispered.
Iridescence nodded, helping him lift Marcellina's weight again and drag her through the water towards the exit. At the other side of the hall, the gunshots finally seemed to have ended. Maybe they'd run out of bullets.
The door had swung closed behind the players ahead of them, and Ares reached out to shove it open. They tumbled into it, Marcellina staggering awkwardly and nearly dragging him and Iridescence down with her. Ares hauled her against his shoulder, forcing her to stay on her feet. Iridescence shoved the door closed again.
And with that, the world finally felt quiet.
It was still dark, with only the emergency strips to provide light, but Ares could breathe and hear himself think. All they needed now was to get to the other end of this corridor – and then what? He wasn't really sure where this corridor came out. But wherever it was, it had to be better than the hell that the pod hall had become, had to be better than that simulated arena. Anything had to be better than this, and that made it worth fighting for.
Marcellina whimpered with each step they took, and in the dim light of the glowing strips used to illuminate the Emergency Exit corridor, Ares could see blood leaking from her leg. His stomach twisted. So many had already died. Marcellina could all too easily be the next one. Ares didn't know her, but he didn't want someone else to die in front of him the way Wonder had done.
The distance between them and the three players that had entered the corridor ahead of them was gradually closing. One of them must be injured too, Ares realised, they were being supported between the other two.
Iridescence went strangely stiff and froze in time. Marcellina stumbled forward, almost falling due to the momentum of the sudden halt.
"What is it?" Ares asked.
Iridescence's eyes were wide in the dim light. "Phoenix?"
Phoenix Sterling, 13
The sound of her sister's voice brought her to a stop.
She'd been with Luminescence and Radiance in the arena, watched Radiance die, but she'd never seen her sister.
It felt like a lifetime.
Of course, she still couldn't entirely see her now. The Emergency Exit corridor was only faintly lit by reflective stripes running the length of it, but they weren't enough to make out the details of anyone or anything down here. Phoenix stopped and turned to look up at Iridescence.
Even in the pale light, she looked…
Terrible.
Her pale hair framed her face, clinging to her skin, and her eyes were wide and bloodshot.
"Iridescence," she whispered.
Iridescence staggered forward a step, but that almost dragged the girl she was holding over and she was forced to stop. "You– You're not dead."
Phoenix smiled. "No."
Iridescence pulled the girl towards her. "How are you not dead?"
"I– I pulled my emergency lever."
"Look, this is a real touching reunion, but we don't have time for this," Thorin said.
Phoenix felt herself blush. "She– I– No, yes, you're right."
She wanted to scream. To cry. To wrap Iridescence in a hug and never let her go.
Instead she turned and helped Vivaldi to continue down the corridor.
Behind her, she could hear Iridescence starting to cry.