"Now what?" I ask no one in particular once Peeta and I are at the base of the ladder.

"I thought you were the one with a photographic memory?" Peeta whispers.

"Shut up," I whisper back.

I thought it was a genius plan, making Finnick sweat a little and then catch up with him, but now it just seems like a foolish act by a stubborn child. Great.

There's a terrible smell in these tunnels and I have to squint to see. I wish I had some sort of flashlight but I don't have one and neither does Peeta.

"Let's just go right, that's where the other apartment should be located, right?"

"I think so," Peeta says.

We turn right but after a few seconds we realize there are many other tunnels connected to this larger one.

"I'm such a genius," I sigh sarcastically.

"Doesn't matter," Peeta says. "We're here now, we better make the best of it. Besides, we both won two Hunger Games, how difficult can this be?"

Just as I'm about to thank him for his encouraging comment, I notice a red blinking light a bit further down the tunnel.

"What is that?" I whisper more to myself than to Peeta but as soon as the words leave my mouth I realize what I'm looking at.

"Don't move!"

"What? What is it?"

I point my finger at the light. "Cameras," I say.

"Shit," he says. "Let's take a smaller tunnel. Here, this one."

I chuckle. "Don't think I ever heard you curse before."

I follow him into the other tunnel and look for other cameras but I can't find any. Maybe only the main tunnels have cameras because they are the most important ones.

I follow Peeta through the small tunnel and eventually we go left so we're on the right path again.

Suddenly, Peeta's arm stops me.

"Ssht, do you hear that?" he asks in a low voice.

I stop breathing for a moment and listen carefully. It's a light ticking. Like a clock, but way faster.

"Maybe it's water dripping somewhere?" I suggest.

Peeta stays silent for a few more seconds while he looks around, searching for some unknown thing in the darkness. Then he opens his eyes widely when it dawns on him.

"Rats," he says.

I listen carefully. "They're behind us." I listen again. "But they're coming fast."

"Run," Peeta suddenly yells while grabbing my hand and dragging me with him.

The sound of scratching nails gets louder and louder, even though we're almost sprinting towards I don't know where. I dare to glance over my shoulder only to be startled by the number of rats following us and their size. They're as big as a cat!

"We can't outrun them, they're too fast," I inform Peeta while fiddling with my belt to get my axe.

I pull my hand out of his and thrown my axe at the rat closest to me and push the button. The rat explodes and the ones who survived the explosion run in the opposite direction, away from the smoldering limbs of their comrades. I stop running and lean against a wall, breathing heavily. Peeta is hunched over, his hands on his knees.

"Fuck."

"I know."

My breathing suddenly turns into laughing and Peeta soon joins me.

"How hard can it be right?" Peeta says, still laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Shut up," I respond.

Our laughter soon stops when we hear yet another sound, this time different than the rats. It's heavy, footsteps. I snatch my axe and am ready to throw it when Peeta stops me.

"Are you completely insane?" A voice belonging to the newcomer says.

"Finnick?" I say, flabbergasted that he found us.

I recognize him now that he's closer and I can see his characteristic hair and facial features.

"How did you know –" I start but Finnick cuts me off.

"I've been your best friend for more than five years. I know you. You could've gotten yourselves killed because of your stubbornness!"

He's obviously mad at me but hugs me nonetheless.

"I'm sorry," I breathe in his hair.

"Where is the rest?" Peeta asks Finnick, who shrugs in response.

"I don't know. I left them to look for you two idiots."

"What?" I say. "And they just let you go?"

Finnick rolls his eyes at me. "Of course not. They never noticed I left."

I punch his arm, hard. "Who's the idiot now? At least I had Peeta, you were completely alone. If anyone could've been killed, it's you!"

"Okay maybe we should just go find them?" Peeta suggests.

"Fine," I reply, still glaring at Finnick while he glares right back at me.

We walk for at least half an hour in silence before I raise my voice in absolute frustration.

"Where the hell are they?"

"Could you please keep your voice down?"

I want to tell Finnick to shut up but I don't because I know he's right. It's much too dangerous to shout like this. We don't know who or what could be hiding here, except for the rats.

We move forward as quietly as possible but also as fast as possible.

"Maybe they went back up?" Finnick offers.

"Nah," I say in a whispery tone. "Too dangerous."

"Yes and down here it's just so much safer. Can't believe I didn't come up with that answer."

His voice doesn't sound as steady as it usually does but then again, I'm not really at ease myself.

"I'm not saying I like it here, but it's probably our only chance to get as close to the city circle as possible."

"I know."

"They left us on purpose," Peeta suddenly says in a soft voice.

"Why would they do that?" I ask.

"Because of me. They don't want me here. They think I'm dangerous. I am dangerous."

"Peeta," I say in a stern voice. "You are not dangerous, the venom is dangerous. You're still Peeta."

"But…"

"No," Finnick whispers loudly. "Johanna is right. They didn't leave us on purpose and you are not dangerous, so can we please shut up now?!"

"Alright, fine, no need go all Gale on us," I whisper back.

We start walking in silence again while looking out for cameras or rats or anything else. I really wish we had Pollux right now because we still have no idea if we're going the right way.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Peeta ends the silence.

"Huh?"

"Gale. Why do you hate him so much? He's not that bad," Peeta continues.

"I don't hate him," I reply. "But why don't you? I mean, he's obviously your biggest competition in the race for Katniss' heart."

Peeta shrugs. "I know I was in love with Katniss but the venom really messed me up. I'm not too sure right now, but she and Gale get along pretty well and he clearly cares about her a lot so I think he'd be good for her."

I stop immediately. "Don't say that. Ever again. You're the one who clearly cared about Katniss, you're the one that's good for her. And I don't hate Gale, I know he's a good guy, he just gets on my nerves a lot. But don't ever say Gale is better for Katniss than you are because he's not."

I turn around again only to find Finnick watching me with eyebrows as high as the sky.

"What?"

Finnick just shakes his head with a ridiculous smile on his face. "Nothing. You're just being very romantic right now. Very girly."

"Aw come on, you saw first-hand how Peeta and Katniss are together! You should be agreeing with me!"

"I do agree with you, I just never expected you to say it out loud."

"Whatever," I say, walking past him.

Another hour later I ask the others to stop.

"I can't anymore. My feet hurt, I'm burning up, I hate it down here," I say.

I turn around to face my two companions but then my eye falls on something I can't believe I didn't notice before.

"Peeta! You have a watch!"

He looks at me, then at his watch, and then back at me. "Of course."

"So what time is it?" I ask, nearly jumping up and down in excitement because I'll finally get some idea of time.

"Almost four in the morning," he answers.

My excitement quickly fades away. "They'll be here in two, maybe three hours."

Finnick puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Let's rest for a while."

I can only manage a nod. We all look around to see if there's any chance to rest somewhere without the terrible smell and heat but we can't find anything.

"Looks like we just have to sit down where we're standing," Peeta says with a sigh.

"You can sleep now," Finnick says, looking at me. "I'll stay awake for the first hour, then you can take the second. We move at six o'clock, okay?"

"Why don't I have to stay awake?" Peeta asks, confusion and a hint of betray in his voice.

"Because you still need to heal from the tracker jacker venom," I say while sliding down the wall in a sitting position.

"You don't trust me, is that it?" Peeta asks.

"Of course we trust you. But we can only rest for two hours, so be happy you get both hours instead of just one," Finnick says.

I'm sitting between Finnick and Peeta while my head is resting against Finnick's arm. Fatigue is taking over my body but every time I fall asleep, my head jerks back up again and I'm wide awake. It's exhausting. I turn to my right and see that Peeta's not sleeping either.

"Damn it," I mutter under my breath.

Finnick lets out such a long sigh that I feel like I'm obligated to ask what's wrong.

"We're trapped here, we don't know if we're going the right way, we don't know our way out and we're completely alone. We'll never find the others," he says, defeat all over his face.

I take his hand in mine. "Don't give up, Finnick. We'll get through this."

"Maybe. But what if we never see the sun again? What if we die down here?"

I look at Peeta for support but he too looks like he's been flirting with that thought. And fine, I thought about it too but I didn't voice those thoughts because I knew that would only make it worse.

"This is a sewer," Finnick continues. "I don't want us to die in a freaking sewer! Especially not by rats or fatigue or hunger or anything like that. If we die, we should do it in battle!"

I suddenly stand up and hold out both my hands for Peeta and Finnick to take them. "Let's just go," I say. "Sitting here will only make it worse."

I just pulled them up when we hear a sound, a hissing.

"What is that?" Finnick says.

I listen carefully but then my eyes land on Peeta. His face is crunched up, as if he's trying to resist the hissing. I don't even think, I just slap him across the face.

"Peeta, stay with us, you hear me?" I yell.

His eyes jerk open and he nods.

The hissing gets louder and louder and now we can make out a single word. "Katniss."

"Oh fuck."

"Run!"