Breathe in, Breathe out • F Odair² •

XX

"Was that a bad decision?"

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*Finnick POV*

"Let's get off this fucking island," Johanna said finally, breaking the silence that was suspended between them.

This seemed a good plan to everyone, especially considering the way the island had been spinning so rapidly only moments ago. There was only the matter of their weapons now, which they had largely managed to retain. Fortunately, the vines here were strong, and the spile and tube of medicine were still tied securely to Katniss' belt. Finnick took a moment to tend to the knife wound Enobaria had left in his thigh. It bleeding some, and there was a bit of pain, but it wasn't bad. Athena had managed to stop Enobaria before she could cut him too deeply. He stripped off his undershirt and tied it around the wound Enobaria's knife made in his thigh. Beetee thought he could walk now, as long as they went slowly, so Katniss helped him up. They decided to head to the beach at twelve o'clock, which should provide them hours of calm and keep them away from any poisonous residue from the fog.

Finnick glanced around him, wondering where the the twelve-to-one-o'clock wedge actually was. The tail of the Cornucopia had pointed to twelve o'clock originally, but the Gamemakers had spun the Cornucopia around specifically to throw them off. It was unlikely they would stop the Cornucopia in the exact same place it had been originally. Finnick looked up at the sky; from the looks of it, it was about four o'clock. Using the sun as his guide, Finnick stepped forward, but Johanna and Peeta headed off in two other directions.

"Twelve o'clock, right?" said Peeta. "The tail points at twelve."

"It did before they spun us," said Finnick. "I was judging by the sun."

"The sun only tells you it's going on four, Finnick," said Katniss.

"I think Katniss' point is, knowing the time doesn't necessarily mean knowing where four is on the clock," said Beetee. "You might have a general idea of direction. Unless you consider that they may have shifted the outer ring of the jungle as well."

Finnick got the impression that Beetee had gone beyond what Katniss was thinking, but the latter still nodded and said, "Yes, so any one of these paths could lead to twelve o'clock."

They circled the Cornucopia, scrutinizing the jungle. It had a baffling uniformity to it. He remembered the tall tree that took the first lightning strike at twelve o'clock, but every sector had a similar tree. Johanna suggested following Brutus' and Enobaria's tracks, but they had been blown or washed away. There was no way to know where anything was, no trail to follow.

You really didn't want to make this easy, huh, Plutarch? Finnick thought.

But this probably made for good television for the Capitol, which he realised was still a concern for Plutarch as Head Gamemaker, secret rebel or not.

"We should've never said anything about the clock," Katniss said bitterly. "Now they've taken that advantage away as well."

"Only temporarily. At ten, we'll see the wave hit and be back on track," Beetee said, which was true.

"Yeah, they can't redesign the whole arena," Peeta added, which was probably true as well.

"It doesn't matter," Johanna said impatiently. "You had to tell us or we would've never moved our camp in the first place, brainless."