There was a root in her back. Rini sighed and she opened her eyes, staring up into the darkness above her. She wasn't sure what time it was. They had been walking until the sun went down and decided to take a rest. Rini had done so fitfully, plagued with worry. She was very tired and painfully aware of her thirst. When had she last had something to drink? A shiver went through her body and she turned onto her side, looking at the others that slept close by. The chill that had settled into the arena made her teeth chatter; worsened by the dampness of her outfit. She shifted uncomfortably, curling into herself and trying to conjure up the feeling of lying in a bed.
When she closed her eyes, she watched herself kill the woman from Nine. It had been so easy. Her throat closed and she clenched her fists, as if she could have made herself hold onto her spear. No matter how guilty she felt about it now, it had ultimately been the only choice. Rather the woman die than Rini or Beetee.
Her eyes flew open and she furrowed her brows, sitting up and hissing out a sharp breath. When had she started thinking like that? Didn't every victor deserve to live? What made her and the select others so special?
Since sleep seemed to be eluding her, she stood up and grabbed her spear. She could keep watch for the Careers, at least.
Johanna was awake, keeping watch for any other tributes. She nodded at Rini when she came and sat beside her, her ax laid carefully across her lap. "Can't sleep?"
She shook her head and looked out at the dark jungle, unnerved by how quiet it was. "You?"
The way Johanna sat so still reminded Rini of the cats that hung around the fish market. Completely motionless aside from her ever darting eyes. "Between Beetee's snoring and you sighing every time you moved, I'm surprised that the Careers didn't find us already." Her tone was flat but Rini saw the slight twitch in the corner of her mouth.
"By all means, I can relieve you from guard duty. I'll keep the sighs to a minimum."
"Try not to fall asleep. I'd rather not get my throat slit," Johanna murmured before she got up. She laid down close to the spot where Blight was sleeping and after a moment the jungle was quiet again.
Rini's eyes watched her small group of allies as they slept, her eyes lingering on Beetee. He slept curled on his side as she had been, but he was cradling his arm close. They had bandaged him up as best as they could, but even that wasn't much.
The sky was dotted with stars and she couldn't help but admire its beauty. Plutarch was certainly gifted, she had to give him that. She felt relief course through her as she remembered that Finnick's face hadn't been projected in the sky. He was still alive. Perhaps he was looking at the sky at the very same moment, feeling the same relief that she did.
She shivered and noticed that it was starting to get a bit windier in the arena. She pulled her knees up and hugged them, trying to keep herself warm.
A chime sounded out so suddenly that Rini jumped to her feet, her spear at the ready. Each one resonated in the arena and she looked around frantically for anything that may ambush them.
"What was that?" Blight asked, sitting up. The others were awake now, looking just as confused as Rini was.
"I counted twelve," Beetee murmured, his glasses sitting crooked on his nose.
Rini furrowed her brow, slowly lowering her spear. She gasped quietly, remembering what Fascal had been trying to tell her. "I think it's midnight."
"So now they're going to let us know the time?" Blight made a face and shook his head.
There was a loud crackle and a bright light flashed a ways from their camp. The ground quivered from the reverberation of the lightning striking the tree and they watched with wide eyes as it happened over and over again. The others got to their feet, prepared to run if the lightning moved closer, but it never drifted from its target.
"I think we're safe," Johanna muttered, laying back down on the ground and covering her face from the flashing light.
Beetee and Wiress exchanged a look before resigning to try and get some more sleep.
Blight, however, sighed and rubbed his face before going to Rini's side. "I'll take over watch if you want to sleep. I don't think I'll be able to with that going on."
She had to admit that her eyes had been starting to droop and she nodded thankfully. "If anything should happen-"
"Don't worry," He shook his head and leaned against a tree trunk. "I'll have you on your feet before you're awake."
Rini stared at him a moment longer before going and lying down, determined to rest. They would start to move again when it was light out. There had to be water in the arena, there just had to be. She swallowed and regretted thinking about water. She could think of meeting up with Finnick! With all of them together, they would outnumber the Careers and come up with a plan to overtake them. Whatever was to happen after that, she wasn't sure. She had trusted Finnick enough to follow him into the arena blindly for the sake of getting her chance to rebel. But now they were separated, and the fact that she had no idea what was to come was unnerving. What if something else went wrong?
Rini stirred when she felt drops on her face. She moaned quietly, turning her head to the side. She couldn't have been sleeping for more than an hour. Someone was talking and shaking her and she opened her eyes, sputtering in surprise. "Whatsit?"
"It's raining!" Blight was right in her face. Something that resembled joy, but had to be borderline deliria was in his eyes as he stood up and held his arms out as the precipitation came down heavier. Thunder rumbled overhead but the lightning that had been going on before was nonexistent.
She watched him as he turned his face towards the sky and let the drops rain on his face and her stomach turned when she saw that it wasn't rain at all. "It's blood," she cried, trying to wipe it off of her. It only coated her body more, having turned from a light rain into a near-torrential downpour in a matter of a few minutes.
"How long can it come down like this?" Beetee shouted over the noise. The five of them were huddled in a circle, the blood that clung to their clothes making them stick to one another.
Wiress clung onto Rini's arm, her eyes wide. She seemed as worse as Beetee, but without the shoulder wound. The redhead put her hand on top of the woman's and gave it a squeeze. "Do you think it's like this everywhere?" Rini couldn't imagine that much blood filling the arena.
"We won't know unless we keep moving," Blight decided, and the others nodded in agreement. "Stay close to me!"
Blight led the group as they made their way through the downpour. Rini brought up the back, digging the hilt of her spear into the ground to keep her footing. Whatever light there was from the moon was extinguished by the rain and it made moving through the terrain very difficult. Were they headed back towards the cornucopia or farther away? If they were to happen upon the Careers, it would be an absolute free-for-all. How would they be able to distinguish who was friend and who was foe?
The trek seemed especially difficult and Rini panted hard, hurrying to keep up with the group. What if the rain didn't stop? For a second she got the horrible idea that Plutarch intended on drowning the tributes that didn't know how to swim by filling the arena to capacity. Rini slipped on the wet ground and steadied herself with her spear, wiping the blood away from her eyes for the hundredth time. She thought that Wiress was saying something to her, but she couldn't discern it above the loud downpour. She shuddered to think where it all came from.
There was a sudden noise and something knocked Renata off her feet, blowing the wind out of her. She gasped for air and held her stomach, choking on the blood that rained down in her mouth. What the hell had happened? Her ears were ringing as she sat up, still rubbing her stomach. Slowly her hearing came back and she hurried to where Johanna was kneeling.
"Blight!" Johanna was screaming over the rain. "Blight!" Her voice grew in increasing panic, something Rini had never heard from her before.
"What happened?" She cried. She laid her head on his chest and listened for a heartbeat, unable to find one.
"He ran into a force field," Johanna looked over her shoulder and saw Wiress was just getting up. She got up as well and went over to see how both she and Beetee fared.
Rini's hands fit themselves to the middle of Blight's chest and she began doing chest compressions. Would the people watching them understand what she was doing? Everyone in District Four knew CPR; she couldn't imagine what Capitol children learned about in school. "How are they?" Rini called.
"Beetee is unconscious. He must have landed on his shoulder," Johanna called in return.
She made a face as she moved up to breath into Blight's mouth. He had hit the force field hard enough to send all of them flying. When she pulled away from his bloody face, her stomach turned over as she saw the extent of the damage. Resuscitation wouldn't save him. Her hands lingered on his chest and tears welled in her eyes. Why couldn't she save him? She resumed the chest compressions despite knowing they would be to no avail. This wasn't supposed to happen, Blight was supposed to live.
"Rini," Johanna was suddenly beside her. She hadn't realized that the rain was calming down.
"Just a couple more," she muttered. She grit her teeth and made her presses harder, oblivious to the crunching sound from within Blight's chest. "He'll be okay."
"Rini, stop. He's dead."
She stopped and let her hands fall to her sides. A cannon boom sounded over the rain, confirming Johanna's words. The Gamemakers must have been waiting for her to give in before announcing his death. She sat back, staring at Blight's motionless body.
Wiress was mumbling something, but Rini didn't turn her head to look at her. The rain had stopped now, and the jungle was quiet once more.
"…out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the spout again."
They set off again at first light. Rini had been restless again, hearing other tributes yelling in the night and being awoken with nightmares. Her skin was still coated with blood, like the others, and it didn't come off no matter how much she rubbed her skin. After a couple hours of walking, they stopped to rest and Rini moved her hand to wipe her forehead, only to discover that she wasn't sweating. She swallowed, her throat bone dry. Why hadn't any of them gotten a sponsor? Maybe that was another surprise for the Quarter Quell; no sponsors.
"I can see the beach!" Johanna suddenly cried out. She took off running, leaving the other three in the jungle.
Rini's head was pounding, her heart rate rapidly increasing. She tugged on Wiress' arm and glanced over her shoulder to see Beetee following them as they pursued Johanna.
"Tick tock," Wiress whispered, her voice as dry as Rini's throat felt.
Good to know she wasn't the only delirious one. "Just a bit further," She tried to sound optimistic, but it was a long stretch. Looking at water that they couldn't drink would be torture. And who knew how far gone Finnick and the others were?
"Johanna!" She heard someone cry.
She and Wiress trampled out of the jungle and onto the sand. Her legs wobbled and she fell to the ground, trying to take in breaths. She was so hot and so thirsty, she felt sick.
"Finnick!" Johanna exclaimed.
It registered somewhere in her head that they had found Finnick, but she couldn't lift herself from the sand.
He was shouting her name and it sounded muffled to her ears. The sand was burning her cheek but it wasn't bothering her as much anymore as she drifted off.
The next thing she knew, she was floating. She moaned and struggled to open her eyes, thinking that she was dreaming.
"Rini?" Finnick asked quietly. She felt a hand smooth over her forehead and it felt so comforting, so real that she had to open her eyes. To her delight, Finnick was very much real and the sensation of her floating was all thanks to the water that surrounded the cornucopia. "Hey there."
"What happened?" she asked, her voice cracking.
"You had a heat stroke, I think. Do you remember getting some water finally?"
Rini pursed her lips and shook her head.
"I didn't think so," he smiled. "You got a little before you passed out. How do you feel?"
"Okay," she whispered, very content to have him hold her as the waves rocked her back and forth. "Thirsty."
His chest rumbled a little with a laugh and he nodded, "Right. Let's get you some water, then."
Rini reached up and put her hand at the back of his neck, pulling him down to her. She kissed him tenderly and was pleased to find that his response was just as enthusiastic. They smiled at one another when they broke apart, so filled with glee and relief that they were reunited that it was almost too much to bear.
As they walked back up to the sand, Rini noted that the blood that had covered her skin was all washed away, and with it she felt renewed. Now that they were all together, the going would be easier.
Hello, hello there! I am very pleased to finally have this update for you. I've been very discouraged and depressed about my writing lately, so I hope that you find this update to be worth the wait. I believe that next chapter is to be the last for this story. I am aware that earlier on, I said that I wasn't going to split up Catching Fire and Mockingjay...well September Fools! I've decided to go ahead and do that. So yes, next chapter is the end of Sinking Ships and we will be moving on to Casting Off. Thank you to all of you that have stuck around even when I'm terrible at updating!
-Kelsey xxxxx c: