L O C K E D- Finnick Odair

EIGHTEEN

《'°•~Chapter 18~•°'》

WE ALL CLIMB down a latter into darkness, a loud train roaring above us.

"My brother knows these tunnels really well; he works sanitation down here," one of our crew members, Castor, says. "Right after they made him an avox." He goes to comfort Pollux, whose breathing has grown heavier. After he walks a few feet away, Castor tells us, "took him five years to buy his way out of here. Didn't see the sun once.

Katniss and Pollox lead the way through the dimly lit tunnel, the rest of us following closely behind. My hand grips onto Finnick's arm, scared that if I let go, I'll lose him. The holo beeps quietly, and then we all hear a train and quickly run to take cover.

"We're too exposed here," Katniss says after the train has passed. Pollux points in the direction the train came from, and we all run behind him. He leads us through a door, then down another ladder. We're now in some sort of eerie sewer, like something out of a horror story. "Looks clear."

"Stay close to me," Finnick whispers in my ear.

Our feet slosh in the gloomy water as we enter a thin tunnel-like passageway lined with pipes. It's almost silent until some sort of gas shoots out of the ceiling, startling all of us. "Everybody okay?" Jackson asks once it's over. We all assure her and continue our miserable journey.

Next, we walk through water that goes up to my chest. The only way we're able to see is from the shining of our flashlights. I want to gag at the putrid smell of the disgusting water, but I stay quiet. Once the water shallows, we stop to rest. Jackson takes the first watch, and as I settle into a spot on the concrete floor, Finnick leads Peeta to sit down. August sits by me, not saying anything. I don't think anyone is in the mood to talk after everything that's happened today. I close my eyes and drift off listening to the sound of the dripping pipes.

It feels like I'm not even asleep for five minutes when I'm awoken to distant rumbling and whispers coming from the tunnels. I see Katniss standing, staring into the darkness, trying to make out what the noises are. "Katniss?" I whisper, but she doesn't respond.

"What is that?" August asks.

"We gotta get out of here," Peeta says, standing up as we all do the same. "We gotta get out of here! It's mutts! They released mutts!"

I grab my spear and glance at Finnick, who now has his trident in hand, ready to go. "Pollux, what's the fastest way out of here?" Katniss asks. Pollux jumps back into the sewery tunnel, and we follow him quickly. Gale uses his flame thrower as a light source, leading the way. I grip onto my spear, bearing it as if it can even compete against a Capitol engineered mutt.

We find a rectangular passage way in the cement hole and begin to line up to crawl through it. "Em, go ahead of me." Finnick puts his hand on my waist and ushers me in front.

"Let August go first," I say.  I crawl behind him, Finnick behind me. Once I make it to the other end of the hole, August takes my arms and pulls me out, doing the same for Finnick. We wait for the others, Jackson being last. She turns to us, taking her light of the area behind her. Just as she's about to crawl through, there's a screeching noise, and then several human sized white creatures with razor-sharp teeth pull her down into the water.

There's screams from all of us, then shouts telling us to run and for Pollux to find the way out. As we run through the dark waters, the mutts come out of nowhere and take down Castor, all of them pouncing on him at once. Katniss shoots her flame arrow, and Cressida shoots the mutts with her gun. Finnick yells something as me, but I can't hear him over Castor's blood curdling scream. The mutts gain on us as we run.