FAILURE TO COMPLY ┃ f. odair

3.11 a grand finale and a final hope

Calypso had a plan to destroy the arena, but Beetee had a plan to disguise her plan. As the group gathered together once more, she found her resolve and listened closely, letting him be the voice she needed.

"Where do the Careers feel safest? The jungle?" he asked the younger tributes as if it were a glass and he their teacher.

"The jungle's a nightmare," Johanna said.

"Probably here on the beach," Peeta answered.

"Then why are they not here?"

"Because we are," Johanna spoke up again. "We claimed it."

"And if we left, they would come."

"Or stay hidden in the treeline," Finnick countered Beetee. Calypso watched the older man intently as she tried to figure him out.

"Which in just over four hours will be soaked in water from the ten o'clock wave," he continued. Ah. She understood now.

"Electrocution," she said. Everyone turned their gaze to Calypso as she spoke her first word since the jabberjay incident. Beetee waggled his finger in approval. Within the gesture was a silent understanding of both their intentions. It was not the wet sand they needed or the presence of the other tributes. It was the electricity and the cooperation of their friends.

"Here's what I propose," he stated. "We leave the beach at dusk. We head to the lightning tree. That should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire from the tree to the water. Anyone in the water or on the damp sand will be electrocuted."

While Beetee spoke of his plan, her own was formulating. They leave the beach at dusk, head for the lightning tree. That would draw any non-participants and distractions away. Send someone back to the beach with Katniss to isolate her and take out her tracker. Use the wire to electrify a knife or Calypso's spear and take it to the forcefield. Leave someone behind to deal with Peeta and his tracker. Watch it all come tumbling down.

"How do we know the wire's not going to burn up?" Johanna questioned.

"Because I invented it," Beetee replied confidently. Calypso clasped and unclasped her prosthetic hand. Maybe that was why she trusted him so much. "I assure you, it won't burn up."

Silence passed over them as the fellow tributes exchanged questioning glances, and yet no one spoke up. Calypso thought about trying to convince them further, but she had not a thing to say, and she didn't need to.

"Well, it's better than hunting them down," Johanna remarked, being the first to agree.

"Yeah, why not?" Katniss followed. "If it fails, no harm done anyway, right?"

Harm done. So much harm done. They could not fail.

"Alright, I say we try it," Peeta agreed. Finnick took a glance at his partner, already knowing her unspoken answer. She was all but the driving force of rebellion amongst the victors, and he could sense it brewing within her. This was more than just a plan to kill.

"So what can we do to help?" he asked, but he did not turn his head from her. Calypso sensed his stare and returned it as Beetee spoke once more.

"Keep me alive for the next six hours. That would be extremely helpful."

-

Six hours was somehow a long time. Calypso found her words and briefed her friends on what was going to go down as best she could without revealing it to all the cameras and people of Panem watching. Everyone had their parts to play, and she could only hope that she did them well.