A Game Called Revenge ✭ Cato Hadley

Seventeen - Blood In The Water

"ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ɪꜱ ᴛʜɪᴄᴋᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ."

Finnick's head resurfaces from under the water and he propels himself forward, the water rippling and foaming as he slices his arms through the water with incredible force; forcing the spray to mark his path on the rocky spokes to the right of him. In the distance she can see a blur of blonde hair that can only be Cashmere in the water, and to the other side she sees Gloss pushing his way up onto the spokes and giving her a questioning look. None of their bodies have convulsed from being exposed to the water. They're alive. The water is safe.

Spinning to her left and diving diagonally from the platform, she breaks through the surface like an arrow piercing its mark. The water is surprisingly warm, and she ignores the burn in her eyes as the salt flows into the organs and pushes through a few powerful strokes until she reaches the rocky strip to pull herself up. Blinking the salt away, her feet find the flat surface of the rocks, slightly slippery from the sand but dry considering that the only other person in reach of the spoke, Peeta, is still yet to venture into the water. She runs. Runs for her life towards the supplies in the middle of the cornucopia. As she whizzes around the back of the cornucopia to reach the stockpile she notes the placement of a long baton further inside the horned structure and a flail propped up against the side of the building. She grabs the stout metal handle, weighing the weapon in her hands as she quickly examines the chain for any weak links - the last thing she wants is for the spiked metal head to come flying off towards her as she swings it. She starts to round the corner of the structure but comes face to face with the woman from Ten. The woman's face freezes. She turns pale all of a sudden as she takes a panicked step backwards, turning on her heels to try and escape. A butterfly knife slices blindly through the air as the woman strides forward in fear and she tries to catch Clio's skin behind her with the blade. She doesn't get very far, maybe a few steps at most until she is yanked back by her topknot and dragged back around the cornucopia. A swing of the knife lands a superficial gash on Clio's right tricep as the woman thrashes violently to free herself from the girl's hold. She's unsuccessful as Clio tugs her even harsher than before and slams the woman into the back wall of the cornucopia.

"Where's your Romeo, huh?" Clio taunts, referring to the woman's husband. The man who she came up next to as she rose into the arena and who is still standing on his platform, eyes trained on the water in front of him. "Oh, there he is, like a sitting duck, just waiting to be killed."

Keeping her right arm pressed across the woman's chest, she throws her left in the air, the sound of metal clashing together ringing through the air as the spiked ball hits the chain links. "Oi Ten! Romeo! Yoohoo!"

The man's head snaps up at the the sound of her voice, eyes blown out as he stares in shock at the maniacal girl waving a flail carelessly above her head. Did I guess his name right? She thinks, laughing to herself of the desperate pleas that ripple against the water, head whipping around, looking between the couple from Ten and making sure no one is trying to sneak up behind her.

"Ooh, is his name actually Romeo?" She asks the woman, hand moving from her chest to slap at her wrist so that the knife falls from her grasp and she can kick it aside and out of the woman's reach.

"D-d-dorset..." The woman stutters, stumbling over her words in fear that telling the shorter woman her husband's name will harm him in the long run. "His name's Dorset."

"Oh that's so ugly, I think I'll stick to calling him Romeo for the next hour. You know until you're both dead." She insults her.

"I won't. He will-"

"Oh, honey. He's not coming to help you." Clio says slowly, nodding her head in his direction, where the man is still frozen in horror on his platform. "He doesn't love you. If he did then he'd be swimming over right now but look, he's not moving, like he's one of those cattle you heard. Except he's not going to last those six days, because we're going to kill him slowly, intimately, in every way we know you fear. It's such a shame you won't get to see it, I would love to see the look on your face when I slice your knife down his abdomen. He'll see it though, he'll wake just long enough to see my good work and when he screams, I'll use your knife to split his skull. He still hasn't moved, I thought you two wanted to be together when you go?"