The New Games: A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 35: Where to Go

Chapter 35:

The room is completely silent until the faint buzz of the emergency lights are heard. I grab onto Talon's arm, stepping closer to him. As the lights slowly turn on, the room becomes a shade of red.

"Red? What's red?" the girl asks.

"What?" I say.

"The lights," she says. "different colors mean different things."

"Right, like white means it was just a simple power outage, blue means lockdown, green means someone's hurt." Hunter explains. "They can also just control lights in one individual room."

"They?" I ask. "Who's they?"

"You didn't think we we're the only ones in this place did you?" Luke asks.

I just shrug.

"There are about ten different buildings in this place, seven of them are underground." He says. "Tributes live here."

Talon and I look at each other.

"There is more than one person that makes it out alive in every game, Kamela."

"But-" I stutter

"They're dead to the world so they hide here." Luke says. "They can't be found and neither can we."

I million more questions race through my mind, but before I can even open my mouth to answer one of them, Luke is already dragging us out to a different room. He looks through drawers and shelves, on posters on the wall and in bookcases we pass along the way to wherever he's leading us.

"What are you looking for?" I ask.

"Red." he says. "What red means."

"They never told you?"

"Nope. They failed to do that."

"Then it can't be that important."

"I sure hope so." he mutters

We come to another lobby, red from the lights as every other room is. One wall is covered almost top to bottom with windows and doors, this must be the main entrance. Hunter jumps over the main desk and starts looking for some information. Talon leaves my side to help.

Just then the wall of windows shatter and a strong force knocks me to the ground. I cover my face and head. My ears are ringing and I open my eyes to see blurs. A figure runs toward me and grabs me in its arms.

"Kamela!" A muffled voice says.

I try to speak back but I'm not sure if they understand me. Slowly my vision clears and I see Talon above me. The ringing quiets, but it's still there.

"Talon?" I ask.

"Yeah, yeah." he says. "It's me, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I say sitting up."My ears are just ringing and a headache."

"Okay, you'll be okay." he assures me.

"Got it!" Hunter yells. "Red..." He scans down a paper. "If a red light appears.." He mumbles the rest to himself.

His face changes from happy to fearful and I know this can't be good. He looks up at us after he finishes.

"They're here." he says. "The Capitol."

As if almost on cue, a huge blast sends whatever was left of the glass wall flying toward the back of the room. Talon grabs me, taking cover under the front desk.

"Go! Go!" Luke yells, motioning behind the desk to a hallway. "Left and down! Follow the arrows!"

Hunter leads with Talon and I directly behind, the girl follows with Luke at the rear.