The Hunger Games: Death of the Mockingjay

Chapter 24

I dive back into cover as the bullets tear into the ship. Bullets ricochet off the metal flying in all directions and I know it's only a matter of time before one of them hits me. I look over at the tunnel to see Peeta yelling at me but I can't hear because of the noise. What is it he wants me to do?

He puts his hands together and mimics the action of diving into the water and I don't waste any time in acting on his idea, it's my only hope. I leap up and in one fluid motion I vault over the side rail and take a deep breath as I tumble down into the cold water. The cold stings me but I know from when I swam at the lake that the sensation would soon pass once the shock has subsided. I keep myself submerged to begin with while I pull my bow over my shoulder and prepare myself for the swim. I'm in complete darkness. The shadow from the wreck is blocking the light from the fires but I'm also safe from any further gunfire. I can see the bullets screaming through the water off to my left but if I stay where I am behind the ship I know I'm safe. I surface to catch my breath and the deafening sound of the guns continues. I need to get back to the tunnel but I know as soon as I swim out from behind the ship they'll kill me, there's no cover. I tread water in cover of the ships bow and look across at the tunnel. Viper and Conrad are trying to give cover fire with their crossbows but it's a forlorn hope against assault rifles. Peeta glances over in my direction and forces a weak smile before he slowly shakes his head. He knows as well as I do that there's no way I can possibly get to them, my only option is to swim out to sea until I'm out of range then head south and make my way back into the dunes from further down the beach. But the first thing I do is reach into my ear and pull out the tiny earpiece that's caused us so many problems. If the Brotherhood can hack and listen into it then what's to say they can't track us using it. I need to be invisible to the Brotherhood, I need to hide and form a plan of some sort.
I turn away from the beach and swim out using the ship to cover my escape. When I'm sure I'm far enough from the beach I turn south,  swimming parallel to the beach which is about a hundred metres to my right. It seems ages before I'm clear of the ship and the firefight, the trouble is I can feel myself tiring, I didn't get a chance to eat or drink anything from the ships supplies and the lack of nourishment is starting to take its toll on my body. I swim as far as I can before my arms and legs have nothing left to give then stroke back toward the beach. I stagger back through the surf then come to a complete stop. The mines, where are they, do they just surround the ship or are they all down the coastline, Plutarch never mentioned them.
The only thing I can do is try to find them like Gale and his soldiers did, it's either that or return to the tunnel which will mean certain death. I drop to my knees, pull out a standard arrow and start gently digging in the wet sand. Each time I'm sure an area is safe I shuffle forward then poke at the sand again. I continue until I'm halfway up the beach finding nothing so far. Maybe I'm being paranoid and there are no mines?
But, I know how the sadistic mind of a Gamemaker works so I keep checking, just to be sure.
After what must be an hour I finally reach the steep sandy bank that leads up to the dunes. Climbing the bank proves harder than I thought, the sand keeps slipping down and in my weakened state I struggle to keep going and my soaking wet Mockingjay suit isn't helping, it's already ridiculously heavy with water and now the sand is sticking to it. I finally reach the top and roll onto my back, it's good to finally get back on grass again after swimming for what seems like hours then struggling through the sand. I lay on my back while I try to recover my breath. I'm not in cover or hidden, I'm completely exposed but I've no strength to move, I need food but most of all, water. I struggle onto my front and crawl until I'm hidden under an overhang of grass from a small dune and promptly fall asleep exhausted.

*

I wake a short time later at the sound of music booming from above, its midnight, and the time when the tributes find out who has fallen.
Faces start appearing in the sky, many seem to be just young kids in their early teens. These must be the sparrows the Director said he'd sacrificed. It's shocking to see that many of them don't have names, a simple 'unknown' appears below each unnamed tribute. Then an older face appears who must be a Watchmen or a Director, Clavious is his name then another, a dark skinned tribute called Titan who was also killed. Then my heart sinks as one by one Gale's soldiers appear followed by Gale himself. For a fraction of a second I feel sadness at his death but it's literally for a single moment. It's soon replaced by a feeling of anger, partly at Gale himself in how he killed himself and his men with his overconfidence. But my rage is directed more toward the Brotherhood who seem hellbent on killing anyone who gets in their way.
I need to take action, I need to fight back!

But....I have much bigger problems to deal with right now, I'm freezing cold after my enforced swim and I'm hungry and thirsty. I need to sort these out first as I'm in no fit state to fight.
I stagger on further toward the south, regularly checking over my shoulder to see if I'm being followed. I eventually find a steep valley between two dunes, it's sheltered by long grass that'll keep me reasonably well concealed and allow me time to rest.

I start to somehow try and get my foggy mind in some kind of order. I'm shivering uncontrollably but I can feel by the air on my face that it's not actually that cold tonight. I strip off my Mockingjay suit and pull the larger clumps of grass over my body to keep in what warmth I still have. The effect is almost immediate. I hadn't realised but my joints had started to freeze up with the cold. My hand, the one I damaged in my fight with Kira back in District 13 had almost stopped working completely, the finger I broke is aching and it's difficult to force movement into it. But after a while I once again feel exhaustion catching up with me, if I can't have food or water then I need sleep to at least keep my strength up. As I drift off to sleep I think about the day to come and my priorities, food and water, I'll figure that out tomorrow I think to myself as I close my eyes.

*

The day is barely dawning when a huge storm approaches from out to sea. I heard the thunder rolling across the sky hours ago and then listened in my slumber as the rumblings drew ever closer. The wind increases dramatically as the rain arrives. I curse under my breath as I'd just got my clothes dry but now they'll be soaked through once again. I slump down into the grass and pull the armoured vest of my Mockingjay suit over my face. It doesn't protect me from the cold but it does at least give my face protection from the pounding rain. After only a few moments water droplets start dripping down into the grass from the hard shell of my vest, I immediately seize the opportunity and place my open mouth under the steady drip, drip, drip of water which is tracking its way down. I decide to take it one step further, take my black under shirt and shape it into a rain gulley to capture as much water as possible. It's not ideal as my suit isn't waterproof but it captures enough water that I can channel the cold liquid straight into my open mouth.
The sensation is fantastic, after over two days without water the feeling seems almost odd, as if my body had got used to surviving without any sort of fluid. The storm continues just long enough for me to get my fill. The wind subsides and the rain eases off until it's stopped all together. In the distance I can see blue sky creeping it's way toward me, pushing the storm clouds away. I get dressed, gather my things and make my way up the the top of the nearest dune. Far off in the distance I can see the bunker while off to my left is the wispy forest which I think is the home of the Brotherhood. I haven't seen an encampment of any sort around the dunes and to be honest if it was me I'd make my home in the forest as it's more secure than the dunes.
I turn away from the coast and head inland toward the forest, the Brotherhood, and hopefully food.