So... no reviews. You make me feel a little insecure ;) A comment or two would be really nice for this new chapter, which SPOILER wraps up the Quarter Quell part of this story^^ That was a lame spoiler, I do apologize. Please enjoy the new chapter :)

No Tomorrow

Under Beete's direction, we all climbed the jungle again until we reached the lightning tree. My knowledge concerning electricity was limited at best and so, I had no idea what exactly Beetee was doing as he inspected the tree. There was no other option but trust his abilities. Needless to say, I was not entirely comfortable with this.
I wished I had been around more when the plan had been set up, but at the time that Johanna and Finnick were informed, I was officially allying with the Careers and could not be seen discussing strategies with other people. Unfortunately, that meant that I had no idea what we were going to do exactly.

There was no point dwelling on it too long, though. If anything, my restlessness would become obvious and suspicious. Tipping off the president was the last thing I wanted to do. Katniss had shot down a few mammals that lived in the trees for us to eat and Peeta had collected nuts while she was busy. Together, the two set up our food and soon enough, we all sat around the trunk of the lightning tree to eat. No one was especially cheerful, but it was much more comfortable than anything I had experienced in my previous games. Too bad that the threat of an imminent and violent death was still looming above us.

In the sector next to us, the sharp clicking sound of the insects suddenly picked up. It had to be eleven o'clock already. Before I knew what I was doing, I had scooted closer to Finnick next to me and put down my food. The sound made me sick and terrified me more than I cared to admit.
Finnick wrapped an arm around me while the others picked up the sound as well. Katniss watched me with narrowed eyes as I shifted around uncomfortably.

"We should get out of here, anyway," Johanna said, setting her food down and standing up. "The lightning starts in less than an hour."

We moved into the next, the bloodrain sector and picked up our picnic again there. As the lightning was about to strike, Katniss climbed up the tree and reported back to Beetee about how the lightning looked. He nodded along as if all of it meant something to him. It probably did, mind. Beetee was about the smartest man I knew.

Our group marched back down to the beach after that. It was dampened by the wave that had crashed here three hours ago. I attempted to take a nap while Finnick decided to fish, but I could not sleep properly. Something huge was going to happen this night and the anticipation had fought my fatigue away.
I sat up again and watched the pair from Twelve by the water. They had dived for oysters and apparently, the boy had found a pearl in one of them. Right now, he was offering it to Katniss.

"Aren't they just sweet?" Johanna said and I looked up to find her standing right next to me. "Warms my heart, it really does."

My lips twisted into a small smile. "They're lovely," I agreed.

But they actually were not that lovely. No matter how much I strained my ears, I could not hear them from my position, but neither of the two seemed particularly happy as they talked. Trouble in paradise, already. I bet the Capitolites enjoyed every moment of their relationship drama. It had to be a nice change for them, something different from the usual bloodshed.

We had yet another meal - we had to be the best nourished alliance that the Hunger Games had ever seen at this point. They had caught so much fish that we even had left-overs. Afraid that Brutus might come by and have free food, Finnick threw the rest away when everyone had finished eating.

When the anthem had played - no deaths today, the crowd outside had to be growing restless - we set off towards the lightning tree again. Beetee lead our expedition, with Johanna and the star-crossed lovers following close behind. Finnick and I took the end, trailing a bit after the rest.
As he was sure that the others could not hear us, Finnick suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. He whispered into my ear, low enough that I was sure the cameras had not picked it up.

"When the time is right," he breathed. "You need to cut the wire."

My eyes widened slightly as our gazes met. He was dead serious, I realized. Damn my change of plans and resulting obliviousness. Did they want the supposed kill-Brutus-plan to fail? And what was the plan that they wanted to succeed?

"Sure?" I whispered back.

"Do you trust me?" Finnick asked with raised eyebrows.

"With my life," I answered. Only after the words had left my mouth did I realize that this was quite literally what I had to do. My life entirely depended on the plan they had made. A plan that I knew nothing of.

Finnick nodded back, obviously satisfied with my answer and let go of my arm. Before I could say another word, he resumed his path, hurrying after the rest of our group up the hill. I had no choice but to follow him.

Beetee got to working immediately and he wrapped the wire over and over again around the trunk of the tree in an intricate pattern. It looked very complicated and I wondered if there was any point to it or if it was just for appearance's sake. When he was done, Beetee directed Johanna and Katniss to take the spool down to the beach. Neither of the two seemed pleased with the task, but they did not protest, either.
Peeta did - but his suggestion that he should go with the girls was quickly beaten down. He would only slow them down, Beetee argued and Peeta did not have anything to say against this.

"It's okay," Katniss assured him. "We'll just drop the coil and come straight back up. Don't worry. I'll see you at midnight."

As they kissed, Johanna and I exchanged a smile, thinking back to earlier on the beach. I felt the sudden urge to hug her and tell her the same thing - we would see each other at midnight and neither of us needed to worry. I did not do it, of course.
Instead I watched in silence as the two of them set off down the hill, unwinding the wire as they went. Soon enough, they were out of our line of sight and the sound of their steps died down shortly after.

After a few more minutes had passed, I looked to Finnick to see if it was time yet. Our eyes met and he nodded, a gesture that I would have probably missed had I not been specially looking for it. I nodded back to him and got up from where I had leant against another tree.

"I'll do a quick circle," I said. "Just to make sure no one's sneaking up on us."

Beetee looked up from where he was still working with the wire and grunted distractedly. Peeta, in turn got up as well.
"I'll come with you," he said.

I had to suppress the groan of frustration that threatened to escape me. "Take the other direction," I said, gesturing vaguely away from me. "We'll cover more ground."

He did not appear to be convinced, but he followed my suggestion anyway. Finnick and I exchanged another look before I turned around and headed off into the woods.

It was almost impossible to see anything since the trees formed a thick roof and hardly any trace of moonlight reached the ground. I walked horizontally for about two minutes before turning and circling back further below towards the track I supposed the girls had taken.
Luckily, the wire glistened with every bit of light that reached it and was therefore easy to spot. I stopped a few steps away from it, straining my ears for any sign of foreign life around me. There was no one. The girls were far enough gone already and Peeta was probably walking a larger round.

The grip I had on my knife tightened as I walked forward. I crouched down next to the wire, concentrating again on the sounds around me. Still nothing. With one hand, I pressed the wire down to the root below it and then I started to cut.
It was harder to do than I had expected, but after about a minute, the wire finally snapped in two. Both parts snapped away - while the upper came to a halt quickly, a few metres up where the strain was lifted, the lower part curled up again, bolting down the hill.

And then, there was the scream. I flinched violently and then jumped to my feet in panic. It had come from above, but it was impossible to tell who it had been. But it had to be one of my allies. It was probably the stupidest thing I could have done, but I set off running, uncaring that I was stumbling over roots and stones, towards the scream.

Something hard hit my side and I stumbled again, this time falling with the impact. I rolled down the hill a bit, but got stopped by a tree in my way. I groaned as my other side hid the bark and my head bumped against a root. My head started throbbing painfully, but not enough for me to ignore the heavy footsteps coming my way.
I sat up, hissing in pain, this time from my side. There was no chance to see anything in the dark but when I reached for it, my fingers touched sticky witness. Blood. Panic welled up within me and I scrambled for my knife. It had landed about a metre away from me and I cut my palm as I accidently laid my hand on it.

"Oh poor you," a voice mocked me as I cursed in pain. "Told you, you should have stayed asleep."

It was Brutus. I attempted to get to my feet and turn to him, but I barely made it up. He had to have hit something bad when he threw his weapon at me. My body sank back to the ground, but at least I got to face him now. He had not gotten close and I could only see his shilouette standing between a pair of trees above me.

"I will kill you," I seethed.

He had the nerve to laugh. My fingers tightened around my knife, uncaring of the pain that shot through my digits due to the cut. The wound on my side still did not hurt much, quite possibly because of the shock and adrenaline currently coursing through me.
Another set of footsteps passed close by us, much more hurried than the way Brutus had walked.

"Johanna! Nissa! Katniss!"

It was Finnick. I was wounded on the floor, moments from being killed by a vicious Career, but I was relieved. Finnick was alive. He was going to survive the night.
As he dashed past us, mere metres away, Brutus' silhouette shifted and I supposed he had turned to be ready if Finnick appeared anywhere near him.

I took the one chance I had. There was not much time to think about it and I was in no mood to dwell on this either way. I raised the knife and then the blade was sailing through the air with deadly precision. The shadow that was Brutus crumbled, followed by the dull thud of a body landing on hard ground. The cannon sounded. My arm fell limbly to my side, its final task fulfilled.

My head was spinning violently as I rested it back against the tree behind me. There was nothing left to do, I realized. The wound was only tweaking a little bit, but the blood I had felt left no room for speculation. Actually, I felt a bit sick, I decided. Out of nerves or because of the insistent spinning behind my eyes, I could not tell. It did not matter much, either way.
I barely had the strength to keep my eyes open anymore. Above me, the sky seemed to erupt in a bright blueish light and the trees illuminated by it shifted in and out of focus. My eyes closed, but even behind my eyelids there was the bluish light. Perhaps that was what dying looked like. First the light. And then black darkness.

When I woke again, I was sure that I was dead. There was no room in my mind that allowed any other possibility. But through the confines of my semi-consciousness I suddenly felt a painful throbbing on my side. It started small, but spread quickly until it turned from throbbing into burning. Brutus' wound, a part of me figured, was still there. Which meant I was still alive.

The pain in my side was not enough to convince me, though. I tested my fingers next. They were moving at my will and as far as I could tell, they were still all there. Everything was still there. I had, in fact, survived. It had to be a miracle.
The next thing to be tried were my eyes. They were a little more challenging, seen as they were hardly happy to open already. Eventually, I forced them open, but had to clamp them shot again at once because of the blinding white light around me. It took about five tries until they would stay open and see something, anything.

I was in some kind of hospital. Only when I saw it did I hear the steady of the monitor that showed my heart rate. The white had been so blinding because everything here is of that very colour, from the ceiling to the floor, from the chair by my bedside to the blanket that covered me. There were no windows - artificial lighting replaced actual sunlight.

I turned my head to the side and found that it was still throbbing from when I had hit it against the tree. That was when I saw the only spec of colour.
My heart-rate exploded, though my mind stayed relatively calm. How come I had not noticed his presence before? It was almost ridiculous how my senses were failing me right now.

"Good," President Snow said. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Miss Smitt."

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