Chapter 45:
The group was organized in several rows leaving their room of safety, strategically placed. Anyone who can fight didn't have a choice, they have to fight now. It's fight or die for the group, and however many of them make it out alive depends on them.
Leading the group is Julian, flanked by Juno and Bez. Julian needs to lead the way, knowing every mutt that Magnus placed in the arena, and obviously Seraphim isn't going to be leading anyone with that leg. Juno because he still is under his agreement to protect Julian, and Bez because she wants to step up and do something with the group, feel important.
Just behind them are Zephyr, holding onto Seraphim with one arm to support his weight, the other holding a gun prepared to fight and defend him if needed. And on the other side of Seraphim is Vulcan, chosen by Zephyr just because he trained with them more than Chantelle and knows how they can fight. But of course he doesn't really trust anyone else to protect Seraphim, yet they need his knowledge at the front.
Right behind them is the medic, the next most important person, with Karter and Sonya on either side of her with their injuries. And flanking the three of them are Lobo, glued to Karter's side still, and Ciana, who has stepped up to protect her group.
Behind them, are the majority of the remaining tributes. Farren on the end, protecting Kasada no matter what she says about feeling better after the in the field treatment. In the middle is Rhiannon, arguably the weakest of the group, next to arguably the second weakest with Cimmer, but he's trying his best to keep on a brave face. And on the other side of him is Adonis, begrudgingly being instructed to be on the end because as Zephyr reminded him, he did train for several months before this so he is qualified to fight.
And finishing off the group is Ardent, the last peacekeeper guard, and Chantelle, needing to protect everyone in the back of the pack.
One former Head Gamemaker. One victor. One rescued tribute. One medic and one peacekeeper guard. And fourteen tributes. All of them wear a somber expression on their face as they set off, knowing the likelihood of all of them making it out alive is so slim. Yet they all are ready to fight for that shot of freedom.
As the team starts out down the hallway, sticking close to the tracks, they move at a brisk jog, following Julian as he keeps scanning the hallway for any signs of mutts. They keep quiet – as quiet as they can with nineteen of them moving through, and the tension is palpable. Fingers hovers over triggers, hands rest on hilts, arrows notched on bows, all ready to attack at a moment's notice.
They know there could be mutts in Four, and a couple times Julian has to turn around to put his finger to his lips to silence some of them whimpering a little bit in fear. But they quickly reach the boundary of the District Four sector, where there's a large 4 painted next to a line, and a 6 on the opposite side. Julian slows at this, still looking around with eagle eyed focus, but a glance back at Seraphim and a nod from him has his pace slowing to a walk. "No mutts in Six," he whispers to the group, and a few faces show visible relief at this. Doesn't mean that they're entirely safe, if the mutts have ventured out of their sectors…but just at lower odds.
"We walk through here," Seraphim instructs Julian, struggling to keep up with the brisk jog, but he isn't going to tell anyone that and risk them slowing for him. He just leans a little more on Zephyr and glances back at the group, worried about them keeping up with them behind him. "Everyone good?"
"Scared shitless," Farren says with a thumbs up, and a few nod in agreement.
"Keep moving," Julian instructs them, not showing any care that they're scared. And for once in his life…he's scared of mutts too. These aren't the ones he's raised, or under the control of Magnus. These are completely wild, out of control mutts, and he's good, but not even he can stop them if they attack.
It's a longer walk through the Six sector, having to pass through both tribute areas. At each hallway leading to the launch rooms, Julian slows and aims his gun down it for a moment, just waiting for the attack, as Juno and Bez stand at his side, gun and bow aimed as well. Farren and Kasada share a look, just knowing that this was where things all started to go wrong for them in the arena.
And yet…nothing. No sign of mutts anywhere. And as they reach the boundary of Six and Three, some of them start to get lulled into a sense of security. Maybe the mutts weren't released down here, maybe the trolley just got stopped randomly for some other reason.
But seeing the number 3 painted on the wall has Sonya pulling the medic to a stop, making Cimmer almost run into her back. "No, I don't like this," she mutters, shaking her head with a horrified expression on her face.
"We have to go through it," Seraphim tells her, but he gets it. If the District Three mutts were released…they're fucked. "Everyone silent and move quick."
"What's in Three?" Lobo asks, full of distrust right away at them not telling them.
Julian and Seraphim share a look, and Seraphim shakes his head slightly before answering Lobo. "Pray you don't find out."
"Horrible robots," Sonya says with a full body shudder and hugs herself a little bit, before pressing closer to the medic. Hopefully she's in the safest spot, in the center of the pack. But hopefully they don't actually see any.
"You sick fuckers," Vulcan comments and Julian cracks a slight smile, not denying that, before getting serious once more.
"Stay quiet and move fast," Julian instructs them again firmly, hoping that they all actually listen. Because Seraphim is right, they better pray they don't run into any of them. "And aim for the heart."
First hallway down to the launch room. Again, Julian pauses to look down it, before waving the group to continue after him. And they follow quietly after him, all of them glancing down it as well.
And…Adonis slows for a moment and rubs his eyes, wondering if he's fucking seeing things in the red safety lights. He thought he caught a glimpse of a pair of red lights looking at him, but then it's gone, and Chantelle is pushing his back to keep moving. And he's not going to be the one to get scolded by them for speaking, so he keeps quiet, just following the group, but he holds his gun just a little bit tighter as his heart races. He's not going to cry wolf over nothing…
But he should have.
Second hallway to the launch room and Julian slows, gun aimed down the hallway. And he lingers for an extra second, squinting in the darkness to try and figure out if the door is cracked open or if his mind is playing tricks on him. He's just about to instruct the group to keep moving, and he starts to turn away, before quickly whipping back at the sight of the pair of glowing red eyes peeking through the crack. "RUN!" he shouts as he fires a few shots towards the launch room, the bullets ringing on the metallic shells of the robots as they start pushing out of the room towards them, falling over each other in their hurry to reach them.
Chaos erupts in the group as Juno fires a few shots, while others start pushing and shoving to get ahead. At the threat of the mutts, everyone has forgotten the order and strategy, just trying to fight to stay alive.
"Die, you fuckers!" Bez screams at the robots coming towards them as she fires a few arrows at them, but when they just ricochet off them, she starts stepping back from them, before running down the hall, Juno right behind them following Julian.
Zephyr is moving backwards with Seraphim, shooting back at the robots crawling towards them – some of them twisted in half and just torsos crawling towards them. But when Vulcan leaves them, he looks around, knowing what Seraphim would want, but also knowing what he wants. So before Seraphim can even protest it, he crouches down to throw him over his shoulder to keep moving to what he can only hope will be safety.
But too many robots are filing out of the room, splitting up the group. Lobo doesn't think twice as he grabs Karter, pulling him after Zephyr and Seraphim, wanting to stay with them. The medic also follows after them, both her and Sonya practically dragging each other as they move, with the medic having orders to protect Seraphim and the team. Last to slip through the robots to follow after them is Cimmer, who cries out a little bit in fear as he sprints after them, knowing he can't really fight them to protect himself.
But Ciana hesitates as she fires at the robots, really trying to protect the group, and her chance to join Seraphim's group has been blocked off, forcing her to start backtracking with the rest.
"GO!" the guard shouts at the tributes, waving them on back the way they just came before going back to firing at the mutts crawling towards them.
Farren and Kasada are the first to start running, holding onto each other's arm, before Adonis sprints past them. Chantelle spares one last look at the other group running opposite them before she hurries after the siblings, horrible feeling in her gut that they are going to get trapped in here.
But Rhiannon is frozen in fear, standing there in shock as she watches the robots crawling towards her. A whimper slips out of her, yet she can't bring herself to move as they crawl after her, closer and closer.
And seeing Rhiannon frozen there, Ardent runs over, not caring if it means risking his life, because some people are worth the risk. He grabs her arm and pulls her with him, forcing her to move as she stumbles over her feet. He keeps pulling her with him, getting past the first hallway they passed, before she trips and falls to the ground with a cry. "Rhi, move!" Ardent screams at her as he stumbles from her pulling him with her, and looking back has him filled with cold fear at how close the robots are.
"Go!" the guard yells as he grabs the back of Ardent's shirt, pulling him up to his feet and shoving him after the others. Ciana comes back to grab onto him, stopping him from going back to Rhiannon, even as he screams and fights back against her.
The guard has to pause to fire at the robots before trying to help Rhiannon up, but she's curled up into a tight ball, hands over her head and crying at the horror in front of her. Yet the bullets aren't doing anything but slow them for a fraction of a second, and there's too many to keep them at bay forever. And he tries to get her up, just before a robot grabs at his leg, the force of its grip shattering his bone and he lets out a painful shriek as he falls over, immediately surrounded by them and his shrieks are cut off quickly.
And with no one to protect her, Rhiannon is also soon swarmed, screaming and screaming as they grab at her, ripping flesh and breaking bones, before the screams stop as quickly as they started.
"RHIANNON!" Ardent yells back in a feral screech at this, fighting with Ciana dragging him. No, he was supposed to protect her!
"She's gone!" Ciana screams at him, so close to leaving him behind as well as she watches the robots continuing after them. "And you will be too if you don't move!"
"We need him alive," Chantelle says as she comes back to them, knowing that Ardent is her next best fighter in the group, and shares a look with Ciana as she grabs his other arm. And between the two of them, they're able to drag him off after the others in their small group, trying to get to safety.
Both groups race down the hallways of the District Three sector in opposite directions. Seraphim's team reaches the District Eleven sector first and Julian briefly checks the hallway for the first launch room before they run inside to regroup. Seraphim silently counts each one in their group as they enter, before Juno and Bez work to temporarily barricade the door.
"Fuck, we lost almost half the group," Seraphim says quietly and has to sit down on the floor for a moment, his leg still throbbing despite the pain blockers. And he looks up at Zephyr, silently asking him why he did it, and the victor just shakes his head at him.
"Can anyone hear us?" Julian calls over the radio, waiting for a response, anything. But only silence, as the radio was on the guard left behind after being torn apart. And all of them have a somber look on their faces at getting no answer.
"We have to keep moving forward," Zephyr says curtly and Seraphim gives him a look of disbelief. "Allies get lost, you have to just move on and keeping fighting to survive. That's just life in the arena."
"But we fought so hard to save them!" Seraphim protests as he gets back to his feet, using the wall for support.
"Well I don't care if they die, I'm getting you out of here alive!" Zephyr says back loudly, gesturing at him already injured. "We're not going back for them. They can try the other way, but that's it. Good luck to them."
"Fuck," Bez says quietly at that, looking around the group and realizing who is all missing from them. And also realizing that she could have very easily have been in that group if she was somewhere else in the group.
"Anyone hurt?" the medic asks quietly as she sits with Sonya, who has started coughing a bit from the running, and offers her small sips of water.
"No," Lobo replies for him and Karter, doing a look over him to make sure he had no new injuries. He is making sure they stay by the medic, he will make sure to get him out of this alive.
Vulcan gives her a thumbs up as they stand protectively near Sonya, but keep quiet. They're grossly in over their head with this escape, and just want to get out alive now. They don't need to fight the ones making decisions, or worse, be the one making them.
"A-are they going to die?" Cimmer asks softly with a small sniffle and he quickly wipes his nose on his sleeve. Maybe he shouldn't have run with this group and stayed with his friends, but he wasn't thinking, he was just acting on instinct.
"In this arena with the mutts they have to face?" Julian asks and lets out a single humorless laugh. But none of them are finding this funny, they're all scared. "Good luck to them, they're going to need all the luck they can get."
Seraphim has a haunted look on his face at all of this, unable to help but feel a little bit guilty for this since he led them here. And yet, there's still ten others in this room that he can try to save. "We have to keep moving," he says quietly, looking around at each of them. "We have to work together, we can't all just run and protect ourselves or one other person. And…when we get to the exit, we wait to see if they make it. We give them 24 hours before we leave the area. Okay?"
A few nod at this, while a few others look a little hesitant to get back out there. But Julian claps his hands as he gets back to his feet. "Well you heard the man," he says, heading over to the door to peek out it to check if the coast is clear. "At least we're in Eleven now, no mutts here."
Zephyr is still just staring at Seraphim, hating even the thought of putting him in a situation even remotely close to danger. But what choice does he have now? "I'm going to save you over anyone else," he tells him honestly, not at all ashamed by that.
"I know," Seraphim says quietly, already feeling guilty just thinking that Zephyr doing that may cause some of them to die… "Let's hope we don't have to do that."
"It looks quiet, we should get moving," Julian tells them, waving at Bez and Juno to help move the table from barricading the door.
With that, the group prepares to keep moving, much smaller than when they first set out. Now they just move in a big group, keeping close to each other, and moving silently as they exit into the Eleven sector. And the robots seem to have gone back to their sector, still programmed to stay in Three, which is a relief to all of them. And Julian is right, no mutts to see in Eleven, but when they hit the border of Eleven and One, they stop as Seraphim shakes his head. "We have to stay absolutely silent," he tells them, making eye contact one by one with them. "There's mutts in here made out of crystals that are blind and rely on hearing. Only weakness is their mouth if they open it."
"Best to avoid them," Zephyr adds with a huff, not liking this at all after having faced them when trying to rescue Farren and Kasada.
"A great invention of Magnus's," Julian says with a small look of pride, while Bez stands next to him, face squinted as she tries to imagine what they might look like. "But very dangerous, yes."
"Everyone understand?" Seraphim asks them and they all give their agreement before slowly entering the One sector.
The most hesitant to go in is Sonya as she sips a little bit of water and clears her throat a little bit, before Cimmer steps up to her and offers her his arm. "Buddy system?" he asks her quietly, fully able to admit how terrified he is right now.
"Sure," Sonya says, taking his arm, but still full of worry. Her lungs are so unhappy with her right now from the running and dust and everything… But she can't be the reason they all get attacked again.
It doesn't take long at all for them to hear the tinkling of crystals and then see some of the mutts, the red lights reflecting off the crystals on their bodies. They wander throughout the hallway, forcing them to move into a single file as they weave around them slowly to not make any noise. A couple times some of them have to stop moving completely as they brush past, holding quiet even as the crystals rip pant legs and cut into them a bit.
Yet they're making progress and as they get past the second launch room, Julian starts picking up his pace as he leads them, hopeful that they're nearly past the sector and the mutts – even he doesn't want to stay near mutts that will attack him for no reason.
And Sonya can feel her lungs starting to burn, that small itch starting in her throat, the need to start coughing. She pulls her shirt up over her mouth and covers it with her arm, clearing her throat as quietly as she can while terrified she's about to get attacked.
But it's not her the makes the sound that alerts them. It's Vulcan looking back to check on her, causing them to accidentally kick one of the mutts when it steps in front of them and they don't see it. The mutts all whip their heads around to look at them, letting out some snarls. "Fuck," they mutter just before the mutts all start running towards them, and they start racing down the hall.
The others are ready to start running as well, but Julian holds up his hand, stopping them in place. They stand there frozen, waiting, listening to the snarls and crystals tinkling as they chase Vulcan down the hall, ignoring them. And then…
"I'm in Nine," Vulcan calls back to them, a little out of breath, but alive, and a few of them let out tiny sighs of relief. "They stopped at the border, still want to get me. I…I'll keep their attention here!"
Julian nods at that and waves them to keep moving, leading them way at a quicker pace, while Vulcan is making as much of a commotion as they can to keep the mutts focused on them instead. Bez can't help the little grin of excitement at how wild and exhilarating this whole thing is, the adrenaline pumping through her, but she stops when Juno cuts her a look. Karter clings to Lobo, still absolutely weary about the mutts ignoring them forever. And Sonya is slowing as Cimmer holds her arm, keeping her moving forward, but she knows that struggle she's feeling. And she doesn't know if she's going to be able to hold it in until they're past the line of mutts staring and snarling at Vulcan.
Slowly the group crosses over the threshold between sectors, and Sonya slows more and more. Cimmer gives her a look, wondering what she's doing, and she can't even let him know what's about to happen. She tries to let go of him and push him aside as she starts coughing, but he holds onto her tight, spinning her out of the way when the mutts turn to them and charge.
"Shit!" Vulcan cries out as they jump back over to grab onto Sonya and pull her to safety, while Cimmer lets out a cry of pain at a mutt tackling his legs, shredding them up and knocking him to the ground. They try to keep attacking him, and they would have succeeded, if some of them didn't act selfless for the first time.
Bez is the first to try and kick one of the mutts back and at her moving, Juno is quick to jump into action – mostly trying to protect her, not Cimmer. And he can get a few shots fired into the mouths of the mutts, giving Bez just enough clearance to pull Cimmer over to safety. Immediately the medic gets to work, going through her bag for bandages and anything to patch him up for the short term, while he whimpers and cries in pain.
Sonya is to the side, coughing as she watches him be worked on and just…confused. "Why did you-" she cuts off for another coughing fit and Vulcan pats her back a little bit. "Why did you do that?"
"W-w-we said the buddy system," Cimmer whimpers and cries out at the medic injecting him with something before she starts spraying over his wounds with temporary bandages. "A-am I going to die?"
"Not if we get you out of here soon," the medic replies quietly and glances over at Julian and Seraphim, able to say with just a look how urgent it is.
Not that Seraphim needed to be told that, he went to med school and he's been working in the Games for years. He's seen injuries, he's good at predicting what people can and won't survive. But just…not used to seeing them up close like this. "We're in Nine now. After this, just Ten and then Twelve has the exit…"
"Oh not Ten," Julian says and the fact that he's the one saying it like that is enough to get everyone worried. "He made his best creations there."
"So we're fucked," Lobo says, angry at this whole scenario as he looks at Karter. "Why even give us the false sense of hope?!"
"They're also the easiest to kill," Seraphim mentions since Julian didn't. "Based on farm animals, just mutated. We're more than halfway through now, we have to push through the last little stretch." They are so close to escaping this hell, they can't stop now.
"We're patched up enough to stop the bleeding temporarily, but he needs full treatment," the medic says, helping Cimmer get back to his feet. And Sonya goes over to him, giving him her arm instead, feeling guilty that he got hurt for her, despite not knowing her.
"We all do," Seraphim says and gestures at his foot, before gesturing around at the injured group. "And we're only going to get that if we reach the hovercraft. Let's go."
The group is slower to continue on through the Nine sector after that, pausing a couple times to let those injured catch their breath or drink some water. And they slow even more as they get closer to Ten and can hear the roars of mutts in there.
"Again, easiest to kill," Seraphim tells them, but his voice lacks any confidence there. None of them seem very confident about this, now that they're facing them.
"What's on the other side?" Juno asks curiously as he checks the ammo remaining in his clip and frowns a bit.
"Twelve, so probably skeletons," Julian offers, which does nothing to reassure them all. "Easier to kill without guns. Use your ammo in Ten."
"So do we just run for it?" Vulcan asks, also checking their ammo and looking at the group. "If we're so close to the exit."
"Probably the best option," Seraphim sighs, knowing he is not going to be able to run through this like the others…
"Don't even get that look," Zephyr says as he turns and offers his back to him. "Get on, it's not a choice."
"Zephyr," Seraphim starts but stops at the look he gives him. He sighs but begrudgingly climbs up on his back, wishing he could protect him in return. "Everyone get ready and then we're going."
The odds of all of them making it through unscathed seem impossibly low, and they all quietly prepare for this last fight, one final push through the arena.
Bez looks at Juno, pumped full of adrenaline and ready for the fight. Yet he wears a somber look, just quietly preparing himself. "Hey, we get out of here, you're mine," she tells him, watching him blink a little bit in surprise at that as he figures out exactly what she meant.
"Me?" Juno asks, still unsure about the feelings he has, and just shakes his head at her. "Focus on getting out alive, Bez, not on me."
"I am focused on that," Bez replies with a huff and puts a hand on her hip. "You're the one looking all depressed right now."
"Alright enough making plans to fuck," Julian says, interrupting them and making Bez laugh as Juno starts sputtering and blushing at that insinuation. "He's still responsible for getting me out alive."
"Of course," Juno replies quietly with a sigh and just gears up for this, still wondering why he is trying so hard to protect him. But of course he knows the answer, the answer is the promise that they will get his sister the treatment she needs if he cooperates.
"Alright, are we ready?" Seraphim asks from where he's on Zephyr's back, the victor holding onto him so tightly. He holds a gun in his hands, ready to protect Zephyr with everything he has. He takes one last look at their group – Bez and Juno, Julian, Vulcan, Sonya and Cimmer, Lobo and Karter, and their medic – and just says a silent prayer that they will all make it through alive. "Let's do this."
And so they start the run, quickly coming across the mutts – all variety of farm animals just mutated into horrifying creations – and opening fire on them, the sound echoing off the walls. But they are easy to kill, just like Seraphim and Julian said, and they all are finally working together. When one person's clip runs out, another person is quick to cover them as they reload. And there starts to be a bit of hope throughout the group that they are going to make it through.
But then they hear the bull roaring.
"Oh fuck me," Julian mutters as the bull is staring down the hallway at them, pawing its hoof on the floor as it blows steam out of its nose. "I am not dying to mutts in here!"
"Everyone shoot it!" Zephyr yells at the ground and they all turn their guns towards it, opening fire at it. But all it seems to do is enrage it further and it lets out a loud roar before it starts charging towards them. Some of them start jumping out of the way, while others keep shooting at it. Yet it just keeps coming and coming at them, out for blood.
The group doesn't have much time to make their choice about what to do with the charging bull, and most of them act selfishly, keeping either themselves or the person they care about safe. But two of them keep shooting at it, even as the others stop to jump out of the way to safety.
Bez and Julian stand side by side shooting, Bez letting out a battle cry as she tries her best to stop it. And that left one other with a difficult decision to make. Juno has always acted selfishly in his best interest, doing the things he did to care for his family. He never really cared about anyone else, and he was fine with that. But against all odds…he's started to care.
And he could have made the choice to get to safety, let the bull tackle Bez and Julian…yet he finds himself jumping forward and pushing both of them out of the way, before letting out a gasp of pain that turns into a scream as the bull gores his stomach with a horn and lifts him up, before throwing him to the side. Juno hits the wall with a heavy thud and gasps for air, while Bez lets out a painful scream at witnessing this happen to him. She doesn't think, just jumps onto the bull and starts stabbing at it over and over again in the neck, blood spraying all over her face yet she doesn't stop. She can't stop, she can't let this thing win by doing that to Juno and living.
Julian was thrown to the ground by Juno shoving him and it takes him a moment to get back up to his feet. And…at seeing Bez barely holding on to that bucking bull as she stabs it, he hurries over to try and pull her off of it. "Get down!" he screams at her before yanking her to the ground, covering her body as the bull stops its thrashing, trying to find where the threat went.
But the threat is all around them now and the others fire off the rest of their ammo into the bull, making it first drop down onto its front knees before finally collapsing to the ground.
As soon as its down, Bez is shoving Julian off of her to scramble over to Juno, desperately putting her hands over his stomach to try and stop the massive amounts of blood pouring out of the wound. "No, no, no, you can't die!" she cries out to him, grabbing his face with her bloody hands to get him to look at her. But his body is already limp, and blank eyes look back at her, and Bez lets out the most guttural scream of anguish at that.
"He's dead, leave him," Julian says as he tries to grab her arm to pull her back, only for her to scream and shove him off. "Bez! Do you want to die too?!"
"NO!" Bez screams at that, refusing to believe that he's dead. Surely they can fix him if they get him to the hospital and out of here. She can save him, she can. She struggles to try and lift him up, stumbling to her feet and only getting a couple steps before she's falling into the wall and he's slipping out of her arms, too much for her to carry. "No, we can save him."
"He's gone, Bez," Seraphim says quietly, just…not prepared to see death like that right in front of him. He holds onto Zephyr a little bit tighter, just…struggling to process it.
And so are some of the others. Even if they were all fighting each other hours ago, it's different now to see Juno die like that. Die protecting them.
"Leave the body, we don't have time to carry it," Julian says harshly as he looks away from Juno, not about to admit the kid had started to grow on him a bit. And…fuck, he understood fighting to save his sister. "Let's go."
"I'm not leaving him," Bez says right back, sobbing as she gets to her feet and grabs his arms, starting to drag his body.
"Then you're going to die here with him!" Julian snaps as he turns back around to look at her. "Is that what you fucking want?!"
"I don't know!" Bez cries out and collapses down to the ground next to Juno, giving up on dragging him because she just can't. She slaps the ground a couple times as she lets out loud sobs of pain. She came here wanting to feel all sorts of colors, but she hates this feeling. "Get me out of here, I don't want this!" she says, grabbing at her hair as she shakes her head at them.
"Get her up," Zephyr instructs the group, and when no one makes a move he speaks louder in a harsh tone, snapping from all the stress and worry about getting Seraphim out of there alive. "Move it!"
At that, Julian makes a move over to Bez, scooping her up in his arms even as she's covered in blood. He only flinches a little bit at Bez screaming and hitting her fist on his chest, just taking a few steps forward and resisting looking back at Juno's body. "Come on."
"Everyone…" Seraphim said as he looks around at the group and lets out a sigh at how broken they all look now. "Keep moving, we're nearly there."
It takes a few moments, but eventually with some urging from Zephyr, they all keep pushing on. Bez still cries loudly in Julian's arms as he carries her out, but soon they have reached the final section, District Twelve. A few skeletons do linger around, but they make quick work of them, unlike that bull they just faced. And when they see the large opening to the hallway leading out of the arena, a few of them let out cries of relief, including Seraphim.
They have renewed energy running down that hallway, the long stretch slowly sloping upwards and leading to freedom. And as that bit of light in the distance grows larger and larger, they're all filled with hope that they're going to make it.
Zephyr runs out first and Seraphim lets out a sob of relief when the last rays of sunshine hit his face, even if he has to squint to see at first. And all of them have similar reactions as they get outside, even Bez's sobs start to slow. Julian gently sets her down as the hum of a hovercraft is heard in the distance, growing loudly until the wind starts blowing on them as it lands near them. Right away, Peacekeepers start running out to help get them on board to safety and to medical treatment.
"Is this all?" the commander asks them as Zephyr refuses to let Seraphim down, making sure he's the one to get him to safety.
"No," Seraphim says firmly, hitting Zephyr's back to stop him for a moment. "We got separated underground, but we're not leaving them. Give them 24 hours to try and get out on their own."
Julian is watching this, a haunted look on his face, covered in blood from mutts and from holding Bez. He could just get on that hovercraft, get patched up, and get back home safely… But he knows what it's like to be given a second chance at life out of the arena. Those tributes stuck in there…they can live if they get out of there alive. Maybe it's the guilt of knowing he was rescued from the arena, maybe it's a little guilt that it's his boyfriend's mutts threatening them… But he stands his ground outside the hovercraft, even as the tributes are hurrying on. "Give me a team to go get them."
"What?" Seraphim asks him, completely shocked at that. This man…he only seemed to care for himself! "Just get on the hovercraft, Julian."
"I'm serious," Julian says and keeps his ground, checking the little ammo left in his gun. "Give me five soldiers and I'll have them back well before that 24 hour deadline."
Seraphim stares at him for a few seconds as the commander is on the radio, no doubt reporting back to the Capitol. And he knows the Capitol is going to tell them to cut their losses, get out now with who they had. And that isn't fair to the group still in there. But they won't let them leave if one of them is still inside. "Go," he tells him, motioning for him to hurry off. "Go!"
Julian nods his head at him and takes off jogging back to the tunnel into the underground, grabbing a sword from Vulcan as he goes. And when the guards notice him leaving, they quickly start heading after him, and the commander swears loudly over the radio. "Damn it, we have orders not to leave him!"
"Then you better make sure he gets out alive," Seraphim says, watching Julian disappear from view and having a bit of a proud smile on his face for him.
Meanwhile, the other group keeps running and running until they get back to the room they first came out of in the Four sector. Chantelle slams the door shut behind them as she lets go of Ardent, letting him collapse to the ground with sobs of anguish. The group all looks around in horror at what just happened to them and being right back where they started.
"Fuck," Farren says, shaking his head as he stands next to Kasada as she hugs herself a little bit. "What do we do now?"
"Let me go back for her!" Ardent screams at the group and Ciana has to hold him back. Tears pour down his face, so much guilt and pain that he couldn't save someone he cares about. Again, he failed to protect someone. "I can save her!"
"She's fucking dead and you know it!" Chantelle snaps at him and puts her hands on her hips as she looks around the room. And then she narrows her eyes at Adonis as she watches him sitting to the side, staring off blanking and with a face full of guilt. "What do you know?"
"What?" Adonis asks, blinking as he focuses on her, before shaking his head a little bit. Could this have been avoided if he had just said something?! "I…I thought I saw something," he admits quietly, refusing to look at any of them. "But I didn't want to be a paranoid idiot if it was nothing. So I didn't say anything and it wasn't nothing!"
The group is silent at that knowledge for a moment, taking varying amounts of time to realize he could have said something to save them. And then Ardent lunges towards him, grabbing the front of his shirt as he shakes him. "She died because of you!"
Adonis cries out at how aggressively Ardent is shaking him and grabs at his arms, trying to get him to let go, before punching his face. That at least gets him to let up and Adonis quickly scrambles back from him and aims his gun at him when he looks like he's going to come after him again. "She died because she was weak, not because of me!"
"Both of you shut up!" Ciana snaps at them, grabbing at her head as she just tries to think but can't with their yelling. "We're stuck in this fucking hell and we're not going to get out if you're both fighting each other! Rhiannon was my friend too," she says, looking at Ardent with tears welling in her eyes and her bottom lip trembling a bit. "I've seen Rhiannon and Shams die in this arena to mutts. I really don't want to do the same thing."
"No fucking way am I dying to these mutts," Chantelle agrees as she rubs her leg a little bit before crossing her arms at them. "Look, between the six of us, we have good odds of surviving."
"Not if those two won't stop bickering," Kasada points out and gestures at Ardent and Adonis.
"What do we do now?" Farren asks the obvious, because they're kind of screwed just sitting here. They have limited ammo, no food, no guard protecting them… "Back to being tributes on our own."
"Hey give yourself some credit," Ciana says and manages a small smile at him. "You made it here, right?"
"Only because of me," Kasada says with a little huff that makes Farren chuckle and ruffle her hair, much to her displeasure.
"Well the arena wasn't completely trying to kill us when we were just tributes," Adonis points out, still holding onto his gun and giving Ardent an apprehensive look. But the man seems to be past the anger now, curled up a bit as he hugs his knees and cries. "This really isn't better."
"Well it will be better when we get out of here alive," Chantelle says and claps her hands before gesturing for them all to get up. "Come on, we're figuring out a way out of here."
"I am not going back there," Ardent hisses at Chantelle and glares up at her before slowly getting to his feet.
"And we don't have to," Ciana tells him, putting a hand on his arm gently. "It's a loop, right? We just have to go the other way."
"Yeah but we don't know what stopped the trolley from getting there," Adonis points out, shaking his head. "Yeah, fuck that."
"Well you don't have a damn choice!" Chantelle snaps at him and rolls her eyes. "Everyone wipe your damn tears, gear up, and lets get the fuck outta here."
"Damn, a woman after my heart," Kasada says, mostly jokingly at her being bossy, and waves her hand at the look Chantelle gives her. "I'm joking, I have a girlfriend back home."
"If only I had a girlfriend back home," Farren says with a wistful sigh, just thinking about home and just…wanting to get back there already. "What a mistake it was to volunteer, huh? Look at this shitty mess we're in now."
"Speak for yourself," Ciana says quietly as Chantelle goes to the door, checking outside for mutts. "Some of us would have been stuck in prison. At least here…we have a shot at freedom."
"It wasn't worth it," Ardent says bitterly, wiping his eyes on his shirt. He's still hurting, and now he doesn't even have a good reason to fight anymore. If he dies…then so be it.
"Everyone stop wallowing in pity, we're moving," Chantelle tells them as she opens up the door, taking charge because clearly no one else was going to do so. And she doesn't wait for them, just starts jogging down the hallway, letting them to decide if they're going to follow or not.
And Adonis is the first to go after her, not wanting to be left behind and trusting her the most to be able to fight right now. Then the siblings are right after him, leaving Ciana to try and motivate Ardent to keep fighting. "Don't give up now," she tells him quietly. "She wouldn't want that for you."
"It doesn't matter what she wants anymore," Ardent spits out and starts after them, leaving Ciana to give one long look in the direction they came from and hope the others get out alright. Then she turns to go after the group, gun raised and ready to fight for her freedom.
None of them know quite how many sectors they need to go through, nor what they're going to find in each. So when they first reach the border of Four and Five, they hesitate and look at Ciana. "Oh don't ask me what they have here," she says, shaking her head at them.
"Well no time like the present to find out, huh?" Farren asks with a shrug, yet he's a big scaredy cat who doesn't make a move to go forward first.
"Oh you're all a bunch of pussies," Kasada says with an eyeroll – mostly directed at her brother – and she takes a step over into the next sector. She turns around to them, holding up her arms to show them she's just fine. "See? All good."
"You say that now," Adonis mutters as he slowly toes the imaginary line before stepping over it with a little leap. But nope, no mutts come running towards him immediately. "Huh."
"Okay great, let's keep going," Chantelle says, walking at a brisk pace into the sector but still staying apprehensive about all of it. All of them are, at varying levels of being terrified, just some are better at not showing it than others.
And as they go through…nothing in Five. Again leading them into that false sense of security, yet this time they're a lot more alert and Adonis is going to speak up if he sees something.
Soon they're at the Five-Eight boundary and pause once more. They stop to listen if they hear anything.
"What do we think?" Kasada asks the group quietly. On the one hand…it seemed safe. But so did the Three section until the mutts showed up.
"Probably should stay quiet…" Ciana says in a whisper, just thinking about it. "We don't know what we're facing…"
They all look over at Ardent, who has been crying this whole time and making no effort to hide it. "What?" he asks and sniffles with a scowl. On the one hand, he doesn't want to hide how he's feeling. Maybe it would get him killed and end this torment. But on the other hand…he doesn't want to get the others killed. "Fine, I'll be quiet."
"Alright, let's do this," Chantelle tells them, leading the group over the line. They walk in a silent brisk jog once more. And as they go, they all start slowly rubbing at their arms, their faces, anywhere with open skin. They blink rapidly, their eyes burning a bit.
"Fuck," Kasada says, slapping at her side that is bandaged up, not understanding why it is hurting so fucking bad. "What's happening?"
"You feel that too?" Ciana asks, rubbing her arms increasingly harder.
"Why am I just burning?!" Adonis asks, scratching all over himself, leaving angry red welts that just make it burn more. "Fuck!"
"There's something in the air!" Chantelle yells and starts running, desperate to get out of that section now that every part of her body exposed to the air feels like it's on fire. At that realization, everyone else starts running after her, no longer caring about being quiet, just desperate for some relief from the pain. And then they reach the trolley, stopped in its tracks and being slowly eaten away by whatever is in the air.
And when they reach that section border, they run right into Seven, not even caring to stop and figure it out. They're not staying a second longer in that section.
"FUCK!" Adonis yells as he is scratching all over his body, now turned red from whatever was in the air. "I still feel it on my shirt, fuck me, get it off!"
"Alright calm down," Ciana says, but she's still scratching herself and feeling so miserable.
"It's in my fucking wound," Kasada complains and takes in a sharp intake in pain as she grabs at her side. "Fuck me."
"Ugh get me out of here," Farren says, flapping at his shirt as if that might help, but nope, still in pain.
"Well anyone remember the sectors?" Chantelle asks them, most of them shrugging. "That's no help."
"All I know is we need to get to Twelve," Ardent says quietly, just standing there wallowing in the pain because he deserves it.
"Well news flash, Seven ain't Twelve," Adonis says and gestures at the wall. "So can we keep moving?!"
"I hate admitting it but for once I agree with him," Chantelle says, causing Adonis to flip her off. "Fine, keep moving then."
And they do, until they start running into a variety of woodland creatures, all foaming and rabid and attacking on sight. They're small, at least, and relatively easy to gun down, but just so many of them.
"That's it, I'm strictly eating meat when I get home because fuck you!" Adonis complains as he shoots at a rapid rabbit running his way.
"This is so fucking stupid, who even designed this?" Ciana complains as she punts a rabbit through the air, taking great joy out of that. "Can we hurry up and get out of here?"
"We sure can," Farren says, not gonna admit he was kind of just viewing it as hunting for sport. "Who wants a nice steak for dinner?!"
"Ugh don't even tease me like that," Kasada tells him, flipping him off for putting that thought in her brain.
But when they can hear gunshots echoing down the hallway in the distance, they slow down. It's a noise that both reassures them and sends a chill down their spine. On the one hand, at least some of the others are still alive. But on the other hand…what are they firing at?
"Are the gunshots getting closer?" Adonis asks, perking up a bit in the hope that he's not imagining that. And seeing the big 2 on the wall has them moving faster to get to the next section. Surely they have to be getting close to being out of there. "Wait, we launched next to Two!" He says excitedly when he realizes this, turning to grin at the others before hurrying forward. "We're almost there!"
"Adonis, wait!" Ciana calls after him as he runs over the borderline and he freezes up when he hears a whirring of fans coming towards him and then gun fire coming in a line towards him from a little drone, making him quickly jump back over into the Seven sector, partially pulled into it by Ciana.
"Fuck!" Adonis shouts as he falls backwards into Ciana, barely being caught by her and Farren. They all stand frozen in shock as they watch the drone scan back and forth, before flying back the opposite direction.
"Oh we are so fucked," Kasada says, throwing up her hands in the air before going over to the wall and hitting her fists on it a few times. They're so fucking close to the end and getting out of there, why did something have to stop them now?!
"I mean…is it only the one?" Farren asks quietly, squinting ahead and just wondering. He turns to Chantelle, since she's at least from Two. "Do you think it's visual?"
"Do I look like I know how military drones function?" Chantelle counters right away and he just shrugs because it was worth at least asking. "No. So we gotta think like Gamemakers."
"Those sick fuckers," Ciana adds and a couple of them vocalize their agreement with her.
"They wouldn't want to kill us all," Ardent speaks up and they all look at him in surprise. "Give us a chance to escape. More interesting for the Capitol watching."
"Absolutely, all about the entertainment," Chantelle agrees while Kasada rolls her eyes at them being used for entertainment like this. "I'd guess motion based from Adonis running in. Could be thermal, but again, not as interesting to the Capitol."
"So how do we get through there without getting killed?" Farren asks, scratching at his arms some more.
"Slowly, and stopping frequently," Chantelle says, but none of them really look thrilled at that suggestion. "Look, would you rather go get mauled by a rapid bunny or get out of this arena?"
The group shares a look before Ciana speaks up. "Get out of the arena," she says and the rest nod their heads in agreement.
"Then lets do it," Chantelle says, not about to wait for them. Not when freedom is so close. She takes a couple slow steps into the section before freezing up, waiting as she can hear the drone on the path back towards her. And when it is in view, she tenses up, almost waiting for the gunfire to start raining on her, but it just scans the area before turning and going back. "Quickly. Few steps at a time, lets go."
And so the group starts the very slow process of going through, taking a few steps, pausing and waiting for the drone to go away, then repeating. It's slow, but when they get to the first launch room they at least feel like they're making progress. They have the flying drones figured out, even if it's slow.
They stop at more gunfire in the distance, sounding much closer now. "Is someone coming?" Ciana whispers to the group, but then in front of them from down the second launch hallway comes a little drone on wheels, spinning around to look at them before heading over to the gunfire. It fires its own shots, combined with the other flying drone, before everything goes quiet again.
"Tributes?" Julian's voice calls down the hallway to them and they all perk up a bit.
"We're here!" Adonis calls back stupidly which makes the little drone on wheels come speeding over towards them. Adonis slaps his hand over his mouth as they watch it aim back and forth, and then the flying drone comes back through again for another pass keeping him frozen in place.
"Okay don't call out like that, but I don't hear gunfire so I'm guessing that means you're still alive," Julian calls out once more. "Look, you got two types of drones in there, one based on sight and one on hearing. Blame District Two, they're crazy there – and yeah, you can tell Zephyr I said that!"
"Great," Kasada mutters under her breath as they stand frozen there for a moment.
"Okay yeah, guess you can't answer me, but just…do your best," Julian says as if that's really helpful. "We have guards here to get you out of here, you just have to get through this."
"No pressure," Chantelle whispers and takes a couple steps forward, then stopping again.
And so they start that dance again, go a few steps, wait, repeat, but this time with a new sense of urgency knowing they are so close to help and escaping. And when they finally come around the bend enough and can see Julian and a handful of guards standing there waiting for them, Ciana can't help the noise of relief that she lets out before it's too late.
Julian knows it too from the look on his face. "RUN!" he yells at them and they don't need to think twice about that. First they can hear the drone on wheels running after them, and then the whirring blades of the flying one.
Then the bullets start ricocheting across the floor as they shoot after them. Chantelle starts zigzagging and the others quickly follow her actions, trying to make as tough of moving targets for them to hit.
And then, just before they're about to cross over out of the sector, a bullet strikes Kasada's back, sending her flying into Farren. He stumbles to catch her, confused at first before immediately tearing up and shaking his head in denial. "No, no, no, Kassie, don't you dare."
"Oh we're not doing this again," Julian says right away. It was hard enough with Juno, but now a brother losing a sister?! No, he's not letting that happen. "Get her up, the hovercraft is just outside. Move!"
"Kassie, please, hang on," Farren says as he scoops her up, looking down at her with teary eyes.
"Fuck that hurt," Kasada mutters as she grimaces in pain and grabs onto the front of his shirt, holding on tight. "How come I keep getting hurt?"
"I don't know," Farren says, shaking his head as he runs after Julian, trying so hard to not jostle her too much. But he can feel warm blood on the front of him from her, and it just makes him move faster.
Behind him, the other four tributes jog after them, various levels of not knowing how to process what just happened. Ciana has the most guilt, since she made the noise that alerted the drone. Adonis looks a little excited to be reaching freedom, before feeling a little guilty that he's excited when Kasada was just shot. And then Chantelle is just dragging Ardent along with her.
When they get outside with the moon rising, Kasada is at least still breathing, but Farren doesn't know just how seriously she was shot. So he just hurries after Julian up the ramp, ignoring the few of the others looking out curiously to see who made it alive. Instead, he just gets her straight back to the medic, setting her down on the table as Julian is rolling up his sleeves before putting pressure on the wound. "You're not losing your sister," he tells Farren as the medic is grabbing a few things. He'll be fucking damned if he makes him experience the earth shaking pain that is losing a sister.
"Get this hovercraft back to the Capitol already."
And thus the time in the arena for the 151st Hunger Games has officially come to an end! Had to be a big Meaty update made meatier by me having the idea halfway through writing to split up the group lol.
Next chapter is the return to the Capitol and reunions with them and their teams, so I'll wait until then when we have confirmation of everyone who has lived to say my piece about the tributes.
Only have the epilogue left to write at the time of posting this, so we're truly in the end game now. Aiming to have an update on Monday before a week off as I go to my one big yearly conference and I am way too busy to even think about this.
See you soon for our reunion!