When We Drown~Finnick Odair {Book 1}

Chapter Twenty

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Three days of nothing had passed. A couple of canons went off and that was all the excitement the arena had endured. Gresla from District One, both of the tributes from District Three, and the girl from District Six were all still alive. And Peter.

For the last three days, Autumn hadn't slept. She barely ate. She barely drank. She couldn't do much of anything but sit in a tree and hide.

It was clear to Autumn that the Game Makers were getting bored. She knew something was coming. Something big. But she no longer cared to prepare herself for it.

Autumn had her eyes closed as she laid in the tree, listening to the birds chirp. She hoped hat if she laid there long enough she would fall asleep and never wake up. But when did she ever get what she wanted? Never.

The wind rustling is what alerted her first. She could hear the change in the way the branches swayed.

The birds were second. They chirped in fear. They alerted their friends and family before flying away, getting as high as they could. If only Autumn could fly away like a bird. She would try to leave this arena, only to be stopped by a force field.

The trees started rustling harder and harder. The ground rumbled beneath the tree she sat in. And in the moment, Autumn knew what was happening. The Game Makers had finally gotten so bored to the point of creating an earthquake.

Autumn reacted quickly, climbing down the tree with speed and hopping off the last few feet. Her feet hit the ground and she began to run.

She ran as quickly as she could, trying to get out of the woods. She broke through the tree line, finding herself in the clearing where it all began. The cornucopia sat in the middle of it all, empty of items that had been taken by the careers.

The trees around her crashed down, making her run further into the center near the cornucopia. That was the Game Maker's plan, Autumn realized. To draw everyone out of the woods and to the cornucopia so they would kill each other.

Oh, how wrong she was.

The earthquake quickly ended, but left much destruction in its path. Autumn saw all of the trees that had fallen, but that was not all.

Autumn heard the sound of the crack the shook the arena almost as much as the earthquake itself did. She wasn't sure what it was at first, but she quickly figured it out.

The sound of the water coming closer to her was what gave it away. The dam had broken. The arena was going to flood.

Autumn felt the ground vibrate as the water crashed through the tree line. The water enveloped the trees, making them disappear completely.

Autumn was a good swimmer, but she had never fought a tsunami before. This was unlike any water she had ever gone against.

The water came closer and closer at a rapid rate, making its way across the opposite half of the clearing of Autumn. It soon covered the cornucopia and all of the podiums the tributes once stood on.

Autumn knew there was no use in running. It would only tire her out before she could begin swimming. Autumn stood, staring at the waves as the cane crashing towards her. It was beautifully chaotic the way the waves fought each other. That's what Autumn always loved about the water.

Autumn let her body relax as the waves took her, dunking her under the waves.

Autumn's body went numb as she was carried through the arena in the water. But her mind was awake.

She could remember the day her father died. He had drowned. How? Autumn never truly found out. Talk went around town and some believed it was suicide. Autumn didn't doubt that. Her father hadn't been a happy man. Autumn blamed herself for years and still did sometimes.

Autumn's lungs began to burn at the six minute mark and she knew she had to go up for water. Autumn finally pushed her body into work as she kicked her legs and swam to the top of the water, taking in a deep breath.

She barely had a second to breath in before her head was dunked under the water once again. This time, she didn't fight it. She let the water take her as she greeted death like and old friend.