PAWNS | FINNICK ODAIR

FIERY ASTEROIDS

"We better hurry."

Peeta was nervous since the light from the sun had quickly disappeared. They were now trudging through the jungle in the dark, which was dangerous with the careers still out there.

But they all agreed and tried to keep walking. They were stopped again when the fallen tribute montage began playing overhead.

They all tensed when they saw members of their group appear.

Mags, Wiress, Octavian...

With each profile that displayed, Lara balled her fists tighter. She felt Finnick's hand reach out for her simply for comfort. It was a weird dynamic they had, where one sought comfort in physical touch while the other didn't.

Once the music ended and the video shut off, they continued walking. They reached the lightening tree minutes later. Beetee stopped in front of it and marveled.

"Minimal charring...impressive conductor."

He moved to kneel next to the base of the tree. He placed his wire coil on the ground and began to explain more of the technical parts of the plan.

"Typically, a strike of lightening contains five billion joules of energy. We don't wanna be anywhere in its vicinity when it hits."

He wrapped a part of the wire around the base of the tree. Then he passed off the coil to Katniss.

"You girls should get going."

Peeta stepped up once Katniss shot him a wary look.

"I'm gonna go with them as a guard," he stated.

Beetee shook his head, "You're staying here to protect me and tree."

"No, I'm going with her."

Lara glanced around at their surroundings. The longer they waited in the same spot, the more compromised they were. They didn't have time for arguments.

She caught their attention with a short wave of their baton, "Hey, you got a problem?"

Peeta wisely shut his mouth because he had a sense that question was rhetorical. He also didn't want to get on Lara's bad side.

"You agreed to the plan so you need to follow it," she said firmly, "Katniss, Johanna, and I can handle the wire. You guys protect Beetee. Clear?"

Peeta glanced at Katniss for approval. She was also wary of Lara, so she simply nodded. Peeta reciprocated the action, which left Lara satisfied.

"Great. Let's go."

While the two tributes kissed goodbye, Finnick grabbed Lara's hand and pulled her to the side a little.

"Be careful," he pleaded.

She nodded.

She wanted to say something but words were insufficient to how she felt. Finnick understood though, causing him to lean forward and placed a small kiss on the corner of her lips.

She smiled lightly and placed her hand on his cheek. He held it tightly and tried to take in every feeling of her brief touch.

"I'll be back before you know it," she murmured.

He simply nodded and let her hand go as she turned around. He watched her walk with Johanna and Katniss until he could no longer see them.

Lara held up the back of the trio, watching for any threats from behind. After awhile, Katniss paused on a shaky ledge made of rocks.

"Come on," Johanna pushed, "I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible. Frying is not the way I want to go."

Katniss huffed and tugged at the coil, "It's stuck."

But as soon as she pulled on it, it came undone. It seemed too easy until she saw the wire had been cut. As she looked up, she saw careers coming at her. She pulled out one of her arrows to shoot but Lara and Johanna had a different plan.

Once Lara gave her the signal, Johanna knocked Katniss' head with the end of her axe. The girl on fire fell to the ground nearly unconscious and completely confused.

Lara threw knives at the incoming careers while Johanna cut out Katniss' tracker. She heard the girl call out weakly but Johanna shushed her. The latter cut into her arm and dug out the tracker, then placed a handful of blood and smeared it on her throat.

"Stay down," Johanna ordered.

Once she was sure Lara got the careers' attention, the two began to run and left Katniss behind. The careers followed after them in a dead sprint.

They had no intention of trying to fight. They just needed to get away from the beach and distract the careers. As soon as they got near their rendezvous, the lightening struck the tree.

But with an unexpected twist, one of Katniss' arrows was shot into the force field dome along with it. The dome then caught on fire and pieces of it started to fall. That's when the girls started to run even faster, along with the careers who were now worried about surviving, not killing.

Pieces rained down on them like asteroids. Lara narrowly dodged the small pieces, but then a big chunk fell in between both of them. It knocked them off their feet and made them fly into trees.

Johanna and the careers were instantly unconscious. But Lara was still partially awake with her vision going in and out.

She saw bright figures contrast against the greenery she'd become accustomed to. At first, she thought it was her salvation; someone was coming to save them.

But then she saw who it actually was:

Peacekeepers.

She groaned as tried to get up, but it only caught their attention. They pointed their guns at her as a few rushed to restrain her. They managed to pull her to her feet before she started to fight back.

It was weak and futile given her state, but it didn't stop her from trying. She pushed and punched but it only hurt herself. Their armor was tough enough to handle the groggy hits.

Her arms were pulled behind her back before they shoved her forward. She passed by Johanna and the other careers as she was led to a metal cage in front of them.

She tried to dig her heels into the ground but to no avail. She was thrown inside and tossed on the ground. She wasn't strong enough to pull herself back up and instead she looked back.

She was met with a peacekeeper aiming to knock her out. A sigh escaped her lips, knowing what was about to happen,

"Motherfu-"

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