Scarred | The Hunger Games

24.

Oh my fuck, I can't breathe. I can't breathe, I'm here again, back in the arena. I am in the arena.

I can't do it. As soon as I heard the games start, I felt every part of my body freeze. I was frozen. Then, I felt a weight thrown onto me, as one of the tributes tackled me into the water.

I screamed, terror overriding any survival instinct I had in me, as the tribute pushed me under the water, chocking me by the neck.

It was extreme deja vu to how I was attacked in my games, when the tribute from Seven started strangling me. It gave me serious deja vu since,

"What a doll, choking just for me?" Halima says, her hands tightening around my neck and pushing me back under the water.

I felt myself slowly giving into the tribute choking me. Death is better than Halima, I told myself.

"What a slut-"

"Nova!" I distantly heard Finnick's voice.

Halima was dead.

Immediately, my arm swung at the head of my attacking tribute, knocking him out. I felt his hands loosen from my neck as I breathed again, before his unconscious body sank into the water.

Panicking, I surfaced the water, choking in sobs from all the memorise of Halima and the games, it all being too much.

I felt an arm grab me by the waist, and before I could start panicking, Finnick spoke. "Come on Nova, we gotta go." He hauled me out of the water, onto a rock path.

Before I could say anything, he hands me a spear, before pulling on my arm as we ran. Katniss and Peeta ran alongside us as Finnick carried Mags on his back, running inside the jungle.

Once we got deep enough in the jungle, we crouched low, taking in the arena. Flora was everywhere, and there was lots of wildlife, the buzzing of flies loud, alongside our raged breaths.

I flinched hard at the sound of the cannons at the end of the bloodbath.

"Well I guess we're not holding hands anymore", Finnick chuckled.

"You think that's funny?"

"Shut up Fishfuck."

Both Katniss and I say at the same time.

Ignoring me, Finnick replies to Katniss, "Everytime that cannon goes off, its music to my ears. I don't care about any of them"

As much as I would believe him, I know part of him cares about Johanna, at least a little. I remembered talking to Johanna about how he acts like an older brother, and I would bet if I were also somewhere else in the arena, he would be a bit worried. It's probably the reason he helped me out of the water earlier.

"Good to hear." Katniss says, basically rolling her eyes.

"Want to face the Career pack alone? What would Haymitch say?" Finnick almost taunts.

"Haymitch isn't here."

Peeta, Mags and I are awkward, listening to Finnick and Katniss' hostility towards one another, before Peeta breaks it, "Let's keep moving."

The jungle is tangled with vines, making it harder to navigate. Peeta leads us, using his machete to wack down the vines so we can make a path through. I'm barely recovered from the intensity of the bloodbath, when Katniss' hoarse voice screams out.

"Peeta, no!"

I see a flash of light, then hear, and feel Peeta's body fly back at me, Finnick and Mags.

The force field.

Katniss immediate holds Peeta's body, whimpering his name, waiting for him to respond, only to start panicking. "He's not breathing. He's not breathing. Peeta!"

Finnick is immediately on him, pushing Katniss away, and-

Kissing him?!?!?!

Katniss draws back her bow but she quickly becomes as fucking confused as I am because since when was Finnick gay?!?

Then, Finnick placed his hands on his chest, pushing against it, and despite her confusion, Katniss just helplessly calls out for her lover boy.

It's a tense moment as Finnick keeps putting pressure on Peeta's chest, before making out with him, and Katniss keeps begging for him to wake up.

Then, Peeta takes a big breath.

Finnick steps back to me as Katniss and Peeta kiss and hug.

"Katniss suddenly got better at acting", Finnick whispers to me.

I give him a look, "For someone who's in love, you sure can't tell when someone else is actually showing love. That's not an act." I whisper back.

***

"It's gonna get dark soon. We'll be safe with our backs protected. We should set up camp. Take turns sleeping. I can take first watch." Finnick says as Katniss lands on the group after mapping the force field.

She laughs. "Not a chance."

This time, I laugh, annoyed. "Katshit. That thing the fishfuck did earlier? It's called saving his life." I roll my eyes, fed up with how she's treating us. "I get that you only care about lover boy, but we're clearly not trying to kil-"

"If I wanted to kill you by now, I would have done it by now". Finnick interrupts. He's pissed, I can tell, and walks away to set camp. I cast a look to Katniss and Peeta, "Uh, I'm gonna clear out an area."

Peeta and Mags are resting by time dark comes, and Katniss and Finnick are at a showdown, both not trusting each other, so they both keep watch. I'm laying down, but I was still awake. The Hunger Games aren't exactly a place to fall asleep at.

Then, the national anthem plays. I jolt up in surprise at the music, sitting up to watch the dead tributes in the sky.

A few faces from different tributes show up, none of which I was close to. Except Woof.

"Eight." Katniss counts.

"Woof." I whisper under my breath shakily.

Finnick looks at me. "Nova, you couldn't have done anything."

"I promised to look after him." I look up at him with tears in my eyes. "I told myself that I would try as much as-"

"You know a guy like him wouldn't have lasted long in the games." Katniss interrupts.

I feel anger bubble in me as I turn to her, "He-"

"You can only hope he went fast."

I was about to argue with her again, until we heard a faint beeping sound in the distant. A sponsor gift.

'Drink up - H'

Katniss picks up the silver tube thing, stabbing it into a tree, before water starts pouring out of it. A sense of relief comes into me, as we all take turns drinking the water and washing our faces with it, feeling refreshed.

And for once since Otti's death, I feel a sense of hope.