Chapter 9
#9 of Hunger Games 2.0
So sorry guys! We've both been very caught up with things! I think I'll post extras this week. Just to make it up to you all. :) x
Delta starts laughing so hard, the mech suit falls over. Raikes runs over, jumps up on top of the mech, jumps on her beloved, punching him playfully.
"stop, please, your giving me bruises!" delta exclaims, laughing hard.
"why would I do that?" raikes asks, lying down beside him.
"'cause your mean" delta says, removing the arm braces, and turning off the mech.
Hades hears the mech power down, and sees it on its back, with raikes lying with delta. He walks over to the APC, and finds Marrissa and matthew asleep beside each other, and sonya tweaking the computer, to show air current readings, and any displacement in the arena.
"tampering with other people's property again?" hades asks, startling sonya.
Sonya back hands hades, and then turns off the screen.
"im trying to use the weather radar, to help locate what im missing" she answers, keeping her voice low.
While hades and sonya leaves the APC, Marrissa wakes up, and accidently knocks matthew off the bench, waking him up.
"wha-what?" matthew asks, sitting up.
Marrissa sits up, rubbing her eyes.
"matthew?" she asks, looking around.
"down here" he answers, standing up.
"what happened? Where is everyone?" Marrissa asks.
"don't know. But at least we are alone" he answers, holding her hand.
"yeah, but how long can we stay secret?" marissa asks.
"don't know. Until they find out?" matthew offers, thinking about the where they might be now.
Meanwhile, delta and raikes are trying to get the mech upright. Sera is still in a meltdown, tamerus and peeta are testing some weapons and marissa and matthew are hiding in the APC, getting to know each other better. Peeta looks around.
"where is marissa?" he asks.
"dunno, Maybe shes still asleep in the APC. She was tired when we left" tamerus answers.
"we all were. We'll leave 'em for now. Its supposed to be night time any way" peeta says, looking at the roof, covered in lights.
Meanwhile, sera is just reaching the end of her breakdown, when she suddenly throws up. Hades notices, and guides her away from the weapons, thinking that might be causing it. Sonya checks the time, and realises its nearly 6am.
"people, I think you should get something to eat, we have a big day ahead of us" she says, looking at the APC shaking slightly. *someone's a rough sleeper* as the shaking stops, and then Marrissa comes out, yawning.
"what I miss?" she asks, stretching.
"nothing. Just a few jokes, not from your brother this time" tamerus answers.
Matthew climbs out the front door, surprised by how many are awake.
"all of you stayed up this whole time?" he asks, looking for his sister.
"yeah, why?" peeta asks.
"just surprised. I thought you woke up early. Where are we?" matthew asks, seeing the mechs and tanks.
"my place, and its better than the arena right now. Its crawling with soldiers trying to find us. If it weren't for delta squad, the portal would've been found by now" hades explains, knowing the boy would be still in shock from the equipment.
"delta squad? A portal? Just exactly where are we?" matthew asks, eying hades.
"Hell" was all hades said, walking away towards a control panel.
Hades activates the switch for the main door into hell and the protection barrier. Matthew looks through, and notices that everything looks normal, except for the craters extending deeper into the center of the Earth's core.
"More correctly, we are inside the inner core of earth" hades continues, closing the door.
Matthew stands there, dumbstruck of how far from the arena they really are.
"The core? The surface, or the middle?" he asks, looking at the closed door.
"Roughly under the cores surface. Around 10 feet of solid metal between us and lava and rocks" hades answers, fiddling with a tanks armour structure. "The core is solid metal made by us after we took refuge here during the first Christian war. The metal is made in such a way, that nothing is washed away by the lava"
"The earth's core? A Christian war? What are you talking about?" Matthew asks, completely confused.
"what hes saying, is that we were fighting a war, against heaven" liz answers, eyeing hades, who is smiling like a kid at Christmas.
"and that we hid inside the centre of earth to survive. Don't you love the smell of lava in the morning?" hades asks, cackling like a mad man.
"whats so funny?" Marrissa asks, walking over to matthew.
"nothing, just one of those moments when you cant help but laugh. You know, you two cant stay a secret forever. Especially since your both as red as cherries, and cant leave the others side" hades answers, now chuckling slightly, thinking of last nights events.
"what are you talking about?" Marrissa asks, turning a slight pink colour.
"is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?" hades asks, suddenly serious.
"we need to evac immediately. the Core is going through a flare cycle and you guys wouldn't service without being like us" Liz answers, confirming hades suspicion.
"ok, everyone get in the chopper, we need an immediate dust off." Hades directs at liz, activating the lava shields.
Peeta sees hades do that, and goes over to the other panel to help. "wouldn't these shields stop the heat?" peeta asks.
"no, it just stops everything from burning. We put a lot of effort into this base, and we aint losing it because of nature." hades answers, showing peeta how the shields are activated. Peeta gets the second shield up, and then runs back to the helicopter and straps in.
"how long does a flare last for?" delta asks, activating the suit clamps for transportation.
"about 4-5 days. Depends on the season too. Winter has 1-24 hours, spring is 2-3 days, summer is 4-5 days, and autumn is 3 days, give or take a few hours" hades explains, checking the clamps, then signalling liz to go, and then he heads for a bike, and follows.
"liz, where will we go?" sera asks, scared of the steadily rising heat.
"one place that isn't affected by the heat. The palace." she answers.
"and by palace, you mean the devils lair?" sera asks, wiping sweat from her brow.
"don't use that name in front of him. It'd be the last you do" liz says, looking back, and notices that someone is pregnant.