My feet move before my mind can stop me, and I'm running mindlessly towards the source of Prim's screams. How is that even possible? There's no way that Prim is here. But somehow, she's shrieking. It's terrifying, and sounds like how she screamed when I volunteered. "Prim! Prim!" I call out, trying to reach her. It's not that smart – anybody could hear me and find me, but my enemies are the least of my concerns. I need to protect my sister. Five minutes later, I find the sound, it's coming from above me.
I look up at the tree where her screams are coming from, and Prim's not there. Instead, there's a black bird. It looks familiar, but I can't place it. It must be a jabberjay. I've never seen one, they're practically extinct, but I try to combine it's appearance with that of a mockingbird, and it looks like a mockingjay. I release a bow and shoot it out of the tree. I take the arrow out of it's skull, and kick it under a bush. No amount of starvation would ever make me eat that.
I hear footsteps behind me, and I turn around, arrow positioned to shoot. It's not an enemy though, it's Finnick. He's covered in sweat. "What the hell was that?" He asks me. "That sounded like your sister- oh my god." He gives me a tight hug. I can't stop shaking. I hear another bird starting up in the distance. This time, it's not Prim. It's someone else. I've never seen Finnick jump up that quick, and just run. I follow him, but I'm not sure who's voice that is. I listen while I chase after him. It's Annie Cresta's screams.
"Annie! Annie!" He screams. I shoot down the bird, and it lands by his feet. He picks it up, and turns to me. "What is this?"
"It's a jabberjay. It sounds like them, but it's not real." I explain.
Finnick's face pales. "Jabberjays repeat sounds or phrases they've heard." I let what he's saying sink in. Somewhere, Prim made those noises. I imagine her strapped to a table, and some Capitol person making her emit those noises. He bites his lip, looking pained. I must look the same.
"This is exactly what they said they wouldn't do. We played by their rules, and they said they wouldn't touch our families." I say, on the verge of hysteria. What did we do to make this happen?"
"It isn't us – it's everyone. This is another hour in the arena, they got them from the family of every tribute who's still alive." In the distance, another bird starts up. It must be someone Finnick knows. We just sit on the jungle floor, our heads in our hands. I cover my ears so hard, trying to squish my head. I give up trying to shoot the birds, it's a waste of arrows. The list of screams seems never ending: one more of Finnick's loved ones, followed by my mother, Madge, Hazelle and the kids (not Gale though), and Haymitch. "Haymitch?" Finnick asks, surprised.
"I wasn't expecting that either." I mutter. Eventually, he helps me up when the birds seem to stop. We walk towards the edge of the section, and see Johanna, Gloss and Beetee standing there, waiting. Why didn't they help us? I see Gloss moving his lips, but I can't hear him. I put my hand out in front of me, and there's some type of barrier. That's why. Johanna's axe can't make a scratch in it.
The birds start up again, and they're all people Finnick know. I hold him, trying to calm him and myself down. After what feels like a lifetime, I feel Johanna helping me up. "You heard that, right?" Finnick asks them. She nods.
"It's not real." Johanna sighs, rolling her eyes. She has no patience for anyone. "They didn't kill your family. There's ten of us left. What happens when you get to the final eight?"
I can tell she's trying to help, so I try to think. Finally, I get what she's meaning. "They interview your family and friends back home."
"Exactly. So they're not dead. Besides, all of Panem's in love with your little sister. They'd overthrow the government or something if they killed her." She explains, rolling her eyes as if it's the most obvious thing. She tilts her head to the sky and yells, "Whole country in rebellion? We wouldn't want anything like that!"
My eyes widen. You don't say those types of things, you just don't. And here she is, screaming them on world-wide viewed television. That takes guts. But then again, she has nothing to lose.
"Then how did they get those sounds out of them?" Finn asks.
It's Beetee who answers this time. "It's quite possible that the Gamemakers warped their voices from an interview to make them sound like screams. It's a very simple technique. We teach school-aged children something similar back in District 3."
"Let's get the hell out of here." Gloss says, not that anyone actually wants to stay here. Before we walk away, I hug him tightly and kiss his cheek. It's not a romantic thing, I just feel the need to comfort him. He sniffs and smiles warmly at me. As we walk, I hold onto Finnick's hand tightly. Johanna wraps her arm around Gloss' back.
"You okay?" He asks me. It's a dumb question. Cashmere died. We were terrorized by our loved ones' screams. I raise an eyebrow at him, as if to say really? You think I'm possibly okay?
"I don't want to let go of you, until the day I die." I tell him. Finnick swoops down and kisses me. I then start tearing up a little. We have what, a few days until one of us (or both) is dead. It terrifies me, and I don't know what to do. I don't want to think about it at all, but that's foolish. We walk to a new section on the beach where Johanna, Beetee and Gloss have made a new camp before coming to get us. I flop down on the sand. I look around and realize that we're all in our underclothes, minus Beetee. My shirt is covered in sand, dirt and sweat. I'll wash it in the ocean, and hang it to dry on a tree. But later. I don't want to get up, I'm exhausted. Finnick sits down next to me and calls everyone over. He takes a stick and draws a lopsided circle in the sand and splits it into three, six, twelve sections. He labels them like a clock.
"Here," he says, writing lightning in the twelve-to-one section "is midnight and noon. The lightning hits the tree. Beetee, you said to me that one o'clock is the blood rain. Two is-"
"Some type of fog." Beetee cuts him off. "I saw you all running away from it maybe half an hour to forty-five minutes after we got out of the blood-rain section." Finnick writes fog in the section.
"Three is the monkeys." Gloss adds. "After the fog I couldn't sleep, so I walked into the section next door. I recognized the mutts from a previous games, and walked straight out. They're deadly."
"Okay. It looks like five thirty or so from the sky, so the jabberjays are four o'clock." Johanna says. Finnick writes down monkey and jabberjays in the next two sections. "Does anyone know anything else?"
Finnick writes down wave and insects at the ten-to-eleven and eleven-to-twelve sections, respectively. "There's a large wave around ten, and some weird clicking noise from eleven to twelve. Does anyone have anything else?" He asks. Almost as soon as he says it, the earth begins to shake. I don't know what's going on, but the beach is moving. I have nothing to grasp onto, except for Finnick's arm. I have lost my grip on the world, both literally and in a metaphorical sense. When we stop spinning, I'm so disoriented I throw up again. Finnick cringes, and I hear Gloss and Johanna whispering about something. Gloss stands up. "I'm gonna get water." He has a knife and a basket. I hand him the spile I (luckily) had attached to my belt. Johanna has one axe, and Finnick one trident. I have my bow and one sheath of arrows left.
"The arena's still the same. They just rotated the center, so we don't know which way twelve o'clock is." Beetee says. Gamemaker interception. It's because we knew about the arena. He turns to me. "Katniss, are you alright? You seem ill."
"I'm not a doctor, but she's been throwing up a lot." Finnick runs a hand through his hair. He sounds concerned.
"Guys, drop it. Whatever it is, it's not deadly or anything. And if Katniss makes it out of the arena, the Capitol doctors will fix her right up." Johanna concludes. She doesn't say and if she doesn't make it out, we don't have to worry about it, but it's what we're all thinking. I see a hovercraft drop down a few sections away and pick up chunks of body parts. I frown. Whatever's in that section isn't good. Gloss comes back and I sip water. My stomach still feels a bit off. I hear a commotion by the Cornucopia. Someone is being brutally stabbed. I recognize the killer. Gale. I'm not sure who's being killed though. Finnick hisses through his teeth, and I squeeze his hand. Gale steps away from the body, and walks towards us. I jump to my feet, arrow in place and ready to strike.
"Oh wow. You just love walking around naked, don't you Katniss? You've really turned into the slut. Then again, look at who you keep company with. Four sluts and a nerd?" He scoffs. I drop my bow and close the gap between us.
I take the collar of his jump suit, and grasp it so I'm fisting the fabric by his throat. "Listen to me, Gale Hawthorne. I am many things, but I am not a slut. You're just a jealous asshole. Please don't make me kill you."
I hear Johanna and Finnick say "Dibs." at the same time.
Gale drops his bloody knife and puts his hands up in the air dramatically. "I'm not here to be violent with you guys. I won't kill any of you in the near future. I actually came to see how you were feeling Katniss. You've been unwell these past few months, hasn't she, Johanna?"
"What does he mean?" Finnick asks, taking the words out of my mouth.
"How the fuck should I know?" She shrugs.
"Don't play dumb." Gale yells. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. We'll all find out very soon. The whole world will find out." He picks up the knife and turns to leave. "Or maybe we won't".
"You're friends with him?" Beetee asks, in disbelief.
"No. We haven't been friends since I won my Games." I clarify. Beetee seems relieved. I turn to Johanna. "What do you know? Please, tell me. Please." I beg.
She shakes her head at me. "Jo?" Finnick asks, barely above a whisper.
"No. No." Johanna mutters, her breaths becoming shaky and losing their rhythmic pattern. She puts her head between her knees. There is something serious going on, and it's really unnerving me. "I can't tell you. I thought I knew, but I don't. Cash was going to tell me, but that never happened." It probably was a bit too soon for that reference, but even though her and Cashmere were friends, Johanna doesn't care about that crap.
"Don't lie to me." Finnick hisses. "Johanna, don't fucking lie to me." I'm taken aback. He's never been this hostile to anyone, especially his best friend.
I need to cut into this. "Stop! Stop, stop, stop. Why does everything have to be about me all the time? Just cut it out. If there was something going on with me, I think I would know. And Finn, I would tell you first. Just stop." That seems to shut them up. I look over and realize Gale is still standing a few yards away, an amused expression on his face. I yell towards him. "What do you think you're still doing here."
"Waiting for the bombshell to drop." Gale states simply as if he was talking about the weather or some other mundane topic.
"There is no bombshell, sorry." I call, wanting him to leave.
"Yes there is, Katniss. Just think about it. You know." He insists. I don't move. "Need me to spell it out for you?"
"Yes, I do, actually. Please, Gale. Tell me. What is this mysterious possible thing that you would know about me that I wouldn't-" I trail off. There is one thing. One possible thing. No. I think back to the day in the training center flats. I was too scared to look at that pregnancy test. Gale told me I wasn't pregnant. He could have easily lied. I could easily be pregnant right now. There could be a fetus growing inside me right now. The missed periods, the nausea and sickness, the aching body pains. That would put me at four, almost five months pregnant.
He raises an eyebrow and smirks.
I am going to kill him.
I lunge forward and tackle Gale, hitting and scratching. I don't have a weapon, but I do have my fingernails. Those can cause a lot of damage. I'm screaming and I really, really want to kill him. So much. "You fucking lied to me, Gale! I trusted you and you lied."
Gale pushes me off him. I cough up sand. "I didn't lie, I just told you what you wanted to hear."
"You should have just not said anything. That's all I wanted. You ruined my life." Both Gloss and Finnick have to pull me off him.
"What the fuck is going on?" Finnick asks. He's angry now, but just shakes his head. "Forget it. You weren't gonna tell me anyways." He stands up, and pats Gale's back. But he hits Gale in the jaw, and pushes him away. "Now get the fuck out of here, before I regret letting you go alive."
"Enough of this bullshit." Gloss shakes his head. I sit back down, and sip some water. I take some deep breaths. Gale is just messing with you. He's an asshole, that's what he does. You're not pregnant. You'd know if you were pregnant. Chill out.
I don't notice that Johanna has sat down next to me until she starts talking. "Are you alright?" I'm kind of mad at her, since I think Gale told her and Cashmere that I was pregnant. Regardless, she's trying to help, so I try to be kind about it.
"Yeah. Gale's just an asshole. Ugh, I really hate him." I shrug. I don't want to talk about him.
"He's pretty cute." She shrugs. I tug on the hemline of my shirt, remembering when he kissed me and how even though I didn't initiate the kiss, or reciprocate it, I didn't mind that he kissed me, and that's terrible. If I had any feelings for him, they went unnoticed by myself, and I obviously don't feel anything for him.
"You went from Finnick to Gale of all people?"
"Finn's out of my league. You're in his though. You're really fucking pretty, but very hard to hate. I don't like it. You have that whole starving hunter from 12 and no parents and taking care of the family act, except it's not an act."
I stand up, since I got a fantastic idea. "C'mon," I tell Jo, bringing her over to where Beetee, Gloss and Finnick are talking about something. I start a small fire, and boil some water, and use some leaves I've recognized from my mother's apothecary book to make tea. "We're gonna do something fun. I don't care if we're in a fight to the death, I want to have my last memories be good ones."
"Hey, Natalie." Johanna yells. "Can I get a pack of cigs or something? I haven't smoked in god-knows how long. Like a year. Just take it out of Finnick's fund. Or send me your own." Finnick shoots her a look and shakes his head. She just shakes her shrugs. "What? I'm not asking for a bottle of vodka or anything. I just wanna light up."
A few minutes later, two parachutes show up. Johanna grabs one, and opens it like an excited small child getting sweets. She takes a cigarette out, and lights it. She takes a pull and blows the smoke out in my face. I cough loudly, and Gloss guffaws. Beetee fidgets around, looking uncomfortable. I lay my head in Finnick's lap, and let him play with my recently very fine hair. Johanna gives Gloss one of her cigarettes. "Why do you guys smoke?" I ask them. It's not confrontational, I'm just curious.
It's Finnick who answers me. "Why do people drink or use morphling? It's an escape. Capitol people also think it's glamorous, but they use it for their reasons." I shrug. He makes a good point. I notice that Beetee has opened the second parachute.
"It's bread from District Three," he tells us. "There's twenty-four rolls, and only five of us. We all can have four for dinner." And after one of us dies, we can split them up evenly, we all think. Nobody says it out loud, not even Johanna. But it's on all of our minds, everyone can tell. What else would we be thinking about? We are in the Hunger Games of all places. Yet this time, it doesn't feel real. I don't think it's hit me yet that in a few days, there will only be one of us left.
We munch on our bread, and some fish I didn't even notice that Finnick apparently caught earlier. The sun is setting, and its chilly without the hot light beating down on me. I wrap my arms arms around my legs, and try to keep myself warm. Finnick scoots over and wraps his arm around me. I lay my head on his knees. The sunset is beautiful, but this marks the end of Day 2. The anthem plays. Johanna squeezes my hand so hard I think it might loose circulation.
The faces flash by. It feels so much more personal, now that I know them. Cashmere. Brutus. Enobaria. Wiress. Mags. The female morphling, from 6. Blight. Woof. They're all dead. Two thirds of the tributes gone in two days. That has to be some type of record. At this rate, there will be a winner by tomorrow. Who's left? I do a headcount. Gloss, Finnick, myself, Beetee and Johanna. I saw Gale, he's alive. There's one more. The man from 9. I don't know who he is. It's probably good that I don't. He's our last target. Then, what? I can't kill any of the people left. Hopefully, I'll die from some jungle illness, and Finnick can go home.
"What do we do tomorrow?" I ask Finnick, my whispers concealed by my hair, so only he can hear. "Our alliance has five people. There's seven left. This would be a good time to call it off, but I wouldn't be able to bear doing so. I love all of you guys, I'm at a standstill. What will we do? What can we do?"
"Nothing. We can't do anything, so we won't do anything." He tells me, quietly. He kisses my forehead, but I notice he's yawning. It's getting late I guess. Even though it's only eight or nine at night, it's been such a long day. As if on cue, Finnick says. "You should go to bed. I'll watch." He turns to me, "Go to sleep. You need your rest."
I hear Gloss, Johanna and Beetee retreat to our camp a few yards away in the forest, but I don't move from the beach. "No way. I'm not leaving your side." I insist, even though I probably sound ridiculously stubborn.
Finnick shrugs. "Actually, I think I'd prefer having you right here." He puts his arm around me, and I curl up into his muscular chest. After a minute he sighs. "Look, Katniss. We both know what the other is trying to do here. I know you want me to come out alive, but I don't think I can let that happen. You're still so young, you deserve the chance to live the rest of your life."
I shake my head. "No. It wouldn't be living without you there. I'll spend my days drunk and alone, like Haymitch. And I won't have any friends left either. Cashmere – she's gone. If I come out, than Johanna, Gloss and you will all be gone as well. Besides, you know what'll become a lot worse if I'm single."
"What makes you think I'd enjoy that any more?" He asks. "I'll be just as alone. I don't think I can fathom life without you."
"You'll be fine, Finnick. You'll move on. You have your sister and your dad and Annie. You have Annie, okay? Don't tell me you don't love her."
"I love her, but in a different way. I love her like a kid sister, or like a best friend. I love you, in the sense that I want to be with you forever. And my definition of forever is more than two or three days."
"Then what do you want to do?" I ask him. We're at a standstill. I get an idea, not letting him answer.
"Let's take our minds off this. Whatever happens, I want to die happy."
I push Finnick onto his back, and kiss him in the sand. He wraps his arms around me, and I let his fingers tangle my hair. This is kiss is different. It's probably more passionate than all of the other times we've kissed before. Maybe it's because we only have a limited number of kisses, touches, hand-holds left. I don't pull away from his lips until we're both gasping for breath. I bite his lip playfully, and he growls, switching our positions. His sea green eyes have turned completely black with what must be lust. "You've been holding out on me." I accuse him, in between kisses.
Finnick props himself up on one shoulder. "Nope." He says, smiling. He so has.
"I'm not some fragile doll. You can be a little rough with me." I tell him.
"So you wanna be rough?" Finnick asks, wiggling his eyebrows. I roll my eyes, and pull him back down, which is actually kind of difficult, since he's shirtless. I fist the hair on the back of his neck, and he sucks on my pulse point, biting lightly. My heart is beating a mile a minute. I try not to gasp from how amazing it feels. I lift my head up a little, connecting our lips again. I'll never get sick of this.
"I love you." I whisper, my lips on his ear. He's laying on top of me, my legs are wrapped around his waist. We're in our underwear, and this is on publicly broadcasted television. Probably not the best idea, but I don't really care.
"I love you more." Finnick insists, kissing me again.
"Oh come on you two." Someone says. Finnick rolls off me and sits up. I look up, adjusting my tank top which has been pulled down and my bra is completely out. Finnick mutters something that sounds like cockblock. "I'm up. One of you can go to bed. Or both of you."
"You have terrible timing." Finnick sighs, adjusting his shorts, to make the outline of his erm, arousal less noticeable. I giggle a little, and kiss him.
"What? I couldn't let you be the first person to get laid in the Hunger Games." Gloss shrugs, as if thats what everyone would do. Finnick punches him in the shoulder, and Gloss yelps. "Hey Katniss? Why don't you go help Finnick over here out with his problem, so he doesn't kill me." I can't help but grin. I'm spending my last days with probably the best friends I could ever had.
A/N: How was that? I know a lot of you are upset I killed off Cashmere, but if you continued, I really appreciate it! :)
Review if you liked it!
I'll update Trident later today.