The Name of the Game I Finnick Odair

Silent Canaries

Kenzie could almost see the hands ticking around the twelve-sectioned face of the arena. Each hour began a new horror, a new Gamemaker weapon, and ended the previous. Lightning, blood rain, fog, monkeys – those were the first four hours on the clock. And at ten, the wave. Kenzie had no idea what happened in the other seven, but she knew for sure that Wiress was right.

At present, the blood rain was falling and the group was on the beach below the monkey segment, far too close to the fog for Kenzie's likening. Who knew if the various attacks would stay in the confines of the jungle? The wave didn't. If that fog would leach out of the jungle, or if the monkeys would return... Kenzie didn't want to finish that thought.

"Wake up!" Kenzie ordered, shaking Finnick and Katniss awake before moving onto Peeta and Johanna. "Get up! We have to move."

There was enough time to explain the clock theory to them, though, but Kenzie was better safe than sorry. She told them about Wiress' tick-tocking and how the movements of the invisible hand triggered a deadly force in each section.

Kenzie was pretty sure she'd convinced everyone who was conscious, so everyone collected their few possessions and got Beetee back into his jumpsuit, while Katniss roused Wiress. The Girl on Fire informed her that Kenzie had realized that the arena was a clock and that Wiress had been right, as Kenzie gave the older woman the woven bowl filled with water. Wiress gulped down some water and Finnick gave her the last bits of bread, which she gnawed on hungrily.

Beetee was still pretty out of it, but when Peeta tried to lift him, he objected, "Wire."

"She's right here." Peeta reassured him. "Wiress is fine. She's coming, too."

But Beetee still struggled, repeating "Wire".

"Oh, I know what he wants." Johanna said impatiently, crossing the beach and picking up the cylinder Katniss had taken from Beetee's belt when they had bathed him. It was coated in a thick layer of congealed blood. "This worthless thing. It's some kind of wire or something. That's how he got cut. Running up to the Cornucopia to get this. I don't know what kind of weapon it's supposed to be. I guess you could pull off a piece and use it as a garrotte or something. But really, can you imagine Beetee garrotting somebody?"

"He won his Games with wire. Setting up that electrical trap," Peeta reminded her. "It's the best weapon he could have."

Kenzie frowned slightly, annoyed that Johanna was so careless and giving so much away. It didn't surprise her when Katniss glared at Johanna in suspicion, and it wouldn't shock Kenzie when Katniss and Peeta were going to find out about the plan because Johanna couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Seems like you'd have figured that out," Katniss spoke up coldly. There was a tense atmosphere on the beach now. "Since you nicknamed him Volts and all."

Johanna's eyes narrowed at Katniss dangerously. "Yeah, that was really stupid of me, wasn't it? I guess I must have been distracted by keeping your little friends alive. While you were... what again? Enjoying your time with your squad of protectors?"

Instantly Kenzie could see Katniss' fingers tightening on the knife handle at her belt. It didn't go unnoticed by Johanna either.

"Go ahead. Try it. I don't care if you are knocked up, I'll rip your throat out." she threatened, causing Kenzie to step between them.

"Yeah, how about we don't?" Kenzie asked, worry etched on her face.

"Maybe we all had better be careful where we step." added Finnick, shooting Katniss a look. He took the coil and set it on Beetee's chest. "There's your wire, Volts. Watch where you plug it."