The Perfect Truth: A Finnick Odair Novel

Chapter 13

A/N: i'm so sorry this chapter is so short, also dont kill me about that ^^

Warnings: blood, violence, death, swearing, idk

Word count: i can't bear to write it all you have to know is that it's short

'Ready?' I ask Johanna.

'Why not?' She says with a shrug. We start laying the wire, when I offer to take it. Both our hands are still on the spool when there's a slight vibration, and the severed end snakes up to our feet. It only takes a second for me to register it. Someone's cut the wire. My hand has just closed on the hilt of my sword when the metal cylinder smashes into the side of my head, and then I'm lying on my back in the vines, Johanna on top (guys, shut up). Growling, I try to throw her, but then something presses into my left forearm, and I feel this excruciating ripping sensation as warmth pools in my palm. Blood.

Confused, I glare up at her, bringing my other hand up to shove her off me, but she's already standing, tossing a knife covered in my blood over her shoulder. It lands somewhere behind her in the undergrowth, and I scramble to my feet. Why go for the arm if she wants to kill me? Why not the heart, or the throat, or the head? Why not use one of those axes she's so good at using?

'Stay down!' Johanna hisses, and then she disappears. Dropping into a crouch, I hear two pairs of footsteps, and then Brutus' voice, calling to Enobaria. The alliance must be over. And Johanna and Finn must have -

Johanna and Finn?

My breathing becomes unsteady. Black sears over my vision for a second. No. He can't have... Johanna's broken off, but it can't be Finn. Not my Finn. Unless he was faking the... No. He heard my screams when we were attacked by the jabberjays, not Johanna's or anyone else's. So something else must have happened. I need to get to him, to check he's alright. Slowly, wincing as pain shoots through my left shoulder, I lift my injured arm and blood sprays out. Whatever's going on, I need to make sure Peeta will make it out alive. The boom of a cannon makes me quicken my pace, my heart sinking in my chest. If Peeta's dead...

I trip and find myself entangled in Beetee's wire. Keeping it on my left, I use it to guide me to the tree. Finally, I reach it. No one is there, but I call out Peeta's name anyway. A soft groan answers me, and I whip around, heart sinking, but it's Beetee. I check him, but he's fallen unconscious. There's no wounds on him except for a gash in the crook of his elbow. I glance up at the hill and wonder what he was trying to do. Did he try to drive the knife into the force field? And why? Did he mean to electrify it since the plan to run the current into the water failed? What would that do? I find myself swaying, and guess that I don't have long before I black out because of blood loss. Johanna must have hit an artery; it seems strange that she'd go for that if she wanted me off her hands as fast as she could. Or maybe she just planned to weaken me, to -

'Aderyn!' I hear Peeta yell.

'Peeta!' I yell back. Two people seem to be approaching, but it's not Peeta, it's Finn, battling Enobaria. They can't see me, camouflaged by the ointment. Raising my bow, I home in on Enobaria's neck, when another cannon sounds. I hear Peeta howling for me. I hear the sounds of Finn grappling with Enobaria. I hear distant scuffling, hear the dim hum of the forcefield in my ear, and I realise something. I'm going to die. We're all going to hell, apart from Peeta, who's destined for heaven whatever the fuck he does. So I turn my bow away from Enobaria, even though I want to save Finn more than anything, and wrap the wire around an arrow. My last act of rebellion. Straightening, I pull back the string, hear it creak in protest, and release, seeing the arrow disappear, pulling the wire with it.

My hair stands on end as the lightning strikes the tree. For a moment, the dome bursts in dazzling blue light. And then I'm thrown backwards, and everything erupts. Will anyone survive? And if they don't, it's my fault. They die, condemned by a woman who didn't know the damage she would make with one arrow. A hovercraft materialises above me, and then a claw drops down from its underside and picks me up. Struggling weakly, I try to roll away, but it's no use. And then I'm drowning in an endless sea of black.