The Name of the Game I Finnick Odair

Lose Ends

The anthem began, but there were no faces in the sky. Kenzie knew the audience would be restless, thirsting for blood. Beetee's trap held enough promise, though, that the Gamemakers hadn't sent in other attacks.

At what Finnick and Katniss judged to be about nine, the group left their shell-strewn camp, crossed to the twelve o'clock beach, and began to quietly hike up to the lightning tree in the light of the moon. Their full stomachs made them more uncomfortable and breathless than they had been on the morning's climb. Kenzie didn't regret anything though.

Beetee asked Finnick to assist him, while the rest of them stood guard. Before he even attached any wire to the tree, Beetee unrolled metres and metres of the stuff. Finnick secured it tightly around a broken branch and laid it on the ground. Then Finnick and Beetee stood on either side of the tree, passing the spool back and forth as they wrapped the wire around and around the trunk. At first it seemed arbitrary, however then Kenzie saw a pattern, like an intricate maze, appearing in the moonlight on Beetee's side. For a moment she wondered if it made any difference how the wire was placed, or if it was merely to add speculation of the audience. Kenzie bet most of them knew as much about electricity as she did.

The work on the trunk was completed just as Kenzie heard the wave begin. She had managed to work out at what point in the ten o'clock hour it erupted. There had been some build-up, then the wave itself, then the aftermath of the flooding. The Turner girl knew how long something like that took, especially since she had spent days in The Marshes and timing was everything there.

She knew it was about ten-thirty, which was when Beetee revealed the rest of the plan. Since the girls moved most swiftly through the trees, he wanted them to take the coil down through the jungle, unwinding the wire as they went. They were to lay it across the twelve o'clock beach and to drop the metal spool, with whatever was left, deep into the water, making sure it sank. Then they were supposed to run for the jungle. If they went now, right now, they should've made it to safety.

"I want to go with them as a guard." Peeta said immediately, which didn't seem to surprise Katniss at all.

"You're too slow. Besides, I'll need you on this end. Kenzie will guard." said Beetee. "There's no time to debate this. I'm sorry. If the girls are to get out of there alive, they need to move now."

He handed the coil to Johanna, while Kenzie ruffled Finnick's hair with a teasing smile on her face.

"It's OK," Katniss told Peeta. "We'll just drop the coil and come straight back up."

"Not into the lightning zone," Beetee reminded her. "Head for the tree in the one-to-two-o'clock sector. If you find you're running out of time, move over one more. Don't even think about going back on the beach, though, until I can assess the damage."

Kenzie watched as Katniss reassured Peeta, giving him a kiss before she herself wrapped Finnick in a hug. He kissed her forehead, making her smile warmly.

Without further discussion, the three girls headed down the slope. In fact there was little discussion between them at all. They moved at a pretty good clip, one manning the coil, one keeping watch and the other cutting leaves and such out of the way. About halfway down they heard the clicking beginning to rise, indicating it was eleven.

"Better hurry." Johanna spoke up. "I want to put a lot of distance between me and that water before the lightning hits. Just in case Vol-"

"Beetee."

Johanna sighed in annoyance, "Just in case Beetee miscalculated something."

"Yeah," Kenzie agreed. "Frying is not how I want to go."