Link immediately ran after Katniss, Finnick soon on his tail.

Prim? Thought Link. Isn't Prim Katniss's little sister? The one that Katniss volunteered to replace in the Games? What's she doing here? What are they doing to her?

Prim screamed again. Vines cut into Link's face as he tried to follow Katniss, who was repeatedly calling out Prim's name.

They followed Katniss for a few minutes, before they crashed into a clearing where they found her wiping a bloody arrow clean. "Katniss?" Link hurried over to her.

"It's okay." She said, not very sincerely. "I'm okay. I thought I heard my sister, but-" another scream cut her off, only this one belonged to a young woman. Neither Link nor Katniss knew who it was, but Finnick was another story. The color vanished from his face in recognition, and his pupils actually dilated in fear. "Finnick, wait!" Katniss called, but he had already bolted off. "Finnick!" She dashed after him. Link followed.

"What's going on?" Link asked Katniss while sprinting after the tribute from District 4.

"It's not who he thinks it is." Replied Katniss. "It's just a jabberjay."

Link nodded in understanding, although he did feel surprised. He thought all of the jabberjays were extinct. Jabberjays were muttations that had the ability to mimic anything they hear.

They chased after Finnick for about a quarter-mile, most of it uphill. When they finally reached him, they found him circling a tree that must have been four feet in diameter. He looked up into the tree calling, "Annie! Annie!"

Katniss scaled a nearby tree, located the jabberjay, and took it out with an arrow. It fell right at Finnick's feet. He picked it up, slowly making the connection. Link watched as his face went from fearful to relieved. But then it went from relieved to terrified. Katniss slid down from her tree.

"It's all right, Finnick. It's just a jabberjay. They're playing a trick on us." Said Katniss. "It's not real. It's not your... Annie."

"No, it's not Annie. But the voice was hers. Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams, Katniss?" Asked Finnick.

Now it was Katniss's turn to pale. "Oh, Finnick, you don't think they..."

"Yes, I do. That's exactly what I think."

Katniss sank to the ground. Link speed-walked over, caught her, and tried to pull her to her feet. He wanted to comfort her.

Another scream.

Link's head shot up. He tried to run, but Finnick managed to clamp his hands over Link's arms, holding him back. Link found it hard not to struggle.

"Zelda!" He cried. Zelda's screams rang out again. "Zelda!"

"No. It's not her." Finnick started pulling the thrashing Link downhill, towards the beach. "We're getting out of here!" But Zelda's voice was so full of pain that Link couldn't stop trying to reach her. "It's not her, Link! It's a mutt!" Finnick shouted at him. He half-dragged, half-carried Link until he was able to process what he said. He couldn't help Zelda because she wasn't actually here. It was pointless. Finally, Link gave up trying to fight Finnick, and began fleeing alongside him and Katniss.

This must have been a clock weapon. The monkeys must have gone home, and now the jabberjays have come out.

Link caught sight of Johanna and Peeta quickly. They still sat in the beach. Surely they've heard the screams. Why haven't they come to help us? He thought.

They ran smack into the transparent wall, and bounced back onto the jungle floor. Katniss and Link hit it with their shoulders, while Finnick was sitting over there, his nose all bloody. Link quickly learned why Peeta, Beetee, and Johanna hadn't ran after them. The wall was like the force field, only this one you could touch as much as you wanted. It couldn't be broken by Peeta's knife, or even Joanna's ax. Link knew that he would have to stay in the jabberjay wedge until the hour passed.

Peeta pressed his hands against the surface of the wall. Katniss lined her own hands with them. Peeta tried speaking to Katniss, but nobody could hear on the other side of the wall. Katniss just stared at him. As did Link.

The birds began to arrive one by one. They perched on the surrounding branches. The screams began spilling out of their mouths. Link immediately curled up on the jungle floor, laying on his side, eyes squeezed shut, covering his pointed ears. It was pointless. He could still hear the agonized screams of Zelda, Rusl, Uli, Colin, everyone he loved. Everyone he cared for...

He knew it was over when Peeta lay a soft hand on his shoulder. Link managed to release his ears, but the rest of his body was still clamped in that curled-up position. He couldn't move.

He heard Peeta sit right next to him. He tried to comfort him and Katniss, who Peeta had picked up, and set on his lap. She wasn't doing much better than Link. Peeta spoke soothing words, and kept his hand on top of Link. At last, Link released the iron grip on his body. He lied on his back, and breathed heavily. His breath shook. He began to tremble.

Link looked up at Katniss. She also relaxed her body, and began to tremble.

"It's all right, Katniss." He whispered.

"You didn't hear them." Katniss replied.

"I heard Prim. Right in the beginning. But it wasn't her. It was a jabberjay."

"It was her. Somewhere. The jabberjay just recorded it."

"No, that's what they want you to think. The same way I wondered if Glimmer's eyes were in the mutt last year. But they weren't Glimmer's eyes. And that wasn't Prim's voice. Or if it was, they took it from an interview or something and distorted the sound. Made it say whatever she was saying."

"No, they were torturing her. She's probably dead."

"Katniss, Prim isn't dead. How could they kill Prim? We're almost down to the final eight of us. And what happens then?"

"Seven more of us die."

"No, back home. What happens when they reach the final eight tributes in the Games?"

Katniss paused. "At the final eight? They interview your family and friends back home."

"That's right. They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they've killed them all?"

"... No?" Katniss sounded unsure.

"No. That's how we know Prim's alive. She'll be the first one they interview, won't she?"

Katniss said nothing.

"First Prim. Then your mother. Gale. Mage. It was a trick, Katniss. A horrible one. But we're the only ones who can be hurt by it. We're the ones in the Games. Not them."

"You really believe that?"

"I really do."

Katniss turned to Link, who still lied on the ground, although his shaking had ceased. "Do you believe it, Link?" Link thought about it, his eyes facing a sky, then nodded. "Finnick?"

"I could be true. I don't know." Finnick said. "Could they do that, Beetee? Take someone's voice and make it..."

"Oh, yes. It's not even all that difficult. Our children learn a similar technique in school."

"Of course Peeta's right. The whole country adores Katniss's little sister. If they really killed her like this, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands." Said Johanna flatly. "Don't want that, do we?" She threw her head back and shouted, "Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!"

Link's eyebrows rose at her words. You never, ever say something like that in the Games.

"I'm getting water." Said Johanna. Katniss caught her hand.

"Don't go in there." She said. "The birds-"

"They can't hurt me. I'm not like the rest of you. There's no one left I love." Johanna unalterably impatiently shook her hand out of Katniss's grip.

Link hadn't moved from his place on the ground. "Hey, man." Said Peeta, leaning over him. "How are you?"

Link waited a few seconds before answering. "Zelda..." He said softly. Peeta smiled sadly.

"Zelda is fine, Link. Just relax." Link shut his eyes, and listened to his surroundings.

"Who did they use against Finnick?" Link heard Peeta ask Katniss.

"Somebody named Annie." Came the reply.

"Must be Annie Cresta."

"Who?"

"Annie Cresta. The girl Mags volunteered for. She about five years ago."

"I don't remember much of those Games much. Was that the earthquake year?"

"Yeah. Annie's the one who went mad when her district partner got beheaded. Ran off by herself and hid. But an earthquake broke a dam and flooded the arena. She won because she was the best swimmer."

"Did she get better after? I mean, her mind?"

"I don't know. I don't remember even seeing her at the Games again. She didn't look to stable during the reaping this year."

A cannon blast brought everybody together on the beach. Link sat up and watched a hovercraft dip down several times in the six o'clock zone. The person's body must have been torn to pieces.

Peeta grabbed his new map, and added a JJ for jabberjays in the four to five o'clock section, and then just simply writing beast in the area where they saw a hovercraft pick up pieces of body.

Finnick weaved another water basket and a net. Katniss cleaned the fish he caught. They were about to eat their meal of raw fish when the anthem began. Then the faces.

Cashmere, Gloss, Wiress, Mags, the woman from District 5, the morphing who sacrificed herself for Peeta, Blight, and the man from 10. Eight dead.

"They're really burning through us." remarked Johanna.

"Who's left? Besides the six of us and District Two?" Asked Finnick.

"Chaff." Said Peeta without thinking.

A parachute came down with a pile of bite-sized square shaped rolls. "These are from your district, right Beetee?" Asked Peeta.

"Yes, how many are there?" Said Beetee. Finnick counted.

"Twenty four."

"An even two dozen then?" Said Beetee.

"Twenty four on the nose." Confirmed Finnick. They divided amongst themselves, each person getting four rolls.

They all waited until the ten o'clock wave flooded the beach, then waited for the water to recede, then made camp. There was an unpleasant chorus of clicking, probably from some evil type of insect, coming from the eleven-to-twelve-o'clock section.

Peeta and Katniss volunteered to take first watch. Johanna and Beetee went out like a light, but Link's and Finnick's sleep were both restless. Every now and then they would murmur names. Finnick saying, "Annie." Link saying, "Zelda."

Katniss and Peeta spent some time alone on the beach, when the lightning storm began. Finnick shot awake with a sharp cry, his fingers digging into the sand. Link did the same beside him. "Zelda!" He cried. His breath shook again. He looked beside him to see Finnick. Link relaxed slightly, remembering that Zelda was safe at home. Finnick looked at Link, and did the same thing.

"I can't sleep anymore." Finnick told Peeta and Katniss. "One of you should rest."

"No," said Link. "Both of you should. I'll guard with him." Neither Peeta nor Katniss objected. They lied down by the others. Finnick and Link sat back to back, Link looking at the jungle, Finnick facing the water.

They remained silent for a while, until Link decided to speak. "You love Annie?" His voice was soft. Finnick nodded.

"And you Zelda?"

"Very much." More silence. "What I wouldn't give to kiss her again." Link sighed. The lightning stopped, and the blood began to rain in one o'clock. Link watched it for a minute, then turned back to his own jungle.

"I miss Annie so much." Said Finnick behind him. Link nodded in understanding. "Who else did they use against you in there?"

"My father and mother figures, and their son."

"Their names?"

"Colin is their son. The others are Rusl and Uli."

Silence fell over them again.

Finnick suddenly heard a beautiful melody cut through it. He recognized the tune quickly, and slowly began to sing along.

"Are you, are you,

coming to the tree?

Where they strung up a man,

they say who murdered three?

Strange things did happen here,

no stranger would it be,

if we met, at mid-

night in the hanging tree."

Link continued playing his ocarina from behind Finnick. Finnick sang along some more. When the song was finished, they sat in silence once more.


R&R plz!