L O C K E D- Finnick Odair

TEN

《'°•~Chapter Ten~•°'》

FINNICK USES HIS trident to hunt for fish in the salty water. He hands me one, and I have no other option than to eat it raw. It's nothing like the fish in District Four or the Capitol, but it's the best we have, and I'm starving.

"Look, for you," Peeta says, handing Katniss a pearl from the shellfish he had just cut open.

She examines it in her fingers. This one was silver, different from the white ones that were on my dress only a few nights ago. "Thank you."

Finnick and I exchange looks, trying to hide a smile. Then there's screaming, and as we all stand up to identify it, trees from the other side of the arena begin to crumble, sending a large wave through the water. The wave hits the Cornucopia, slowing it down, but it still rushes all the way to us, swallowing our feet. There's a cannon, and the hovercraft picks up a body we do not know.

"Someone's here," Katniss warns us, quickly loading an arrow. The four of us creep behind the near bushes.

"Johanna?" I whisper, noticing it's her with Wiress and Beetee.

I start to run to them, and Finnick follows closely behind. "Johanna!" he shouts.

"Finnick? Emmeline!" She shouts back as she runs to us. Katniss and Peeta make their way to the group as she puts her arrow away.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" I ask, referring to the three of them all being drenched in red blood.

"We were all the way deep into the jungle where I thought it was going to be safe, but that's when the rain started," she explains furiously as Beetee and Wiress attempt to scrub their skin clean. "I thought it was water. Turns out to be blood! Hot, thick, blood."

Wiress approaches us, and there's something clearly wrong with her. "Tick-tock," she mutters with wide eyes.

Johanna continues. "It was choking us. We were stumbling around, gagging on it, blind."

"Tick-tock."

"-That's when Blight hit the force field. He wasn't much, but he was from home," she explains, referring to the man from her district.

"Tick-tock. Tick-tock."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's in shock," Beetee chimes in, taking off his glasses. "Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?"

"We can get some."

Wiress grabs onto Johanna, repeatedly saying, "Tick-tock. Tick-tock."

Johanna, frustrated, attempts to push her off. "Stop it!" She shoves her into the sand.

"Hey!" Katniss goes in between them. "Lay off her!"

Johanna and Katniss begin to cat fight. Peeta and Finnick separate them. "Hey! I got them out for you!" Johanna screeches.

"For me? What does that mean?" Katniss asks cluelessly, not realizing we can't get out of here without them.

"You did want them as allies," Peeta says. He's also clueless.

"Emmeline," Katniss says to get my attention. "Help me get her cleaned up."

I nod, grabbing Wiress's hand, pulling her into the water. She continues the tick-tock nonsense, and I try to keep myself from getting annoyed. We scrub the blood out of her hair. "What does Beetee have there?"

Johanna looks over to him as he holds some sort of cylinder in the sand. "The coil? It's some kind of wire."

"Did he get it from the Cornucopia?" I say, exiting the water.

"Yep, he took a knife in the back to get it."

I head over to Finnick, sitting next to him in the damp sand. As he's about to interwine his fingers with mine, the lightning strikes the tree once again. That's when it hits all of us.

The Arena is a clock.

Katniss explains to us as we walk to the center of the Cornucopia. "There's a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge. It all starts with the lightning, then the blood rain, the fog, the monkeys. That's the first four hours. Then that big wave hits from over there."

"Wiress, you're a genius."

"The tail points to twelve," Peeta says, referring to the end of the Cornucopia.

"That's where the lightning strikes, at noon and midnight," I say. "At that big tree."

"Good," says Beetee ominously.

Peeta draws a circle in the dark sand, and all of except Wiress crowd around. "So twelve to one, lightning. One to two is blood, then fog, then monkeys."

"Then ten to eleven is the wave," I point out.

"What about you guys? Did you see anything else?" Katniss asks.

"Nothing but blood," Johanna responds.

"It doesn't matter," Peeta says. "As long as we steer clear of what section is active, we should be safe."

"Yeah, well technically speaking," Finnick starts but is cut off by my scream. They all turn to see the grueling image of Wiress's throat being cut by Gloss. Katniss immediately shoots him with an arrow, and he falls backward into the water. The cannon goes off. Cashmere begins to charge at me, but Johanna steps in the way and pushes her, the back of her head hitting the rocks.

The same man who had chased me at the bloodbath comes around the corner, along with the girl from District Two, her sharp teeth showing. Finnick and the man fight, blocking each other swings with their weapons. I throw my spear at the girl, but she dodges and runs down the strip of rock, along with the man, as he runs free of Katniss's arrow.

Then, the cornucopia begins to spin. I fall onto the rocks, holding on for dear life. I feel a strong grip on my ankle, and when I turn, I see Cashmere, blood oozing down the side of her face. I let go of the rock, and the both of us go flying, falling into the water.

The rocks still spin above us, making it impossible to resurface. Cashmere claws at my face, and I can taste blood. I kick in an attempt to get her off me, but the grasp she has only grows tighter. The spinning comes to a halt, and as if it's a gift from the gods, a knife sinks through the water next to me. I begin to choke on water, knowing i don't have much time left.

Emmeline Whitlock, the girl from District Four who drowned.

I pull my arm free, grabbing the knife and immediately plunging into Cashmere's neck. The water around us turns red, and I can still hear the cannon. The girls grip on me is released, and I quickly return to the surface.

I let out heavy gasps, trying to fill my lungs with air. I feel my arms being pulled, and the top half of my body is back on the rocks. I open my eyes, and there's Finnick on his knees with a sense of fear as well as relief spread across his face.

"Thanks to whoever threw that knife, I really appreciate it," I say. The whole group laughs in thanks that I'm alive. I lock eyes with Finnick for a split second, and he leans down and presses a kiss onto my salty lips.

He pulls away, tucks a piece of hair off my face, and smiles.

Chapter 10- 1203 words

'°•~~•°'
-Olivia