Heart of Gold • Finnick Odair

-42-

ROSALIE POV

Johanna called everyone together and announced on behalf of Beetee that we're leaving. The plan has begun.

Finnick and I lead, followed by Beetee then Johanna then Peeta and Katniss.

The anthem plays as faces of fallen tributes show in the sky above us.

I pat Beetee's shoulder when Wiress' face appears and the man just gives me a gentle smile.

Finnick's eyes gloss over when Mags' face lights up the darkening sky. I place my arm round his waist and his arm wraps round my shoulder instinctively, seeking the little comfort I could provide him.

There's no time to waste mourning in the arena so we swiftly move on, eventually reaching the tree.

"Minimal charring," Beetee steps closer as he examines the structure of it. "It's an impressive conductor. Let's get started."

The tree is gigantic and covered in wood-like vines. Me, Peeta and Katniss help him wrap the tree in wire whilst the other two keep watch.

"Typically a lighting strike contains five billion joules of energy. We don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this thing hits," Beetee finishes wrapping the wire and picks up the coil, unraveling it as he walks.

"You girls go together now," he hands the coil to Katniss. "Take this. Unspool it's carefully."

Katniss looks confused and a little worried as Beetee instructs us to make sure the entire coil is on the water before heading to the tree at the 2:00 sector.

"I'm gonna go with them as a guard," Peeta says but everyone can tell he has an ulterior motive.

"No, no, no. You're staying here to protect me," Beetee tells him, slightly panicked. "And the tree."

"No, I need to go with her," Peeta urges.

"We'll keep her safe, Peeta. Not that she needs it," I try defuse some of the tension.

"Exactly. Besides, there are two careers out there, I need two guards," Beetee argues.

"Finnick can protect you just fine on his own," Peeta is stubborn on this.

"Why don't Finnick, Rosalie and Johanna stay with you whilst Peeta comes with me. Then you'd have even more protection." If I didn't know about the rebel plan, I'd argue that Katniss has a point.

"You all agreed to keep me alive til midnight, correct?" Beetee steps forward.

"It's his plan, which we all agreed to, so let's just hurry up and get on with it," Johanna says to the Girl on Fire.

"Is there a problem here?" Finnick asks accusingly from beside me, his arm lazily thrown over my shoulder in an exhausted manner as if i'm partially holding him up.

"No. There's no problem," Katniss moves to say goodbye to Peeta.

I turn my head to look up at Finnick to find he's already looking at me with worry etched into his eyes. "It'll be alright Finnick, i'll see you soon."

"Yeah, see you soon. I love you," he mutters as he kisses my lips.

It feels as though the kiss is a goodbye which physically breaks my heart a little bit. We part and I see tears in his eyes which must be mirroring mine as one falls down my cheek. He doesn't hesitate in wiping it away. The cameras must be loving this. 

"I love you too," I kiss the tip of his nose making him smile before I pull away and stand beside Johanna.

Said girl wraps her arm round my waist before shouting to Katniss, who is starting into Peeta's eyes wordlessly, as she yells for them to part. "Let's get going."

Katniss takes first turn in holding the wire as Johanna and I lead. I turn once more before leaving to see Finnick watching me with emotion hidden behind his blank expression, his eyes glossed over as he twirls the trident in one hand effortlessly.

As we walk, Johanna subtly catches my hand and squeezed it reassuringly as we keep moving.

We climb over large bolder-like rocks as we make our way back down towards the beach.

"Come on, I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible," Johanna announces causing Katniss to speed up slightly.

"Yeah, frying sounds like a bad way to go," I say as Johanna snorts in agreement.

The coil gets caught.

"There's something..." Katniss attempts to pull the coil but it snaps and falls to the ground.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

I see a bald head appear over the rocks as Katniss fires an arrow at him.

Johanna knocks Katniss to the ground with the coil and rolls her onto her back.

I quickly join them on the floor as Johanna cuts her forearm making Katniss scream as Enobaria also hops over the rocks. I remove her tracker from her wrist.

I quickly shush Katniss, "it's gonna be alright Katniss, just stay down."

I speak in an almost sympathetic voice in hopes that she will, in fact, stay down but with enough authority to make her think twice before moving a muscle.

Johanna has spread some blood all over her throat at this point, to make it look more like she's dying, before launching her axe at the man. It misses, bounces off a rock, but creates enough of a diversion to allow me and Johanna to climb up a steep grass slope.

We hear the other two follow closely behind us as we run.

I'm ahead of Johanna as we run but I stop in my tracks when I hear her fall. I turn to see Brutus, the bald guy, on top of her.

I don't hesitate to tackle him to the ground and plunge my spear through his chest followed by a cannon. I look to the ground to see that Johanna is knocked unconscious. I cut the tracker out of her arm before doing the same to my own.

I have no time to relax, however, because I hear Enobaria approach from behind. We battle in hand-to-hand combat for a while until she digs her fingers into the wound on my arm, the pain momentarily distracting me enough so she can knock me to the ground. As I fall, I see Enobaria lose her footing and fall down the steep hill. I lose consciousness before I hear her hit the ground below as my head crashed against a boulder.