The Sixty-Eighth Hunger Games

Chapter 14- FINNICK

I'll admit, I screamed when Addie slipped into the water. But it's not like I didn't see it coming.

I've mistrusted Nick ever since I saw him talking to Addie. I'd chalked it up to the fact that I didn't want him making moves on her because of my stupid... whatever that was. But when he said that he didn't care about what happened in the Games, well, based on his time in the training area, that wasn't entirely true. When Addie had told me how skilled he was with climbing, and when I saw his nine after the scoring, I'd thought that he wasn't telling her the whole story.

Turns out, I was right.

When he'd seen the hologram of Raina, he'd turned and left them to deal with her. That in itself should have been a pretty obvious signal. But obviously, although I noticed Addie's snark when they met up, Addie and James didn't pick up on it. I guess I can't blame them. They didn't see what I did.

The hologram that Nick saw was actually Addie. She'd been projected as an easy target, appearing that she had an injured leg and was seemingly running away from Raina. Nick had seized his chance and he'd taken her out, only to realize it was just a hologram. The problem, although Addie hadn't been harmed, was that he'd been altogether too willing to do it. I'm sure the Capitol is going to have a field day with this one.

During the night, I'd allowed myself to finally drift off to sleep, but when I awoke along with the tributes, nothing major had changed. With Aidan's death the day before, the Careers had slowly fallen apart. They've stayed on their own for a while now.

However, I did figure out where Brie got her grenade. Apparently, she's teamed up with the boy from Three. They make an interesting duo: the small, smart boy and the muscular, hotheaded girl. They've definitely provided some comedic relief for the crowd. They've gotten into mini arguments multiple times. It usually goes something like this:

Brie: "You're sure this won't randomly blow up and kill me?"

Art: "Well, it's supposed to blow up."

Brie: "Trust me, I know that. Question is, is it gonna blow up and kill me?"

Art: "No."

Brie: "Great. Any way to add sparkles?"

Art: "What?"

Brie: "I want them to get glitter-bombed right before they die."

Art: "Um..."

Needless to say, it's very amusing.

But now, I'm not amused at all. When Nick "slipped," I had a sneaking suspicion that he had really done it on purpose to knock Addie into the water. That suspicion was confirmed when he had next to no reaction to her fall.

On a tiny screen at the bottom left, Caesar Flickerman's yellow eyebrows are raised as he watches the giant screen that the Games are being played on. His mouth moves, but I have him muted. The feed quickly switches to a shot of the crowd, who look absolutely shocked. Annoyed at their looks of surprise, I switch that feed off.

Addie still hasn't come back up after bobbing underwater, and I unmute their video.

"Addie!" James screams. His hands are clenched into fists. "Addie! Come on!"

It hurts seeing him this distressed, just like it hurt when he ran towards those disgusting rats. Of all the things I've seen them throw at the tributes in the arena, that was by far one of the worst. The things were at least four feet tall, with nasty-looking fur and huge sharpened teeth, almost like elephant tusks. I actually had to turn away when they attacked Cal. I guess I'm just glad it wasn't my brother. Or Addie.

My eyes are glued to the screen, and so I barely notice when another video feed pops up, this one from an underwater camera, trained on Addie. Her body shakes and her eyes are wide open in surprise and her hair floats around her. Next to her, I can see that the bank of the lake doesn't gradually sink into the water, it's just a steep drop off. I wonder if the Gamemakers designed that on purpose.

Addie's head bobs above the water as she kicks with her legs and gasps for a breath. She's a strong swimmer, but she scrabbles at the edge of the water, trying to get a grip to pull herself out.

"James!" she gasps.

James holds out his hand, and I watch Nick's face. My hands clench as I realize that now would be the perfect time to "kill two birds with one stone." He could take out both James and Addie easily, all he would have to do is give James a little push. But he doesn't. He doesn't help either, but he doesn't harm James.

Addie tries to grab onto his hand, but she misses and falls back into the water. Heaving herself up again, she swings a second time. This time, I'm relieved as she's able to just barely grasp his fingertips. As I look at her hand, I notice that her fingers are turning blue already. That's not normal. I should know; I've experienced this exact thing before.

I was ten years old, and I'd gone out fishing with my friends. They'd convinced me that we should sneak out, borrow a boat, and then see if we could catch anything. But mostly, they just wanted to mess around. Well, the messing around ended in me falling off the boat into the chilled water.

Since we were the Careers-to-be from Section One, we'd had no idea what cold water could do to the human body, and being dumb preteens, we'd decided that it would be fun to swim around for a bit.

We anchored the boat, and played the typical games: sharks and minnows, marco polo, and we had a few races. We were having so much fun that we'd barely noticed when our muscles began to cramp from the cold. By pure luck, a late night fisherman had come by and yelled at us to, "Get outta the water, ya morons!"

When the fisherman dropped me off on my front porch dripping and wrapped in a blanket, I'd been so out of it from the cold that I barely remember what had happened after that. I have a vague memory of my parents being angry at me, and then becoming kinder as they realized that I was on the verge of hypothermia.

That was on a cool fall night, and I'd still gotten chilled. Compared to Addie's situation, mine shouldn't even count. But what I did learn from the experience is that hypothermia takes some time to set in, and Addie's fingers are a sign that something is definitely not normal.

Her hand slips from James' and she slides back underwater. She's starting to move slower, and what should have happened over the span of twenty or thirty minutes begins to happen in under three. The monitor to my left starts beeping rapidly as Addie's heart rate, tracked by the tracker in her arm, begins to slow, and a head shot of her frantic face shows me that her eyes are starting to become glassy and unfocused.

When I check the dial that shows next to the screen, I see that the water temperature is at fifteen degrees Fahrenheit, much lower than any normal body of water should be in this environment. The Gamemakers must be playing around with the temperature, trying to throw Addie for a loop, and it makes me want to punch Claudius Templesmith right in his perfect mustache.

Behind me, I hear the door open, and I don't turn around to see who it is, eyes still focused on the screens in front of me.

Addie kicks one last time and comes up for air, but she misses James hand entirely- it's not even close. When she slips back down again, she doesn't come back up. Unconscious, Addie's eyes stay open, pupils dilated, but she drifts with the current towards the cliff.

I can see what is happening, but James and Nick have no idea. They both scan the water, Nick with an almost hopeful expression on his face, and James' face filled with sadness.

On my screen, I see Addie's limp body slip over the edge of the waterfall.

A moment later, I hear a loud cannon fire.

Mags holds my hand in her wrinkled one.

I slam my fist into one of the monitors.

It shatters.

Jon wrestles me from the room.

This wasn't supposed to happen.