75th - part 8
johanna’s pov
Water.
Of all the possible arenas. Water.
I can’t swim. What the fuck am I supposed to do? The only chance I have of protecting Nuts and Volts is if I can get an ax, and my only chance of getting an ax is if I manage to swim to the Cornucopia. But I don’t know how to swim.
As the countdown starts, I whip my head around to get a look at the rest of the arena. There’s a jungle behind us. Volts is on the pedestal next to me. I can see Blight far off to my right, and Nuts a couple pedestals to my left. No sign of Katniss. If I can get to one of the strips of land that stretch toward the beach, I can run the rest of the way to the Cornucopia. And there’s a pair of axes waiting for me at the mouth.
When the horn sounds, I take a deep breath and lower myself into the water, aiming for the nearest strip of rock. I don’t have time to think about it, so I just fling my arms out and kick my legs as fast as I can, holding my breath to try and stay afloat. Somehow, I eventually reach the rock.
“Stay there!” I yell at Volts as I get to my feet, “I’ll come back for you!”
Sprinting down the strip, I watch as Katniss and Finnick run around the side of the Cornucopia, both already armed. Before I can get their attention, they’re out of sight. Blight reaches the axes just before I do and tosses one to me.
“Volts is waiting patiently for you over there.” I try to run toward Katniss and Finnick, but Blight’s free arm catches me. “What the fuck?”
“We’re supposed to protect them!”
“And Katniss!”
“But they’re sitting ducks! You get him and I’ll get her, then we’ll find Katniss.”
Blight takes off toward Nuts’s pedestal and I reluctantly make my way back to Volts, who isn’t waiting patiently. Instead, he’s holding his belt out in front of him and thrashing around in the water, trying to get to the land strip and failing miserably.
When I reach him, I set my ax down and kneel toward the water, stretching out my hand for him to grab. I glance around for the Careers, but they still haven’t even reached the Cornucopia. Meanwhile, Blight’s trying to convince Nuts to swim to him.
“It’s remarkable!” huffs Volts happily as I pull him onto the land. “I couldn’t have designed it better myself, just enough buoyancy to keep us from drowning, but not enough to—”
“Yeah, whatever, just shut up so we can get out of here.”
He nods, then beelines to the Cornucopia before I can stop him.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? STOP!”
Volts doesn’t stop until he has his hands on a huge coil of wire, caressing it carefully and muttering to himself. I grab him by the arm and drag him out of the metal horn, then scan the beach for our allies and find only Blight and Nuts, waving desperately at us.
But as we’re running toward them, Blight shouts something and points behind me.
I turn with just enough time to watch the dagger sail out of Gloss’s hand. Instinctually, I lunge to avoid it just in time. The blade nicks my arm and hits Volts in the shoulder blade, knocking him off balance. He stumbles and cries out, but thankfully starts running again before Gloss can finish what he started.
As soon as we reach the beach, Blight and Nuts swarm Volts, examining his wound and talking over each other to check on him. He shakes them off and sets the wire down on the sand.
“Get into the trees!” I hiss irritably, “Now! We don’t have time to stop and chat!”
Looking terrified, Volts picks up the wire and follows Blight into the jungle. Nuts goes after him, and I take one last look around the beach before bringing up the rear. Katniss and the others must already be somewhere in the trees, and the Careers have claimed the Cornucopia for themselves and are now making their way around the pedestals, killing off whoever’s left.
Katniss made it out, I’m sure of it. Because if not, I don’t know what I’ll do.
We stumble through the jungle for a while, hopefully putting enough distance between us and the Careers for now. After what feels like an hour or two, Blight stops and sits down to rest. The wire drops with a soft thud as Volts sighs. He’s not looking too good, and since we left in such a hurry, the dagger is still in his shoulder.
Blight watches him sympathetically. “Someone else could hold that wire for you if y—”
“No, I’d prefer to keep it myself, thank you,” Volts answers quickly, placing a hand on the wire to protect it.
I scoff loudly. “It’s not like we’d steal it. We don’t even know what to do with it.”
He considers this for a moment and nods slightly, then murmurs, “Nevertheless…I’ll hold onto it.” Sitting down next to the coil, Volts carefully feels the knife wound with his fingers and immediately looks much more hopeful. “This isn’t very deep at all. In fact, I bet we could remove it if someone could determine a way to bandage it. Perhaps if we put some of those leaves inside my jumpsuit, the collar will hold them in place…”
Blight jumps to his feet and provides a handful of leaves, then helps Volts remove the knife while Nuts hums to herself. I wander around, keeping the others in sight as I try to look for anything useful. We’re gonna need food and water soon, plus shelter if we can find it. Unfortunately, I can’t find anything nearby and the rest of the jungle looks identical.
“Night,” Nuts remarks suddenly.
“What?” I say, making my way back to the group.
“She means it’s almost night,” translates Volts, “Look, the sun is much lower already. Lower than it should naturally be.”
Blight gazes at the sky. “The Careers usually hunt at night…we should try to find some kind of shelter.”
“I doubt there’s anything,” I mutter, gesturing at the jungle around us, “unless we want to climb the trees.”
Blight shrugs. “Wouldn’t be the worst idea. But if we fall…”
“Regrettably, I’m in no position to climb with this wound. It would put too much stress on my shoulder,” argues Volts. Apparently, he’s a doctor now. But I won’t fight with him, because it’s really not worth the effort right now.
Blight and I look at each other, and I know there’s no other option. We can’t climb and leave him on the ground, and it’s already getting too dark to risk navigating the jungle. At least one of us will have to stay on watch, and if the Careers happen to find us, there won’t be much to do but run.
“We’ll just have to pay attention,” Blight assures the rest of the group, “Maybe they’ll take tonight off. We’ll be fine.” Despite his insistence, he really doesn’t sound too sure.
Neither of us sleeps at all. We both keep watch until the fallen tributes are shown in the sky, holding our breath as we dread seeing District 12. But it ends with Seeder from 11, and Katniss doesn’t appear. I accidentally sigh out loud, which startles Blight as he whips his head toward me.
“Sorry,” I mutter, avoiding his eyes.
Blight’s quiet for a moment. Around us, I can hear the sounds of the jungle. Insects buzz, animals call to each other, and birds sing softly. It’s loud, especially when no one’s talking. Plus the air is stifling and I can feel my lips cracking already. I hate this arena. And not just because it’s an arena.
“So…,” Blight finally says, “how are we supposed to find Katniss and Cole?”
“Easy. We just wander around screaming their names. They’ll hear us eventually.”
“Any serious ideas?”
“Nope.”
We’re both silent again. I’m sure Blight is trying to think of a plan, but I don’t even want to bother. There’s no way we’ll be able to find Katniss and Cole on purpose. We just have to hope we run into them at some point.
“Maybe we should go back to the Cornucopia,” suggests Blight.
“That’s a serious idea?”
Blight nods his head eagerly. “Yeah! If we take out the Careers, we could claim it, and then—”
“Oh, the two of us, Nuts, and Volts? Yeah, that’ll work out perfectly,” I argue. Volts at least has a knife, but who knows if he can use it. And Nuts is just dead weight. I can’t remember if she even intentionally killed anyone in her Games.
“Well, maybe he could use that wire for something,” says Blight hopefully.
Between the heat, exhaustion, hunger, and thirst, I don’t have the energy to entertain his fantasy. “Wake me up whenever you want,” I declare as I lie down near Nuts and Volts. Blight can keep planning to fight the Careers, but he’ll never convince the rest of us.
It would be different if we had Katniss. Maybe between the three of us, we’d be able to take on the Careers. Maybe we’d have food and water. I wouldn’t have to sit here worrying about whether she’s alive.
And then there’s the other issue of whether Katniss will try to kill us when we find her. I fidget with the locket, opening and closing one of the doors as I think about what I’ll say. Somehow, I’ll have to convince her to trust us without telling her about the escape plan. Haymitch might’ve talked to her and told her to ally with us, but it’ll come down to her own choice and she honestly might try to kill me. Snow would love that.
It would be quite the show if she killed me and then discovered her family’s photos around my neck.
I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I wake up to the feeling of hot water falling on my face.
Blinking madly, I sit up and notice the red first. Splotches of red all over the ground. Red running down my suit. I hold my hand out and immediately a drop of red liquid falls in my palm. Then the metallic smell hits me.
“Get up,” I shake Nuts and Volts, then turn to Blight, “We need to move. Get up!”
Blight nods at me, panicked and confused. “It just started. Johanna, do you think it’s—”
“Real blood?” I spit. The blood is falling much faster now, and I can taste it in my mouth as I talk. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it be? You know the Gamemakers and their taste for the finer things.”
We assemble into the line we formed yesterday, with Blight leading us through the blood rain into the depths of the jungle. It has to be some kind of Gamemaker tactic, but I don’t think it’s designed to kill us. Just disorient us, maybe prevent us from finding our way back to the Cornucopia.
Suddenly, the blood becomes much more intense. I can hardly see Nuts in front of me, so I grab her by the back of her jumpsuit to keep from getting separated. The ground is slippery now and I almost fall flat onto my face. Blood is pooling around us, creating disgusting red puddles that splash our legs as we stomp through them.
“STOP!” screeches Nuts out of nowhere.
There’s a horrible sound like an electrical surge, and I watch as Blight gets thrown backward, landing on his back with a thud. His limbs stick out at odd angles and his face is slack, but I bend over him and try to feel for a pulse anyways because it can’t be like this. Blood continues to pour over us, drenching his face.
“BLIGHT!” I scream at him, shaking him by the shoulders, “BLIGHT! WAKE UP!” I press an ear to his chest, but he’s not breathing and I can’t hear a heartbeat. Nothing I can do. He’s gone, and I don’t have any time to process it because the blood is still coming down.
“It’s a forcefield! We have to turn back the other way!” Volts shouts at me over the sound of the pouring blood.
“We can’t go back towards the Cornucopia!”
“There’s no alternative!” he wails. “Please!”
Somehow, the blood rain picks up even more. I can’t see anything anymore. Through the red, I feel for Nuts and Volts, grabbing their wrists as we crouch to the ground.
“Can’t,” chokes Nuts, “breathe. Can’t breathe.”
Keeping my face pointed at the ground, I grab her by the back of her head and force her to do the same, then I help Volts. As long as we don’t look up, our heads will give us a little space to breathe. But if the rain becomes any worse, we’re done for.
We sit like that, in agony, for what feels like days. At first, I worried that we could be picked off by the Careers, but they’d be crazy to try to fight in that. Suddenly, it’s over just as quickly as it started and we’re sitting next to Blight’s dead body. The jungle comes alive again as if nothing happened.
Immediately, a cloud of fog forms nearby. It spreads until it hits some kind of invisible barrier, then begins to move down the hill, probably toward another group of tributes. We’re protected for now. Still, I don’t want to be around when that changes.
“Tick tock,” Nuts mutters. “Tick tock. Tick tock!”
“What?”
“She’s in shock,” says Volts solemnly.
“What do we do about that?”
“We just have to wait for it to pass. But fresh food and water might help.”
“Oh, great,” I laugh. “Sure, genius. Where do you suggest we find that?”
Shaking his head, he rips his blood-spattered glasses off his face and starts to try to clean them.
That’s when it hits me that, without Blight, I’m basically trapped alone in the jungle with Nuts and Volts. I’d love to know what Katniss saw in these two. No, actually, it probably wouldn’t help at all. I still would be able to stand them. They’re totally useless. I need to find Katniss one way or another. Otherwise, I’ll go insane in here with them.
“Come on,” I sigh. “Let’s get away from this fog and head down to the water.”
“Tick tock!”