Bang. Bang.
The cracks of gunfire rang through the air like thunderclaps in a storm. The sound of the shots was almost as loud as Peeta' yell.
"NO!" Peeta screamed.
Finnick could hear the terror in Peeta's voice. Hear the raw desperation as he screamed out.
He wasn't screaming for Katniss, Finnick was protecting her.
He wouldn't scream like that for Gale.
There was only one other person left that he'd scream out for.
And the thought of it made Finnick's blood run cold with dread. His heart lurched in his chest, a primal fear coursing through his veins. The realisation hit him like a physical blow. He felt the air rush out of his chest as if he'd been winded, and he couldn't suck in any other breath. The terrible certainty was making Finnick's mind race.
It was like a dagger to the heart.
Peeta was yelling for Taiya.
His new wife. His beloved wife. The only woman he'd ever be in love with. The woman he cherished above all else.
A surge of adrenaline hit Finnick, and he was able to snap himself out of his frozen panic. He spun away from Katniss in time to see Taiya collapse into the water.
"NO!" Finnick roared, racing towards her, ignoring all the chaos around him, that didn't matter anymore. His heart was pounding in his chest with every step. Was she dead? Was she alive? He didn't know, and the uncertainty tore at him like a knife.
As he reached the spot he saw her go down, Finnick threw himself into the water, plunging his hands into the liquid that was getting redder by the second until he felt her shoulders. He immediately grabbed onto her and pulled her up.
"Tay!" Finnick begged for a response as he brushed her hair out of her face.
He was fearing the worst until a small cough escaped her lips, followed by a splutter as she coughed up the water she had accidentally swallowed.
Relief flooded through every atom of Finnick's being, but it didn't ease the dread. He had no idea what had happened. "Oh thank god," Finnick exclaimed, his voice choking with emotion as he lifted her up higher.
The mutts were still paying the both of them no mind, and he was eternally grateful for that one small mercy.
Taiya's eyes fluttered open. "What the hell," she groaned, scrunching her eyes. "Finnick," she gasped, her voice barely above a whisper as her faster-than-normal breaths escaped her chest with a wheeze.
"What happened?" Finnick asked, his voice trembling with tears as he looked down at her wide, watery eyes, his heart was breaking at the sight of her.
Taiya shook her head in confusion. She wasn't quite sure what happened either, the adrenaline was pumping too hard. She wasn't feeling any pain, but she was crying. "I don't know," she raised her hand to her chest and pulled it back. It was covered in red. "Woah," her whole body quivered at the sight. She was bleeding. "Something hit me!" she began to panic as she looked around to try and see what could have hit her. As soon as her eyes landed on Gale, who was desperately trying to get past the mutts to reach them, she put two and two together. "That bitch shot me," she groaned, before her eyes rolled back and she passed out.
"Taiya! Taiya!" Finnick panicked. He didn't know what to do. "No, no, no, no, no," Finnick muttered to himself over and over. "No. You're ok. You're ok. You're going to be ok honey," he repeated over and over. He didn't know what to do. What was the survival rate for gunshot wounds to the chest? He had no idea. She needed a doctor. There were none. "Please wake up. Please wake up."
"Is she alive? Is she alive?" Gale finally reached them. "I didn't mean to. She ran in front of the mutt I was aiming for. Is she alive?"
"Please wake up," Finnick didn't even notice Gale arrive. He was staring at his wife's face. A face that was getting paler and paler by the second as the blood escaped her body.
"AH!" Gale screamed as a mutt got too close and dug its claw into his neck. Gale quickly shoved it off and shot it. Now he was bleeding as well.
Taiya was unconscious, but she was groaning as she tried to suck in breaths. She couldn't get a good breath of air. She'd been shot in the upper right chest.
Finnick felt as though he'd been shot too, right through the heart. He could feel it shattering in his chest. They were in the middle of a war. She needed a doctor. They had no doctor. His whole body felt as though it was breaking.
"We need to get her above ground. We can't stay down here," Gale yelled out as he shot at more mutts. "Let me help," he dropped down to his knees to try and pick Taiya up.
"Don't touch her!" Finnick screamed, his heart smacking against his ribcage. He wasn't letting her go.
Gale wasn't backing down though. "We have to get her to safety so we can treat her. If we stay here she'll bleed out. You're shaking, you can't carry her up the ladder. I'll get her up. I'll make it right."
"You stay away," Finnick shook his head, his tears were flowing freely, he didn't know if it was from despair or rage.
"We need to move! We don't have time! You cover, I'll get her up!"
Finnick glared at Gale with storms in his eyes. But then he relented and nodded. He had to get her out of there, he didn't care how it was done. She needed to get out and Gale was his best bet, unfortunately.
As soon as he got the nod, Gale was moving. He wasn't wasting time. They had to move. He immediately grabbed Taiya out of Finnick's arm and put her over his shoulder as he raced to the ladder. A mutt collapsed dead just beside them before it had even gotten close to Gale, he could trust Finnick to cover them.
Gale moved up that ladder faster than he'd ever moved in his life. As soon as he got up to the top, he crawled through and lowered Taiya to the ground. Before he could even look her over to see what damage he'd accidentally caused, he was flying backwards. Peeta had lunged forward and punched him.
Taiya had a mean punch, but Peeta's was stronger. All those years of flinging bags of flour around the bakery had built up the muscles to send Gale flying to land on his back.
"You shot her!" Peeta yelled as he threw himself on top of Gale. "You shot her!"
Pollux came to Gale's rescue and promptly ripped Peeta off.
"I'm sorry," Gale breathed. He really hadn't meant to.
Taiya wasn't worried about the mutts. For some reason, they weren't attacking her or Finnick. So when she went to run to the ladder, she took the most direct path, she hadn't checked her surroundings. She hadn't cared that mutts were lunging themselves at Gale, and she'd ended up in the crossfire. And now she'd been shot in the chest and Gale didn't know if she was going to make it. He could feel the short, raspy breaths that she'd been trying to take when he was carrying her. He felt the blood flowing out of her. It was his fault.
"Taiya," Peeta crawled over to the unconscious girl and looked her over. She was out cold.
It was just Finnick and Katniss left in the sewer. And Finnick was furious.
He saw a mutt speeding towards Katniss and impaled it with a scream. Letting out the anguish that had been building up in him.
"Go, go, go!" he ripped the girl up from the ground and shoved her towards the ladder. They were the only two left. But the mutts were still swarming in. And they were all charging at Katniss.
Finnick did his best to hold them off. All the ones that were entering their section, he was fending off, trying to give Katniss a free run at the ladder.
He glanced behind him to check where Katniss was. She was just about to get onto the ladder. She didn't see the mutt running up behind her.
"KATNISS!" Finnick yelled, throwing his trident away, sending it straight into the mutt. The mutt fell dead backwards into the water and left the girl free to clamber her way up the ladder.
Finnick took one step towards the ladder when he was knocked into the water. One of the mutts had charged past and bumped him out of the way as it tried to get to Katniss. He had to get that mutt. He had to get it before it got Katniss. He didn't have time to wait for his trident to dislodge and fly back to him. He needed to act now.
He reached down to his belt and pulled out a knife. Taiya had slipped one into his belt earlier when she'd hugged him before they went underground. She hadn't said anything, he thought she was trying to be inconspicuous. It was hard not to notice a new knife hanging off your hip though, but he'd humoured her nonetheless and pretended not to notice. It came in handy now though.
He threw himself onto the back of the mutt, plunging the knife into its head, killing it. Then he stood up and looked around.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. He couldn't count all of the new mutts that were coming in. He wouldn't be able to take them all on.
He had to get to the ladder.
He hauled himself up onto the metal grate pathway, killing one mutt that had beaten him up there. He'd just grabbed onto the ladder when he felt one of the mutts slam into him from behind. It was like it was trying to climb over the top of him to reach the ladder, its claws digging in as it tried to gain some momentum.
"Ah!" Finnick cried out with pain before he grabbed ahold of the mutt and hurled it into the water. He had to move fast. His wife needed him. His dying wife needed him.
And so he climbed.
He got halfway up when he felt the claws again. The claws of a mutt trying to climb over him. He had to get it off him. He threw it back in an attempt to dislodge it, but when it fell back, it didn't release its grip and it pulled him down with it.
He flew off the ladder.
"FINNICK!" Katniss screamed as she watched her friend fly down. His back smacked against the walkway and he landed in the water below.
That was going to hurt tomorrow.
Gasping, Finnick bounced back up and immediately clicked the button on his wrist cuff, summoning his trident to him.
The mutts were climbing the ladder. He wouldn't be able to get them all.
"Katniss! Katniss!" he yelled up at her, catching his trident as it slammed into his hand. "Use the holo!" He looked at the girl's face. "The holo! Drop it down! Blow it up!" he started backing towards the tunnel. "You need to blow them all up! Then run! Get her help! Please! BLOW IT UP!" he screamed. "I'll find you!" was the last thing he yelled out before he sprinted away.
The holo would blow up everything in a five-yard radius. He had to get somewhere safe. He had to get somewhere where he could find his way to the surface and try and reconnect with the squad.
He heard the explosion. The shock of it radiated around the underground tunnels, sending him flying off his feet.
He couldn't hear the screeches of the mutts anymore. The holo must've worked. But Finnick couldn't move. The shock had set in and he just lay there shaking as he stared up at the ceiling above him.
He'd left her. He promised her he wouldn't leave her. She needed him. He needed her.
He didn't know if she'd bled out. He didn't know if she could breathe.
He didn't know if the last memory he'd ever have of her, was her going limp in his arms as the blood flowed out of her wound. He didn't know if they'd be able to find her a doctor.
And that was torture. Not knowing was torture.
So he lay there in the dark and let out a sob.
ShiaraS46: Definitely onto something with the rainbow snakes! And that will come up