. SURVIVAL GAME . .៹♡
                                         CHAPTER THIRTEEN
                                 ─── RIOT AT MIDNIGHT

As the group wandered through the dark jungle, Velren played restlessly with the ring which Isabella had given him at the beginning of the deadly games.  At one point in their journey up to the lightning tree, the Panem Hymn rang out and everyone stopped to stare up at the sky. It was a moment of complete silence while the sky was lit up with holographic images of fellow victors who had since died. When the sky went black again, the group paused for a few seconds before they continued to walk in silence.

Beetee spotted the tree first and came to a halt. Then he took off his glasses to really scrutinize it. "Minimal charring. It's an impressive conductor. Let's get started." Beetee wrapped his spool of wire around the huge roots of the tree while the others stood guard. Once most of the work was done, Beetee tied off the loose pieces.

"Typically a lightning strike contains five billion joules of energy. We don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this hits." Beetee explained to them and handed the spool to Johanna before he looked at Velren, Katniss and Aurora. "You three girls, go together now. Take this. Unspool it carefully. Make sure the entire coil is in the water,understand? And Velren, you go with them as a guard. Then head to the tree at the two o'clock sector, we'll meet you there."

"I'm gonna go with them as a guard too." Peeta said immediately, as he was less willing than ever to let Katniss out of his sight. "No, no, no." Beetee contradicted him and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "You're staying here to protect me. And the tree." "No, I need to go with her." Peeta repeated. "There are two Careers out there." Beetee said. "I need two guards."

"There are two Careers out there, so they need two guards." Peeta said and pointed to the three girls. "Finnick can protect you just fine on his own." "Why can't Velren, Finnick,Aurora and Johanna stay with you and Peeta and I'll take the coil?" Katniss asked,defedning her  'fiance'. "You all agreed to keep me alive till midnight, correct?"  Beetee asked as he approached Katniss, who he looked at over his glasses.

Velren next to his boyfriend couldn't help but roll his eyes at Peeta and Katniss' behavior. "It's his plan." he said as he turned his gaze to both of them. "He's right,Katniss." Aurora cut in. "Of course I'm right." Velren replied with a hint of conviction in his voice. "Besides, we all agreed to it."

"Is there a problem here?" Finnick asked them, and leaned on his trident while he looked over at the girl on fire and then at her 'fiance'. Beetee nodded with a small smile. "Excellent question." he remarked and turned to Katniss questioningly.

Katniss looked away and shook her head. "No. There's no problem," she announced quietly as she turned to look at Peeta. She walked up to him and placed a hand on the side of his face before she gave him a long kiss. "I'll see you at midnight." she whispered to him, and Peeta nodded.

Velren stepped forward and put a hand on Peeta's shoulder, causing him to look at him. He'd gained his trust awhile ago, maybe not all of it, but enough. "I'll look after her for you, okay?" Velren asked him, and Peeta nodded again.

Meanwhile, Aurora stepped towards Finnick, who immediately dropped his trident, wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her slightly off the ground. "Be safe." he whispered after he put his younger sister down. "You too. " Aurora told him. "I'll see you soon." Finnick nodded and Aurora made her way to Johnanna, who was already ready for departure.

Finnick turned his head  to Velren and instantly, the younger one moved forward, placed his hand gently around the neck of the oldest one and pulled  him into a goodbye kiss — a kiss that would have to tie them over until they saw each other again.

After their lips parted, Finnick couldn't help but look at Velren with a soft smile. "Be careful out there, okay?" he whispered against his boyfriend's lips before they broke away from each other, his gaze full of concern.

Velren paused for a moment, an expression of deep seriousness on his face as he looked Finnick straight in the eye. "I'll do my best to take care of me. " he finally replied, before a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that the four of us are more of a threat to the other two tributes than they are to us."    "Always the cocky one. " Finnick chuckled.

"I love you." Velren whispered, and without waiting for a reply, he walked towards the three girls. "Ready?"  "Why not?" Johanna asked as she shrugged. She was clearly no happier about being teamed up than the others. But they all agreed to Beetee's plan. "You, Aurora and me guard. And Katniss take the coil. We can trade off later."

Without further discussion, they headed down the slope. In fact there was very little discussion between them at all. They moved at a pretty good speed, one manning the coil and the three other keeping watch. About halfway down, they heard the clicking beginning to rise, indicating that it was after eleven, leaving them with less than an hour to get to the beach.

"Come on." Johanna said and twirled her axe in her hand. "I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible. Frying is not how I want to go." "I'll take the coil for a while." Aurora offered. "Here." Katniss stated as she passed Aurora the coil.

Both of their hands were still on the metal cylinder when there was a slight vibration. Suddenly, the thin golden wire from above sprung down at them, bunching in tangled loops and curled around their wrists. Then the severed end snaked up to their feet.

It only took a second to register this rapid turn of events. Johanna,Aurora,Velren and Katniss looked at each other, but none of them had to say it.  Someone not far above them had cut the wire and they would be on them at any moment.

Katniss grabbed an arrow when Johanna quickly picked up the coil from the ground and smashed it into the side of her head, causing the girl on fire to fall with a grunt towards the ground. "Hey, what was that about? " Velren asked a little angrily and glared at Johanna,who  sat on Katniss' chest and pinned her down with her knees.

Aurora bent down and cut into her arm with her knife, causing Katniss to emit a scream of pain. She held Katniss' arm still as she tried to jerk it away and ripped out the tracker. She threw the tracker, which was full of blood, in a random direction before she handed Velren her knife so he could painstakingly cut out his own tracker.

Johanna spread the blood from Katniss' arm around her face and neck. "Shh." she said as Katniss let out a moan of pain. "Stay down!" Aurora hissed as Katniss tried to get up.

Brutus and Enobaria emerged from behind the rocks, her teeth bared and his eyes focused on Velren.  To distract them, Johanna threw her axe at them. She missed their heads before she grabbed Aurora and ran away from them.

"Come on. " Velren heard Enobaria say to Brutus. "Johanna, Aurora, where are you?" Brutus shouted as they started to walk away. But before they could go any further, Velren stepped into their view, and Enobaria giggled. "I'll go find Mason and Odair, you take him."

" It's just me and you now." Velren said firmly. "My pleasure." Brutus laughed wickedly as he walked over to him. And without a single thought in his head, Brutus hurled Velren to the ground with unbridled force. His trident slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a dull clang.

 A subsequent merciless kick to the abdomen knocked the air from Velren's lungs for a moment while he writhed in pain. Despite the blows and the sudden attack, Velren stuck his leg out to seek contact with Brutus' leg, and won precious seconds to scramble to his feet.

Brutus struck again and Velren, unable to block his attack, landed on the ground once more. The young man groaned in pain and held his ribs. Velren gasped and collected the blood in his mouth before he slowly stood up, despite the pain that coursed through his body.

Brutus just chuckled and before Velren could react, Brutus' hand hit him full force in the jaw. A sharp pain shot through him and he was thrown back by the force of the impact. His head hit the hard rocks behind him and a pained groan escaped Velren's throat.

"Oh, Velren, Velren,Velren,Velren..." Brutus sighed and forced Velren to sit upright. "I see you have a fighting spirit in you." he grinned and let go of Velren, causing him to fall to his knees, gasping and groaning in pain as his body ached and bled. "But you never know when to give up!"

Brutus then grabbed Velren roughly by the sides of his face and forced him to look him in the eye. "I'm going to kill you,Velren." he whispered to him menacingly. "I'm going to kill you....but not right away. No, I will do it slowly. You'll beg, plead for mercy. And when I'm finally done with you, I'll  kill Finnick too and-"

Brutus  was cut off abruptly by a voice which repeatedly called for Velren, Aurora and Johanna. But as it came closer and closer, the two of them already knew who it was.

However, what surprised Brutus more were the soft sounds of chuckling , and Velren vaguely recognized the laughter as his own. He probably looked deranged, laughing without smiling, but maybe he was.

"I don't think so." Velren said viciously before he spat blood in the man's face with a mixture of anger and contempt. A bloodcurdling cry of pain escaped Brutus as Velren forcefully drove his knee into the man's groin to free himself from his iron grip. He freed his face from Brutus'   hands and forced his head down, then slammed his knee onto Brutus' nose with a powerful impact.

Velren lifted Brutus' head, a satisfied smile playing on his lips as he observed the purplish fluid streaming from Brutus' nose. "I will not beg for mercy,nor will I ever give up.  And do you know why? Because Black always lands on top." Velren hissed and slipped his foot between Brutus' ankles, hauling one of his feet out from under him.

Brutus dropped to the ground, and without a second thought, Velren hit him as hard as he could on his already bleeding nose.  Then he punched the tribute fiercely, hitting him square in the jaw again, and again, and again,without pause, without mercy, until Brutus was nothing but a heap of misery on the ground, surrounded by an aura of pain and despair.

After one final punch, Velren breathed out slowly and wiped the sweat from his forehead before picking up his trident from the ground. Just as the exhausted Brutus tried to get up, the three sharp of the trident pierced his chest, sending a gush of blood spurting out. A brief, choked whimper escaped Brutus before he lay lifeless on the ground. A cannon went off, echoing through the eerie and dark jungle.

 "Velren!" A desperate cry could be heard behind him, and Velren immediately turned to see Finnick appear. He could see, his breath catching as he caught sight of the lifeless, bloodied body of Brutus beside his boyfriend.

"Finnick." Velren whispered in relief when he finally reached him, and embraced him with a hug he so desperately needed . They remained in this close embrace for a while. Neither of them wanted to let go of the other.

At last, Finnick pulled away slightly from the embrace, his arms still wrapped around his boyfriend's neck as he frowned worriedly. "Are you alright?" he asked him with a gentle but concerned voice.

Velren smiled slightly, but his eyes betrayed a certain tension. "Just a little something I can handle. I'm fine." he replied calmly, but his gaze flitted briefly to the ground before he looked up again, determined.  "We've to find the others."

Finnick nodded in agreement, pushed Velren's hair out of his face and the two intertwined their fingers before they ran through the jungle. Neither of them knew where the others were.

When they were still a few meters away from the lightning tree,a flash of light suddenly flashed through the arena directly up ahead. Velren's thoughts immediately wandered to the brilliant technician on their team. "Beetee." was all he said, and he exchanged a wide-eyed look with Finnick. Faintly, the two could hear Katniss' desperate yell in the distance, "Peeta! Peeta!"

Finnick turned his gaze forward and began to run faster, closely followed by Velren. The two of them rushed towards the clearing and gasped when their eyes fell on Beetee, who lay motionless on the ground just a few meters away from them. "Katniss, where are you?" Finnick shouted as his eyes scanned over the expanse of the area and to their surprise, Katniss was crouched down behind a bush with an arrow aimed towards them.

Finnick dropped his trident and gave Velren a light slap on the hand, causing him to drop his own trident. He couldn't help but scoff and the two raised their hands in surrender,looking at Katniss. "Katniss." Finnick cautiously said to deter her from killing them. "Remember who the real enemies are."

Katniss hesitated. Something flickered in her cold gray eyes, and she slowly lowered her weapon, causing Velren and Finnick to flood with relief. It didn't last long because the the sky thundered, which meant that lightning was about to strike the tree.

"Katniss, get away from that tree!" Velren warned, but Katniss didn't seem to pay any attention to his words. Instead, she began to wrap a piece of the copper wire around her arrow and then aimed it at the sky.

"KATNISS, GET AWAY FROM THAT TREE!" Velren shouted even more urgently and ran towards her to get her out of the way. Finnick shouted his name desperately  and lunged forward to grab his arm, but missed him by a second.

It didn't matter though, because Katniss had let the arrow fly,a scream ripping from her throat. It was soaring towards the sky as lightning struck the tree. Then, a giant wave of energy struck them. Sparks flared in the air and sent them all back. Velren felt his head made a hard impact with a tree trunk.  "Finn...Finn...Finnick." he croaked out before suddenly his whole vision went black.

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

Well, that happened. Hopefully Velren doesn't die,  that would be a shame. Well, I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter is the last chapter of Catching Fire ! Thank God, lol!

If you enjoyed, be sure to vote, comment, and share this story with your friends! I'd really appreciate it!

Until next time! Much love to you all!