"Who is it?" Peeta asks, his eyes narrowing as we assess the visitors. "Or… what is it?"
The trio is in bad shape. One is practically being dragged by another. A third wanders around in illogical, loopy circles, almost like a child. They are a solid, crimson red color, as if they'd been dipped in paint and were running across one of Peeta's canvasses at home. I take an arrow from my sheath and load my bow slowly, pointing it carefully at the intruders, but they don't attack. They aren't acting like Mutts. One collapses in the sand, and the dragger stomps around as if having a fit. It shoves the deranged one into the ground, and Finnick's face lights up.
"Johanna!" he screams, and barrels out of the woods toward her.
"Finnick?!" I hear Johanna cry out, scanning the beach until she sees him coming and takes off toward him. "Finnick!" she screams.
"What now?" Peeta asks, watching the exchange. My instinct tells me to slip away into the woods, but we can't leave Finnick. I grumble under my breath, and Peeta smirks.
"Wanna run away with me?" I ask softly, only half kidding. He smiles, offering me a hand up. We both stare at each other for a minute, and I roll my eyes. "I guess we have more allies."
We emerge from the woods and make our way down the beach. Johanna is wildly gesticulating a story to Finnick, whose entire front half is now smeared with the same red as the rest of them. As I get closer, the smell grows sickeningly familiar. It's blood. The two odd characters accompanying her are Wiress and Beetee. I'm strangely relieved to find them alive.
"That's when we lost Blight," I catch Johanna say. "I tried to find him, but it was him or the two of them, and well…" Johanna's eyes shift defensively toward me, and then she turns her back and whispers softly to Finnick. "You guys haven't seen him?" Finnick shakes his head no, and pulls Johanna into his arms. I'm uneasy with her around. Of all the tributes, Johanna was not one I would ally with willingly. I trust her about as far as I can throw her. "At least I got these two," she throws her hands back toward Beetee and Wiress, as if they are some kind of burden she begrudges. "He got a knife in the back and her –"
We all look over at Wiress, who is circling around without a destination, covered in blood, muttering nonsensically to herself. "Tick tock tick tock."
"Yeah, we know. Tick tock!" Johanna hisses at her. She turns back to Finnick and says under her breath, "Nuts is in shock." Wiress careens sideways across the beach, smacking into Johanna, who shoves her willfully to the sand. "Just stay down, will you?" she yells at her, and I'm instantly in her face.
"Back off!" I snap, pushing myself between them.
"Back off? Are you kidding me? Who do you think got them out that bleeding jungle? Who do you think saved them from the lake when you beat it for the woods? I've been dragging them all over this Arena for you, you stupid –"
Before she can say anything further, Finnick wraps his arms around her waist and drags her into the water. She curses at me, screaming and sputtering as he dunks her over and over. The blood drips down her face and doesn't make her look any less deadly.
"She got them for me? What's that supposed to mean?" I whisper to Peeta.
"You wanted them as Allies. Maybe Haymitch told her you wouldn't take her unless she handcuffed herself to someone you actually wanted," Peeta replies.
"Why is she that desperate to partner with me?" I ask. Peeta shrugs. "We won't have Beetee for long if we don't do something," I add, assessing his inert body. Beetee's lost a lot of blood.
Without needing to speak, Peeta takes Beetee and I take Wiress and we drag them down to the water. I can't help them if I don't know what I'm dealing with. I run water over Wiress's head and body, and the blood drips away from her. Some has crusted in her hair, and I scratch her scalp gently with my fingers and work out the clots. She mutters incoherently the whole time, but smiles at me kindly when I gently wipe her face with my sleeve. I assess her head to toe and don't see anything to cause the bleeding. I'll have to ask Johanna about that later.
Peeta is not so lucky with his patient. Once clean, we can see Beetee has a long gash running down his back. We bring over one of Finnick's mats and lay him on his stomach. It doesn't appear Johanna's made any attempt to treat this wound, although it doesn't look like they've stopped moving since the start of the Games. Johanna's eyes are hollow in her head, dry and dull.
"Finnick, why don't you show Johanna where she can sleep and I'll deal with this," I state, and he nods. We give our guests water and move Johanna and Wiress to the shade. Johanna is asleep almost immediately, but Wiress just rocks back and forth.
I focus on the gash. It's long, jagged, and open. I'm sure the jungle holds a pharmacy of medicines, but these are not my plants. I don't know what their restorative powers are. I'm frustrated with myself for skipping the botany section in training. Cocky. Stupid. The wound is still oozing blood, so I'll focus on that first.
"Watch him," I say to Peeta and cross just inside the tree line. I gather some moss and cut vines from a tree. On the beach, I drop to my knees and press the moss into the wound. Beetee, who is mostly unconscious, groans a bit but stays still. Peeta lifts his body and I wrap the vines under his chest and around his back, pulling them tight. I have Finnick tie the vines into a stable knot. I don't know that there's a lot more I can do. I plop in the sand next to him and bury my head in my hands.
"You're good with this healing stuff," Peeta says, dropping beside me.
"No, my sister is. I got my dad's genes," I grumble. I'm supposed to hunt, not heal. "I just hope he stops bleeding." I kneel and peel off the rest of Beetee's blood-soaked jumpsuit and walk down to the water. His best bet against infection is to stay as clean as possible. I scrub it as best I can and set it under a rock to soak. I look down at myself and notice I'm filthy. I'm covered in caked blood from washing Wiress. My scabs have started to peel under the ointment. I decide to wade out a little and clean up.
Once I've put some distance between myself and the shore, I unzip and pull my body from my jumpsuit. I wring it out a few times and bury it under my feet to soak. I submerge myself in the water before shimmying out of my bra and underwear to rinse them. When I bring my panties to the surface, though, I find them soaked in blood. My heart drops into my stomach. I know what the cameras will make of this. I lost the baby. But my mind is racing. I must have hurt my bladder. Or my kidneys. Something inside me is very wrong. I shift my hands to my abdomen and slide them tenderly over my body. I'm a little swollen, yes, but it doesn't seem excessive. Before I know what's happening, a tear slides down the side of my face and I wipe it away quickly. I know I'm not getting out of here. I know that. But somehow seeing this very tangible evidence of my mortality makes it hard to swallow. I wash my undergarments and dress hurriedly. I don't want Peeta to know about this. How hurt I am. He'll only try to slow me down.
Across Panem, there will be rioting in the streets. There will be factories burned. There will be resistance. There will be fury. Snow's calculated message to me will morph into fire for the rebellion. He never thought I'd live long enough to reveal his secret. No amount of propaganda is going to unsee what has been seen. He can't fix this. And he's going to make me pay.
When I come back to shore, Peeta has dragged Beetee next to Johanna and Wiress and is standing guard. He seems markedly better after sleep, both physically and mentally. Finnick is fishing in the sea with a net he's fashioned from long grass, and he tosses his catches on the shore. Cleaning a fish is old hat to me, but it gives my hands something to focus on. Finnick gives me a nod of approval when he comes ashore to find them all fileted and deboned.
Now that our party is bigger, we agree to build a fire to roast the fish. The Careers wouldn't be stupid enough to attack us now, not with Johanna, Peeta, Finnick, and I all armed and ready to fight. Who knows what injuries the Careers have sustained in the darkness of the jungle. Wiress and Johanna devour their meal voraciously, and even Beetee, who is woozily awake, manages to eat a little before going back to sleep. We share experiences around the fire – the monkeys, the fog, the wave. Finnick is almost clinical in voice. Detached. Johanna tells us about losing Blight when the lightening crashed into the tree. About the blood rain. We drown the fire in sand.
Finnick hasn't slept, so he lies in the shade to nap. Peeta goes to fill some of the woven bowls with water. Johanna and I both offer to guard. Johanna only slept an hour at most, but she's wired, rocking back and forth on her feet. She watches Finnick for a minute, and when she's sure he's asleep she sits next to me.
"How did you lose Mags?" she asks quietly.
"In the fog. She sacrificed herself so we could get out of the woods," I reply.
"That sounds like Mags," Johanna says, and is quiet for a while. "She was Finnick's mentor, you know." All the venom from earlier has evaporated from her tone. Her eyes grow soft as she turns back to Finnick. "She was half his family," she mutters, almost to herself. She holds her axe and idly drops the blade into the sand repeatedly, almost as if she's self-nurturing herself with the repetitive thud. I imagine if Haymitch had come in here with me instead of Peeta. If he'd thrown himself into an excruciating death in an attempt to save me. I feel sick. "I'm going to sleep," she says as she stands. Johanna struts away from me and throws herself down next to Finnick.
I stare at the woods. I stare at the water. I wait for something to happen. Peeta comes out of the jungle and sets down the bowls of water. He kneels next to me and gingerly ties the spile back around my waist. He sits and leans his back against mine, dividing the area to guard. Feeling him pressed against me makes my muscles start to quiver. He senses the shift and slides his hand over mine. I should tell him. He should know he shouldn't get himself killed for a corpse.
"Peeta," I breathe. My heart hammers in protest, but I know what I need to say.
"Yeah?" he asks softly, his eyes still on the water.
"I think I'm bleeding," I say.
"Where?" he probes with some panic in his voice, turning around to face me. I look at him and he knows what I mean. His eyes drop to my stomach. "How do you feel?"
"Tired. Dizzy. My head hurts." None of these are good. I know Haymitch thought he'd somehow get us both out, but I don't think I have that kind of time. Peeta's eyes flit back and forth across my face, as if he's seeing a specter. As if the words aren't real. As if they can't be.
"Well then we just need to make sure the Games end soon," he says emphatically.
"How do we do that? Kill everyone in their sleep?" I say sarcastically, looking over my shoulder at our Allies. I know that's not what he means.
"I think the Gamemakers will take care of that for us. You just need to make it a few days." He's practically begging, as if I have control over this. He's asking me not to give up.
"Peeta, I'm not leaving this place," I whisper, taking his hands in my face. We've barely touched since entering the Arena, and I remember what his skin feels like in my hands. I remember what his body feels like against mine. A sob escapes his mouth and he buries it in my neck. "This was decided before either of us even got in here," I breathe.
"I'm not saying goodbye to you," he whispers.
You don't have to. I already did.