Always

You Said Always

I knew I couldn't trust her, that untruthful lier. She said she was a rebel, that she was on my side. But she isn't, she's breaking the alliance.

Suddenly, I feel a sharp, stabbing pain in my forearm. I resist the urge to scream as Johanna twists the point of her knife into my flesh. It's like she's digging for something, carving into my arm. I try to jerk and twist away from her, but Johanna is much stronger than she looks, and I'm still too incapacitated from the blow to my head. There's a terrible ripping sensation in my arm that brings tears to my eyes and causes a warm flow of liquid to gush from my arm, coating my hand. Before I can blink, Johanna slides her hand down my arm, coating her hand with blood, and then smears it on half of my face.

"Stay down!" she hisses and then takes off running in the opposite direction.

I've just barely processed her words when I hear two sets of feet approaching. Unthinkingly, I close my eyes. "She's as good as dead!" It's Brutus. "Come on, Enobaria!"

Then I hear them thunder away, not bothering trying to remain unnoticed, in the same direction that Johanna went. What's going on? Why did Johanna turn on me? Betrayal stings in my chest as I think of the woman who has slowly been growing on me since reaching the Capitol. She seemed to be on my side.

I put my hand on the jagged cut to my forearm, ignoring the stinging pain that magnifies as I apply pressure to the wound. I reach for moss that hangs next to my head and wrap it around my wound, trying to keep from loosing too much blood. My head is fussy but there is only one thing on my mind, Peeta.

I have to warn Peeta.

But the second I'm on my feet, my world is spinning rapidly. Blood loss. The cut on my forearm is bleeding at a fantastic rate. Get back to Peeta. That's my only goal at the moment. Have he and Finnick seen the wire go slack? Do they have any clue about the deadly turn of events? Has Finnick turned on him?

I begin to stumble back up the slope, trying to move as fast as I can. But the world is still spinning, my vision is fading in and out, and the blood loss from the cut on my arm is quickly sucking all my energy. No doubt Johanna did irreparable damage to veins and arteries, not that she really had time to be exact about it.

I've barely gone fifty yards before I hear someone coming toward me a fast clip. Too fast to be Peeta or Beetee. Finnick, then. It must be. But just in case I grip the arrow loaded into my bow and duck behind a curtain of vines. Finnick flies by me, yelling, "Johanna! Katniss!"

I stay silent, hidden behind the vines. I watch as he sounds around, trying to find me. But he won't. This alliance is over.

Finnick hesitates for a second more before hurrying off in the direction Johanna went. I resume my trek up the slope at as fast as I can manage without the world spinning. Peeta. I have to get back to Peeta. It's this thought that fuels my legs to move a little faster. Find Peeta. Get back to Peeta.

I quickly become aware of another problem. How close is it to midnight? How much more time do I have? Half an hour? Maybe less?

I will my feet to move, but I've only gone twenty yards before they get caught up in a snag of vines. I fall on my face and struggle, flailing, trying to dislodge myself from the vines. But when the trapping foliage hits the moonlight, I see that it's not vines at all. It's a mess of the golden wire. Well, at least I'm not so disoriented that I'm on the wrong path. I free myself from the wire and then follow it uphill, staying the right side. If the lightning hits, anyone touching that wire is dead.