The anthem of Panem rang through the arena, causing me to wake up from my slumber. I rubbed my face to get rid of the sleepiness and looked towards the sky.

District 5 male, Male Morphling, both the tributes from District 8 and District 9, District 10 female and Seeder.

I let out a relieved sigh knowing Johanna was alive.

"Eight." Katniss said. Finnick hummed in response.

I turned to towards Peeta, only to find him also awake and looking up at the sky. "That was a very short nap." He mumble, groggily.

"Yup."

After a while, Katniss suddenly spoke, "What's that?"
All of our attention was turned to the silver parachute that glided down through the foliage to land before us. It carried two containers.

She walked over to it and opened one of the boxes.
It had a note and a hollow metal tube, tapered slightly at one end. On the other end a small lip curved downward.

Drink up.
~H.

"I think it's a spile." She said, examining the tube.

"A what?" Finnick and I voice out our confusions at the same time. She didn't reply, rather proceeded to stick the spile into a nearby tree and used a stone to push it further inside. Peeta helped me stand up and we walked over to where Katniss and Finnick were waiting with anticipation. A few moments later, water began to run out of the spile in a thin stream.

She let out a gasp and put her mouth under the stream, drinking it up.

My eyes lit up with joy and I let out a laugh. "Finally!"
We took turns holding our mouths under the tap, wetting our parched tongues. Once everyone was done with quenching their thirsts, I tore up a part of my sleeve and wet it in the clean water. I lifted my shirt up and cleaned the dry blood off with the cloth. I winced when the cloth touched the wound, but I continued wiping slowly in order to clean the cut.

Meanwhile, Finnick took the other box in his hands and opened it. Inside that too, was a note and a smaller box.

This should heal it up. Stay safe.
~Newt.

"Hey (Y/n)!" Finnick called out, causing me to look up. "Your medicine is here." He walked over to where I was and took the cloth from my hand. He made me sit down and leaned me up against the tree before wiping off the remaining blood around the cut. He opened the small box to find some very smelly, green goop inside. I scrunched my nose from the smell. Finnick laughed at my reaction. "Newt said this will do the job. He didn't mention anything about the smell though."

"It better do the job." I muttered. "It makes me want to vomit." He let out another laugh at that.

He scooped some of the goop with his fingers. "You ready?" I nodded hesitantly. I dug my nails into the dirt when he applied the medicine to the wound. To say it was painful was an understatement. I bit my lip in order to not scream.

"All done." He said after a while. I let out a shaky breath as the pain subsided. He wiped his hand on the cloth and sat beside me. "It's gonna be alright, (Y/n)."

Peeta came up to us with a large leaf cupped in the shape of a bowl, with water inside. He handed me the bowl, which I gladly accepted and drank its contents. Finnick put an arm around my shoulder and I leaned against him. "Wake me up when you want to sleep, okay?" I said.

"Alright." He replied.
____________________________________________________

About 2 hours later, I was awoken with a massive gong. Multiple consecutive such gongs were heard and I lost track after 5 due to the sleepiness that lingered.

"I counted 12." Katniss said.

"Midnight?" Finnick suggested.

"Or maybe the number of districts."

At that moment a whirring noise was heard before a dazzling bolt of electricity stroke a towering tree across the distance and in that region a lightning storm began.

"How's the wound?" Finnick asked. I lifted my shirt up to see that it healed quite well, the ache almost gone.

"Looks like it healed alright. The green goop worked after all." I said and Finnick chuckled, making me smile. "How about you get some rest now? I'll take watch for a while."

With a bit of hesitation, Finnick agreed. I got up from my spot and went over to sit beside Katniss.
"Here." She said and handed me a large dagger. "I grabbed as many weapons as I could, and I'm not that good with knives, so you keep it."

"Thank you." A genuine smile fell upon my lips and she gave a smile back. After an hour or so, the lightning stopped. I could hear the rain coming in, pattering on the leaves a few hundred yards away. I kept waiting for it to reach us but it never did.

Then suddenly it stopped. And an eerie silence fell upon us. Finnick and Peeta were asleep and when I looked at Katniss, she seemed to be dozing off. The silence was deafening. Something felt wrong.

I heard rustling of leaves behind me and I whipped my head around to see what it was, the dagger clutched between my fingers. A dense white fog softly slid through the trees, from the direction of the recent downpour.

"Katniss!" I whisper-yelled, causing her to jerk awake.

"What happened?" She mumbled. I nodded towards the fog. She cautiously walked up to it and held her hand out to touch the sliding smoke. As soon as her hand made contact, she screamed and fell onto the ground, clutching her hand in agony.

"Katniss!" I exclaimed.

Her hand started to blister up. "Run! The fog is poison." She yelled. Finnick woke up in an instant and reached over to grab my hand. The both of us began to run as fast as we could. Peeta was on his feet and taking Katniss's other hand, followed behind us. I looked back at the wall of fog extending in a straight line as far as I could see in either direction.

Finnick and I kept tripping on the roots and vines that blocked our way. The fog started to pour in from the sides too. We dodged our way through, Finnick's hand still tightly gripping mine.

I heard Peeta grunt and Katniss let out a yelp but they kept moving forward. Then suddenly, a searing pain shot through my right arm, a scream ripping from my throat. I lifted my arm to see massive bubble like blisters. I tripped on a root and fell onto the forest floor. Finnick let out a scream as the fog reached his back. "(Y/n)! C'mon! Please!" He yanked me back up and we ran side by side along the gliding fog.

My legs felt weak, and I kept tripping more often. Finnick supported my waist and we managed to keep a steady pace.

Peeta was struggling to keep Katniss up, his neck and face blistered badly. Katniss had the same scabs all over her body and was literally being dragged by Peeta.

We came to a small clearing where Peeta and Katniss collapsed.

"Finnick! Katniss need help! Go!" I managed to exclaim.

"What about you?!" He said, his voice shaking.

"She needs more help than I do! Protect Katniss at all cost!"

"BUT YOU'LL DIE!"

"KATNISS NEEDS TO SURVIVE!"

With a remorseful look, he let go of my waist and ran over to Katniss before lifting her up. Peeta panted beside me. We started running again. Finnick ahead with Katniss, followed by Peeta and then me.

The blisters and scabs, all over my back and neck, hurt worse than a stab with a knife. I couldn't run properly, I didn't have the strength. My legs felt weak. "Cmon (Y/n), just a little more." Peeta encouraged from a few steps ahead. My eyes started to droop and my neck and cheeks started to burn. I could see the fog starting to surround me and then I fell.

This is it.

My eyes closed as my lower body was entirely engulfed by the fog and in the distance, I could hear Finnick screaming my name. My mind went into a fuzzy state, like a dream world where the pain no longer existed.

The moment was short lived as I was pulled back into reality when a pair of arms grabbed my body and yanked me out of the fog. The person holding me screamed out in agony. Their hands remained on my waist as I was being dragged through the forest, twigs and sticks, scratching my body. I squinted through my swollen eyes to see Peeta grunting as the fog neared us. His arms released their hold on my waist when we began to tumble down a small hill. We rolled down the slope and came to halt as we reached the base.

My eyes started to droop again and the last thing I saw was the fog pressing up against an imaginary glass wall before everything went black.

____________________________________________________

I flickered my eyes open after what felt like an eternity. I was met with the green eyes of Finnick Odair, who had a small tired smile on his lips. My head was on his lap and when I looked up, the early rays of the sun filtered through the canopy. There was water surrounding us and the cool liquid seemed to be soothing my skin.

"Hey." He whispered.

"What happened? How long was I out for?" I mumbled out, my voice hoarse.

"Around 15 minutes. You... blacked out. The water helped heal the blisters and scabs. I can't believe you slept through that." He chuckled. "It hurt a lot."

His smile disappeared and a frown took its place. I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's wrong, Finn?"

"I thought you were gone." His eyes were glossy and his voice was deep. "When I was in front, trying to get Katniss to safety, I didn't notice you had tripped. It wasn't until the fog had engulfed most of your body did I turn back." His voice cracked. "If it weren't for Peeta, you'd be..." He trailed off, not wanting to complete that sentence. A tear rolled down his cheek and he whispered, "I'm so sorry."

I sat up with a wince, my body aching due to the after effects of the fog, and I wiped away the tear. "Don't be sorry, Finnick. It isn't your fault. And you know that." I pressed my forehead against his and whispered, "She needs to live."

He nodded sadly. "But that doesn't mean you have to die."

"That isn't in our hands anymore." I mumbled.

He hugged me tightly and kissed the side of my head. I pulled away after a few moments and stood up slowly. "I'm thirsty, I'll go get some water." He nodded with a small smile.

Peeta was talking to Katniss on the other side of the small pond and I walked over to them.

"How're you feeling?" Katniss asked.

"Good, I guess. Just thirsty."

"I'll fetch you some water." Peeta said with a smile.

"I'll come with you."

The both of us walked towards a large tree and Peeta stuck the spile into its trunk and held a hollow coconut shell under it to collect the water.

"Thank you for saving my life, Peeta." I said genuinely.

"Oh it's alright." He waved me off.

"No it's not alright. You risked your life to save mine. You could've died."

"Maybe. But I couldn't live with the guilt of atleast trying not to save a good friend."

I smiled. "So we're friends now, huh?"

His light brown eyes looked up and he gave a grin, "I would say so, yeah."

"Well, I'm glad to have you as a friend Peeta, I mean it." I said.

He replied with a smile and handed me the coconut shell full of water. I took it and mumbled a 'thank you'.

Half way through drinking the water, Katniss spoke in a low voice. "Peeta. (Y/n)." The both of us looked towards her. She was standing next to Finnick, her bow and an arrow drawn out, while Finnick clutched his trident.

"Walk over here slowly."

I furrowed my eyebrows and Peeta turned forward, only to find a large monkey right in front of his face. It let out a loud roar, showing all of its sharp teeth. My eyes widened with horror and I grabbed Peeta hand and yanked him back. We walked towards Katniss, never turning our backs towards the monkey. I looked around and saw more than 50 of them surrounded us completely. They were much larger than an average monkey. They were mutts.

When I was close enough, Finnick passed me my dagger and I held it in a defensive manner. The monkeys started closing in on us, growling and roaring.

The only path that led to the beach was blocked by more monkeys. They had their fangs bared, hackles raised, claws shooting out like switchblades. One of the mutts made a leap for Katniss, but she shot it down with her arrow at the last second. Then they all began to attack.

It was all a blur of monkeys and chaos as Finnick speared the beasts like fish and flung them aside with his trident, Peeta and I slashed them away with our knives and daggers and Katniss arrowed them down. I felt claws on my leg and down my back, before someone took out the attacker.

"We got to get to the beach!" Peeta exclaimed and we made a run for it. More mutts attacked us on the way, and one of them caught onto Finnick's back. It was about to sink its fangs into his neck when I stabbed it with my dagger, killing it.

In front of us, Peeta had fallen onto the ground and a monkey was about to pounce onto him, its teeth bared when, as though materializing out of thin air, a figure jumped into the way.

The insane morphling from District 6 threw up her skeletal arms as if to embrace the monkey, and it sunk its fangs into her chest.

Peeta buried his knife into the monkey's back, killing it. "Who is that?" Katniss questioned.

"A morphling! Help me get her."

"We'll cover you!" I yelled before tackling a mutt to the ground and I slashed its throat.

The morphling was wheezing in pain, blood all over her body. Peeta and Katniss carried her the last few yards to the beach while Finnick and I kept fighting the mutts off.

We made a run for the beach, the beasts right on our tail. As soon as we hit the sand, the monkeys came to a halt. They did not try and come past the tree line, as though a force was restricting them.

Once they retreated back into the jungles, Finnick and I turned around to see Peeta and Katniss in the water, the morphling's fragile body supported by Peeta's arms as she struggled to breathe while looking up at the sky.

I looked down at my boots when the blast of the canon was heard. Peeta and Katniss came back to the shore, leaving the morphling's body to be collected by the Capitol.

"Wanna go check if there are fish in the water?" Finnick asked.

"Sure."

The both of us searched the waters, and found clams, shellfish and oysters. "Do you think they suspect anything?" I asked after a while.

"About what?"

"That we are trying to protect them rather than ourselves. That morphling sacrificed herself for Peeta. Do you reckon they know something?"

"I don't know." He mumbled, a frown etching onto his face. "Let's not bring it up in front of them. And avoid the topic if they ask about it, okay?" I nodded in reply. "Aha!" Finnick exclaimed suddenly and pierced his trident into the water, pulling out a giant fish moments later. "Bon appétit." He grinned.

The four of us plopped down onto the sand and devoured the food. Peeta opened up an oyster to find a small black pearl inside of it. "Look. For you." He held the pearl out to Katniss, who took it with a smile and said, "Thank you''.

A sudden scream was heard in the distance. "That's new." Peeta mumbled and we stood up to see what was going on. Across from us, a wedge of the jungle began to vibrate. An enormous wave crested high on the hill, topped the trees and roared down the slope. It hit the existing seawater with such force that, even though we were as far as we could get from it, the surf bubbled up around our knees. A cannon blast was heard. We saw the hovercraft appear over the area where the wave began and plucked a body from the trees.

"Someone's here." Katniss said and picked up her bow. Three figures, about two spokes away, stumbled onto the beach. They were a solid brick red colour, as though someone poured a bucket of paint over them and left them to dry. I squinted my eyes at them, trying to figure out who they were, but my eyes lit up when Finnick mumbled, "Johanna?"

My face broke into a smile as I ran towards them, Finnick right beside me, as I called out, "Johanna!"

She turned around. "Finnick! (Y/n)!" She let out a laugh. She was bathed in red liquid from head to toe, and so were her companions, Beetee and Wiress.

"Well, I got em out." She said. Beetee was cleaning himself in the water, while Wiress was going around the beach in circles. "We were all the way deep into the jungle where I thought it was gonna be safe. That's when the rained started. Thought it was water, turned out to be blood."

Wiress walked up behind Johanna and grabbed her elbow and kept saying, "Tick Tock."

Johanna pushed her away and continued, "Hot, thick blood. It was coming down, it was choking us." She scoffed. "We were stumbling around, gagging on it, blind. That's when Blight hit the force field." She took in a deep breath, the blood dripping down her face, Wiress still mumbled "Tick Tock" over and over again. "He wasn't much, but he was from home."

"What's wrong with her?" Katniss questioned and nodded towards Wiress, who held onto Johanna's shoulder and said, "Tick Tock", again.

"She's in shock." Beetee replied, barely able to stand up. "Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?"

"We can get some."

Wiress started shaking Johanna and frantically repeated the same thing over and over again.

"Listen! Stop it!" Johanna yelled and shoved Wiress away, causing the latter to fall down.

"Hey! Lay off her!" Katniss exclaimed and pushed Johanna.

Johanna got angry and tried to slap her hands away. "What are you doing?! I got them out for you!" She spat furiously.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Finnick tried to calm her down. I grabbed her hand before she could do anything more violent, but she struggled in my hold. Finnick held he shoulders and the both of us pulled her away from Katniss, who was looking at us in confusion.

"Calm down, Johanna." I tried to reason and she stopped thrashing around.

"Let me go! Let me go, I'm fine."

I let go of her hands once I was sure she wouldn't lunge at Katniss. "C'mon. I'll help you get cleaned up." I offered and the both of us went to the waters.

The sun was shining down brightly and Katniss was washing the blood from Wiress' hair. I filled Johanna in on what had happened the past day while helping her clean her axe after she was done cleaning her body.

"What does Beetee have there?" Katniss questioned after a while. I turned back towards the beach to see Beetee winding up brass wire in a coil.

Must be the wire we would have to use for the breakout.

"The coil? It's some kind of wire." Johanna replied.

"Did he get it from the cornucopia?"

"Took a knife in the back to get it."

Suddenly Wiress again started to exclaim, "Tick Tock, tick tock."

Johanna rolled her eyes and said, "I can't. I can't. Just.... have fun with 'Nuts'."

"C'mon." I pulled her towards the beach. "Why does Wiress keep saying 'Tick Tock'?" I questioned.

"I have no clue. It's driving me crazy." She gritted out. We walked back to where Finnick was and at that moment, across the water, off to the right, I saw the enormous flash as the lightning bolt hit the tree and the electrical storm began again. Right in the same area it did last night. The sun was directly above us, which meant it was noon.

"Didn't the lightning hit the tree around midnight?" I asked.

Finnick mumbled, "Yeah, why?"

"It's noon now, 12 hours since the last time it hit. 12 gongs remember? Maybe it was indicating the time..."

What if Wiress meant a clock when she said 'Tick Tock'?

Katniss ran over to us, Wiress in tow,