N/A: Hi everyone! Sorry it's taken so long. High school is intense, and my grandfather recently was put on life support so I couldn't do anything but stay in the hospital for a while. I'm sorry if I have any typos in this, but if I do, please Private Message me about it. Thank you all for your continued support! Love you all!

Chapter 16- The Strike

Annie's P.O.V

The ground is damp beneath me as I come to. My head throbs, my stomach aches, and my hair is matted down deep beneath the mud. Good morning to me.

What happened yesterday? Or was it a couple hours ago? A couple days ago? I open my eyes. I'm under a lean to shelter-obviously made by Demere- and the edges drip. It must've just rained. Sounds of metal against rock seem to make its way through my senses. The cringing sound makes my head pound even more.

I would lift my head, but I can't. In fact, I can't move my body at all. I don't have restraints on, I just can't move myself even the slightest bit. I groan at the sound and close my eyes shut, hoping the pain will go away if I submerge myself into complete darkness.

"Hey Hektor, stop sharpening your sword. I don't think she likes it," a voice booms next to me.

A snort of laughter comes from outside the shelter. "Is the sleeping beauty finally up?"

"Yeah, she just opened her eyes."

"Okay, so now what?" Hektor says.

"We wait until she heals." I recognize the voice as Demere's. He's obviously annoyed at Hektor's impatience.

"She is healed. We've been waiting two days for her to wake up. It's only time until the Careers find us and you know it."

I hear shuffling and realize that Demere's stood up from his position next to me.

"Hektor, if you want to go, then by all means leave. I'm waiting for her to gain all of her health back to do anything. Maybe, if you don't want the Careers to find us, you should stop sharpening that damn sword you found. It's like you want to give everyone a headache."

Demere don't make Hektor mad. Don't make him mad. He gets violent when he's angry.

Get up. Get up if you don't want a fight between those two boys, the voice whispers. It's faint this time, as if my unconscious state subdued the intensity of the sound.

"You give me a headache you little wimp," Hektor counters.

"Then leave," Demere says.

Somehow, strength bubbles in me. "Stop you two," I say weakly.

And, to my surprise, they do. Rushed footsteps come to my side and a calloused hand encloses around mine.

"Annie? Can you open your eyes?" Demere's voice pleads.

I do what he says, now fueled with the new energy within me. He is surprisingly close to me. All I can see is his face. He looks tired, as if he hadn't slept at all while I was out. Dark shadows are under his bloodshot eyes. He looks a bit crazy, but more concerned than anything.

"See? She's fine," Hektor says behind him.

Demere closes his eyes and sighs in frustration. I shake my head, telling him to not respond. He rolls his eyes in response. I look down and notice that it's his hand that is interlocked with mine. Blushing, Demere takes it away immediately, as if my look was of disapproval.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay," I lie.

Demere looks at me with a questioning look. "Alright, then sit up if you're okay."

I know he's challenging me. How does he see right through me like that? I try to sit up anyway. Immediately, the world starts spinning, but this time I know it's in my head. I mixture of blood and bile crawl up my throat, but I swallow it down, trying to hide the look of disgust on my face.

"Well don't pass out again," Hektor says.

"Yeah, Annie. You look as white as a ghost. Lie back down," Demere instructs.

Thankful of his instructions, I do.

"We'll have to wait until she gets better and that's that," Demere continues while turning to look at Hektor.

Hektor rolls his eyes, but nods in understanding. It's weird really- why he hasn't left the alliance. He's stronger than Demere and I and could probably be a lot more successful without us weighing him down. I would have at least expected him to kill one of us by now. It's like he's waiting for something… or somebody.

A loud crack of thunder explodes in the arena. Demere and Hektor look up to the sky.

Hektor speaks first. "It's that cloud again, with the red lightning."

"Again? You think after electrocuting three people, it would have done its job."

"Three people over the last two days?" I ask with a scratchy voice.

Hektor answers without looking at me. "Five in total, three from electrocution and two from the careers."

"How many are left?"

"Eighteen are down, so six left," Hektor answers again.

"Is Mars alive?" I ask out of curiosity.

"The boy from one? No he died. I don't know how, but he died sometime early in the Game. Why?"

"Before I ran for the woods from the cornucopia, he attacked me. I remember getting his leg with a mace or something like that. I guess it got infected."

"Why didn't you just kill him?" Hektor asks.

I swallow a lump in my throat and answer truthfully, "I couldn't."

The boys sit in silence for a couple minutes, obviously stunned by my answer. What was I supposed to say? Did I look weak? I probably did. I should just leave my mouth shut. Thank goodness Demere speaks to end the emptiness.

"Haven't we been here like two weeks or something?" Demere questions.

"Yeah, two and a half weeks."

"Well, let's get under the shelter. It seems like that's our only hope of not getting electrocuted."

Hektor nods and follows Demere inside the lean-to. Somehow, Demere made this thing big enough for all three of us.

Demere props my head up on one of his legs. The elevation is nice. The mud plastered on my head makes a mess on his pants, but I don't think he minds. Slowly, rain drops shower around us until there is a curtain of water clouding our vision.

"These clouds have been here a lot?" I ask.

"Yep- every day you were out we had four big ones," Hektor says.

"That's why it's so muddy out here," Demere adds.

I nod in understanding.

Just as I close my eyes for a much needed nap, a hair raising bolt of lightning strikes ten feet away from us. I scream in surprise, and Hektor covers my mouth immediately. The wet mud carries the charge, and buzzes all three of us. Stunned and disoriented, we all three freeze. Then, another strike farther away from us. It's passed us.

"It was so close to," Demere says.

"Why didn't it kill us?" Hektor asks.

"It was just a carried charge, but we still got hit. Is everyone okay?" Demere asks.

Hektor and I both nod.

"That was weird," I say.

"Really weird. Hey, maybe we're all dead and this is the afterlife. Now, tell me, am I still devastatingly good-looking as a ghost?" Hektor asks.

"Oh yeah, still," Demere says.

I laugh, but my sore muscles don't let me for too long. There's really not much to do right now. Between the rain and the red lightning, there isn't much threat of attack. Nobody will be out for attack right now. So, I try to start a conversation.

"So there's Lucius, the girl from Two, and all three of us," I say.

Hektor knits his eyebrows and doesn't meet my gaze. "You're missing one," he says through gritted teeth.

I look at Demere questioningly. Who did I miss?

Demere bends down to my ear and whispers a name.

Devi.

Right, our former ally. I'm pretty sure she's the one that killed Argo. I knew there was something off about her. I remember her perfectly: fire red hair and freckles, extremely short. Why did Hektor get so sensitive when I brought her up?

"Oh, uh…right. She's not coming back is she?" I ask.

"Why are you asking me?" Hektor snaps.

"You knew her better than either of us did," I say.

"No. Turns out I didn't know her at all. For the record, I didn't know she was going to kill Argo."

"So she did kill him."

"Well, yeah. I don't think he tripped and fell on the knife. Do you?" Hektor asks.

"Did she ever say anything to you?' Demere asks.

"Yeah. We had a plan to use you guys and your supplies, look like a strong alliance, then kill all of you guys towards the end. Split you up and kill you. But first, we had to gain your trust." He sighs heavily and adds, "Turns out I couldn't gain her trust."

"She was like tiny, Hektor. How could she ever kill someone?' Demere adds.

Hektor looks around, nervous. Then, he leans his head closer to us. With a small whisper he says, "She can't feel pain."

"What?" Demere and I ask, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, I know. She has this weird thing where she could get hurt a million times, and not feel the pain of it. She throws up a lot because of her condition, but I swear, she doesn't hurt."

"That's such a lie," I whisper.

"That's what I thought too. So, one time in the middle of the night, I was on watch. I still didn't really trust her a lot, you know? I had never heard of someone that couldn't feel pain. Like, how does that even work? When she was dead asleep, first I pinched her really hard on her arm," Hektor explains.

"And?" Demere impatiently says.

"She didn't even cringe," Hektor continues. "So then, I got my knife out, and cut her in the back of her neck. It was a long wound, and it bleed a lot, but she didn't even squirm! She kept on sleeping!"

Demere and I look at each other, wondering whether or not to believe him.

"I know, I know. Don't trust me. I get it. But think about it guys- we could use this to our advantage or something, right?"

"I-I don't know, Hektor," Demere says at last.

Hektor nods in understanding, and stops talking. It's unbelievable, really. A life without pain? A person, a baby, that doesn't know danger from safety. Pain is what teaches us to stay away from painful things. What an awful life, to touch a fire and not feel its burn.

A final crack of thunder rumbles through the arena, shaking the ground. It startles me a bit, I hadn't even paid attention to the storm around us throughout the conversation. But this time, the sound doesn't quite end. A loud crack sound echoes through the arena. It's as if someone broke a piece of pottery on hard marble floor. The sound is deafening, and comes from every side of the arena. Because of that, it's impossible to find the source. Something in the arena broke. Something big. Perhaps it was the arena itself.

"Am I going crazy or did everyone hear that?" Demere asks.

"I heard it," I say.

"Hektor? Did you hear that too?" Demere asks.

"How could I not?" He says.

"Well, the rain usually lasts a couple hours, Annie. Everyone is stuck in their shelters. We should all try and get some sleep or something," Demere says.

And with that, I close my eyes. How I could sleep at a time like this, with this kind of information, is impossible. A life without pain. A person not registered to feel the sting of bees, the soreness of sunburn, the stabbing of a knife. How is that biologically possible? Questions soar through my mind at a pace that makes me even dizzier than I was before. I don't sleep. However, the light snores coming from around me suggest that Demere and Hektor were a lot wearier than I thought. So I sit and stare through the cracks of our shelter, pretending each one is a little star. Sooner or later, a light drizzle is all that can be heard from outside. For once, regardless of everything, I am serene. I am at peace.

Finnick's P.O.V

Sleep has brought me no peace the last couple of days. I just stared at the screen in my room, waiting for Annie to regain consciousness. It's been painful really. There was a moment when I thought she may never wake up. I've been doing my job, however. I was the one that got Demere his supplies for the shelter. I was the one that fed those two boys for the past couple of days. I'm planning on getting them a water protectant for their shelter, but I don't know how much time those kids have left.

These Games have been going slow…too slow. It's been three weeks and, two days ago, only thirteen people had died. Except for the bloodbath, nobody has really killed anyone. Devi killed Argo, that was predictable, and technically Annie killed Mars due to the infection, but most of the deaths have been due to what the Gamemakers have been doing to the arena.

This isn't making President Snow happy. People have been getting a little angry in the Capitol, saying that the Game is boring and that The Gamemakers shouldn't be doing anything. That's when the storms started. The lightning murdered three, and The Gamemakers sent the tributes from Two brand new supplies. That shot them a message. The Game has picked up, it's true, but the people still aren't satisfied and The Gamemakers are getting frustrated.

Then there was today. This is what everybody was sitting on the edge of their seats for. There is a dam on the very far side of the arena. Some tributes have picked up in its presence, but some haven't. I don't know if Annie knows or not. This dam is practically overflowing with water, thanks to the rainstorms. It's very full…dangerously full. The lightning has been weakening the cement that stops the arena from flooding over. Every lightning bolt shakes the arena on purpose, to wear out that cement. But today, the lightning hit the wall head on. The powerful, Capitol-made, super lightning hit it right in the middle. That crack that was sent through the arena wasn't some Gamemaker mistake.

The dam broke.

Well, it cracked. Some water is weakly dripping out of the opening, but it's slivered in half. This could end the games within a couple minutes. It would be a bad ending; the audience wouldn't get their final showdown. Everyone would just drown. The Gamemakers must be getting very desperate to do this. There are only six more people left, they could just wait. Something must be going on. Something, or somebody must be making these Games go far too quickly. Somebody is getting impatient.

Good thing I taught Annie to swim…

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