Sunshine | Finnick Odair

| part 5 |

"Once they dig through those ashes and come up missing eleven bodies, they'll know we escaped. We can get a head start on them at least" I say.

"Any ideas?" Katniss asks.

"Why don't we start by ruling out possibilities" says Finnick. "The street is not a possibility."

"The rooftops are just as bad as the street," says Leeg 1.

"We still might have a chance to withdraw, go back the way we came," says Homes. "But that would mean a failed mission."

"It was never intended for all of us to go forward. You just had the misfortune to be with me." Katniss states.

"Well, We're with you now," says Jackson. "So, we can't stay put. We can't move up. We can't move laterally. I think that just leaves one option."

"Underground," says Gale.

"Okay, then. Let's make it look like we've never been here," Katniss says.

We erase all signs of our stay. Send the empty cans down a trash chute, pocket the full ones for later, flip sofa cushions smeared with blood, wipe traces 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 keep the door from swinging open on contact.

Finally, there's only Peeta to deal with. He plants himself on the sofa, refusing to budge. "I'm not going. I'll either disclose your position or hurt someone else."

"Snow's people will find you," says Finnick.

"Then leave me a pill. I'll only take it if I have to," says Peeta.

"That's not an option. Come along," says Jackson.

"Or you'll what? Shoot me?" asks Peeta.

"We'll knock you out and drag you with us," I tell him "Which will both slow us down and endanger us."

"Stop being noble! I don't care if I die!" He turns to Katniss, pleading now. "Katniss, please. Don't you see, I want to be out of this?"

"We're wasting time. Are you coming voluntarily or do we knock you out?"

Peeta buries his face in his hands for a few moments, then rises to join us.

"Should we free his hands?" asks Leeg 1.

"No!" Peeta growls at her, drawing his cuffs in close to his body.

"No," Katniss echos. "But I want the key." Jackson passes it over without a word.

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A wide ladder with rubber treads on the steps allows for a swift, easy descent into the bowels of the city. We gather at the foot of the ladder, waiting for our eyes to adjust to the dim strips of lights, breathing in the mixture of chemicals, mildew, and sewage.

Pollux, pale and sweaty, reaches out and latches on to Castor's wrist. Like he might fall over if there isn't someone to steady him. "My brother worked down here after he became an Avox," says Castor.

"Took five years before we were able to buy his way up to ground level. Didn't see the sun once."

Peeta turns to Pollux. "Well, then you just became our most valuable asset." Pollux manages a smile. Peeta sounded like his old self, the one who could always think of the right thing to say when nobody else could.

Peeta called it right. Pollux turns out to be worth ten Holos. During the day, its many pods are deactivated, but at night it's a minefield. Pollux knows details that would lead to disaster for a newcomer, like which offshoots might require gas masks or have live wires or rats the size of beavers. He alerts us to the gush of water that sweeps through the sewers periodically, anticipates the time the Avoxes will be changing shifts, leads us into damp, obscure pipes to dodge the nearly silent passage of cargo trains. Most important, he has knowledge of the cameras. There aren't many down in this gloomy, misty place, except in the Transfer. But we keep well out of their way.

After about six hours, fatigue takes over. It's three in the morning, so I figure we still have a few hours before our bodies are discovered missing.

When Katniss suggest we rest, no one objects. Pollux finds a small, warm room humming with machines loaded with levers and dials. He holds up his fingers to indicate we must be gone in four hours. Jackson works out a guard schedule, me first with Katniss after.

It seems as though Pollux is on watch most of the night as he can't sleep down here. If I had been stuck down here for five years I don't think I would sleep either. I wake Katniss up ready for our shift change and make myself comfortable next to Finnick.

Shortly before seven, Pollux wakes me up and moves among the others, rousing them. There are the usual yawns and sighs that accompany waking.

Katniss suddenly hushes the group to get a better read on something. I listen closely to see if I can hear what she is hearing, all I hear is hissing. But it's more like multiple exhalations that form words. A single word. Echoing throughout the tunnels. "Katniss."
Mutts.

850 words