Wild Card || Levi x Reader

eight - when I've conquered my fears

Chapter warning for anxiety and a bit of a panic attack. Because fuck snakes lmao

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Hissing. And lots of it.

Snakes. Motherfucking snakes. You can handle bears, you can handle bats, you can handle whatever else the Capitol decides to unleash- everything except for goddamn snakes. Why the hell are they putting out snakes?

You notch an arrow, trying to stop your hands from shaking. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," you whisper under your breath. 

"You have snakes in District 12?" Levi murmurs, eyes scanning the grass. 

"Some," you choke out. 

He glances at you, picking up on your panicked tone. The grass is moving ahead of you. You feel like you're going to hyperventilate.

Levi's fingers close on the back of your shirt, and he tugs you gently, a sign to move backwards. The two of you take slow steps back towards the river, your shoes sinking into the damp ground on the riverbank. He stops you at the river's edge with a hand flat on your back, and you pause, arrow still in place and ready to go as soon as you pull your hand back.

Slowly, the grass parts ahead of you, and a snake's head pops out. Immediately, you draw your arrow back, ready to fire, but more movement in the grass makes you pause. Another snake emerges, and then another, and...

It's a fucking flood of them. There's too many greenish black snakes to count, piled on top of each other as they slither out of the longer grass, making their presence known.

Fuck. You could unload every arrow in your quiver and it wouldn't make a dent in the mass of writhing creatures in front of you. Your heart feels like it's in your throat and god, do you feel like breaking down and crying.

What a fucking cruel coincidence. There's no way the Capitol knows how much you hate snakes; this was a damn lucky guess.

"Hey," Levi murmurs from beside you, his voice soft. "Twelve, stay with me."

"Trying," you hiss through gritted teeth. 

They're moving closer, but they're not attacking, which is the only thing keeping you on the precipice of sanity right now. Accepting defeat with your bow and arrow, you let your grip relax, removing the arrow and sliding it back into the quiver. With your bow still in one hand, you draw the knife that you've been keeping tied to your waist.

The snakes seem almost... curious. Like they're not about to attack you. They're weaving towards you slowly, tongues flicking out to taste the air.

Why aren't they attacking you? Come to think of it, the one earlier wasn't making a beeline for Levi- it was circling around him, like it was curious. Are they supposed to attack? Do they have another purpose?

There's a bloodcurdling scream, and you flinch violently. Levi's free hand goes to your arm, almost as if to steady you. Both of you look in the direction of the yell (several of the snakes seem to have turned their heads as well) and you hear another scream, then the pounding of footsteps.

Forty, maybe fifty feet down the river, someone comes flying out of the tree line and into the water. You and Levi stay frozen- you don't think you could move even if you wanted to- as a tribute stumbles into the river, crying out.

"The guy from District 7," Levi mutters next to you. 

Some of the snakes in front of you peel off, slithering towards the new disturbance, but there's still too many in front of you to even consider relaxing. "Get- get back!" you hear the tribute sputter, and you look back to the boy in the water. "Fuck! Get-"