The Hunger Games: Death of the Mockingjay

Chapter 23

And so the next part of the plan is for me to board the ship and provide cover while the others gather the supplies. Peeta, Haymitch and the Rapiers had already got onboard when Plutarch informed them that Cato and I had taken out the shooters. I climb up the rope ladder and reach the main deck while Cato keeps watch from the tunnel with Alek.
We all know that it'll only be a matter of time before the Brotherhood figure out what's happened and that we've gained access to the ship.

The ship itself is somewhat different to what I'd experienced before. Years ago I was aboard a freight ship when we were entering the Capitol to rescue Paylor. That was huge compared to this one which is much narrower and shorter, in its day I guess it was built for speed and not for cargo, it is a warship after all. I make my way along the side rail until I'm about midships then look out across the dunes. To the north I can still see the distant glow of the fire and explosion which killed a number of cult members. The rest of the dunes are in darkness and if they chose to attack now I'd never see them coming until they were practically on top of us.
This thought makes me retreat to the other side of the ship where it's main super structure acts as cover between me and the dunes.
I find a stairway which descends into the depths of the old ship and looking down inside I see the glow of a flashlight flickering around from Haymitch and the others searching the wreck. I know I'm supposed to provide cover from the dunes but curiosity gets the better of me and I make my way inside to see what the others are up to. I make my way down the steep metal staircase to find Annie waiting in the passageway. Already there's a number of backpacks stacked at the foot of the steps and I can hear footsteps below us in the lower levels of the ship as the others keep searching.
I try to smile reassuringly at Annie but she has a panicked look on her face and she's trembling uncontrollably.

"Hey, everything's gonna be fine" I say trying to sound as calming as I can.

"I....I don't wanna be here, this place, the dark" she says looking around the passageway.

I put my arms around her and hold her close. Although she's a victor the games damaged her in ways only another victor would understand. Everyone has their own way of dealing with the horrors that we witnessed but Annie's tool to deal with such things was Finnick but he died years ago and since then Annie uses her young son Jamie to keep her centred, but he's not here and I'm worried that she's gonna have some sort of breakdown like she did years ago.

Gunfire suddenly echoes out across the dunes and through the ship. I rush back up the ladder to the main deck and peer round the ships wheelhouse in the direction of where the noise is coming from. As before I can't really see anything in the darkness but a can see the muzzle flashes from the Brotherhood's guns as they shoot toward the entrance of the tunnel. I glance across to see Cato with what appears to be a mine in his hands, it must be one of the ones that Gale and his soldiers removed from the beach. Through the gloom I can just about make out Cato nodding at me and I nod back in return, figuring out his plan.

Cato waits a moment for the shooting to subside then steps out onto the beach and throws the mine back over the dunes to where the shooting was coming from. I string an arrow and watch the mine fly through the air, take aim and release the arrow.
Cato's plan works perfectly as my arrow hits the volatile mine in its centre, causing the explosive charge to go off. The blast goes off midair above the dunes, wether it took out any of the Brotherhood I'm not sure but it certainly silenced the shooters.

'We've gotta get moving, now!" yells Alek from the beach.

Suddenly Haymitch and Conrad appear at the bottom of the steps with Annie.

I climb down the steps as Annie hands me the first bag of supplies which I toss back up to the main deck. For a few minutes it continues like this with me at the end of a human chain as bag after bag of equipment and supplies are passed through to the main deck. Weapons come through, another bow with some arrows, knives, swords, axes, spears and two crossbows again with a full set of arrows for each.
When we're done we all meet in the passageway at the bottom of the steps. All we have to do is leave the ship and get back to the tunnel without being shot from the dunes. I formulate a plan and make my way back up to the main deck with the others following on behind. Conrad and Flux have both taken a crossbow each while Haymitch takes a spear, (why this is I'm not sure) and Viper takes a long wide bladed broad sword.
We take cover behind the ships main superstructure before we make a run for it. In an ideal world we'd of made our way down the side of the ship which faces out to see but the tides in and the water will be too deep. We'll have to climb down in full view of the beach and dunes.
I string an arrow and peer round the forward section of the ship which contains the Captain's bridge. The dunes are burning gently from the mine explosion and I can't see nothing past the flames, the problem is that the fires are illuminating the beach and the ship, it's almost as if the whole area is bathed in orange daylight.