‹ Prequel: Trust Me
Status: In progress.
Fall Away
Chapter 27
Katniss and Finnick were both equally stubborn about letting the other one take watch, so they stayed up together as Peeta and I slept. It was admittedly a restless sleep; I was far too thirsty and hot to sleep much. In the foggy state of half-consciousness I was vaguely aware of their voices, soft and low, murmuring to each other every so often, but I was just barely too far into sleep to puzzle the sounds into words.
I was shaken awake by the sudden sound of the Panem anthem seeping into the thick, humid air; I shot up just in time to watch the beginning of the fallen Tributes’ faces as they flashed across the night sky. I couldn’t miss a single second; not when District 1 was played first.
The first face was the man from 5; on seeing this, so much tension suddenly washed out of my body I felt myself crumple over. Adri was alive.
I looked over at the others; Peeta had blinked himself awake and was watching the sky intently alongside Katniss, but Finnick was looking at me with an unreadable expression. We both knew I was looking for Adri’s face there, but what did it matter? If we were all going to die, maybe I should hope that he dies first so I don’t have to worry that he’ll be the one to kill me. The thought made me nauseous, and I pulled my knees into my chest and wrapped my arms around them to keep from throwing up. I couldn’t afford to lose any more fluids.
“Eight,” Katniss counted once the broadcast was complete.
Finnick nodded, his expression cool, though I saw him swallow hard against the sadness. “Mhm.”
The heavy silence was broken by a bright electronic chiming, and we all looked up to watch a gleaming silver canister float from the sky on a parachute.
Someone had a sponsor.
I shot to my feet, snatching the canister up the second it hit the ground and prying it open. There was a small note on top in Rafa’s handwriting that simply read,
“THANK ADRI
- R”
My brows twisted together in confusion. I stuffed the note inside my sleeve before anyone else could see it, and turned back to show the contents to the others. “It’s from Rafa,” I said.
“What is it?” Finnick asked.
I eyed the small metal device and plucked it from the canister, turning it over between my fingers. “I think it’s some sort of…spile, maybe,” I said, and as soon as the words left my lips the realization came crashing down on me. This had to be important.
In a dash, I rushed to the nearest tree, scooping up a rock with my other hand and hammering the base of the spile deep into its trunk.
“A what?” Peeta asked, his voice coming out as more like a croak.
I gave the spile one last heavy thump with the rock, burying it as deep as it could go, and watched the tap desperately. Nothing happened, and I felt just about ready to collapse in a fit of sobs, when suddenly…
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The few drops of water streaming from the tap quickly made way for a steady stream, and I fell to my knees against the trunk, letting the water fall into my mouth and splash across my sweat-beaded face.
“You’re kidding me,” Finnick breathed, and I fumbled blindly behind me for him, too thirsty to turn away from the water even for a second. He put his hand in mine and I tugged him forward, finally satiated enough to pause for a moment, and pulled him under the stream in my place. He drank eagerly, and for a moment I watched the shine of his lips in the moonlight as they pursed gently under the stream of water, watched the way his throat moved with every gulp. The sudden relief of water made me almost euphoric; for a moment, I forgot where we were and what threats surrounded us, and all I wanted to do was sit mesmerized by Finnick’s beauty.
But then I felt something poking against my skin and remembered the note inside my sleeve, and the high quickly faded. ‘THANK ADRI’.
Watching Peeta’s muscular blonde frame crouch under the water stream to drink, I felt a pang of worry. What about Adri? Did he have water? People loved to sponsor the Careers, since it was usually the safest bet for their money; but what if they didn’t choose him? What if they sponsored Cashmere instead? Would she share her donations with him?
We took turns drinking our fill before Finnick wrenched the spile out from the tree trunk and placed it securely in my pack, giving me a relieved smile. It was amazing how much better we all looked even in the darkness of night just from a few sips of water; even Peeta looked like he had recovered most of his strength.
I twisted my wrist around absently, feeling the note shift and scrape against my skin inside my sleeve, and debated asking Finnick what he thought it meant, when suddenly there was a heavy, dull thud. And another one. And another one again.
We all shifted uneasy glances as the noise continued, scanning around us for any source of the noise, when it stopped just as inexplicably as it started.
“I counted 12,” Katniss said.
“Midnight?” I guessed.
Katniss didn’t seem convinced. “Or the number of Districts,” she said, though her sentence was nearly cut off by a sudden flash of light.
I turned to see the tallest tree in the forest standing out from the tree line off in the distance as it was struck over and over again by great surges of lightning, so bright I felt it burn into my eyes. I held my breath for a cannon blast, wondering if any Tributes had been using the higher ground for safety, but heard nothing.
I looked at Finnick because, though I knew it made no sense, it felt like he would always have the answers, but he looked back at me with no answers — just an unreadable smile. “If Katniss isn’t going to sleep, then I am,” he said simply, and wrapped one arm loosely around my waist to pull me down with him.
All I wanted was to turn and kiss him, to tangle my legs in his and fall asleep in his arms, but as I turned to look at him I was suddenly struck by how his arm sat around me differently than Adri’s; how his breath in my ear was different from Adri’s, and how unsettling the difference was. Finnick simply leaned forward to press a sweet, chaste kiss to my forehead and moved his arm off my waist, taking my hand in his instead, before letting his eyelids flutter closed.
I was shaken awake by the sudden sound of the Panem anthem seeping into the thick, humid air; I shot up just in time to watch the beginning of the fallen Tributes’ faces as they flashed across the night sky. I couldn’t miss a single second; not when District 1 was played first.
The first face was the man from 5; on seeing this, so much tension suddenly washed out of my body I felt myself crumple over. Adri was alive.
I looked over at the others; Peeta had blinked himself awake and was watching the sky intently alongside Katniss, but Finnick was looking at me with an unreadable expression. We both knew I was looking for Adri’s face there, but what did it matter? If we were all going to die, maybe I should hope that he dies first so I don’t have to worry that he’ll be the one to kill me. The thought made me nauseous, and I pulled my knees into my chest and wrapped my arms around them to keep from throwing up. I couldn’t afford to lose any more fluids.
“Eight,” Katniss counted once the broadcast was complete.
Finnick nodded, his expression cool, though I saw him swallow hard against the sadness. “Mhm.”
The heavy silence was broken by a bright electronic chiming, and we all looked up to watch a gleaming silver canister float from the sky on a parachute.
Someone had a sponsor.
I shot to my feet, snatching the canister up the second it hit the ground and prying it open. There was a small note on top in Rafa’s handwriting that simply read,
“THANK ADRI
- R”
My brows twisted together in confusion. I stuffed the note inside my sleeve before anyone else could see it, and turned back to show the contents to the others. “It’s from Rafa,” I said.
“What is it?” Finnick asked.
I eyed the small metal device and plucked it from the canister, turning it over between my fingers. “I think it’s some sort of…spile, maybe,” I said, and as soon as the words left my lips the realization came crashing down on me. This had to be important.
In a dash, I rushed to the nearest tree, scooping up a rock with my other hand and hammering the base of the spile deep into its trunk.
“A what?” Peeta asked, his voice coming out as more like a croak.
I gave the spile one last heavy thump with the rock, burying it as deep as it could go, and watched the tap desperately. Nothing happened, and I felt just about ready to collapse in a fit of sobs, when suddenly…
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The few drops of water streaming from the tap quickly made way for a steady stream, and I fell to my knees against the trunk, letting the water fall into my mouth and splash across my sweat-beaded face.
“You’re kidding me,” Finnick breathed, and I fumbled blindly behind me for him, too thirsty to turn away from the water even for a second. He put his hand in mine and I tugged him forward, finally satiated enough to pause for a moment, and pulled him under the stream in my place. He drank eagerly, and for a moment I watched the shine of his lips in the moonlight as they pursed gently under the stream of water, watched the way his throat moved with every gulp. The sudden relief of water made me almost euphoric; for a moment, I forgot where we were and what threats surrounded us, and all I wanted to do was sit mesmerized by Finnick’s beauty.
But then I felt something poking against my skin and remembered the note inside my sleeve, and the high quickly faded. ‘THANK ADRI’.
Watching Peeta’s muscular blonde frame crouch under the water stream to drink, I felt a pang of worry. What about Adri? Did he have water? People loved to sponsor the Careers, since it was usually the safest bet for their money; but what if they didn’t choose him? What if they sponsored Cashmere instead? Would she share her donations with him?
We took turns drinking our fill before Finnick wrenched the spile out from the tree trunk and placed it securely in my pack, giving me a relieved smile. It was amazing how much better we all looked even in the darkness of night just from a few sips of water; even Peeta looked like he had recovered most of his strength.
I twisted my wrist around absently, feeling the note shift and scrape against my skin inside my sleeve, and debated asking Finnick what he thought it meant, when suddenly there was a heavy, dull thud. And another one. And another one again.
We all shifted uneasy glances as the noise continued, scanning around us for any source of the noise, when it stopped just as inexplicably as it started.
“I counted 12,” Katniss said.
“Midnight?” I guessed.
Katniss didn’t seem convinced. “Or the number of Districts,” she said, though her sentence was nearly cut off by a sudden flash of light.
I turned to see the tallest tree in the forest standing out from the tree line off in the distance as it was struck over and over again by great surges of lightning, so bright I felt it burn into my eyes. I held my breath for a cannon blast, wondering if any Tributes had been using the higher ground for safety, but heard nothing.
I looked at Finnick because, though I knew it made no sense, it felt like he would always have the answers, but he looked back at me with no answers — just an unreadable smile. “If Katniss isn’t going to sleep, then I am,” he said simply, and wrapped one arm loosely around my waist to pull me down with him.
All I wanted was to turn and kiss him, to tangle my legs in his and fall asleep in his arms, but as I turned to look at him I was suddenly struck by how his arm sat around me differently than Adri’s; how his breath in my ear was different from Adri’s, and how unsettling the difference was. Finnick simply leaned forward to press a sweet, chaste kiss to my forehead and moved his arm off my waist, taking my hand in his instead, before letting his eyelids flutter closed.