Defenders of Panem (Being Rewritten)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When we get to the lighthouse, we have to take a moment to try and wipe the sand off each other. It's not very effective. Dath pulls open the creaky, paint chipped door. "Ladies first." He says with a slight bow. Of course the girl has to go into the creepy dark lighthouse before the guy, typical. I glare at him as I walk through the door, him following close behind. I can hear him snickering.

Sun rays force their way inside through the cracks in the walls and provide us with enough light to move around. We walk to the far corner and retrieve our weapons from behind the stained and dusty red plush chair that is nestled beside a lone bookcase. Dath retrieves his trident from behind the chair, and I move the cushion to retrieve my collection of throwing knives. Why the weapons? There is no communication with Rebels outside our designated safe zones, and we'd rather not walk into a trap if the zone has been compromised by Peacekeepers or Capitol soldiers.

"Ready?" Dath asks, spinning his trident around a few times.

"Yeah." I double check my knives on my vest, sure to keep my hands on one. We walk to the opposite side of the room. Moving the area rug to reveal a trapdoor. Dath pulls on the door, and I begin the descent down the spiral staircase. We barely get to the bottom when a flash of color puts us into defensive positions.

Two knives are out and ready to be thrown, and I can see Dath's trident raised at the ready. My eyes adjust to the dark enough to see our assailant. I make out the glint of an arrow pulled back on a bowstring, aimed right at Dath's heart. The lighting is poor, but our opponent doesn't appear to be a peacekeeper.

I take a hesitant step forward and they change targets. The arrow is now pointed at my head. I squint through the dark and realize it's not an enemy. It's Meg. Her light brown hair is braided down her back, silver eyes narrowed trying to see me.

I lower my arms. "Hey Meg." I say, and I can hear Dath sigh in relief next to me, lowering his trident. Meg relaxes the string of her bow realizing her targets are friends. She takes a seat on the couch, moving her bow to lay across her lap. I pass her to turn on the small lamp that rests on a dusty and cobwebbed covered end-table. I blink through the change in the lighting, waiting for my eyes to adjust. I take a seat by Dath who sits opposite of Meg. "Why didn't you turn on the light when you got here?" I ask Meg.

"I just got here. I was on my way over to turn it on when you arrived, weapons drawn in the dark." She says stretching her legs out in front of her. "So Dath, Jem. Long time no see. How are things in Four?"

"Same as the last time, but a few people were shot in the marketplace about a month back. They had 'suspicious' looking herbs. They thought it was katniss root or something similar. It was just basic mushrooms." Dath reports, his tone has a sour edge to it. He doesn't mention that one of the people shot was his friend Lytch. He was a good kid who worked at the fishing supply store. His death was a shock for everyone in our part of the district.

"How's 11 been?" I ask her, moving the conversation on. She rolls her eyes and groans as if even the thought of her home district bores her.

"Boring as usual," Ha, I know her too well. "-but there's still a sense of a bubble about to pop. They brought in more peacekeepers, no surprise there, we-" she gets cut off as a train car pulls in on the floor below us. We jump up from our seats and ready our weapons. I grip my two knives and control my breathing as I listen to footsteps clomping up the stairs behind the door next to the spiral staircase Dath and I entered from. I take a quick glance at Meg, string pulled back with her arrow pointed at the door ready to find its target. Dath has his trident ready to throw. They look super bad-ass right now...I probably look like a squid with knives. I feel like my heart is racing when the footsteps stop and the door slowly opens.