THE GROUP MADE THEIR WAY BACK TO THE BEACH. They did not look like they were doing well at all, stomachs and eyes full of salt water. They collapsed onto the sand almost immediately, in desperate need of a break that the arena didn't want to give them because about five minutes later, a scream echoed from the jungle.

"Katniss, help me!" it screeched, and it sounded like a young girl.

The Everdeen girl immediately shot up and went sprinting into the brush. She called, "Prim! Prim!" Prim was her younger sister, the one that she volunteered for in the previous year. Leia furrowed her eyebrows because there was no way that Prim was in the arena, right?

"Wait! Katniss!" Finnick shouted, and he went running after the girl and into the trees. He finally reached a clearing where she was spinning around, searching frantically for the source of the noise. When he finally caught up with her, her eyes landed on him. "You okay?"

She did not get a chance to respond, however, because somewhere amidst Prim's screams, Leia heard her own voice. Her eyes shot wide in shock and confusion as her voice yelled, "Finnick!"

"Leia? Leia!" he responded, whipping around at the sound. That was when Leia spotted it — the birds. There were birds in the trees, moving around, and when they opened their mouths, other people's screams would come out.

The Calore woman moved toward the screen, despite the fact that her talking to him did literally nothing. She was kind of just hoping that if she wanted it enough, her voice would travel through the television and into the arena. "Finnick, it's not me. It's not me."

"Finnick, it's not her," Katniss told the man, and Leia hoped that would calm him down. It seemed that the Everdeen girl had also noticed the birds and knew that it wasn't real. It was just another of the section challenges, just part of the game. "It's just a jabberjay. It's not her."

"How do you think they got that sound? Jabberjays copy," Finnick reminded her, and he was panicking. His eyes were turning red, and he was shaking. The woman he loved and his unborn child could be in danger at that very moment, and he was trapped in the stupid arena.

Another scream ripped from the jabberjays' throats, this one male. Katniss's head shot up at the sound, and she breathed out. "Gale."

Finnick knew that they needed to get the hell out of there before they went insane, so she grabbed the girl's shoulders and pushed her back in the direction that they came from. The birds began swooping down, chasing them as they ran. The two dodged them, but the screams continued to haunt them. They finally reached the others, but before Katniss could run into Peeta's arms, she hit an invisible barrier.

The Odair man hit the same one, and all he could do was crumple into a ball and cover his head with his hands. He was crying at that point, unable to escape Leia's cries of pain. Johanna was on the other side of the wall, shouting at him and trying to calm him down, but all he could hear was the screams. Her voice. He wanted to scream as well, but he was too weak.

Finally, the screams stopped, and the jabberjays left. However, Finnick could still hear Leia, and he had never wanted to be with her more than he did in that moment. He sat quietly, rocking back and forth slightly while the others spoke. He wasn't listening to a word that they said, his fingers just playing with his lips. On the other side of the screen, the Calore woman touched her stomach and then reached her hand up and placed it on his face.

"They won't touch Prim," Peeta assured Katniss. It was true. Snow was evil, but he wasn't stupid.

"Your fiance's right. The whole country loves your sister. If they torture her or do anything to her, forget the districts. There would be riots in the damn Capitol," Johanna confirmed. She then looked up at the sky and began screaming — at the Gamemakers, at Snow, and at the world. "Hey, how does that sound, Snow? What if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can't put everybody in here." The others stared at her in shock, and she just shrugged. "What? Can't hurt me. There's no one left that I love."

Finnick than stood up and wordlessly trudged over to the water, having a seat in it and just looking out into the distance. Everyone else moved on to do their own thing, and Katniss looked up at the Mason woman after a moment, realizing that she had no clue whose name the man had been shouting in the forest. "Who's Leia?"

"You know the designer for District Four?" Johanna replied, taking a seat next to the girl. The Calore woman sat back on the couch, unsure of how she felt about the entire country finding out about her and Finnick in that moment. Snow knew now, so there was really no reason to hide it. However, she knew that there were a lot of people that would be upset about their golden boy being taken. "The pregnant one?"

"Really? But she's from the Capitol," Katniss responded in shock. She had never even imagined the possibility of a Tribute and a Capitol citizen being in a relationship. It simply seemed impossible not just physically but emotionally. How could someone who had been put through the Games and hardships in the Districts find something in common with someone from the paradise that was the Capitol.

"They met during his first Games. She believed in him when no one else did. They've been sneaking around for years, but I guess Snow finally figured it out," the short-haired woman explained, shaking her head. "Love is weird."

Katniss was still in shock, realizing exactly what that meant. "So, he has a kid?"

"Almost," Johanna replied with a nod, glancing back at the Girl on Fire who seemed so shocked that someone like Finnick had a Capitol girl and child awaiting his safe return. "Don't act so surprised, princess. You and your loverboy aren't the only ones that have people waiting for them."

After the conversation about her, Leia went to send them the message. They needed to know that everything was going down that night. She returned to her room just in time to see it arrive, Finnick snatching the canister as soon as it was in reach. He opened it to reveal a single roll of bread and a note from the Calore woman. It read, 'There's nOt a miNute that goes by that I don't think of you. enjoy my Gift. Hope everyThing goes well. i love you.'

He handed it to Johanna, who literally slammed her palm into her face. "Could she be any more obvious?" she questioned, and Leia rolled her eyes. Everyone listening to them would probably assume that she was speaking about how nauseatingly affectionate the girl was in the note.

No matter how obvious Leia had been, she got them the message. They were being rescued that night.

《✵》

BEETEE EXPLAINED HIS PLAN TO ELIMINATE THE CAREERS TO THE GROUP. He had an idea where they lead the Careers to the beach somehow and then use his coil to channel the electricity from the lightning striking the tree at midnight. At that point, anyone in the water or on the wet sand was toast. So, that night, they set out for the big tree and began executing the plan.

The man from District 3 seemed like he was in love with the tree. He had spent the last ten minutes examining it and running his hand along it as he tried to make sure that the plan would work. It would be severely disappointing if they did all this just to turn around and have to rethink.

"Minimal charring. It's an impressive conductor. Let's get started. Typically a lightning strike contains five billion joules of energy. We don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this hits." He handed the coil of wire to Johanna, gesturing at her and Katniss. "You three girls, go together now. Take this. Unspool it carefully. Make sure the entire coil is in the water. You understand? Then head to the tree at the 2:00 sector. We'll meet you there."

Peeta perked up, and he and Katniss looked at each other. Everyone else watched this interaction, wondering what it meant. They were clearly not very fond of the fact that they were being separated. He stood up straight, clearing his throat. "I'm gonna go with them as a guard."

"No, no, no. You're staying here to protect me. And the tree," the District 3 man protested. He shook his head. He could not have three people going to unspool some wire and leave only one person to protect him. If the Careers caught them by surprise and took Finnick out, the chances were that they were screwed.

Peeta shook his head immediately, and it was beginning to seem that there was more to the story than just not wanting to be apart because they were protective over each other. However, Leia knew the truth. Peeta and Katniss were planning to abandon the group once the Careers were dead. They had talked about it on the beach earlier that evening. "No, I need to go with her."

"There are two Careers out there," Beetee reminded him. He was the only one that knew how to pull all of this electricity stuff off, so they needed him to stay alive because it was the only plan that they had. "I need guards."

"Finnick can protect you just fine on his own," Peeta pointed out. The Odair man a lot more skilled than him in weaponry, and he was also more badass than Peeta was. Johanna just eyed him suspiciously, wondering what the hell he was going on and on about when they could just get this done.

Katniss seemed to agree with him, obviously, and Finnick and Johanna glanced at each other, sharing suspicions and realizing that the two must have a plan that they did not know about. The Everdeen girl offered, "Why can't Finnick and Johanna stay with you, and Peeta and I'll take the coil?"

"You all agreed to keep me alive till midnight, correct?" Beetee questioned, raising his eyebrows at both of them.

"It's his plan," Johanna groaned, rolling her eyes because she really just wanted to get going. They needed to accomplish all of this before midnight, and she really did not feel like getting fried because they did not complete it in time. "We all agreed to it."

Finnick, who was standing a bit far away and scanning the bushes and trees for any signs of movement, making sure that Brutus and Enobaria did not attack them while they were just standing there and talking about the plan. "Is there a problem here?"

"Excellent question," Beetee added, and they all turned to Katniss and Peeta for an answer.

"No. There's no problem," Katniss assured them, but she was not very convincing. She went over and hugged Peeta, and he embraced her as well. Once they pulled away, she patted him on the back and nodded at him, letting him know that she'd be okay. "I'll see you at midnight."

Johanna shouted at her, "All right, let's go! Frying is not how I want to go!"

Leia watched as the two women unwinded the coil as they headed toward the water. They paused all of a sudden when Johanna stopped, tugging on the wire because it was not moving. They furrowed their eyebrows in confusion, wondering why it was not going any further.

Katniss leaned down to inspect the wire as Johanna lifted it up a bit. They did not have enough time to figure it out because about five seconds later, there was a rustling behind them. In the distance, they saw Brutus and Enobaria stalking through the jungle. Johanna immediately lifted her leg and swept it under those of the Girl on Fire. They needed to keep her safe, and if that meant fighting the Careers alone, then that was that. She leaned over the Everdeen girl and covered her mouth. The Mason woman then swiftly dug her axe into Katniss's arm and pulled out the tracker there.

Katniss screamed, looking up at them in terror in confusion. How the two District partner enemies in the distance did not hear them, Leia did not know. As soon as they got the tracker out, Johanna left her lying there and chased after the Careers. It was going down that night, and if they were going to Katniss out, she was going to have to stay where she was, near the tree. The Calore woman also wanted her to make sure that Finnick was somewhere in the vicinity so that he would be picked up as well.

The plan was for the hovercraft to go extract the Tributes from the arena to bring them to District 13. Plutarch would disable the dome so that they could get in. Meanwhile, some of his men back in the Capitol would go get Leia and brings her to a meeting spot where she would either climb on the hovercraft if they could land or where another plane was waiting for them.

Katniss climbed to her feet moments later, and Leia saw Finnick running through the trees, calling for Johanna. The Girl on Fire man her way back to the tree, scanning frantically for Peeta. There was no one there, but she heard someone in the brush. She hit the ground as Finnick appeared, but instead of standing up and revealing herself, she strung an arrow and pointed it right at him.

"No, no, no, no. Please, Katniss, no," Leia begged. She knew that Plutarch had to be minutes away, and Finnick just had to survive that long. She could not have him die when he was so close to being rescued.

Finnick finally noticed her and her weapon, and he held his hands in the air, trying to tell her that he meant no harm. "Katniss, remember who the real enemy is."

The Everdeen girl hesitated for just a moment, and Leia was sure that she was going to let her arrow fly. However, she moved back toward the tree instead, grabbing the end of the wire that Beetee had been working with and tying it to the end of her arrow. She then pointed it at the sky, waiting for the right time. Just as the lightning struck the tree, she released the arrow, and it shot up and collided with the force field.

On impact, there was an explosion, and both she and Finnick were blown back. There was fire and smoke, and Leia couldn't see a thing that was happening. She heard burning and yells and groans, but she couldn't tell if Plutarch was there or if they made it out.

All of a sudden, her door burst open. He jumped up to her feet, backing away from it slightly as about half a dozen Peacekeepers flooded into her room. She looked at each of them, confused as to what the hell was happening. She knew that it couldn't be good, whatever it was.

"Miss Calore, you are being arrested for treason," one of them announced, moving toward her.

She froze. They knew. They knew about the plan and what was happening, and they knew that she was involved. The only thing that she could think to do was to deny everything. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You have aided those planning against your country," he continued, and four of them moved toward her. She was defenseless against them, for they were armed and stronger. Two of them grabbed her arms as she tried to squirm away from them.

"No, no, no. Please! No!" she pleaded, but it was no use. They were already dragging her roughly toward the door. There was nothing that she could do but beg for mercy and pray that Finnick got out. "I'm carrying a child. Don't do this! Finnick!"