'Help. Oh God they're coming. Help us, please. We need help, they're coming…coming..min..in-ing'
Katniss and I looked up from the old video tape as it cut out for the millionth time, not knowing what we were looking for, but knowing it was crucial. We couldn't save the man, he was a pre-war human. He died many years ago, probably slaughtered by the Capitol. But maybe it still meant something.
Maybe I should explain…
"Hey Catnip!" I shouted, startling Katniss, and getting the reaction I wanted, as the arrow she veered off course, startling the deer as it landed, harmless, in the shining green leaves on the forest floor a metre away
She turned around, her brows twisted into an exasperated frown.
"Finnick!" she exclaimed, "What was that for?" Her voice showed real annoyance, but I knew she wouldn't stay mad at me for long,
"I was just wondering if you wanted a sugar cube. Do you?" I enquired, making sure to keep my eyes wide, and my tone dripping with mock innocence. I popped a sugar cube in my mouth and grinned as she turned around, sighing, and melted back into the forest. The grainy texture of the sugar was just starting to disintegrate in my mouth, filling it with sweetness that reminded me of Annie. I think that is why I got hooked on them while in the Capitol.
"Annie!" I remembered how I promised I would never leave her, once after I won the Hunger Games, and again after she told me she was going to have a baby, last night in my arms in the austere room we were provided with by District 13. I slipped out while she was sleeping, but she was sure to have awoken by now. I imagined her going back into her own little world, not responding to anything, or anyone. I was brought out of my guilt trip by a scream from somewhere to my right, wait, it sounded like…
"KATNISS!" I burst through the trees, the vines catching on my unkempt hair as I tore the undergrowth in my clumsy pursuit.
I arrived in a clearing, covered in bushes dripping with glistening sapphire berries. I remember thinking with enormous clarity how Annie would love them, as they were the exact colour of our special lake, just as Katniss disappeared down a hole, hidden between the two biggest bushes.
"Finnick, don't leave me, please, District 13 don't need me any more, they won't come back, Peeta needs me, he won't survive…" she carried on babbling as I grabbed on to her arms, and hooked my feet around the thick stem of the bushes. It kept her calm, but I needed her to keep still. I could already feel the familiar ache of strain, familiar to when I lifted a weight that was far too heavy in the gym, trying uselessly to build my arms up to at least half the size of Peeta's.
"You know, I can see the veins in your arms, why are they moving? Oh you are stupid Katniss, veins have blood in, blood moves, especially when you are working hard and…
"Katniss! SHUT UP!" I couldn't take it any more. Wshen she was speaking, her body moved just like her mind…a lot.
"Listen to me; do you have any means of communication?" I smiled slightly as she shook her head, looking like a child, being told off for talking in the middle of a history lesson (in other words, a lecture on how lucky we are to have the Capitol).
"Right" I said, trying to take control, but my mind was spinning like crazy, "umm… well I can't exactly go and get help, can I…" My joke falling flat as I looked into her terrified, clear grey eyes. "Sorry, I'm scared as much as you are." She shook her head furiously, as if trying to prove me wrong without words
"NO!" I shouted, as I saw that motion, combined with both of our sweaty palms dislodged her from my arms. I watched, hopelessly, as she fell, a blur of light brown hair, come loose from her trademark plait, disappearing from my very…oh.
She fell about two metres, then looked up, slightly disgruntled. We were silent for about 2 minutes, then simultaneously burst out laughing, diffusing the tension.
"Hey," she called up to me "there's loads of stuff down here!"
"Greeat…" I said, popping another sugarcube in my mouth, "What sort of stuff?"
"I think it's from the dark days!" She sounded genuinely excited, so I decided to play along
"O.K. then, how do you know its from the war, or before or whatever?" I enquired, inwardly cursing myself, I sounded bored as hell.
"Well, it's one of those old video cammette things, it HUGE!" she said, "WHAT?" she yelled as I burst out laughing.
"CaSSette tape Katniss" I called down, "and we need to get you out of there, I'm freezing!" I grinned as I knew what was coming, and mouthed the words along with her
"And how do you suggest we do THAT, smart cookie?" My grin faded away, as I realized, I had no idea how to get her out. The hole was at least 3 and a half metres deep.
"I'll have to go back…" I said, and as I started walking through the bushes, I tried to block out the terrified soprano voice she always reverted to when she was really terrified. My arm caught on a branch, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the hard ground to come up and smash my face. But the scratches of the sharp stones and sticks never came, and an idea formed as I realized I was being held up by a single vine.
"KATNISS!" I yelled as I burst through the foliage, "Where's your bow and arrows?"
"I dropped them when I fell, dumbass." Her voice returning to it's normal tone, and dripping with sarcasm, "I guess I couldn't lay them on a velvet pillow for you, Lord Almighty. Just 'cause you're good looking…" I cut her out, smirking at her slip of the tongue
"Oh, so I'm good looking am I?" I enquired, a little too innocently
"Well, just remember, I have seen you in your underwear" I could hear the grin in her voice, but got back to what I really needed.
"Look, can you shoot an arrow up here, and try not to kill me in the process." I laughed as an arrow shot out of the hole, but missed the ground and fell back into it, presumably hitting Katniss in the head, judging by her
"OW!" A torrent of arrows came out, one after another, I plucked one out of the air, letting the others fall back in.
"Cheers!" I called down, going in search of a long, and thick vine.
After I found a suitable specimen, I tied a sturdy knot on both ends of the arrow with opposite ends of the vine. I smiled as I remembered making swings like this with Annie when we were kids. We used bits of driftwood and seaweed tied together in the place of the arrow and vine. I dropped it down the hole and told Katniss to sit on the arrow. It would hold her weight because it was made of silver, but I made sure to tell her to support some of her weight by holding on to the vine.
I pulled her up by winding the loop in the vine around my waist and walking away from the hole. Katniss scrambled out of the top after chucking a rectangle of plastic at my head.
"Oy! What was that?" I yelled, rubbing my sore head, but stopping when I realized it was messing up my hair.
"That's the cassette, Finnick," she mocked, "I thought you were an expert on them." A playful smile played across her dirt-stained lips.
I took another look at her, and I couldn't help thinking how different she looked after she had been primped by her prep team. Her hair was sticking out in all directions, more like a birds nest than a plait. Her pretty features were masked under a layer of grime and mud, and there were several tears in her hunting clothes.
"We've got to get it back to Beetee…what?" She finished with her hands on her hips and an almost comical expression of rage on her face.
"Oh...um, you need to clean up, otherwise Coin will realize something is up, snatch that tape and analyse it to death," Katniss shrugged, as if to say 'so what', "OR…she will put it in a museum, and not even watch it first" I smiled at the amount her expression could change. Her face showed indignation as she marched off to find a river and…smear the dirt around even more. Oh well, we'll just have to make up a story about chasing a deer. I grudgingly smeared dirt in my hair and on my face, and even tore a couple of 'well-placed' rips, in my shirt.
"Finnick, you're not leaving much to the imagination, it's quite…" I smiled as I saw the blush spreading across her face.
"C'mon Katniss, we need to get this to Beetee." I grinned at her, and noticed she didn't look at me the whole way back to District 13.