That Fine Line

Chapter 22 - Unforeseen Actions

I watched as the waves lap at the sandy shore. Under normal circumstances, this place would have made for an excellent outdoor hiking trip. The view was quite nice, though the climate was humid. 

Unlike the serene scenery in front of me, our battle with the monkey mutts was vastly unpleasant. Peeta had almost been killed; thankfully, some other tribute who'd been camouflaged in the foliage appeared to save his life. Apparently, more tributes were involved in this escapade than I had anticipated.

I wasn't used to eating unseasoned raw fish, though I'd had plenty of it during my short time of preparation in the capital, but at least there was soy sauce then. Finnick was on official watch while the rest of us ate away at our sponsor gifts and seafood.

Some rustling nearby in the forestry sounded. "Someone's here," Katniss said as she loaded an arrow into her bow.

Three figures, drenched in blood, staggered out onto the beach.

"Johanna!" Finnick called, recognizing them.

Of course he'd recognize the hot woman first. I rolled my eyes as I followed behind, jogging over to the newly discovered allies.

Johanna, Beatee, and Wiress had fell victim to a storm of "blood rain". Thick, heavy blood that they couldn't see through, breathe through, and barely walk through.

Despite her brusque personality around me and most others, Katniss turned out to be quite kind to the tributes from District Three. Seeing the poor woman in shock, she took it upon herself to help wash the blood off of Wiress, who had been muttering "Tick-tock" over and over again ever since we'd regrouped.

After the others, who were capable of washing themselves, came out of the water, we began to discuss out next course of action. It would be best if we reloaded supplies from the Cornucopia for now before we figured out where to make camp.

We'd all just came to an agreement on the plan, when Katniss began yelling in joy. "Wiress, you're a genius!"

At the Cornucopia, everyone but Wiress began discussing the layout of the "clock". It turned out that the woman had not been in shock, but had actually figured out the structure of the arena. The lake and its surrounding shores were split into twelve sectors, and upon each hour, a sector would be activated, and its dangers were extremely hazardous. The tail of the Cornucopia structure pointed towards a tall and larger tree that would be struck by lightning to signal the beginning and the end of an hour. 

We had just planned to stay away from whichever sector was activated when Wiress' recital of Hickory Dickory Dock was abruptly cut off by a gasp.

Thinking she had another revelation at first, I whipped my head in her direction along with the others. Oh how wrong I was. The male tribute from District One had her in a headlock, and a bloodied knife in the other. Blood spilled from the woman's neck like water falling from a dam. Her murderer could not react fast enough before Katniss' arrow struck him.

I hadn't even processed what had happened, when Johanna shoved me aside, throwing her axe into the attacking District One female. After that, I was still in a daze, unable to react or do anything but watch the battle mindlessly. It appeared that we had been ambushed by Careers. Even Beatee had recovered faster than I did, as he quickly retreated to shelter, away from exposure to the tributes.

The only thing that was able to pull me out of shock was the sound of Finnick's trident striking against a large bald man's spear. Peeta stood behind him, poised readily to back him up at any time. I got up from where I was half-sitting, stunned, when a female popped her head out to throw a knife at Finnick, grazing him.

Katniss had just run off, being chased by a tribute from Seven, when the man with the spear surfaced from the water behind Finnick.

At that moment, something within me sparked. I barely even realized when it happened. It was simply a reflex. My legs moved automatically, and my body coordinated itself with their movement.

I sprinted towards them and leapt in-between the spear and Finnick's unprotected back.