Author's Note

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Luminita Summerfield, 17

Luminita wasn't entirely sure what she'd just seen, but right now, she wasn't going to question it. Zephyr had got them out; they could talk about creepy mind control methods later. Assuming that they escaped and could talk about creepy mind control methods.

The further they made it down the staircase, the less alarms were going off, until everything around them stood quietly again, hospital staff moving hurriedly through the halls.

"Do you think we should be taking Iridescence?" asked Vivaldi. His lip had split where he hit his head in the fall, and one side of his face was already turning purple.

"We don't know how many others in here are working with them," said Phoenix.

"It could just be the two–"

"It's never just the two."

Luminita glanced at Zephyr. "Do you know how many there are?"

It was a long shot, but he was good at knowing things.

"No," he replied.

"But you made that woman–"

"I just ordered her. I didn't learn anything about her."

"We are going to talk about what is and isn't useful," Luminita muttered. She'd always preferred to stay in the background, but since becoming Victor, she'd been pushed to the forefront.

"Maybe not now," said Iridescence.

"How'd you know?" whispered Ares, the first thing he'd said since they left Iridescence's room. There was blood pouring through his fingers and staining his jacket an ugly red.

"Zephyr was insistent," Luminita replied.

Iridescence glanced at Zephyr. "How do we know he doesn't set all this stuff up to look good?"

"I don't think he set up a gunman to try and kill you."

"We don't know that! It would have made him right–"

"You're overthinking this," grumbled Phoenix as she shoved Iridescence through the emergency exit.

Marcellina Arnoult, 16

People were pouring from the hospital, screaming and crying. The lights were still flashing on and off on some floors, and the blaring of alarms could be heard even outside.

"Girls, I don't think we should be here," said her dad.

Marcellina shook her head, checking her phone again. "Just– Give it a few more minutes. Please? They might be trying to get out."

Something on a higher floor exploded, erupting into electric white flames. Vapid white smoke trickled into the air.

"I can't see them," said Emeria, squinting through the window.

"Do you think I should call them?"

"No! We might draw attention to them!"

"Then what?"

Her dad had a point, they couldn't just park here hoping the others might come out. People were leaving the hospital, not trying to enter.

"I… don't know," added Emeria.

Her dad started the car. "Right. Why don't we just do a loop around the block and see–"

Marcellina caught a brief glimpse of her friends and fellow survivors, tumbling from around the side of the hospital. "There!"

Emeria flung the door open and their friends piled inside, cramping up on the back bench. Ares and Vivaldi were bleeding, while Iridescence was trembling. Zephyr wasn't wearing his mask for once.

"What happened?" asked Emeria.

"Go," gasped Luminita, flopping back in the seat.

"Go where?" asked Marcellina's dad as he started the car.

"Don't know, don't care as long as it's away from here."

Marcellina looked back at the hospital as they pulled away. There were still people leaving. And smoke.

"Did you guys set the hospital on fire?"

Phoenix Sterling, 13

Vivaldi was bleeding, red blood still pouring from the wound at his hip. So too was Ares, his face pale, his mouth long since having stopped making sounds.

Phoenix patted herself down, but she had nothing to work with. She hadn't thought to bring her bag, and therefore her first aid kid, to the hospital. After all, they were going to be in a hospital. They shouldn't have needed a first aid kid.

Her fingers paused on her belt. She unbuckled it and pulled it off. "Here."

Ares didn't respond. Going into shock, probably. Phoenix looped her belt around his upper arm and pulled it tight. Ares grunted. Iridescence took his hand. "He's losing a lot of blood. Can we take him to one of the other hospitals?"

"Gonna be a lot of people going to the other hospital," Marcellina's dad said sceptically.

"He's been shot! That must encourage some urgency!"

Vivaldi was bleeding too, blood seeping from the wound at his hip. A tourniquet would do no good there, but Phoenix shrugged off her jacket and used it to staunch the wound as best as she could.

"What happened in there?" asked Emeria.

They explained in a jumbled mess while Phoenix checked on Ares and tried desperately to think of anything else she could try. There should be something, anything, but she kept coming up blank. Her focus had all been on quick first aid, not gunshot wounds.

The car whined dangerously around them.

"Zephyr, you can knock it off now," hissed Luminita.

Zephyr, who was busy trying to fix his blindfold back in place, flinched. "I'm not doing anything!"

"You're interfering with the car!"

"I'm not! Or I don't mean no? I'm sorry!"

The car stalled. Frustrated honking exploded around them.

"Zephyr!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I'm sure it's not his fault," said Marcellina's dad.

"No, it really is," replied Iridescence.

"Can you get the car going again?" Vivaldi interrupted.

Marcellina's dad tried again to restart the car. It spluttered a little, and then began to move.

"You see? No harm no foul."

Phoenix glanced at Zephyr. He'd never really known how to use his strange gifts, but that in the hospital was something she'd never seen before.

She wasn't sure she liked it.