Hello again, I hope you're all doing well and enjoying this piece of fiction. I wanted to note that in the arena in my story, the rock paths lead only partway into the water from the cornucopia, and the center body of water is slightly larger than in the movie. I know that they originally reach all the way to the beach, but I really just wanted a scene with Katniss and Johanna in the water :)
—-
Limerence (American): An involuntary state of intense desire.
I'm jerked awake by the realization that I'm supposed to be keeping watch. I stand up to further wake my limbs and I look deeper into the jungle. I blink a few times just to be sure I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing. There seems to be a thick white fog quickly rolling through the trees. I take a few slow steps towards it and reach my hand out to touch it, only to jerk my hand away because it burned me. Welts start forming on my hands and I immediately understand that it's a chemical burn, so I shout "Wake up! The fog is poisonous, get up! Run!"
Finnick jumps up quickly and hoists Mags onto his back while Peeta grabs his weapon and we start running through the jungle, dodging trees and plants as we go. The fog is rolling faster now towards us, almost as if it's pushing us. Both Peeta and I get scalded by the fog when I trip and fall, and Peeta turns back for me. I'm grateful to him because I panicked and couldn't get my limbs to move for a second. The pain is unreal and when I hear Finnick a few meters away screaming, I know it's gotten to them too.
We run back together but Peeta collapses in pain and can't get up. "Peeta please! We have to go!", when I look up at Finnick to plead for his help, I see Mags bend down slowly and give him a kiss. She then walks into the fog, acting as a self-sacrifice so that Finnick can carry Peeta instead of herself.
My heart aches as I watch her disappear into the clouds, but I know that we need to keep moving if her sacrifice is to really mean anything.
We start to run together again and we're moving so fast, we don't realize there's a drop in the terrain ahead. With yelps and screams we all go tumbling down a hill and come to a halt right next to a watering hole. The fog falls down the hill after us, and while lying on the ground I try to catch my breath. I turn around to see the chasing clouds rolling closer and closer. I know I can't run any farther, and right as I am beginning to accept my fate with eyes squeezed shut, thinking of my family and the few good times I've had, it's as if the fog hits an invisible wall and rises up like a crashing wave.
Then it disappears.
I shake myself out of the acceptance of my death and slowly, painfully crawl towards the pool of water. I stick my hand in, and there's a searing from my injuries, but to my surprise the welts start to disappear. "The water! The water helps!" I shout and Peeta and I both pull ourselves all the way into the water to let the caustic burns fade. Once all of our wounds disappear, we have to drag Finnick into the water together because he can't get there on his own. He had the most wounds, and he screams in absolute agony until the blisters were almost completely wiped away. After about thirty seconds, we allow him to help himself with the detailed cleansing. We all continue soothing our pain while silently gathering ourselves.
I look at Finnick and keep my face as genuinely sympathetic as possible when I say "I'm sorry about Mags."
He looks up at me with a deep sadness in his eyes. "She was never going to make it..."
I don't say anything because I think he may be right. It's hard not to feel like there must've been something we could've done, but Mags was very old and frail. If she didn't die by acid fog she very easily may have died some other horrible way.
It's then I suddenly become aware that we aren't alone. There's a family of some type of monkey watching us from the trees surrounding the water, possibly baboons? But they have a multicolored face and no tail, so that's not it. They don't seem friendly and when one screeches at me I can see their long sharp teeth. I draw an arrow through my bow and aim at the nearest one, ready to take down the first monkey that jumps at us, but I look over to see it's Peeta who strikes a creature down first when it launches off of a branch at him.
They all begin to attack at once and the three of us battle to keep them at bay, killing at least five of the beasts by the water within ten seconds. Finnick spears a large male into the pond before shouting "Let's get to the beach! I saw it right before we fell, it's southeast of here through the trees!" We don't hesitate to make a run for the beach to escape, but out of nowhere Peeta gets pinned to a tree by the biggest monkey yet. I can see the fear in his face and I draw my bow, but just before it jumps at him a human comes out of the inside of a tree behind Peeta and stabs the giant thing with a wooden spear. It's one of the victors, a Morphling, and she's covered in mud and leaves for camouflage. Unfortunately, she endures a severe injury by one of the creatures after exposing herself, and falls to the ground in a heap. Everything is happening so fast and we don't have time to think so we pick her up and carry her with us to the beach, while Peeta takes down the two that jumped at us as we stopped for the Morphling.
We finally make it and as soon as we hit the sand, the beasts stop short at the jungle line, hollering and baring their teeth. Finnick keeps his weapon aimed at them to ensure they don't cross that line of sand. They act as if they aren't able though, and begrudgingly retreat back into the jungle. Finnick lowers his spear and lets out a large puff of air in relief.
Peeta picks up and carries the Morphling into the water and sweetly distracts her until her wounds prove fatal. I'm moved by his tenderness and compassion, and I know for certain that he deserves to live more than me. I have to make sure he's the last one.
If there is a last one. Everyone is still acting like it's possible for us all to survive, if we just stick together. I'm slightly paranoid about the whole situation, and I know I'm missing something important. Once again I try not to let it get to me for the time being.
Some moments later when we're watching the ship take her body away, Peeta comments that she sacrificed herself for him and he didn't even know her name. Which I found to be puzzling because we had no alliance with the Morphlings, and even if we did, why would she do that for Peeta?
I don't have long to dwell on this as a giant tidal wave comes crashing through the jungle on the other side of the cornucopia lake, and a few seconds later another victor was picked up from the sky.
'What is happening?' I try to make sense of these seemingly random events going on. 'Acid fog, rabid monkeys, a tidal wave?..but all in different areas of the arena…'
Suddenly we hear voices coming from our right by several yards, and three people appear out of the jungle. They're all covered in a dark red substance and I see one of them is carrying what looks to be a big roll of something. I focus my eyes with more effort and see that it's Beetee carrying the strange spool, and the voice shouting at both him and Wiress is unmistakable.
My skin prickles with my arm hairs standing stiff, and I feel anxious and unsure of what to do. 'If she's with Beetee and Wiress, who are my allies, that must mean she's also an ally, right?'
Finnick realizes who they are and shouts "Johanna!" as he starts to run towards them. Johanna sees him and screams his name back. I'm stuck to the ground where I'm at when Peeta decides to approach them too. I guess she is an ally.
I'm nervous. I've never actually had a "friendly" conversation with her.
I take in a gulp of air and step out and onto the beach towards them all.
She's talking to Finnick with anger in her voice and retelling what they've been through since the start.
"Well, I got 'em out. We were all the way deep in the jungle where I thought we were gonna be safe. That's when the rain started. I thought it was water…turned out to be blood. Hot. Thick. Blood. It was coming down on us, choking us, ha! We were stumbling around, gagging on it, blind. That's when Blight hit the forcefield…He wasn't much but he was from home."
As she's speaking Wiress starts to tremble and repeatedly says "Tick tock" while walking aimlessly around. She seems to be relatively traumatized, and I feel a pang in my heart for her, because I really like Wiress. I can tell that Johanna is agitated by it but they have probably been dealing with just as much as we have.
Beetee says that Wiress is in shock and needs water, and I try to explain that we have a spout that can get fresh water from trees when Wiress grabs Johanna, shouting her 'tick tock' mantra and Johanna absolutely loses it on her. She pushes Wiress and I immediately spring into action. I don't know if it's how charged I was already feeling and still had the adrenaline pumping through me, or if I was just angry at her and the way things have happened, but I ran and shoved Johanna to remove her from Wiress.
Johanna, surprised, turned on me, "Hey! What are you doing!? I got them out for you!" Her voice is shrill and obviously angry.
I'm flabbergasted by her comment and I take a few steps back while Peeta comes to pull me away and Finnick goes to Johanna.
"For me? What does that mean?" I am starting to become rather frustrated with not understanding everyone's behavior and actions.
"You did want them as allies…" Peeta walks away after muttering this, and I'm even more confused. 'I never said I wanted Johanna as an ally to them! Just Beetee and Wiress. Why are the other victors trying so hard to help us and to stick together anyway?'
I decided to take out my frustration in a positive way and take Wiress to the water to wash the blood off of her. I let her kneel in front of me with water up to her shoulders while I scoop water up and over her head with my hands repetitiously. After a few minutes of washing her off I notice Johanna is also in the water behind me cleansing the blood from her body.
I feel guilty for charging at her, but my pride won't allow me to apologize. She doesn't seem like the type to need an apology anyway. I feel like I should say something though so I chance a look over my shoulder, and I see Beetee on the beach rolling the coil in the sand. "What exactly does Beetee have there?"
I turn my head to look at her while she speaks. "The coil? It's some kind of wire." She's cleaning off her axe and she keeps her eyes on it, so I'm free to keep my eyes on her for a few seconds. Her wet disheveled appearance is truly so striking, I have to turn around and look back down at the top of Wiress' head to hide the growing redness in my face. Her voice conveys just how exhausted she is, and I feel even more guilty for lashing out earlier.
I try to keep my tone casual, "Did he get it from the cornucopia?"
She hesitates for a second before looking up at me sadly, "Took a knife in the back to get it."
Suddenly Wiress gasps and begins saying her 'tick tock' mantra again.
Johanna lowers her axe and rolls her eyes a bit before saying "Agh, okay, I can't. Have fun with Nuts", and she starts walking towards the beach. I try not to feel like she's overreacting with Wiress and needs to be nicer to her, because I truly don't know the details of what they've been through. I only know the generalities, and I know that's not enough to judge someone on. Plus I don't think that she truly means Wiress any harm.
I'm shocked out of my thoughts when there's a loud charging noise coming from across the jungle where clouds are gathering around the tallest tree, and a bolt of lightning strikes that tree multiple times in a row. This isn't the first time it's happened, we first noticed it when we sat down to rest in the jungle at the beginning of the game. Wiress slowly looks up at me, "Tick tock."
Just like the lightning that struck that tree, a revelation strikes me about what's going on. I suddenly comprehend why Wiress has been stuck on this tangent in her state of shock. "It's a clock.." I mutter low to myself at first, then again louder, and I excitedly grab Wiress up by her head and hold my hands on each side of her face as I say "Wiress, you're a genius!" She smiles at me before I grab her hand as I quickly wade us through the water towards the others to relay the information. I now know we all need to move faster than before since we are on a schedule of death. The cornucopia is where we need to go.
When we get on dry land, Finnick and Johanna are next to each other in the sand and Peeta is standing a few feet from them. They're all talking and undoubtedly Finnick's told her about Mags, the fog, and the monkeys. He's sitting up with his arms wrapped around his legs, and Johanna is lying down with one leg bent at the knee and the other flat. I suppress the intrusive thought about how warm and toned she looks. Her arm is draped over her eyes to shield from the sun, and whatever damage she took in the jungle tore her suit in places along her body, revealing her tan skin. I sneak a few glances at that skin while her eyes are covered. She responds to whatever Finnick said last with "Yikes, well sounds like we've both been through hell and come out of that jungle painfully alive. The question is, what do we do now?"
I choose this moment to butt in as we're approaching, "I've figured it out. We need to gather our things now and head to the cornucopia. I'll fill you all in on the way." Johanna opens her mouth like she might object, as she's very comfy looking in the sand, but I can feel the time-crunch creeping up on us. I look directly into her eyes with as much sternness as I can muster, "I know you all are fatigued and hurt, I am too, but please trust me when I say we need to start moving sooner rather than later." She stares back at me for a moment, then rapidly darts her eyes down my body and back up again before getting up and brushing the sand off of her. "Well, lead the way, Captain Everdeen." She walks by me and allows her shoulder to gently brush against mine.
My cheeks color and a very light shiver runs through my arm and up to my head. I try to busy myself by ensuring my arrows in the quiver are secure and won't fall out before I glance up to see Peeta staring at me, a look of understanding and envy in his eyes. I'm reminded that he doesn't reciprocate my fraternal feelings towards him, and instead he has actual romantic feelings for me. I furrow my brows and give him an unintentional scowl, before hoisting the quiver and bow onto my back and walking away. We all start towards the water where we'll have to swim to get to the rock paths that lead to the cornucopia.
I walk out into the water and when my feet can no longer touch, I start a freestyle stroke to the goal. I have to admit I'm moving pretty fast, and when I'm nearly at one of the rocky starting platforms I stop to tread water and turn around to check on everyone. Surprisingly, Johanna is only a couple of feet behind me, while everyone else is four or five yards away. Finnick and Peeta are attempting to take turns helping Wiress swim as well as taking turns holding the heavy coil with Beetee. I feel bad that I didn't consider they may need help with those things, but the guilt is short-lived as Johanna practically crashes into me because she didn't realize I had stopped.
The force of her body causes my head to go under and I grab onto her suit at her hip as I come up sputtering. She is also flustered by the unexpected crash and me pulling on her so she is trying to get her bearings, "*cough* Dammit *cough*, Katniss!" I decided to help us both by grabbing her arm and pulling her to the large platform rock where one of the victors first came up. I reach to have one hand and one foot on the rock beneath the water to steady myself and the other hand on her arm as I pull her towards me. I must've used a little too much strength because it was like the water formed a miniature wave that continued her momentum after I stopped pulling and let go. Before I knew it she was close enough that I could see the tiny scrapes on her forehead.
She tried to reach for the rock under the water to gain some control but grabbed my hand on the rock instead. This caused us both to jerk in the water and make a small noise of surprise. She moved her hand off of mine and to the rock to pull herself towards it more. Unfortunately at the same time she was doing that, I was trying to recover from the whole situation and ended up moving my foot higher to get a better bearing on the rock, which forced that leg to bend. When she pulled forward at that moment, her legs were open and she landed on my knee as if she were straddling it. I was taken aback when I heard a faint but guttural "Guh" come from her mouth, and I sucked in a quick breath. 'How is this happening!? This is a hot mess of a situation!'
She swiftly removed herself from my leg and was able to get her foot on the underwater rock formation, but we were still very close. So close in fact, that our breaths mingled in the same space as we panted to regain air in our lungs. I looked into her eyes and she returned the gaze; time seemed to slow in that moment, the sound of the waves and our breathing all that we could register. Then she briskly glanced down to my lips and back up again, and I swear she moved even closer. My mind was quickly turning into a glob of jelly, as I involuntarily glanced down at her lips too, and they looked so soft and inviting. I began to feel a burning coil low in my belly, then the weight of my eyelids drooping. I could sense that she was raising her free leg to brush her knee against the inside of my lower thigh, almost as if it were just an accidental touch. She started to lightly drag her knee agonizingly slow up my leg and my breath hitched.
"Johanna! Katniss! A little help please?!" Finnick and the others were a lot closer than before and he was attempting to hold the coil out to Johanna while swimming towards us. Like a balloon that just had its tie undone, the charged atmosphere from before rapidly deflated.
"Yeah, sure.." She turned and grabbed the coil before tossing it effortlessly onto the rocky platform with one hand, then pulling herself up.
"Could you guys not see that we were struggling?" Peeta has Wiress on his back and he's peddling with the best of his ability. They make it to the rock all out of breath and worn down. I give him a sheepish look and my face is as hot as a kettle on the burner, he gives me a look of confusion in return before climbing up onto the platform. 'What in the hell just happened!? Were we about to…? Would we have…?'
I helped Wiress and Beetee up and I'm the last one to make it to the top. Everyone is bent forward with their hands on their knees to catch their breath for about 30 seconds, and I glance at Johanna to see if she is acting affected in any way, yet I can hardly tell because she has such a passive face right now, but there is a slight color to it. 'How is she so calm?'
We all move in a line down the path towards the cornucopia, and I know I need to shake that weird moment off and start explaining.
"This entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock, with a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge. It all starts with the lightning, then the blood rain, fog, monkeys- that's the first four hours, and at ten the big wave hits from over there." I point to the wedged section where I witnessed a victor's corpse being taken after the tidal wave.
"Wiress, you're a genius" Finnick manages to make Wiress smile with this as he walks past her. Hopefully she's starting to come out of her state of shock with all this praise and progress.
Peeta is looking at the shape of the cornucopia as he points and says "The tail points at 12."
"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight." I have to admit, I'm rather proud of myself and how much I've discovered. I look to my left and Johanna is staring at me. She actually looks kind of proud of me too, or at least like she respects me. I manage to hold my head up even higher.
Beetee asks me to repeat the location of the lightning tree, and he gives it a long look while holding the coil. "Good", he mutters under his breath.
I can hear Wiress in the background start to mumble an old nursery rhyme as she sits down to rest close to the water. The rest of us gather around Peeta as he draws out a clock in the sand, "So 12 to 1, lightning, 1 to 2 is blood, then fog, then monkeys."
I speak up here, "and then 10 to 11 is the wave…What about everything else? Did you guys see anything?"
Johanna looks up from the clock drawing and purses her lips together, "Nothing but blood." I ignore her almost sarcastic comment and Peeta does too as he confidently states, "It doesn't matter. As long as we steer clear of whichever sector is active, we'll be safe."
Finnick garners his attention when he grins and says "Yeah, relatively speaking."
I can see that Peeta is about to start blushing because Finnick is smiling at him, but he doesn't know why he's blushing, and I go to rescue him from his embarrassment when there's a sharp inhale by the water, causing all of us to twist our heads in that direction.
What we see sends electricity through our bodies. Wiress is sitting on the ground with Gloss flush against her back. He has her in a chokehold and he's pulling a knife out of her chest.
We all jump into action but my reaction is the quickest because before I've even registered it, I've already expelled an arrow right into his sternum. He releases her as they both fall back into the water, dead. I look to Beetee to see with no surprise that he's already holding back tears, devastated. At that moment another enemy jumped out of the water to run towards me but I didn't have time to pull another arrow into the bow. It seems I didn't need to because Johanna pushed me aside and brutally swung her axe down on the girl, who barely managed to escape an immediately lethal blow. She was so bloodied though that it wouldn't be long before she bled to death. She was out cold on the ground so I turned my attention to the right where I heard Peeta screaming and charging at someone alongside Finnick.
It was Enobaria and Brutus, working together. I took a step around to assist them but at that moment the ground began to move beneath my feet. The island started to spin and I fell on the rocks right beside the water, dropping my bow. Johanna fell maybe two feet away from me and had one hand on the rocks and the other firmly grasping her axe. The island started to spin faster and the girl who Johanna hit earlier went rolling off into the water, no doubt to her official death.
My fingers began to slip and when I moved to adjust, the gravity pulled me too far down to save myself. I tumbled towards the churning water and grasped desperately at anything that could stop me.
"No! Katniss!" Johanna was absolutely screeching for me and had her hand as far outstretched as it could go. I grabbed it just in time and tried to pull myself up more while she slammed her axe into the rocks to keep us both grounded. She was squeezing my hand so hard, my eyes started to water as I realized that for whatever reason, she truly just rescued me from certain death, again. But it's not over.
"Hold on!" She screamed again, gripping that axe as hard as she could. I raised my head and looked over her to see Peeta next to Beetee, dodging weapons and crates that were being slung off of the cornucopia.
The panic I felt seeing a spear just zoom past his face caused me to loosen my grip, and I slipped out of Johanna's hand while she screamed "No! NO!" The look on her face as I went flying back was definitely one that I had never seen on her.
I plunge into the water behind me feet first, becoming totally submerged and rolling in the waves from the force of the spinning rock wedges. I can't help but to accidentally pull some water into my throat. The under water part of a path has me pinned against it as it spins forcefully. I'm sure this time I'm going to die, and it's so unfortunate because I can recall having what feels like countless close calls to death, yet making it out alive. I had almost convinced myself that I was surviving for a reason, a purpose.
As if the universe was responding to my rapid thoughts, the spinning ceased, and the sloshing-around of my body stopped. I paddled as hard as I could to get to the surface and once I did I took in the biggest gasp of air in my entire life. I swam to one of the rock paths and pulled myself onto it, just catching my breath and coughing.
The first one to arrive at my side was Johanna, who holstered her axe to her thigh and dropped to one knee with one hand on my back and the other on my arm. I was still coughing and she didn't say anything, but the hand that was on my back patted and rubbed slightly; It was tremendously comforting. Peeta ran up right behind her a few seconds later, replacing Johanna's hand on my back with his own, "You okay!?"
Johanna moved to the side to allow him the room to check on me. I registered at this moment the fact that everyone thinks Peeta and I are a real couple, or at the very least might be. I keep forgetting all of these role-playing rules, and I'm getting sick of pretending.
I hold my hand up in the shape of a thumbs up while I'm getting the last few coughs out of my system. He seems to be really shook up by what happened and is fretting over me excessively. Johanna speaks up with a bit of attitude or anger in her voice, "Let's just get what we need and get off the bloody island."
I feel the same way, so I shakily stand up, and Peeta is still rubbing my arm and back. I start to walk forward, not necessarily pushing him away but not allowing any more touching to take place. I walk past Johanna and she glances up long enough for us to look each other in the eyes as I went by. There's no trace of the searing eyes from earlier, only relieved eyes stare back at me. Though her facial expression was hard, one of bitterness or frustration.
We regroup at the cornucopia and assess the damage. We managed to find my bow and get everyone a weapon they're comfortable with. Wiress' body far out in the water gets picked up by one of the ships, along with Gloss and the blonde girl.
We allow Beetee a minute to be emotional, before we solemnly bring up the fact that we need to get off of this island and onto a safe part of the beach. He nods his head in agreement and we all head down the rock path that leads in the direction of the lightning tree. Beetee managed to save the wire coil, and we all swam together to the beach, taking turns holding the coil.
Once we made it we walked towards the jungle's edge and collapsed for a moment in the soft sand. Everyone made a big sigh and just stared up through the canopy of trees for about two minutes. We all finally started to either sit up or stand up, and I opened the communications, "So besides Brutus and Enobaria, who's left?"
Peeta thought about it before responding, "Maybe Chaff. Just those three."
This statement brought Finnick to reply, "They know they're outnumbered. I doubt they'll attack again. We're safe here on the beach."
'But that won't stop the gamemaker and controllers to do whatever they can to ensure we die. We can't just stay on the beach forever.' My thoughts are interrupted by an aggressive voice, "So what do we do? We hunt 'em down?" This voice is actually starting to become soothing to my ears, though I don't know if I agree with what she said. I don't have time to ponder it further because there's a scream that comes from the jungle we're sitting next to, "Katniss, help me!" It's Prim's voice.
Without thinking I sprang up and sprinted through the trees towards the screams shouting "Prim!"
I can hear the others calling after me but I keep running. I make it to an opening in the brush and try to locate the sound. I realize it's repeating above my head, so I look up and see a black bird making the screams that are identical to my sisters. It's a Jabberjay. I draw an arrow and strike the bird down from the sky. I let out a breath of relief that the screaming stopped, but then Finnick ran up to check on me. Another Jabberjay in the distance screamed out to him in the voice of what I think is his lover back home, Annie.
"Annie!? Annie!" He screams so hard the veins pop out of his neck and he's running through the jungle before I can stop him. I finally catch up after thirty seconds and grab him on the shoulder, "Finnick! It's not her, it's just a Jabberjay." I manage to get out while panting.
I'm dumbstruck at the next thing he says, "Well how do you think they got that sound Katniss!? Jabberjays copy." He looks outrageously worried and I start to feel the same anxiety. 'Could they really have taken Prim and tortured her to get these sounds out of her?'
I feel rage mixed with fear well up inside of me, and I have nowhere to place this negative energy. I can shoot down one bird, but when what seems like hundreds of them start to fly towards us, screaming, I know that there's nothing we can do but run. We take off in the direction that we came while trying to swat the birds away. All the while they are screeching the most terrible and horrific words with the voices of the people we care about most.
As we're running I can see Peeta, Johanna, and Beetee standing in the distance, shouting something at us but I can't hear what they're saying because the screams in my ear are so ungodly loud.
Right when we get to where they are, we run straight into an invisible wall, and I realize that they were trying to tell us to stop.
I frantically bang on the wall as the Jabberjays swoop by my head and attempt to make my eardrums bleed. I eventually just curl into a crouched position and cover my ears and head. Finnick does the same and we close our eyes to ride out the next hour of torture.
Once the hour's up, Peeta is grabbing me to pull me up and tell me it's okay. I feel so stressed that my hair may fall out, and all I can say is "Prim…".
At the same time, Johanna is comforting Finnick and asking if he's okay. Finnick has a far off look in his eyes, like he completely dissociated in order to cope.
I look back at Peeta as he's talking to me and catch the latter half of his sentence, "-Prim. They won't hurt her." He's trying his best to be caring and comforting, but I can't shake off the anxiety that Prim is in danger.
I'm surprised when Johanna speaks up next to me, "Your fiance's right. The whole country loves your sister. If they tortured her or did anything to her…forget the districts, there would be riots in the damned capitol." Her words start to sink in and I can feel my shoulders begin to relax. But before they do completely, Johanna starts to shout at the sky, "Hey 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 whole group is staring at her now, and she glances at everyone before continuing to speak, "What? They can't hurt me.. There's no one left that I love." She looks long at me then, and there's something there that falls through my grasp before I can identify it. She breaks the silent stare-off quickly, "I'll get you some water..", before she walks off, swinging her axe violently at the brush in front of her.
We make our way to the beach and three of us stop under the trees while Finnick continues to walk out into the water and sit.
I'm just staring out at the small waves when Johanna approaches me unexpectedly from behind and I jump. She grins down at me and offers me some kind of hard half of a fruit shell that has water in it. I'm honestly really moved by her kindness and generosity lately, not to mention her bravery while saving me twice and her gall earlier while shouting at Snow.
"Thank you" I say before I bring the water to my lips and gulp it all down. She squats next to me and keeps her eyes out on the water and Finnick. Watching her look at Finnick made me remember a question that I'd thought of earlier during the panic, "Who's Annie?"
I know it's technically not my place, but Johanna knows him well and I don't know him at all. I thought for a moment that he and Peeta might have a spark between them, but if he has another love then that's out of the question.
"Annie Cresta. The girl Mags volunteered for. She won like four…five years ago." Johanna looks sad, and I wonder how long she's known these people. I remember hearing things about the girl that went a bit crazy during her games a few years back.
"Is she the one that went a little…"
"Mmm-hmm" Her face has softened and her mouth curves up just slightly when she looks at me, and she stares at me for a while. It's like she's thinking over their whole story, but isn't sure if she should tell me the entire thing. I try to coax her a bit, "So, how long have she and Finnick been together?"
Her lips tug up a smidgen more and she lowers her voice as she looks out at the water and speaks.
"Well, I guess technically they've been together since they were kids. Annie was an orphan that lived in the poorest sector of District 4. It's one of the better districts when you do a comparison between them all, but it still has rough spots. Especially for her. And Finnick was a fisherman's son, he said he was popular with the other kids because he was so good looking." Johanna pauses to roll her eyes and her smile now has a slight showing of teeth to it. She's beautiful, and I'm soaking up this interaction and trying to focus on the story she's telling me at the same time.
"Anyway, they became friends one day and they were inseparable. When he took her to his house, his parents asked her about her home life. She told them she didn't really have a home and lived in the shelter. Finnick's parents…were…very good people, so they decided to take her in."
She becomes solemn then, her hands reaching for a piece of fidgeting material from the sand.
"They grew up together like that, but one day when they were about 14 and 15 respectively, Finnick's father was supposedly in an accident on the water while he was out fishing. He died. Finnick's mom really grappled with raising them both, along with struggling from depression caused by his dad's death, and Finnick was told she had off'd herself."
I'm shocked at this revelation, and I realize that Finnick is definitely not who he portrays himself to be. I remain quiet in my awe and let her finish the story.
"They were poor after that, fighting to make ends meet for a few years with his dad's boat. That year Finnick was reaped for the 65th Hunger Games, and he knew that if he could pull it off and win, he and Annie would be set for life. So he worked his ass off to do it, and he did. When he won he announced that Annie was his lover, which meant that she could live with him and have half of the money that he got."
"Holy cow…so….?" They aren't really lovers? Is what I wanted to say, but I don't want to expose Finnick to whatever camera is watching us right now. My mouth hung slightly open while I took in all of this information.
It's like she knows exactly what I was going to say, "Nope. To top it off, Annie just so happened to get reaped five years later. She's so kind… and she witnessed a beheading before she won by chance when the other victors were all drowned. The capitol has had a monopoly on Finnick and Annie's pain their entire life."
I understand all of a sudden that we all probably have a dark past. In this world, with society set up the way it is. Nobody gets out without some trauma. Except for the capitol pigs. I feel the familiar urge crawl up within me to make them pay, to make them suffer like we have. I close my eyes for a moment while I squeeze my fists tight and grit my teeth, then I release it all with a sigh.
When I open my eyes, Johanna is looking at me. I can't read exactly what her facial expression is conveying, but she lets one corner of her mouth turn up before quietly saying "Just act as if I never told you anything, okay? It's not secret info but I think Finnick would rather not talk about it while we're here."
"Told me what?" I grin back at her, and she smiles wide before turning her head back forward and chuckling. I can feel my heart hitting my rib cage and it's like I'm struck dumb all of a sudden. In this moment, I can finally admit in my head that I have a bit of a crush on Johanna. She has a hard exterior, but she is so soft and warm inside. She's brave and strong, not to mention she can crush someone's skull in one swing. There's nothing I can do about it, I'm attracted to her more than just physically. She breaks me out of my revelation,
"So there you go, the story of Finnick and Annie. Star-crossed lovers, just like you and your fiance, right?" She gives me a pointed gaze, one that begs and dares for the truth.
Here we go, this is it. I want to drop some sort of hint to her that Peeta and I aren't together. I try to think of what I can say that could convey this without the cameras catching any underlying meaning. I'd also like to tell her that I think there's potential between Peeta and Finnick, but that would also get us in trouble.
Then an idea hit me. The cameras are strategically placed all over this arena, even in the form of insects and animals, but if we go closer to the water, there's a less likely chance that they will catch anything we say. Plus the water lapping up on shore is loud enough that it could help drown our words out if we speak quietly enough. I'm confident I can get my message across, even if it's vague.
"Do you want to go for a short walk down the beach with me?" I stand and brush my hands off on my thighs before offering one hand to her to help her up.
"S-Sure." She looks at me surprised, but she takes the offered hand and I pull gently while she moves to stand. Her hand is kind of rough and calloused, but smooth in the places in-between, and I linger with her hand in mine for a minuscule amount of time after she's stood up, before I let go.
Now that I've acknowledged my…feelings for her (I still struggle with thinking the words), it's difficult to stop the subconscious movements and actions that would bring me closer to her or touch her.
She brushed her sandy hand off before stepping towards the water, and I fell into the same walking pace next to her. We walked slowly along the water and away from the others, she on the right and I on the left next to the water. Once I felt like I knew what I was going to say, I looked towards the ground and kept my voice as low as possible.
"You know, it was originally Haymitch's idea that Peeta and I…form a relationship." I put emphasis on the word form, hoping she will catch on. I keep my head down so my mouth isn't as easily seen. "He thought we had the ability to..pull it off..and be a good couple. Peeta also thought it was a good idea."
I dart my eyes towards her to check for any reaction, but there wasn't really one. Just her eyebrows knitted together slightly while she looked at the ground as well, so I kept going.
"Our relationship really helped us get through our games, and we decided to stay together for the rough times ahead. Haymitch, Effie, Peeta, and I are all an even closer family this time around. They definitely breathe down our necks like parents do."
'I must sound like a complete lunatic right now, with the fluctuation of emphasis in my words all over the place. Please let her understand what I'm trying to say.'
"I see…well I'm truly sorry that you two will never get to utter your mushy 'I do' 's to each other." I look at her and she has a bright smile on her face, which is even more illuminated by the fake setting sun to my left. Her eyes are full of mirth and delight, and I feel it too. I can tell that she got the gist of what I was saying, and her mood after getting it is infectious.
I try to stay calm and not seem too pleased with myself or our (supposed to be) darker conversation. "Thank you for your apology, but it's okay. I'm not sure I would have made a good wife anyway heh." I chuckle a little at the end, and when I look up, her smile has faded fast.
She doesn't look at me again for a while, and the last thing she says before continuing our walk is "Love is weird."
We have turned around and are walking back to the others, which we do without talking again. However, when we are halfway back, I'm jerked out of my thoughts by her hand lightly brushing against mine. I don't acknowledge it or act like anything has happened with my body language. Yet, I return the gesture as inconspicuously as I can, and we have a sort of secret flirting session with our hands until we get to the others and separate. I find that I'm disappointed that we had to part.
Everyone still looks pretty tired and hurt, and I scold myself for my behavior and thoughts as of late, 'What am I thinking? What will happen when it's time for one of us to die?! This is a very dangerous game to be playing with my feelings. I can't focus on this right now anyway, I need to focus on these games. Get it together!'
Beetee breaks me out of my self-admonishment, "I have a plan."
Johanna calls Finnick from the water and we all gather around to discuss Beetee's plan. "Where do our enemies feel safest? The jungle?"
Johanna is sure to speak up quickly, "The jungle's a nightmare."
Before Beetee can respond, Peeta offers an actual answer, "Probably here on the beach."
"Then why are they not here?" Beetee adjusts his glasses, and I find myself wishing that Wiress was here to help with the thinking.
"Because we are, we claimed it." Johanna has a look of defiance as she cocks her hip to one side.
"And if we left, they would come?" Beetee looks at everyone then for confirmation.
Finnick finally says "Or stay hidden in the treeline."
Beetee grins a little, "Which in just over four hours will be soaked with water from the ten o'clock wave. And what happens at midnight?"
I answer first, "Lightning strikes that tree."
He nods, "Here's what I propose. We leave the beach at dusk, we head to the lightning tree. That should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire from the tree to the water. Anyone in the water or on the damp sand will be electrocuted." Beetee looks proud of his plan, and I have to admit, it's pretty clever. There are some questions about the process of course.
Johanna is the first to voice her concerns, "How do we know the wire's not gonna burn up?"
"Because I invented it. I assure you, it won't burn up." After he says this, we all look around at each other, mulling it over. I notice that Johanna and Finnick share an extended look, almost like they're trying to communicate without talking. 'I wonder what it is they aren't sharing…'
"Well it's better than hunting them down." Johanna breaks their mental conversation to come back to the real conversation.
I can't think of any serious holes in Beetee's plan other than the fact that you can't always predict how your prey will move. There aren't many other options though, "Yeah, why not? If it fails, no harm done anyway, right?"
My acceptance of the plan puts Peeta at ease and he gives his input, "Alright, I say we try it."
Finnick looks back to Beetee before asking "So what can we do to help?"
"Keep me alive for the next six hours. That would be extremely helpful."
Everyone nods their heads in understanding before dispersing for a one hour break.
During this break I sit with Peeta while Johanna and Beetee have a private conversation a ways away from us. I can feel myself start to fall into a tiny panic when I think about what happens after we've killed the enemies, and there's only allies left. I'm also very curious as to what Johanna and him are discussing.
Peeta breaks me out of my reverie by asking "You okay?"
I think about that for a moment. 'Am I okay? It feels like the end of these games are coming closer and closer at too fast a speed. What can we do to avoid a nightmare ending?'
"I think we need to go." I say with as much conviction as I can muster. I don't want to leave the others, but I can't bear the thought of killing them to save ourselves. I've grown to care about them too much. The nightmare I had in which Johanna killed Peeta flashes through my mind.
"This plan's gonna work." He says this like he's trying to convince me, but that's not the problem.
"I think so, too. And once the Careers are dead, we both know what happens next. I don't wanna be the one that shoots first." I plead with my eyes for him to sympathize with my fear.
He shakes his head and looks at me, "Well, what if they don't either? What if all of us refuse to shoot first?"
I consider this for a second. If we all decided not to kill each other, they would just send out some deadly creature or obstacle until all but one of us was dead. "We might still end up dead." I say while trying not to let the depression set in.
"Maybe not. I mean, it worked for us last time." He looks at me and he has a soft expression on his face. I'm getting a little frustrated by his argumentative take on this situation.
"They're not gonna make that same mistake again. You know and I know there's only one person walking out of here, and it's gonna be one of us." Unlike his soft expression, mine is stern and unyielding.
He looks out at the water with a frown, then drops his view to the sand. "The Careers are still out there. We should stick with these guys till midnight, and if we hear a cannon, we go."
He makes a good point, and it's definitely doable. I'm still bearing in mind what he's said when I look up at Beetee and Johanna on the beach talking. She's jabbing her axe into the sand while she speaks, looking out at the water. Beetee is sitting on the coil next to her. It's starting to get dim outside but I can still make out all of her dark features. 'A few more hours with her and the others wouldn't be awful. This is a good way to make sure she stays alive too until we have to leave.'
I don't respond to Peeta verbally, but instead just shake my head yes.
He then looks at me with serious eyes, "Katniss, I don't know what kinda deals you made with Haymitch, but he made me promises, too." I'm surprised that he knew something of the promise I made with Haymitch. He takes the rectangular gold necklace that Effie gave him off of his neck, and opens it in front of me. Inside is a picture of Gale, my mother and Prim.
"If you die and I live, I'd have nothing. Nobody else that I care about. But it's different for you. Your family needs you." He hands me the necklace and smiles a little. "You have to live, for them."
I'm taken aback that he would say something like that when I was under the impression that his family was okay. While we were doing the tour of the districts he shouted at me "Well I have family too, okay?! People that I have to protect." So why all of a sudden is he saying that he would have nothing?
'Is he just saying that his family doesn't need him so he wouldn't have anything… to take care of? Yet he said 'nobody else that he cares about'. But I know that Peeta cares about his family.'
When I look at the pictures in the necklace I realize that he must mean romantically. He thinks that if he dies, I will end up with Gale. I internally roll my eyes a bit at all of this. I don't want to be with Peeta or Gale. They're both like brothers to me. I'm kind of angered by his little speech where he acts like his life means nothing without me.
"What about you?" I ask with furrowed brows.
"Nobody needs me." He smiles forlornly at this.
"Tsk. How can you say that Peeta? We don't need people in our lives because they provide some usefulness or fulfill some job. We need people because of the connections that we have with them. Those connections bond us together and make us just that much stronger. What about Haymitch, Effie, your parents and brothers? There are also a ton of people out there who you haven't even met yet. People that could all really benefit from the help of your bond and become stronger in this fucked up world because of it." I grab his hand and look him right in his eyes as I keep my voice low on the next part. "You don't know that you'll never care about anyone else again. You can't say that. One day you could meet someone perfect for you, maybe you already have and you just don't know it." I glance at Finnick by the jungle line for a second before continuing. "If on the off chance that we do both make it out of here alive, I will support you no matter who you choose to be with." I smile encouragingly before letting go of his hand.
He looks like he might start crying, and I can tell that he's let down by my obvious words of romantic rejection. Then he looks towards where I glanced while speaking and he appears to become confused, but I can see some blood coming to his cheeks while he considers my hidden meaning. I'm relieved when he eventually looks back up at me again and says "Thank you, Katniss. I'm really glad that I met you. I'm sorry for making it seem like you were the only person in the world that would make my life worth living. That's a lot of pressure to put on someone emotionally, and it wasn't fair; I apologize."
I'm blown away by his emotional maturity at this moment, and I feel like I've finally achieved a place of understanding with him.
He continues talking, "I also want you to know that I will support you no matter who you choose to be with." And with that he turns and sends his eyes to Johanna for a moment so I know who he's referring to.
I blush a little before responding, "Apology accepted, I'm really glad I met you too Peeta, and I treasure our family bond." I grab his hand again and squeeze it while we both smile and let out a soft laugh of relief that the dramatic moment was over.
Right then a voice chimes through the air loud enough for everyone in the group to hear, "All right, lovebirds!" It's Johanna and she's fidgeting with her axe in her right hand while slowly pacing behind Beetee. Finnick is up where they are too and they're all looking at us. She seems slightly irritated and I can't help the grin that comes to my face that I attempt to hide with my hand.
"Come on, let's go before Johanna chops us up with her axe." Peeta says with mirth and we both go to stand. I have to push out the intrusive thought of the dream I had a few days ago where that did happen, before brushing the sand off my hands and walking towards the group. 'I can't let that happen. I won't let it happen.'