Finnick Odair: Death
There are screams everywhere. I can't see a thing except silhouettes in this dank sewer. But I don't have to see to know that the lizard mutts are closing in. I scramble forward, panting and out of breath. My right hand grips my trident, my left gropes around in the semi-darkness. I can see Gale ahead of me. We are running. Skittering sounds of sharp claws meeting dank sewer concrete remind I have no time to rest. Ahead, I see a narrow bridge. I'm one of the last ones across. I can hear Katniss's voice, "Wait! Where are Jackson and Leeg 1?"
"They stayed back at the Grinder to hold the mutts back," says Homes.
"What?" Then, a frantic movement, followed by Homes's voice: "Don't waste their lives, Katniss. It's too late for them. Look!" I turn my head and see that the mutts are on the ledge.
Gale's voice breaks the tension, "Stand back!" There's a mind-numbing sound and the bridge collapses into the sewage. Their next move surprises me. The mutts begin to leap off into the disgusting filth below. Then, everyone on our side begins pouring whatever might be even slightly harmful into the mutts. Bullets and arrows rip through the air. Most of the shots make contact with their disgusting flesh. But I know this is a hopeless fight. There are just too many of them. I empty my magazine into their foul bodies. An odd smell pierces through the other stenches of blood and sewage.
Roses. I shake my head to rid myself of the smell. The mutts are climbing up onto our ledge. I yell out to my crew, "Get out! Climb! I'll hold them!" I twist my head back to the ladder, I see Pollux starting to climb. The mutts are so close now. I pull the trigger. My reply is an empty clicking. I give a cry of frustration and fling it at the nearest mutt. Then, I draw my trident.
From the first time I held my trident, I knew it would be my weapon. I felt this knowledge course through my veins. I stabbed and smashed at the mutts. Then, I turn around to climb; I'm at the second platform when I feel it.
Searing horrible pain, in my side, I bash the mutt with my trident. I know this is a hopeless fight. I turn to climb again. But another mutt leaps at me; I stab it and fling it at another mutt. Behind me, I can hear a brief struggle as one of my teammates; either Castor or Homes are decapitated by a mutt. I hear two dull thumps as head and body hits the concrete. I let my instinct take over, and let my mind drift back to District 4 and to Annie. Annie. I can see her in my mind now, with her long, flowing dark hair and sea-green eyes. Just like mine. I remember the wedding, back in District 13. I was so happy, even while the drums of war thundered in my ears. Even now, I feel a sense of bliss come over me, while I fought back the lizard mutts. I turn to climb once more. I feel pain lance through my body as the mutts tore at me. I was pretty sure I was going to die. But that wasn't going to make me give up surviving.
My hands grip the grimy rungs of the ladder as the lizards tear at my flesh. "Annie…" I cry out. The lizards continued to try and pull me back. A light shines down from above and I hear voices. I struggle desperately to hold on to the rungs while the lizard's teeth let my blood flow freely out of my body. I am bleeding from an immense amount of wounds.
I know it is too late for me now. The lizards drag me off the ladder and I fall several feet onto a dirty, concrete platform. My blood stains the floor around me. I hear a clang as the sewer lid clangs shut, leaving me in semi-darkness. I feel the pain begin to mute as my mind shuts down. I feel a mutt's teeth puncture my neck. My fingers go slack and my trident clangs to the grimy ground. I see a figure; my one remaining team member still fighting with his fists, get beheaded by a mutt. My dying brain conjures up images of cresting waves. I'm on a sailboat, a beautiful white sailboat, sailing over the waves. I see Annie's face beside me. She is smiling and I know I am, too. As the mutt's teeth separate head from body, my mind holds one image in my mind.
The last thing I see is Annie's beautiful face. The last thing I smell are roses, the sharp, acrid scent of roses...