Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
keep drifting to that green sofa. So I say, "Any ideas?"<br />
"Why don't we start by ruling out possibilities," says Finnick. "The street is not a possibility."<br />
"The rooftops are just as bad as the street," says Leeg 1.<br />
"We still might have a chance to withdraw, go back the way we came," says Homes. "But that would mean<br />
a failed mission."<br />
A pang of guilt hits me since I've fabricated said mission. "It was never intended for all of us to go forward.<br />
You just had the misfortune to be with me."<br />
"Well, that's a moot point. We're with you now," says Jackson. "So, we can't stay put. We can't move up.<br />
We can't move laterally. I think that just leaves one option."<br />
"Underground," says Gale.<br />
Underground. Which I hate. Like mines and tunnels and 13. Underground, where I dread dying, which is<br />
stupid because even if I die aboveground, the next thing they'll do is bury me underground anyway.<br />
The Holo can show subterranean as well as street-level pods. I see that when we go underground the<br />
clean, dependable lines of the street plan are interlaced with a twisting, turning mess of tunnels. The pods look<br />
less numerous, though.<br />
Two doors down, a vertical tube connects our row of apartments to the tunnels. To reach the tube<br />
apartment, we will need to squeeze through a maintenance shaft that runs the length of the building. We can<br />
enter the shaft through the back of a closet space on the upper floor.<br />
"Okay, then. Let's make it look like we've never been here," I say. We erase all signs of our stay. Send the<br />
empty cans down a trash chute, pocket the full ones for later, flip sofa cushions smeared with blood, wipe traces<br />
of gel from the tiles. There's no fixing the latch on the front door, but we lock a second bolt, which will at least<br />
keep the door from swinging open on contact.<br />
Finally, there's only Peeta to contend with. He plants himself on the blue sofa, refusing to budge. "I'm not<br />
going. I'll either disclose your position or hurt someone else."<br />
"Snow's people will find you," says Finnick.<br />
"Then leave me a pill. I'll only take it if I have to," says Peeta.<br />
"That's not an option. Come along," says Jackson.<br />
"Or you'll what? Shoot me?" asks Peeta.<br />
"We'll knock you out and drag you with us," says Homes. "Which will both slow us down and endanger us."<br />
"Stop being noble! I don't care if I die!" He turns to me, pleading now. "Katniss, please. Don't you see, I<br />
want to be out of this?"<br />
The trouble is, I do see. Why can't I just let him go? Slip him a pill, pull the trigger? Is it because I care too<br />
much about Peeta or too much about letting Snow win? Have I turned him into a piece in my private Games?<br />
That's despicable, but I'm not sure it's beneath me. If it's true, it would be kindest to kill Peeta here and now. But<br />
for better or worse, I am not motivated by kindness. "We're wasting time. Are you coming voluntarily or do we<br />
knock you out?"<br />
Peeta buries his face in his hands for a few moments, then rises to join us.<br />
"Should we free his hands?" asks Leeg 1.<br />
"No!" Peeta growls at her, drawing his cuffs in close to his body.<br />
"No," I echo. "But I want the key." Jackson passes it over without a word. I slip it into my pants pocket,<br />
where it clicks against the pearl.<br />
When Homes pries open the small metal door to the maintenance shaft, we encounter another problem.<br />
There's no way the insect shells will be able to fit through the narrow passage. Castor and Pollux remove them<br />
and detach emergency backup cameras. Each is the size of a shoe box and probably works about as well.<br />
Messalla can't think of anywhere better to hide the bulky shells, so we end up dumping them in the closet.<br />
Leaving such an easy trail to follow frustrates me, but what else can we do?<br />
Even going single file, holding our packs and gear out to the side, it's a tight fit. We sidestep our way past<br />
the first apartment, and break into the second. In this apartment, one of the bedrooms has a door marked utility<br />
instead of a bathroom. Behind the door is the room with the entrance to the tube.<br />
Messalla frowns at the wide circular cover, for a moment returning to his own fussy world. "It's why no one<br />
ever wants the center unit. Workmen coming and going whenever and no second bath. But the rent's<br />
considerably cheaper." Then he notices Finnick's amused expression and adds, "Never mind."<br />
The tube cover's simple to unlatch. A wide ladder with rubber treads on the steps allows for a swift, easy