Lethal Charm - THG [1]

13

Knox was sitting in the shade of the treeline, she had taken her french braids out of her hair and she had taken her long sleeves off of her suit. Her knees were tucked to her chest and her muscles ached.

Finnick was in the water, spearfishing with his trident so that they could eat and Katniss and Peeta were standing on the sand near the water talking about something Knox couldn't hear.

Not long later and the four of them were sitting together by the tree line eating the fish that Finnick had caught.

Peeta cracked open an oyster with his machete and handed the pearl that was inside it to Katniss, "Look. For you."

Katniss held the pearl in her hand and looked at it fondly, "Thank you."

Knox turned her face away to hide her disgust. She did not like PDA at all, or any form of romantic affection really. She had never grown up with any examples of what romantic love was supposed to be like since her mother had died when she was very young. Somewhere in the distance, someone screamed.

"That's new," said Peeta as he, Katniss, Finnick and Knox all stood up.

They watched as a huge wave crashed onto the beach from one of the far sections of the arena and just like everything else they'd seen, the water hit an invisible wall and crashed down onto the cornucopia. A cannon went off signalling that someone had died.

The aftershock of the wave crashing onto the cornucopia reached where they were standing but the wave had reduced so much in size that by the time it reached them the water was only as high as their ankles.

A hoverjet came and retrieved the body from the jungle.

"Someone's here," said Katniss pulling an arrow from her quiver. The four of them stepped back so that they were tucked out of sight in the treeline.

Knox watched as two red figures tried to beckon a third to follow them onto the beach. Knox squinted slightly to see who it was. "Johanna?"

She left the treeline and jogged towards the new arrivals and Finnick followed her, "Johanna!"

"Knox! Finnick!" Johanna laughed. Once they got closer Knox noticed that Johanna, Wiress and Beetee were all covered head to toe in blood and that Blight was missing. Johanna embraced Knox and then Finnick.

"Well...I got 'em out." Johanna told them as Katniss and Peeta ran over too, "We were all the way deep into the jungle where I thought it was gonna be safe. That's when the rain started." She said, "I thought it was water. It turned out to be blood."

Wiress grabbed Johanna's arm muttering "Tick tock" over and over again.

"Hot thick blood. It was coming down." Johanna pushed Wiress away from her slightly, "It was choking us." she laughed, "We were stumbling around, gagging on it, blind."

"Tick tock."

"That's when Blight hit the force field." Johanna continued, she sighed deeply, "He wasn't much but he was from home."

"Tick tock." muttered Wiress, "Tick tock."

"What's wrong with her?" Katniss asked.

"She's in shock," Beetee explained, "Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?"

"We can get some," said Katniss.

Wiress grabbed onto both of Johanna's arms muttering "Tick tock" repeatedly in her face.

"Just-" Johanna said as Wiress began to spin them both around, "Listen. Stop it! Just sit down!" Johanna pushed Wiress down so that she was sitting on the sand.

"Hey! Lay off her!" yelled Katniss who shoved Johanna.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Johanna yelled pushing back at Katniss. Finnick pushed them both away from each other and Knox grabbed Johanna around the middle, pulling her back away from Katniss.

"I got them out for you!" Johanna yelled, trying to free herself from Knox's grip.

"It's okay, it's okay," muttered Knox, trying to calm Johanna down.

"Let me go Knox!" demanded Johanna, "Let me go. I'm fine."

Knox let go of Johanna and she walked away from the group and into the water. Knox followed her, "You okay?" she asked.

"Yes." said Johanna, "what happened to Mags?" she asked.

"Poisonous fog," said Knox, "We got hit pretty bad with it, Peeta especially, so she sacrificed herself because we couldn't carry Peeta if Finnick was carrying her."

Johanna nodded as she cleaned off the blood that covered her head to toe, "I would have through you'd be able to carry him," she said, "after lugging around farming equipment for most of your life,"

"I did," said Knox, "but I'm not fucking action man; I'm not invincible to poison fog that burns your skin," she scoffed, "i already feel bad enough so can we please not talk about it,"

"I get it, I'm sorry," said Johanna, "I just can't believe we're back here,"

Knox ran her hand over her face, "it's fine," And with that they dropped the subject.

Katniss was helping Wiress clean the blood from her hair and Beetee was on the beach winding up a coil. "What does Beetee have there?"Katniss asked.

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

"Did he get it from the cornucopia?" asked Katniss.

"Took a knife in the back to get it," said Johanna. Wiress gasped loudly, "Tick tock! Tick tock!"

"All right." huffed Johanna, "I can't. Have fun with 'nuts.'" She and Knox walked back to the beach where the others were.