"Why do we need to move?" snaps Johanna.
"Tick, tock," starts Katniss before being cut off.
"God! Not you too!" she only just stops short of planting her axe in Katniss' face.
"Nooo," Katniss sighs in agitation. "It's a clock."
"What?" asks Finnick.
"The arena," she gestures around them. "It's a clock."
"Midnight," says Finnick remembering the last time lightning hit the tree.
"It starts at midnight," she nods in assent. The group comes to terms on the truth, and tries to determine where things are in relation to time and placement.
Johanna is so volatile that she finally snaps at Katniss, "I don't care if you are knocked up, I'll rip your throat out." Peeta steps defensively in front of Katniss and puts a cautionary arm out to his side. "So what is it you want to do anyway, with this new fangled information?"
"I'd like to go to the Cornucopia and watch. Just to make sure we're right about the clock," says Finnick. Seeming like a good plan they all make their way to the Cornucopia.
At the Cornucopia Wiress continues to sing the song about the mouse and a clock, making note of what spokes they already have experienced and what they know them to be. "The tail points to twelve o'clock," observes Katniss.
"Right, so this is the top of our clock," states Peeta as he takes a leaf and creates a diagram and visual representation of the arena, to better help them know when to move and how they need to be wary of sleeping and moving and living.
Then suddenly Wiress stops singing.
Katniss doesn't have to think, she spins and finds Gloss dropping Wiress into the water, her throat split open in a bright red smile. Katniss sends and arrow right into Gloss' temple and he falls over. Johanna buries her axe in Cashmere's chest. Boom! Boom! Boom! The group takes off after Brutus and Enobaria but then something happens. They are all knocked to the ground as the Cornucopia starts to spin, faster, faster, faster.
When it finally comes to a lurching halt, Peeta wearily gets to his feet and staggers over to Katniss. "Are you okay?" he pats her back gently. "Do you want to stand up or lay down?" and just as the words escape his mouth she vomits onto the ground in front of her. "Lay down it is!" he exclaims kneeling beside her and stroking her back.
"I'm okay," she mutters. "I'm fine. Just," she waves her arm up around her, "help me sit up." He does and she vomits yet again. Wiping her mouth on his underclothes she quips, "thanks," as tears stream down her face.
"Oh, no!" shouts Johanna. "None of that! No crying! I hate crying!" she walks over to and forcibly yanks Katniss to her feet. "Get up!"
Peeta catches her as she wobbles to the side. "Gee, thanks," he glares at her.
"She's pregnant," shrugs Johanna. "So what?"
"So be careful," hisses Peeta.
"Oh she's fine," Johanna thumps Katniss on the back. "See? She's good."
Peeta shakes his head and it's only now that Katniss realizes that everyone else is alone now, separated from their District partners, and rushes forward and throws her arms around Peeta's neck and bursts into tears.
Moments later they make a startling revelation, they don't know where they're facing anymore. "So how do we know which spokes are safe now?" asks Finnick. "Is there any real way to tell?"
"Yeah, I'd rather not sit and wait to find out," snaps Johanna. "But I don't want to be out in the open like this anymore either. I say we just head back towards one of the spokes, but we don't do anything or get too close. Just far enough away from here, and not too close to there."
"That may be our only option at this moment," says Beetee.
"Let's just get off the bloody island," grumbles Johanna shoving past Katniss.
Finally deciding on a spoke they all take a seat on the beach, some facing the water, other's facing the jungle. Katniss sits beside Peeta, his arm protectively around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry about this, Katniss."
"Sorry about what?" she looks up into his blue eyes. "What do you have to be sorry about?"
"I'm doing a lousy job at protecting you," he sighs and drops his head. "I died. That's the least helpful thing I've done since we got in her."
"It's not like you tried to die," says Katniss with a eye roll. "I trust that you wouldn't do that to me. Even if you have this insane belief that you need to keep me alive."
"You're going home, Katniss," he tells her resolutely. "There is no other option."
"Peeta," she shakes her head. "You can't promise that. You can't promise anything in the arena, there's nothing that's a fact, nothing assured...no exclusive kind of promise that could without a doubt be kept. There are still other factors here and you can't-" he cuts her off.
"Katniss," he kisses her forehead. "We're not going to talk like that anymore, you hear me?" and his eyes are harsh, so harsh and sincere that the only thing she can do is nod and nuzzle her head into the crook of his arm.
"Well," says Peeta to the group. "It must be monkey hour, and since I don't see any of them, I'm going to go tap a tree."
"No, it's my turn," says Finnick.
"I'll at least watch your back," he gets to his feet and pulls Katniss up after.
"Katniss can do that," says Johanna flatly. "We need you to make another map since the other one washed away." Peeta protests a little before Finnick assures him that he's got Katniss' back as long as she has his and they take off into the jungle together. They find a decent tree and Finnick makes a hole. Just as she's trying to figure out what is going on with the tributes, why all of them seem to be putting Peeta's lives ahead of their own, and nothing is helping, it doesn't make any sense to her. That was her job, so why was everyone else doing it too?
"Katniss, you got the spile?" Finnick asks extending his hand to her, and that's when she hears the scream.
Forgetting herself, where she was, and her condition she takes off running in the direction of the scream. To save and protect the one screaming. The scream of her sister, so unmistakeable. "Prim!" she screams and nearly falls over. Uneasily getting to her feet she calls out again, "Prim!" But that's when she notices where the scream is coming from. Out of breath, and angry, she shoots an arrow right into the jabberjay flying overhead.
Finnick comes crashing into the clearing to find her cleaning the arrow. "Katniss?"
"It's okay. I'm okay, we're okay," she says, though there is no feeling okay to accompany it. "I thought I heard my sister but -" another shriek cuts her off. Not Prim's. Another young woman's. She doesn't recognize it, but the reaction from Finnick is instantaneous. All color vanishes from his face and his pupils dilate in fear. "Finnick, wait!" she reaches for him just as he bolts away from her. "Finnick!"
But before she can stop him he runs to the direction of the scream, "Annie! Annie!" Katniss is able to track him, which is especially good since he is moving so quickly, and most of it is uphill. Once she finally reaches him she is out of breath. Bending forward she apologizes profusely to her unborn child before shooting an arrow up through the jabberjay that has arrested Finnick in a sort of panic.
"It's all right, Finnick. It's just a jabberjay. They're playing a trick on us," she tells him. "It's not real. It's not your . . . Annie."
"No, it's not Annie. But the voice was hers. Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get the screams, Katniss?" he says.
The realization hits her, "Oh, Finnick, you don't think they . . ."
"Yes, I do. That's exactly what I think," he says.
Then another voice screams. Madge.
"No." Finnick catches her arm before she can run again. "It's not her." He starts to carefully pull her back down towards the beach. "We're getting out of here!" He half carries, half drags her closer and closer to the beach till she is able to function somewhat on her own.
Then in the distance they can see Peeta, Johanna, and Beetee standing still. Katniss goes through a range of emotions, all of which not kind, when she notices Peeta's hands are raised in front of him. It's then that her and Finnick run into the invisible barrier separating her and Finnick from the others. Her shoulder having taken most of the force is tossed back onto the ground. Crawling back to the barrier she places her hand opposite Peeta's and stares into his face. He's speaking but she can't hear him.
Peeta is helpless as he stares at Katniss through the barrier. There's nothing for him to do but stay where he is, and hope that he can help her on the other end, after the hour is over. But watching her from the other side is so hard on him that he starts to slam his other hand against the barrier and shout, "It's not real! They're just mutts! It's not real!" And that's when he sees their approach.
One by one the infernal things land on branch after branch surrounding Katniss and Finnick. Finnick gives up quickly and curls into a ball. The group is forced to watch helplessly for who knows how long as the two on the other side are reduced to curled up balls with their hands over their ears to block out the screams emanating from the birds.
When it finally stops Peeta rushes to her side, the rest of the group behind him. Johanna checking on Finnick. Katniss is in such a tight ball that Peeta doesn't even try to get her to come out of her cocoon just yet, and instead, carries her from the jungle in his arms, back to the safety of the beach. Peeta takes a seat and rocks Katniss back and forth in his arms until slowly starts to relax.
"It's all right, Katniss," he whispers.
"You didn't hear them," she says.
"I heard Prim. Right in the beginning. But it wasn't her," he says. "It was a jabberjay."
"It was her. Somewhere. The jabberjays just recorded it."
Peeta continues to rock her. "No, that's what they want you to think. The same way I wondered if Glimmer's eyes were in that mutt last year. But those weren't Glimmer's eyes. And that wasn't Prim's voice. Or if it was, they took it from an interview or something and distorted the sound. Made it say whatever she was saying."
"No, they were torturing her," her voice so low Peeta feels more helpless than before. "She's probably dead."
"Katniss, Prim isn't dead. How could they kill Prim? We're almost down to the final eight of us. And what happens then?" he asks her softly.
"Seven more of us die," she says hopelessly.
"No, back home." His arms tighten protectively around her. "What happens when they reach the final eight tributes in the Games?" he lifts her chin up so that she is forced to meet his eyes. "What happens? At the final eight?"
"At the final eight?" she repeats. "They interview your family and friends back home."
"That's right," he says. "They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they've killed them all?"
"No?" she asks, still unsure.
"No. That's how we know Prim's alive. She'll be the first one they interview, won't she?" he says encouragingly. But when it's apparent she's still not completely following, he continues, "First Prim. Then your mother. Your cousin, Gale. Madge. It was a trick, Katniss. A horrible one. But we're the only ones who can be hurt by it. We're the ones in the Games. Not them."
"You really believe that?"
"I really so," he says continuing to rock her.
"Do you believe it, Finnick?" she asks around Peeta.
"It could be true. I don't know. Could they do that Beetee? Take someone's regular voice and make it …"
"Oh, yes. It's not even that difficult, Finnick. Our children learn a similar technique in school," says Beetee.
"Of course Peeta's right," snaps Johanna, annoyed with the lot of them. "The whole country adores Katniss's little sister. If they did anything to her, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands." She throws her head back and yells into the air directly above the group, "How does that sound Snow? What if we - what if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can't put everybody in here!" The group stares at her in disbelief. "I'll get you some water."
Katniss reaches out and stops her hand, "Don't go in there. The birds-"
"I'm not worried. They can't hurt me anymore. I'm not like the rest of you. There' no one left that I love," says Johanna walking straight into the jungle.
Katniss is still too shaken to move and begins to subconsciously rub her belly. Too frightened to move. Too anxious to leave the safety of Peeta's arms. "Who's Annie?" she asks when Johanna reappears.
"Annie Cresta," she huffs. "The girl Mags volunteered for. She won about four - five years ago."
"I don't remember those Games much," says Katniss.
"It was the one with the earthquake," says Peeta. "A dam broke and flooded most of the arena. She survived because she was the best swimmer. But she lost it when she saw her district partner beheaded."
"Did she ever recover?" Katniss asks.
"I don't know," shrugs Peeta. "I can't remember seeing her at any Games after that. But she didn't look too stable at the reapings this year."
After a while of silence and Peeta finally getting Katniss to walk around some Johanna says what everyone's been ignoring. "They're really burning through us."
"Who's left? Besides us five and District Two?" asks Finnick.
"Chaff," says Peeta. Then a parachute with rolls comes to them. There are twenty-four, from District Three. After determining how many to eat Katniss and Peeta decide to take the night's first watch after they move to the ten o'clock section.
As the rest of the tributes sleep Peeta and Katniss' backs to each other watch the jungle and the Cornucopia in front of them. Leaning her head back on his shoulder she closes her eyes as she gets a solid kick in the ribs. Peeta begins to caress her hair.
"Katniss," he says softly. "It's no use pretending you don't know what's going on here."
"Why can't we pretend?" she asks. "Why can't we pretend for ten minutes that what you're thinking of saying, doesn't need to be said? Why don't we just pretend for ten minutes that it's not going to come down to you or me getting out of her, Peeta. Let's just pretend for ten minutes that everything is going to be fine."
"Katniss if something were to happen to you," he chokes out and then discovers his voice. "There would be no life for me back in District Twelve. You're my whole life. I would never be happy again. It's different for you. I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard, but you have people who'd make your life worth living. Your family needs you, Katniss."
"What about you?" she asks, her heart faltering as he answers.
"No one really needs me," he says. No self-pity, he really believes that is true.
"I do," a tear slides down her face. "I need you." And before he can object or say anything else about the matter she turns, pulls his face forward with her hands and kisses him. In a way she hadn't allowed herself to do for months now. It's not that it was solely his fault that she was pregnant, that was a decision they had made together, but she'd withheld so many kisses before this moment, so now that it was here, she hadn't the heart to withhold them anymore.
Peeta tries to pull away, to tell her that she's wrong, that she doesn't need him. That she would be fine without him, but she won't let go of his face, won't let him look away, won't allow him to keep up the argument. For this brief time no one was there to interrupt them, and no one was there to make them feel bad. There was only them, and no one else. The only thing separating them from the truth of the matter was their lips. Of course only one would be able to make it out, and they knew that, but for a time...the eventuality wasn't at the forefront of their minds. All that existed in this moment was them, together.
It's the first crack of lightning that pulls them apart. The lightning startles Finnick awake, "I can't sleep anymore. One of you should rest." And that's when he notices them, how entwined they are to each other. "Or both of you. I can watch alone."
"It's too dangerous," Peeta shakes his head. "I'm not tired. You lie down, Katniss." Peeta gets to his feet and pulls Katniss up after. In one last moment of weakness she pulls his face down to her. "Don't you die," kisses him lightly, but he pulls away and walks her to the canopy Finnick made. "Lay down, Katniss. You need to rest." She lays down in the sand, Peeta leaning down places his hand over where their baby lies tucked away from the cruelness of the world, "You're going to be a great mother, you know." Then he kisses her and walks away.
Peeta takes a seat back beside Finnick.
"I'm sorry, Peeta," says Finnick.
"Sorry about what?" he asks.
"You've been dealt a lousy hand, mate. I'm sorry about that."
"We were doomed from the start," Peeta says flatly. "This is a logical conclusion to the star-crossed lovers from District Twelve."
"No, but Peeta," Finnick shakes his head. "You weren't doomed from the start."
"Finnick," says Peeta slowly, "I'll never see my kid. That's a lot of weight to be carrying around when everywhere you look you start to notice things that you'll never get to experience."
"Well," shrugs Finnick, "you deserved better."
"Unfortunately, you're right." He stops talking and looks to Finnick intently. "I'm going to do everything I can to assure she has a future outside of this arena. No hard feelings?"
"I'd do the same thing," nods Finnick, "were I in your shoes. No hard feelings."