Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 27

Taiya's ears were ringing. She couldn't make sense of anything. All she could hear was ringing and screams.

Finnick was in front of her, his mouth moving, but no sound reached her brain. He was trying to pry her hands away from her ears, but they were clamped firmly in place.

His eyes were darting around everywhere, looking towards the screams, but they'd always return to Taiya. He wouldn't leave her.

Taiya screeched in panic and she turned back into the wall.

"Taiya! Taiya!" Finnick's pleas finally broke through to her mind. "Tay!"

"I'm ok, I'm ok," her voice shook. "P... Peeta," she turned her eyes to the boy who was violently shaking.

"Here," Finnick held her hands and gently helped her stand. "I've got you. I've got you."

Her feet tripped as she stood, but his hands were instantly on her back, supporting her so she fell into his side.

Taiya turned to look in the direction the explosion had come from.

It was Boggs.

Katniss, Gale and Homes were crouched over him. But he wasn't moving. He was gone.

"You ok, Peeta?" Finnick asked, looking over at the boy who was pulling himself up.

He didn't answer. His eyes were dark. This wasn't Peeta the bread boy. This was the wannabe Mockingjay assassin.

Taiya knew the signs, but she hadn't noticed, she wasn't looking at Peeta. She was watching the Leegs girl limp over to Messalla. He'd been thrown into the left side of the courtyard by the blast.

"NO!" Taiya screamed, but it was too late. She'd strayed into the forbidden sector of the courtyard and placed her foot on a stone tile that slowly sunk into the ground.

A low rumble echoed around the block as all the exits started to seal themselves off. There'd be no escape.

"RUN!" Taiya screamed at the top of her lungs.

Finnick gave Taiya a forceful shove forward, propelling her in the direction of Katniss and Gale while he grabbed ahold of Peeta.

It was just like the fog in the quarter quell. He needed her in front so he could focus on saving the District 12 kids.

They'd started running in just the nick of time. Black, oily matter spouted like a geyser from the street, billowing like a tsunami straight for them. It was flowing between the buildings, creating an impenetrable wall of darkness. They couldn't retreat, they couldn't escape. Their only chance was to get to higher ground and hope they could outrun the oil.

"Go, go, go!" Gale yelled out for the whole squad.

"This way!" Homes took charge as he picked a building and sprinted towards it.

"Let's go soldiers!" Jackson's voice echoed through the air.

"We need to get to higher ground!" Homes called out to them as he shot open the door of a building.

Everyone was scrambling. There was no time for dilly-dallying.

Taiya glanced over her right shoulder. Finnick was in sight, only a few steps behind her. If she'd instead looked over her left shoulder though, she would have seen what Peeta was about to do.

He was about to attack and slam Katniss backwards to the ground.

Taiya was unaware of that as she sprinted forward.

"Finnick!" she heard her husband's name called out and she immediately spun around, terrified that he'd fallen behind and become prey to the black oil.