star crossed lovers ➸ cato hadley

xiii. tick tock plans

"This entire arena seems to be played out like a clock, a new threat every hour, but they only stay within their wedge." Natalie explained to the victors as they all huddled around. "It all starts with the lightning, then the blood rain, fog, and monkeys. That's the first four hours. At ten the big wave hits from over there." She pointed to the wedge in the forest.

"Wiress, you're a genius!" Finnick exclaimed, excitement laced in his tone as he followed Rosen to the weapons. She had taken a lone bow and a pack of arrows, as well as a few throwing knives.

"The tail points at twelve." Peeta added.

"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight." Natalie told them, looking at Beetee as Wiress sat on the edge of the rocks.

"Strikes where?" Beetee asked and Natalie pointed to the tree, to which the District three male then stared at the tree admiringly.

"Did you notice anything unusual in the others?" Cato asked, looking up at Johanna. He had wanted to know as much information he could, especially if meant his wife and child's safety was at risk.

A startled gasp caught the groups attentions as Wiress' humming came to a sharp end. Everyone's eyes had snapped to her, only to see Gloss holding Wiress in his arms and a knife in her shoulder. Without hesitation, Natalie withdrew a knife and threw it into his chest. 2 canons boomed throughout the arena as Gloss and Wiress fell back into the water.

Beside her, Johanna had dug her axe into Cashmere's chest as she attempted to creep up on Natalie. Enobaria then appeared around the corner throwing one of her knives at Cato, catching him on the arm. Immediately, Peeta and Natalie had went to chase after her but Cato only seeing Peeta move, had held him back.

Natalie could hear heavy footsteps chasing after her, but it wasn't until the ground starting to move that she realised Johanna had followed her. They fell to the ground, each of them holding onto the hard rocks. Leftover weapons flew past them and tumbled into the water, the two narrowing escaping a few that nearly hit them.

On the other side, Finnick was holding onto his trident in one hand, the other holding onto Rosen. The female's fingers burned as she tried to hold on, her grip slipping with every passing second. Then, Rosen felt her grip loosened all together and felt her falling backwards.

At the last second, Peeta caught Rosen's wrist before she had the chance to be consumed by the water. He grunted as he pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist to prevent her from slipping once again.

The spinning stopped no less than a second later and eventually, they all made their way to the beach, collapsing onto the sand as they all tried to catch their breath. But the group could barely catch a break as the new threat was dwelling upon them.

At first it was nothing but then a scream broke out, one full of pain and sorrow. "Haymitch?" Natalie mumbled, rushing to her feet. She had a hard time distinguishing between reality and hallucinations on the best of days, she certainly didn't need it happening now.

But as the scream echoed, she knew it wasn't her mind playing tricks. She ran into the jungle without a second thought, hearing Finnick following after her. The Capitol had already taken so much from Haymitch and driven him to his addiction, Natalie wasn't going to let anything else happen to him on her watch.

"Natalie!" Haymitch cried. As much as she tried to follow the voice, the father figure didn't want to be seen. She could distantly hear Finnick screaming for Rosen, and though he knew she wasn't hurt, he could still hear her cries for help.

The pair ran until they reached a clearing, only realising then that it was another mutation. Natalie took a knife from her belt and threw it at the Jabberjay. For a moment it was quiet and Natalie had thought it was all over, despite the cries still lingering in her head. She knew that Jabberjay's mimicked what they heard, only meaning one thing.

They had tortured the people she loved.

One by one, thousands of birds swarmed the air above them, three voices begging for her help; Haymitch, Gale and Katniss. Disorientated, they struggled to find their way back to the group. With blurs rushing passed, their eyes filling with tears, there was no escaping the mutts. And as they crashed into the forcefield, they knew they had to endure the torture for an hour.

Cato, Peeta and Rosen tried relentlessly to get to their loved ones. Cato banged on the forcefield in front of her, mouthing words of reassurance that Natalie nor Finnick could hear. Natalie had curled into a ball, covering her ears as screams left her mouth. Finnick had wrapped his arms around, hoping to give her some form of comfort. He had seen his beloved unharmed and that was enough of him to stop panicking.

But deep down, Natalie knew that nothing would be able to stop the sounds of their screaming in her head.

XXX
natalie really be hating on district one, whoops. and sorry for the long wait, i hated the first half of this chapter so much I didn't have any inspiration to complete it.