The Name of the Game I Finnick Odair

The Fear of Bears

❛ Got a feeling

You give me no choice

But it means a lot to me ❜

"What the hell is that thing?" Kenzie yelled, clinging to the tree with all her might. Her question was of course directed to her allies, Daisy and Thyme.

"It's a bear." Daisy shouted back, wincing as the bear growled loudly, still shaking the tree Kenzie was on, as if it could decipher the tributes' words.

The arena was not in Kenzie's favor, but it was certainly in the favor of her allies, who came from the Districts Eleven and Twelve. The arena was a forest, as Kenzie had learned, and seeing as it was spiked with mutts and blood thirsty Careers, the trio slept on tree branches. They had awoken to the animal starting to shake their tree, nearly causing Thyme to fall down and if he hadn't been experienced and quite strong this would've been his immediate death. Luckily, he had managed to catch himself and had quickly climbed onto another tree. Daisy had followed him and now it was Kenzie's turn, however much to her dismay and fear, it seemed as if bears were able to climb as well.

While the bear stuck its sharp claws into the tree and slowly began to climb up, Kenzie stared into the camera next to her on the tree. She was convinced that Finnick knew that her gaze was directed at him. If he hadn't convinced her not to jump off early she might've not been in this situation, but in all honesty she did feel proud of herself. It was the third day in the arena and she was still alive. She hadn't killed anyone either and she had quickly formed a good relationship with her allies, caring for them deeply.

She got pulled out of her thoughts when Daisy yelled at her to climb over, however Kenzie shook her head.

"The bear will follow us to the next tree! If I stay here you have time to escape." she reasoned, screaming when the mutt came closer, because that was when she first noticed that its teeth were unnaturally sharp and its eyes a glowing purple color.

"Don't be stupid!" Thyme shouted over the bear's growls, his voice a low yet powerful rumble.

Kenzie would forever feel sick for feeling this way, but she was incredibly glad when she saw the duo from District Six. They had been stupid enough to follow her screams, probably thinking her allies had turned on her and that they could take them down. As soon as they saw the bear the girl's eyes widened and she let out a panicked scream, causing the boy to hit her to silence her loud voice, but to no avail. The bear had heard her and quickly jumped down the tree, making it sway slightly. Kenzie held onto it tightly before adrenaline flowed through her veins. She had finally overcome her panicked and frozen state. Thyme handed her a long rope, which she put around her waist before she tied a tight loop knot. Luckily, she had always paid attention to knots at the academy, as this was one of her favorite things to do, so even this easy knot had managed to save her. Daisy and Thyme pulled her over to them, while she couldn't help but stare in horror at the scene below her.

The bear had just slashed open the girl's chest, growling even louder than before and yet it did not manage to block out the girl's screams. The boy was running away but the mutt, unbelievably fast, caught up with him and jumped at him, clawing at the boy in a wild, disturbing way. Kenzie couldn't help but cry silently, tears of horror streaming down her face, as the boy's body was ripped apart.

Once she had finally arrived at the other tree and once Thyme had secured all of them safely around it, Daisy pulled the girl in a hug, knowingly hiding the District Six tributes from Kenzie's sight, even if she could not block out the growls and sobs.

To the trio's relief, the mutt was satisfied with two victims and retreated deeper into the forest again. Yet the three of them stayed in the tree for a few minutes longer before hastily grabbing their stuff that had fallen onto the ground during the bear attack and making their way to another good hiding spot. The bear, the girl and overall the loud noises had surely attracted the other tributes, so they fled into the opposite way of which the mutt had disappeared to.

Despite Thyme and Daisy's protests Kenzie had left her spear behind, as it was now covered in blood. It had fallen down when the mutt had first started shaking the tree and had unluckily landed right where the girl was killed.

As a flock of murderous birds was occupying the air and any tree that was high enough to sleep on, the trio had decided that, even though it was dangerous, they would sleep on ground level, making a small circle of bushes to hide in.

"We'll just stay?" Thyme asked, frowning slightly. "We need to hunt for food."

Kenzie nodded in agreement, "You're right, but please let me just catch my breath first."

"You go to sleep, Mack," Daisy said kindly, using her special nickname for Kenzie. "Thyme and I'll go. We won't be gone for long."

It sounded weirdly suspicious and Kenzie was finding it hard to believe them, but she gave herself a jolt. She did know that Thyme was right and she did trust her allies, besides she truly needed a break. The adrenaline had long left her body, so she simply took the jacket Daisy gave her and put it onto the dirty mud, laying on top of it. She was incredibly exhausted from the mutt encounter. The images of the District Six tributes kept flashing through her head, causing her to shiver slightly. She had never felt so afraid of something. That bear was horrible and murderous and in that moment she vowed herself she would never see one again. The bear was still out there, though, and Kenzie felt panic surge through her again. Forcing herself to calm down again by taking deep breaths, closing her eyes and involuntary edging so close to one of the bushes that the leafs of it nearly hid her frame completely, she heard a familiar beeping sound.

She hadn't received any sponsor gifts so far, however she had watched the Games often enough to know what that meant. Reluctantly she moved out from her hiding place, picking up the parachute and opening the note. It said "Stop sabotaging yourself - F." and Kenzie couldn't help but shake her head in amusement, a small smile coming onto her face. She knew exactly what he meant by that and she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about offering to sacrifice herself so quickly. Now that she'd had the time to think the situation through she knew that she shouldn't have nearly thrown her life away so quickly. Seeing those people die in front of her really gave her a whole new perspective of life.

She gasped as she heard Thyme shout out in pain and instantly dropped to the floor, rolling into her hiding place again. Her sponsor gift was clutched in her hand as she looked through the leaves to see the Careers slaughtering and taunting her allies. She weeped quietly, closing her eyes and trembling heavily. This was quite frankly the worst day of her life. Maestro, the Career boy from District One, let out a loud laugh, while the others had satisfied grins on their faces as well. Maestro kicked Daisy's lifeless body one more time before the group walked away, in hopes of finding anyone else to kill. Kenzie felt sick to her stomach and as soon as she was sure the Careers were far enough away she threw up.

It was at least fifteen minutes later until she opened her sponsor gift, gasping quietly once she saw the beautiful ropes. Her mentor had sent her ropes, because he knew she didn't want to actually use proper weapons, but if she'd be able to trick the Careers into killing each other then maybe she had a good chance of surviving. Realizing that, the same determination Finnick had managed to give her after the reaping day filled her again. He really did give her no choice but to keep fighting.