Sunshine | Finnick Odair

| part 7 |

"Let's take a break," Katniss says. "I need to get another look from above."

We all sit down under a tall tree as Katniss begins to climb seeking a better view.
"The force field has us trapped in a circle. A dome, really. I don't know how high it goes. There's the Cornucopia, the sea, and then the jungle all around. Very exact. Very symmetrical. And not very large"
Great.

"Did you see any water?" Finnick asks.

"Only the saltwater where we started the Games"

"Great, so we are just going to die of dehydration. Yay. Just how I wanted to go" I sarcastically say bringing a small smirk to Finnicks face.

"Well, the foliage is thick. Maybe there are ponds or springs somewhere" Katniss says doubtfully.

"There must be drinkable water between the force field and the wheel" Peeta insists.

That means heading back down to the Careers and the bloodshed. With Peeta hardly able to walk and Finnick not letting me leave his side, Katniss takes the lead.

The sun beams down on us, turning the air to steam, playing tricks on our eyes. By midafternoon, it's clear Peeta can't go on any further so we make camp for the night.
Finnick chooses a campsite about ten yards below the force field, saying we can use it as a weapon by deflecting our enemies into it if attacked.
He actually can use his brain at times.

I pull blades of the sharp grass that grow in five-foot-high tufts and begin to weave them together into mats like Finnick did in his games. We find some sort of nutts and because I've done a lot of reading I know they were edible. Peeta collects bunches of them and fries them by bouncing them off the force field. He methodically peels off the shells, piling them on a leaf.

"Finnick, why don't you stand guard and I'll hunt around some more for water" Katniss suggests. No one's thrilled with the idea of her going off alone, but the threat of dehydration hangs over us, so we don't really have a choice.

"Don't worry, I won't go far" she promises Peeta.

"I'll go, too" he says not wanting her to wonder off alone, in these deadly games.

"No, I'm going to do some hunting if I can. And you can't come because you're too loud" she protests. She actually trusts to leave him alone with me and Finnick. I knew she'd warm up to the idea of allies.
"I won't be long" is the last words she says before disappearing into the foliage surrounding us.

The sound of the cannon booms through the arena. I count the shots, each representing one dead victor. Eight. Me and Finnick continue to weave mats turning them into a make shift hut. Open on one side but with three walls, a floor, and a roof. It's pretty impressive considering we have limited supplies. I also weaved a few bowls for Peeta to put the nuts in which seamed better than the leaves he was using.

I notice Katniss coming back and I turn to look at her hopeful but by the looks in her face nothing.

"No water. It's out there, though. He knew where it was," she explains, holding a skinned rodent up for all to see.
"He'd been drinking recently when I shot him out of a tree, but I couldn't find his source. I swear, I covered every inch of ground in a thirty-yard radius."

"Can we eat him?" Peeta asks.

"I don't know for sure. But his meat doesn't look that different from a squirrel's. He ought to be cooked... ." She hesitates. How were we supposed to start a fire in this arena? There's the smoke to think about. We're all so close together in this arena, there's no chance of hiding it. Peeta has another idea. He takes a cube of rodent meat, skewers it on the tip of a pointed stick, and lets it fall into the force field. We give him a round of applause congratulating him on his idea; then quickly stop, remembering where we are.