The Hunger Games: Uprising!

Chapter 50

"Let's hope we never have to do that again" says Haymitch breaking the silence. I hear Ellie chuckle nervously in the darkness.
My shoulders and belly start to hurt, am I injured, is the baby okay, I think to myself.
The emergency lights kick in and we're bathed in a soft red hue of light and I now realise why my shoulders ache. The drop ship has landed on its side and me, Peeta, and Joel are all hanging from our seats.
Joel unclips his belt and jumps down, I can see now that were resting at an angle of around 45 degrees. Peeta drops down then turns to unclip my belt, I jump down alongside him and look around the compartment. Everyone's checking themselves over and it's clear we've got away unscathed. My eyes turn to Paylor's body.

"How is she?" asks Haymitch.

I stare at him " I'm sorry Haymitch, she's gone"

He looks at me with a look of disbelief even though he knows it's true. Joel rushes over to her and checks for a pulse. He turns to Haymitch and shakes his head.

"Where's the key?" asks Haymitch.

"I have it, she gave it to me just before she died" replies Peeta.

Haymitch looks at Peeta and nods.
"Look after it son, that's the future of the country you've got in your hands" he says putting a hand on his shoulder.
Alek and Gale make their way down from the flight deck and they both immediately see Paylor's body strapped to the table. Gale stares at her corpse, a familiar look of anger spreading across his face while Alek immediately takes stock of the situation.
"Right, I want everyone who hasn't already got one to take a pistol and get outside. Gale, set up the emergency shelter and plan out some sort of defences. District 13 know we've crashed and they'll send out a rescue team but it's going to take time for them to get here"

"How far away are the mutts?" asks Ellie.

"We didn't get that far from the town. I'd say we've got about an hour before Wolfe's soldiers get here" Alek looks around at us. "Listen, I know this has all come as a shock to you all, but Paylor would of wanted us to fight on and get out of here alive, we can do this"

Alek reaches over and pulls a red lever next to the emergency exit and the door flies out in a shower of sparks. Gale climbs through into the rain, I walk over to the side wall where the armoury is located then take a sniper rifle and an extra box of ammunition. I feel a hand on my shoulder. "what's the plan" asks Peeta.

I turn to him and smile. "I have no idea, I just know I'm better with one of these" I say patting the side of the sniper rifle. "I guess I'd better take a rifle then" he says smiling back at me. We both take a green poncho from the drop ship to give us some protection from the rain outside. Neither of us was dressed for combat as we were both expecting to be out on a simple flight to district 7 and back.

We both climb out into the downpour. I look around to see we've crashed in a forest full of high pine trees. The drop ship has left a huge scar across the forest floor that probably stretches for about a 100 metres. The ship itself lays against a tree which explains why it was at such a strange angle.
I turn to see Gale and Johanna building the survival shelter, others have taken position round the crash site with their pistols drawn whilst Alek shelters from the rain under the one remaining wing of the drop ship, a holo is in his hand trying to raise district 13. I sling the heavy rifle over my shoulder and Peeta and I walk over to him. "Can you reach Plutarch" I ask.
"No, the weather must be blocking our signal. I got a message off to 13 before we crashed and they acknowledged it. So they know where we are"
"How long do you think it'll take them to get here?" asks Peeta.

"An hour, maybe two." he answers his concentration still engrossed on the holo. That's not good I think to myself. If Alek's right and the militant army is less than an hour away then we're going to have to hold out for what could be as much as an hour. My heart sinks at the thought of the eight of us somehow trying to hold back an entire army.
We walk over to the now completed shelter. It's about 4 meters square with 3 sides closed in with the opening facing the drop ship. We all get under cover from the rain and stand in a circle waiting for our orders. Alek walks in and stands in the centre, he crouches down and activates the holo into map mode. We can all see a holographic 3d image of the terrain around us. I can see that we've crashed in a small valley that's less than 150 meters across. One end opens toward the town while to the left of this opening is a steep hill that looks down on the valley entrance. I can immediately see a perfect sniping spot on the top of the hill that's sheltered by low hanging branches from some young pine trees. At the other end of the valley is a large flat area that borders a lake.
"Okay Gale, have you thought any more about our defences?" asks Alek.
"Well yes actually, fortunately Wolfe's forces will have to funnel themselves through the valley to get to us". Gale looks over at me. "If me and Katniss set some explosive snare traps at the valley entrance that'll give keep them busy for a while, if we've got time we could set some more further out into the forest"