Fluid || Finnick Odair

12

Rio didn't know that he had fallen asleep until the moment he nodded awake. The fire was still burning, which meant that Coda had been stoking it through the night, but he was asleep now. Thankfully, it wasn't as cold as the last two days, but Rio could cope if it became worse. Maybe today was even the day they collected water for themselves.

     At first, he was unsure to why he was awake. The sun was shining, and yet, it had barely begun to stretch into the cave. It shouldn't have been a problem; it took Rio a few minutes to even clock what was different.

     There were noises outside of the cave; that was the difference. It was clearly a fight, and because it was the Games, no one was going to come out of it any less than injured. Part of Rio was curious, and he wanted to see who it was. However, the better part of him knew that he needed to stay hidden, and safe.

He pushed Coda's side. Twice, three times, four even, before he woke up. The boy grumbled, and he seemed to be in a better mood than the day before, but he needed to be quiet. Rio gestured for him to follow as he peeked around the side of the cave.

     "What is it?" Coda asked, but Rio just made him quieten again. He really wasn't getting the hint. Although, it was nice to hear his voice again. He must have been in a better place.

There were three boys tousling in the snow, one with a scythe, one with a knife, and the other with nothing but a backpack. Rio didn't know any of them. However, he did vaguely recognise the weaker of the three from the reaping tapes, he was from District 5. And, by the looks of things, he wasn't doing too great.

Coda had moved first; and Rio hadn't noticed at first, but he'd snuck from the cave with the sole purpose of helping out. And even though he should have stayed out of it, there was no way Rio would be able to sleep at night if he'd let Coda face it alone. Not after killing his District partner.

     Rio sprinted over, forgetting that the snow would slow him, which meant that his movements were staggered. The boy from Six had a sword from the cornucopia. Before Rio had released the knives from his belt, he'd slashed Coda across the chest and arms, leaving him lying face down. It must have been bad because the snow was slowly turning red. 

     It was enough inventive for Rio to do something. He'd have felt bad if he instigated their movements, but he hadn't. The boy from Ten had been against the boy from Five. Naturally, Ten had overpowered him, leaving a cut in his abdomen.

     He took a knife in each hand and took a deep breath. He was doing this to survive, not because he wanted to.

     One knife landed in the shoulder blade of Ten; he cried out in immense pain, and left Five alone. The second knife landed in Six's shoulder, and he pulled it out without a second thought. He didn't even flinch. Now the only one uninjured, Rio knew he was a target.

     Six was at least twice the size of Rio in height, and clearly had more muscles. A one-on-one was the worst thing that could have happened to him. Finnick told him to stray from these. He should have stayed in the cave. He would have been alright if he'd just stayed in the cave. At least then Coda wouldn't have been bleeding out, and still couldn't do anything about it.

     Six surged forwards and wrapped an arm around Rio's neck. Suddenly, his vision turned blurry as his oxygen grew low. Depraved, he was dangerous.

     He knew that there was only one way out of it, and it was the one thing he didn't want to do. Rio struggled for a breath, but was denied once more. If he was going to die, then he would die fighting.