Stay with me? [Finnick Odair]

55

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Chapter fifty five: slowly but surely
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We've been walking for hours now, slowly, Katniss kept tossing nuts to her left to make sure we were keeping to the forcefield line, but we eventually decided we were getting nowhere and heading back down is the only option. However, by mid afternoon, it's obvious that I'm quickly dehydrating and Peeta is too weak to go on.

Finnick sits me down in the campsite he's chosen about ten yards from the forcefield, telling me to wait, I watch as Peeta gathers a large pile of nuts and fries them by bouncing them off the forcefield. Peeling them, he drops them in a pile on a leaf in front of him. I'm not one for nuts, but I'm so hungry I'll eat anything right about now.

Peeta catches my gaze, corner of his lip twitching upwards, he picks up a small handful of the nuts and offers them to me. I take them with a quiet thanks, quietly picking one at a time and popping them into my mouth. Finnick eventually returns just as I finish my pile, carrying a large tuft of grass that's far too big for him to carry, he dumps it in front of me and collapses beside me.

"Start weaving them," he says, grabbing his own mini pile of grass and beginning to weave them masterfully, I watch for a moment, taking my own pile, I begin to copy what he's doing and eventually we have four mats weaved within a couple hours.

I can't stop thinking about how thirsty I am, my tongue is dry and my throat is beginning to ache, not to mention I'm getting exhausted way too easily. We need water.

"Finnick, why don't you stand guard and I'll hunt around for more water," Katniss eventually speaks up, breaking the silence we've allowed to fall upon us, everyone looks at her. It's obvious nobody is thrilled with letting her go off by herself, especially Peeta. "Don't worry, I won't go to far," she promises, offering Peeta a light smile.

"I'll go too," he offers, clearly wanting to keep her in his sight at all times.

Katniss shakes her head. "No, I'm going to do some hunting if I can," she says, pausing for a beat. "I won't be long."

"I can go with you," I speak up, earning a look from Katniss. "I'm quiet and I know how to hunt," I shrug, she takes a moment of contemplation, maybe I'm too trusting of her, but I don't want to think of this as her way to get me alone so she can kill me first. Maybe she is thinking that, making it easier for her to protect Peeta, I mean, I am the weakest out of all of us in this moment.

I don't want to make assumptions, though. I want to trust her.

Then she shakes her head again. "No, it's better if I go alone." She doesn't give anyone time to argue, walking away from us, she disappears in the trees and Finnick pushes himself off of the ground to take her place on watch. I follow him and lean against a tree, the heat making my head pound ever so subtly and I know that if I don't get water soon I most likely won't make it through the night. I keep stabbing the end of my sword into the soft ground beneath us, seeing nothing but dirt, I eventually drive it in about half way and leave it there. Finnick watches me in concern.

"If we don't find water soon, I don't think I'll be able to make it much longer," I whisper to him, he doesn't want to listen to me but he knows I'm right. He doesn't meet my eyes. "Fin," I say, placing a hand on his cheek, I pull his face towards me but he keeps his eyes on the ground. "Look at me," I say firmly, running my thumb against his sweat-covered cheek. He finally allows his eyes to look up, there's a look of sadness behind his eyes but I can see he's trying not to let it show. I'm not sure what to say in this moment, I just wanted him to look at me, so I lean forward and press my lips against his.

He doesn't want to return the gesture at first, afraid of letting me in again, afraid of loving me, but he's worked so hard at making me bring down my walls. I don't understand why he's suddenly become distant. To hurt me? Because he knows I might die soon and he doesn't want me to hurt him? I'm not sure, but after a couple seconds he can't take it and he cracks.

Placing both hands in my hair, he holds me in a moment of passion as our lips mould together, happiness rises in my stomach, and I tangle my fingers into his hair. That is until a small cough is heard from the right of us, we pull apart, looking to Peeta who is smiling up at us from the ground.

"Having fun?" He asks sarcastically, I roll my eyes and move away from Finnick, though he doesn't let go of my hand, another couple minutes of silence go by and we're interrupted by the firing of a cannon. We all know what this means. The bloodbath is over, the tributes are dead and the rest are most likely moving into the tree line. They'll start hunting us now. I count how many times the cannon goes off. Eight. Not as many as there usually is, but these tributes are dangerous, skilled, and definitely know what they're doing having gone through all of this once before.

"Eight," I say out loud as soon as the cannons are over, Finnick nods in agreement and we all share a look. That means there are sixteen of us left, somewhere in the arena, probably right next to us. This thought makes me feel uneasy. I want to get my mind off of things, so I ask Finnick to help me make an actual campsite with the grass we have left over.

By the time Katniss returns, holding a dead, skinned rodent in her hand, we've transformed the place into a proper-looking home...