The Runaway Victor | Book II

Chapter Fourteen | Firebombs

"If we turned ourselves in..." Jules said as the group of them sat completely still.

Marcus was completely tearing at the seams. As he worded himself, half of him wanted to go back-- like it was a suicide mission from that point on without Ciruss and his brother Wade. But the other half of him knew going back was more dangerous than if they kept going.

"They would kill us. We are the enemy." Jules added, looking at Marcus. For the first time Quinn saw a glint of actual sympathy in Jules' eyes and heard it in her voice.

Marcus sighed, slouching against the tree. He didn't look at Jules, simply at the gun he had across his lap then up at Orion for a moment. It hadn't really struck Quinn how important Orion was to the group, he was smarter than the Capitol had always made him out to be. He was the leader of the group and without him, they'd fall apart and not have an idea of what to do.

"Now what?" Marcus asked, and Orion sighed heavily. By the look on his face, he was beyond frustrated with what they had all just been through-- with the two members they had just lost.

"We should rest for a bit," he replied as he pulled his backpack onto his lap and yanked it open. He pulled out one of the extra hand guns, identical to the ones that Peacekeepers had. He handed one to Quinn and then pulled out one for himself. "And try to figure out what to do next."

"Do we have water?"

They were all quiet, "Empty canteen, that's it." Jules replied.

"I'll go look for water," Quinn sighed, "There were so many ponds back there, there has to be more."

Besides the fact that she was thirsty, she wanted space. Space to think, even though she knew that was a horrible idea. The last thing she needed was to begin feeling like shit because Ciruss had been trapped with Wade in District Seven. And they were probably both dead by that point too. Poor Ciruss, the odds had never been in his favour. And he of all people deserved the odds to be in his favour now.

Quinn pulled her backpack onto her shoulders, and then pushed herself up off the ground. A sudden chill froze her in her spot, for a moment she could have sworn that she was back in the arena. Leaving Fiona while with a horrible fever. Everything seemed the same, they had almost died, and there she was trying to get off on her own.

"I'll come with you," Orion said as he pulled on his backpack too.

"You don't need to. I can handle myself just fine, thanks."

"Sure you could." he sighed, a bit of arrogance revealing itself. "You guys keep an eye on your map. But we shouldn't go that far."

The other two nodded, and both seemed to relax a bit more. Then with that Orion and Quinn began to walk away, the sound of the ground beneath her feet was too familiar. Just the sound of it, and the familiar feeling of having a backpack on made her heart pound against her ribs and her breathing seemed to be more difficult too. Everything about the games was too vivid still, and that was why she hated not having any matches. The morphling mixed with the whiskey helped fog up those memories, they helped make the games seem more like a nightmare than a reality. And there she was, on the run from the Capitol, without morphling and very little whiskey-- and the memories flooding back more vividly than ever.

"I know I'm not...Finnick or anyone, but if you wanted to talk about the games..." Orion said, his low voice snapping her out of her thoughts. "From what I can tell, that's helped some other Victors. Talking about it I mean."

"There's nothing to talk about." Quinn said sharply, "They're over with."

"No they aren't," he replied. "If they were, you wouldn't be such a mess."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Gee, thanks for that." her tone dripped with sarcasm like it had whenever she spoke with Finnick about something. "But...besides that, I don't think you'd understand."

He raised an eyebrow, "Try me."

Quinn sighed, "Alright..." she sighed, "Now that I've been able to think about the games," she started, "It wasn't dying that scared me, it was the idea of the people I cared about seeing me die for the entertainment of the Capitol; and the idea of someone else's family watching them die because I killed them."

"It's good that you feel so bad," he started, "It means you care."

Quinn scoffed, "Caring isn't going to end the games."

"It's a start though," he replied. "Think about it, if enough people cared as much as you do, big things would happen."

Quinn scowled, "What makes me so special? I just don't get it...I mean, I sort of do. But not really."

"Before you came along, nobody would do anything against the Games--"

"But I didn't! I killed two tributes. I'm not some...revolutionary that everyone is making me out to be." Quinn said, a bit of desperation in her voice as she looked up at Orion waiting for some sort of explanation.

"You're not some revolutionary, Quinn. You aren't someone that anyone is expecting to lead anything-- everyone knows you have a temper that just gets you in trouble." he explained, "You're the Rebel's Victor-- you have kept rebelling even though everything has gone to shit for you. You haven't let the Capitol stomp you out, and that's what the Districts like about you. An orphan from Four has basically told my grandpa to fuck off. That's why people like you, you give them hope that they can do something."

"But Orion, having them rebel is just getting them killed." Quinn replied as his words sunk in. And began to make sense. "The Capitol is too strong--"

"Don't say that." he said quickly, "If you can make such a big problem for my grandpa, imagine what could happen if someone came along and began the real revolution?" he asked.

"The real revolution?" she echoed, "Everything that's going on know, what is that?"

"The beginning. Think of it like the Dark Days. It started with a ton of people deciding to change things." he began, "Then District Thirteen rose up and took control. You were like a recruiter for whoever is going to lead the revolution. Because they won't be able to do in on their own I bet..."

"I bet you could lead it." Quinn said casually.

He scoffed, "Nah, I'd rather not have people getting killed just for saying my name."

"But you seem like a good leader."

He shrugged, "In a way I'm on the same boat as you, neither of us can actually lead it. But we can help along the way." he said, "I couldn't lead it. I know that."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Orion." Quinn said, and then as she opened her mouth to say something else the earth beneath their feet shook. Almost like the earthquake in the arena.

Suddenly the sound of Jules and Marcus calling for the two of them as there was another small earthquake. Jules and Marcus emerged from the trees, running towards them. Panic was painted across their faces.

"Run! They're dropping firebombs!" Marcus shouted just as a Capitol ship flew above the trees. Turning to go back in the other direction it had come to drop more firebombs.

Quinn didn't need to be told twice to start running. She didn't think it was possible, but she ran faster than she had from the peacekeepers. Probably as fast as she had run to the cornucopia when there was a chance that she could be blown to bits. As they ran, a Capitol ship flew through the sky, it's wind practically made the top half of the trees to bend in half. Then as it swooped around again, they could hear the moment a bomb connected with the ground and feel the quake it caused.

The four of them ran and ran and ran, but they continued to hear and feel each bomb striking the ground behind them. Eventually they could even smell the smoke that was coming from the burning trees behind them.