Scarred | The Hunger Games

26.

Finnick runs out, calling out for her, as I stand back with Peeta and Katniss, watching for a second.

"Guess we have more allies." Peeta says, as he starts approaching the group.

I turn to Katniss, "If it weren't for Finnick," and the alliance, "I'd have half the mind to just kill Mason." I shake my head.

We start making our way to the three, covered in red. "...That's when the rain started. I thought it was water. It turned out to be blood. Hot, thick blood. It was coming down. It was choking us."

I laugh at her as she complained, Wiress muttering 'tick tock' to herself.

"We were stumbling around gagging on it blind. That's when Blight hit the force field. He wasn't much but he was from home."

Johanna was clearly riled up, Wiress in chock. At least Beetee was calm. 

"Hey, lay off her!" Katniss said, going to attack Johanna.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Johanna yelled as the two began going at each other's throats. Finnick rushed in, pulling Johanna away and I pushed Katniss back towards Peeta. "I got them out for you!" 

Shit, Johanna's going to reveal the alliance.

Katniss looked back at Peeta and I, "for me? What does that mean?"

"Uh-"

"You did want them as allies." Peeta chimed in, with perfect timing as well. 

***

I sat besides Finnick and Peeta as Beetee rolled his wire coil thing, watching Katniss, Johanna and Wiress as blood stained the water around them. 

Eventually, Johanna headed back to shore, probably annoyed to death from Wiress' repetitive phrase. 

As soon as she started coming near us, I stood up, going to leave and talk to Beetee instead of hanging around the murderer. 

"Nova, wait, we should talk." Her hand grabbed my shoulder.

"Get of me Johanna, I have nothing to say to you." I snarled at her. 

She chuckled, and although it sounded maniacal, she and her newly cut hair was, and I hate to admit it, hot. "Come on, it's the Hunger Games and either of us could possibly die at any moment now."

"I died the day that Otti died." I didn't even care that the entire world would find out I had a sister. She's dead anyways, no one can hurt her. 

"What? By your own hand?" She raised an eyebrow.

"No! It was you! You left me no choice! You basically made her do it!" I cried, desperation heaving in my chest.

"You can't possibly believe that-"

"Oh my God, it's a clock!" Katniss' voice yells out. "It's a clock!"

***

We make our way towards the cornucopia, thankfully by the stone pillars rather than the water, because as much as I believe in Finnick, I cannot swim in such deep waters again. 

"So 12 to 1, lightning, then 1 to 2 is blood, then fog, and then monkeys." Peeta says. 

"What about everything else? Did you guys see anything?" Katniss asks.

I picture the arena in my head, mentally making a map of everything, but a gasp draws my attention, and then-

Boom.

"Wiress!" I call out, seeing Gloss pull out the knife he had stabbed in her chest. Katniss fires an arrow at him. I'm suddenly pushed onto the rock ground, the stabbing pain of the fall hurting my wounds, and I'm sure they've started bleeding again. "What the fuck Mason!"

I watch as her axe is embedded in Cashmere's chest, and I almost feel bad for the woman I used to help when I had clients. "I'm saving your life Nova." Johanna says.

Finnick and Katniss are fighting Enobaria and Brutus, and I share a look with Johanna that prompts us to stand up with our weapons, ready to assist. 

Then, I feel like the floor is moving. 

And I know its moving, because Johanna, Katniss and I are all floored onto the hard grounds, and the water begins to roughen. The cornucopia is spinning.

Johanna, Katniss and I are all barely clinging onto the rock's rough surface, gripping to any place that offers leverage. I begin screaming, feeling the water already up to my waist, memories of my first games coming back to me. 

I kick my legs, trying to swim to the top of the arena in the desperate hope that there is air. There isn't.

Watching Katniss loose her gripping only causes me to scream louder, the terror of what is beneath the swelling water unknown, as the girl begins to slip off the rock. 

I watch as it turns towards me, the shark being quicker than I could ever be. It catches me, biting its hundreds of teeth into my stomach as I scream.

Johanna grabs Katniss' hand just as she lost her grip, almost flying into the waters. 

I feel my own grip loosen.

The rock I held onto became wet with the current, and I only started screaming louder, hyperventilating and crying and I knew my imminent fate. 

"Grab my foot Nova!" I barely hear Johanna's shout. She slams her axe into the rock so she has better grip, but I could tell it won't hold all three of us. 

"It won't hold all of us-" I cry back, but I'm interrupted as I feel the coolness of the water on me, as I'm thrown into the water. My legs aimlessly kick, almost as if they forgot how to swim.

I kick my legs, trying to swim to the top, but I feel a hand grab onto my leg.

Oh my god, something is holding me down. Someone is pulling me down. I curl into a ball, reaching my hand down to my legs to pull them off of me. My hands search all over my calves, to find no one there. 

There's no one down here. It was just a flashback. It wasn't real. And I welcome the darkness. 

***

I'm throwing up so much water. 

I can vaguely see an outline of Finnick and Johanna looking worriedly over me. "I'm alive? This is real?" I asks, wiping the water off my face. 

"Yeah, if it weren't for Johanna pulling you out of the water, you would-" Finnick doesn't finish. I look towards Johanna, who's crouched on the ground next to me, one hand cradling my head, and the other on my waist, putting pressure on my bite wounds. 

"Thanks Jo." I say, the feeling of death catching up to me. Wait- did I die? "Finnick, did you kiss me?!?!"

He makes a face, "It's called CPR Nova."

"EW"