Dead in the Water | An Odesta Fanfic

Chapter Twenty

It was long past midnight when Finnick turned up at Games Headquarters. His carefully applied eyeliner was smudged and his eyes were dangerously red again. The buttons on his shirt were done up, but they were rushed and uneven so that there were more buttons around his collar than places to fasten them. He had never gotten his scarf or jacket back, and the hastily thrown-on shirt wasn't enough to cover up the fresh bruises around his neck.

But the guard at the gate didn't look twice at him as he let Finnick inside. No one ever looked at him closely, unless it was to stare at him greedily and tear him apart with their eyes as if he were nothing more than something to drool over or a prize to be won. Even then, the bruises would only have been something to be jealous of. A sign that Finnick Odair might be easy to win but impossible to keep.

Much to his relief, the mentor's viewing room was empty. It was a Friday night, after all, and he certainly wasn't the only one out looking for sponsors that evening. The room was dark, only lit by the screens at the front of the room, still showing footage of the living tributes. There were only seven left now. Earlier that day, the girl from 7 had been hiding in a tree when she stumbled across a nest of tracker jackers. They stung her until she was unrecognizable, and she was dead before her swollen body could hit the ground. So now the light from only seven screens shone through the room, recording each of the tributes as they slept.

Finnick stumbled through the doors. He wasn't drunk, he just felt numb and strangely distant from his body. It was as if someone else were moving his legs, making him walk, forcing him into the mentor's room to finish what he had destroyed himself to do. To make it worth it. Then he could go back to the apartment and hope that this was another one of those nights that would be lost to his memory when he woke up.

He headed straight for his station and the communicuff he had left on his desk. Eris had already submitted the money for her sponsorship – he had made sure of that before he left. And there it was in the system: Annie Cresta, one sponsor. Enough money for him to send her some water. He sat down to put through the order.

"What are you doing up so late?"

Finnick jumped, startled as Annie's voice echoed over the speakers. His eyes shot up to the screen in front of him, but she wasn't looking at the cameras. She was looking over at Kai's body, adjusting her own jacket over his shoulders to keep out the cold.

The body was getting worse with every passing hour. Finnick tried not to look too closely when he could help it, but it was impossible to avoid altogether. Kai's limbs seemed larger than before, the dark-blue parts where the blood had settled now swelling until he looked almost inhuman. His eyes, though still half-closed, were budging out of their sockets, and his swollen tongue was hanging out of his mouth.

How Annie could bear to stay by his side, to hold him in her arms even as his body was falling apart, was impossible to understand. The smell must have been awful. Flies had been buzzing around them since they had settled in the abandoned house, and now there was a flurry of movement all over Kai's body that made Finnick's stomach turn and the food from the party threaten to come back up. The flies had laid their eggs, and any opening in sight – his eyes, his mouth, his nose, the gaping wound at his neck – was white and squirming with maggots. If Finnick hadn't needed to send that water, he would have turned away and left at the sight. But nothing was enough to break through Annie's madness.

"I'm sorry about Juniper." She was whispering. "I'm so sorry, Kai." She put an arm around his stiff shoulders and brushed the other hand across his pale face, as if she were just wiping away tears instead of the maggots in his eyes. "Only a little bit longer and you'll be home. I promise."

She was quiet for a moment, apparently listening to a response Finnick couldn't hear.

"Another story?" She smiled sadly. "I'm going to run out of stories if we're stuck in here too much longer." She paused as she searched through her memories. "Do you want to hear about the day you were born?"