Soli Deo gloria

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games.

It was mid-morning, nearly ten o'clock, when Rose finally looked up and breathed a sigh of relief to see the beach in front of them. "The beach," she said quietly, feeling grateful. The beach meant no more hot forest and hopefully cool water and food that wasn't those disgusting nuts. The bananas were long gone, but the message they had sent her cheered her a bit. There was only one person who would think to send her bananas, and that was the Doctor. He knew that she was here. He knew where she was and she knew that he was going to help her and Johanna and Beetee and Wiress.

The thought of the Doctor watching out for her made her feel better, considerably better, but even that thought couldn't distract her from Wiress, who had been muttering something all morning under her breath which emerged as, "Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock." Johanna was greatly annoyed when she first heard her and yelled at Rose to make her shut up. Rose hadn't a clue to make her stop, so she just said quietly, "Shhh, Wiress, you need to be quiet."

That did little to stop Wiress, who was looking half crazy, from saying, "Tick tock, tick tock," almost chanting it. It was driving Johanna bonkers.

"Tick tock, tick tock" was far better than the loud scream that rang out through the beach, covering Wiress's voice.

On one of the wedges of beach, Rose saw a big wave burst forth, covering a figure. She let out a loud gasp as the monstrous wave covered the wedge of beach and the woods, crashing against the trees. A cannon fired. Rose saw a body being carried up from the woods of that wedge. That meant that there was only . . . twelve tributes left and herself, making thirteen people in this arena.

The water began to subside when Johanna finally said, annoyed, "There they are. Finally," and she dragged Beetee quickly with her. Rose followed her, and saw that about two spokes over were three people. She did not know them, but she was sure that they were the people that Johanna had wanted to find. The blonde looked shocked when she saw the girl with the braid holding an arrow in a bow, ready to fire. Johanna dropped Beetee on the beach in frustration, finally tired of carrying him, and hissed, "Fine, carry yourself!" and she turned to Wiress and pushed her and Rose.

"Johanna!" said Rose in surprise.

Johanna ignored her, too infuriated with the world.

Rose helped Wiress to keep steady, though she was still looking faint as she muttered, "Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock."

"Yes, tick tock, shhh, Wiress!" said Rose frantically, for she did not want to get in trouble with this new group of people.

"Johanna!" Rose looked up to see the handsome young man run to her.

"Finnick!" she called back. The two met and began to talk as Finnick's two companions joined them.

Rose felt that they looked quite ridiculous, with Wiress looking like she might start spinning and Beetee lying on the beach.

"She's got Wiress and Beetee," said the girl with the braid as she approached them. She looked at Rose strangely and quickly said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Rose," she replied quickly.

"Yeah, and what are you doing with Johanna and Nuts and Volts?" asked the handsome young man.

"She's with us, guys," Johanna said, annoyed. The handsome young man threw her a look, which she returned quite quickly along with a slight nod.

"We're Peeta and Katniss and Finnick," said the blond boy. He looked at them all strangely and scratching the back of his neck, he asked, "What happened?"

Rose suddenly remembered that the four of them were still covered in blood rain. "Well—"

"We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lightning, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the force field," Johanna said loudly to Finnick, though all could hear her.

Finnick apologized to Johanna about Blight's death but Rose ignored him as she slowly let Wiress fall to the ground, her own legs aching. Rose let a hand splash through the water as Peeta bent to her height, squatting on his knees, wearing only his undergarments. Rose wondered what happened to him that made him take off his protective suit when he said, "Like I said, I'm Peeta. You're . . . Rose?"

"Yes," she said quickly.

"How did you get into the arena?" he asked her.

"I took up a tube with a blonde girl. She—she shoved me off the plate when the gong went off," Rose told him. "Her name was . . . Cashmere, I think."

"You somehow got onto Cashmere's tube with her?" he said gently, though incredulously.

"Somehow, yeah," said Rose with a shaky laugh. "Yeah, somehow."

"Well, we'll see what we can do for you. Do you, um, know exactly where you are?" asked Peeta.

Rose sighed and nodded, "The Hunger Games. Only one comes out."

"Yeah," said Peeta, looking at the sand grimly.

Rose nodded and they looked at the sand for a moment before they looked up to see Johanna yelling at Katniss and getting carried to the water by Finnick, who put her down and began to dunk her head into the water. Peeta raised an eyebrow before turning to Katniss, who said, "What did she mean? She got them for me?"

"I don't know. You did want them originally," pointed out Peeta.

"Yeah, I did. Originally." Katniss looked back to Beetee and Wiress, both looking quite weird, and said, "But I won't have them long unless we do something."

"Let's take them to our camp," said Peeta. He looked to Rose and said, "Are you injured at all?"

"Just a bit tired, is all," Rose replied. "I can help you with them, though."

"Okay," said Peeta, and between the three of them, they got Beetee and Wiress to the shallow camp Peeta, Katniss, and Finnick had made. Rose sat with Wiress on the beach, scratching at both of their skins with her fingers and sand, trying to get the dried blood off them. It stuck to them, almost becoming part of their clothes, and finally Rose stripped Wiress down to her undergarments and took off her own shirt, leaving her own undergarments on for the sake of modesty.

Modesty was apparently not a word that Peeta and Katniss knew, for they stripped down Beetee entirely to clean him off. At least he got totally clean. Rose had Wiress, who was looking dazedly into the distance, lie down beside her in the water, hoping that the blood might wash out of their clothes.

She let out a sigh of relief as she felt the water lap against her. Her legs were not hurting and aching as much now that she finally got to lie down.

"Tick tock, tick tock," murmured Wiress occasionally.

"I know, I know," said Rose, sitting up to look at Wiress as she helped her to sit up as well. "Tick tock, tick tock." She bit her lip and asked curiously, "What does that mean, Wiress? What does 'tick tock' mean?"

"Tick tock, tick tock," muttered Wiress as she squeezed her hands together, looking distant as she looked at the water, her eyes concentrating on only that. "Tick tock, tick tock."

"Tick tock," Rose sighed, looking to the water as well. She hadn't a clue what Wiress meant by that. Tick tock, tick tock. The only thing she knew that made that noise (besides Wiress) was a clock. Why was she making a noise that sounded like a clock?

Rose sighed and looked over the water. She bet that if the Doctor was here, he'd have figured it out. The Doctor was brilliant like that. He could hear one thing and tell you what it meant within a couple of minutes.

She knew, though, that the Doctor knew she had brains, and he would want her to use them to figure out what Wiress meant, for she certainly was not going to say anything besides, "Tick tock." Rose frowned and looked around harder, but all she could see was the expanse of arena. Nothing that resembled a clock.

Sighing, she stood up and headed over to where Katniss and Peeta were laying Beetee down on a mat to check out the wound on his back that was looking very deep.

"Is—is it terribly bad?" Rose asked Peeta, who leanedover the man while Katniss went to the jungle to get something.

"It's bad, but I think Katniss can fix it," said Peeta, "she saved me from dying before."

"When?" asked Rose, squatting to get down to Peeta's height.

"In last year's Hunger Games. She saved my leg from blood poisoning. She—she kept me alive," said Peeta; he wore a slight smile at the memory.

"You—you were here once before?" Rose asked him, alarmed.

"Not here particularly, but in the Hunger Games, yes," he replied. He leaned forward, putting a bit of pressure on Beetee's back, and whispered to Rose, "Where are you from?"

"It's a bit complicated, um, where am I?" asked Rose, for she knew that she had to be on Earth, for the TARDIS was nowhere near her, and Peeta spoke perfect English.

"Panem. It used to be called North America, but it became Panem after a while," Peeta whispered before saying loudly, turning to the jungle, "Coming, Katniss?"

"I'm hurrying. Remember the baby, Peeta," Katniss told him quickly as she hurried to us.

"What?" Rose asked as Peeta turned back to her.

"She's pregnant," Peeta replied.

"WHAT?" asked Rose, incredulous.

"Shhh, it's okay," said Peeta as Katniss reached them. She handed some moss to Peeta and handed some blankly to Rose, saying, "Use this on Wiress. Wash her off and her suit so she can put it on clean. Put her undergarments on a rock to soak, and then we can talk. Use some for yourself, too."

"Thanks," Rose said quietly as she stood up. She looked down to Peeta and said quickly, "London."

Peeta, remembering their conversation, nodded quickly before he started to help Katniss with Beetee's back. Rose quickly did Katniss's instructions, not daring to disobey her. She helped Wiress into her suit and even helped her put on her purple belt, which had managed not to break in their walk across the jungle.

She put Wiress's undergarments out to soak and wrung out her own shirt, scrubbing it against a rock before she laid it out to dry. She looked up to see that Katniss and Peeta had Beetee taken care of and she gently grabbed Wiress's arm and said, "C'mon then. Let's get going."

"Tick tock, tick tock," said Wiress.

"Yes, yes, tick tock," said Rose, and the two went and joined the small camp, which now had a shining clean Johanna and a peeling Finnick. They all had shellfish and water, foregoing manners. (It was the arena, and Rose could care less at this point.)

"All right, so tell us, who are you?" Finnick said after a while to Rose. Johanna looked up from where she was stuffing her face full of shellfish and said, "She joined us at the cornucopia."

"How'd you get here?" asked Katniss quickly.

"I came up on Cashmere's plate. I ended up getting onto one of those spaceships and I followed her," Rose said, picking at a shellfish to distract herself.

"So you just somehow ended up here when you weren't supposed to?" Finnick said slowly.

"I guess, yeah," said Rose slowly, looking about the ring of people around her. Katniss was looking perplexed while Johanna looked plain annoyed. Finnick looked a little grim while Peeta raised an eyebrow. Beetee was busy with his shellfish and Wiress was still looking away at the ground, as though there was something there she needed to focus on.

"Does this mean we have to kill you too?" asked Katniss.

"I-I have a plan," said Rose, "so no."

"What's your plan?" Finnick asked her quickly, almost cautiously.

"I have a friend, outside of this arena, and his name is the Doctor," Rose told them. Everyone, including Beetee and even Wiress, was watching her now. "He—he's good at escaping, and rescuing, and he knows I'm here. He—if you help me, he can help save us, save us all." Rose was not entirely sure that he could save them all, but she knew the Doctor, and she knew that he was as sure as hell going to try.

It was just a matter of convincing the people around her who were supposed to kill her to not kill her.

She chewed on the inside of her lip as Johanna and Finnick exchanged a significant look and Katniss looked at Peeta, shaking her head slightly.

"We—we can't . . . only one person is allowed to come out of the arena," said Katniss, looking at Rose a second before she immediately returned her gaze to Peeta.

"Please, listen to me. The Doctor has a plan. We just need to wait and not kill each other before he comes and gets us," Rose added with a slight smile, hopeful that they believed her.

"But—" said Katniss before Finnick said in an incredulous voice, "Fine, I guess you can stay with us. Just . . . be careful, 'kay?"

Katniss looked at Finnick and he gave her a reassuring look, which made her look ill at ease. Rose leaned back a little, the queasy feeling in her stomach going away slightly at the thought of them listening to her.

"Who's taking first watch?" Katniss said, for Rose was sure that not many people in the group had had much sleep last night at all.

"I'll watch," said Johanna.

"No, I can watch," Katniss said quickly.

"I can't sleep. I'm watching," said Johanna with hostility.

"I'll watch with you," said Katniss firmly.

Johanna threw her a bitter look and spat, "Fine," before backing away from the ring.

Everyone looked at her before they all settled on the beach. Beetee laid on a mat that seemed to be Finnick's and Finnick laid on the warm sand along with Wiress and Rose, who was on the edge of the camp, helping Finnick sandwich Wiress in.

The nineteen-year-old lay on her side, turning her back to Wiress, and looked at the sand and the jungle, though she was not concentrating on either of those. Her mind was distracted, thinking about everything. She was here, in an arena where it was kill or be killed, and she could only wish that nobody sleeping or watching around her killed her in her sleep. Maybe that was the reason she couldn't fall asleep, but she attributed the blame of her awakeness to the Doctor. She was worried slightly over his plan; she was mentally kicking herself for even thinking such a thing, for the Doctor was always reliable and trustworthy, and she was sure that his plan was excellent. Maybe it was because she hadn't seen him since yesterday or because she hadn't a clue what his plan was, but she was worried, and it was not something she liked at all.


"This is sick," the Doctor said, his voice quietly angry.

Haymitch was over by the buffet trying to get himself something to eat after returning from talking to some people who looked semi-normal while Effie was perfecting her makeup now that Rose and Wiress and Beetee and Johanna were with Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick.

"Just . . . all of these Games!" said the Doctor. He took a breath and said quietly, "Why do they do this, Haymitch? I don't care about the Dark Days story. This—is—wrong."

"It's the Hunger Games, Doctor," said Effie, not looking up from her lipstick. "It's normal."

"Yeah, in your little world, but everywhere else, this is regarded as murderous behavior," the Doctor told her.

"This is politics," Haymitch said sarcastically. "I talked with Seven, Three, and Four's mentors. They're okay with it, at the moment."

"Nasty thing, politics, always ruining everything," said the Doctor, turning away from the two who seemed to be nonplussed by this to the screen. Rose was lying on the sand next to Wiress, who hadn't closed her eyes and was just blinking.

"Tick tock," she murmured.

"Tick tock, tick tock, what does that mean?" the Doctor asked to no one in particular, his brow furrowing in confusion. His brain began to reel as he started to try to think like Wiress. What did she mean by 'tick tock?' The only thing that made that sound was a clock. A clock. There were no clocks in the arena, unless someone somehow had gotten a hold of a watch, which was . . . very unlikely.

A clock . . . the Doctor thought to the arena, and he remembered when he had seen the blood rain, he had seen the time, which had been . . . one o'clock. Then, the fog—it came at exactly two o'clock.

The Doctor sat up. When the tidal wave came along, he had seen that the clock has read it being ten in the morning. A pattern began to fall into his head. All these tragedies were falling into place, a pattern. They weren't just happening by themselves. They were timed, and that meant—

"The arena's a clock?!" he said aloud. He turned and said, "Haymitch, the arena's a clock!"

"What does that mean?" Haymitch asked. He turned back to the buffet and said, "You're as nutty as Wiress."

"No, no, don't you get it? Oi!" the Doctor said, and he began to push and shove toggles and levers and buttons, trying to find a way to move a camera so that he could see the overview of the arena. "The arena, it—it's a clock—at each hour, a new something comes at the tributes, the tidal wave at ten, the blood rain at one—it's a pattern!" the Doctor said, pushing a whole panel of buttons.

"How do you know that?" Effie asked him while Haymitch scoffed, not amused.

"Well, with the timed troubles and all that," the Doctor said, finally finding a camera control. He tugged it back and a slow grin covered his face when he saw that the arena was nothing more than a big circle, with large rings all around it and beach. "Wiress." He looked to the awake, crazy woman and said, "She's smarter than she lets on."

"Yeah, so what if the arena is a clock?" said Haymitch. "How does that help us?"

"I'm not sure," the Doctor said, and he leaned back in his seat. "Maybe we can use them to our advantage, though I'm not sure how . . . yet."

Haymitch looked seriously worried for a second before he rolled his eyes and turning to Effie, said, "Did you order the Avoxes to get some alcohol?"

"Peeta told me not to let you have any." And Effie said seriously in her silly voice, "I'd rather listen to Peeta than to you."

Haymitch gave her a rude gesture that made Effie open her mouth in surprise, but the Doctor ignored the two, who was obviously used to doing this with each other. He had his two index fingers at the bridge of his nose, thinking. After the fog came the monkeys, and for some reason, the Doctor thought he had seen those monkeys before. Not on Earth, that was for certain—but they were on Earth, so why were they here?

He slumped down further. He had to see them again, to make sure he knew what they were. Unfortunately, he could not think of where he had seen them, or even if he had seen such creatures before. They resembled some orange monkeys he had seen in the depths of Africa, so they might be those. "Haymitch," the Doctor said quietly.

Haymitch sighed loudly and said, "What now, Doc? Trying to reason with Princess here."

"I'm not your princess, or—or any princess, Haymitch Abernathy!" said Effie, obviously sounding embarrassed, and she flounced from the room, her heels clicking as she did so.

"What were those monkeys from? They—they don't look like they are from Earth," said the Doctor, ignoring Effie's departure.

"Those are called mutts, Doc, or muttations," Haymitch explained as he settled for a fruity looking drink that gave off great sweet fumes. "The Capitol creates them. Modifies animals with liquids and syringes designed to twist their structure, make them their puppets in the arena."

"Mutts," said the Doctor quietly. "Have you actually seen them make these mutts?"

"No, we all know how they're made like that. They were natural, then transformed. Freaks of nature," spat Haymitch.

"Not natural . . ." the Doctor said quietly to himself, his mind fading away from the monkeys as he looked at Rose, who captured his attention by just existing. He took a deep breath and said, "Right. . ."

Just as that minute, Effie came hurrying in, closing the door behind her. The Doctor and Haymitch turned to her as she panted loudly and said, "The Peacekeepers, they've everywhere! They're searching for—for somebody—"

"That'd be me," the Doctor said, standing up. "They want to find this Doctor that Rose keeps mentioning. They've been searching the mentor rooms, Effie?" Effie gulped and drew out a handkerchief to fan herself and Haymitch groaned loudly. The Doctor quickly crossed over to Effie so that he was within a foot of her face and said, "Effie, you have to tell me. Are they searching the mentor rooms?" Effie nodded after a moment, not able to speak, and the Doctor said quickly, "I have to hide. Either I have to hide or get out of here."

"People will see you coming out of here," said Effie, and the Doctor nodded. He had only been able to get in here because everyone else was too busy not noticing him as they bet on the poor people in the arena. He looked around the room and said, turning back to Effie, "How far away are they?"

"They're coming this way right now," said Effie. She hastily reached into her bag to reinforce her makeup as the Doctor said to himself, "Under the bed it is, then," and he got down and managed to slide under the bed.

"What the hell?" said Haymitch.

"Just . . . act like I'm not here," said the Doctor. He looked thoughtful as he said, "Hope they don't check under beds," and he disappeared.

Effie and Haymitch stared at the bed for a few seconds before the door burst open, revealing several Peacekeepers. From his position under the bed, all the Doctor could see was a bunch of identical shoes.

"Morning, officers," Haymitch said lazily, "can we help you with something?"

"We are searching for a man called the Doctor, Mr. Abernathy. We have apprehended his transportation and are searching for him," the Doctor heard one of the Peacekeepers say. He inwardly groaned. Not the TARDIS. "The woman who entered into the arena has been mentioning him a lot throughout the Games—"

"Yeah, I noticed that—weird, right?" asked Haymitch.

"—and we have been ordered to search for him. He is now a criminal to the Capitol for being with the woman who has infiltrated the Hunger Games."

"There hasn't been anyone in here besides me and Effie. And the Avoxes," replied Haymitch, "but I'll keep an eye out for him. What does he look like?"

A sort of uneasiness could be felt in the air as minutes passed in silence. Finally, the Peacekeeper who had been talking said, "We have no physical idea of what the Doctor looks like."

"Oh. Okay. We'll keep an eye out for him," said Haymitch.

After a moment, the Peacekeeper said, embarrassed, "Mr. Abernathy," and he left with his troops.

The door shut and the Doctor, peeking his head out from under the bed, said, "Is it safe now, then?"

"Yeah," said Haymitch, and the Doctor came out from under the bed. He dusted himself off and said, "Thanks," to Haymitch, who grunted, and they both returned to their seats, the sound of Effie locking the door behind them as they sat down.


An hour or two passed, and Rose had managed to get a few minutes' worth of sleep when she felt Wiress move away from her. She ignored her, squeezing her eyes close as she brought her legs closer to her chest. She pushed out all sounds around her and pulled herself close together, trying to ignore the world.

She managed to block out the world for a few minutes until Katniss tapped her quickly, saying, "Get up. Get up—we have to move."

Rose immediately sat up, looking around quickly to see why they had to move. She saw Finnick, Johanna, and Peeta collecting their things while Katniss helped Beetee into his suit. "Tick tock!" said Wiress.

"Yes, tick tock, the arena's a clock. It's a clock, Wiress, you were right. You were right," said Katniss quickly.

Rose quickly moved and helped Katniss help Beetee up as Wiress said in an relieved voice, "Midnight."

"It starts at midnight," Katniss replied.

Rose looked at her and Wiress, confused, before she looked around the arena, not sure what they meant about the arena being a clock. She gulped slightly when she saw near them the blood rain that she and Johanna and Beetee and Wiress had to walk through. She could practically feel the disgusting, slippery, irony liquid pour down her again.

"One-thirty," Wiress said, looking at the blood rain as well.

"Exactly. One-thirty," Katniss replied, "and at two, a terrible poisonous fog begins there," and she pointed to another section of jungle near them. "So we have to move somewhere safe now."

Wiress smiled and Katniss asked her, "You thirsty?"

Rose looked on with a bit of relief as Wiress, having someone finally understanding her, started eating and drinking as they all started to stand up. As Katniss checked over her weapons, Peeta came over to help Rose held Beetee stand. The man looked around as they brought him to his feet and said, "Wire."

"She's right here," said Peeta, "Wiress is fine. She's coming, too."

"Wire," Beetee repeated.

Johanna sighed and rolled her eyes as she left Finnick and said, "Oh, I know what he wants," and she went over to where his purple belt was by the water. Rose saw her pick up a wide but small loop of wire.

Johanna said, examining it with disgust, "This worthless thing. It's some kind of wire or something. That's how he got cut. Running up to the cornucopia to get this. I don't know what kind of weapon it's supposed to be. I guess you could pull off a piece and use it as a garrote or something. But really, can you imagine Beetee garroting somebody?"

Rose was not exactly sure what garroting meant but she bet that she didn't want to know. She bit her lip and concentrated on helping Peeta keep Beetee upright.

"He won his Games with wire. Setting up that electrical trap," said Peeta, looking up from Beetee, his grip on the man never wavering, though. "It's the best weapon he could have."

"Seems like you'd have figured that out, since you nicknamed him Volts and all," added Katniss, looking at Johanna.

Johanna narrowed her eyes at Katniss, "Yeah, that was really stupid of me, wasn't it? I guess I must have been distracted by keeping your little friends alive." Rose narrowed her eyes at Johanna's words. " . . . While you were . . . what, again? Getting Mags killed off?" Johanna looked mad.

Katniss reached for the knife at her belt.

"Go ahead. Try it. I don't care if you are knocked up, I'll rip your throat out," seethed Johanna loathingly.

There was a silence, as though Katniss was contemplating going after Johanna. Rose wished she knew what to say, but thankfully Finnick said, quickly taking the wire, "Maybe we all better be careful where we step." He handed the coil to Rose, who quickly gave it to Beetee, and he added, "There's your wire, Volts. Watch where you plug it."

"Where to?" asked Peeta, and Rose tightened her grip on Beetee's shoulder and arm, ready to help Peeta lug him wherever they needed to lug him.

"I'd like to go to the cornucopia and watch. Just to make sure we're right about the clock," replied Finnick, and with him and Katniss leading, they walked down the nearest sand strip and headed onto the beach of the cornucopia. It was hard getting everyone through the water, but Finnick helped get Beetee there with the help of Peeta and Rose, and Johanna, grumbling and cursing fiercely, helped Katniss with Wiress, careful to keep their supplies above the water.

They approached the cornucopia with care; but Rose was sure that there was going to be someone in the cornucopia. After traveling with the Doctor for so long, she knew that things like this were always filled with something. Whether it be people, aliens, allies, or enemies, there was always someone in there.

All that seemed to be there at first glance was the gold cornucopia and strewn about supplies. Katniss and Johanna let go of Wiress and sent her to wash off Beetee's wire. While she was at the beach, she pointed out a dirty fog. "Two o'clock," Peeta said, and with that, they all settled down to work. Johanna started to enjoy herself amongst the weapons. Katniss rummaged around with her weapons as well while Beetee was laid down on the mat.

Peeta began to draw on a leave of some sort and Rose, looking around and seeing that she was not needed, went and walked over to Finnick. She folded her arms and said, "Was Mags your partner?"

His copper hair whipped about in the breeze and he nodded.

"I'm sorry," said Rose, "I really am."

"She knew what she was doing," he said quietly. "It's just sad to see her go."

Rose nodded quietly and looked at the ground, knowing how hard it was to handle someone you love being taken away from you. From the time she had seen her father who was gone, she knew.

"She was my mentor," Finnick added after a moment. He turned to Rose and said, "She volunteered for someone."

"She was awfully brave, then," said Rose, for that was all she could think of to say since she had not seen Mags except for a glimpse on this beach yesterday.

Finnick nodded and after a moment, said, "Do you really think that your Doctor can help us?"

"Yes," Rose said quickly. The Doctor wouldn't fail. She hoped and hoped and she knew, after a while, that he wouldn't fail. He couldn't fail. He was the Doctor.

"I hope he can," Finnick said after a moment, his voice distant. He cleared his throat and looking at Rose, said, "You're Rose, right?"

Rose nodded and he offered her his arm, saying, "You look prettier than any other flower."

Rose couldn't help but look at the ground and laugh at that. Finnick smirked and said, "That was a stupid one, right?"

"Very," said Rose, and she looked up and hooked arms with Finnick once again, "don't use that one ever again."

"Don't worry, I won't," he said with a wink, and they headed to Peeta, Katniss, and Beetee. Katniss and Beetee were looking over Peeta's shoulder as he drew on something. He had his legs drawn to his chest and had a large, smooth leave on them. Using a knife, he carved something out.

Rose and Finnick and now Johanna looked over his shoulder as well. Rose drew her eyebrows together at his drawing. In the center was a circle with spokes poking out of it so it looked like a pie with a center, each of the twelve slices in equal pieces. A ring was carved around the spokes and then another slightly bigger ring, and Rose suddenly pieced together what they meant when they said that the arena was a clock.

Peeta had carved numbers next to each wedge, making it look more like a clock. There was 'lightning' at 12. Blood was 1, fog was 2, and monkeys were 3.

"And ten to eleven is the wave," Katniss pointed out. She looked to Rose, Finnick, and Johanna and said, "Did you notice anything unusual in the others?"

Finnick shook his head, Johanna said quickly, "Just blood rain," and Rose said quietly, "We didn't see anything but the blood rain. What else could be in here?"

"I guess they could hold anything," said Katniss.

"I'm going to mark the ones where we know the Gamemakers' weapon follows us out past the jungle, so we'll stay clear of those," said Peeta. He drew lines on the fog and wave beaches. He sat back, making everyone back up as well, and said, "Well, it's a lot more than we knew this morning."

He put the leaf down when suddenly Finnick said, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Rose, and she concentrated on listening, but all she could hear were the waves against the beach. "I don't . . I don't hear anything."

"Exactly," said Finnick.

They all immediately looked about and sprang into action. Katniss loaded an arrow and Rose stood up straight and looked around frantically, her blonde hair spilling out of her ponytail when she suddenly caught sight of a tall man with blonde hair grinning evilly as he let Wiress fall from his hands, a dark red streak running across her neck.

Rose couldn't scream. She desperately felt like she needed to, but she didn't. She stood still for a second before Finnick shoved a sword in her hands as he rushed to knock away a spear going toward Peeta.

Rose saw the man that killed Wiress fall to the ground, an arrow in his head, and then saw Cashmere; Johanna planted an axe blade into the tribute's chest. Her blonde hair whipped about as Johanna shoved her over.

Rose gulped and looked around, and saw Beetee on his hands and knees. She hurried, sword still in her hand in case she needed it, toward the man, hearing Johanna and Katniss yelling at the two of them and the boys heading after more people behind the cornucopia. Three cannon shots filled the air, marking three more deaths.

Rose hurried to Beetee. He looked smaller with the wound on his back looking huge. She was breathing hard now, for it was hard to run across sand. Especially sand that was spinning around. Very much like the TARDIS when it was going to a place in space, the beach was turning and spinning and Rose was thrown to the ground, coughing as the beach turned faster and faster.

Sand spun everywhere and Rose tried to grip the sand, though it was pointless as it sank under her fingers and flew about. She squeezed her eyes shut to keep them from getting sand in them. She knew from experience that sand in one's eye was not pleasant.

And then suddenly, the beach was brought to an abrupt stop, and Rose sank against the ground.

She moaned as she brought herself to a sitting position, her entire body all sore and aching. She brushed her hands together and then used them to try to clean out her mouth, which, despite her trying not to get sand in it, managed to have sand all around it.

She turned when she heard people coming toward her. Finnick went into the water to retrieve Beetee, who was twenty yards out. Johanna, Peeta, and Katniss joined Rose, who brought herself shakily to her feet. Katniss seemed ready to depart from the group as she tossed aside her weapons and said, "Cover me." She raced down the beach, leaving the three of them watching her.

"Where's she going?" Rose said to no one in particular.

They saw Katniss going to Wiress's body, which was now floating in the water as well as the two other dead tributes, and Johanna said disgustedly, "I think she's getting that wire from Nuts."

"Don't call her that, Johanna," Peeta said.

"Why not, Lover Boy?" Johanna fired at him.

"It isn't very respectful of the dead," said Peeta, and Johanna frowned at him as he ran to help Finnick bring Beetee to shore.

Katniss came back, panting, but with the wire in her hand. Finnick and Peeta brought Beetee back, who still had his glasses. Rose looked on with a sigh of relief as Katniss handed him his wire, which was now free of blood. He unwound it and almost seemed to be playing with it. Rose gulped when she realized that he was thinking of his district partner.

Katniss hugged Peeta and Finnick and Rose and even Johanna looked sober as they all stood there quietly for few minutes, the only noise the sound of the water lapping against the beach. Rose sniffed and rubbed at her nose. Wiress had been her buddy for almost two days and now she was dead. Gone. Gone forever.

Finally Johanna said sharply, "Let's get off this stinking island."

They all nodded solemnly and got ready to leave. Finnick tore off his undershirt and wrapped it around his thigh, which Rose just now noticed had a gaping wound on it. "What happened?" she asked, concerned.

"Cashmere and a knife," he replied, tying it good and tight. "That'll have to do."

"Beetee, can you walk?" Katniss asked the man.

After a moment, he nodded and said, "I think so."

"Which beach are we going to?" Johanna asked, slinging an axe over her shoulder.

Rose shrugged and Beetee said, "Let's head to the twelve o'clock beach."

"Don't see why not," shrugs Peeta, and Finnick nodded, and he, Peeta, and Johanna all headed off into three different directions. They all stopped to turn to look at each other and Rose almost felt like laughing as they eyed each other.

"Twelve o'clock, right?" said Peeta. "The tail points at twelve."

"Before they spun us," Finnick pointed out. "I was judging by the sun."

"The sun only tells you it's going on four, Finnick," Katniss said.

"I think Katniss's point is, knowing the time doesn't mean you necessarily know where four is on the clock. You might have a general idea of the direction. Unless you consider that they may have shifted the outer ring of the jungle as well," said Beetee, looking up.

Rose nodded. "Just because the beach moved about doesn't mean that any of the things that happen every hour moved."

Katniss nodded. "Yes, so any one of these paths could lead to twelve o'clock."

They all nodded and Finnick said, "Shall we see if we can spot what is happening now?"

They all nodded again and they circled the cornucopia, looking around at the jungle. "I never should have mentioned the clock," Katniss said after a few minutes of searching and scrutinizing the other tributes' tracks. "Now they've taken that advantage away as well." She wrinkled her nose in annoyance.

"Only temporarily," said Beetee as he limped, leaning on Rose, who was patiently helping him with one arm while her other hand held her weapon. "At ten, we'll see the wave again and be back on track."

"Yes, they can't redesign the entire arena," Peeta pointed out.

Rose nodded and then looked at Johanna, who said impatiently, "It doesn't matter. You had to tell us or we never would have moved our camp in the first place, brainless." She looked even more impatient wielding her axe as she said, "Come on, I need water. Anyone have a good gut feeling?"

Rose looked about and said, pointing into the jungle, "How about we just go that way?"

They all looked to where her finger was pointing. It looked like relatively plain, ordinary looking jungle, which meant that it would be anything but. Still, what other paths looked different? They all agreed and went swimming and then walking on the beach. Once they reached the beach, they hurried to the jungle to see what horror it would have.

"Well, it must be monkey hour. And I don't see any of them in here," Peeta said, looking intently into the jungle. "I'm going to try to tap a tree."

"No, it's my turn," Finnick said quickly.

"I'll at least watch your back," said Peeta.

Johanna stepped forward and said, "Katniss can do that. We need you to make a new map. The other washed away." She yanked off a leave and shoved it at him.

Katniss looked suspiciously at Johanna for a moment while Rose helped Beetee to the ground. Already, the walking and swimming had made him very pale, and he wasn't looking too good. "Just . . . rest now," Rose told him.

He nodded and turned back to his wire and Rose stood back up, brushing sand off her pants. After a moment, Katniss joined Finnick and Peeta started on a new map. Johanna sank to the ground and began to run her axe through the sand (obviously thinking, by the look on her concentrated face).

Rose took a deep breath and settled down on the sand. There was no need for her to move at the moment, and she didn't feel like moving. She had never felt more tired in her entire life, and she traveled with the Doctor.

All she wanted to do was sleep, but sleep was very hard to come by when screams came in from the jungle. Loud, girlish, but terrifying screams.

LONG CHAPTER IS LONG. I hope you all like it, and THANK YOU FOR READING.