Katniss breathes in and out slowly, trying to calm down and control her emotions and focus on the task at hand; surviving. But what she just witnessed had caused her heart to shatter. Cinna, her amazing Cinna, had been beaten in front of her and then dragged away; while she was trapped in the glass tube, unable to do anything but watch. She knew Snow had done that purposely, to throw her off her game and weaken her.
No. You won't fucking break me! You won't!
Those angry words run through her mind as the countdown continues. She observes the arena. Water. Water everywhere. And it's hot, really hot. Beads of sweat have started to form at her brow.
7
She stares at the Cornucopia, fire still raging through her body. She allows herself to glance around at the pedestals and soon sees Haymitch to her left. She doesn't see Cato, he must be behind the Cornucopia.
5
Her head snaps back to the Cornucopia and she leans forwards, balancing on the balls of her feet, ready to dive into the water. She sees a bow and arrows directly in front of her, at the Cornucopia. Before she knows it, the countdown is done.
She jumps into the water, swimming as quickly as she can. She was never a strong swimmer, obviously, because she was raised in 12 where it was never a priority. But her father had taught her to swim when they would go to the pond.
A sharp pain shoots through her head and she realizes she had swum head first into a rock. She's at the Cornucopia. She pulls herself up and grabs the bow and arrows, just as the female tribute from District 8 comes running towards her. She loads the arrow and shoots it. It hits the woman in the chest and she topples into the water. A moment later, a cannon goes off. Someone grabs her from behind. She kicks and squirms in their arms, trying her best to get out of their grasp.
"Stop it, kid! It's me!" Haymitch shouts at her. She nods and he releases her. He's about to say something, but his eyes grow wide.
"Get down!" he yells at her. She drops to her knees and covers her head as Haymitch throws a knife at the District 5 male tribute, who was sneaking up behind Katniss, ready to drive a spear into her back. The knife hits him in the chest, but it doesn't kill him. He lets out a shout and his hand flies to his chest, blood already starting to flow out of the wound. Katniss grabs her bow and starts to load the arrow, but before she can kill him, he already falls to the ground, dead, with a trident in his back. Finnick runs forward, ripping the trident out of the mans back.
"Allies?" Haymitch asks him. Finnick nods then looks at Katniss, a mischievous smile on his face.
"You'll be safe with me, girl on fire." he tells her.
"Speak for yourself, Odair! If you make a wrong move than you won't be safe with me around!" She shouts and jumps to her feet, shoving Finnick away from her.
"I need to find Mags!" Finnick says to Haymitch, who is leading the three of them away from the Cornucopia. Katniss and Finnick grab two packs before running after Haymitch. But Katniss skids to a stop and begins to look around for someone she's forgotten; Cato.
"Hey, girl on fire, now's not the time for cold feet! Hurry up!" Finnick shouts when he notices her sudden stop.
"No! I need to find someone-"
Someone grabs her hand and hauls her forwards. She's about to stab him with an arrow, but then she recognizes the blond hair. "Found you." he says. She lets out a relieved sigh and they continue running to catch up with Haymitch and Finnick, who have found Mags.
"We have to get into the jungle, the island isn't safe." Cato says. Finnick and Haymitch glare at him, unsure whether to trust him. Katniss rolls her eyes, they don't have time for this shit.
"Yes we do, now hurry up and go into the jungle!" she shouts at them and the two men glance at each other, give a quick nod then the five run into the forest, Mags on Finnick's back, and Cato still holding on to Katniss's hand.
They managed to get to, what seemed like, a safe spot in the jungle. Katniss had found some fruit that Finnick had deemed safe, because he had them in his District. He called it a mango. She was glad to have them, because it was juicy and they had no water. She bites into the fruit and the juices dribble down her chin. She sucks the fruit, drawing out the remaining juice. Finnick is sitting beside her, but he's stopped eating and is looking at her with that same mischievous smile.
"What are you looking at?" she snaps at him.
He snorts and takes another bite of the mango. "Just you. You're more than enough of a view, beauty."
"Beauty? Stop your flattery. It won't work on me." she hisses. Her sudden hostility surprises him.
"Woah! Calm down, fire girl. I only flatter the people I like." He says. He leans forwards, so his lips are pressed against her ear. She begins to move away, but he grabs her arm, keeping her still.
"What do you want?" she snaps.
"Just to know more about you. I know about everyone... Except you. You're a mystery to me and I can't have that." he whispers in her ear. She rips her arm out of his grip and stands up, glaring at him.
"I won't be one of your Capitol dolls, Finnick. I'm not going to give you all my secrets so I can have the honor of you getting into my pants. Leave me alone." she says, drawing out the last three words. Finnick isn't smiling anymore instead, he's looking at the leaves beneath his feet. She makes her over to Haymitch, who's' sitting with Mags. Cato has gone to find some more fruit. As she walks away, she hears Finnick make one last remark.
"But you are alone, aren't you? We all are."
The sky has turned dark now. Katniss is sitting beside Cato, her knees drawn to her chest. The two of them are on first watch. Cato looks over to her, because she's been unusually quiet.
"You ok?" he asks her.
She turns to him and nods hesitantly. Christ, she's bad at lying.
"You suck at lying. Tell me the truth," he says softly. Katniss sighs and leans on his shoulder.
"Just something Finnick said to me earlier. It kind of stuck with me," she says. Cato nods but doesn't push her, because he knows she just recoil and stop talking to him completely. If she wants to tell him, than she will, but he won't pester her. So they just remain silent, until Cato notices what look to be like rain clouds start to form in the sky. With a deep rumble of thunder, rain begins to fall to the ground. It is almost like someone has a hose and is getting closer and closer to them. Soon it's falling down in sheets and is only a foot away from them.
"What the...?" Cato mumbles. He extends his hand, but as soon as the rain touches his skin, searing pain shoots through his hand.
"Ah!" he shouts and jumps backwards. Katniss is behind him and is pulling at his shoulders, trying desperately to get him to his feet.
"The rain! Watch out for the rain!" He screams when he gets to his feet. He grabs his sword and Katniss grabs her bow and arrows and the run down to Finnick, Haymitch and Mags. Finnick pulls Mags on to his back and they run down, trying desperately to avoid the rain. Cato's hand as blistered into large, red welts. One explodes and his hand is covered in disgusting, slimy pus. Acid rain... Lovely.
He hears Katniss scream as the rain touches her back and the acid eats through her suit. He turns around and grabs her, throwing her in front of him. If the rain reaches them, he has far more muscle and flesh on him rather compared to her, because there's practically nothing on her, not fat or muscles. So the rain won't effect him as much as it would her. Well, that's his analogy anyway. The rain hits his back and the fiery pain shoots through his body. He looks up, desperate to see some sort of shelter. But instead he sees something he was not expecting.
"Syra!?"
The name comes out before he can stop it. They seem to be nearing her, but she's doing some weird motion with her hands. A moment later, he sees why. Haymitch and Finnick run straight into a force field. They go flying back and Haymitch crashes into Katniss, knocking her to the ground. The rain has reached them and their agonizing screams fill the air.
He's pounding against the force field, and Syra on the other side is doing the same. She's crying and looks at him with a heartbroken expression on her face. She seems to be screaming "I'm sorry" over and over again.
The rain is now on him. The pain of the acid forces him down on to his knees, his hands are still on the force field but they're shaking uncontrollably.
This is it. This is the end, he thinks.
But then, without notice, the force field disappears as well as the rain. He slumps to the ground, his whole body shaking due to the pain. He hears Syra beside him, she's screaming at him.
"Wake up, oh my God please wake up!" she says. She's crying, he can tell.
"Katniss..." he groans. He realizes he hasn't heard her yet.
"I'll check on her," Syra tells him.
It takes him a while to be able to so much as get on to his hands and knees. He looks up and sees Syra checking Katniss, who appears to be alright. By the looks of it, Haymitch had sheltered her from the rain by using his own body as a shield. He's still conscious, but badly burned on his entire backside. Katniss is holding on to his hand tightly.
Cato breathes out a sigh of relief that Katniss is relatively uninjured, but then he turns his attention to Finnick and Mags, who are a few feet away from him. Mags is shaking Finnick, letting out silent sobs because he's not responding. Cato crawls over to them and looks at Finnick.
"Oh Jesus," he says. Finnick is burned everywhere. His skin is covered in blood, welts and pus.
"Cato!"
He turns around and sees Katniss running towards him. She has a visible limp, because her calf got burned, but she doesn't let it slow her down. She reaches him and kneels down, gasping at him.
"Oh my God, your back-"
"It's fine. Listen, we need to get them somewhere. Maybe to some water or something to clean them up." He tells her. She nods and turns to Syra, who is supporting Haymitch.
"There's a small pool down that way, it shouldn't take long to get there." she says.
She takes Haymitch and Katniss and Cato share the weight of Finnick. Haymitch is still able to drag himself, so Syra can manage him by herself. Mags is walking beside Katniss. She doesn't seem overly injured, because Finnick threw himself over her to protect her from the rain. Haymitch had told Katniss once that Finnick was fiercely protective of Mags, but she hadn't believed him. She does now.
They reach the pool, just as Cato's legs give out. He falls to the ground, taking Katniss and Finnick with him. Haymitch had passed out too. He and Syra had fallen, but he landed with his torso in the water. Syra tries to lift him out, but then she notices that the water seems to somehow help the burns left by the acid.
"Look!" she squeals. She scoops water up in her hands and drops it over Haymitch's neck. She rubs it, and the welts practically melt of his skin. Her hands are soon covered in his dead skin, blood and pus. It doesn't seem to stop her, which strikes Katniss as odd because she seems like a beauty queen who would hate to so much as crack a nail.
Katniss leads Mags over to the water and gets her started on rubbing her legs. She returns for Finnick and drags him over to the water. She drops him in, and Mags quickly rushes over to him and begins to rub away the welts on his bronze skin.
Katniss walks over to Cato and takes his arm, putting it over her shoulders so he could lean on her. "It's ok, lean on me. You'll be ok," she whispers. The tall boy tightens his arm around her and manages to whisper a thank you.
He can barely walk, but with her help, they make it to the pool. Katniss lets go of him and he crashes into the water. She goes in after him and immediately begins to wash away the disgusting burns. He groans as she washes the acid off his skin.
It takes her a few minutes to wash away all the burns on him. Syra has finished with Haymitch and has him propped up against a tree. She brushes some of his messy, wet hair out of his eyes and then leaves him to rest. She goes over to Mags and Finnick. Mags has Finnick clean and now he's lying on the ground. Mags is sitting beside him, her hand resting on his shoulder. Syra cups water in her hands and finishes wiping away the burns on Mags's neck.
Katniss is starting to feel exhausted, probably because of the exertion of the past hour. Cato seems to be feeling that as well. Katniss begins scrubbing away the burns on her calves, but a pair of strong hands replace hers.
"Let me. You just had to deal with my bodily fluids for the past while, let me return the favor." Cato says quietly. Katniss doesn't argue, and just closes her eyes as he rubs away the searing pain that the acid left behind. Luckily, she doesn't have too many burns so it doesn't take him a long time to clean her legs and arms.
When he finishes, he's almost asleep. He crawls on to the shore beside Katniss and the two of them slump down on the ground. She can hear the soft snores from Haymitch, who is sound asleep against the tree. Mags and Finnick are asleep too. Syra tiptoes over to Katniss and Cato. Katniss tenses, but Syra puts her hand on her shoulder.
"It's ok. I can take watch for the night. I promise I won't do anything to you," she says. Katniss sees her eyes drift over to Cato, who is practically asleep. But he forces his eyes open and looks at her.
"Thank you. You can trust her, Katniss." he whispers, but then his eyes shut and he's asleep. Katniss looks at Syra and nods, mumbling a thank you. Syra's eyes are still on Cato.
"He really cares about you," she says softly. "You should hold on to him. Because once you lose someone you care about, you can never get them back." She continues. She almost seems to be speaking to herself. She gets up and walks away, leaving Katniss on the ground, staring at her.
"What the fuck..." she mutters. What on earth possessed Syra to say such a thing?
She's too tired to dwell on it. She drops to the ground and closes her eyes and in mere seconds, she's asleep.
Syra sits against the tree, her knees wrapped around her knees. Her spear is beside her, just in case. She looks over at Cato who has his arm over Katniss as they sleep.
She misses that so much. She hasn't felt wanted or loved in a long, long time. Not since Cayson died...
She closes her eyes and shakes her head violently. She hates thinking about him because it makes her feel broken inside. If only she had just done what that client wanted! If she did, then Snow wouldn't have killed Cayson. It's all her fault, all her fault. And when she saw Cato, it just reminded her of Cayson that's why she went after him. She had hoped that maybe, she could close her eyes and imagine it was Cayson and not Cato she was sleeping with; but when she did, she was then painfully reminded that it wasn't Cayson when her eyes opened.
"I miss you," she whispers. She says it every single night.
A rustle in the trees causes her to snap out of her thoughts. She grabs her spear and jumps up, looking around for the source of the noise. Her senses on high alert. Suddenly, something bounds out of the bushes and jumps on her. It's the District 6 tribute. They crash to the ground, but she has her spear across her chest like a guard, keeping the man from stabbing her. He growls at her and she is able to kick him in the stomach. She arches her back and looks behind her, just in time to see the female District 6 tribute running towards Mags, sword raised.
"Mags! Finnick!" she screams as loudly as she can. The male tribute punches her in the throat, but Syra is able to swerve her spear around and stab him in the chest. She hears a canon, but the man isn't dead yet. Finnick must have killed the woman before she could attack Mags, that's what it is. The male tribute is still breathing, so she takes the spear and stabs him in the eye, then she hears the canon. She turns around and expects to see Finnick and Mags, but instead she sees just Finnick. The female District 6 tribute is lying dead a few feet away from him and he's kneeling on the ground, his shoulders shaking from sobbing. He's kneeling beside something... Then she sees the glimpse of curly white hair, but it's tainted with red.
She can't help the scream that rips from her throat.
"Mags!"