The first major problem I notice is that my skin is terribly itchy, which is probably not a good promotion for the new skincare line that came out recently with my face plastered all over the ads. I reach for my trident, ready to fight, ignoring the pain in wait of an enemy, but the wall of fog slithering outside the thin wall of our tent stops my current train of thought and puts it into an entirely new direction. I lift sleeping Mags up onto my back as Katniss grabs Peeta's arm, still not fully awake.
"What is it? What is it?" I hear Peeta say behind me.
"Some kind of fog. Poisonous gas. Hurry, Peeta!" Katniss shouts back to him, confirming my thoughts. I can't tell how much farther this gas lasts, but they surely didn't gas the entire arena. That would not be fun for the viewers. Mags is getting heavier and the fog makes it hard to see where I'm stepping. A break in this would not be good at all. The sound of Katniss and Peeta becomes smaller and smaller, so at first I think they are dead, but someone steps on a branch, one I barely missed too.
"C'mon! You guys can make it!" I shout to them.
"Over here!" I shout again, but Peeta falls and he must have a terrible wound, because Katniss has an sound of urgent worry. I run backwards to them, and grab one of Peeta's arms. I can tell he is having trouble walking because of the gas and his fake leg. He's still slow though, and at this rate, we aren't getting out of here soon, which would mean all of our deaths.
"It's no good. I'll have to carry him. Can you take Mags?" I ask Katniss.
"Yes," Katniss says, but halfheartedly. She isn't as strong as I am. We continue to move forward but Peeta is on my back now. I move at a diagonal downwards, hearing to make sure Katniss is following. After a while, I hear more than footsteps but falling. I run back to them and make out Katniss failing from the fog.
"It's no use. Can you take them both? Go on ahead, I'll catch up," Katniss says but she doesn't believe it will work anymore than I do. I realize that someone isn't going to make it out now. I also know who it will be, because I know the people here.
"No. I can't carry them both. My arms aren't working. I'm sorry, Mags. I can't do it," I say sadly. I've lost two of my tridents, my arms are flailing uselessly, and I'm struggling to support Peeta as much as I am. Mags suddenly gets up, kisses me, and walks straight into the thickest part of the fog. Boom! And she's gone. I turn quickly so I don't have to stare at the spot where she collapsed anymore and continue on my retreat, faster and more determined then before. My mind only processes one thing and focus feels strange. I hope Katniss is coming. I work harder, but I collapse too after a while with Peeta on my back. Katniss collapses on us in a heap. I'm going to die. Everywhere is numb, even both bodies don't put any pain on me. They get up after a while and Katniss stares in awe at the fog, so I look too. It has stopped moving towards us. We are safe, for now at least, from it.
"It's stopped," Katniss croaks. The fog moves up and disappears. I can't move, I don't want to ever move. I'm still twitching, at least in some places.
"Mon-hees," Peeta stammers out of his chapped mouth. We watch them and they watch us, until we began to crawl to the beach with its warm water. It feels wonderful to be around water to again, something familiar in this otherwise terrible arena. But, it also feels like home, which starts a terrible sense of homesickness for everyone and loss of Mags, so I walk away from it. I won't. Katniss starts rubbing the salt water on my wounds, a normal practice in 4. It hurts badly, like they always said it was. They pull me over to the water. The feeling of numbness has been replaced with burning but I slowly come back to life.
"There's just your head left, Finnick. That's the worst part, but you'll feel much better after, if you can bear it," Peeta suggests. I sit up with their help and dunk my head into the water. My throat hurts.
"I'm going to try to sap a tree," Katniss says.
"Let me make the hole first. You stay with him. You're the healer," Peeta says, in a flashback to the 74th games. That's good, my brain is still working. Let's test my limbs and they work too. I wonder if I can still swim, which I can, just as smoothly as normal. I duck underwater and continue to swim, coming up for air I meet Katniss.
"Don't do that," she says.
"What? Come up or stay under?" I ask.
"Either. Neither. Whatever. Just soak in the water and behave. Of if you feel this good, let's go help Peeta," she says. I don't know what her problem is but I leave the water and help Peeta to help me get my mind off things. We walk across the jungle to find Peeta, and once we reach the end, Katniss notices something. She touches my arm and I look up with her, quietly. At least a hundred of those monkeys are perched on the branches of the trees, all staring at us. I slowly move my trident to a better position.
"Peeta, I need your help with something," Katniss says, calm in her voice.
"Okay, just a minute. I think I've just about got it. Yes, there. Have you got the spile?" He asks, not noticing what is going on over by his tree.
"I do. But we've found something you better take a long at. Only move toward us quietly, so you don't startle it." Peeta moves toward us.
"Okay," still not sure. He looks up and just like he set off a bomb, the monkeys slide down from their vines in an orange blur, fangs bared, claws shooting out, straight toward Peeta. We've got a bad case of mutts.