Fire is Catching

Chapter 13: Allies? Allies.

CHAPTER 13: ALLIES? ALLIES.

Peeta stabs the monkey in the back, and then a few more times in anger. He's filled with deadly rage, challenging the other monkeys to come forward.

But the monkeys retreat into the forrest. Thanks Plutarch, I think.

"Get her." I tell Peeta and Everdeen.

They gently lift up the morphling up and move her to the sandy beach. I can tell this is going to be emotional, so I grab Finnick and we leave to retrieve Everdeen's arrows and my knives.

Once we've penetrated the jungle, I look over at Finnick. "You okay?"

He sighs and shakes his head. "I knew she was never going to make it, but that doesn't make it sting any less."

I nod sympathetically. "I understand. If there's a bright side, that's on it."

A cannon fires. Finnick and I make our way back to the beach. Everdeen and Peeta are watching the hovercraft pick up the morphling. I can't help but draw a parallel to Georgina, even though Georgina isn't as addicted to morphling as this woman. It reminds me how real all of this is, and that somehow makes me feel even stronger.

Our fog blisters are itching now. I resist the urge to scratch until I get the okay from Everdeen.

"Don't scratch the blisters." She tells us.

It is a hard urge to resist. The wounds are dying to be scratched, to feel our nails on them. But I can't give in. I think of Lilyanna, and vow not to scratch them. It pains me to think that she's watching right now, eyes probably glued to the TV, watching the only mother she's ever known fight for her life.

"Why don't you guys get some rest?" Everdeen says. "I'll take the first watch."

Finnick shakes his head. "No, Katniss." He says, tears in his eyes. His composure has finally broken. "I'd rather."

I look at Everdeen and give her a pleading look. She nods. "Alright Finnick, thanks." For all her flaws, she understands that some people are just broken, and they need a bit of time to mend. I may not like Everdeen, but I respect her.

I move over towards Finnick. "Do you want me to wait with you?" I ask as Everdeen and Peeta go out of earshot to lie down.

Finnick has his head in his hands, and slowly shakes it.

I pat him on the shoulder, then rest my head on his lap.

***

I wake up to the chirping of birds. Everdeen sits up beside me. We haven't spoken much in the arena, other than what needed to be said. I decide to start a conversation.

"Do you really like to design clothes?" I ask her.

When you survive the Games, you have to find a hobby. One that you can tell the Capitol citizens about as their daily entertainment. Finnick's was weaving nets. He did that with Annie Cresta, his old friend. I think they're slowly falling in love.

She thinks for a moment about her response. Everdeen shrugs. "Sometimes. I don't do it every day, or for a living."

Something in her eyes lets me know she's lying. For some reason, she doesn't want to divulge the fact that she doesn't like fashion.

"My chosen hobby was the ukulele." I tell her. Everdeen's brows furrow, so I explain. "It's a wooden instrument that makes beautiful music."

Everdeen nods. She begins playing in the sand, but I think that's because she doesn't want to look me in the eye. "How old is your daughter?" She blurts out.

I finger my sunshine necklace from Livie. "She's twelve." I say, smiling wistfully. "Right now she's staying with my best friend Chase."

Everdeen looks around awkwardly. "I'd better wake Peeta up. He likes to see the sunrise."

I smile. "Get Finnick up too, will you? I'm going to get us some water."

She agrees, and goes to the campsite. I grab the spile and set off for the trees.

As I jam the knife into the tree, I remember how I was teaching Lilyanna to play ukulele. She'll never get to learn now.

I shove the spile into the hold and put the bowl under it, watching the clear liquid pour into the bowl. Laughter sounds from the direction of the beach. Are my friends okay? Is that the Careers laughing at them? Cashmere and Gloss wouldn't do that, but Brutus and Enobaria would. I grab the spile and whatever's left in the bowl and race to the beach. To my relief, no one is dead. Finnick and Everdeen are laughing their heads off at Peeta, who is sitting up, looking shocked.

"What's going on?" I ask.

Finnick, who seems to be trying to forget Mags's death for the time being, is laughing. "Sleeping Beauty over here just woke up."

"And we have ointment for our blisters." Everdeen says.

I chuckle, and fall onto the sand. "Honestly, I leave for one minute!"

The bowl of water is half full, but I still hand it to my allies, along with the spile. I take off my shirt, leaving me in my bra, and say, "Someone do my back."

Finnick is done putting his ointment on, so he offers to help. It feels so good, getting those blisters off me. I'm oohing and ahhhhing in relief when Everdeen points at something at the far edge of the beach.

It's a trio, and in bad shape too. One is being dragged out by another, and one is wandering in strange circles. They are covered from head to toe in red, just like Finnick, Cashmere, Gloss, and I's red paint war. It can't be the Careers, they have four members. I remember the canon from earlier. Was that a Career?

The one who's still on his/her feet and not wandering around shoves the dazed one to the ground. No warning calls have gone off in my brain, maybe because I am going insane, but maybe it's because I trust these people.

I inch closer, against my allies' pleas.

"Stay down!" A brash voice exclaims. It's a woman. Johanna Mason, to be exact. Her two comrades are Beetee and Wiress. Our other allies. But where is Blight?

"Johanna!" I call excitedly.

She doesn't quite see me yet. "Alex?" She asks, staggering around blindly. "Alex?"

Now I am right in front of them, hugging Johanna and smiling at Nuts and Volts.

"Why're you covered in blood?" I ask, wiping the blood off my clothes.

Johanna steps into the water and starts washing the blood off of her. "We were in the jungle," she says, taking her shirt off to clean it. "I thought it'd be safe there! We thought it was just rain, because of the lightning, you know? But it was blood. Thick, hot blood. We were stumbling around, choking on it, gagging heavily. That's when Blight hit the forcefield."

Blight is dead? He must've been the one cannon that went off.

"I'm so sorry, Johanna." Finnick says.

I swallow my tears. "Yeah, uh, me too Jo."

I turn around and stagger over to the campsite. No one is there. Everdeen is washing off Wiress. Peeta is doing the same to Beetee. Finnick and Johanna are catching up and cleaning Johanna's axe and clothes.

For the first time since these wretched Games began, I cry. I let the tears flow steadily, and heavily. No one disturbs me, and that's the way I like it. How many more people have to die before the Capitol gets their way? That's when I decide no one else will die on my watch. I'll make sure of it.