The Name of the Game I Finnick Odair

The Fog and the Monkeys

A few hours later Kenzie found herself jarred from sleep by what seemed to be the tolling of a bell.

 Bong! Bong!

It reminded her of the one they rang at the beach if someone needed a lifeguard. She woke up with a gasp, having had another nightmare. She instantly sat up, feeling attentiveness wash over her. Finnick and Katniss seemed to feel that too, however Peeta simply slept through it. Finally, the tolling stopped.

"I counted twelve." Finnick informed the brunettes.

Katniss nodded, whereas Kenzie only shrugged. She wondered if that meant something, as did Katniss, who voiced this question out loud.

The Turner girl could only shrug again, "One ring for each district? I don't know."

The trio waited for further instructions, maybe a message from Claudius Templesmith. An invitation to a feast maybe, but nothing. The only thing appearing in the distance was a dazzling bolt of electricity, which stroke a towering tree. And then a lightning storm began. Kenzie figured it was an indication of rain, but she didn't really care about that much. She was way too tired and exhausted to think.

Katniss urged both Finnick and Mackenzie on to sleep and without any hesitation Kenzie laid down again. Finnick had hesitated, however his tiredness won over, as no one could stay awake for that long. He settled down on the mouth of the hut, gripping his trident, before he drifted into a restless sleep. The female tribute from District Four wasn't as lucky, having trouble falling asleep. Only once the pouring rain stopped she felt comfortable enough to sleep, however the sound of a cannon startled her awake once again. Her heart contracted in pain, thinking of who had died now. She hoped it wasn't Johanna.

All of sudden she noticed fog sliding softly over to them, weaving through the trees. Kenzie realized it wasn't natural quickly. She couldn't pretend she had seen a lot of fog at home, but this fog was moving way too uniform and steady. Nothing in the world, especially in the nature, was this perfect and predictable. She jumped up in panic, as that could only mean the fog was a mutt, and Katniss and her tried to wake the others. In the few seconds that took they started to blister. It felt like tiny, searing stabs everywhere the droplets of mist touched Kenzie's skin.

"Run!" Katniss screamed. "Run!"

Finnick snapped awake instantly, rising to counter an enemy, but when he saw the wall of fog, he grabbed Kenzie's hand and they took off. They were followed by Katniss, who propelled Peeta through the jungle after them.

"What is it? What is it?" Peeta asked in bewilderment, not quite awake yet either.

"Some kind of fog. Poisonous gas. Hurry, Peeta!" she urged him on.

Kenzie noticed that however often he'd denied it during the day, the afteraffects of hitting the force field had been significant. Peeta was very slow. And the tangle of vines and undergrowth, which unbalanced her occasionally, made Peeta trip at every step.

"Finnick," Kenzie called breathlessly. "Peeta's struggling."

She had the urge to run back and help Peeta, however she couldn't do much more than Katniss already did and that would only make things harder. Instead, the only thing Finnick and her did was shout encouragement, trying to move the couple along.

All of sudden, Peeta fell forward before Katniss could catch him. Kenzie could not fight her instinct this time and she ran back for Peeta. Not wasting any time, she grabbed hold of the boy and hauled him along. The Girl on Fire wedged her shoulder under her partner's arm and tried her best to keep up with Kenzie's rapid pace as they followed Finnick through the jungle. They put about ten metres between the fog and themselves when Finnick stopped them.