Wildest Dreams || Finnick Odair

13. like clockwork

Cameron felt her jaw tighten but she didn't say anything, she knew better than to challenge Johanna. Plus, she knew that Finnick would scold her again if she snapped and killed another tribute. Apparently, Katniss did not as the girl's hand wrapped around the knife in her belt. "Go ahead. Try it," Johanna said dangerously. "I don't care if you are knocked up, I'll rip your throat out."

"Maybe, we had all better be careful where we step," Finnick suggested, shooting Katniss a careful look. He grabbed the cylinder from Johanna's hand and pressed it against Beetee's chest. "There's your wire, Volts. Watch where you plug it in."

Peeta was now able to pick up Beetee without any complications, carrying the man in his arms. He gazed around at the group, "Where to?"

"I'd like to go to the Cornucopia and watch," Finnick stated. "Just to watch sure we're right about the clock."

Cameron furrowed her brows, a little frustrated that she was out of the loop. Maybe it was because Finnick couldn't trust her, Cameron wasn't too sure why. She risked her life to participate in their little plan to get Katniss out of the arena, so why would that ice her out now? She grumbled under her breath as she trailed behind the rest of the group. Finnick was leading the group, trying to force them to take the path that would keep them hidden from the other tributes. Cameron thought it was pointless, most of them were bound to die anyway, so why were they trying to hide now?

The first thing that Peeta did when they reached the Cornucopia was lay Beetee down in a small section of shade. He looks over at Wiress. "Clean it, will you?" he asked, passing the woman the wire.

The woman nodded, scooping up the wire and dunking it into the water. She began to mutter a song under her breath, something about a mouse running up a clock.

Johanna groaned. "Oh, not the song again," she complained. "That went on for hours before she started tick-tocking."

Wiress stood straight up, pointing to a small section of the jungle. "Two!" she stated.

Katniss nodded, trying to get the group's attention. "Yes, look, Wiress is right. It's two o'clock," she stated. "And the fog has started."

Cameron followed her finger to where Wiress was pointing. Her eyes widened, watching as a wall of poisonous fog began to spill out onto the beach. "Oh," she mumbled, the gears in her brain beginning to turn, watching as the fog began to fill into a shape, kind of like a cone. "Oh! Clock," she stated, her eyes snapping toward Finnick. "That's the clock you've been referring to!" Finnick raised his brow at her.

"Took you long enough," he commented.

"It's like clockwork," Peeta clarified. "You were very smart to figure that out, Wiress."

"Oh, she's more than smart," Beetee chimed in, causing the group to glance at him. "She's intuitive. She can sense things before anyone else. Like a canary in one of your coal mines," he finished, giving Katniss a small nod.

Cameron watched as Finnick's brows furrowed. "What's that?" he asked Katniss.

"It's a bird that we take down into the mines to warn us if there's bad air," she explained.

"What's it do, die?" Johanna asked.

"It stops singing first," Katniss started. "That's when you should get out. But if the air's too bad, it dies, yes. And so do you."

Cameron cleared her throat. "That's a morbid note to end on, thank you, for that," she said sarcastically as she began to wash the tips of her arrows off in the salt water. It seemed that everyone in the group seemed to find some sort of rhythm at the Cornucopia. Wiress continued to wash Beetee's wire as she sang her little song about the mouse. Finnick and Johanna began to collect more weapons for the group. Cameron eyed Finnick carefully as he passed her another sneath of arrows. "Aren't you worried I'm gonna, you know, fuck shit up with these?" she asked, bitterness coding every word she spoke.