LEGENDS ▹ the hunger games au

xv

REUNION

DAYS IN THE ARENA :
II

BEFORE she could respond, the cannon fired again.

The humming started all at once, screaming now. The ground shook, rocks fell, and the two swooped around just in time to see the entirety of the Career Pack standing across from them — Minerva, Midas, Valour, Neve, and Blitz who was pulling a spear out of a small tribute's stomach.

The body fell. And Will screamed.

It was the little boy from Six.

Aero. The six year old from Six. His name was Aero. A little boy with bright red hair and tons of freckles who just had his sixth birthday last week. If the unthinkable had happened, it was him she had wanted to win. But now he was dead before he hit the ground, a flood of blood leaking from the puncture in his stomach. Dead and gone.

Each horrified, Cal had gone rigid and Will stumbled back looking at the Careers' faces, grinning and snarling, two sure kills across them. They were no match for the entire Career Pack. Two against five were not even odds. In a flash, Valour was releasing a terrifying bellow as she slung back and then hurled an axe their way. Cal forced Will down, barely managing to duck before he grabbed her hand and yanked.

"Run!"

She forced her body into desperate movement, limbs feeling useless, numb with terror, numb with grief for the boy from Six, the one she tried to save.

Their bodies slammed into walls and each other while they tried to navigate their way through the darkness.

They sprinted through the tunnels, turning right and left, begging to find an exit at some point within the underground maze.

The Careers' laughter hooted and cackled in the narrowing distance that was between them. They were closing in, just like a pack of wild dogs, and Will cursed being underground for there was no tree to climb to save her like so many other times in her childhood.

But then Cal cried, "A ladder, up ahead!" He motioned her forward, "Up you go!"

Will went first, slinging her bow over her back as she leapt up and began the steep ascent. Cal was just behind, and by the time the Careers reached the base of the ladder, they were already twenty feet up. Like a squirrel, Will scurried up the rusting bars of the ladder. The bars creaked and whined, threatening to give way at any moment.

Will's hands shook when she began twisting the wheel at the top of the hatch, palms sweaty, slipping as she tried to hurry. Cal didn't rush her, but she could tell he was panicking as he kept glancing down, thrusting his trident when he got a good shot. The bright grey sky beamed down at them through the window in the bunker, egging her on, demanding she go faster. As soon as she worked the hatch free, Will threw herself into the light and reached to pull Cal up after her. Together, they tumbled out onto what appeared to be a beach, rolling in the black sand before they roughly shoved themselves upward.

"Don't stop—,"

With the mountain at their backs and beyond the lake in the distance, was what little remained of a cityscape. But until they reached those buildings, there was only a massive plain of black sand. No way to lose their pursuers. No place to get cover. An endless battlefield. The city was their only chance.