AFTERGLOW // finnick odair

sixteen

"Go get Peeta," Johanna ordered.

They parted ways, leaving Enobaria to take a decision on who to follow, and leaving a wailing Katniss behind.

It was truly no surprise the plan went terribly wrong terribly fast. Who were they trying to fool? At least to the average spectator it would look like the classic battle for victory. Hopefully Snow would perceive it that way. Katniss had no other option than to perceive it that way. It was not like that girl needed any more trust issues.

The drumming in her ears didn't let her hear if somebody was following her and the nervousness was making her doubt if she was going the right way. Deep in the jungle, it was harder to position oneself so she couldn't rely on her eyesight either. Fuck. Fu–Wait. There's something, Alivia thought and cursed to herself.

There was a grotesque scent of iron and Alivia followed it blindly knowing blood would lead her back. Near her, a struggle could be heard. Two, three, four steps it took for Alivia to reach the men she identified as Brutus and Finnick.

The scene was this, Brutus trying to push a knife into Finnick's chest and Finnick struggling to keep it away from his flesh. Alivia sprinted and hooked both arms to Brutus' neck, yanked sideways, and finally made their bodies roll in the ground.

For a man of his magnitude, it was extremely easy to bring him down, or so she thought until he grabbed her from the neck and slammed her against the dirty floor.

A cough assaulted her as the air went out of her lungs, but still managed to drag the blades on her palms through his forearms making him hiss. That made him furious and he reached for her neck again, blood leaking down all the way to his fingers. It made his hold slippery and she took the opportunity to bring her hips forward as hard as she could, pushing him off.

He met with Finnick's trident halfway.

Still coughing, Alivia rolled out of the way to avoid being crushed by his lifeless body. She drew in breaths violently and as her fingers roamed through her neck mindlessly, they came upon something sticky and–blood.

Her breath hitching, her chest constructing and the panic rising; her hands were trembling like she wanted to shake something off. Is this another nightmare?

Thud, thud, thud. Her heart hammered in her ears.

"Finnick," she called.

Everything happened so fast. Could it been possible that Finnick's trident traveled deep enough to reach her neck too?

Finnick was still pushing Brutus' body out of his trident; one foot on his back and both hands pulling up. He turned, almost immediately and gasped at all the blood that was smeared over Alivia.

The panic on her face was indescribable Finnick mirrored it instantly. A part of him knew she wasn't harmed, a wound that spilled so much blood would be visible but he couldn't avoid his heart rate increasing with every step he took.

He ignored the trembling of his fingers as he roamed in search for a wound but not the relief that sunk in as he confirmed there was none.

"It's alright, it's not yours."

Words wouldn't be enough, Alivia was having a full—on flashback to her games, to her nightmares. All at once.

"Breathe, please."

Once again, Alivia found herself on her knees at the depths of the jungle struggling for air. It took several minutes for her to slow down the rhythm of her heart but Finnick didn't give up.

"There you go, it's alright. We'll clean you up as soon as possible."

Alivia went to touch her hair with hands still bloody so Finnick grabbed them."Ok, let's not do that."