Though now she lived in the districts, she was capitol born. She knew all of his hardships and never looked at him any differently. She handled him with such gentleness, and kindness. She was a rare bird, His Nightingale. Just like he had been for h...
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Coriolanus knew bombs, and they terrified him. Even as the impact threw him off his feet and tossed him farther into the arena, his arms lifted to cover his head. When he hit the ground, he automatically flattened onto his stomach, one arm bent up to guard his exposed eye and ear.
The first explosion, which seemed to have come from the main entrance, initiated a chain reaction around the whole arena. Running was out of the question. All he could do was cling to the shaking ground, hoping for it to stop. He entered what he and June once nicknamed "bomb time," that surreal period when moments stretched and contracted in ways that seemed to defy science.
Now, lying in the open air, he waited for the interminable "bomb time" to end and wondered how much damage his internal organs were incurring. Realization hit him then. There had been no hovercraft. These bombs had to planted. He could smell smoke, so some of them were probably incendiary.
He pressed his handkerchief over his mouth and nose. Squinting he did his best to see through the dark grey smoke, he searched frantically for Juniper. She laid about fifteen feet away, curled up in a ball, trying to use her fingertips to muffle the sounds, which was the best she could do with the cuffs on. She coughed helplessly.
"June! June! Cover your face! Use the napkin!" he called out.
She didn't look over but must have heard, because she rolled to her side and retrieved it from her pocket. The biscuits and chicken fell to the ground as she pressed the cloth to her face.
Coriolanus began to lift his head as he thought it was all over, when one final explosion in the stands above him demolished what had once been a snack stand, the burning debris rained down on him. Something strucking his head hard, before the heavy weight of a beam landed diagonally across his back, pinning him to the ground.
A distinct burning smell stung his nose, and he quickly realized the beam was on fire. Pulling himself together the best he could, he tried to wriggle free, but the beam was just too heavy. The world began to blur.
"Help!" he cried out.
Similar pleas came from all around him, but he couldn't see through the thick cloud. As the fire began to singed his hair, he tried again to get from underneath the beam, to no avail. A searing pain pierced his neck and shoulders and the horrifying realization that he was going to burn to death set in. He screamed, again and again praying someone would hear him.
"Cori!" He heard a voice screaming his name. He recognized it to be Juniper calling out for him, and slowly he could make out a lone figure rising from the blaze.
"June!" he pleaded in a ragged voice. "Please!"
"Cori!" She yelled once more before running to his side. He could feel her try and lift the beam off of his back, and for a moment the weight was gone, then it slammed down on him again. He could hear her let out an almost agonizing inhuman scream before the beam rose a second time, leaving him just enough room to drag himself out. Helping him to his feet, she slung his arm across her shoulders, and they limped away from the blazing hot flames until they collapsed somewhere in the middle of the arena.
