Chapter 36
"It's okay Annie." Finnick soothes me. "You're safe here."
I know this but, I start crying anyways. I can hear blood splatter and screams of people getting murdered. I grasp onto Finnick as if my life depended on it and bury my face in his chest and cry loudly.
"It's alright Annie." He kisses my forehead and strokes my hair. "Shhh it's alright."
You can hear my screams and sobs because this place echoes. I wonder if that is so we can hear one another.
"Shut up!" I hear someone yell from below us. I have a feeling it was someone from One or Two. I don't think the people from Three care.
One of our screens start glowing green at the top, then the picture changes. I see it is Cashmere from One.
"Odair!" I hear her shout. Finnick glances over at her even though I have an iron grip on him.
"What do you want Cashmere?" He asks. He sounds angry.
"Keep her quiet or I will after this is over. We all know it was her. cra-
Mags presses a button and we can no longer hear what she is saying. She is still talking though and I catch her calling me something from below. I wonder if the other victors say this as well. I remember what Haymitch said to Finnick how people throw around the word crazy.
Cashmere fades away and I see the outline turn green again and I notice a two flashing.
"Just disable the video feed. I have a feeling this will happen again." Luna says.
Mags presses a button and it goes back to showing the arena.
"Do they all say that?" I whisper to Finnick.
Finnick takes my hand and we walk to the other side of the room further away from Mags and Luna. Probably so they can't hear us.
"Say what?" He asks clearly knowing what I meant. He probably heard her too.
"You know what Finnick, do they all say that instead of Annie Cresta they just say…" I don't want to say it.
"It doesn't matter what they call you, Annie these people don't matter. None of them matter." He tells me.
"They all say it then." I say with my chin trembling and a few tears roll down my face.
"No, mostly the people from One and Two and other victors who are just cynical. Not everyone is bad, just look at Luna." He says. I understand what he means she doesn't look very friendly and yet she has her moments. Mags said she volunteered but doing this softened her. I get the feeling that she might call me that though.
"Do you think that Finnick…do you think I'm crazy?" I ask
"Of course not." He says and kisses my cheek. Which still has tears on it.
"I want to believe you, especially after hearing your talk with Haymitch but-
"Talk with Haymitch?" He pauses. "You were awake." He says. He doesn't sound very surprised maybe he knew.
"Even he thinks I've lost it. I bet he calls me crazy Cresta too." I say.
"Haymitch doesn't call you that."
"I bet he thinks it. I bet they all do... even you Finnick."
"No, I don't." He says and hugs me. "I don't think that Annie. I never have and I never will. No matter what happens. I love you. That is something that will always be true." He says and kisses my forehead.
My chin is trembling and I start crying. I don't know if it is what Finnick is saying or the crazy Cresta nickname but, I do believe him.
"One thing is also true Annie." He says and I look up at him fresh tears on my face and on his shirt.
"I need you." He says. I push him closer to me and he rubs my back. I don't know how long he hugs me before I let go. He holds onto my hand and walks us to the desks. He presses some buttons on my screen and the video feeds shrink so I can barely see them.
He smiles.
"There, that's better." He says and places my hair behind my ear and kisses me.
"I guess." I say. I think of Maddy though. So kind and innocent. I feel like if I didn't help her I would be letting her down and I will feel guilty. I can't sit in the corner crying for the whole time. These games usually last a few weeks.
I tap the screen that is supposed to be showing Maddy and it goes back to the normal size. She is with the careers even though she doesn't trust them, just like me. I hope she knows that she should run away when her instincts tell her to. No one should get too comfortable in this game.
"What are you doing?" Finnick asks me.
"I like her. If I don't do anything I will feel worse if she… doesn't win." I say.
Finnick nods and kisses my cheek. He doesn't go to his desk. They are far apart from one anyone probably because certain tributes want to be trained individually.
The cannons start to go off and the wall projects the dead tributes just like in the arena except after the canons are finished a number stays on the wall.
"Interesting." Luna says.
"What?" Mags asks
"That girl from seven is still alive. I thought she would die in the blood bath, especially after that two." Luna says.
"She could've just ran away not bothering to get supplies." I say.
"Possibly." Luna says.
I notice on the wall it is projecting the number 15 that many people didn't die.
Luna sees my gaze.
"Number left."
"Oh." I say.
"Should we hunt or camp first?" One of the careers ask. They don't know which tributes are dead yet, expect the ones they killed. I suppose they could've killed all of them. I shiver at the thought.
"Camp, we should go hunting at night when people have their guard down." Chase says.
They start to divvy out the supplies and put them into three piles: food, medical supplies, and weapons.
They sit for a while and I hear a noise that sounds like cogs moving.
I look at Finnick but he isn't looking at me he is looking at the screen that all of Panem is seeing. I let go of his hand so he can walk over to the other screens. I know he wants to. He looks at me strangely.
"It's okay go ahead." I tell him and he kisses my forehead.
The room starts to be full of echoes of people talking about what they think this means. It is obviously something, maybe they are changing the outline of the arena. A room full of victors all trying to guess what it is from their experience is making this interesting. I wonder what everyones theory is.
I keep looking to the screen that all of Panem is seeing rather than all the camera angles. Which is what Luna, Mags, and Finnick seem to be more interested in. But this is important so I think they would show it on that screen. They are showing the boy from three. He is walking and he is deep in the forrest probably one of the safer places. He steps somewhere and then the cog noises stop.
"I guess it was nothing." He says.
I don't think that is true though.
I tune everything and everyone out except the screen of Panem.
"Why are they showing you." I whisper.
A tunnel is there at the wall that wasn't before. The boy doesn't notice this. I see a silver tube that is aimed at the arena. Not at him but, in general. It is going to release something. It does and a little silver ball falls out.
The kid hears this noise and walks toward it like a rational person would in a normal situation but this isn't a normal situation.
Finnick is standing behind me now and looking at what I am.
"What do you think it is?" He asks me.
"Nothing good."
"Doesn't that resemble a parachute?" I ask.
"It does, it's a trap." I hear Mags say.
I nod.
The kid is near it but, from a distance he probably can't see the blinking green light. He probably thinks it is a parachute. The light starts to blink rapidly and then suddenly it stops.
"That was anticlimactic." I say. Before anyone can respond there is a white hot light and everything around it is destroyed. They make sure to get a nice close up of the boy turning into a skeleton and then a pile of ash. You hear the cog sound again and the tube goes away.
"Interesting." I hear Luna say. You can hear the echoes of all the mentors again.
"What do you think it means?" Finnick asks.
"The gamemakers were probably just releasing something." Luna says.
"I don't think so. It doesn't usually makes that noise and the tributes could clearly hear it. It's part of the arena." I say.
"What do you think it is?" Luna asks.
I look at where the boy was, where the weapon went off and it was only restrained in that one area. I would think a weapon like that could take out a decent amount of the arena, possibly half with how small it is. So why is it only in a small circle that the boy was standing in? Are there traps like this all over the arena? Or was it just some random thing that happened. I don't know but, I'm sure it won't take long for me to figure out.