Only the thought of her makes me keep going. Only the thought of her makes this seem possible. Annie.

Running. Running from the mutts that chase us. Their shrieks echo in the tunnel around me. Their scent of blood clogs mynose. My feet pound on pavement. My mind stiffens from the horror. The lizards are right behind me.

The ceiling arches above my head. Darkness envelops everything. I know not which way is right. I only follow Pollux as he sprints for his life.

Peeta is in front screaming at Katniss. Gale is by her side. But the Mockingjay is still alive. Still alive.

Mesalla's body lies at the ground at my feet. It has no flesh. It has no blood.

Screams abound as the lizards take another. No time to stop. No time to mourn.

Blood streams down my face. My forehead has a hole, a place where no skin is there. The pain feels meaningless.

I see Jackson at the Meat Grinder. Leeg 1 is dead beside her. Jackson's finger is stuck on the trigger of her gun. Mutts go down, but Jackson stays standing. The light from the weapon illuminates the pure fear on her face. Her mouth opens in a silent scream as she suffers one injury too many.

No time to stop. No time to mourn.

I see light. Light. Light after years in this darkness. A ladder. A ladder like a hand reaching from heaven into the darkness. The Mockingjay climbs. Pollux. Peeta. Gale. They are safe. They are all that's left.

My feet slip on someone's blood. I fall. My ankle twists. Pain blossoms. No time to stop.

I pick myself up and continue sprinting.

50 yards away from the ladder.

The lizards snap at my heels.

40 yards away.

A mutt lunges at me. It misses. Barely.

30 yards away.

I take my machine gun and fire blindly behind me. Bullets sink into mutant flesh. Yowls become cries of pain. I scream as I shoot. In blind rage.

20 yards away.

The gun comes on empty. I stop screaming. I throw the gun behind me. How many did I kill? How many have I stopped?

Not enough.

10 yards away.

My feet slap against the tunnel's ground. My forehead pounds in agony. Blood seeps through my shirt. My mind is blank. I see nothing except the ladder, encircled by light from above. Nothing else exists. Nothing else matters. I will survive.

My hand closes around the ladder just as they reach me.

Three mutts snap my hands and blood spurts from the wound and my grip on the ladder is shaken and I try desperately to climb, to climb to safety but the mutts grab me with their jaws and they rip my body and pain, pain beyond anything that ever existed, and blood feels slimy on my clothes and teeth ripping at my throat and the jaw forces my neck back and silence.

The silence is absolute. My mangled body lies on the wet ground. I dimly realize that the wetness is my own blood. The mutts leave me, knowing I should be dead. But I am not.

The Mockingjay stops at the top of the ladder. The Holo falls from her grip. That means only one thing. She whispered the poison words and ignited the bomb.

The Holo falls into the sewer. It clangs down the metal ladder and rests a foot away from me.

The red light blinks once. Just once.

Time loses meaning. I see her in front of me. Her name loosens itself from my lips. Annie. Annie is there. Her raven hair sweeps past her pale face. Her eyes. Her eyes are the color of the world when I swim beneath the ocean's surface. Her lips form my name. Finnick. Her belly is swollen with a child. Her child. My child. I reach out with my bloody limb. My shattered hand feels her abdomen. I leave blood trails on her perfect skin. The baby kicks. My baby kicks. He's a fighter. Just like me. "Annie." My hand touches her face. Her hair blows in a ocean breeze. Then she is gone. Just like that.

The Holo blinks one last time. I know it is the last thing I will ever see. I am glad that I saw Annie one last time.

One last time.

The Holo blinks red.

My eyes close.

Then the world turns to fire and I cease to exist...

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it! I'd love reviews if you liked my writing. If you want more of Finnick/Annie, read my other (and much longer) fanfic about Annie's Hunger Games.

s/9031725/1/Annie-s-Games