Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
District Twelve Female: Calida Blackwell, 17
"Okay, there's a rotating blade right here," Marcellus called back.
"How far in?" asked Cali.
These kids, with the exception of Micah and Amarine, were all older than those she taught. But the manner of thinking was all the same. And the more information they gathered, the more likely it was that they'd all get out alive.
Cali only hoped those others from District Twelve were alright. She knew of all of them, even if they'd never been friends, or even part of her family group. District Twelve was small enough that most there could recognise faces even if they never knew names. They weren't among the fallen, so hopefully they were staying safe.
"Ummmm… Maybe three feet? Four at most? I crawled in and it's right in front of me."
God, Cali wished she had some way of writing all this down.
"Rotating blade. Gotcha," said Jarrod.
"Looks like there's a good gap between rotations. We should be able to pass directly after a rotation." He must have been waiting for the right time to do so, because there was a long gap before he crawled forward and vanished further into the darkness.
"Now there's spikes in the floor. I'm not sure whether there's a way to make them unspike; I'm just going to crawl straight over them I think."
"You've got time to look for an off-switch–" Cali said, but he was already moving again, his feet and arse disappearing further into the tunnel. His muttered curses echoed back to them.
"The spikes go on for a minute!" He called back.
"If one of us takes off our jacket, the next person to go through could lay it over them as padding," said Amarine.
Cali gave her a nod. "That's a good plan. We should still look for some kind of off-switch too though. There might be something."
This was meant to be a challenge, not a torture device.
"I'd save your jackets!" Marcellus shouted back, his voice echoing down the metal tunnel. "There's a ton of barbed wire here! All up the walls and ceiling!"
"You know, this sounds painful and all, but I was expecting it to be a bit more deadly," said Amarine.
"Don't jinx it," muttered Jarrod.
District Two Male, Alexios Macedon, 18
There probably weren't many ways to kill in this one. Not unless they ran into another tribute in the tunnels. Or…
"So who's going first?" asked Arika.
Alexios exchanged a look with Aelianna. They weren't going to die in here; it wouldn't be forever.
"Race you to the other end?" he said.
Aelianna caught his wink. "Oh, you're so on."
"Shouldn't we make more of a plan?" asked Arika as the two of them crouched at the entrances to two of the tunnels.
"This is the plan," replied Alexios, raising his hand for Aelianna. "Three."
"But you have no idea what's down there," protested Arika.
Aelianna raised her own hand in reply. "Two."
"You could be going straight into a trap!"
"One!"
Aelianna had the headstart, she was smaller and could fit through the hatch easier, while Alexios took longer to get himself through. Or made it look that way, anyway, hunching his shoulders and wriggling through the entrance.
From there, they'd have to slow down. Cause a delay, and those at the back would never make it in two hours. Even better if these tunnels linked up further along. They'd only be sabotaging a few, but they couldn't make it too obvious. Not yet.
According to the schematics, there should have been a spinning blade at the entrance, but it must have been disabled for him, as it never went through. The spikes further along had been retracted too, but there was nothing to be done about the barbed wire. Next was a section that was meant to be hot, but that must have been turned off, and then a part where certain tiles would collapse if they had weight applied. That must have been switched off too.
"How's it looking?" called Freya.
"Not so bad!" Alexios replied, and then regretted his words.
They needed to get her through this alive. Or as much as they could. But if they told her what was down this tunnel, they'd be telling Arika, Tristan, Prophecy too. Alexios wasn't sure that would be an entirely bad thing, but they were meant to be disadvantaging them.
Unless the Gamemakers would just turn things off for her too.
"Just watch out for the blade when you come in! Don't get yourself decapitated!" He rapped his hand against the tunnel and lowered his voice. "I know you must have microphones in this thing. Any chance of some help for Freya too?"
Something flashed red above him..
They'd heard him.
Whether they'd agree was a different matter.
District Eleven Male, Bakula Kalanit, 12
Saigon died because they separated. Parting their alliance now felt stupid, but the vote had split them in two.
After some debate, it was decided that Rhea and Greg would be staying with him, while Cash and Kai would go with Toshiro. Bakula hated the thought that there was a good chance they'd never see each other again. Because that was what happened when they separated. None of them were as important as Saigon, but that didn't mean they deserved to die.
His group had chosen the tunnel directly opposite the door, while Toshiro took the one to the right.
Two hours to get to the other side.
Bakula crawled first into the tunnel, jumping at the sharp beep that rang out upon his entrance. His heart thumped. He reached out to check the area ahead of him. Nothing that felt like it would hurt him. But the moment he moved, a blade dropped from the ceiling and disappeared through the floor.
"Okay, there's definitely traps in here," Toshiro called from the other tunnel.
"Yeah, no shit," muttered Bakula as he continued forward.
Saigon had died. Bakula left him behind and he died. But that meant he had to live for the both of them.
Which meant no dying to whatever Capitol fuckery was going on in this tunnel.
Oh, and finding the bitch from Eight,
He made it another few feet before spikes began cutting into his hands. Blood welled along the lacerations. Bakula grunted and drew back.
"What's going on?" called Greg.
"Spikes in the floor." Bakula patted at the walls, feeling for anything that might retract the spikes. He found a tile that compressed under his hand. The spikes clicked and retreated into the floor.
"There's a tile you press to get rid of them!"
Cash relayed the information to Toshiro while Bakula continued down the tunnel. It was a tight space, with maybe an inch either side of him and less above his head. Something caught in his hair and scraped through it. Bakula reached up, only to get a handful of barbed wire. Damn. Carefully, he untangled his fingers the way Saigon had once taught him and pulled his sleeve over his hand. Was this tunnel just meant to chop him up?
He hunched in on himself as much as he could, though the wire still tore his jacket open in several places before he reached the end, where he found the tiles heating beneath him. He hissed.
"Toshiro says it's hot!" shouted Rhea.
"Yeah, thanks!" Bakula shot back, attempting to double his sleeves over his hands to protect them, with little success.
"Can you see where the red line is?" shouted Greg.
"Not yet!"
He needed to move a bit faster. This tunnel was longer than he'd expected, and Rhea and Greg still needed to get through behind him.
District Twelve Male, Greg Reagis, 13
This wasn't as bad as the water thing. Greg had never been down the mines back home, but he imagined this was just like it. Except with more pointy things. Or maybe less, depending on who you asked. Greg hurried through the tunnel, keeping himself huddled as much as he could.
"There's a gap coming up ahead!" called Bakula. He was so far ahead now that his voice echoed around the tunnel and distorted some of his words. Greg finished dragging himself past the barbed wire and winced as the suddenly burning hot metal beneath him seared the fingers of his right hand. He wrenched it away, cradling it against his chest, but there was nowhere here to protect it from the heat.
Still better than the water.
He forced himself onwards, trying to press his hands to the walls instead of the floor, though even that was warm and he couldn't touch it for too long. He had to strain to avoid going face-first into the hot tile.
Bakula was pulling further and further ahead as Greg struggled over the hot tile, letting out a breath of relief as he reached the end. As he set his hand down, however, the tile buckled beneath him, swinging open and plunging him elbow-deep in a tank of ice. Greg yelled and pulled it out.
"Watch out for the sections that collapse!" Bakula shouted back.
"Yeah, thanks!" Greg rubbed his hand against his pants, attempting to work feeling back into his fingers. "How many are there?"
"Dunno! But you can see which ones'll collapse by the little latches!"
Greg squinted at the tiles beneath him. He could just about see the latches, but checking each section for those was going to be a pain.
"Do I have to?"
"Some of 'em are full of spikes, so I'd say so! Or at least check them before you push on them!"
That would be easier. It did slow him down, but Rhea was gonna trail anyway. Greg pressed on each of the tiles before crawling forward over them. Some opened, some didn't.
He still preferred this tunnel to the water tank.
District Two Female, Freya Slate Harmon, 15
"I've hit the red line!" called Alexios. A moment later, the same shout came from Aelianna. They had been close together then.
"Who's next?" Aelianna yelled back.
The four of them still in the room exchanged looks.
"One of us should go," Arika said, indicating herself and Tristan. "So we both end up using the same one."
Freya looked at Prophecy. "Fair. Who's first then, me or you?"
Beside them, Arika and Tristan were playing rock paper scissors to make the decision. Freya indicated them and then held her hand out.
Prophecy scowled. "That's a stupid idea. You go."
"Are you sure?"
"Go."
Freya shrugged and crawled into the tunnel, slowly at first to be mindful of the blade Alexios said was there. It never came cutting down. She continued onwards, hurrying as much as she could. "Is this thing really just a tunnel?"
"Mind out for the traps! There'll be barbed wire coming up!"
Still, Freya might have expected something a little more dangerous. This was surprisingly easy. Even the barbed wire would only scratch and cut her.
"How you doing?" shouted Alexios.
"Well, I think?" she replied. This wasn't even challenging. She'd pushed herself and pushed herself to be the best she could and this was what the Capitol wanted her to do? Someone must be getting off on this.
"Keep going! There's gonna be some rollers in the floor with spikes, like the gauntlet back home, but they're not turning! Then I'm coming up on a corner right now!"
"Do you want to wait for me?"
"Yeah, might be best! We're in no rush yet!"
District Seven Female, Adrianna Orita, 17
She called back to Terro and Meredith as she called, explaining the traps. So far, nothing except the rotating blade and maybe the heated tiles would be deadly.
Adrianna gritted her teeth.
She didn't regret this. Her being here meant Iris wasn't here.
But it still felt cruel. Most of District Seven had nothing to do with the hacking that saw so many Capitol kids dead. They didn't deserve to be punished for it.
Past the heated tiles was a section that collapsed when she put weight in certain places, revealing blades and spikes below. Adrianna's hand slipped into one as she leant on it at the wrong time, slicing her fingers open.
"I can see the red line ahead!" she shouted. That meant it would maybe take each tribute ten minutes, or a little more, if they were being careful as they went.
There had to be something more to this. There was two hours for each tribute to get to the other entrance; the audience wouldn't want it done in only twenty minutes.
She stopped to look back at the others under her arm. "I don't think the tunnels are the end of whatever this is! We need to be prepared!"
"Prepared for what?" shouted Terro.
"Not sure yet! But there must be something else!"
A smarter trap, or mutts, or a forced collision.
There would be something.
Adrianna didn't trust this empty tunnel.
