Luce stopped short as she came up to them and stared in horror as she saw they were drenched in what looked like blood.
"We were all the way deep in the jungle where I thought it was going to be safe." Johanna started to explain as Katniss and Peeta joined them, "That's when the rain started.."
Looking out towards the water Luce saw Wiress standing in the water as Beetee washed himself off.
"I thought it was water, turned out to be blood. Hot. Thick. Blood." She finished just as Wiress came over mumbling 'Tick Tock' over and over. "It was coming down" Johanna started again, talking over her and shoving her out of the way, "It was choking us! We were stumbling around gagging on it blind!" Wiress' mumbling started to get louder, worrying Luce and Katniss.
"That's when Blight hit the forcefield." She paused to take a few calming breaths. "He wasn't much but he was from home." Once done explaining she started to feel a bit more calm, although Wiress wasn't exactly helping her to stay that way.
"What's wrong with her?" Katniss finally asked while Luce moved to give Johanna a hug, glad that she was ok.
Beetee went on to explain that she was in shock and that their dehydration wasn't helping. Katniss offered to get them fresh water while Johanna began to lose her temper with Wiress. Luce took a few steps back feeling like Johanna was ready to explode.
"Listen..Stop it!" Johanna yelled at Wiress who grabbed at her and she was trying to make her let go. Katniss ran to Wiress' aid just as she was pushed to the ground, and shoved Johanna back. "Hey!" Johanna shouted as they started to get into a fight. Luce and Peeta watched as Finnick then stepped in-between them to break up the fight.
"I got them out for you!" Johanna shouted again as Finnick dragged her over to the water to calm her down again and get her cleaned up. Luce only sighed as she went over to Beetee, thankful that he wasn't trying to get involved.
Beetee simply nodded at her in a silent agreement about the situation and went back to the shore to try and dry off. Luce then watched as Katniss took Wiress into the water to help her get the blood off of her. She decided to head back to shore as well not wanting to be near all of the drama going on and helped Beetee wipre off the coil he had gotten from the Cornucopia.
Once Johanna was calm enough she finished washing herself off before cleaning off her weapon. Luce could see that she was still a bit agitated as she talked with Katniss from a distance, so it was no surprise that she stomped out of the water when Wiress started saying 'Tick Tock' again. Johanna sat next to Luce and mumbled angrily to herself. Luce only smiled and gave her a pat on the back earning herself a small chuckle from the angry girl.
Luce sat up straighter though when the same lightning from the night before had appeared again and struck the tree. She looked over at Finnick and could see that he was just ignoring it and continued to talk to Peeta.
"It's a clock!" She turned hearing what Katniss said, giving her attention over to them questioningly. "Wiress your a genius!" Katniss shouted as the two made their way back to the shore to share the newly discovered information.
"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, then the monkeys. That's the first four hours." Katniss explained to them all as they walked back toward the Cornucopia to get some supplies.
"At ten, that big wave hits from over there." She pointed to where they had seen the giant wave from earlier that killed one of the tributes.
"Wiress, your a genius." Finnick said as he walked past her with Luce. She only smiled in reply.
"The tail points at twelve." Peeta said as he started to understand it all. "That's where the lighting strikes at noon and midnight." Katniss added. They all gathered around in a circle as they started to come up with a plan.
Luce glanced over at Wiress to see her crouched by the water, reciting a verse of Hickory Dickory Dock. Peeta took his machete and started to draw in the ground a version of the clock. "So twelve to one, lightning. Then one to two is blood. Then fog, and then monkeys."
Wiress continued singing her rhyme bringing Luce to get distracted from the main conversation and as she looked over to the woman again, she gasped loudly causing everyone to look over. Gloss was Wiress and had just stabbed her, Katniss' reflex took over and was quick to shoot one of her arrow's into his chest, watching his body fall into the water. Cashmere then ran up behind them. Johanna shoved Katniss out of the way and drove her axe into Cashmere's chest, knocking her down onto the ground.
It didn't take long for Luce to realize what was happening and grabbed for one of her daggers as another of the career tribute's charged towards them and started to fight Finnick. When he ran off, Peeta tried to go after him but was stopped by Finnick. Katniss ran past him though and went to chase after him herself. Luce followed after her knowing she could get hurt and that it would ruin the whole giant plan Haymitch had told them about.
That's when a rumbling sounded and she stumbled forward, the giant rock the Cornucopia was on starting to move. Looking up she noticed that it was beginning to spin so she held on as tight as she could as it continued to spin faster and faster.
She tried to see where Finnick was but couldn't find him and began to panic. Boxes and weapons were flying out of the center and into the water. Luce had barely missed a sword to the head but wasn't fast enough to dodge one of the boxes. She felt it hit the back of her head before seeing nothing but darkness.
All she could hear was shouting as she regained consciousness and noticed that the spinning had stopped. Finnick was lightly tapping her cheek to get her to wake up, and when he saw her eyes begin to open he let out a heavy sigh of relief and gently helped her up. He guided her over to the others who were on the opposite side of the Cornucopia, where Katniss was climbing out of the water, no doubt knocked in by the spinning that had just occured.
"Let's just get what we need and get off the bloody island!" Johanna shouted as she took off toward Beetee to help him with anything he might need. Luce watched Peeta help Katniss to her feet and back to the beach. Finnick offered the same help to Luce who could feel a splitting headache take over.
She rubbed at her head to make the throbbing go away, wincing everytime she hit a sore spot. She was at least glad there had been no blood from the impact, meaning it wasn't as serious. If anything it would just turn into a small bump on her head.
"So beside Brutus and Enobaria, who is left?" Katniss asked as they all took refuge under a few low hanging branches providing some shelter from the scorching sun.
"Maybe Chaff, just those three." Peeta answered.
"They know they're outnumbered now, I doubt they would attack again. We're safe here on the beach." Finnick said right after.
"So what do we do, hunt them down?" Johanna asked, but before an answer could be given a sudden scream was heard followed by a 'Katniss help me!'
Everyone quickly looked to Katniss to see her looking scared and panicked. "Primm! Primm!" She yelled before running off toward the source of the screaming. Everyone took off after her, Finnick yelling at her to wait. Luce was right behind her trying to reach out and grab her, to get her to stop. But she continued yelling for someone named Primm. Luce finally managed to get her to stop, but Katniss continued to shout for the girl. She watched with worry before Katniss finally was able to spot what was making the noise and shot down a bird, the scream cut off. A Jabberjay. Luce watched the bird fall to the ground before looking back at Katniss.
Luce tried to give a questioning look, to ask if she was ok. But before she could another sound was heard. This time it was a sound she was all too familiar with, the sound of teens screaming and pleading for mercy. Luce's eyes widened and she took off further into the jungle trying to block out the noises as she clamped her hands over her ears. Screams that she heard almost every night in her nightmares. And now it was following her. Katniss chased after her to try and explain that none of it was real.
"Luce it's just a Jabberjay, it's not real!" She tried to explain to Luce, gently taking her hands and holding onto them. But Luce refused to listen as her face scrunched up in pain and fear. Her breathing heavy as her eyes scanned the area, shaking her head back and forth. She knew about Jabberjay's, how they were birds that copied what they heard. That's when more appeared seemingly out of nowhere. More voices screaming at her. Katniss ducked to avoid them as they began to fly low, diving over their heads. Putting a hand on Luce she tried to drag them away and back toward the beach.
The birds continued as they followed the two girls running to safety. Making them have to duck every few seconds as they continued to fly low around them. The screams seeming to grow louder.
Finnick and the others came into view and ran towards them to help, but was stopped by what seemed to be another invisible wall. This time it wasn't keeping the danger out, it was keeping them in. Finnick pounded against the invisible force, trying to get Luce to look at him while Peeta attempted to do the same to Katniss, who started to cry as well hearing the screams of her sister overwhelm her. Both covered their ears to block it out the best they could. Luce lowered herself to the ground and curled up, as it was the only thing she could do to try and keep the voices out as they shouted and begged. Screaming bloody murder. She was trapped in her own nightmare. A nightmare she felt would never end.