Hey peeps! Again thank you for all your support, reviews, favorite stories, etc they really mean alot to me! Anyway I am giving you this chapter quite early beacuse I will be travelling or a week and will have no time to write then. So enjoy! :D
And Happy easter!
People react differently to fear. Some scream. Some try to fight whatever is in front of them. Some are paralyzed by it. Thankfully for Annie, her reaction was flight. And as terrorized, shocked and horrified she was after seeing her friend's head roll off of his body, she didn't even stop to think; she had turned her heels and run off as fast as she could. Not even in the bloodbath had she felt this level of adrenaline; she was so close to death that her whole body seemed to have gone on survival mode. She was so desperate to get away from that sight, from the two dead bodies, and the tribute with a bow, that she didn't see or even feel the arrow soar right pass her, missing her by centimeters and hit a tree. She didn't hear the girl from district 7 trying hopelessly to run after her.
Annie was light and agile, and now that she was fueled by her fear she ran incredibly fast. In less than two minutes she had put enough distance between her and her enemy, but she didn't even think about looking over her shoulder or slowing down. For hours she let her legs carry her, indifferent to fatigue or pain, getting up every time she tripped over a root, not bothering to see if she was hurt, no matter how ugly was her fall.
But no adrenaline could keep someone going infinitely. Her life was no longer in immediate danger and she could start to feel every muscle of her body ache from all the running, bruises from falling or hitting branches, thirst from the effort… She had to stop. She held onto a tree with one arm shaking and threw up. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and only when she saw the dark red stains on her skin as she did so that she realized she was covered in Nepto's blood. Fighting the urge to vomit again, Annie started walking again. Her legs could barely carry her anymore but she staggered on, looking helplessly around, until she finally found small lake. Without hesitating, she jumped into it, scrubbing her face and arms fiercely to get rid of all the blood.
The girl scrubbed way more than necessary, but when she finally felt clean, she let her hands drop to her side, standing chest-deep in the lake, taking deep breaths. The cold water was doing a lot of good to her aching muscles, and she felt like just standing there. It took all the effort in the world to move her arms again and refill her water bottle. She put it back in her bag, staring at the water without really seeing it. She was trying, trying not to think of Nepto… but she couldn't. She kept seing the other boy appear behind her ally, and then his head rolling off his shoulders… She should have left the first time he told her. If he hadn't been too busy trying to convince her to move, he'd maybe have seen him coming. He'd maybe-
A noise made Annie come back to her senses. It sounded like a twig breaking, but she didn't stop to verify. She hurried out of the lake and started running again. But this time, she wasn't as frightened as before and she could feel every muscle of her body aching, every bruise burning, and a sharp, nearly unbearable pain on her left ankle. All she wanted to do was stop and lay down, but she knew she couldn't. Not now. She'd rather endure the pain than die.
Thankfully, while wandering around the mountain on their few days on their own, Nepto and her had come across that lake. She knew where to find shelter from there. Looking over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed, Annie started climbing higher up the mountain. The trees were becoming more distant from each other and sometimes she had to use her hands to help her climb up. After about a few minutes, she found the tree she was looking for. She got closer to it, sliding her finger over the arrow she had carved on it days before. It was Nepto's idea to make the arrow point the opposite direction they would go. So that if anyone else saw it, they'd be thrown off the real track. She bit her lip, trying to keep her head clear, and started walking towards the hiding place.
One…two…three…four… She concentrated on counting her steps, turning left after twenty three. She climbed a bit down the mountain and saw right away the white stone that indicated she was on the right track. She turned right and walked straight ahead, looking around carefully. Finally, she found the tree that she was looking for, with its large roots and bright red apples. The girl circled it, and finally found the entrance. Right under the tree, there was some sort of burrow an animal had probably built and then abandoned. There was a quite large entrance, that Nepto and her had carefully camouflaged, and another one they had left open. It was so small she would have to wiggle her way in, but before entering so she sat against the tree to tend to her wounds.
Now that her muscles had cooled down, and that there was no adrenaline to make her forget about it, the pain was unbearable. She stared at her outstretched left leg for a while, not daring to move. The arrow wound on her right calf seemed like a little scratch now. She didn't need to check it to be sure; her ankle was broken. It probably happened in her crazy flight, she fell over quite a few times. And running again probably made things worse. Pale and shaking, she held her leg for a while, deciding whether or not she should take her boot off but decided against it. If she did, she would never be able to put it back on again. And besides, it was probably better held together this way. She then paid attention to her right leg. She cleaned her wound with water and wrapped it with the only bandage that she had in her bag. Her other injuries were small scratches or bruises, and she ignored them. Carefully, she crawled into the small burrow, where she could fit in a sitting position – if she lowered her head – and curled up in a ball. The pain in her ankle was awful, but it kept her mind off of Nepto, so she concentrated on it. Holding one of her knifes against her for protection, she bit her lip and looked straight ahead of her, reminding her self constantly of her ankle.
xXx
As the days passed, things only got worse, and Finnick was having a hard time controlling himself. It was nearly impossible to pretend to be careless, and charming, and funny with Annie in the position she now was.
He thought he was at his worse the day Annie and Nepto were ambushed. He had seen the district seven tributes following them for a while and had stayed glued to the TV, his heart racing, until the attack. He was relieved that Annie made it out alive but hated seeing her suffer that way. The mentors had the privilege to have one tv constantly showing them their tributes, so he watched every step of Annie's reaction. Her fear, her panic, the physical pain, how she broke down in tears when she crawled out of the hole to see Nepto's face appear on the sky… but things only got worse from there.
Three days had passed since Nepto's death, and everyone seemed to make things more difficult for Annie. She came out the first day and stayed outside for a while, even picked up some apples despite her bad limp, ate three times a day, even if very little, and stayed out until the anthem, that announced no deaths had occurred. But she spent the night awake, crying and pulling at her hair, and only fell asleep at sunrise, to wake up terrified a few hours later, fighting of an invisible enemy. She only crawled out of her burrow to eat, and didn't even look up to the sky after the anthem, where she would have seen that the district 7 girl was dead. Most of the time she would just lie there, curled up in a ball, looking at nothing.
She didn't come out at all after the third day. She would only come out of her catatonic state to cry , muttering to an invisible person, or would freak out at every noise she heard, holding her knife ready, waiting to see if she was going to be attacked. At one of her few conscious moments, she took a gulp of her water, then searched for something to eat, and realized she was out of food. She panicked a bit and looked outside, but didn't even leave to pick some apples. She just curled up again, and slowly banged her head against her knees.
Harrolda turned off the TV, which was the only way to keep Finnick from looking at it. She had invited him to her room after dinner, under the pretext of watching the Games. She was rather annoyed by what the boy was doing.
Harrolda was Finnick's main lover of this year. Every time he came around, the ladies who were interested would contact one of the organizers of the Games, and he would go to the highest bid. Of course, he was required to pay visits to other women when his main "lover" was occupied, but he had to be there whenever she asked. This year he was stuck with spoiled Harrolda, who inherited her father's fortune and did whatever she wanted with it. She was a young woman in her late twenties, whose hair was dyed in a horrible neon green color, and whose face could be pretty if it wasn't constantly covered in make-up.
Finnick sighed when she turned off the TV, passing a hand through his hair. Harrolda, put a hand to her hip, looking at him with her lips pursed, but he didn't even look up, and stayed sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand supporting his head.
"Finnick, what is the matter with you?" she questioned in a shrill voice.
"It's just…" he sighed, putting up an act. "People think I'm a fool"
"What?" The woman's eyes widened, and she trotted to his side, sitting on the bed by him. "Who would ever thing you were a fool, silly-Finny?"
Only the thought of Annie's well-being was enough to not make him roll his eyes at that pathetic nickname. "The other Mentors. I've been mentoring for five years and how many tributes did I make win? None!"
"Well, five years isn't that much, honey-pie, and there are twelve districts…" she tried to reassure him, stroking his shoulders gently.
"Yeah well… that's not what people say. And I was so confident on this bunch! Now Nepto's dead, and people keep saying Annie won't make it."
"It's clear that she won't, love" she replied in a soothing voice. "But you'll do better next year!"
"She can still win" Finnick retorted, trying not to seem angry. "You saw how she killed that boy, right? What was his name, Jardo?"
"Yes, that was impressive" Harrolda agreed, with a smile of someone who really did enjoy the show.
"See? She can defend herself if she's attacked. She's smart, and she's good. I know I can make her win!"
"Ooh, cutie… there's nothing you can do…"
"Well, there is one thing…" he said hesitantly.
"What is it?"
"She needs food" he told her. "If I could get a sponsor to send her a good stock of food… she'll make it. Maybe with her stomach full, she'll be able to think clearer…"
Harrolda smiled proudly. "Well, I can help you with that! I'll be her sponsor."
As if he hadn't manipulated her into this, Finnick looked up with a look of surprise. "You will?"
"Sure! I have enough money to send her some food…" she smiled cheekily. "Give me a moment to make some phone calls…"
"Why you are one amazing woman..." Finnick told her with a seductive smile, giving her a kiss before letting her run off to the phone, all proud she could make him happy.
Finnick sighed, rubbing his face. He was going to have to sleep with her anyway; might as well take profit from it.
xXx
Finnick paced back and forth in the empty meeting room, gnawing his lips so much he could taste blood. Fabella's food gave Annie enough to eat for four more days, but her state was only getting worse. He could see she was losing it a bit more every day, and he could do nothing from where he was. He was grateful for all the excitement the other tributes were giving the capitol: Adastros and Eurybia were hunting down the last tributes, but they had leagued themselves against them. There had been a couple of fights where a lot of people got injured, and still none died. This little war was entertaining the Capitol citizens so much, no one cared about the poor mad girl in her burrow. But Finnick knew it wouldn't last. He knew he had to get her out of there as soon as possible. That's why he asked Seneca for a private meeting.
Seneca Crane, the Head Gamekeeper. The one who called all the shots. If someone could help him, he knew it was him. But just because he could, didn't mean he would…
The door opened suddenly and the Gamekeeper walked in rapidly. "Alright, Finnick what is it? I don't have much time"
"Alright, then I'll go straight to the point" Finnick looked him straight in the eye, with a look of determination that was hardly ever seen in his playful, charming face. "I want Annie to win."
Seneca looked at him for a while before laughing. "You... oh, that's very sweet Finnick. And why are you telling me this?"
"Because you both know that you are the only one who can do something about it." He retorted. "Pull one of your Gamekeeper tricks"
"I really don't see how I'd do that"
"Alright, if your creativity suddenly ran out, I have it all planned out: Break the dam." Before Seneca could laugh again, he went on "You must have a hundred ways to do that. Use an earthquake though, or something very loud, so Annie has the time to come out of her hiding place. And flood the arena. She can swim. Everyone else will drown"
"Impressive. You are right, I could do that. But what makes you think I would?" he asked with a smirk.
Finnick stared at him for a while before sighing. "I'd do anything."
"Really?" the Gamekeeper asked, his tone becoming dangerous all of a sudden. "Anything?"
"Anything" the Mentor repeated.
"Well if that is the case… " Seneca came closer to Finnick, with an evil smile on his face as his eyes travelled down the victor's body. "Meet me in my private lounge after dinner. If you are really willing to do anything, then I will break your dam tomorrow morning"
Seneca laughed and left the room, leaving Finnick standing there, staring at the door. His jaw was clenched, his muscled tensed at the idea of what he would have to do to save Annie. He would have never agreed to this, not for anyone else he'd mentored… but this time, it was different. He had promised her he would do everything that was in his power… even if it meant this. He was getting her out of there.
