𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 | Hunger Games

xʟɪx

    TIME MOVED SO SLOW.

Aella thought she was trapped in some twisted reality. Each second that passed felt like a minute, each minute felt like an hour and each hour felt like a day and she was just stuck in that endless cycle of torture.

They had no idea what was going on in the outside world and for Aella, it was so painful. She was beginning to reach the point of insanity. She actually thought she was getting to the point of no return. That sharp edge of the cliff was right there... within an arms reach. She knew if she fell off it that would be it. No amount of therapy or medication or reals and not reals would be able to bring her back. Finnick wasn't getting any better and their hours were dwindling.

She had lost count of how many breaths Finnick had taken since Katniss and Gale had left to finish what they'd all started. All she knew was that he was still breathing for now but each stuttering gasp, every delayed second was nothing short of agonising. She couldn't stand the waiting, the not knowing.

Katniss and Gale could've very easily of been dead three blocks away and none of them would ever know. The War would rage on for however many days, weeks, or months more and no one would know they were in Tigris' basement. They wouldn't know Finnick was holding hands with death and Aella was stuck watching him.

Her remaining companions could do nothing to console her. In those clothes Tigris had borrowed her still crying in agony herself there was nothing that could be done for her. That's when she decided that if by the next morning no news had arrived, no help had arrived, she would leave herself to find that help. She would leave Finnick in a last minute bid to save his life. It didn't matter what it cost her—didn't matter if she ended up dying—as long as she managed to find someone who could get him help she didn't care.

But never came to that.

When the door latch opened and light flooded in however many hours later Aella expected it to be Tigris with more food for them. She didn't expect to see an abundance of rebel soldiers piling in, rushing down the stairs and assessing them all.

It was all one huge blur to her and Aella was grateful for Cressida who spoke for her when she couldn't even get her words out. She'd choked on whatever she tried to tell them and sobbed in relief instead.

She hadn't been able to hold back her tears. Not as they all gathered round she and Finnick and assessed them and their injuries. If Aella hadn't of been so relieved she would've recognised one of the men who led the team as the man who had taken her to Commander Paylor when she first landed in the Captiol with Peeta.

In what felt like seconds to her, rebel soldiers had arrived, scooped Finnick up on to a stretcher and were carrying him up the basement stairs. All Aella could do was watch them and follow on shaking legs while she cried and cried. Pollux and Peeta had held her up between their arms whilst she had sobbed. She knew Cressida had helped her out of the bunker and that she had squeezed Tigris within an inch of the woman's life, thanking her over and over again for her generosity. Aella had taken her hand and had sworn that she wouldn't ever face any repercussion and that she would personally see to it that everyone knew what Tigris had done for them in their days of need.

Peeta had practically carried her out of the small apartment and into the desolate street. The sun had beamed down on them through an all blue sky but there was heavy layerings of snow on the ground. The chill frost of winter had kissed Aella's skin but she couldn't feel it. She was running on autopilot.

She watched the soldiers carry Finnick into the back of a truck that had been modified as some kind of hospital on wheels, laid on a stretcher covered in sheets. She tried to climb in after them only for two men to barricade the doors, refusing to let her in.