𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐈𝐄 ━━ finnick odair ✓

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞. ( the murderer )

            The Cornucopia is as empty as I predicted it would be, nothing but stacks of weapons line the inside of it. Scrounging from the piles, I add a hatchet to my belt of knives. While I never gained any accuracy with it in terms of self defense, it's still an excellent tool for survival. The immediate thought of Gloss leaves me feeling a bit queasy.

Have the siblings been here? I'm sure they have. It's the logical place to remain while the other groups were lurking in the jungle. When I groom through the area for traces of them, I find a rat-like animal, freshly killed and skinned. There's a dagger shaped hole in its head, perfectly centered between the eyes. This fact confirms that they were here, nobody could have done it but Cashmere. They were wise to clear off, and I suspect they won't return while we're here. Rushing into a two on six fight with our group is a death sentence, even at their skill level. We're the kings of this hill for now.

I wonder what they'll think when they see Blight on the list of dead tonight. Surely, they'll grieve just as Finnick and I are for our friend. Even if Blight wasn't inclined to self-divulge personal information, he was dear to us as a presence. He was a kind man, unfailingly patient and gentle. I can't begin to think of how Ronan must be feeling right now.

Despite this, I can't picture Gloss being anything other than relieved to see news of his death. Memories of his remarks about going back into the arena sting me. He probably would be relieved to see Finnick and I plastered in the night sky as well. I think he'd probably do it himself if he needed to. He's stone cold, never rattled, never bothering to be anything more than self indulgent. If not for our greater plan, I've no doubt that it would be him or Finnick winning these games.

When I rejoin the group outside, they've begun discussing the sectors.

"Midnight is lightning." Katniss points to the tree, barely visible in the distance. "One o'clock is blood rain. Two is fog. Three is monkeys. Ten is the wave"

"The tail of the Cornucopia points at midnight." Finnick gestures up at it. "We can use that to keep our bearings."

"How can we be sure that the sections are only dangerous at their proper time?" Johanna asks, still hot from her fight with Katniss.

"Because it's artistic," I say. "The Gamemakers like that sort of thing."

"She's correct," Beetee agrees. "It's a theme, I doubt they'd stray from it for our sake. It's more entertaining this way."

Peeta notates our findings with a knife on a leaf. While he gently whittles away at it, I head for the tail of the Cornucopia, standing just below it so that I can peer out at the lightning tree. How on Earth are we going to attach it to the forcefield? It's not exactly like there's going to be an outlet to plug it into. We'll need some sort of anchor to attach our conduit to, something that we can place at the barrier to establish a connection. But it'll have to be done fast, fast enough that nobody on the outside can stop us.

Then I think quite suddenly of the solid metal spears sitting inside the Cornucopia. If we time it just right we could throw one at the barrier attached to the wire. It would work, it would send the energy careening directly for our target. Or, I think morbidly, directly through one of us. I turn on my heel to go find a spear with conductive enough metal.

Then I'm punched in the shoulder, hard. The force of it knocks me onto my hands and knees. The breath is ripped from my lungs and I can't inhale. Then I feel as though an electric shock pulses through me. I whip around to see who hit me. As I turn, something clangs on rock and my shoulder is yanked back along with the metallic impact. Another electric shock pulses through my nervous system, my heart lurches in my chest. When I look down, I see the spear, protruding a few inches from the skin below my clavicle, the other end pressing against the rock behind me. Then the pain finds me with force enough to blacken my vision. I blink rapidly to clear my eyes and I see Gloss pulling himself out of the water. I need to warn the others . My legs churn to run, but I stumble immediately back onto the ground. Again, everything goes dark. I yell desperately, capillaries bursting with the effort of trying to remain in the present. Grainy spots of color take over and I can see the outline of someone running directly at me.