The morning bell rings, waking me from my slumber. The events of last night are still very present in my mind, but the possible events of the next few days are overshadowing the others. We may have all been holding hands last night, but once the canon sounds, who knows what is going to happen. There's no guarantee that the tributes will hold up the alliance.
Finnick's eyes flicker open, obviously awoken by the same sound as I. He looks at me for a while, taking in every detail of my face as I do the same. We sit like that for some time, dreading what is to come. This may be the last time we ever see each other.
A knock comes on the door, I assume it's Mags. I stand up, sadly letting go of Finnick's hand. I open the door and my suspicions are correct, Mags stands there with a sad look in her eye.
I exit our shared room and enter my own. We've been instructed to put on simple clothes and enter the jet, they are doing things differently this year. We shower and put on our arena clothes with our stylists, it makes things easier.
As I look at myself in the mirror I spot my ring. I bring my hand up to my face and examine it, this will my reminder of Finnick while I am in the arena. All tributes are allowed one keepsake from home. This will be mine,
I walk out of my room to see Finnick there, waiting to say goodbye. I slowly approach him, giving him a knowing look. He embraces me, both of us tightening our grip, afraid to let go. "I love you more than the world itself, Finnick," I whisper, head against his shoulder. He sighs, knowing what lies ahead.
"I'll love you forever and always Rose. I'm sorry we couldn't be married sooner. I'll see you in the arena, I promise." We kiss. It's passionate, showcasing our love. Finally, Mags pulls us apart and tells me to go first in the elevator, Finnick next.
I slowly let go of him, dreading the next few moments. I turn and walk toward the elevator, trying to prolong the inevitable.
Once I step inside the elevator I turn around, getting one last glimpse at Finnick before the door closes. Once it does I look down, letting the peacekeeper I hadn't even noticed press the button for the roof.
Once we reach our destination I step out, the peacekeeper behind me. I walk into the jet without prompt, knowing it's my only option. They've thought of all possible ways to escape.
I step onto the jet which has one seat. All for me. A staff member puts the tracker into my arm like last time, then I'm left alone.
The flight feels like it's taken hours, but that's the way they intended, designed so that we have no idea where we are.
I'm shuffled to the basement and to my individual room quickly. Thrown inside, the door closing behind me. When I look up I see Po. I instantly run and give him a hug, knowing this may be the last time I see him, even if I do get out of the arena.
"Hey beautiful, you ready for this?" He asks while walking over to the couch to relax.
"Hardly. I can't believe they did this." I say while plopping down on the couch next to him, grabbing a sandwich and digging in, I didn't get breakfast. Po fills me in.
"You get an hour in here before you are sent in. So after this, you'll shower and get dressed. I'll do your hair." I smile at him, thankful for the kindness he's shown me every step of the way. After I've filled up on "breakfast" I take a shower, the curtain covering me from his view.
Afterward, he styles my hair into two long braids down the side of my head. He hands me the suit and I get changed into it. It's a durable material, almost like a wetsuit.
When I walk out Po confirms my thoughts. "The suit is light, feels like a wetsuit. My best guess is tropics or water orientated." I nod, my suspicions confirmed by a second source.
We spend our last few minutes sitting on the couch, holding each other, he hugs me tightly.
Finally, the speaker crackles to life, announcing the time to launch. "Sixty seconds to launch."
We both stand up, dreading the next few moments. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me, Po. I don't know what will happen, but I'll always love you." Saying that I go in for a hug, it lasts half the time I have to prepare.
"Thirty seconds to launch."
"You got this Rose. I'll see you on the other side." With the final farewell, I step into the tube, quickly turning around when it seals behind me.
I close my eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Being panicked will be no help in the arena. "Ten seconds to launch."
I open my eyes and place my hand on the glass, Po matches my stance. He silently nods at me as the tube flies upwards, sending me into oblivion.
—
The sun blinds me as I try to adjust as fast as possible. I look to my left to see Johanna and to my right to see Beetee. This is good, two allies close to me. I don't see Wiress anywhere which worries me, but we can deal with that when it comes to it. I nod to both Johanna and Beetee, letting them know our plan starts now.
—
When the gunshot fires I immediately jump into the water and swim to the rock, climbing up as fast as I can, meeting with Johanna. Beetee trails and climbs up soon after. "Stay here. Johanna and I will gather weapons and try to find Wiress." With that Johanna and I both run into the fray, hoping to get our weapons first.
Once we get there we are met with blight who almost takes my head off. "Whoah! Slow down! I'm on your side." I say quickly, he grimaces and mutters a quick apology before running off. I grab my knives, a spear, and an axe for Johanna.
I find her on the other side wrestling with a tribute who isn't in our alliance. I throw my knife at their back and Johanna throws them off of her. I hand her the axe and she mutters "Thanks." Before we hear a scream of pain that sounds like Beetee. We look at each other before taking off.
I find him first, a knife in the small of his back and a coil of wire gripped in his hands. A tribute looms over him before I throw another knife, quickly ending his life. Wiress stands next to him, doing the best to care for him. I quickly go to pull the knife out and she grabs my hand, silently telling me to stop.
"It's gotta come out here or in the jungle. It doesn't look deep, it won't kill him." I say sternly and quickly pull the knife to the dismay of Beetee who lets out a grunt of pain.
Wiress helps him up and I go to make my way to the other side to find Finnick, only to come face to face with a career. He tries to stab me but I dodge, giving him a nice cut on his face. I hear my name and look up to see Finnick. "Rose! Get out of here! I'll find you later!" He screams over the chaos.
I go to protest but see a pack of tributes in my way. "I promise!" Is all I yell before running back to the group.
I lead our pack as we head into the jungle, making our way deeper into unknown territory.
We move slower than I'd like; but we need to be cautious, there could be anything in here, we have no idea.
After about an hour of walking we take a rest, for Beetee mostly, he tells us his back hurts. When we stop, Johanna, Blight, and I have a small meeting about what to do next. "Should we travel deeper? It could keep us safe from hunting parties, but we risk being caught so deep we can't get out if something bad happens." I start off the meeting.
Johanna and blight both have a look of thought, before speaking up. "We don't have fresh water. The water by the cornucopia was salt. We might be able to find water, and maybe some food if we travel deeper." I nod at Johanna's point.
"We can always make our way back if something happens, but right now I think we have to take the risk." Blight adds afterwards.
"Alright, we'll head further in," I say finally and walk back to our group.
We continue on our journey, the humidity and heat increasing as we do. I lead in the front, Johanna in the middle and Blight at the back. Just on pure boredom, I kick a rock. It bounces back and hits me in the leg.
I hold up my hand to the others, signalling them to stop, stepping closer to investigate. I pick up the rock and throw it at the jungle in front of us. When it hits the "wall" it sizzles and comes back, leaving a trail of shapes that snake up the wall. I do it again, only then realizing it is a force field.
"It's a force field. It looks like we've reached the edge of the arena, might as well make our camp here." The others nod and sit down, taking a rest from the heat.
When I sit down I finally feel the extent of the heat. My mouth is dry, it's in need of water desperately. The sweat is dripping off of me, the suit I wear soaked to the brim. My hair is fuzzy and damp from the sweat, the nice braids have become a mess of sweaty hair.
"Do we know of any way to get water?" Blight asks, taking the words right out of my mouth.
"The water at the cornucopia was salt and we didn't see any lakes on the way over. They've probably hand-fed the careers clean water." Says Johanna, exasperated.
"They can't let us all die of dehydration. I'll climb a tree and see if I can find anything, maybe even a sign of the others."
I walk over to one of the trees around us and climb about 3/4 of the way up. The trees create a canopy and if I go all the way up I won't be able to see. I survey the land, looking for a sign of water, of anything. To my dismay, there seems to be no water, anywhere.
I linger for a little longer, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of Finnick, anything to see he's okay. But I don't.
I hastily climb down the tree and back to the group, who have made themselves as comfortable as possible. "Nothing," I say solemnly as I sit on the ground, resting my muscles.
"Fuck this," Johanna mutters angrily. I nod my head, starting to get frustrated with this already.
"How's the wire? You seem to need it pretty badly." Blight asks Beetee, I have the same thought. He took a knife in the back for that.
"Good. It's essential to my plan." He says, referring to the plan to get out. I stand up again, this time walking over to Beetee himself.
"Roll over and I'll take a look at your wound." He obliges slowly, trying not to make it worse.
I unzip his suit down to his wound. I'm not gonna lie, it looks pretty ugly. I touch tenderly around the area and he grunts in pain. It looks pretty deep, so I tell him the bad news. "Look, it's pretty bad. It needs stitches or you'll die of infection." He nods his head, grimacing at the thought. "I'll be back, stay here."
I grab a stick and sharpen it into a needle that can pierce the skin. I then grab some leaves and strip them into thin enough lines, tying it around the piece of wood. "It's gonna hurt. Bad. Bite on this." I give him something to bite on.
—
We cook our lizards on the fire, five, one for each. I make sure the smoke isn't visible and the fire stays low so no one can hunt us. Beetee seems better, now that I closed his wound.
I take first watch, wanting the time to gather my thoughts and to see the anthem and take count of the tributes. To make sure Finnick is still alive. One of the tributes from district one is dead and nothing shows up until district 5. I finally exhale, letting go of the breath I didn't know I was holding.
—
After my hours I wake Blight up quietly, getting myself settled on the ground to try and sleep. From my estimates, we have a few hours of darkness left.
—
I'm awoken by the feeling of rain on my skin. I feel droplets coming from the sky and quickly open my eyes to see if I can get any water. The others are also waking up, realizing we might have a chance to hydrate ourselves.
I open my mouth to the sky trying to get any moisture in my mouth. It's soothing for the first second, but then I realize it's not water. It's warm. It tastes like metal.
I look at my hands, where it's been hitting. I have to bring them all the way up to face to get a good look. Oh my god.
Its blood.