Shit. This is not good, not good at all. Whatever this is, it's definitely lethal. All six of us run down the hill trying to get away from the terrible fog/mist thing. But who knows how long it could span for? For some reason, I'm having a harder time than usual running. I'm not sure why, but it probably has to do with the fact I died earlier. Mags can't keep up, and Gloss has to piggy-back her down the hill, slowing them both down considerately.
We're all having a hard time running away. The fog has caught up, and we're almost surrounded in the thick gas. Cashmere, who was in the back, got the worst of it. Her limbs are jumping all over the place, she has no control over them. Finnick has to carry her, since neither Johanna or I can. A few steps I hear a commotion, and realize that there's some type of issue. "Are you sure none of you can carry her?" Gloss asks. He's on the dirt, and there's a large gash on his cheek. He must have fallen.
We all know Johanna can't. She's maybe five feet tall, and wound topple over. I'm out of the question, pink and panting. I turn to Finnick. He shakes his head, and I notice his eyes are shining with unshed tears. "I can't. My legs aren't working." He's right. They're cramping and he's having random muscle spasms.
What happens next is so fast, I barely have time to register the turn of events. Mags hobbles over to Finnick, and kisses him on the lips. She whispers, so the cameras can't hear, "Go. Make me proud, get them out of here. Especially her." She looks at me. Mags kisses my cheek, and runs into the fog. Her body contorts in a terrible dance, and the cannon goes off.
"We need to move." Finnick says, running down the hill with Cashmere. He shows no emotion, at all. Finally, we reach a clearing, and we get to the beach. The fog stops, as if it's some reached some invisible barrier. The Gamemakers are saying: That's enough. You can live, for now. My legs buckle, and I fall in the sand. Finnick drops Cashmere unceremoniously on top of me, and I yelp out in pain. "Sorry." He mumbles. We're all laying on top of each other in the sand. "I'll watch for the rest of the night." He suggests. I want to offer to take over, but he looks like he's about to cry any second now. Mags. He needs time to mourn. I drift off into an uncomfortable sleep, in the sand, in a pile of bodies.
I wake up in the middle of the night to a horrifying nightmare where the fog rips my skin off. The blisters have been terribly itchy scabs. I see Finnick scratching wildly. "You shouldn't scratch them." I tell him. He shrugs, and rolls his eyes dramatically at me. I pretend to not notice his puffy eyes and red nose. I've never seen someone that beautiful look so raw with emotions.
When I wake up again, there's blood dried under my nails. I've been picking my skin raw in my sleep. "You know, you shouldn't scratch them." Finn tells me. I laugh, and kiss him softly, trying to act restrained. Day 2 in the arena has begun. Everyone in the world is watching what I'm experiencing in real time. I need to be focused. I just feel gross. The humid air makes me sticky with sweat that sticks my hair to my forehead and my jumpsuit to my skin. The suit got so damaged from the fog, its completely tattered up. I decide to just take it off, leaving me in a tank top, bra and underwear with the dumb water shoes. Finnick raises an eyebrow at me, amused. "I really don't mind, believe me, but why are you taking your clothes off?"
I shrug, and laugh a little. "They're ruined. It's pointless." I take the purple belt, and clip it around my waist. "Besides, we're always naked. Whats the point of getting dressed in the first place?" Most people would assume that's a reference to our sex life, but it's more of a prostitution reference. Regardless, the former is true as well. I comb my fingers through my hair, and re-braid it. The fog thinned it out considerably. Fantastic. Now I'll die looking bald.
Finn nods in agreement., taking off his jumpsuit. He's shirtless, and I'm positive the camera is catching this. "Very true. See, this is what I love about you. You're beautiful and funny, but you're also really smart." I can just picture the audience going awwww. I kiss him again, because it's just so cute and I don't even know what to say in response that would explain how I feel for him.
"Oh, come on you two." Johanna rolls her eyes, sitting behind us. She must have just woken up. Her scabs look worse than ours, and the left side of her face must have some type of damage on her nerves, since it's drooping. "Making out naked on mandatory viewing? That's classy, isn't it."
"If you were dating me, you'd do the exact same thing. Don't deny it." Finnick assumes cockily. "But seriously, the jumpsuits are shit, and they don't do anything. And being mostly naked will probably get more sponsors. Especially when you look like this." He points to his well-defined abs. Before I won my Games and I heard Finnick make remarks like this, I would think that he was an arrogant jerk. But now I know he says these kinds of things to keep up the identity the Capitol gave him and to keep his family safe. Even though he is very good looking. Finnick Odair is nothing short of beautiful.
"Oh. So it's that kind of party." Gloss stands up and whips off his shirt and pants. I can't help myself from giggling a little. Get your shit together, Katniss. You're an eighteen year old prostitute, nudity shouldn't make you blush, I tell myself.
"I'm gonna go for a swim. I'm really sweaty." I tell everyone.
"Then stop having sex on world-wide broadcasted television." Cashmere teases. "Wait up. I'll come with you." I try to stand up, but my legs aren't working, like how Johanna's face is drooping. Cashmere is able to walk, but her arms seem to be temporarily paralyzed or something. I crawl down the beach. The foam from the wave comes up the beach, and goes over my scabbed hand. I scream from the pain. "Rubbing salt in a wound?" Cashmere asks.
I nod. "Yeah. But it's alright. I think the water opens up the blisters. Every new blister releases some translucent white liquid in the ocean. The pain is almost too much to handle, but it feels a lot better. Cashmere and I go in a few inches at a time, and we manage to cleanse our bodies. I feel revitalized and a lot cleaner. The scabs rub off, and reveal new pink skin underneath. I'm able to walk out of the water, and Cashmere can't stop swinging her arms. We run back to our camp.
"Hey Finnick! We found a way to make you pretty again." I tell him.
"Thank God." Finn drawls. "I've never been not attractive before. The sensation is completely new to me." He turns to Johanna and asks, "How have you managed all these years?"
"Just don't look in the mirror, you'll forget about it." She advises him, rolling her eyes.
"Not if I keep looking at you." He retorts jokingly. Jo sticks her tongue out at him. Everyone laughs. Cashmere and I fill up the baskets with sea water, and pour them on Finnick slowly. He grunts from the pain, but there is no white liquid that comes out of his. It's a gas, similar to the fog itself. We take care to stay away from that. When Finnick is able to stand up, he walks across the beach to the ocean/sea/whatever body of water that's in the arena.
If the water made me feel better, it completely transformed Finn. He dives in gracefully, and twists and turns like some strange sea creature. I would think that the pain would overwhelm him, but he doesn't seem to care. He does some type of flip and stays underwater for a few minutes. I run towards the sand, positive that he's drowned. He pops up right in front of my face, and I jump back a few feet. "Oh my God! Jeez, Finnick. Don't do that." I try to calm myself down. He scared the crap out of me.
"Do what?" He asks innocently, "Go underwater or come up?"
"Both. Neither. I don't know." I shrug. "Come on. Let's get water on Jo and Gloss." Cashmere and I start to slowly detoxify Gloss. Finnick stays in the water since Gloss doesn't need much help. He got the least of the fog, and only uses half a basket of water. He's fine. We watch silently as Gloss picks Johanna up, and throws her over his shoulder. She squeals. He walks her to the water, and dumps her in. "I don't think that was a good idea." I tell Cashmere. She nods, slowly.
It takes a few minutes for Johanna to resurface, and when she does, Finnick has to restrain her. She's cursing Gloss out, and it'd be funny if it wasn't so terrifying. You shouldn't get killers angry. Their response is to kill. Then again, we're all killers. So, I guess it's okay. I watch Finnick dump her in and out of the water, holding her by her feet. When he lets go of her, she flips her short hair out of her hair, and storms over to Gloss.
"You." She points a finger at him, trying to be intimidating. It doesn't really work, since he's a foot and a half taller than her. "You're very lucky you're my friend. Or all of you would be dead."
Cashmere rolls her eyes at her comment. "Oh, I'm sure we would be. You'd be the winner of this Games. Not Katniss, the underdog that the country loves. Or Finnick, the person with the largest body count. Because the Capitol obviously doesn't love him and won't sponsor him. We're all well trained killers, I think we'd all cancel each other out. Gloss, that was retarded. But don't kill him over it."
"I hate to break it," I say, "but we're all gonna die very soon. Except for one of us. Let's keep this friendly for as long as we possibly can."
Johanna shrugs. Cashmere smiles. Gloss nods. Finnick comes out of the water, and wraps his arms around my waist from behind me. "So, what's the plan for today?" He asks all of us, "Are we killing, minding our own buisness, or some combination of both?"
"Both." Cashmere suggests. "If they come here we'll kill them, no problem. But I think it's better if we don't go out of our way to kill. Especially since we know these people. It makes it a bit more inhumane."
"What, is kids fighting to the death suddenly not inhumane?" Johanna retorts. She does have a point.
Cashmere sighs. "You know what I mean. Your first games, it was a lot easier to kill since you didn't see your opponents as people with personalities, families, feelings all that stuff."
My stomach growls, and I realize I'm very hungry. I haven't eaten at all today (even though its still the morning) and I didn't eat much yesterday. Even though there have been a lot of times where I've eaten less, by body is used to the three-course meals from the Capitol, and lately, I've been eating a lot more. As if something could read my mind, we receive a silver parachute. We all stare at it for a little, before Finnick suggests, "Why doesn't Katniss open it? She died yesterday."
I open it up, and there appears to be some type of strange bread. I give it to Finn. He examines each roll carefully. "It's from District 3." He tells Johanna.
"How many?" She asks.
"Twelve. So we each get two, and we'll hold on to the leftovers." He responds, as he passes two out to everyone. The two leftovers are for the last two of us. I see a flash of blue light, and a cannon sounds. We all look around in confusion. A hovercraft picks up the body, and lifts it towards the sky. I can't tell who it is, but some how, Johanna can.
"Blight." She whispers. She shakes her head a little, and puts three fingers to her lips. After a moment, she speaks up. "I think he ran into the force field like Katniss did." I eat my bread in silence.
A few minutes later, I hear loud footsteps. Johanna, Finnick and I jump to our feet, weapons in hand. We're greeted by the two tributes from District 3, and both Johanna and Finnick drop their weapons. I guess they can be considered friends. Wiress and Beetee, Nuts and Volts. Beetee looks pale and is limping. Wiress is muttering to herself. "What happened?" Finnick asks them.
"Blight ran into the force field, and his heart stopped." Beetee mutters, adjusting his glasses. He puts his arm around Wiress. "Wiress, I don't know. She's trying to tell us something, but I can't figure it out." Wiress is singing some children's song about mice and clocks, and keeps saying tick, tock over and over again.
"Looks like Nuts has gone nuts." Johanna says under her breath. Cashmere shoots her a look. I look at Beetee. There's a large gash in his back. "He got a knife in the back at the Cornucopia." Johanna explains.
"I'll help clean you up." I tell Beetee. If Finnick and Johanna trust him, I guess I should show him that I'm an ally. Even if any alliance that we formed would have to be very temporary. I slowly peel off his wetsuit, and clean him off in the water. I have to get him completely to do this, and it bothers me a bit less than usual. I wrap a ton of that moss thats everywhere around his torso, and help him put his jumpsuit back on. I notice that there's some type of wire around his ankle. "What is that?" I ask him.
"Well, it's a wire. But it's no ordinary wire." Beetee explains, handing it to me. It's very fine, and must be enormously long. I cock my head at him, confused. "Well, I know all this because I invented it." Something here doesn't add up. Are the Gamemakers even allowed to put that in? I guess they are. It constitutes as a weapon, and more weapons makes a better show. Beetee goes to eat one of our extra rolls. I take the bloody wire, unwrap it, and give it to Wiress. She washes it, and I try to talk to her.
"Tick tock." Wiress tells me. Her tone is urgent. I nod, pretending to know what she means. There's another flash of light, and lightning hits the same tree that was struck by lighting at the same time yesterday, and around midnight. From where the sun is in the sky, it looks to be around noon. That's a twelve hour difference. Twelve. There's twelve districts, twelve spokes in the arena, twelve hours. Tick, tock. Tick tock. I think of Plutarch Heavensbee, the Head Gamemaker, and his mockingjay watch.
"Tick tock. The arena is a clock." I mutter. It's a clock! Wiress smiles at me, and gives me a hug. That's what she was trying to tell me. I run on to the beach, and over to everyone. "You guys! You guys! I figured it out! The arena – it's a clock. That's what the tick tock thing means, and that's why the tree is struck by lightning every twelve hours." Every section has a different lethal thing, every hour brings a new terror. This is a relief to find out, but it scares me. They probably did this because they knew that there would be more hesitation to kill this year.
"That makes sense now." Gloss muses. "Oh shit-" He stands up. I look in the water, and it's bright red. Brutus has cut a red smile on Wiress' throat. Her body is floating in the water. I pat the spile in my belt to make sure it's still there, load a bow, and shoot. He jumps into the water, and I hit the back of his calf. "Let me." He says, taking a spear. I shadow Gloss.
I see the hovercraft materialize to take Wiress, and I swim to reach her, leaving my bow and sheath of arrows on the sand. It takes a while, but I get out to her just in time. Her death grip on the wire is so strong, I literally have to pry it out of her hands. I manage to do so, and swim back to shore. When I get there, I see that both Brutus and Cashmere are lying lifeless, and Gloss is just holding onto Cashmere. I make a choking noise, but I have to hold whatever I feel for later. There's a time to mourn, but that's not right now.
As soon as I drop the wire, I feel a pair of hands wrap around my waist. I look down at the hands, expecting them to be Finnick's. They're not. I turn around, and see Enobaria's dark eyes staring at mine. She pushes me to the ground, and places her knees on either side of me, so she's kneeling over me. She covers my mouth with her hand, so I can't scream. "Katniss Everdeen." She croons. "Sweet Katniss from poor District 12. Volunteers for her sister, oh, what a heroine. Suddenly, everyone loves her, and she's snagged Finnick Odair as her arm candy. Sweetie, he's just using you for the fame. He's gonna break your heart like he broke mine. But I'm not gonna let that happen. Wanna know why? Cause I'm gonna kill you, right here and-"
"Get the fuck off her!" Finnick picks Enobaria up off me. "Jesus, I forgot how psychotic you are." He turns to me. "Are you alright?" I nod.
"Don't touch her. I call dibs." Johanna says. Finnick drops her by Johanna's feet and helps me up. I shake the sand of me, and watch Johanna. She's on top of Enobaria, her knee on Enobaria's chest. "You have no idea how much I hate you. You don't even know. It sucks you're not gonna find out." She takes the axe from beside Enobaria's body. "You know what? Maybe I'll show you." Johanna doesn't just give her a death blow to the head or chest. She basically cuts her into pieces, from her feet up. Gloss has to pull Johanna off Enobaria so the hovercraft gets off her. The sight is extremely disturbing, to say the least. I think I'm gonna have nightmares about that. My meal from earlier makes a reappearance in the ocean.
I think at this point we all see how lethal Johanna is. It honestly terrifies me. She sits down next to me, her hands still red with Enobaria's blood. She washes her hands in the basket we use to drink water. I think I hear Gloss gag, but it's a sob. Whatever I'm feeling for Cashemere, it's a lot worse for her. Johanna puts her now clean hands around Cashmere's shoulder. Beetee says nothing, and looks at his feet. "I'm gonna get some more water, since we don't have a lot left. It's gonna be very easy to get dehydrated here." I tell everyone. Finnick joins me. We bring the spile and four baskets. Finnick has his trident, I have my bow and a sheath of arrows. As we walk to a section a few hundred yards away, I ask him, "What was Enobaria talking about, with you breaking her heart?"
Finn sighs, and runs his hand through his hair. "That was maybe eight or nine years ago. I hooked up with her a few times, and she thought it was love or something. I didn't. I started going out with Jo, she got jealous, and made it a huge deal. I never really could stand her."
For some reason, that makes me feel a little better than if they dated and somehow, her heart was broken. "Let's split up to look for a good tree, but stay close." I tell Finnick. We walk into some section of the jungle, and hope for the best. I only get a few feet into the section when I hear a very familiar scream.
The scream of my sister.
A/N: How was that? The order of things in the arena (the fog, figuring out the arena is a clock, the jabberjays) might be out of order, I can't find my Catching Fire to reference. I'm sad I had to kill Cashmere. I liked her a lot, but I needed to kill her off for the sake of the storyline. Don't hate me ):
I appreciate all the reviews I've been getting, it really keeps me going. Review if you liked it, if you hated it, whatever.