Sugarcubes // Finnick Odair - Hunger Games Fanfic

XXII.

After all of us recover from the spinning cornucopia and the near-death career encounter, Everybody gathers around together again.

Katniss and Peeta stick close to each other; seeing as them, as well as Brutus and Enorbia, are the only two pairs that have not lost their district partners. The silence is eventually too much for me to take, and though I dread having to cross over to the beach again, we have to get off this island.

"Let's get off this island." I say, shocking everybody into the real world again. The one where we are still fighting for our lives; or Katniss and Peeta's lives to be more specific. There's only the matter of our weapons now, which we've largely retained. I still have the knives strapped to me, and a throwing axe as well as my normal one.

Finnick strips off his undershirt, and I help him wrap it around his thigh; a wound made by Enorbia's knife. I feel guilty for not noticing it before.

Beetee thinks he can walk now, if we go slowly, so I help him up. We decide to head to the beach at twelve o'clock. That should provide hours of calm and keep us clear of any poisonous residue. But Peeta and Finnick peel off in two different directions.

"Twelve o'clock, right?" says Peeta. "The tail points at twelve."

"Before they spun us," says Finnick. "I was judging by the sun."

"The sun only tells you it's going on four, Finnick," Katniss says, and I realize the problem. They spun us to disorient us. We don't have any idea now where twelve o clock is on the clock. I try looking for the lightning tree, but each sector has an identical one.

"I think Katniss's point is, knowing the time doesn't mean you necessarily know where four is on the clock. You might have a general idea of the direction. Unless you consider that they may have shifted the outer ring of jungle as well," says Beetee.

I look at Katniss, and she nods along trying to hide the confusion on her face.

"So, any one of these identical paths could lead to twelve o'clock." I tell them, shielding Beetee from the sun.

Katniss sighs bitterly. "I should have never mentioned the clock, Now they've taken that advantage away as well." I feel a tinge of annoyance at her trying to gain pity, especially in a way that doesn't make sense, but Beetee's weight on my side doesn't allow me to think of much else.

"Only temporarily," says Beetee. "At ten, we'll see the wave again and be back on track." That's true, unless we end up in the sector of the wave.

"Yes, they can't redesign the whole arena," says Peeta.

We're going to keep wasting time consoling Katniss unless I say something, that much is clear. And it really isn't her fault, this drawing attention to herself any way she could was getting tiring very fast. I don't think she realizes she is doing it.

"It really doesn't matter. It was about to be time for another nightmare. You had to tell us to get us to move. Stop being brainless, all of you," I tell them, scoffing. "I need water. Anybody has a good gut feeling?" I ask, to get them to stop staring at me like baboons and actually move. The last thing I needed was water.

We randomly choose a path and take it, having no idea what number we're headed for. When we reach the jungle, we peer into it, trying to decipher what may be waiting inside.

"Well, it must be monkey hour. And I don't see any of them in there," says Peeta. "I'm going to try to tap a tree."

"No, it's my turn," says Finnick.

"I'll at least watch your back," Peeta says.

I want to go behind Finnick so badly, but we need Peeta to draw the map, and the lovebirds can't be left alone with Beetee. They might try to kill him and get away.