The Other Slip

Chapter 10

I wake up to Beetee mumbling a few feet away from me. I groan and sit up, everyone else is still asleep. I walk up to Beetee and stand behind him to observe what he is doing in the sand.

-"Is that the arena?" I ask, but he just nods quickly and continues mumbling. The sketch isn't very clear or detailed, but it'll do. I hear Haymitch grunt loudly and Johanna stands up and stretches.

-"What's Volts doing?" She calls out. I roll my eyes and she hikes up the small slope to come see.

-"Wire." Beetee demands, tapping his foot impatiently on the sand.

-"What?" I ask, puzzled.

-"I know what he's talking about." Johanna says, reaching for something in our pile of supplies. She hands him a cylinder with some sort of coil wrapped around it. He fumbles with the wire, then looks up at us for the first time today.

-"Wake up the others. Bring them here. I have a plan."

Johanna and I rush to wake up Wiress and Finnick and drag Haymitch along with us. We all sit in front of Beetee and his map, like a classroom full of students. He explains his elaborate plan of electrocuting the remaining tributes to us, and I must admit I don't understand the majority of it, and from the looks of most of my allies' faces, I'm not the only one. Beetee doesn't acknowledge our puzzled looks and simply asks us if we agree to his plan. We all awkwardly nod, and Beetee grins.

About an hour later we all head to the lightning tree. Beetee pairs me up with Johanna to unravel the coil from the water to the tree.

-"I'll take the coil," she rolls her eyes, "Wouldn't want to exhaust our poor little pregnant girl."

-"I can take it, you know." I snap.

-"Just let me take the damn coil." I just stay quiet and start walking. After a while of marching through the thick jungle, Johanna starts panting.

-"Do you want me to take it now?" I ask. She doesn't protest, and hands me the black cylinder. As soon as I get a hold of it, the wire snaps.

I fall to the ground, my head pounding. I scream through the agonizing pain of Johanna digging through my forearm.

-"Stay down!" she hisses, then throws an axe in the general direction of the enemies. I lie on the ground, knowing I couldn't move even if I tried. Loud footsteps run past me, ignoring me. The pounding in my head calms down a bit and I try to sit up. Had Johanna betrayed me? If this was planned, I'm positive Finnick is a part of it. Once the ringing in my ear stops, an odd mechanical clicking takes over. I am not eager to find out what is making that sound. Groans echo around me and I find Beetee, lying on the ground just as I was just a few seconds ago. What am I supposed to do? I have no one to protect, no one to kill: no goal. Then again, what has been my goal these past few days? The only plan I've been dedicated to is Beetee's plan. I spot the coil a few feet away from me, and my hand reaches out to it automatically. I fumble with it, unsure what to do. Rustling near me makes me reach for an arrow, the wire dropping to my feet. Finnick calls out to me, looking for me. My arrow is directed at his skull, and he puts his hands in the air when he notices me.

-"Katniss..." he pants, "Remember who the real enemy is!" I freeze. I relax my hands, but don't lower my bow. The enemy? My mind races as I make the realisation Finnick wanted me to make. Finnick is not the enemy. None of the tributes are my enemies. The enemy is the person who is putting us through all of this: Snow. My body moves without my permission, wrapping the coil around the tip of my arrow. I redirect my bow to the sky, and when the rumbling starts, I release my arrow to the sky.