L O C K E D- Finnick Odair

SEVENTEEN

《'°•~Chapter Seventeen~•°'》

THE NEXT MORNING, Boggs gives Peeta an unloaded gun. We begin our journey five blocks north, and I have the lingering annoyance that Peeta gets a gun, and I don't.

I walk alongside August, behind Finnick, who reads a script to Peeta. "To our citizens of the Capitol, our war is not with you. Be a vital part of the democracy that follows our victory."

"Be a vital part of the democracy that follows our victory," Peeta repeats, his voice dull and lifeless.

"You got it," Finnick says with a smile. We enter a large circle made from buildings. The holo doesn't go off, which is a good sign.

"Boggs, this is a good spot," Cressida says, referring to the propo. "Through there in the courtyard."

"Okay, let us clear it." We make our way down a set of stairs, and once we approach two tall buildings, the holo starts to beep. The holo tells us the pod sits in between the two buildings, so Boggs tells us to split and take cover. Finnick, August, and I go behind one of them with a few of the others. "Stay back," Boggs orders as he tosses a rock in between the buildings.

Hundreds of bullets begin to shoot from both sides, the loud noises hurting my ears. The shooting goes on for around fifteen seconds, and a piece of debris bounces and hits me in the forehead.

"All clear," Boggs tells us. "Gale, Holmes with me. Leegs take the wings."

Finnick turns to me. "You're bleeding." I bring my hand up to where the rock hit, and when I pull away, there's blood on my fingers. "Does it hurt?"

"It's fine," I tell him. He doesn't believe me, so he takes his sleeve and dabs away the blood.

"We can find a bandage at some point," he says with a smile. Then we hear the explosion.

"Boggs!"

We all run into view, and Boggs and one of the sisters lay limply in a pile of rubble. Jackson yells at Katniss to stay, but she doesn't listen. The rest of us watch in horror as Boggs's head falls back to the floor, and his breathing slows to a stop. He was gone.

The sister grunts in pain, and as her twin runs to help her, she steps on a square that causes big metal doors to close around us. We're locked in. It's not even a split second later when a black liquid begins to flood the area, and we all scream and run for our lives.

As we make our way to a building, Peeta grabs Katniss and throws her to the ground. He attempts to hit her with his unloaded gun, but one of them, Mitchell, pulls him off. Then everything happens so fast; Peeta grabs Mitchell by the jacket and throws him into the liquid, and he falls on a booby trap.

August grabs Peeta around his neck in an attempt to restrain him. The dark liquid makes its way close to them. "August, hurry!" I scream at him. We run into the building, the liquid following close behind us as we make our way up the stairs.

August shushes Peeta and stabs him with a needle, the same type they used on me when I got to 13. The liquid nears to the top, then descends back down.

"Gamemakers are still putting on quite a show," Cressida says with a sigh.

The walkie-talkie beeps. "451 to base. Over."

"Hey, we better move," Finnick says. "If peacekeepers didn't know where we were, they do now. Those surveillance cameras caught it."

"451 to base. Come in."

"This is a bad spot. We need to move now," Gale says.

"451 to base. Over!" Jackson's voice grows more frustrated. "I can't get a signal. But I can get us back to base. Everdeen, give me the holo." Katniss looks at her but does nothing. "Everdeen, what did I just say? The holo, now."