When We Burn~Finnick Odair {Book 2}

Chapter Sixteen

•••

Finnick watched as Autumn walked into the water. He came up beside her, seeing her face contorted in pain when the salt water hit her wounds. But salt water also cleaned wounds.

For the last hour, Finnick had been beating himself up over the monkey the injured Autumn. If he had seen her in trouble before she screamed, he would've protected her from the scratches that will no doubt scar and haunt her forever. And whenever Finnick would see those scars, it would remind him that he had once been to late. Only a few seconds away from loosing the love of his life forever.

"I'm so sorry, Autumn," Finnick spoke from next to her. Autumn turned her head to looked at him, obviously confused.

"For what?" She asked, taking Finnick's hand.

"The monkey," Finnick motioned to the torn claw marks on her suit before looking down. "I should've been watching. I should've been faster. I could've-"

"Shh," Autumn cut him off, standing in front of him and placing her hands on his cheeks. She gently nudged his head up so that his eyes would meet hers. "You saved me. Don't forget that." Autumn moved her hands to the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss her, which he did happily.

Their lips moved together as their kiss deepened, changing from sweet to passionate. Finnick wished he could stay in that moment forever. Only him and Autumn together, holding each other as their lips met. But that moment would have to wait.

•••

The bleeding hadn't stopped as much as it should've, which worried both Autumn and Finnick.

They had gone up to the cornucopia and found a strange cream in a med kit along with wrapping bandages. It was more difficult than it should've been and included taking off the top half of her suit, but Autumn eventually got the cream and bandages on her claw injuries.

Autumn had taken Finnick into the jungle to help her with the bandages. Once he saw the markings completely, he realized that the injuries were much worse than he thought.

Three large gashes ran across Autumn's stomach, veridically. They ran from up by her ribs on her right side to her left hip. They weren't extremely deep, but deep enough.

Once they were done, Finnick lead Autumn back out of the woods. He told her to rest due to the loss of blood while he went spear fishing.

They all sat on the beach and ate their food, Autumn and Katniss now in short sleeves. Autumn leaned her head on Finnick's shoulder, holding back her wince when she had to shift her torso around.

"That's new," Peeta mumbled as he looked off in the distance, seeing waves crashing through the trees. Autumn heard a scream coming from that direction. The water came through the trees, riding up against an invisible wall and splashing over the top of the cornucopia. A canon went off.

"Someone's here," Katniss noticed as she looked down the beach, seeing three bodies come out of the jungle. The four of them stood up, Autumn prepared to grab a knife.

"Johanna?" Autumn whispered to herself, squinting at one of the figures on beach. "Johanna!" Autumn ran out of the tree line and over to the group, followed by Finnick.

"Autumn! Finnick!" Johanna smiled with a laugh.

"What happened?" Autumn asked Johanna when she got closer to her. Autumn's eyes widened when she saw that Johanna, Wiress, and Beetee were covered in blood.

"Well I got them out. Deep in the jungle where I thought it would be safe," Johanna fumed. "That's when the rain started. I though it was water...it turned out to be blood. Hot thick blood that's coming down. It was choking us."

Johanna pushed Wiress away who was clinging to her arm, repeating the words 'tick tok' over and over again.

"We were stumbling around gagging on it blind," Johanna continued. "That's when Blight hit the force field. He wasn't much but he was from home." Johanna looked at Autumn's suit that was torn in claw markings at the stomach, the bandages showing through. "What happened to you?"

"Monkey mutts," Autumn scowled. Johanna simply nodded.

"Tick tock," Wiress repeated, rushing around the group to see if anyone would listen to her.

"What's wrong with her?" Autumn asked nobody in particular.

"She's in shock," Beetee panted out as he took off his glasses. "Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?"

"We can get some," Katniss nodded.

"Tick tok," Wiress spoke, running over to Johanna and pulling on her arm.

"Stop it!" Johanna screamed at Wiress, pushing her away roughly.

"Hey lay off her!" Katniss yelled as she walked over to Johanna and pushed her away.

"What are you doing?" Johanna yelled as Katniss separated her from Wiress. Finnick rushed over to Katniss and Johanna and broke them up. "I got them out for you! Let me go."

"For me?" Katniss seemed confused. "What does that mean?"

"You did want them as allies," Peeta shrugged.

Autumn stared at Katniss and Peeta. Did Haymitch really not tell Katniss and Peeta? Did Katniss even know about the revolution that's begun? Well, she'll find out at some point. And when she does, Autumn will pity Haymitch.