I'll Be Beside You (Sequel to I'll Be Watching You)

This Place About To Blow

BROOKE POV

Cato let go of my arm and I walked away from the group. The coil was much heavier than it looked and it weighed me down as Johanna walked in front of me. We weren't that far from the beach but far away from the rest of the group.

"Can we move it along? I want to get as far away from the beach as possible. Frying is not how I wanna go."

I kept on walking but the wire pulled tight. I couldn't walk any further.

"There's something caught on the line."

I tugged and tugged. The wire finally broke and I readied my knives when Brutus and Enobaria rounded the corner. Next thing, I felt a force across the back of my head and Johanna was crawling on top of me. She unsheathed a knife and pain ripped through me as she cut my forearm open. I couldn't help but scream as she swiped blood onto my neck.

"Shush! Stay down."

Brutus and Enobaria were closing in as Johanna threw her only axe at them. I stayed down and stayed quiet as she ran away from the Careers. They started to chase after her, stopping for a second to look over me.

"She's pregnant. There's no way that she's okay. Just leave her."

They ran away from me, their footsteps disappearing into the distance. Still feeling a little woozy from the loss of blood, I tried to stand and stumbled back the way I came to find the others. I brushed a few branches out of my face to see Beetee flying backwards from the tree, sparks flying. I ran towards him, ignoring the searing pain in my arm as he twitched from the electric shock. He lay still as I looked around for anything. I slowly stood up and unsheathed an arrow from my quiver, loading it onto my bow.

"Brooke!"

Finnick slowly came into view out of the jungle. As soon as he saw the arrow in my hands, he stopped and raised one hand. His eyes widened and I could see the moisture glistening on his tan skin in the moonlight. He took a slow step towards me, one wrong move and it's done. My arrow was aimed straight for his heart and he knew it. He looked up at the sky before locking eyes with mine.

"Brooke, remember who the real enemy is."

The sky lit up and I looked straight above my head. The lightning was coming, it was almost midnight. Finnick looked up as well.

"Brooke! Get away from that tree! You'll be shocked!"

I didn't listen. Instead I grabbed the wire sitting near my feet and wrapped it around my arrow. Finnick looked terrified and started to walk faster towards me. The sky lit up once more and I could hear the sound of the arena powering up. Standing my ground, I still aimed my arrow at Finnick's chest. I had timed it perfectly. Blinding white light lit up the clearing around the lightning tree and I moved my arrow to aim at the sky, letting my arrow fly. Sparks flew and I was thrown forwards by the force of the strike. I landed on my back and watched as my arrow hit the dome and electrified everything in range. My life flashed before my eyes as the arena blew out around me.

Mother. Pepper. Gale and Katniss.
Cato and our child.

Then there was nothing....