I'm struck by fear until I can finally gain control of myself. Katniss fires next to me, managing to take out one. We can't kill them all. The stream is constant, still coming from all sides over the mangled bodies of the former Peacekeepers.

I push Katniss into the ladder, hoping she gets the idea. Out of the corner of my eye, I can begin to see her make her way upwards. To safety. Saving the Mockingjay is what I must do now.

I've decided it then, as I watch a few more people scramble up. Peeta. Gale. Cressida.

I will stay down here. I will keep the mutts off of their trail for as long as I can. I will keep the mockingjay alive, just as I promised before I went into the arena. I think that contract ended once it blew up, but I knew that it was just the beginning. If now, it means more than ever.

I will die today.

It's a hard feeling to come to terms with, especially when the monsters are descending upon you. Everyone has already made their way up the ladder. I could make a break for it. Try to get up. My eyes keep switching between the empty rungs and the monsters in front of me. I fight back tears and the choke in my throat.

I'm laughing. I was supposed to be dead a long time ago. By even being in the Games, I was supposed to be dead. Why am I avoiding it now? Running is futile. It will happen eventually. I've known that since I was fifteen. Only now does it actually mean something to me. The least I can do is die for a future. One that I never thought I was going to get.

They're here. The mutts are here to collect my body. This is it.

I don't cry as it happens, really. It's mostly just a blur. I know they have me in their hold now. I know that the mutts surround me. I know that there's probably at least four of them. I know that I scream.

A light shines down on me from below and I desperately wish they aren't waiting for me, only to see my death. Of all things that I haven't been allowed privacy, I wished my death would be one of them. I thought that would be a benefit of not dying the arena.

"Nightlock," Katniss whispers. I don't think it's supposed to be a reminder to me, but I take it anyway. Maybe the little pill could take away some of the pain of death. One of the beasts pulls my head back and another one steps forward to my neck. I grab the nightlock pill in my suit with my teeth. It slides into my mouth at the same time the beast takes the bite at the same time the explosion goes off.

We head on the train stations as we pull away. The last thing I see of District 4 is the ocean with my dad's crabbing boat floating in the middle of it. My mentor comes in, an older middle aged lady, named Mags.

I grab my silver parachute, open it, and find a trident. It has to have cost a ton of money. I must have sponsors.

Mags comes in. She is smiling just a grandmother would. "You did really good Finnick. So strong and you played the game amazingly. I was so nervous up in the control room." I realize I am going to have to be a mentor. It freaks me out that now I have to do this every year. Watching people die is not high on my list of things to do. In fact, it isn't on there! She hugs me and leaves.

"It's okay. I'm Annie Cresta."

"Congratulations to the winner of the 70th Hunger Games, Annie Cresta of District 4!"

That year of the 71st Hunger Games, I am the first mentor to bring home victors in back to back years.

"What are you putting on your face?" I ask her. She is applying some kind of weird bronze colored powder that makes her looks tanner. "Bronzer. I'm in District 4; I need to have a tan!" Tabia exclaims, like I am stupid for not doing it either.

"This is the new trident I made you, totally advanced," he tells me. "Don't hit any of the buttons." I stand in awe, looking up and down the weapon. It's gorgeous, the metal painted a silvery blue color. I haven't seen a trident this perfect since the one I saw in my first games and that might just have been in the euphoria that I got a weapon, a trident, something I knew how to fight with and that I actually might be able to pull this winning thing off.

Annie comes through the doors next. She's beautiful in a green dress that makes her eyes shine brighter and her hair compliments it perfectly. I'm too caught up in the moment to listen as the vows start.

We start sailing across the water. Annie runs over to the side, watching the boat cut across the water. When she looks back to me, I can see the happiness in her eyes. The first time I was on a boat, I was enchanted by the way the boat swam along the waters.

I still am now.