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"What?" Finnick asked confusedly, not remembering Melo's games enough to identify the metallic object.
"I'd completely forgotten about that! Do you mind?" Katniss asked, holding a hand out to Dove, who nodded and placed the spile on her hand. "It's a spile. Sort of like a tap. You put it in a tree and sap comes out."
"It has to be the right sort of tree, though. That's what Joseph said," Dove muttered as Katniss looked at their surroundings.
"Sap?" Finnick asked again, as incredulous as he was before, or maybe even more. "To make syrup. But there must be something else inside these trees," Peeta intervened.
Finnick immediately tried to hammer the spile into a green bark of a massive tree, but Katniss stopped him just in time. "Wait. You might damage it. We need to drill a hole first."
"Katniss, I think I saw an awl between the things you got in the Cornucopia. We could use that," Dove said, causing Peeta to nod. He got the awl from Katniss' belt and drove it straight into the bark. After a few minutes, the spile was wedged in the tree and water ran down the lip.
As the rest took turns, Dove noticed one basket she had done earlier. The grass was so tightly woven it could hold water. They filled it with water, passed it around for everyone to drink, and eventually cleaned their faces.
Once the thirst was satiated, everyone finally realised how tired they truly were. Katniss, in case they had to flee during the night, took the spile from the tree and tied it to her belt with a few vines.
"I'll take first watch," Finnick announced, to which Katniss nodded and asked him to wake her up whenever he felt tired. Peeta lied down on the floor of the hut, closely followed by Katniss, who laid next to him. "Dove, go to sleep. You must be exhausted."
Dove sat at the hut's entrance, looking at him, before replying with a light chuckle. "As if I could sleep alone." Finnick didn't argue any further. He knew perfectly well that, even if she fell asleep, nightmares could strike at any moment, causing her to scream or yell, which could get the attention of various threats. It would be better to wait for Katniss to take over the guard to sleep together for a while.
"How are you feeling?" Dove asked a few minutes later, still sitting at the entrance of the hut as Finnick stared outside. "A bit tired. I'm all right, though. How about you?" He asked.
"I'm OK. But there's something that's been bugging me for a while. Don't you think this arena is weird? First, the nuts that appeared in other games, then the spile from Melo's year. Either the Gamemakers are running out of ideas, or this is going to be a really fucked arena." Dove declared, glancing at the sleeping couple inside the hut.
"I know what you mean. Do you think something from our Games will appear too?" He questioned, glancing at her for a second before redirecting his eyes to the surrounding trees.
"Probably. Although, I'm not sure what will happen from my games. There were many mutts and other threats. I just hope they don't use the stupid birds again. I swear I'm going to hate birds at this point if they continue using them as weapons," she replied in a light tone, trying to make him chuckle, or at least smile.
"I wouldn't bet on that. Birds are the Gamemarkers' favourite weapon," he replied with a chuckle. Hours passed by slowly, but no conversation surged again. The silence made them concentrate on their task, protecting Twelve.
Something similar to the tolling of a bell roared around the Arena, waking Katniss up in the process while Peeta continued to sleep soundly. "I counted twelve," Finnick said, getting a nod from both girls.
"Mean anything, do you think?" Katniss asked, approaching the two as she looked outside. "No idea," Finnick and Dove replied, shaking their heads as they also glanced outside. They waited for anything. Maybe an instruction. A rule change, just like last year. Or maybe Claudius Templesmith announcing a feast. But none came.
Instead, quite far away from where their camp was, a dazzling bolt of electricity struck a towering tree and then a lightning storm began. "Go to sleep. It's my turn to watch, anyway," Katniss said.
Finnick hesitated, doubting whether or not to leave her alone, but no one could stay awake forever. And if Katniss watched, he could help Dove sleep, who was still fighting to keep herself awake. In the end, he settled next to Dove at the mouth of the hut, one hand gripping around his trident and the other on Dove's waist.
Almost an hour later, the sound of a cannon made Dove sit up hurriedly. She looked at Katniss to make sure she was all right, while the girl only shrugged. They didn't know who that cannon was for. But an even more startling sight made her speechless.
Fog was softly sliding in from the direction of a recent downpour Katniss had heard. Rapidly, Dove got up, telling Katniss to wake Peeta up while she woke Finnick. "Why? What's the matter?" Katniss asked agitatedly.
"That fog was in my year, Katniss! It's poisonous!" Dove shouted back, desperately shaking Finnick awake while Katniss went to Peeta. "Run!" Katniss screamed.
As everyone ran through the forest, Finnick continued to ask whoever was near about the fog. He didn't remember what it was for, but he knew it couldn't be good if it was in the arena. "What is it? What is it?"
"It's fog. Poisonous fog! And, by the looks of the tributes that got attacked in my year, it also paralyses the body. I'm not sure if it's exactly like in my games, but I'm not going to give it a chance to prove itself." Dove said, glancing back to see Twelve struggling to keep up with them because of Peeta's leg.
"Watch my feet. Just try to step where I step." Dove heard Katniss reassure Peeta, whose after-effects from hitting the force field were making him slower than usual. Without noticing, the mist was already approaching her, causing her left arm to burn.
Finnick saw the scene from her side and yanked her in his direction while shouting encouraging words to the couple from Twelve, who followed the sound of his voice to find a way out. However, the two could barely continue walking. Dove was right, the fog paralysed the muscles, and Peeta's legs had been caught by the fog, making it impossible to walk without stumbling.
Finnick ran back to them, hauling Peeta as he encouraged Katniss to carry him between the two. They marched until they reached Dove's position. There, they took a quick break as Finnick slung Peeta across his back while asking Katniss to help Dove, whose legs and arm were failing too.
The four moved in a diagonal direction, trying to keep themselves away from the gas while leading in the water's direction. Katniss' right leg went stiff, causing her to fall to the floor, taking Dove with her. "Come on, Katniss. Don't give up now." Dove encouraged, trying her best to get her ally back to her feet.
The fog approached them at a dangerous speed, but there was no way they could walk any faster. Dove hauled Katniss, but soon her own legs gave in too. Neither moved for a split second. Katniss seemed to have given up, and Dove was too focused on the fog's wounds. Finnick was too far to help them, and even if he turned back, he couldn't possibly carry all of them. "Katniss, I don't know about you, but I don't want to die here! So hold on to what you love most in this world and get up!" Dove shouted.
Her words reached Katniss, who got up immediately and wrapped an arm around Dove's waist to help her up. When both of them were on their feet, Dove copied her ally's position. They continued running, stumbling and falling. However, with that position, they could help each other get back up.
Dove witnessed as Finnick collapsed on the ground, Peeta on top of him while trying not to hit him with the two tridents he carried in his stead. "Finnick!" Dove screamed, almost letting go of Katniss as she sped up on her way to the boys.
Katniss stumbled when they were just next to them, which took both of them down, falling on top of the boys. Finnick groaned, somehow moving from under them, to catch a quick glance of Dove's worried face, before looking behind her. The fog had stopped in some sort of glass window, not letting it reach them.
"It's stopped," Katniss muttered the best she could, causing Dove to sigh, although her throat was almost agonising after the fog's attack. "It's stopped," the girl repeated.
When there was no fog left to be seen, Peeta rolled off completely from Finnick, who turned over on his back. They rested there for a few minutes, gasping, twitching, their minds and bodies completely invaded with poison. "Mon-hees," Peeta managed to say.
Katniss looked up, and surely, there were a pair of animals, which she guessed were monkeys. A staring contest between the monkeys and the four tributes started, at least, until Peeta crawled his way down the slope. The rest followed him, crawling as well since their legs were still paralysed from the fog.
They never stopped until they got to a narrow strip of sandy beach, the warm salt water reaching their faces, which caused them to burn again. The wounds were even more painful with the water, almost causing Dove and Katniss to pass out. However, the burning feeling left the body after a while as it was replaced with relief.
One torture after another. Dove thought, placing her hand in the water while trying to hold back a scream. She glanced to her right, where Katniss was stripping off her jumpsuit to slowly enter the water, closely followed by Peeta.
Finnick laid face down on the sand, either unwilling or too unstable to clean himself with the water. Dove copied the couple from Twelve. She needed to be able to move her own body before she could help Finnick out.
Not long after, Dove was fully underwater, her body no longer feeling any sharp pain. She returned to Finnick, to notice she wasn't the only one to be there. Katniss proposed to drag him into the water, but soon enough both realised the pain could kill him.
"Peeta, can you help or is your body still not all right?" Katniss asked, her hands trying to get scoops of water into Finnick's fists while Dove unzipped his jumpsuit.
Peeta nodded, getting some seashells that worked way better than their hands. First, they concentrated on his arms. Although there seemed to be no reply from Finnick, who continued to lay down with his eyes shut, only occasional moans told them he was still conscious.
"We've got to get more of him into the water," Katniss proposed, to which Peeta nodded to Finnick's feet. Surely, they couldn't put him face-first, much less in the condition he was in.
They rotated Finnick's body and slowly entered his ankles in the water, waiting a few minutes before continuing. When Finnick's eyes opened, Dove crouched down next to him, making sure he was all right.
"Dove, put his head on your lap. We're going to submerge him from the neck down," Katniss said, while Dove only nodded. She grabbed his head carefully and laid it on her lap. There he rested for a good ten minutes until he could finally lift his arms above the water.
"You scared me there," Dove whispered, caressing his face, which was left to submerge in the water. Peeta seemed to read her mind as he spoke. "There's just your head left, Finnick. That's the worst part, but you'll feel much better after, if you can bear it."
Peeta and Dove helped him sit up and let him grip their hands to purge his eyes, nose and mouth, although his throat was still too raw to speak. "I'm going to try to tap a tree," Katniss announced.
"Let me make the hole first," Peeta said, looking back at Dove before continuing. "You stay with him and Dove. You're the healer."
"OK," Katniss replied, watching as Dove still grasped Finnick's hand tightly.
"Are you OK? Only shaking your head or nodding are allowed as answers." Dove told Finnick, who shook his hand to indicate he was neither good nor bad. She laughed softly and walked a few metres until her body was covered until her neck. "You still owe me a swimming competition, remember? The Capitol Darling against the red-furred dog. Bring it on." She said.
He moved slowly, testing his limbs before swimming after her. If she dived, he did as well. If she went to the surface, he did so too. "OK, let's see who of us can hold their breath longer in the water. Ready?" Dove proposed, counting to three before diving.
"And they drowned," Katniss muttered after minutes without any sight of either Finnick or Dove surfacing. Although it didn't take much longer until Dove swam back up, coughing the water she had accidentally drunk. Finnick appeared seconds later, a triumphant grin on his face.
"Don't do that," Katniss told them, to which Finnick stared at her with a playfully confused expression. "What? Come up or stay under?"
"Either. Neither. Whatever. Just soak in the water and behave." Katniss said disapprovingly, causing Dove to laugh at her ally. "Or if you feel this good, let's go help Peeta."
"Yes, mum." Dove counterattacked teasingly, which didn't go unnoticed by Katniss, who huffed with the same playful tone.
Inside the edge of the jungle, Katniss touched Finnick's and Dove's arms to make them follow her gaze upwards. An entire crew of monkeys were around them. Katniss armed her bow with two arrows, while Dove and Finnick adjusted their tridents in their hands.
"Peeta," Katniss called softly. "I need your help with something."
Peeta, without glancing in her direction, continued to work on the tree without noticing the alarming situation they were in. "OK, just a minute. I think I've just about got it. Yes, there. Have you got the spile?"
"I do. But we've found something you'd better take a look at," Katniss replied, still in a soft voice in order not to trigger the monkeys. "Only move towards us quietly, so you don't startle it." He obeyed her command unsurely, knowing that warning tone from somewhere.
However, for a second, he looked up, which triggered the monkeys immediately. They moved faster than any animals they had ever seen, using the vines to slide down and leaping impossible distances from tree to tree. "Mutts!" Katniss spat out just as the three crashed into the greenery.
Katniss brought down monkey after monkey with her bow and arrows. Finnick and Dove speared them like fishes and flung them aside. Dove couldn't do as much as Finnick, but she took care of watching his back whenever a monkey attacked. Meanwhile, Peeta slashed away some with his knife.
Without a word, the four positioned themselves in a square formation. Dove, who was mid-way between Peeta and Katniss, noticed the latter was left without arrows, causing her to only use a knife to defend herself. "Peeta! Give me your arrows, I'll pass them to Katniss!" Dove exclaimed.
While Peeta turned and slid off his stealth, a monkey attacked. Dove tried to stop the attack, but she couldn't do anything as another monkey jumped on her, taking her to the ground as she tried to stop it with her trident.
The monkey tried to sink its fangs into her repeatedly, but she was always quick enough to shove the trident across its mouth, stopping it just before it could bite her. However, that didn't stop its claws from cutting her arms and face. The wounds were mostly superficial, but they worsened the previous wounds she already had from the fog. The monkey seemed to notice her weak side as she attacked her left arm, which hadn't fully recovered yet, causing it to bleed heavily.
Suddenly, the woman from District Six appeared, throwing up her arms in the monkey's direction, saving Peeta as it sank its fangs into her chest. Peeta dropped the stealth to bury his knife into the monkey's back. He stabbed it repeatedly until the mutt released its jaw, and then kicked it away, only to help Dove get rid of her own monkey right after.
Katniss got the arrows from the ground, Finnick at her side while helping Dove to stand up. "Come on, then! Come on!" shouted Peeta, panting with rage. However, the monkeys withdrew, backing up trees and fading into the jungle.
"Get her. We'll cover you." Katniss told Peeta, who gently lifted the woman to carry her the last few steps to the beach. Katniss and Finnick followed behind with their weapons ready. Dove walked next to Finnick. Her grip on her trident was completely loose. If anything or anyone were to attack, she couldn't react due to her bleeding arm.
When they reached the sand, Peeta laid the woman on the sand while Katniss cut the material over her chest to reveal the four deep puncture incisions. Blood leaving them, making them seem less deadly than they truly were.
"I'll go get Katniss' arrows, OK? Stay here and clean your wounds." Finnick said, walking back into the jungle for the objects. Dove followed his suggestion and sat in the water near the couple from Twelve and the dying woman. With her right hand, she slowly purred the saltwater on her wounds. However, she wasn't confident enough to even look at her upper arm cut.
The cannon sounded, which meant Morphling was dead. Dove glanced at her left, where her allies sent the corpse floating to the Cornucopia so the Hovercraft could retrieve it. "Thought you might want these." She heard Finnick say to Katniss.
"Thanks," Katniss replied simply, getting up to wash the blood off before going back for some moss to dry them, noticing the monkeys' bodies had disappeared. "Where did they go?" She asked once she got back to her allies.
"I don't know exactly. The vines shifted, and they were gone," said Finnick, glancing back at Dove for a few seconds before staring back at the jungle. "Could you take a look at Dove's cut? I'm getting worried."
"Yeah, sure," Katniss said unsurely, sitting next to Dove to examine her arm. "It's OK. It's not too deep. We should stop the bleeding, though. I'll go get you some moss so we can put it on the wound. Is there anything you can use to tie your arm with?"
"My undershirt. Nothing else," Dove replied, chuckling a bit as Katniss let her timid character show. "Or, you know, if our lovely mentors could send some bandages, that would be wonderful. Although, of course, using the Sponsor's money on bandages for something like this might be a waste."
With the relaxation that sitting down brought her, Dove finally noticed the itching filling her past wounds, which now incremented as the marks of claws only made it bleed easier. She felt tempted to scratch, but she knew it could get infected. And an infection was the last thing she needed in the arena.
"Don't scratch," she heard Katniss warn. "You'll only bring infection. Think it's safe to try for water again?"
There was a silent agreement, which Dove wasn't amongst. Finnick had to approach her to convince her, which didn't have the effect desired, as she started laughing in his face. His wounds weren't making him any prettier.
"Glad you have your sense of humour back. Now, either you get on your feet or I carry you. You choose," Finnick replied lightly, holding out a hand for her to gab on. She accepted to walk by herself, and while Peeta tapped the same tree from before, the three kept guard.
They drank from the spile again, filling a handful of shells with it, before going back to the beach. Dawn couldn't be more than a few hours away, unless, of course, the Gamemakers wanted to change things.
"Why don't you three get some rest?" Katniss proposed, glancing from Peeta to Finnick and Dove. "I'll watch for a while."
"No, Katniss, I'd rather," replied Finnick. Katniss nodded slowly before replying. "All right, Finnick, thanks."
"I'll stay with you," Dove whispered, sitting next to him as Peeta and Katniss laid down on the sand together. Finnick didn't reply, knowing perfectly she wouldn't let him be alone while standing watch. "How are you doing?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. Watching her die was strange. It's been so long since I saw anyone die right in front of me. . ." Dove explained, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "And. . . You barely survived the fog, Finnick. Frankly, we all almost died then. And, if Peeta hadn't taken that monkey off me, I could be dead for real now. Just imagine if Annie and Melo had come instead of us. . ."
"But they didn't. They're safe in Four. And you're OK. You're alive." He said calmly, side hugging her as soft snores sounded from behind them. "You know what you need? You need to keep your mind occupied. Let's go do something."
"All right," she replied, following Finnick as they made woven bowls, where they put fresh water and shellfish sometime later. And a mat of grass, which they suspended over Katniss' and Peeta's sleeping bodies.
By mid-morning, they sat on the sand, Finnick cracking the shellfish open while Dove rested her head on his shoulder. Katniss woke up, which caused both to turn around to face her. "They're better fresh," Finnick told her as he popped a chunk of flesh from a shell into his mouth.
"You know, if you scratch you'll bring on infection," Finnick said mockingly as they watched Katniss' skin, which had obviously been scratched in her sleep.
"That's what I've heard," Katniss replied with the same tone, walking to the sea to clean her bleeding wounds and rearrange Dove's improvised bandage. Not long after, she went back to the sand, falling on her back as she stared at the sky. "Hey, Haymitch, if you're not too drunk, we could use a little something for our skin."
"That right there is a good relationship with your mentor," Dove commented, a smile on her face for the first time in hours. The smile formed into a giggle as a silver parachute appeared above Katniss. "Seems he doesn't like being questioned."
"About time," Katniss muttered, sitting in front of Finnick and Dove on the sand. She screwed the lid of the tube to reveal a dark ointment with a pungent smell inside. She was the first to try it, applying it first on her leg. To everyone's surprise, it worked immediately, since the itching was no longer present.
"It's like you're decomposing," Finnick commented, glancing at the tub doubtfully. Dove shook her head with a chuckle, took a bit of ointment on her fingers, and carefully put a bit on her left arm, evading her bandaged cut, which hurt whenever she moved it. She did the same to Finnick's cheek, attacking him by surprise as she poked him with the ointment on her index finger. Minutes later, the three were finally covered with the ointment.
Oh, God. We look horrible. Dove thought, looking around at the rest. The combination between the scabs and the ointment is absolutely hideous.
"Poor Finnick. Is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" Katniss commented playfully, which caused Dove to snort as she saw Finnick's distressed face.
"It must be. The sensation's completely new. How have you managed it all these years?" Finnick retorted with his cocky attitude back.
"Just avoid mirrors. You'll forget about it," Katniss replied, although her triumph didn't last long as Finnick came up with another witty comment. "Not if I keep looking at you," he said, pointing at her.
"What about me? Do I look bad too, Odair?" Dove asked with a light tone, causing him to stop in his tracks. "Yes. Can't lie, honey. This shade of green does not look good on you," he replied.
"I'm going to wake Peeta," Katniss announced, although Finnick stopped before she could. "No, wait," he said.
"Let's do it together. Put our faces right in front of him," he added. Katniss agreed almost immediately, closely followed by Dove. The three positioned themselves at each side of Peeta, their faces merely centimetres away from his own.
"Peeta. Peeta, wake up," Katniss said in a singsong voice, causing his eyes to flutter open, and then jump as if he had been stabbed. "Aa!" he yelled.
The rest fell to the sand, laughing their heads off. Wherever they tried to stop, Peeta's attempt to maintain a disdainful expression set them off again. By the time they pulled themselves together, another parachute appeared, this time with bread, District Four's typical bread, and a small bandage roll.
"This will go well with the shellfish. What do you think, Dove?" Finnick asked, showing her the bread while Katniss stared at them, stunned. "Yeah, it will," Dove added, smiling at the couple as they gathered around Finnick to eat the flesh with the salty bread.
"Oh, and Katniss. Can you change my bandage later, please?" She said just as Finnick left a piece of bread and some shellfish flesh in her woven bowl, motioning her to eat everything he had left.
"Yeah, sure. Like that, we can clean your undershirt so you don't have to go around with just your bra." Katniss replied, causing Finnick to laugh.
"I for one don't particularly mind that," he muttered while chuckling, catching a glimpse of Dove's surprised face before she hit him playfully.
"Bet you don't," she replied.
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