A Tale of a Boy and His Flower

Tick Tock

"Ow! That stings!" I shouted swatting Zach's hands away from me. They were trying to clean the cut on my abdomen. Before I managed to kill Cecelia she had cut me with her sword. It wasn't a deep cut but it was enough to get infected if left untreated. 

"Hold still and this would go a lot faster." Zach said sternly as he tried to pour water onto my open wound. 

"If only we were popular enough for someone to give us some medicine." I said directly towards a tree that held a camera. Zach scoffed and continued disinfecting it. No one would sponsor us medicine because they were afraid of being too merciful. 

After Zach cleaned my wound up I called everyone together. I used Zach's machete to draw a circle in the sand and divided it into twelve. 

"This entire arena is a clock." I said. They looked at me like I was either crazy or a genius. "At 1 the lightning strikes that tree." I pointed out into the distance. "I don't know what 2-7 is but if we stay clear of those areas we should be fine." 

"3-4 is poisonous fog." Finnick paused, "It got Mags the first night." I had noticed her absence from the group a while ago but I thought it best not to ask what happened. I knew Finnick was probably devastated and was trying to keep it together for the cameras. 

He cleared his throat and filled the silence again. "4-5 is mutant monkeys." 

I nodded. "7-8 is mutant insects and 8-9 is the beast. And then it finishes up with the tidal wave at 10-11." 

"Mutant insects, what are those?" Peeta said wrinkling his nose in disgust. 

"They're similar to tracker jackers." I said remembering the event. "Just stay clear of that sector when it's activated. They are not fun to deal with." 

The group didn't ask anymore about it. I handed the machete back to Zach and we continued resting on the beach. 

"Did you get them all?" Finnick asked. I nodded. We were standing knee deep in the water. 

"I'm sorry about Mags, she was a good person. She didn't deserve what happened to her." 

His shoulders slumped forward and he slowly turned to face me. I paused and waited for our eyes to meet. 

"We have responsibilities. I knew what I was agreeing to." he murmured.

"Finnick," I said quietly, "it's okay to feel sad. She was your mentor, she was family." 

Unexpectedly Finnick engulfed me in a hug. 

I went rigid for a moment. Having his arms wrapped around me wasn't something I was prepared for. But after my initial shock wore off, I immediately hugged him back. He slouched down, leaned his head on my shoulder and broke down. 

I heard him sniffle softly into my shoulder to keep from full out sobbing. I didn't speak anymore; she simply held him close. 

"I didn't agree to losing my friends." His muffled voice said in my shoulder. "I didn't agree to losing you!" 

I took his face in my hands and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'm right here Finnick, and I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon. As long as we are together, nothing can take us away from each other." 

Finnick closed his eyes and tilted his head planting a sweat longing kiss to my lips. 

In the midst of the kiss, a shout from Katniss. We instantly pulled apart and drew our weapons. 

"Someone's here." she said pointing her bow and arrow. Zach, Finnick and I stood in front of Katniss and Peeta. But as soon as we saw who the approachers were, we relaxed.