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Due to popular confusion, I need to specify:
THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER.
45
My Purpose
After some debate, we've decided it's best to retreat underground. First we erase all evidence that we've been in the apartment. All that's left is getting Peeta to come too.
"I'm not going. I'll either disclose your position or hurt someone else."
"Snow's people will find you," I warn him. And we all know that's the worst thing that could happen.
"Then leave me a pill," he says, "I'll only take it if I have to."
"That's not an option, come along," Jackson says.
"Or you'll what? Shoot me?"
"We'll knock you out and drag you with us, which will both slow us down and endanger us."
"Stop being noble!" Peeta pleads. "I don't care if I die! Kantiss, please. Don't you see, I want out of this?"
She looks at him for a second, contemplating her options. Something soft comes over her eyes and she says, "We're wasting time. Are you coming voluntarily or do we have to knock you out?"
The poor thing buries his face in his hands for a moment and then joins us. He does, however, refuse to give up his handcuffs. Katniss takes the key, just in case.
We all slip into a shaft and disappear into the tunnels below the candy colored streets of the Capitol. An eerie feeling creeps up my spine the second my feet makes contact with the ground. I jerk my head up to look at the shaft, the only source of natural light, just before it closes. The feeling grows stronger as my eyes adjust to the darkness. Like I'll never see the sun again.
I know thoughts like this won't do, so I push it to the back of my head. But not before closing my eyes and watching the stain that the light left on my eyelids as it fades away. I savor it, that taste of light, and then let it go.
The Pollux the Avox looks sick and his brother Castor explains; "My brother worked down here after he became an Avox. Took five years to buy his way up to the ground floor. Never saw the sun once."
I don't really know what to say. It's Peeta, surprisingly and at the same time not, who speaks up. "Well, then you just became our most valuable asset."
It proves true as Pollux leads us silently through the tunnels without so much as a wrong turn. We make excellent time, much better than we would on the upper levels. And while I'm happy that it's going so well, I can't shake this claustrophobic feeling of being buried alive under here. No wonder Pollux looks so pale. I can't imagine being confined down here with no real light, no fresh air instead of being on the ocean drinking in the sun everyday.
Fatigue sets in and we have to stop. We've been traveling for about six hours and our backpacks are beginning to feel like they weigh hundreds of pounds. I flop to the floor beside Gale and Jackson and suck in a deep breath.
We take turns being on watch for the four hours that we have to rest. I go first which makes me happy because that means I can get a nice uninterrupted sleep afterwards. It doesn't take long for everyone to start snoring as I sit up with Jackson, staring into the tunnels. I close my eyes and think of my friends back home. I think of Annie's family and her nephew and niece. Kai and Kiandra. Big round eyes, little freckles, short pudgy legs and pink soft lips. When this is all over and Annie and I can go back to District Four, I think I want to start a family. We've been together for so many years, why not? I think Annie will make a good mother. She's fragile, there's no doubt about that, but I think having someone that needs and depends on her would do her some good. It's done me good.
