Blaze

Tick Tock

I open my eyes slowly, adjusting to the light. The water glistened in the afternoon sun and I shielded my eyes against the glare. Peeta and I were bathed in shadows and upon looking up, I found a canopy of leaves and moss that were shrouding us from the burning sun.

I let my eyes trail downwards toward Finnick who was pulling his net out of the water. He must have expertly woven us the cover so our skin wouldn't burn and we could sleep peacefully. Glancing back at Peeta, a stern near grim look is on his face, eyebrows slopped downward, his lips forming a frown. I bite my lip and pray he isn't having a bad dream.

Standing up, I move out of the shade and catch sight of three woven baskets. Finnick has clearly been busy while we've been unconscious. Two of the bowls have water in them. The third has some sort of shellfish. I walk past it, even though I know I shouldn't drink some water, and head toward Finnick.

"Catch anything?" I ask him.

"You offend me." Finnick says lightly. "I always catch something." He continues, dragging the net back up. There's small fish flopping around in it. I try not to snicker. "They're just not very big." He mutters, picking one up and eating it whole, raw. I must have made a pretty disgusted face because he laughs.

"They're good. I would say you should try one but I wouldn't want you to choke." I shake my head at him.

"I'd rather have my fish cooked." Finnick rolled his eyes.

"These little guys would burn up in a fire." I laugh lightly. "Have you tried shellfish?" He asks me. I shake my head and he smiles. "Come on, they're great. A little slimy but you'll get over that if you're hungry enough." He says tossing the fish back into the water and dragging the empty net back up the beach as we head towards Peeta.

"I've never seen anything like this before." I tell Finnick honestly as I watch him crack open the hard shell against a rock.

"Lucky you. All we get in District 4 is seafood." He says stripping away the meat o not he inside of the shell and swallowing it as he did the fish. Does he even know how to chew?

"That's because it's your main export." I tell him as I copy his motion of banging the shell against a rock. "Ours is coal, can't eat that." Finnick laughs, his green eyes shinning. Finnick isn't a bad guy, I'm actually beginning to like him. It's hard to believe I wanted to kill him at some point during training. I chat even think about that now.

A small beeping sound interrupts our process of banging shells against rocks. I glance up and around at the jungle and the sky. Peeta is startled awake by the noise, probably because it's right above him. A parachute lands not five feet from him.

Peeta sits up and rubs his eyes, taking in the scene before him. I smile and wave lightly and watch as Finnick continues to eat from the corner of my eye. "Can you bring the parachute?" I ask him. Peeta nods and stands, grabbing it up and then come sits next to me in the sand. He holds it out to me but I gesture for him to open it.

"Bread." Peeta says and I can tell he wants to laugh as he holds it out.

"I think Haymitch is making fun of you." I said. We laugh but Finnick goes quiet first and I can see why. The bread has the green tint, a signature of District 4. He must miss home. I interpret it differently, Haymitch must want Finnick and I to be friends. I have no problem with that now.

We eat the fresh bread with the shellfish and it's one of the better meals we've had in the past couple of days. Full and satisfied, the three of us move back under the canopy Finnick had tied up. The sun will eventually shine on us, but not right now and it's hot, too hot. Just standing out in the sun makes it feel like your skin is burning.