"But now I'm face-down, unspoken;
my chest ripped wide open.
From sunrise to nightfall
I need a place that I can hideout."
"Lo" – The Higher
A/N: I'm taking my finals this week, so I've been very busy the past week or so with studying. I'm sorry for the delay!
I know I promised more frequent updates, and I'm trying to keep my word. It's just difficult with school, but my year is almost over!
Sophomore year was begrudgingly slow; I can't wait for summer to come.
Anyway, enjoy this chapter.
I accidentally wrote it all in third person (because my other story is written in third person and I was working on updates for both of them) and had to redo the entire thing. WAH.
Still Finnick's point of view, by the way.
I hold my breath and wait.
The shot never comes.
Instead, I turn around to see a peacekeeper lying on the ground in his own blood and another only feet away from me—but there is something familiar about the latter.
The peacekeeper still alive had put down his weapon moments ago, as if to gain my trust. The look in the man's eyes is inviting, but questioning.
I had seen it before, but I'm not sure where.
"Finnick? It's me, Alistair," the man hesitantly speaks.
It takes me a moment, but I remember.
You're safe, Finnick. He's a fellow rebel, I think to myself while slowly exhaling the breath I forgot I'd been holding.
"Yeah," I say. It's not really a response but I'm too much in shock and confusion to really muster one anyway.
That same night I found this very dock was the night I met Alistair. Alistair was already a Capitol spy for the rebels; he only took a job as a peacekeeper to have closer ties to the government.
When he stumbled upon me, bleeding and trespassing on abandoned property in the wee hours of the morning, he didn't report me. No, Alistair actually scooped me up off the dock, took my almost lifeless body and helped—practically dragged—me back to the Training Center.
We didn't see each other for another four years or so, not until I officially joined the rebellion; not until my Annie—even though she wasn't really mine yet—lost herself in the Games.
Through those meetings, we became friends. Alistair was a lot like the other Victors, even though he was born and raised in the Capitol. He lost his family as collateral damage from one of Snow's "accidents" and from then on vowed himself loyal to the cause. He only managed to join from a time he saved Haymitch Abernathy from being arrested after he, in his belligerent stupor, broke his fist on a random bystander's nose. Alistair managed to convince the other peacekeepers called to the scene that Haymitch couldn't be arrested under Victor's Immunity, a law he made up on the spot.
Haymitch sobered up to find Alistair standing over him, sharing his hatred for Snow, the Games, everything Panem's government stood for.
But, I hadn't seen him since the annual meeting before the 74th Games. Because of Katniss and Peeta's obvious spark, the rebellion was gaining more force underground—no pun intended—and Haymitch felt it would be safest to forbid the Capitol spies from meetings, so as to prolong their covers for as long as possible.
Now Alistair stands in front of me, weaponless next to the dead body of another peacekeeper. The sight in front of me is so baffling, I think I must be somehow dreaming; I pinch my cheek, but nothing changes.
Minutes pass until I finally speak up and ask, "What the hell?"
"I thought you might come here eventually," Alistair says with a winning smile, lightly jabbing me in the ribs.
This was not the first time I had been to this dock since I discovered it, nor was it the first time since then that I've been here with Alistair. We used to meet here when I had down-time between appointments.
"Ahh, how well you know me," I reply.
I glance again to the peacekeeper on the floor.
"What the hell?"
"Oh that," Alistair starts nonchalantly. "He was gonna shoot you, but I snapped his neck before he got the chance."
I just nod, relieved and stressed by the sudden appearance of my new ally/old friend.
"Well, this kind of ruins my plan," I say after moments of silence.
"That's why I've got a new one," Alistair snaps back.
"Just trust me," he says with a wink.
Alistair pushes the other peacekeepers body into the water without so much as a word, which worries me. What's the plan? What are we going to do? How can I do this with him by my side?
It's not that I don't trust Alistair—I do wholeheartedly—but it's the feeling of attachment that scares me; it's the very same reason I volunteered to go on this trek by myself. Despite the callousness I showed in his Games, I have one terribly mortal weakness: I care too much, far too much.
Alistair sits down beside me and puts his arm on my shoulder.
"You're not in this alone, you know. We can and will win this, Finnick. Just let me help you. OK?"
I scoff.
"I can't exactly traipse through the city with a peacekeeper and not be noticed, now can I?" I retort, not meaning to sound as testy as I do.
"That's why you won't be traipsing," Alistair says with a chuckle. "You'll be 'under arrest' so it won't look suspicious," he uses air quotes to emphasize his point.
I just stare at him, wide-eyed and terrified.
Alistair laughs, and it's a bellowing laugh—one that almost makes me forget the severity of the situation; almost, but not quite. I haven't heard him laugh like this for years, not since the last time we visited the old tavern together. I miss that place; the only place other than the dock that made me feel as if I were still in 4.
"I haven't seen you so confused since I first let you go, boy," Alistair says still chuckling.
"No, I imagine you haven't," I say, with a sheepish smile.
I don't know where this is going, but I know I will trust this man with everything I am. Sometimes, I forget he's just as invested in the cause as I am. But right now, I will not forget that. There will be no trepidation from me; he wants this to succeed just as much as I do. Besides, if it should fail, at least I'll die with a friend by my side.
After years of forced sexual exploitation, the feel of handcuffs and other restraints no longer feel foreign or confining. I've grown accustomed to moving with them; well acquainted to the amount of space and the degrees of motion one can acquire in these contraptions. It's laughable, really, that I feel almost at an advantage in handcuffs. They may be a huge handicap to most, but to me they're almost a second skin.
"Snow requested you to be brought directly to him, if you were to be caught," Alistair starts.
I nod, intently listening to what he's going to say. Alistair, as kind and intriguing as he is, is a man of few words. So, I know that anything he has to say is something to which I should take heed.
"So that means, I can walk you directly through the heart of the Capitol and straight to his mansion. I've got no connection to the other rebels, so I don't think we'll raise any suspicions," he finishes, looking at me for feedback.
"What about other peacekeepers? Won't they want to be part of the glory?"
I honestly can't imagine that we'll be able to get to the mansion without gaining an abundance of peacekeepers trailing along, intent on gaining Snow's approval for sequestering the Most Wanted, Finnick Odair.
"I'll keep them at bay, don't worry," he says with an eerie certainty.
"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road," I say, nudging his shoulder with my elbow—since my hands are tied up.
"About damn time!"
We exchange a quick laugh and an awkward embrace before leaving the dock and heading directly toward the mansion.
It's only been a mere hour or so since I split from Katniss, Peeta, Cressida, and Pollux. The lack of news tells me that neither of them has made it there yet either, which I can only hope is a good sign.
For this to work, we need to be there at the same time. I think that's highly likely. Although I've been at a standstill for about an hour, I have a direct path there; they may be an hour ahead, but their path is not as simple.
For once in my life, it seems the odd may truly be in my favor.
A/N: I hope no one was too worried about the way I left off with The Hurricane I'll Never Outrun!
Reviews would be lovely!
Also, to anyone that reads my other story, Let's Light This World on Fire and Watch It Burn, I would like to let you know that it is on hiatus.
I'm sorry, but I really need to focus on Crash before I can really devote time to it.