Salvation: A Finnick Odair Story

Eight

Maisie

I awoke quickly by the sound of Katniss screaming.
"Run! Run the fog is poison!" We all were quick to get on our feet and get moving. I looked back and saw the white fog crawling towards us, my eyes widening in fear and my feet moving faster. It was coming from multiple directions making our getaway difficult. I slipped in mud causing me to lose my footing. The fog had touched my calf and I screamed in pain, but got up and kept running. Katniss tripped and when Peeta went back to help her up both of them got burned by the fog, white blisters appearing on their skin. Both were having a difficult time keeping up and the sound of Finnick's screams made me turn around and head straight for the poisoned fog.

When I reached my group again, Peeta was on the ground writhing in pain with Katniss and Finnick surrounding him.
"I can't carry him," Katniss stated. I couldn't either since my back was cut up, but we needed to think of something. Before we developed a solid plan, Mags placed her hand on Finnick's shoulder. She kissed him gently before walking in the direction of the fog much to our horror.
"Mags," Finnick called after her. He was screaming for her to come back and tried to crawl towards her, but I held him back. When she was completely enveloped by the fog the canon went off.
"Finnick," I forced him to look at me. I had never seen so much sadness in those blue eyes before and I felt my heart break. Very rarely did I ever see Finnick without a smirk and his defenses down. The man staring blankly at me was broken and lost. That was when I realized that he needed me more than ever right now, motivating me to keep both of us alive.
"Finnick, sweetie, we need to go," I said gently, tugging him to his feet. He snapped out of his dazed state and grabbed Peeta.

The four of us limped along as fast as we could, Finnick and I carrying Peeta together. The fog caught up to us and burned our backs, all of us screaming in agony, however I refused to stop. We were going to make it out. The pain was nearly blinding as I continued to tug Peeta and Finnick along, and I didn't notice the large hill in front of us until we all were tumbling down it. Finnick landed only a few feet away from me breathing roughly, but I was in too much pain to help him. Katniss and I watched in paralyzed fear as the fog crept closer to us. Then strangely it began to float upward as if it had hit a wall. I sighed in relief when I realized we were safe. The only question was how were we going to get rid of these blisters? My question was answered by Katniss who had stumbled upon a pool of water she said would help the blisters. I slowly crawled toward her and dipped my hands into the pool, hissing in pain and discomfort as they melted away.

After cleansing myself of my blisters I went back to Finnick. He was definitely in the worst shape and couldn't move himself to the pool so I took it upon myself to drag him there. I carried him into the water with me and helped wash away the blisters, his screams bringing tears to my eyes.
"It'll be okay I'm almost done," I tried reassuring him.
"We need our weapons," Katniss stated and Peeta went back to retrieve them while I cradled Finnick in my arms.
"I'm sorry about Mags," Katniss spoke up as we scrubbed at our hands while Peeta was getting fresh water from the trees.
"She was never gonna make it," Finnick muttered. I looked away to see where Peeta was, but I saw something terrible. I nudged both Finnick and Katniss softly and nodded to where I was staring. We stood slowly each of us drawing our weapons.
"Mutts," Finnick whispered. There were dozens of them surrounding us in the trees.
"Peeta," Katniss spoke lowly. "Walk over to us slowly." One of the mutts growled at him causing him to slowly retreat back to us. They were all snorting, huffing, and growling.
"Get to the beach," I instructed although that would be easier said than done.

A mutt lunged at me and I impaled him with my sword, sending the others into an angered frenzy. All of us began to fight them off while trying to make our way to the beach. Peeta tripped and was being cornered by a large mutt when someone jumped out from behind him and took on the mutt themselves.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"A morphling," Peeta replied. She was on her back gasping for air, clearly severely wounded. Peeta and Katniss carried her on as Finnick and I held off the mutts. I swung my sword around catching the mutts before they could come closer. When we reached the beach, the mutts stopped near the tree line and I held a defensive stance as I tried to scare them off. It wasn't until I growled at them that they retreated back into the forest.
"Little bastards," I muttered. The canon went off signaling that the morphling had died and a hovercraft came to pick up her body. The four of us watched from the beach, Finnick and I sharing a look. The tributes who were part of the rebellion knew that this was a price to pay. We would have to sacrifice ourselves if it meant Peeta and Katniss would get out alive.