The moment the river spits me out into the reservoir, I break surface, reeling for air.
My first thought is: Where's Peeta?
There is shouting. I fumble with my night vision glasses, trying to wipe the lenses of water.
"Katniss!" shouts Johanna.
On the far side of the reservoir, Finnick, Johanna, and Beetee tread the water. They are only a few yards away from the waterfall.
Close to me is a corpse: Chaff. I have little time to process his death, before I see Enorbaria swimming away from the scene, like some expert, arms over head, straight towards Peeta.
Peeta is halfway across the reservoir, but he is struggling to swim with both his artificial leg and his wounded shoulder. I can see blood in the water, surrounding him. He turns his head after Johanna shouts my name. Relief spreads across his face when he sees me, but in the furrow of his brow, there is pain.
The knife is no longer in his shoulder. It must have become dislodged on the fall.
I swim determinedly over to him. He will not bleed out before we can escape. I won't allow it.
Enorbaria will not kill him.
Peeta notices Enorbaria between us, and there is no way he can outswim her.
She grabs him by his wounded arm. Peeta struggles with her.
I cut through the cold water as quickly as I can.
I reach them and wrap my arms around Enorbaria from behind, prying her off of Peeta.
She tries to get me off of her back, but I push her head below the surface with both my hands.
Her hair is tangled between my fingers. She is struggling.
Peeta swivels in the water, then uses his legs to push off of Enorbaria, sending her away from us, and propelling Peeta farther ahead.
I do the same to her, before she can recover, and I am able to catch up to Peeta.
Once it is clear we are a safe distance from the Career, Peeta says, "I cannot believe you pushed me."
"You deserved it," I say. "Getting yourself stabbed."
"Well in my defense, she was aiming for you," he says.
Before we even reach them, our alliance has gone down the waterfall.
As we follow, Peeta and I lose grip of each other.
The current is still only marginally as strong as that first time, but it's not nothing.
We all make it to the place where Mags died, and we continue onward, into the unknown.
I know the water is cold, but I cannot seem to feel it. I feel only my heartbeat, spreading through me.
The Gamemakers are going to catch on the further we swim.
There is a lull in the current, and the river slows. I have to start actively moving myself through the water.
Ahead of me, Johanna is guiding Beetee. Finnick is still holding onto his trident and his glasses.
Peeta has fallen behind me. He is losing color in his face.
The river continues beyond the lull. And this time, it is not marginally strong. It's a nightmare.
I barely have time to clutch my glasses and gasp for breath before the water pulls me under. The current propels me forward, but unevenly, and I turn, head over heels below the surface.
I struggle to right myself. I am having a hard time figuring out which way is up.
I cannot imagine how the others are managing the current. It is everything I can do just to not lose my night vision glasses. I can only think of how the Gamemakers will at any moment do something to stop us. But maybe they already have. Maybe this insane current is them, trying to drown us.
The river slows only slightly. It is enough that I can get my bearings. The water rushes around me, splattering the lenses of my glasses. I rear my head back, trying to see.
Ahead of us, the river forks. Down one way, the nightmare continues. To the other side, there is a large opening in the cave wall. The river continues beyond the opening, but between us and that, is a large metal grate. The slates of the grate are too small for a human to fit through.
We all divert toward this.
The water pulls you naturally towards the grate, but the current is not strong enough to be harmful. I grip the metal rungs between my fingers and peer through them. I cannot believe what I see: moonlight.
Nothing stands between us and the outside but this stupid metal grate.
Finnick braces himself against the metal frame where it meets the stone.
He quickly points out screws that are securing the grate to the stone.
He describes them to Beetee, and Beetee asks, "Does anyone have a knife?"
"I do!"
Peeta, pale, swims over to the grate. From his fanny pack he pulls out the knife I gave him all the way from the beginning of the game, during the Bloodbath.
Finnick takes the knife and uses it to loosen the screws. It is not the perfect tool. Hardly even a preferred tool. Finnick appears to be making it work. The work is slow going, though.
I cling to the grate on the opposite side of Finnick. Two screws on this side are above the water level.
I am regretful that I gave my knife to Chaff – and that Chaff is dead. The going would be crucially faster if we had another tool.
We all watch Finnick with bated breath. At any moment the Gamemakers will catch on.
"Come on, Pretty Boy, hurry up," says Johanna.
She swims up to his side. She still has an axe, tied around her back, but it is useless against the grate.
Beetee, who can see, thanks to the moonlight, stoops closer to the grate. He feels along the edges of the grate, then ducks under the water.
When he resurfaces, he says, "There's only six screws, but I think if we remove the four above water and then we all pry at the top of the grate with our combined weight, it'll snap the two remaining screws."
No one questions him.
Finnick has just barely finished his first screw and begins working on the second, but as he fumbles with it, the knife slips, cutting open his palm.
"Let me," I say.
Finnick hands me the blade and I begin working on the screw.
My hands are still shaking from earlier. Either from the cold or from the anxiety.
The Gamemakers are no longer guessing what we are doing. They know, and there is no way of knowing how they will respond.
I keep getting caught up in my thoughts, as I fight with the knife and the screw.
We are all going to die here. We are going to die because of some stupid grate.
Johanna climbs up the grate. She shakes it. It does not give.
Peeta joins her. With his weight, the grate groans a little.
Finally the second screw is out. I move onto the third.
This one, and the fourth one after it, are partially submerged and will be much more difficult.
Beetee advises Johanna and Peeta to get down. The weight will only make my job harder.
They climb down.
They all wait on me.
There is splashing behind us.
I turn to look, but only for a moment. Enorbaria is here.
Finnick pulls up his trident, pointing it at Enorbaria.
"Don't," he says to her. He points to the grate and what's beyond with his free hand.
I do not think she understands. Enorbaria flashes her pointed artificial teeth, the ones she had put in after her first Hunger Games, in which she tore out someone's throat with those same teeth.
Out of everyone who was in this arena, she is the least worthy of rescue.
Finally the third screw is free, and I shout happily. The fourth is all that's left.
Finnick and Enorbaria are in a standoff. Finnick could kill her quickly if he wanted to. From the distance between them, her knives would never win against his trident. She would deserve it. She killed Chaff. She stabbed Peeta. I would not hesitate to kill her if I had my bow with me, but I do not, and so it is up to Finnick to kill her.
Yet, I also understand his dilemma. He does not have to kill her.
Technically, killing her at this point, could not be blamed on being a part of the Hunger Games.
Not when freedom is so close. Not when there is this option to defy the Capitol, allowing us all to live, even her.
That is, unless she forces his hand.
Peeta is perched beside me, holding onto the stone wall. He has a protective stance around me, as if Enorbaria will attack. It is silly; he could not defend anyone in his state.
"We're getting out of here," I hear Finnick say to Enorbaria.
Enorbaria eyes the group, the grate, the moonlight; the pieces come all together in her head. She laughs. "You cannot actually think you'll get far on foot," she says. "The Capitol will catch you."
"We have evac," says Finnick.
Enorbaria presses her lips together, thinking.
I want to tell Finnick to forget it. We cannot trust her. She is our enemy, kill her!
Enemy. Enemy. The word is tugging at a recent memory. Pulling it into the present.
"Katniss, when you're in the arena ..."
"What?" I hear my own voice tighten as I bristle at some unspoken accusation.
"You just remember who the enemy is," Haymitch says. "That's all."
Haymitch's last words of advice to me.
Why would I need reminding? I have always known who the enemy is. Who starves and tortures and kills us in the arena. Who will soon kill everyone I love.
Yes, I know who the enemy is. And it's not Enobaria.
As the final screw comes out, I turn to the Career.
"You don't have to be the monster they've made you," I tell her.
Enorbaria says nothing.
Beetee and Johanna climb up onto the grate, shaking it. Peeta joins them, and I climb up next to him.
We pull at the grate with our weight. It buckles and groans but does not give.
"Finnick," says Johanna.
Finnick lowers his trident, maintaining eye contact with Enorbaria.
Then he turns his back to her, choosing not to kill her.
We can only hope she does the same, but none of us will live if we do not get this grate off the wall.
With Finnick's weight, the grate gives a lurch, but the screws do not completely snap.
We pull again. My hands burn against the cold metal.
It will not give. We are going to die.
I think frantically about how we can remove the last two screws, but if they're bent, there's no way I will be able to unscrew them. Let alone while submerged, blind, and holding my breath.
There is only one other person who is not currently pulling at the grate.
"We need your help," I say, hating that I have to implore someone who moments ago was trying to kill me. "You're implicit in the escape already." Guilty by association. "The Capitol will kill us all."
Enorbaria looks surprised by this, as if it had not occurred to her that the Capitol would think that of her. Or that the Capitol would implicate the entire arena and would not allow any of us to continue the Hunger Games after this blunder and that no one would become a victor.
With this new reality, that no one will win, I can see Enorbaria make up her mind.
If there is one thing a Career knows, it is the drive for victory.
Enorbaria crosses over to the grate. She grips it, climbing up between Beetee and Peeta.
"Everyone pull at the same time," says Beetee. "One, two, three…"
We heave. One of the screws snaps. On my side. Peeta and I fall into the water as the grate slams down to the side. The grate now hangs lopsided over the opening. The second screw had not snapped, but the opening made by breaking the one is large enough for us to climb through.
"Go!" Beetee says, and Johanna does not hesitate to climb, wriggling through the opening. She falls onto the other side, splashing into the water. She looks back and offers her hand to Beetee as Beetee climbs through.
Enorbaria hefts herself over, but sneers at the hand Beetee offers her.
Peeta is next.
I wait for my turn. One of my legs is still in the water.
I am watching Finnick slip through when something bites me. I look down in shock.
A brightly colored snake has attached itself to my calf. The pain is searing.
There are more of the snakes, pouring down the river. Mutts. Meant to stop us. I have to physically tear the snake's fangs from my leg, ripping the wound open wider. Bleeding, I scramble over the grate.
"Hurry!" I tell the others. "Mutts!"
Beyond the grate, the river pours into a ravine. Earthy slopes surround us.
Overhead, the ravine opens up to the sky. The stars are out, and the moon lights our way.
Everyone scrambles to the shore. There is a clear section of the ravine that is less steep than the rest, forcing us all to the same relative place.
All we have to do is climb out of this ravine.
Johanna is climbing quickly. Behind her is Enorbaria and Beetee.
I join Finnick at the bottom of the slope. The soil is rocky and soft, making the climb difficult. Peeta has barely managed to start the climb with his wounded shoulder. I watch anxiously as he places his feet in terrible places.
"Follow in Johanna's path," I shout up to him, and he switches over to do that.
We have to make it. We will. There is no way of knowing the time, and there is no way of knowing if we have missed the rebel evacuation, but we can only get up out of the ravine as quickly as possible.
That being said, my leg is on fire. Whatever kind of snake it was, it was venomous.
Halfway up the slope, I hear a splash. Below, Gloss has climbed past the grate. He is wildly fighting off the snake mutts. He has multiple bite marks across his body. Gloss rips a hot pink snake from his forearm, and then uses that same arm to swing his sword, cutting another mutt in half. He looks furious and half crazy.
Finnick has overtaken Peeta and I. Johanna, Beetee, and Enorbaria have already climbed over the ledge and are out of sight.
Peeta waits for me at the top, anxious. I climb quickly, not just afraid of missing the evac, but also of Gloss.
At the top, the others stand around. The moon is high overhead. It must be near midnight. Perhaps the Capitol anthem was not an exact marker of time.
I move to walk over to where Beetee and Johanna are standing, but my leg gives out, and I stumble forward. Finnick rushes over to help me back up. I wave him away.
"What happened?" asks Peeta. He is holding one hand over his knife wound, but it's hardly doing anything. Useless…
Angry, I shrug out of my jacket and walk over to him. I pack the wound with the clothing, using the sleeves of the jacket to secure it around his shoulder and tying it tightly, while still maintaining pressure with my hands.
"Your leg, Katniss," he say.
I ignore the fact that my entire leg feels as if it is on fire.
"The hovercraft will be here soon," is all I say.
I feel as though we are a wounded pack of animals. Standing and crouching in various positions. Looking up at the moon as if it will tell us something. The landscape around us is rocky and barren. Gnarled trees shoot out of the ground in the distance. There's a wind rustling by, and I marvel, for a moment, at being outside; being free of those wretched tunnels. Even if I still die, at least I will not die in that tomb.
Johanna pulls her axe from her back as Gloss climbs over the ledge.
Enorbaria looks put out by Gloss' bloody, wild appearance.
It is hard for me to keep Gloss in focus at all. My vision is going blurry, and my head dizzy. I stumble again, even while holding onto Peeta's shoulder.
Peeta quickly guides me to the ground, before I can fall. I sit against the rocky earth, struggling to pull Peeta's face into focus, even though he is crouched right in front of me.
Gloss walks towards the alliance, like someone who is drunk. Stumbling, mumbling, laughing.
Johanna throws out some type of verbal warning to the Career.
Finnick offers him peace, escape –
Gloss lunges for Johanna.
This is a mess, I realize. This whole plan. Where are the rebels? They're not coming.
I get back to my feet, feeling the panic. My heart is racing.
Gloss and Johanna are fighting with their fists. With his lunge, he knocked her axe away from her. They roll across the ground, each trying to gain control. Finnick tries to step in, but it looks like Johanna has come out on top, and she delivers a fearsome punch to the man's face.
And then, without warning, Gloss gets his legs underneath her and launches her over the edge of the ravine.
Without Johanna in the way, Finnick readies to throw his trident; but Beetee has beaten him to it. Beetee picks up Johanna's dropped axe and flings it at the Career. I am surprised he has the strength or the will. I had forgotten he was a killer, like the rest of us, and he won his Hunger Games.
The axe hits with a frightening amount of accuracy, splitting open Gloss' face.
I had been stumbling toward the fight, as if I could help, but with the Career dead, I have lost my purpose. I stand there, struggling to remember anything. My thoughts feel jumbled.
I fall to my knees, without ever giving my legs permission to bend.
Enorbaria suddenly swoops over to me. I have a hard time understanding what she's doing. She grips me by my shoulder, forcing me to my feet. Then she presses a knife against my throat.
She backs away from the others, dragging me with.
"What are you doing?" Peeta asks.
"I'm not stupid," she says. "Snow will reward me."
Peeta's eyes widen.
I am having trouble keeping my own eyes open. The edges of my vision are blackening. I stumble as Enorbaria pulls me towards the edge of the ravine. I can just barely see Peeta's frightened face.
I reach a hand out towards him.
A bright light suddenly pours over us. It nearly blinds me. It is a hovercraft.
Enorbaria is still backing away, panicked by the arrival of the evac. Our feet get tangled, and trip us. Enorbaria falls backwards, pulling me with her, the blade cutting upwards. The bleeding is sudden, pouring down my chest, as we fall over the edge of the ravine.
My hand is still extended towards Peeta. He looks as if he will chase after me, but then he is gone from my sight, and my eyes will not stay open.
We crash into the river, and it pulls me under.