I stab the monkey. I stab it with all I've got till it drops dead. My weapon of choice was a sharp rock that happened to be by me when I fell. I still don't get why the morphling did such a thing but it's been done and now I need to worry about her survival rather than questioning her motives. I stiffle a cry as I stand up slowly and pick her up. I carry her further to the beach while Finnick and Rory cover for me. They really don't need to though, the monkeys all started to leave. Like the fog, it has reached it's limits.
I cut away the morphling's jumpsuit to reveal the deep puncture wounds that have clearly made some internal damage. Blood trickles from the punctures and my medical instincts start to kick in. I know I can't save her. Her ribs show through her skin like the ones of a starved child, and she gasps for air like a dying fish. And though I know it's too late to save her, I know I can make her departure less painful.
"I'm going to go retrieve our weapons," Finnick mumbles before going away. I know that situations like these aren't the most appealing to everyone and well, this is where I get a turn to shine.
The vacant look in her eyes, her body, her shallow breathing- everything of her speaks of waste. She must have turned to morphling the way Haymitch turned to liquor. I comfort her with words and hold her hand, stroking her thin hair with the other. She gives a small smile but then a small squeak shortly after. I know she won't last long. She let's out a final huff before her cannon goes boom. Her grip on my hand releases and I know it's time to let her go. I carry her out to the water, setting her down and letting her drift away from us until finally a hovercraft picks her lifeless body up to the sky, taking her away. Gone. Dead.
Finnick rejoins us, weapons in his hands. He drops them beside us in the sand, and I notice that they're dripping in blood.
"Thank you," I whisper. Somehow it just seems right to whisper- like the ambience of a funeral.
"Do you know where...they went to?" I ask, questioning about the monkey mutts.
"We don't know, the vines just shifted and they all went away," Rory explains.
We all stand there and stare at the jungle up ahead of us. We've seen it's horrors and will probably hesitate about entering them anytime soon.
My wounds start to itch real bad and I look down at them. They're scabbing over. I want to scratch them so badly but I know I'm not suppose to. I look up and see Rory and Finnick scratching them though, which only makes me more tempted. Instead I say,
"I don't think you should scratch them, it'll only infect the wounds further."
We then head to the tree that Rory was tapping up earlier and insert the spile. We all take gulps of water to quench our thirst. We also pour some onto our scabs using large shells. It helps a little but the itch is still there.
We're still in the night but it isn't young- dawn is approaching.
"You can rest, I'll take watch," Finnick says. I start to object then see his gleaming eyes- realizing that he's been holding back his tears.
"Okay Finnick, thanks," I say before laying down in the sand. The last thought that crosses my mind before I drift off is of how much I owe Finnick.
Thwack! I wake up to the sound of Finnick cracking open shellfish on a rock. It's midmorning and Rory's still sound asleep. I look up and see a grass mat and realize Finnick's been working the whole time. Beside me are three bowls woven from grass, the first two containing water and the third containing shellfish. I start reaching for the water then realize my finger nails are caked with blood. I must have been scratching myself raw in my sleep.
"You shouldn't scratch the wounds," Finnick chuckles.
"Yeah, someone taught you well," I joke as I seat myself next to him.
"They're better fresh," he tells me, gesturing towards the shellfish. I smile and dig in. It tastes real good. I then head over to the water to wash out my nails- they aren't too appealing with the blood.
"Haymitch, it'd be real nice if you sent us something for our skin," I shout to the sky. A silver parachute starts gliding down almost immediately and my eyes widen. Since when did Haymitch actually listen to me?
"Thank you," I say out-loud before returning to Finnick. I sit down next to him and show him Haymitch's gift. I open it up to find a small tube full of dark ointment. It smells something like pine-needles and tar. I smile because I'm familiar with it; we had it back at home. I squeeze a glob out before passing it to Finnick. He stares at it cautiously. I just shrug and proceed by rubbing the medicine onto my leg. Ah~ it eradicates the itching. Sure, it leaves the scabs with a green-ish grey color but it works. Finnick's still doubtful but I guess his itching wins him over because he ends up using it. The medicine and the scabs look absolutely hideous and I smirk because Finnick doesn't seem to enjoy it too much.
"I guess you've never not looked pretty before," I remark.
"I think so, it's a new sensation," he chirps back. "And look who's talking- you don't look too pretty yourself. New sensation?"
"Of course," I say, flipping my hair.
We help each other rub the ointment into places we cannot reach (ie our backs) and enjoy each others hideousness. It really helps though, because I can barely feel the itching now. Don't worry, we left some ointment for Rory, key word being some.
"I'll go get him," I tell Finnick once we finish."No, we'll do it together," Finnick says with a smirk.
"What are you thinking?"
"We'll put our faces right in front of his and give him a scare, how does that sound?"
I answer with a smile.
We really don't have any more chances to have fun in life, we might as well enjoy the small moments like these. Finnick and I make our way over to our little friend and position ourselves so that our faces are a mere inch away from his.
"Rory, time to get up," I singsong.
"Aah!" Rory screams as he jumps up a foot into the air. Finnick and I fall down laughing, clutching our bellies. His reaction was priceless. And each time we try to stop, we look at Rory's scornful expression and it sets us off once more. I start to realize that Finnick might not be as vain as I thought him to be. He's actually really fun to talk to and he's not too bossy or stubborn. Suddenly, I hear the parachute chime and look up to see the familiar parachute. [Remembering from last year how Haymitch's gifts are often timed to send a message, I make a note to myself. Be friends with Finnick. You'll get food.] (page 317 lines 8~10)
In it is a loaf of bread, with a green tint along it's crust that District 4 bread always has. It's clear it's for Finnick. He takes it and turns it in his hands. Maybe some memories of Mags is associated with it, I don't know.
"It should go well with the shellfish," he says quietly. I just nod and give him some time to himself. I know it must be hard for him.
I help Rory to treat his wounds with the ointment. In the meantime, Finnick cleans the meat of the shellfish and prepares it for us to all eat. We soon gather in a triangle and eat the sweet flesh and salty bread- perfect.
We look horrible- the medicine is making our scabs peel off. But I'm glad we got the ointment nevertheless. I look up and see the sun, and estimate it to be ten o'clock. We've been in the arena for a day- great. Eleven dead, thirteen alive. Three of us are here, and the ten of them are somewhere in the jungle, concealed within it's lairs. Four are careers.
We all stare into the jungle ahead of us. I've already decided not to go back in- it has quickly proved to be a sinister trap rather than a place of protection. I don't care what Finnick and Rory think- I'm not going back any time soon. It doesn't seem like we'll be splitting shortly though, because we set up camp on our little beach.
Then suddenly we hear someone scream, in the far distance, from the jungle. A ginormous wave erupts from a wedge of the arena and engulfs the trees within it, the cornucopia awash. We try to get as far as we can but the water reaches us anyways. The water comes up to our knees, causing our few possessions to start floating away. We gather everything back with the exception of our jumpsuits, which no longer serve us any purpose. Boom! There goes the cannon. The hovercraft plucks a lifeless body from the trees. Twelve dead.
The water starts to settle down after bubbling for a while. We're about to sit down when we see three figures stumbling towards our direction from two spokes away.
"What...are those?" Rory questions. We all stare at the exotic beings. They look like people but they're brick red from head to toe. The first one is being dragged by a second, while the third is off spinning around like s/he's gone crazy. It's quite a sight, really. Suddenly afraid that they could attack us, I reach over for the weapons. But all that happens is that the first one collapses, the second aka dragger stamps in frustration, and shoves the loopy one.
"Johanna!" Finnick exclaims, his face brightening up. Johanna...Johanna Mason?
"Finnick O'dair!" Johanna returns with equal enthusiasm, giving him a bear hug.
"What now?" I ask rhetorically and Rory just shrugs.
"We can't leave Finnick so...I guess we've got ourselves some more allies."
We head over to join Finnick in his reunion with his friend. To be honest I'm not so thrilled about having Johanna in our pact- she wasn't anywhere near the top of my list of potential allies. I look over at the others she brought and frown. On the floor is Beetee, and twirling is Wiress.
"She brought Nuts and Volts..." Rory mutters under his breath. I turn to Finnick and Johanna, who're deep in conversation. Johanna is talking real fast, facing the jungle and making wild gestures.
"We thought it was rain, and so we headed towards because we were obviously thirsty. Then we realized it was blood rain- like can you believe it? Blood rain? It went into our eyes and we couldn't even see five feet ahead of us, and it filled our mouths whenever we tried to talk. And then...Blight hit the force field."
Rain. The rain right before the fog. That must be it- blood rain. Finnick tries to console her for her loss but Johanna's just pissed beyond consolation.
"And he left me alone with these two," Johanna spits out, nudging Beetee with the vamp of her shoe. "He got a knife in the back, and as for Wiress..."
"Tick tock," Wiress says, "Tick tock."
"Yeah yeah whatever, tick tock, Nuts has gone nuts."
Hearing this, Wiress starts drifting over to Johanna because though she may not be in the right state of mind, Johanna's remark was a little mean and upsetting. Johanna just shoves her though, so that she falls into the sand below.
"Hey, show her some respect, will you?!" I say, fed up with her behaviour.
"Respect?!" She hisses, smacking me on the cheek- the very cheek that Thread whipped around a month ago. "Who do you think got them from that bleeding jungle for you?! You-"
Finnick restrains her before she can do me any more harm. He takes her over to the water where he forces her head into the water in attempt to shut her up. I can still hear her curse though, during those few seconds she comes up for air. I don't attack her, because of what she said.
"What does she mean? Getting them for me? Nonsense..." I mutter to myself.
"Hey, you did want them originally, right?" Rory says, suddenly appearing beside me as if materializing from thin air.
"Originally," I say with a shrug, "But we won't have them for long without convalescence."
He nods in agreement and we start helping the two.
"C'mon Wiress, let's go clean you up," I repeat as I take her hand and steer her towards the water. Rory does the same with Beetee, except his process includes picking up the unconscious man and carrying him the whole way. We start with Beetee because he's in such a bad state. His clothes are stuck to his body due to the blood and so we have no choice but to put him in the water, to loosen the clothes, then strip him. It would have bothered a regular girl but growing up in a house full of wounded men kinda has you used to it. I scan Beetee's belt and notice the metal cylinder affixed using vines. If he thought it was worth saving, I better not loose it. I toss it onto the sand before returning to the wounded patient.
We lay him stomach down on the grass mat to inspect his gash. It's almost 20cm long, running from his shoulder blade all the way down to just below his ribs. It's not deep, but I can still tell he's lost a lot of blood from the pallor of his skin. He'd surely die without our help.
I stare at the vast jungle and sigh. I'd rather not go back in but I know it'll be my pharmacy. I get up and walk over to the place and gather some herbs to make a remedy to help with his blood loss. Then I grab a handful of moss to stanch his blood, along with some vines to secure the moss to his back. I head back quickly, because right now it's vital we keep as much blood as we can in his system.
"I'll work on him- could you maybe clean Wiress up?" I ask Rory. Because really, I can't do both jobs at once. He nods and goes over to help her. Time to get working.
I start by mixing up the herbs for the remedy I have in mind. It'll ease him, make him less dizzy from the loss of blood. I coax some into him while I work on the moss. I make a thick pad with it and place it on his back before securing it with the vines. Perfect.
By the time I finish cleaning Beetee's jumpsuit and undergarments, a clean Johanna and tired Finnick have joined us. Johanna takes gulps of water and handfuls of shellfish meat as she replenishes her food deprivation.
Rory tells the newcomers of our encounter with the fog and monkeys because Finnick refuses to. He leaves out an important detail and I know it's for Finnick's sake.
We all volunteer to keep watch but in the end it's Johanna and I that stay up. I would have been fine alone but Johanna just wouldn't lay down. I guess I like the company though, staying up alone is a little scary.
"What happened to Mags?" Johanna asks blatantly.
"We lost her in the fog. Finnick had her and then I couldn't take Rory and well Finnick put Mags down and took Rory instead. Mags just kissed him and walked straight into the fog."
There's a moment of silence between us before Johanna speaks up.
"Mags was his mentor, in case you didn't know." Her voice is accusing and sharp.
"I didn't."
"She was like the family he never had," she adds with a little less venom.
"What happened with them?" I ask carefully, eyeballing Beetee and Wiress.
"I got them for you, silly kid. Haymitch said I'd have to bring them if we were to be allies," she explains. "Your idea, right?"
No it wasn't, I think to myself. But I find myself lying to her.
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, it means a lot."
Just then, Wiress starts to stir and mumbles another 'tick tock'. She then rubs her eyes and crawls over to us on all fours.
"Goodie, Nuts is awake- I'm going to try and sleep now," Johanna says and lies down next to Finnick. I give Wiress a quick smile as she sits beside me. I stroke her arm and coax her to lay back down, and she complies with the occasional 'tick tock'.
"Tick tock. Tick tock time for bed," I agree softly. She smiles and goes back to sleep.
The sun rises so that it's high in the sky at it's highest point. Noon, I think to myself.
I look into the distance and watch as lighting strikes a tree repeatedly like it had last night. Funny thing is, it's in the exact same section of the arena. Almost like someone triggered the attack by stepping into it's range. I absentmindedly watch the squiggly electric line strike the tall tall tree. I hear twelve bongs just like last night. Deja vu.
"Tick tock," Wiress mumbles in REM sleep. And somehow it all clicks. Tick tock. Twelve bongs. At midnight, at noon. I survey the arena once more. The lighting now in its wedge, then blood rain in the next, followed by the fog then the monkeys, then a few hours later the large wave. Tick tock. Each in their own wedge, during their own time. Tick tock, tick tock.
"Tick tock," Wiress mumbles, only confirming my thoughts.
"Yes, tick tock. The arena's a clock."
~A/N~ I was planning to update last night, but~ oh well. Here it is now.
I'm getting on a plane and going on a trip soon, and I can't take my laptop. Sigh. 94 hours without my laptop- just great. So...there won't be any updates soon, but I will do a double update near the end of the week. Sorry for the delay!
Thanks for all the support and constructive feedback, I really appreciate it :)
-Monica