Darker And Colder

1.16: Spinning

Chapter 16
Katniss's POV

That is when it hits me. What Wiress has been saying.

Tick Tock.

The arena is a clock.

Each of the twelve sections of the arena indicates an hour of the day that a disaster happens.

"It's a clock." I barely even register I have said it.

Finnick and Peeta exchange a strange look and then both stare at me. Its Finnick that speaks, "What's a clock?"

"The arena. It's a clock." Both Finnick and Peeta jump up from where they were sitting on the beach and look around the arena, taking what I have said in.

Finnick rushes over to Johanna, who is tapping a tree, and me and Peeta rush to Wiress and Beetee.

We all run to the cornucopia- of course with me and Peeta both lagging behind a little- and Beetee points out that the tree where the lightning strikes is indicated by the tail of the golden horn. The lighting strikes there at 12, so the tail of the cornucopia points to twelve, and the other sections are the other hours, counting to another horror. Wiress points to the sun.

"Three..."

"... O' Clock," Beetee finishes for her.

I feel my legs start to shake and give way. Looking down, the ground underneath me starts to spin.

♤♤♤

Peeta's POV

Katniss and I reach each other just as the small circle of rock and sand that holds the cornucopia begins to turn more violently. We hold onto one another and the rocks as we are thrown through sand and saltwater and screams. I can feel my hand being loosened slightly from the now slippery rock, so with my other hand I hold tighter and lift my arm to a higher rock. Katniss next to me seems to be falling a little, so I let one of the rocks go and pull my arm around her. Over the loud rushing of waves I hear a sudden scream and see a blur that appears to be Wiress and Johanna fall into the unforgivable depths of the water.

The spinning begins to slow and comes to a complete stop. Johanna climbs back up to the rock, but I can't see Wiress. One Cannon goes off and gives the answer to why I can't find her.

I help Katniss up as she is clearly struggling with her expanding almost 5-month pregnant stomach. It is obvious to see now and the blue wetsuits aren't helping conceal it. I think back to the capitol again. No doubt President Snow is enjoying this- our every moment that should be private is being broadcast around an entire country. The Capitol residents are probably sitting in their overly-furnished mansions, eating as much food as they can before they throw up, and enjoying the drama and suspense of it all. I can't really point the blame at them, seeing as they don't know any better, but sometimes I just wish that they would do something other than sit on their backsides and be brought whatever they demand at the push of a button. Honestly, people in the Capitol probably have an extra button to call for someone to bring the button that calls things to them. All whilst there are people in the districts going through hell starving, being whipped, and having their children forced to probably die in an arena.

We all gather back to the golden horn of the hunger games, and I note there are only 5 of us left in the group of allies, and only 10 people left in the arena in total. I remember hearing cannons go off occasionally.

"Well I guess we can't tell the time properly now," Finnick says. It isn't supposed to be directed at anyone negatively, but I can see in Katniss's eyes she is worried it is a direct attack to her.

"Hey," I say to her, " It's okay. He doesn't mean you." She appears to brighten at this a little.

Finnick looks to Johanna and gives her a look that asks whether she is ok, and she gives him a look back that indicates she is fine and doesn't want to be messed with. Finnick turns his attention to Beetee. "You said it was three, right?"

Beetee nods. "I think so. Or nearly three."

We walk (Finnick wanted to run, but I protested against this a s it would waste energy and me and Katniss aren't exactly in the best state to run, considering that she is far into pregnancy and I have a heavy prosthetic leg) down to the sector that Beetee assumes is the 3 o' clock sector. I hear a scream come from that sector, and growling, and a cannon. One of the Morphlings from District 6 runs out and is pursued to the beach by what look like monkeys. As soon as they get to the beach, they fall down to the ground and a second cannon goes. I can see now that a large amount of blood is mixed with their camouflage.

We walk away and let a hovercraft pick up the bodies.

8 tributes left.

♤♤♤

Katniss's POV

We drink water that Johanna tapped from a tree, and Beetee tells us his plan. I lean against Peeta, who strokes my shoulder, as he is explaining about the wire he rescued from the cornucopia and how if we connected it to the lightning tree just before midnight and leave the other end of the wire on the beach. Beetee explains the sand will still be wet when we from the 10 o'clock wave when the lightning strikes, so if we were to stay in the Jungle and the other tributes went to the beach, they would be eliminated.

I realise this means that there will only be us five left. So when everyone decides to have a rest now and save their energy for the night, I say to Peeta, "We need to go."

He looks to me. "Okay."