"How did Finnick get through the wall?", Peeta wondered.
"He didn't. They won't get out of there before the hour is over. It's pure torture. You are surrounded by the desperate cries of the people you care about."
"You were ...?" Peeta shot me a sympathetic look.
I simply nodded. "I heard Johanna cry out for help and thought she was in danger. Then I was trapped", I recalled.
Johanna looked at me, lost in her thoughts.
I told them what I had experienced before our reunion and they told me what had happened to them.
Katniss and Finnick had returned to the wall long ago and tried to block the screams out. There was not anything we could do to help them. They did not even pay attention to us anymore.
When the hour was over Peeta was immediately by Katniss' side. "The hour is over! The hour is over! It's alright", he tried soothing her as Katniss jolted upwards horrified.
Meanwhile Johanna was talking to Finnick who was staring blankly ahead while brushing off Johanna's attempts to help him.
"They won't touch Prim. Okay?", Peeta comforted Katniss.
"Your fiance is right. The whole country loves your sister", Johanna agreed which was odd. At least until she continued: "If they tortured her or did anything to her, forget the districts. There would be riots in the damn Capitol." The irony of it all.
Johanna grinned at Katniss. I was not sure if grinning was just a part of Johanna's personality or her way to cope. Instead of breaking down she grinned and yelled. Though I already had a feeling how this was going to end. I had a déjà-vu moment from her interview.
My assumption turned out to be right as Johanna provocatively turned to the camera and yelled: "Hey! How does that sound, Snow? What if we ... what if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can't put everybody in here!"
Everyone was staring at Johanna like she was crazy. Maybe she was. Maybe we all were.
"What?", she asked the others, her voice sounding unusually soft and sad. "He can't hurt me. There's no one left that I love."
Katniss looked at Johanna shocked and hurt. Probably she had never considered why Johanna behaved like she did.
Johanna sighed. "I will get some water."
No one dared to move as we watched Johanna disappear inside the jungle.
I got a hold of myself and ran after her. "Johanna!", I called out.
Due to her body language I noticed that she was surprised I was following her, but she kept moving.
"Ouch!", I cried out as I had stepped onto something. Damn missing shoes!
At least Johanna waited for me now. "What's the deal? Do you have pity with me now or what?"
"Not pity. I just care about you, okay?"
"But it's true. I have no one to return to. The only people I'm close to are Finnick and you. Even if I made it out of here, I would be all alone again", she declared.
She was right. We could not make it out of here together. It would be best if Katniss survived. She had people to return to and had a great influence on the rebels. Was that the reason Johanna had tried to save her from the water earlier? And why she had dragged Beetee and Wiress along to bring them to Katniss? Without thinking about it I kissed her.
Johanna kissed back for a moment before pulling away with a grin. She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Didn't we break up?" She was talking so quietly that the gamemakers would not be able to catch up her words.
"I didn't act right now", I shot back.
"It's not like I ever faked a kiss", she replied.
Confusion filled me. Was she joking again? "Please, don't tease me now, okay? What do you mean?"
Johanna just grinned at me and filled a cup with water.
"Hey! You can't just ignore me", I complained.
She kissed me shortly but passionately before going back to our allies.
My heart was racing. What had happened?
Overwhelmed, I followed Johanna and sat down beside her. She had handed Katniss the cup, who was sitting on her other side.
"Who is Annie?", Katniss wondered as she watched Finnick who was sitting in the water a few feet away from us.
"Annie Cresta. The one Mags volunteered for. She won like four ... five years ago", Johanna recalled absentmindedly.
"The one that went a little ...?", Katniss reassured.
Crazy. Most people who did not know Annie personally called her crazy Cresta because the games had traumatized her. Strange enough as the games had traumatized all of us in some way.
"Hmm", Johanna confirmed finally looking at Katniss before looking ahead again. "Love is weird", she mumbled.
"How is your hand doing?", Katniss asked me out of the blue.
I took a look at it. "The bleeding has stopped. So it should be fine. Nothing too serious."
Katniss nodded.
Suddenly a cannon sound erupted. The hovercraft had to pull up the pieces of the tribute five times. If I had rested any faster from the jabberjay attack this morning, that would have been me. I shuddered at the thought.
Everyone started doing their own thing.
Peeta drew the arena onto a leave and labeled the sectors. He called the six to seven sector 'The Beast'.
Katniss went swimming.
Finnick weaved a fishing net and Beetee was busy with a wire.
My eyes moved over to Johanna who was still sitting next to me. "You look tired", I noted.
She chuckled. "Isn't that how it's supposed to be? It's not like we're on vacation or anything. Besides, do you wanna tell me you got enough sleep since you entered the arena?"
"I did sleep well last night. At least until two am. when I heard Katniss' and Finnick's screams."
I sighed and laid down, looking at the fake sky. "The night sky in 7 is really pretty", I remembered. "And the smell of pine needles is comforting. Must be a nice place to live. It's not so hot."
"You could have visited me more often if you liked it that much", Johanna suggested.
"And the water was so clear and didn't burn in the eyes due to the lack of salt." I dreamed myself back there. Over a year had passed since that time. "But what I missed most last year, except Rue, were our phone calls. I enjoyed it when you called me without a reason. Made me feel special", I admitted.
Now I could feel her eyes on me while mine were still fixated on the sky. "(f/n) ..."
Johanna was interrupted by the hymn announcing the fallen tributes. Cashmere. Gloss. Wiress. Mags. The female tribute from 5. The female morphling. Blight. The male tribute from 10. I could not remember any games with so many deaths after the first two days.
"They are literally burning us up", Johanna confirmed my memories.
"Who is left? Except us six and the two from district 2?", Finnick asked.
"Chaff", I stated without hesitation. I knew him for a while now after all.
A beeping sound ripped us out of our thoughts as a parachute was flying toward us.
"That's definitely not for me", I joked earning a grin from Johanna.
Actually it seemed to be for all of us. There were several equally sized buns inside.
"They are from your district Beetee, aren't they?", Peeta recognized.
"Yes, from 3. How many are there?"
Finnick arranged the buns meticulously as if he was afraid to make a mistake. Why was it so important?
"Twenty-four", Finnick proclaimed.
"Exactly two dozens?", Beetee reassured.
"Exactly twenty-four", Finnick repeated.
They behaved strangely. Of course, we would share the buns equally. But being so accurate over a few buns when we were not even starving?
The wonder was quickly forgotten when I took the first bite. Delicious!
We waited until the ten to eleven wave was over before camping there. We should be save here for the next twelve hours.
Terrifying clicking noises resounded from the next sector, most likely insects. To my relief they seemed to stay in the jungle. But we did not move to that part of the beach not wanting to risk triggering them in any way.
"You can go to sleep. Peeta and I will take the first watch", Katniss offered.
It was not like I was not tired but last night had been an exception. I was feeling anxious.
"What are you waiting for? Come over", Johanna encouraged me.
"You sure?", I reassured as I laid down next to her.
"Don't pretend you never fell asleep in my arms before", she stated, an amused grin plastered on her face.
So I took the opportunity and snuggled close to her, enjoying the feeling of safety.
When I woke up again, it was still dark.
I moved over to Peeta and Finnick.
"Hey, Peeta. I can take your shift now", I offered.
He smiled gratefully and fell asleep next to Katniss.
"Couldn't sleep?", I asked Finnick.
He shook his head. "Do you think she is safe?"
"Right now? I think so, yes. As safe as a victor can be."
I inched closer to him and took his hand in mine to comfort him.
"I don't want to leave her behind. This whole alliance is beginning to crumble. The tributes are dying faster than expected", Finnick worried.
"Yeah. Do you think Katniss and Peeta might turn against us? Or move on without us?", I considered.
"Katniss is a wary person. So it's not unlikely", he agreed.
Silence erupted between us. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable but only because it was usually unpleasant to have the time to concentrate on my thoughts.
When the sun rose the others started to wake up. Soon later another parachute with twenty-four buns landed for us.
After eating we were a bit lost as we did not know what to do.
Katniss even offered Peeta to teach him swimming.
Johanna watched the couple suspiciously, but laid down after a while.
"Come over! I have a plan", Beetee announced after a felt eternity of doing nothing.
We gathered around him.
"We should agree on having to kill Brutus and Enobaria next. I don't think that they'll dare to attack us directly again as they are in such a minority. We could hunt them down, but that would be dangerous and strenuous."
"Do you think they know about the clock?", Katniss wondered.
"If they don't, they will find out soon enough, maybe not as exactly as we did", Beetee answered. He began drawing the arena into the sand. "If you were Brutus and Enobaria and knew about the jungle, where would you feel safest?", Beetee asked us.
"Where we are, at the beach. That's the safest place", Peeta responded.
"And why aren't they at the beach?", Beetee continued his question game.
"Because we are here", Johanna replied impatiently.
"Exactly. We are here and claim the beach. And where would you go then?", Beetee questioned.
"I would hide at the edge of the jungle. To be able to escape from upcoming attacks and to observe my opponents", I suggested.
"Also for eating", Finnick added. "In the jungle are a bunch of unfamiliar animals and plants, but who watches us knows that the seafood is safe."
Beetee smiled contently at us. "Very well. You got it. Now listen to my suggestion: We strike at twelve. What happens exactly at noon and midnight?"
"The lightning hits the tree", Katniss recalled.
"Exactly. That's why I suggest we set off after the noon lightning and before the midnight lightning, connect my wire to the tree and salt water, which is as you should all know a great conductor. When the lightning hits, the voltage is not only passed on to the water but also to the beach which is still wet from the ten clock wave. Everyone who touches the water or sand in that moment will get killed by the electricity."
A long pause settled in, which we all took to consider Beetee's plan.
"Will the wire be able to handle the voltage, Beetee? It looks so fragile as if it would burn out immediately", Peeta noted.
"That's exactly what is going to happen, but just after the voltage has moved through it. The wire works like a fuse, just that it passes on voltage", Beetee explained.
"How do you know that?", Johanna questioned unconvinced.
"Because I invented it", he declared. "It's not a usual wire. Just as the lightning isn't usual lightning and the tree isn't a usual tree. Johanna, you out of all people here know trees the best. The tree should be destroyed by now, shouldn't it?"
"Yeah", she agreed grumpily.
"Don't worry about the wire. It will do what I say", Beetee ensured us.
"And where are we going to be when it happens?", Finnick asked.
"Deep down in the jungle where nothing can happen to us."
I almost had to laugh at the irony of Beetee's reply.
"But the careers won't take any damage, if they aren't near the water", Katniss considered.
"Right", Beetee confirmed.
"But the seafood will get grilled", Peeta interjected.
"Probably more than grilled. We will lose that food source but we found more in the jungle. So we should be fine. It's my plan but we are allies. You decide whether we try it or not", Beetee declared.
"Why not?", Katniss exclaimed.
"We have nothing to lose by it. So, let's try!" Peeta agreed.
Finnick cocked an eyebrow at Johanna who agreed reluctantly. That settled it.
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So here's the next chapter. Do you like it? It's pretty funny to write from the reader PoV who has no clue about the plan of the rebellion, while I of course know everything about it, especially analyzing the strange behavior of Johanna, Finnick and Beetee. Please let me know your opinion in the comments!