Ignite The Flame Within | Cato Hadley X Male Reader | Vol. 2

24 ~ Tik Tok

"Johanna!" Yells a familiar voice from down the shoreline. I attempt to wipe my eyes to see who it is, but it worsens. I can barely keep them open for more than a few seconds without the liquid trying to seep into them. As I crawl toward the water, I feel my body push up with everything I have. My fingers are the first part of my body to touch it, and I soon pull the rest of myself in.

"Finnick!" Johanna yells back. I hear his panting as he nears us, and I can't help but mentally roll my eyes. Out of all of the other tributes, why was Katniss with him, and why did he have to be here with us?

"What happened?" He asks Johanna while whipping some of the blood off her face with his hand.

"Well, I got 'em out," she stars as I begin to wash my face, "We were all the way deep into the jungle where we thought we would be safe. That's when the rain started. I thought it was water. It turned out to be blood. Hot Thick Blood."

As I am finally able to clear the liquid from my eyes I quickly look around for Cato. I feel my heart race for a moment, but it stops once I realize he's by my side watching the situation in front of us.

Wiress had been in the water too, but she stood up and walked up to Johanna, repeating the same thing over and over. "Tik Tok," She says frantically as Johanna ignores her.

"It was coming down. It was choking us. We were stumbling around gaging on it blind," She lets out before looking out at us.

"Tik Tok," Wiress repeats.

"What's wrong with her?" Katniss asks.

"She's in shock. Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?" Beetie inquires while washing his glasses in the water.

"We can get some," She replies.

My attention is turned back to Wirres as she continues to repeat the same phrase to Johanna. It seems "TikTok," is all she can say. She continues to say it until Johanna's had enough.

"Listen, Stop it!" she orders while grabbing Wires's shoulders, causing the woman to fall to the ground "Just sit down!"

I stand from the water to say something but Katniss beats me to it. "Hey!" she yells. "Lay off her!"

Katniss pushes forward and shoves Johanna back/ "Hey!" She shouts while pushing back, "What are you doing!"

Finnick pushes between the two, attempting to calm them both down. He is able to grab hold of Johanna, and even with her squirming in her grasp, he is still able to pull her toward the water.

Whatever attempt Katniss made toward Johanna was also stopped by Peeta, who held an arm to her chest, making sure she wouldn't do anything she would regret.

"I got them out for you!" Johanna yells before she turns her attention back to Finnick and demands he put her down. "Let me go! I'm fine."

Katniss suddenly gets quiet, asking Peeta what she meant. I wiped my face one last time before stepping forward onto the shore, wanting to know what she meant as well. I mean, Johanna did not comment on protecting Beetie and Wirres for Katniss, so why make one now? What was her plan? Did she know that Katniss wanted them as allies and thought by bringing them she would be considered one too? There were way too many unanswered questions, but they would have to wait for now.

With a swift motion, Katniss tosses her bow to the sand. "Come on let's get you cleaned up," she says while stepping toward Wiress. She takes her shoulders and begins to lead her to the water. I hesitate for a moment but follow along after them.

Katniss stops after she makes it a little further from the rest of the group. They were about waist-deep in the water as she began to clean the blood of Wiress. I stepped around her, moving toward the other side of Wiress. "I can help."