The Perfect Truth: A Finnick Odair Novel

Chapter 10

A/N: more johanna/ryn rivalry i'm sorry they're just both on guard

Warnings: death, blood, violence, swearing

Word count: 1054

At present, the blood rain is falling. There's no guarantee that the attacks stay within the jungle, so we have to move. But there's just enough time to explain the clock theory after I wake everyone. Relief floods Wiress' face as she sees that someone has finally understood her.

'Midnight,' she says.

'It starts at midnight,' I confirm. 'At two, the fog begins there,' I say, pointing at the jungle. I hand Wiress a woven bowl of water, and she gulps it up; with the inability to communicate overcome, she's functioning again, so I hand her the last bit of bread too.

We start to make a move on, when Beetee objects from being lifted.

'Wire,' he groans.

'She's here,' Peeta tells him. 'She's coming.'

'Wire!' He insists.

'Oh, he wants this,' says Johanna impatiently, tossing a metal cylinder to Peeta. 'It's got some wire inside or something,' she continues. 'That's how he got stabbed. Ran into the Cornucopia for it.' She laughs. 'No idea what he wants it for. Can you imagine Beetee garroting somebody?'

'He won his Games by setting up that electrical trap,' Peeta points out, and she shrugs dismissively.

'Guess so.'

I narrow my eyes, refusing to let it go.

'Shouldn't you have figured that out? Since you nicknamed him Volts and all.'

'Well, that was really stupid of me, wasn't it? I guess I was too busy making sure your little friends weren't killed while you were... What was it? Killing Mags?'

My fingers tighten on the hilt of my sword.

'Go ahead,' she taunts. 'I'll rip your throat out.'

'Didn't seem like that last time,' I fire back.

'Hey,' Finn says in my ear. I jump and almost gut him. 'Calm down,' he murmurs. 'We can't survive if we're killing each other off.'

I see Johanna narrowing her eyes, trying to make out what he's saying. I grin, and she scowls, imagining it's something bad about her. It satisfies me for the moment, and I loosen my grip on my sword and sheath it. But we both know it's just a matter of time before one of us accidentally kills the other.

'So,' Peeta says. 'Where to?'

'I'd say to the Cornucopia. To watch and see if Ryn's right about the clock.'

I hide another smile as Johanna's eyes narrow again. But she has to go along with it, because we need to get more weapons anyway.

We make our way over to the Cornucopia, and Peeta lays Beetee in the little shade it gives, calling Wiress over and asking her to wash the wire, where it's got blood congealed on it. She nods eagerly and scampers over to the water, singing a song about a mouse running up a clock.

'Oh, not that song again,' Johanna moans. 'That went on an hour before she started tick tocking.'

Suddenly, Wiress stands up and points to the jungle.

'Two.' She says. I nod, seeing a flash of white through the trees.

'The fog's started,' I translate for the others.

I poke around in the Cornucopia and add a few more knives to my stock, but I'm already pretty well armed. Johanna pokes around until she comes up with a pair of lethal looking axes. Confused, I frown, until she hurls it and it sticks in the sun softened gold of the Cornucopia. Of course. She's District Seven, the lumber District. It's just like Finnick with his trident, or Beetee with his wire. It's just another of the many disadvantages District Twelve experiences. While the other Districts pick up trades early on, the coal miners only enter the mines at eighteen. Glancing over, I see my fellow District Twelve has taken a leaf and is etching a map of the Arena onto it with his knife.

Suddenly, I notice something. Wiress has stopped singing. Loading an arrow, I twist and see a dripping wet Gloss letting Wiress slide to the ground, her throat slit. My arrow disappears into his right temple, and in the moment it takes for me to draw my sword and reload, Johanna has buried an axe blade into Cashmere's chest. I hear Finnick cry out as he gets Enobaria's knife in the thigh as he knocks a spear that Brutus throws at Peeta away. A growl leaves me, and I spring forward in pursuit as they duck behind the Cornucopia. Three cannons fire and I spot Brutus and Enobaria, who are sprinting down a tiny sand strip towards the jungle. I raise my bow, when suddenly the ground jerks beneath our feet and I'm flung on my side as the circle of land holding the Cornucopia starts spinning fast, until the jungle morphs into a colourful blur. I dig my fingers into the sand and hang on until with a teeth jarring jolt, we slam to a stop. Dizzily, we stagger around, and find that the three dead bodies are out in the water, and also Beetee. Finn swims out to haul him in, when I remember the wire that was so important to him. I glance around and I see it, still clenched in Wiress' hands.

'Cover me,' I tell the others and dive into the water as I see the hovercraft approaching. I swim until I hit her body, and, treading water, I wrench the coil of wire from her cold fingers and swim away as the hovercraft looms overhead. By the time I haul myself onto the sand, her body is gone. Handing Beetee his wire, I glance at the other's sober faces. I wipe the salty water from my face, aware that some of it is tears, suddenly just needing to be held. I make a beeline for Finnick. He wraps his arms around me, and I close my eyes and let his sea salt scent engulf me.

Eventually, Finnick and I go to get some water, and Peeta, Johanna and Beetee stay on the beach to make another map - the other having washed away. I watch Finn work, my sword drawn in case of an attack, when I hear the scream. It chills my blood, down to the core, and I yell her name as I follow the sound of her cries, vines cutting my face, stumbling over roots. I call her name over and over. Because they're hurting her. Katniss.