Liberosis - The Hunger Games

51

"They're better fresh," Finnick advised her, taking some for himself to eat and settling down beside me in the shade. She nodded, in acknowledgement reaching out to take on before hesitating, taking in the sight of scratch marks on her arms. "If you scratch, you'll bring an infection,"

"And I'd rather you drown me right here and now than have to deal with you covered in pus," I told her honestly, clapping her shoulder as I reached for another piece of shellfish.

She stood up, wandering wordlessly over to the water and rising it over her arms. I could see the displeased look in her eyes, even from a distance as she stomped determinedly over to the sand, screaming into the sky "Hey Haymitch! If you're not too drunk we could use a little something for our skin," She held out her arms, showing off the awful scabs residing on them. I laughed aloud, applauding her boldness. Almost comedically fast, the parachute appears from the sky, revealing a container of strong-smelling ointment, she sighed with relief as she rubbed the cream into her blisters, turning them into festering discoloured marks on her leg. I scrunched my nose in disgust as she threw the canister to Finnick.

"It looks like you're decomposing," Finnick responded, holding the container away from himself stubbornly. One look from me, however, and he began to rub the stuff on his arms with surrender.

"Poor Finnick, is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" Katniss taunted in a high voice, the two of us snickering over his discontent.

"It must be," He responded sarcastically, "The sensation's completely new, how have you managed it all these years?"

"Just avoid mirrors, you'll forget about it," Katniss waved his remark of casually, the three of us smiling as if we'd known each other our whole lives.

"Don't worry Finn, you're still pretty to me," I responded, catching the ointment as he tossed it in my direction. The feeling of it on my skin is instantly relieving and the tension in my shoulders from fighting the pain suddenly dissipated. As we fell into silence, I glanced in Peeta's direction. He was curled up in a ball, arm outstretched to where Katniss had been lying. After being on guard all night, I envied him, I was utterly exhausted, "He looks so peaceful," I sighed, nodding in his direction, "I almost don't want to wake him up,"

A mischievous grin made its way to Finnick's face, the kind he used to make after he'd snuck up on me for the millionth time, "Let's do it together, put our faces right in front of his," Katniss was quick to agree and I couldn't help but grin at the interaction between the two. The three of us leaned closed enough that our breath could move the hairs around his face and I pursed my lips to suppress the laughter ready to burst.

"Peeta, Peeta wake up," Katniss said in a soft voice. His eyes barely twitch before they shoot open altogether and the boy let out a scream, jumping back as the three of us fall back into the sand. The beach is quickly filled with our careless laughter as the boy attempts to regain his composure. All it took to set us off again was the suppressed laughter Peeta was masking with a frown, and we were back on the ground. In an awful situation, we'd found time to let Katniss and Peeta live their youth, though it was cut short by a parachute from District Four. A loaf of bread as Plutarch had cryptically alluded to before we had been planted, we'd have to wait until we managed to reunite with the others, Wiress and Beetee especially, only when we were together would we be able to decode the rebel's message.

Finnick snatches the bread out of my hand like a seagull, causing me to snicker. He mumbles something about pairing the bread with shellfish before his ranting is cut off by a violent scream from the other side of the beach. My head snapped up, as a cannon fired in the distance and before I knew how to react, Finnick had interlocked his hand with mine. Katniss drew her bow, cautiously stalking out of our makeshift shelter and further down the beach to get a better look at the intruders on our territory, Peeta is quick to follow her. Finnick and I wrapped up the leftover food, picked up our weapons and followed after the two younger victors.