Baby of Panem

Clock

"It will be okay, no one is going to harm any her, or you Katniss," Finnick speaks up as he looks between Peeta and I. "Even these tributes, they won't take her mother away.

I take a breath to steady myself, maybe Finnick is right. These tributes have helped me stay alive so far, but when it gets down to final numbers, or the careers, there is no guarantee anyone will care about who's baby this is. I look toward the water, noticing two other tributes for the first time. They don't appear to be paying attention to what is going on. I move to hand Rue to someone so we can get out of here before they notice us.

"Kat," Peeta places a hand on my shoulder, "It's okay. That's Wiress and Beetee, they came with Johanna."

Two tributes turn and begin to approach us, I try to relax, believing that they won't harm us. As they get closer, I notice blood still staining their hair, skin, and clothing. The female, Wiress, is muttering something incoherently. Johanna did call them nuts and bolts for a reason. As they get closer I can make out a tik-tok sound coming from Wiress. Peeta takes Rue from me as they approach, Wiress instantly grabbing onto me as she get to us. She looks at me, continuing to mutter tik-tok and pointing toward the arena.

"Okay," I nod, pretending to understand her, "Lets get this blood off you." I nod to Peeta and lead Wiress back into the water.

As I help Wiress clean the blood off of her face and hair, trying to tune out the constant muttering, I notice the lightning striking the tree again. Tik-tok. I look around the arena as the realization hits me. Wiress figured it out. It's a clock. The arena is a clock. I look down at Wiress, amazed at her skill.

"It's a clock!" I exclaim to her, she nods excitedly. She's been trying to tell us. It's a clock.

I help her out of the water and we walk back onto the shore, immediately going to the rest of the group. Finnick suggest we go to the cornucopia to gather more supplies. Everyone agrees about this plan, although I worry about taking Rue with us. Peeta senses my hesitation, as he holds Rue close to him and wraps his other arm around me.

"I've got her Katniss." I just nod, not trusting myself to say anything.

We all make our way across one of the rock bridges to the cornucopia. Johanna gathers her supplies first and then takes Rue while Peeta and I start to gather our supplies. Peeta grabs a knife and kneels down, drawing a circle in the dirt and adding the zones into it.

"So twelve to one is the lightning, one to two blood, fog, monkeys," he continues to name as he adds it into the zones.

"Nothing but blood," Johanna responds.

"There was the wave at ten," Finnick adds, I have to remember to ask what he's talking about later.

"It doesn't matter, we just have to stay clear of whichever section is active."

Peeta glances up at me. I hear Wiress suck in a breath and turn around in time to see Gloss stab Wiress in the neck. I quickly draw back my bow and shoot an arrow into his chest as Johanna comes behind me, sinking her ax into Cashmere. I look around for Rue, seeing her in Peeta's arms as he shelters inside the cornucopia and Finnick stands at the entrance. The remaining two careers run back into the jungle from the beach, I make no move to chase them as I go to my daughter, taking her from Peeta and holding her tightly to me.

I feel movement under my feet and quickly sit down as far inside the cornucopia as I can get and cradle Rue to my chest. I notice Finnick, Johanna, and Peeta all walking toward one of the bridges as they get knocked from their feet. The island housing the cornucopia begins to spin, quickly and violently. I hold onto Rue as tight as I can with one arm and bring my knees up to my chest to hold her tighter and close my eyes, grabbing onto one of the rocks near us to anchor us the best I can. I don't know how long we're spinning before it finally stops. I check on Rue first, she's awake, but she isn't crying. I stand up and hold her against my shoulder. I can only hope I'm able to keep her safe throughout the rest of the time in this arena.

The others join me, and we work our way back to the shore. Peeta takes Rue from me so I can rest for a little bit. I sit against a tree as we begin to talk of a strategy for the remaining tributes. I'm getting a bottle ready for Rue when I hear Prim screaming for help.

"Prim!"

I drop the bottle and begin sprinting toward the sound. I hear someone behind me, glancing back to see Finnick screaming at me to wait as I continue to run. I come to a clearing and the noise reaches a higher volume, right above me. I look around, finally seeing a bird, a Jabberjay, as it sweeps closer to me, increasing in volume again. I shoot the bird and the noise stops. Finnick finally reaches me as another voice begins to call out, this tell yelling his name. I don't have to ask to know it's Annie, the look on his face told me everything.

"Finnick, it's not her." I run after him, grabbing his arm, "It's not real."

"How do you think they got that sound? Jabberjays copy." He looks up as more birds surround us, each one screaming out a name. I hear Gale's voice next, before Prim's joins back in. At least a hundred Jabberjays are now swarming us. We cover our ears and begin to run. I see Peeta and run toward him, before running into a glasslike wall. I can't get to Peeta, and he can't get to me.

"Katniss! It's okay! They aren't real. They aren't real," Peeta keeps repeating it, but I just cover me ears, sinking to the ground and screaming. Eventually the yelling ends and I can hear Peeta's voice.

"Katniss, it's okay. They're gone, the hours up. The hours up," he slowly touches my back and I raise up to face him. I overhear Johanna checking on Finnick as he waves her away. Peeta helps me up and I take Rue from Beetee.

"It's okay. They won't touch Prim," Peeta says trying to reassure me as he rubs my back.

"Your fiancé's right," Johanna starts, "The whole country loves your sister. If they tortured her or did anything to hurt her, forget the districts. There would be riots in the damn Capitol." She smiles an evil grin as she turns to the sky and begins to yell. "How does that sound Snow? What if, what if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can't put everybody in here." She glances back as he notices we are all staring at her.

"What? He can't hurt me. There's no one left that I love," her voice is shaky, but she hides it well. She walks away, back toward the beach. Peeta wraps an arm around me as I hold Rue and leads us toward the beach.

"You make a pretty good mom, Girl on Fire," Peeta smiles down at us. There might not be anyone left that Johanna loves, but thereare four people left that I love.