Wildest Dreams || Finnick Odair

prologue

[pre catching fire]
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Cameron took a short intake of breath, the exhale lingering like frost in the air. Her fingertips felt like they were going to turn crystalline and snap off into a million pieces. But here she sat, in a cave covered in ice. The howling wind felt like a siren in her ears, and Cameron didn't know what was worse: the sound or the cold. Cameron got lucky when she climbed this mountain and found the cave on top of the hill. Here, she was safe from the blizzard outside, but she didn't know for how long. It wouldn't take long for one of the other tributes to find her and mostly like kill her. Not if she killed them first.

        Cameron was honestly surprised that she had lasted this long. Nobody expected her to, she barely got any sponsors. No one had faith in the small girl from district nine. She didn't blame them, her other tribute from her district got killed during the dash for weapons. Cameron managed to get her hands on a crossbow before she ran off into the snowy tundra before she could get killed herself.

        Everyone thought she was easy bait. They chased her down until they gave up and started to kill each other instead. Cameron thought it was because they wanted to save the easiest kill for last. Cameron wished they hadn't, it would've been easier if they just killed her. Ran her through with a sword, slit her throat open and watch her bleed out, shoot her in the head with an arrow. But they didn't, the careers wanted her alive. They needed the easy win.

        Cameron would try not to give it to them, but who was she kidding? She couldn't kill anymore, so maybe she should just end it herself. Dig under the snow and try to find some of those poisonous berries that would help her get this over with. End it. Hell, she could even empale herself with one of the icicles hanging off of the caves. But that would be too slow of death, bleeding out until the life drained from her body. No one wanted to go out that way, it was pathetic. But so was Cameron in everyone else's eyes.

        Why did it have to be her name drawn out of the reaping? It could've been anyone else's, but it was Cameron's. It was like the universe wanted her to die. They decided that they had no use for her, so they needed to throw her out the only way they could. Toss her into an impossible fight against professional killers and see how she would fair. Well, she fucking sucked at it.

        There was a crackle of ice along with the sound of crunching snow and Cameron's eyes darted towards the entrance to her cave. She instinctively grabbed the crossbow at her side and held it in front of her. Trying to stay as silent as possible, not wanting to alert the intruder to her presence in her hiding spot. Although they probably would find out as soon as they stepped foot in the cave.

        She made a split-second decision and sprinted towards the left corner of the cave, the one right next to the entrance. So if anyone were to walk in, she could easily ambush them. Not kill them, but just rough them up a little. Maybe she could even earn herself some sponsors this way, she could use something warm, like a blanket, or even a spare scrap of fabric.