Part 5: The Girl On Fire

Chapter 19

I caught up to the group and looked around. I cautiously put my bow up.

"Well, I got them out. We were all the way deep into the jungle where I thought it was gonna be safe." I heard Johanna complain. I saw a guy covered in blood bathing it off in the water. Johanna approached us covered in blood head to toe.

"That's when the rain started. I thought it was water. It turned out to be blood." Johanna huffed. A woman waddled out of the water. I then realized the woman and man was Beetee and Wiress.

"Tick tock." Wiress said.

"Hot, thick blood." Johanna sighed angrily.

"Tick tock." Wiress repeated. I looked at her. What could she mean by that I wonder.

"It was coming down. It was choking us. We were stumbling around, gagging on it, blind." Johanna scoffed.

"Tick tock." Wiress said once again.

"That's when Blight hit the force field." Johanna sighed.

"Tick tock. Tick tock." Wiress repeated over and over again.

"He wasn't much, but he was from home." Johanna said. Wiress was still covered in blood repeating the words "tick tock".

"What's wrong with her?" I asked concerned.

"She's in shock." Beetee said crawling out of the water.

"Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?" He sighed.

"We can get some." I said reassuringly. Suddenly a commotion started to erupt. Wiress grabbed Johanna by the shoulders and started telling her "tick tock". Johanna was not happy.

"Stop it!" Johanna yelled. She started pushing Wiress around.

"Hey! Lay off her!" I demanded. I charged towards Johanna and pushed her back. Wiress stumbled to the ground by Johanna's push. Finnick and Peeta immediately intervened pulling Johanna back as Peeta pulled me back.

"Hey. I got them out for you!" Johanna spat. Finnick started calming Johanna down. I looked at Peeta.

"For me? What does that mean?" I asked confused.

"You did want them as allies." Peeta sighed. Wiress stood up. She still had blood on her. I put in my best smile.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." I said. I grabbed Wiress by the hands and started leading her to the water.

"Tick tock." Wiress said.

"Tick tock." I repeated back.

"Tick tock."

"Yeah tick tock ok." I said. I sat Wiress down in the water. She stared off in the distance as I started cleaning her up. Johanna was close beside us cleaning off her axe. I saw Beetee on the beach messing with something.

"What does Beetee have there?" I asked Johanna.

"The coil? It's some kind of wire." Johanna said.

"Did he get it from the Center?" I asked.

"Took a knife in the back to get it." Johanna said. Suddenly Wiress gasped.

"Tick tock! Tick tock!" Wiress gasped loudly.

"Alright. I can't. Have fun with Nuts." Johanna scoffed walking back to the beach. Suddenly lightning started to strike the big tree in the distance. We all observed. Wiress looked me in the eyes.

"Tick tock." She said softly. I muttered under my breath.

"It's a clock." I said bewildered. I looked at Wiress.

"It's a clock! Wiress you're a genius!" I exclaimed.

***

"This entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock with a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge." I explained. We walked across one of the rock paths leading to the Center.

"It all starts with the lightning. Then the blood rain, fog, monkeys. That's the first 4 hours. At 10:00, that big wave hits from over there." I said pointing.

"Wiress, you're a genius." Finnick complimented. We walked into the mouth of the Center.

"Look, the tail points to 12." Peeta said.

"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight." I added.

"Strikes where?" Beetee asks.

"That big tree." I said pointing at it.

"Good." Beetee said. Wiress sat down near the edge.

"Hickory dickory dock. The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, the mouse ran down. Hickory dickory dock." Wiress sang. She continued to repeat the rhyme. Peeta grabbed a metal spear and started to draw in the black sand.

"So 12:00 to 1:00, lightning. Then 1:00 to 2:00 is blood. Then fog. And then monkeys." Peeta explained. Everyone gathered round except for Wiress who was still singing.

"And then 10:00 to 11:00, the wave. What about everything else? Did you guys see anything?" I asked.

"Nothing but blood." Johanna sighed.

"It doesn't matter. As long as we steer clear of whichever sector is active, we'll be safe." Peeta said.

"Yeah. Relatively speaking." Finnick said. Suddenly we all heard Wiress gasp aloud. We quickly turned our heads and saw a male Tribute stabbing her in the neck. The cannon went off and I immediately jumped into action. I shot an arrow through his chest before he could move. His dead body fell into the water. Johanna pushed me out of the way and swung her ax into a female Tribute running towards me. Finnick and Peeta were trying to fight off a big male Tribute. I aimed my bow and released but the Tribute was able to run out of the way. I saw another female Tribute with the male Tribute. I started to follow them around the Center. Suddenly the rock paths started to move. Spinning. Me and Johanna stumbled over. We clung to the edge of the rock as we started to spin faster and faster. I looked back at the roaring water ready to swallow up anyone who fell in. I lost my grip and started to slide in. Johanna grabbed my arm. I tried to hang on. She dug her ax into the rock. She strained to continue holding me.

"Hold on!" She grunted. I felt my hand slipping from her grip.

"No!" Johanna yelled. I completely lost her grip and fell into the unforgiving water below.