Bong! Bong! The telling of a bell woke Katniss up from her dreamless sleep, while Olive, who had given in to Finnick's insistence to lie down hours ago, and Peeta slept through it. By the entrance of the hut, Finnick sat with his trident ready, counting silently as Katniss sat up.
"I counted twelve," he said once it stopped.
"Mean anything, do you think?" asked Katniss.
"No idea," he answered.
They remained silent, expecting Claudius Templesmith to make its appearance through the whole arena to deliver a message: either an invitation to a feast, or a change of rules, like the year prior. However, the only strange occurrence happened far away from their location. A dazzling bolt of electricity struck a towering tree once, then let a few seconds pass, and a lightning storm began out of the blue.
"Go to sleep, Finnick," said Katniss, her eyes travelling to Olive for a second, who had just started to turn in her sleep. "It's my turn to watch, anyway."
Finnick hesitated, but soon realised what Katniss was staring at, and could no longer keep his eyes open. They were begging him to lie down and sleep; have a minimum of relaxation by holding Olive close to him. The first night in the arena was about to pass, and they had made it through it. After that, it wouldn't take much more. The most dangerous part was already over. Now, the important thing was not to lower their guard.
"Alright," he replied, picking up his weapons to leave the entrance.
He settled down at the mouth of the hut by Olive's side, one hand gripped around a trident, and the other over Olive's hand. Even if Katniss noticed, the cameras wouldn't be able to pick that up from the outside, so he didn't mind the teen's obvious stare and drifted into a not-so-pleasant sleep.
Despite Finnick being right next to her, it took little for Olive to wake up. She didn't scream, nor mumble, but the way she woke up was in no way pleasant, as she twitched and turned like someone was trying to forcefully pin her to the ground. The lightning had just stopped, and a distant rain had begun, when she got up and joined Katniss, asking for the spile through gestures. Katniss didn't argue, and gave it to her right away, watching as Olive walked over to the same tree from before, placed the spile and drank until she was satisfied.
"Better?" Katniss asked in a low tone, despite knowing that Peeta and Finnick didn't seem like they would wake up easily.
"Yeah," Olive replied with a hoarse voice, attaching the spile to her belt with a ripped hanging vine. Her throat wasn't all that much better, but at least the burning sensation had stopped for the time being. "You?"
"Fine." Katniss's attention went back to the jungle, where it stayed, while still keeping the conversation on. "The rain's not coming over here."
"Mean anything, do you think?" Olive asked in a low, hoarse tone, her eyes scouting their surroundings for what felt the hundredth time, yet found nothing strange.
"No idea." Katniss shrugged, which made Olive nod and get up. "Where are you going?"
"Not far," Olive promised, and walked out of the hut.
She paid close attention to the rain, still as far away as minutes ago. Nothing changed, no matter how far she ventured into the jungle, which wasn't much. Once she turned around and found it difficult to spot the tent, she decided to go back to Katniss. Who knew if the teen would wake Finnick up out of sheer worry? It would be better not to test it, though. Finnick needed to rest, and she would rather not worry anybody more than they already were by the simple fact of being back in the arena.
Then, just as she was about to be visible to Katniss's eyes, a cannon appeared out of nowhere, startling her ally. Katniss's eyes scanned frantically the entirety of the jungle she could see from her position, only relaxing once Olive walked through some hanging vines.
"Nothing there," was all Olive could say before the rain stopped hastily.
As if trying to prove her words wrong, just as Olive was turning her head to look at the trail where she had come from, a fog appeared in that same place, slowly sliding down towards her. Whatever it was, it wasn't normal fog. There was something about it—perhaps how it seemed to pull everything back, like a predator getting a hold of its prey, or the sickening sweet odour it emitted—but her reason voted against staying there any longer.
"Ka—" Olive couldn't finish calling her ally's name, when some droplets of mist came in contact with her skin, making her let out a pain-filled yell at the sudden deep burning sensation.
"Olive!" Katniss yelled, then turned to the inside of the hut to awaken Finnick and Peeta, respectively. "Olive's hurt! We're in danger! Run!"
Both boys picked up the news quickly, and, just as she expected, Finnick didn't lose a second and ran out of the hut towards Olive, who was already getting away from the fog's reach, a hand over her motionless arm as the skin under it scabbed.
"Are you alright?" he asked desperately, but got no replies as Katniss and Peeta forced them to run away. "What is it? What is it?"
"Some kind of fog. Poisonous gas. Hurry, Peeta!" Katniss urged.
Despite her cry, Peeta couldn't go much quicker. The after-effects of hitting the force field were still very much present in his body, no matter how much he tried to ignore them, and his prosthetic leg was in no way helpful. Using up the little advantage they had over the wall of fog, Finnick didn't give Peeta any time to complain, and hauled his arm over his shoulder, helping him move along as Katniss and Olive guided them.
Running in a straight line wasn't helping at all. They were losing all the advantage they had won at the beginning, making the desperation rise every time someone fell, or got hit by the droplets of fog. One of those times, right after changing their strategy to running down to the artificial sea in a diagonal path, the fog caught up to Olive, who was not far behind Katniss. Her left side, which had already had quite the nasty encounters with the fog, became paralysed once Katniss turned on her heels and got Olive back to her feet.
"Olive—" Katniss was bewildered at the sight of her ally's face; part of it was completely paralysed.
"Fine," Olive mumbled the best she could, letting Katniss wrap her arm around her shoulders to haul her just like Finnick was doing with Peeta.
"It's no good," said Finnick, not too far ahead of the two. "I'll have to carry Peeta. Can you carry Olive?"
"Yes," Katniss replied quickly, though doubt quickly crept up on her face.
"Don," mumbled Olive, placing her good arm around Katniss's waist to help her up as well, forming a coo-helping formation they used to continue moving down with more ease.
The plan proved to be helpful right away, as Katniss's arms and legs began to get affected by the fog as well, making her stammer or trip over vines at points. But there Olive was, with an around her waist to keep her up. Just like Katniss did whenever Olive's leg failed.
It took long minutes of struggle to reach anywhere near the beach, though Finnick and Peeta didn't get there in good shape. Just as they were about to make it to the sand, Finnick collapsed on the ground, Peeta on top of him. Katniss wanted to rush right away, but Olive could hardly keep up with her, and, when a vine neither had seen made Olive trip, their cooperation was cut short. Katniss could no longer stop in time to help her and stumbled as she tried to turn around, losing her footing and rolling down to where Finnick and Peeta were.
Olive, however, landed flat on her stomach, groaning loudly as she tried to get her arms to cooperate. She pushed herself forward with her feet, but her body no longer reacted. The strength left in her body had disappeared with the fall, and her legs had gone stiff along with her arms. Helpless, she watched with her head over her shoulder as the wall of fog thickened, but didn't advance.
The Gamemakers had spared her.
Her head fell back on the ground, ignoring anything Katniss or Peeta said as she closed her eyes. Her name was called a few times, but she couldn't give any replies, much less move to give away her position. After a couple of minutes, the calls stopped, and a dragging sound came closer up the slope towards her. And, just as it was, towering over her, Olive opened her good eyes, encountering a much worried Peeta trying his best to check her pulse with the little control he had over his body.
"Sowwy." Peeta's pronunciation was as bad as hers before, but who could blame him? Half his mouth was paralysed, and the other wasn't much better off.
He placed one hand under her shoulder and another under her stomach, pulling up to get her to, just like Katniss, roll down until reaching the sand. It worked just fine. However, as she reached the sand, her body stopped abruptly way too close to the water, making the incoming waves eat up her hand for a split second before letting go, forcing Olive to abstain from crying out again.
It was worse than the burning sensation from the fog—if she had had any control over her body, she would have jerked her hand out of the way as if she had just touched an open flame.
Minutes passed like that, the waves slowly reaching out to her hand, making indescribable pain shoot up at first, but slowly calming down as a milky substance left the scabs bit by bit. Then, as if summoned by her slow torture, Peeta walked over to her and brought her to where Katniss had just started helping Finnick as well. They started off simple to keep the pain from killing them, simply splashing their hands and arms before submerging any part of their bodies underwater.
Katniss unzipped Olive's jumpsuit as Peeta did the same for Finnick, needing their skins to be exposed to purge it faster. Contrary to Olive, Finnick lay face down, unmoving, though the occasional sounds or moans let them continue their work with relative ease.
"We've got to get more of them into the water," whispered Katniss.
"Liv," was the only coherent mumble Finnick produced the entire time, which made Olive use her somewhat regained control over her hands to place one on top of his. "Liv."
She couldn't answer, but the touch should be enough to tell him that she was there—to let Finnick know that she was alive. However, Finnick either didn't notice or didn't feel the touch, since he kept mumbling her nickname until Peeta and Katniss managed to spin him around, so he would go feet-first into the water. Slowly, and taking their time with each move, Katniss and Peeta got Finnick to lay with his head on Katniss's lap to ease being immersed from the neck down, while Olive twitched and trembled from being immersed only from the waist down.
"What do we do?" Katniss asked Peeta in a hushed whisper, though Olive could still hear perfectly due to the odd quietness around the Arena.
"Finnick only has his head left," Peeta replied in the same tone as her. "Maybe she'll react better if he's the one to help her."
As if in approval of the plan, Finnick opened his eyes and lifted his arms above the seawater—the best response he could give his allies with the little control he had regained over his body. Pleased with their successful task as healers, Katniss and Peeta exchanged smiles, then turned to Finnick, whose eyes were no longer on either of them, but on Olive's closed-shut eyes.
"There's just your head left, Finnick. That's the worst part, but you'll feel much better after, if you can bear it," Peeta said, pulling Olive somewhat out of the water, so she could be more at ease while he and Katniss focused on Finnick.
With each hand gripping theirs, Finnick sat up on the sand and submerged his head in the water, purging his eyes, nose, and mouth. Although his throat was too raw to speak, and the mumbles from before had only worsened his condition.
"I'm going to try to tap a tree," Katniss said, letting go of Finnick's hand as he got up to approach Olive.
"Let me make the hole first," said Peeta. "You should help him with Olive. You're the healer."
Katniss nodded after a moment of doubt, lending Peeta the awl before turning to help as still-in-recovery Finnick to shush Olive as she lay, trembling, mid-body inside the water. His attention to her, when he wasn't much better, no longer surprised Katniss. She had seen Finnick look back at them a hundred times while running from the fog, not to mention the odd interactions the two had during the training days.
"Great, Liv." Finnick tried to comfort her, holding her trembling hand as her eyes attempted to focus on something other than the water that was being poured on her torso and arms.
"Finnick, we'll take hours like this," Katniss pointed out. "We need to get her in the water."
"I can't," Finnick mumbled. "I can't force her."
Like the slow healing had triggered her confident side, Olive held out her hands for Finnick and Katniss to take, muttering something similar to an, "It's OK".
While gripping onto their hands as if it was a means of life and death, Olive slid down the little sand left and submerged in the water. Her eyes closed in a heartbeat, but she forced them to open a few times, only to make sure that the substance would stop being a hindrance to her sight.
A minute was the longest she could last under the water. It was considerably less than the practice in Four, though she could only contribute it to her near-death experience from the day before. Still, once she sat on the sand, Finnick assured that it had been a lot. Not one he mentioned the day before, nor did he make an allusion to it by saying—'considering what…' or 'after what…'—he just cheered her up, like he always did.
The boost of confidence lasted longer than she would have expected, since, while Katniss took care of rearranging her mockingjay pin on her undergarments—due to all of their jumpsuits being utterly ruined—she sat on the sand, her feet occasionally ending up engulfed in the paused seawater's waves. She was watching Finnick swim around, likely the only moment he could feel like at home inside the Arena, when Katniss approached, a handful of hair strands in her hand.
"The fog's acid damaged our hair," Katniss stated, and sat down.
"Oh," was all the reply Olive could muster.
Without having to exchange another word, Olive and Katniss took care of cleansing the other's hair, making sure no acid was left, and the dead strands were gone. It didn't take long, and it was distracting, entertaining them as they waited for Finnick to stop swimming and Peeta to call Katniss over to use the spile.
And while they couldn't see Peeta's figure all too well but the sound of the awl digging into the wood was still very much present, all that could tell them that Finnick was still alive underwater disappeared. Olive knew from her past training that he could keep his breath underwater for longer than an average person could. However, as she counted the minutes, even she started getting worried at not seeing him surface.
"And he drowned," Katniss commented, more to herself than to Olive.
"You'd be surprised how many times I thought that back home," said Olive, her brow furrowing as the usual time for Finnick's reappearance exceeded.
Not more than a minute later, while being blinded by worry, Olive got up and walked over to the water, letting it eat up to her mid-calf. She looked for any signs of Finnick, or bubbles that could give away that something had happened underwater, but there was nothing. No sign at all.
And then, as if she had summoned him, Finnick jumped out of the water right in front of her. "Finnick!"
"Don't do that," said Katniss, who walked over to the pair.
"What? Come up or stay under?" Finnick asked innocently.
"Either. Neither. Whatever. Just soak in the water and behave," Katniss replied, while Olive placed a hand over her chest, faking to be checking her pulse in case it had stopped. "Or if you feel this good, let's go help Peeta."
Finnick and Olive walked towards the jungle with Katniss in between them, which the teen didn't find too strange. However, the moment she stopped right when they were about to enter the jungle, it created a chain reaction that forced them to stop as well. As slowly as she could, Katniss touched Finnick's and Olive's arms, making the pair follow her gaze upwards, where a vast group of monkeys were watching them.
Not needing to say a word, the three prepared for the upcoming fight, though, being mindful of their unprepared and oblivious ally that was just at the centre of the monkeys' attention.
"Peeta," said Katniss as calmly as possible. "I need your help with something."
"Okay, just a minute. I think I've just about got it," Peeta replied, still occupied with the tree. "Yes, there. Have you got the spile?"
Katniss looked over at Olive, who nodded. Just before running away from the fog, she had the spile wouldn't fall off her acid-resistant floating belt, which she still carried with her. "We do. But we've found something you'd better take a look at," Katniss continued in the same tone, mindful not to startle the monkeys before Peeta got anywhere close to them. "Only move toward us quietly, so you don't startle it."
"And, please, don't look anywhere else but us," added Olive, watching as Peeta was having an inner fight not to look up at whatever they had seen.
"Okay," said Peeta, doubt clearing his expression, but not in his voice.
The first few metres went perfectly—Peeta walked over them in the quietest rhythm he could, which was pretty loud, but he tried his best. Nevertheless, halfway to his salvation, his eyes darted up for a split second, surely after sensing the towering gazes on him. And the monkeys attacked without a moment of doubt, moving faster than any animal they had seen to their objective; Peeta.
"Mutts!" Katniss shouted.
The four quickly united into a square formation, protecting each other's backs while shooting or slashing the approaching monkeys. There was only one problem that Olive and Katniss quickly realised—arrows didn't last forever. And, even though they had used them sparingly, only aiming at deadly points in the monkeys' bodies, they soon were drawing their last arrow left from their sheaths.
"Oh no," Olive mumbled, but there was nothing she could do. Unless. "Katniss, take mine."
"What are you going to do?" asked Katniss hurriedly.
"Just cover me."
Olive didn't have to get far. Lots of monkeys lay before her with arrows piercing their bodies. Retrieving arrows in the middle of a fight couldn't be too smart, but it was the best she could come up with. She didn't want to become a hindrance to Finnick and Peeta. So when she had three more arrows in her hands, and Katniss had to use up the one she had given her, Olive went back, only to pass the arrows to Katniss.
"I can't believe that worked," said Katniss as she shot at a monkey behind Olive.
Olive turned around, surprised. "Neither do I."
"Olive!" Peeta called, showing her with one hand the awl while the other slashed a monkey's neck. "Take it. Better than nothing."
Her hand had only just reached the awl when a monkey lunged out of a tree for Peeta's chest. Even considering the rebellion and how the young couple was so important for it, there was no factual reason to give up her life for Peeta. She didn't have to. Who could blame her? To her, those were her first Games. She had just killed someone for the first time the day before. Nobody could say a thing if she didn't jump out to Peeta's rescue, more so when it was at the expense of getting killed.
So why had she done it? In less than her heart could beat, her hand had let go of the awl to grab a hold of Peeta's hand, pulling him down to cover him with her body—transforming into a human shield.
The attack, however, never came. Olive looked up as an unknown high-pitched scream appeared right next to her, watching the woman from District Six being attacked by the monkey; fangs sunk deep into her chest. Contrary to her, Peeta acted quickly, burying his knife into the monkey's back to force it to let go of the woman. Once it did, he kicked it away, bracing for more.
"Come on, then! Come on!" shouted Peeta, puffing with rage.
Despite his yells, as if the Gamemakers had decided to spare them once again, the monkeys withdrew for no apparent reason. They had the high ground, two of the four had run out of their preferred weapons, and the two carrying the close-combat weapons were exhausted.
"Get her," said Katniss—some quick-withdrawn arrows back to her sheath—looking at Peeta and Olive while pointing at the dying woman. "We'll cover you."
Both agreed right away, gently lifting the poor woman and carrying her towards the beach, where Olive left her with Peeta and Katniss. She wanted to retrieve the arrows, which Finnick advised not to do right away. It would be better to wait for Katniss and Peeta, even if that would mean that what they were actually waiting for was for the woman to die.
"I can't handle this," Olive told Finnick.
She didn't try to whisper her words, nor make it in a way nobody else could hear. Everyone, even the Capitol, would be too focused on watching the woman from Six die while Peeta did his best to distract her. Whatever she did, whatever she said, made no impact and would have no repercussions. So Olive said the truth to the only person she knew she could trust more than herself—Finnick.
"I know." He placed a hand on her back, rubbing it in a comforting motion as he stared at the treeline, making sure no monkeys had followed them. "It's never easy."
"Does it ever get any easier?" Olive asked, needing a positive answer, though already knowing the genuine response to her question.
"No."
And then the cannon roared around the arena.