Don't Drown | Finnick x OC

Fog

Isla's pov

A booming sound startled me awake. I shot up, thinking we were being attacked, and clearly so did Fin, who had been sleeping next to me and was now also wide awake. Then I heard the echo meaning this sound was farther away. At first I thought: canon. Fallen tribute. Then I realized it sounded much more like a gong than the deep boom of the canon.

The faint buzzing had begun in the back of my head telling me this was a musical note, but it clearly wasn't strong enough to take over.

The gongs stopped as suddenly as they started.

"I counted 12." Katniss said from my right.

"Midnight?" I asked.

"Or the number of districts."

My head whipped back when we heard lightning strike. I could just see the singular lightning bolt repeatedly striking a taller tree, way in the distance. It was odd, but I couldn't make anything of it.

Finnick tugged my hip and I laid back down next to him. He wrapped his arm around my middle and I hooked onto it. Falling back asleep, I realized this was much more affectionate than we had agreed to be in the arena. But I couldn't bring myself to care, I was scared and so was he, we needed each other.

2 hours later...

A scream, Katniss's pained scream, rang through the air.

"Run! Run! The fog is poison!"

I just had a second to glimpse the fog creeping unnaturally fast behind her before Finnick gripped my hand and pulled me up into a sprint.

We ran, and in running we tripped and grunted and puffed. It didn't matter, all that mattered was getting away.

Finnick kept pulling me, I was fast but he had longer legs. I could see Katniss and Peeta in front. Katniss tripped, Peeta ran back to help her up and in doing so the fog grazed their skin and they screamed in agony.

I was terrified there was no denying it.

"Shit! Shit!" I kept panting under my breath in sheer panic.

The fog seemed to be coming in from the right and not just behind us now. No surprise, we probably weren't running straight, but I could barely tell what way was up in the mess of forest and jungle.

Finnick veered left and pulled me with him. The fog was in that direction too. We finally found forward but not before my left arm accidentally swung out when we turned, and everywhere below my elbow burned with pain. I screamed as white hot blisters appeared where I could see. Finnick started to look back but I screamed back at him.

"I'm fine, move!"

I didn't feel fine but I didn't want to feel this all over my body either. We ran like hell but still the fog closed in on all sides. I could hear Finnick scream as it licked at our backs, him getting the brunt of it. He tried to slow, the pain making him want to collapse, but I wouldn't let him. I jerked him forward. He didn't get to die, not this way, not today.

The ground became uneven and we both ended up tripping, falling down hill to where Katniss and Peeta were, evidently having fallen before us. The fog was several paces away but we didn't have much time.

I started to get up but Finnick writhed in pain. I started to pull his arm over my shoulder, to hoist him up but I heard Katniss yell.

"Peeta please!"

I turned to look at her. She was hunched over Peeta, who was completely covered in blisters.

"I can't carry him." She gave me a pleading look.

I hesitated. The mission was to save Katniss and Peeta. Peeta was my charge, though they didn't know it. I glanced back at Finnick who I was still hoisting up. The fog was really pressing in now.

"Get him." He growled as he writhed, but at least tried to stand.

"Fin–"

"I'm okay. Get Peeta!" he shouted.

I moved and pulled Peeta's arm around my shoulder as Katniss did the same. Finnick jumped in front of us and started running again. I liked having a visual of him.

We were slower, with Peeta's weight and the stumbling over the uneven forest ground. The fog was chasing us, licking our backs but even with what I felt I knew that Finnick and Peeta had the worst of it. I could see the blisters so large they raised his arena uniform, and were all over his neck and legs. I didn't know how he was still running.

But then he wasn't running, none of us were. The earth beneath us dropped and we were tumbling down a small cliff.

I rolled and tucked my head the best I could, knowing I couldn't stop until the ground leveled out. I felt twigs and roots cut and bruise my skin but it was nothing compared to the pain of the blisters.

We landed, I lifted my head, shivering, and saw that Katniss was in a similar state. The boys appeared to be passed out from the quick glance I spared at them before I whipped around, looking for the fog again.

It sped toward us. It was going to consume us and there was nothing we could do anymore. Katniss and I exchanged a terrified glance. Suddenly, however, the fog seemed to meet an invisible barrier, right in front of our feet. It couldn't go any further, and whatever the cause or whatever the reason, I didn't care.

I collapsed back to lie flat on the ground, too exhausted to move. I heard Finnick whimpering and longed to reach him, but I wasn't even sure what side of me he was on.

The shuffle of leaves and ground told me Katniss was moving, to where I didn't know until I heard her try to muffle her scream.

"Isla." She ground out and I turned over, barely lifting my head up. "The water. The water helps."

I army crawled to where she was and plunged my left arm into the pond. I screamed. But the relief I felt was almost immediate after the pain and I saw the silvery substance that was inside the blisters dissipating.

Katniss and I both plunged ourselves into the shallow pond and I tried to breath through the pain as it healed blisters I was only vaguely aware were there before. We splashed it onto ourselves everywhere before we stood.

"Let's get Peeta." I panted.

"We can get Finnick first." Katniss said and I looked at her.

I couldn't read her expression but I could tell by the offering she was starting to trust us, and maybe she wasn't happy about it.

I just nodded rather than protest. We stomped over to Finnick's semi-conscious body and pulled his arms. He was on his back so I knew the rubbing of the blisters couldn't feel good. I winced even though I knew it was for the best.

He screamed when we got him into the pond.

"Shh, shh. I know I know." I tried to soothe.

Katniss went back to wake Peeta and once I was sure Finnick wouldn't drown, I rushed to help her. Peeta screamed just as much, but soon enough we had them both splashing water onto themselves and they were sighing with relief.