Stay with me? [Finnick Odair]

58

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Chapter fifty eight: sacrifices
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The chorus of screeches makes us all burst into action, I spin on my heel and thrust my knife into the eye of the monkey behind me just as it's bearing its teeth, it falls to the ground, but another takes its place.

I've never seen an animal move so fast, besides fish, no creature on land can move as fast as these monkeys. I'm soon overwhelmed by the amount of them that my knives aren't enough for such a short distance. Everything becomes a blur until I realise they're becoming less and less frequent, as if something's calling them away, they stop attacking and I look to the others. They've all stopped fighting back, they've realised the monkeys have had enough.

That's when I see the body of the morphling on the ground, four puncture wounds in her chest and her body quickly losing blood.

Peeta brings her back to the beach, but we all know there's no use in helping her, she's dying and soon the hovercraft will arrive to take her lifeless body. I guess Peeta just wanted to make her last few moments a little less painful.

She gasps like a fish out of water, the wounds most likely deep enough to reach her lungs, I can't do much but watch as Katniss and Peeta stay by her side; kneeling on the sand beside her. She's grasping at Katniss' hand so tightly, most likely for comfort, Peeta takes a hand and moves it to her damaged hair.

He seems to say something that calms her down, even making her smile at one point, he seems to have a way with words that makes even the worst day great. The look on her face is beautiful, there's no fear left in her eyes, only happiness, she seems excited with the way Peeta is talking to her. He talks for a few minutes before her limbs slump and the cannon fires.

She's dead. But she died happy. That's very rare in the hunger games.

Peeta carries her out in the water before allowing her to float, rejoining Katniss, Finnick sits on the sand beside me just as the hovercraft appears to take the morphling away. Just like that, she's gone.

In this quiet, I realise all the wounds I have contracted from the fight with the monkeys. Nothing life-threatening, but they're all beginning to sting rather annoyingly. They're mostly on my arms, but there's a large scratch on my leg; it's not bleeding much, I wash it out in the water in order to get the sand out of it.

I stay on the beach as the others gather water, Finnick is reluctant to leave me alone, but he knows I'm fast and quiet so he leaves with Katniss and Peeta and comes back with a leaf cupped in his hands filled with water.

"Here," he says, bringing it to my lips, I drink the water in seconds and thank him quietly. I place my hand on his cheek and he gives me a weak smile, leaning forward, we share a quick kiss just as Katniss and Peeta return with shells of drinking water.

"Why don't you three get some rest? I'll watch for a while," Katniss offers, but Finnick shakes his head.

"No, Katniss, I'd rather," he says and I look up at him, he's afraid, it's clear he doesn't want to close his eyes again in case something else happens. Katniss doesn't bother to argue.

"Alright, Finnick, thanks," she says, laying on the sand with Peeta, they both drift off and I rest my head on Finnick's chest. Hearing the heavy beating of his heart makes me smile to myself, his hand finds my hair and he plays with it as I slowly drift off to sleep...

I wake up curled on the sand, a woven shield above my head to protect me from the beaming sun, I sit up to see Finnick cracking open a basket of shellfish on a stone and another two baskets filled with water on the other side of him. I dust the sand from my cheek and brush my hair from my face, pushing myself up, I realise Peeta is still asleep while Katniss is in the water — seemingly washing herself.

I look down at my hands and realise the scratches all over my skin, the blood under my nails, I frown when I realise I've been scratching my scabs in my sleep.

I join Katniss in the water, washing my knuckles and nails clean when I see her head snap upwards.

"Hey, Haymitch, if you're not too drunk we could use a little something for our skin."

I can't help but laugh at how quickly a parachute arrives, the cheeky smirk on Katniss' face doesn't make it any better, we both share a laugh as we sit beside Finnick on the sand and Katniss unscrews the lid on the tube. A pungent smell hits my nose and I move away in disgust.

Katniss squeezes a good amount on her palm before handing it to me, I do the same and hand the tube to Finnick before rubbing the ointment on my skin. A sound of pleasure escapes my lips as it reaches my skin, taking away the itching feeling, I make sure to get every inch of skin I can before Finnick offers to get my back.

He massages the ointment into my back and I can't help but sigh at the feeling, the satisfaction of the itching leaving within seconds is amazing, though I can't ignore Finnick's smirks as I turn back to him. I roll my eyes.

"Shut up," I mutter to him as I return the favour, massaging his back with the ointment, by the end of it we all look like we've been puked on by ogres.

"I'm going to wake Peeta," Katniss announces, but Finnick quickly stops her with a look of pure genius on his face.

"No, wait," he says, smirking up at her, he turns his face to me. With the green tint to his skin, he looks insane. "Let's do it together. Put our faces in front of his."

We both agree and position ourselves in front of Peeta's face, Katniss being the one to sit on his legs, Finnick and I are on either side of him and Katniss begins to shake him gently. "Peeta. Peeta, wake up," Katniss sings quietly to him as if everything's normal, he begins to stir, a smile appearing on his lips, his eyes flutter open ever so slightly before he inevitably jumps and we collapse into laughter...