Changing Tides- A Finnick & Annie love story

The Arena

When Annie's eyes adjusted to the sunlight, she got a good look of the arena. It was a dam, and all the podiums were scatterd in the water, and the cornicopa was on a small island in the middle on the water. There were woods surrounding the dam and Annie knew that's where she would hid. Annie calmed ever so slightly after seeing the water, she could swim well and she prayed that it could save her life. She stared around at the other tributes on the podiums, some of them have never even been swimming before, so most of then would end up drowning instantly anyway. Annie then spotted Ross, on a podium a few down to her right. They made eye contact but showed no facial expression. Annie had made no arrangement for an alliance yet, but Ross on the other hand had already called truce an alliance with the careers, who were all around 17 and 18. Annie heard sobbing coming from the Distict 5 girl to her right, and turned to she tears streaming down her pale face. Annie struggled to not find sympathy for her, but in the games, the tiniest bit of sympathy can be the end of you. Annie then noticed Rebekah a few podiums down from her, they made eye contact and Rebekah nodded at her. Annie didn't know how to see Rebekah. Rebekah didn't want Annie to see her as an enemy so maybe she wanted an alliance, but Annie was scared to trust anyone in the games.

Suddenly, the whole arena began to echo as a voice above began to count down from 30. Annie's hands began to tremble, but then realised the world is watching, so kept calm and refused to show weakness, a mistake that she showed during her interview. She focused on the cornucopia and spotted a backpack which she seemed interested in, but took Octavius's advice to steer clear, knowing it was a bloodbath. She looked down at her hand to see her sister name inside the heart, and remembered who she was fighting for.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" The voice echoed as everybody on the podiums leaped off and dived into the water, many of the tributes drowning instantly as they were not used to the water. Annie dived off her podium and into the freezing water. Annie was an incredibly strong swimmer, so did not struggle to fight the flow. She looked up from the water to see that people had already reached the cornucopia, and knowing that it would be a blood bath, she choose to avoid it.

She swam to land, dodging and avoiding anyone that came near her. When she reached land, she turned to see the sight behind her. Bodies floating in the water, people crying with bloody injuries and tributes killing each other next to the cornucopia. She panicked once she lost sight of Ross, but then remembered, everybody but one dies at the end of these's games, and she would be thankful if someone else killed him so she wouldn't have to. The screams, the blood curdling screams echoed in her head, knowing that one of those screams could be Ross.

After seeing the bloodbath, Annie ran straight into the woods, deep where nobody could find her. She found a hole in a large tree trunk and curled up inside. She knew she could never find the courage to fight, yet alone kill. She then realised that she needed to find a source of water, and fast. So after about half an hour of hiding within the tree trunk, Annie left and set out for a water source. She searched every tree, under every rock and in every hole, knowing that there must be a water source somewhere, otherwise no tribute will be able to survive. She didn't want to trust the water in the dam as it was most likely crawling with toxins so she knew there must be some other source. After another hour of searching, Annie heard footsteps, so she hid behind a large tree to see who was coming. She soon realised that it was the careers, and Ross was with them. Annie felt betrayed, but then remembered what he said to her during the training, that he could never kill her, so he would team up with the careers. Annie knew that he had to be killed one way or another, so prayed the careers would kill him for her. She could never live with herself if she had his blood on her hands.

Annie decided to follow the careers by climbing from tree to tree and following them as they walked below. Suddenly, the arena sky projected the faces of the fallen and 15 cannons. At least half of those 15 dead, died because they could not swim. Annie then continues to follow Ross and the careers and they lead her straight to a small stream of water. Once all the careers had moved on, Annie came down from the tree and took a few sips from the stream. The water was not dirty, it was fresh and clean, and Annie was glad she decided to follow. But she heard footsteps coming up from behind her as she was bent over the stream, and shot up and turned around, to see the District 10 boy running towards her with an axe. In absolute fear and terror, she legged it as fast as she could through the woods, knowing that the boy was following. She then ran past a large rock the size of a fist, and in self defence, she picked it up and threw it at the District 10 boy. It knocked him out and he dropped his axe. Annie walked up to the boy as he laid unconscious on the floor, bleeding from the gush in his forehead where the rock had hit. She picked up the axe and was about to finish him off, but realised she couldn't. She could never take a life, she would rather be killed than kill. She kept hold of the axe however, knowing that it was better to have a weapon, than no weapon at all. Annie then decided to run off and leave the boy, hoping someone else would kill him so she wouldn't have to.