The Assassin (Finnick Odair X OC)

Chapter Fifteen: Day Six

Chapter Fifteen: Day Six

I can't do this.

A groan leaves my frame as I look up at the stone ceiling. I've got a light out and it's pointed lazily at the ceiling.

I'm going to go insane.

Having a plan - even living with killers - is better than this. I've been lying down for almost this entire day. This is good, some would say. Kai can catch up on sleep and allow her leg more time to heal.

If only my mind wasn't plagued by James. Every time I'm left in total darkness, my mind goes off. It paints scenarios where I could have saved the child - where I wasn't doing everything that Snow wanted. James could be alive. He could - he could be lying next to me.

Why did I kill Perry? Why did I kill Jay or Nadine - a girl that I'd never even had a conversation with? Alice - I don't regret her death because of what she did to James. But, all of this could have not happened.

Snow.

I shut off the light, allowing the darkness to tug me back into my memory of our meeting where he gave me my instructions.

He was thrilled to have me doing his bidding. I saw an actual smile cross over his face as he laid out the first stage.

"Kill the careers." Snow had looked at me for confirmation.

I remember - so distinctly - thinking 'I can do that' and shooting him a smile. "Immediately or one at a time?"

"One a day." Then, he paused to think. "And your district partner."

"What about him?" I ask after he stops for an extremely long moment. There's no dread in my voice, although I can feel a small tug of worry in my chest. Even back then, I knew that James was going to be hard for me.

I didn't want to kill him; I didn't want anything to hurt him.

"He dies at the hands of Alice Moon." He looked straight into my eyes. "I don't care how you get it done, if he becomes a Career or if you find him in the tunnels - she kills him."

"W - why?" My mind couldn't grasp his reasoning.

"Because then you'll be crushed by his death and you won't be labeled as a bad victor when this is all over. You can't kill your own district partner, especially not if they're that young." He voice was so regulated, it was as if he wasn't talking about the young boy sleeping just a few blocks away from where we were.

He made me think of James as not a person. I could do this, I thought. Make James a career and get Alice to do the job. A job, that's all it was back then. I didn't think of how my mind would react to seeing a young boy that I care for bleed out in front of me. I didn't think that I'd actually grieve.

My eyes stay closed as Snow leaves my mind, again replaced by a pale white James. "You're doing the wrong thing." He seems to say, his lifeless eyes boring into my skull.

|||

Two cannons goes off.

I sit up immediately, digesting the fact that two just died at once. They weren't even staggered. One went off right after the other.

That's unique.

I wonder what happened.

My eyes travel back up to the ceiling. I'd fallen asleep around an hour ago and had a great dream about stabbing James over and over again and trying to stop, but not having control of my own body. Please, note my sarcasm.

To stop my own mind, I turned the light back on. It's pointed at the ceiling, moving slightly; it's wedged in between my chin and my neck, so it's going to move a little.

That's two more gone. There's only four left now.

|||

As the loud anthem starts, I stand for the first time today and walk to the small exit of the cave, a bag of fruit in my hand. Sticking out my head, I watch the sky.

There is a moment before the music stops and a face appears on the screen.

It's Luther.

My eyes widen. The one who I thought could win other than me - dead? He stares down from above, his eyes crinkled up slightly into a smile. That's shocking as fuck.

Next, Heather appears on the screen.

I'm even more surprised at that, a breathy chuckle leaving my mouth. Luther and Heather died together? How - I never suspected that Heather would die without Freddy, her district partner. They were so close; I thought that they'd either die together or near the end.

That's a real problem. I hadn't considered him as a serious contender because, with Heather, he was held back. If you're protecting someone, then you have a lot more things to worry about. Now, Freddy's only got himself to worry about - not to mention that he's probably got some serious newfound motivation.

There is a moment of darkness in the arena before, to my surprise, Caesar Flickerman's voice broadcasts loudly outwards. "Congratulations to the final four tributes of the Seventy-Second Hunger Games!"

My body stiffens. Here it comes.

In all honesty, I'd expected Snow to wait a little before giving me the signal to start Phase Three. If he does nothing, at least one more person will die of natural causes, leaving me with less competition.

Still, he wants a show - and I'm more than prepared to give one to him.

"The gamemakers have decided to gift the trainees with something that they all need. This gift will be placed at the cornucopia." Caesar speaks again.

If only my gift was a secret. Maybe I'd be excited for it then.

He pauses dramatically. "However, because it may be impossible for some of you to return to the cornucopia in darkness, the arena will have light for forty eight hours."

And, with that, a miniscule electric hum fills the arena. At once, two long lights that I hadn't noticed on the ceiling light up, filling the outside of my cave with a yellowish light.

I wince instantly, my eyes crinkling up. Other than my dim flashlights, I've been seeing either in green or complete darkness. This light, although quite spooky and flicker-y, is much brighter than what my eyes have become accustomed to.

"May the odds be ever in your favor!" And, with that, the emblem of Panem is projected onto the ceiling, seeming paler in the yellow light.

I look around for a moment, surveying the outside of my cave. It's a kind of stone basin, a rocky circle with tall edges. The ground is, as I guessed, grassy - nearly identical to the ground outside of the cavern that made up the cornucopia. My cave, although much dimmer than the rest of this basin, is completely stone.

I duck my head back inside of the cave and look over to my mostly packed bag. I close and stuff the bag of fruit that I was holding inside of it before zipping it closed and shouldering it. Then, I stand and, grabbing my two spears, crawl out of the cave.

That was, after all, Snow's signal. The signal for the killing to restart.