FIFTY SEVEN

THE TUNNELS

Bobby, Jamie, Finnick and Talia were the only members of Squad 589 left. They had spent the night in the abandoned Capitol apartment, taking it in turns to sit at the window and keep an eye on the street below. Talia and Finnick, when they both had the chance to sleep, had curled up against each other on the sofa, holding each other close. Finnick's head was still thundering, but Jamie had found painkillers in the bathroom, so Finnick had taken some of those. Jamie was the only member unscathed physically by the events of the day. Though, his mind flashed with images of the dead when he closed his eyes. He didn't sleep well, none of them did.

"We ready?" Jamie asks, he had the holo in his hands, the map of the rest of the way was lit up.

"I don't think we should be on the streets," Bobby says, "I get that you want to get to Snow, but Katniss is dead. Peeta is dead. Their team is dead, and they had better soldiers than we did,"

Talia considers his words. He wasn't wrong. "Is there another way in? Bobby, you've been scanning with your tablet daily, did you see any alternate pathways?"

"Theres sewers, they run all the way through the Capitol, the holo doesn't track underground, and my tablet was destroyed in the explosions...We could go down there and use a compass, but we wouldn't have much else," Bobby explains. Talia looks to Finnick.

"What do you think?" She asks.

Finnick looks at Bobby and then at Jamie. Jamie was planning a route by foot above ground using the holo.

"I think that you should be in charge," Finnick says, his voice was sharp. Tension filled the air. Jamie met Finnick's eyes and then he looks to Talia and back.

"She gave me the holo," Jamie says, voice calm.

"Her name is Talia," Finnick says, "And she is the Pearl of Panem. Give her the damn holo,"

Jamie's grip on the device tightens for a moment, as if Finnick might snatch it from his hands. Finnick was acting strange, but Talia understood. He wanted to protect her, he wanted her to be in charge. Jamie holds out the device. Talia takes it between her hands and looks at the map.

"I think its too dangerous to travel above ground with so many injuries, what with Bobby's leg and my ankle,  we're pretty much dead people walking," Talia frowns, "Bobby, do you know where we could get access to the sewers?"

"There are manholes on the roads, they lead straight down," Bobby says, "I reckon some may be hiding pods though, so we have to be careful,"

Talia nods, she looks at Jamie, "Will you take point?"

Jamie nods. He stands up and slings the sniper rifle over his back. Finnick collects his backpack and then helps Bobby stand. "Think you can walk?"

Bobby tries it out, he's shaky and slow but manages.

Talia clips her bag on and checks her weapons. Her ankle felt a lot better after a resting it, and a cold compress of frozen goods from the Capitol apartment had definitely aided the healing process.

"Squad 589 are you ready?" Talia asks.

They all nod once before saluting her with their usual three fingers. Jamie leads the way out the building, Finnick stays in the middle with Bobby, acting as a support and a shield. Talia takes the rear, her pistol in one hand, kukri in the other. Jamie holds the holo, using it as a guide. He checks ahead, looking for Peacekeepers. Its clear. They run to the street and Finnick and Jamie open the manhole cover, shining flashlights down. Bobby throws a piece of debris down, attempting to set off any traps.

"Seems clear," Bobby shrugs.

"I'll go first," Jamie says, he hands Talia the holo and then slowly eases himself inside the tunnel. He shines the flashlight either way inside and then signals that its clear. Bobby follows him down, then Finnick and finally Talia.

They all hold flashlights as they make their way along the sewer tunnel. Eventually they find their way to the end of it, where it conjoins with more tunnels. Bobby uses his compass to steer them in the correct direction. Hours are spent moving through the tunnels, its slow work especially when 3/4 of the group are injured.

"Theres noise ahead," Jamie says quietly. Theres a skittering noise deeper in the tunnels. The group stop moving, listening to the strange sound. More movement ahead, and then echoing through the tunnels, a guttural screech. Then screaming. Human screams.

Talia and Jamie share a worried glance. Talia forces the holo into Bobby's hands, "Finnick stay here with Bobby,"

"Talia I—"

"Stay here," She orders, before tugging Jamie's arm and leading him through the tunnels. They run as fast as they can with Talia's ankle.

They rush out into a larger, round room with a ladder in the centre and just as they are about to rush along the metal grated floor, the sounds of pounding footsteps can be heard.

Katniss Everdeen and her squad rush into the room. Talia blinks in confusion.

"You're alive?" She stammers.

Before anyone can answer her, the source of the animalistic noise appears. A reptilian creature, a few of them actually, scuttle into the room, they're pure white, their heads domed. They don't seem to have eyes, and have slits for ears and for noses. They're tall and have clawed hands and feet, and their shriek is ear-piercing. Katniss fires an arrow into the chest of one of them. Talia grabs her pistol and aims forwards, right over Gale's shoulder and shoots. The mutt falls into the sewer water below. Gale nods in thanks as he reloads his crossbow.

"Theres more, lots more," Gale says, "They're all in the sewers,"

"Finnick and Bobby-"

"On it," Jamie nods, rushing off the way they came.

Talia, Gale and Katniss ready themselves. Peeta Mellark shoved in a corner, his hands cuffed together. The remainders of Katniss's group fill in the room. The mutts yowl as their clawed feet pound through the tunnels. Talia unsheathes her kukri with her spare hand just as the first mutt breaches the room.

The gunshot made Bobby jump. Finnick squeezed his hand into a fist, he wanted to keep moving but Bobby's injury was stopping that from happening. There was more noise, coming from behind them, the same strange shuffling and weird clicking noises. Finnick clicks his trident into place.

"Finnick!" Jamie calls.

"Jamie? Whats happening?"

"Weird mutts down here, Katniss and her squad are alive, we've gotta move, and fast, the mutts are everywhere," Jamie explains. Finnick looks at Bobby.

"You're not gonna like this, but you're gonna have to hold on as tightly as possible," Finnick says. He crouches down in front of Bobby and the boy climbs into his back, legs gripping around Finnick's waist. Finnick holds his trident steady while supporting Bobby and begins following after Jamie. More gunshots now, but they were getting louder as they edged closer to the others.

They reached the circular room just as Talia stabbed her kukri into the head of one of the creatures before kicking it away into the water. Everyone else was engaged in a fight. Finnick pushed through the mess and shoved Bobby towards the ladder.

"Get moving," He orders, before turning and swinging his trident into the nearest mutt. Slowly, the rest of the group begins making their way up the ladder, but the mutts don't stop coming. Jamie climbs up the ladder and Talia makes a run for them. Finnick nods, swinging his trident into more of the mutts. His backpack his grabbed by one of them and he is flung under the water, three mutts jump onto him. Talia shoots them, drawing their attention from her husband. She looks up at Katniss, who was desperately begging them to hurry up and get out. Gale was trying to get her to keep moving.

Talia aims and fires, the last of the three mutts that attacked Finnick drops into the water. Finnick resurfaces and inhales deeply. He begins clambering towards Talia. She crouches and extends her hand to him. Just as their fingers connect a loud screech sounds behind her and she turns, aiming, but its too fast. It swipes the gun from her hand and then hits her. She falls into the water, her twisted ankle tangling in something within the murkiness.

She can't breathe, she's trying to pull herself up but her ankle-

"Talia!" She hears followed by the sound of metal clangs. Then hands are grabbing her and pulling her up. Finnick cuts whatever is trapping her foot and he pulls her up. Mutts are everywhere, circling them now. Then one jumps forwards and bites down hard on Finnick's back. He screams in pain and can't help it as he drops Talia into the water. She scrambles up, but her guns are gone and so are her kukri's. They're hopeless. She wades forwards quickly in the water, looking up the ladder at Katniss.

"Do it!" She yells, "Katniss, please!"

Katniss looks at her with apprehension. She looks at the device in her hands and then down at Talia. Finnick's yelps can be heard behind her. Thats when the mutt grabs her arm and drags her under. Talia resurfaces, gagging for air, she reaches for her pocket and takes the pill into her fingers. Finnick, stubborn as ever, hits the pill from her hands as he breaks free of the mutts grasp. He tries to drag her towards the ladders, his blood seeping from his back and into the water. Then he hears Katniss, above, uttering the words. He swings Talia round in his arms and covers her mouth and nose with his hand, plunging her into the water and facing his back towards the ladder before falling below the water too. Then all he feels is fire.

___________________

👁👄👁

this is what y'all get for hating on my character
just kidding...unless...?

~cupidlies
❤️