Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 19

"Another one! Nice going 4!" Hero cheered as the rest of the Careers returned to the cornucopia.

"Another one?" Theo asked.

"She took out both the tributes from 5 as well," Hero told him and Theo's eyes widened as he looked at her.

"I told you on the train I'd be fine," she said bitterly.

"We should clear out," Calista suggested. "Take what we can and go. That'll let them come and collect the bodies."

Everyone agreed and they grabbed as much as they could from the cornucopia, shoving it into packs. "Here," Theo said, holding out a pair of gloves for her.

"Thanks," she smiles, slipping them on her hands. She felt better about allowing the boy to take the other pair now. "We need to find water," she said to the group.

"There's snow, can't we just eat the snow for water?" Cotton asked.

Theo shook his head. "No, you need liquid. Eating snow will just dehydrate you."

"Water it is then, let's go," Marcus agreed and they marched their way out of the cornucopia and into the woods.

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They'd been walking for an hour when the cannons from the blood bath boomed. All 12 of them.

"Half down, not bad," Marcus smirked. Taiya shivered and pulled her coat tighter around her. "Come on Four, look at these coats, you can't be cold."

"Taiya's always cold even back home," Theo smiled as he rubbed her arm.

"Does it snow in your districts?" Taiya asked.

"Yeah it does," Marcus confirmed whilst Hero nodded.

"Does it snow in yours?" Hero asked.

"No," Taiya answered. "Theo and I have never seen snow before today," she smiled.

"There!" Cotton shouts as she spots a river.

"We should secure the area," Calista recommends. "We can set up camp here."

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They had been relaxing by the river when night arrived. As soon as it got dark, the anthem rang out through the arena. They all sat up, eager to see who was left in the competition. The first face displayed is the boy from District 3. Then the pair from District 5 appear, making Taiya look down briefly. The girl from District 6, the boy from District 7, the pair from District 8. The girl from District 10 appears and Taiya leans forward eagerly, waiting to see if Cooper had made it. The next face shown was the pair from District 11, the girl being one Taiya killed. Taiya smiled slightly as the pair from District 12 appeared, Cooper had managed to escape the blood bath and survive his first day.

That left the six of the Careers, the girl from 3, the boy from 6, the girl from 7, the pair from 9 and Cooper from 10.

"Most of the threats are out," Marcus muses. "Who's our next target?"

"The boy from 10 should be easy enough to take out," Cotton sneers and Taiya tenses up.

"The pair from 9 is probably our biggest threat," Taiya said.

"Why's that?" Marcus asked.

"They're the only District pair left outside of us. If they've teamed up together that makes them a threat. And they're older. So they'll be a bit stronger."

"Good point," Calista agreed. "I think we should rest up tonight. We can hunt tomorrow. It's too cold at night to waste energy trekking around."

Taiya and Theo nodded their agreement, having no experience in the snow, their survival knowledge of this weather was minimal at best.