12. nuts and volts
[the hunger games series: catching fire]
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"Cam, cam, CAM," Finnick said loudly, shaking the woman's shoulders. "What the hell did you do?" he hissed.
Cameron turned around to face him, tears still falling from her eyes. "What the hell did I do?" she retorted. "I killed the son of a bitch who killed my friend. That's what I did," she answered. "And don't you dare say he didn't deserve it because he fucking did. I hope he rots in hell for what he did to Mitch."
"And what were you gonna do when the other tribute killed you, huh? Because that's exactly what was gonna happen before she disappeared," Finnick said in a harsh, but calm voice.
Cameron's eyes snapped towards the clearing, and he was right. The other woman had disappeared, leaving Oliver's body laying face down on the ground. "Fuck!" she snapped, tearing her way into the clearing. "This is your fault!" she said, turning around to poke Finnick in the chest. "If you hadn't come here, I could've got them both!" She kicked Oliver's body to the side and grabbed her arrow out of his chest, shoving it back into her carrier.
"You're blaming me for this?" Finnick asked Cameron as she picked up Mitchell's knife from the ground. "You're the one who killed that guy."
Cameron scoffed, wiping the knife down with a large leaf she found on the ground. "Did you forget where we are, Finnick?" she asked him, taking another step closer to the tribute. "This is the fucking hunger games," she hissed. "It's either kill or be killed, we've both been in this situation before. I did everyone here a favor. It was either me or him. And I could've got them both if you weren't standing here, distracting me."
"Distracting you? Distracting you?" Finnick asked. "Try saving you. What the hell would you do if that arrow didn't land, huh?" he asked her, staring the girl dead in the eyes. "It would've been two on one, and we would've lost you and Carnett. I heard that canon sound and I thought you were dead. But maybe next time I'll just let you get shot."
"Good," Cameron snarled. "I wouldn't want to be stuck here with you anyway," she continued, pushing past the man and marching back into the forest.
Finnick grabbed onto her shoulder, preventing her from walking any further. "What do you plan on doing, Cam?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "We both know you're not up to your best standards. Not after Carnett."
Cameron whipped around, spinning on her heel, "Neither are you," she replied. "We both remember what happened to Mags. I thought you of all people would understand that I needed to do this. Like I said earlier, it was either me or him. You knew I was going off in that woods, and I was either gonna come back or be one of those cannon noises they fire in the sky. And I ended up killing that son of bitch. So maybe I'm not at my best, but I'm still pretty fucking good," she spat.
Finnick's face faltered for a second, "If I knew how to kill the people who made the fog that killed Mags, I would. I'm not above killing. No one here is above killing, except maybe the lovebirds. You know that, and I know that. But we need to lay low and be careful. Can you do that?"
Cameron looked up at him, brushing his hand off of her shoulder. "Yes," she said through gritted teeth. "Yes, I can."
Finnick nodded, "Good," he responded, his voice returning to its usual cadence. "Let's get out of here before Ihu gets back."
Cameron clicked her tongue, motioning for him to lead the way. Finnick accepted his role and began to cut through the thick leaves with his trident. Cameron wasn't sure how far she had made it into the jungle, and she had no idea how long it took for the two to walk back to the camp they had made on the beach. Cameron didn't dare speak to Finnick, she knew the only reason he had told her all this shit is so she wouldn't back out of the plan. She knew she wasn't gonna do that anyway. This thing, the revolution, was bigger than her, and she couldn't let her stubbornness get in the way of that.
The light from the beach drew closer as Finnick and Cameron filed through the thick shrubs in the jungle. Cameron could smell the salt water and she knew it was close. "We're back," Finnick announced as they broke through the last bit of foliage in their ways.
Katniss and Peeta looked up from their spot on the sand. "The cannon," Peeta said simply, glancing up at Cameron. "We thought it was you."
Cameron locked eyes with him, "Greenwood," she said simply. "It was Greenwood. He's not a problem anymore."
"How do you know it was Greenwood?" Katniss asked as a helicopter began to fly over their heads.
Cameron turned toward her, "Because I killed him," she said simply. "We got into a fight, and I won. There's nothing else to it."
Finnick sighed, "At least he's off our back," he added. "Plus we have bigger things to worry about."
Peeta tilted his head at him, "Like what?" he asked.
"Like that," Katniss said, nodding toward the opposite end of the beach. Cameron narrowed her eyes as the four backed into the shadows of the jungle. There were three people walking along the shore. None of them seemed to be in great shape. The person in the middle looked like she was dragging the person on the left through the sand. Cameron wasn't entirely sure how the person had injured themselves. It could've been a fight with the careers, or one of the multiple challenges the game makers kept throwing at them. The third person in the group was lingering behind the other two and seemed to be spinning in circles.
Cameron kept her hand on Mitchell's knife as the group drew closer, she didn't recognize any of them yet so she wasn't able to assess the threat level. The person who was being dragged collapsed onto the ground, and Cameron heard a sigh come from the person in the middle. The person grabbed the third tribute and pulled them closer to her. She whispered something to the tribute, Cameron couldn't hear what it was but she recognized the voice.
"Johanna!" Finnick calls, rushing out from their hiding spot. Cameron loosed her grip on the knife and shoved it into her carried with her other arrows. She ran after Finnick, meeting both him and Johanna on the side of the beach.
"Finnick! Cameron!" Johanna replied.
Cameron looked down at the two tributes on the ground. Where she saw both of the district's three tributes, Beetee and Wiress, or as the other tributes liked to call them: nuts and volts. "What happened to him?" she asked, pointing to Beetee, who looked severely injured. Wiress was in better shape, but honestly, Cameron was just confused why a tribute like Johanna Mason would be running around with the two tricksters. She assumed that Haymitch had something to do with it, but she wasn't going to ask while the Capitol was watching them.
Johanna took a deep breath in and began to talk fairly fast, "The arena, there's something wrong with it. Over- over there," she said, pointing to a section of the jungle behind her. "We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lightning, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the forcefield."
"I'm sorry Johanna," Finnick said quickly as Katniss and Peeta came over to the group.
"Yeah, well, he wasn't much, but he was from home," Johanna continued. "And he left me alone with these two," she nudged Beetee with her foot, who was barely responsive. "He got a knife in the back at the Cornucopia. And her-"
Cameron looked over at Wiress, who continued her spinning, muttering the same words over and over under her breath. "Tick, tock. Tick, tock."
Johanna groaned, "Yeah, we know. Tick, tock. Nuts is in shock," she snapped. Wiress eyes snapped toward Johanna, moving closer to her. The woman scowled before shoving the tribute to the ground. "Just stay down, will you?" she growled.
"Lay off her!" Katniss barked.
Johanna turned toward the girl, narrowing her eyes. "Lay off her?" she hissed. Before anyone was able to stop her, the woman march up to Katniss and slapped her across the face, her eyes burning. "Who do you think got them out of that bleeding jungle for you?" she said in a voice so low that only the group could hear her. "You-" Johanna started again but Finnick picked the woman up and threw her over his shoulder. Johanna struggled against his strength as Finnick dunked her head into the water over and over again.
Cameron could hear bits and pieces of what Johanna was screaming at Katniss, but she decided to tune them out.
"What did she mean? She got them for me?" Katniss asked Peeta and Cameron.
The two looked at each other before Peeta opened his mouth. "I don't know," he said quickly. "You did want them originally."
"Plus, it's Johanna," Cameron added with a slight scoff. "There's no use trying to put meaning to the words she says."
Katniss bit her lips, "Yeah, I did. Originally," her eyes floated down to Beetee, who was still motionless on the ground. "But I won't have them long unless we do something."
Cameron sighed, "I'll go make sure Finnick doesn't drown Johanna," she said halfheartedly. Cameron shook her head as she walked away from Peeta and Katniss. She figured that they would take care of Beetee's injuries. She was never really good at healing people, and she didn't know any remedies or herbs that would be able to fix his stab wound. Mitchell was always better at that kind of thing. She was gonna ask him to teach her once they got out of the arena, but that wasn't going to happen now.
Cameron pursed her lips as she looked out into the water. Finnick and Johanna weren't out that far, as she could still hear Johanna's screams from her spot on the sand. She took a deep breath, throwing her weapons at the edge of the beach. She pulled her hair back into a long ponytail as she waded through the water, making her way over to the pair. "Ungrateful!" she heard Johanna shriek. "You ungrateful bi-" she stopped talking when Finnick dunked her head back into the water.
Cameron put her hand on Finnick's arm. "Stop," she said harshly as he pulled the girl out of the water again. "She's not gonna be able to help us if you drown her."
Finnick looked from Cameron to Johanna, who has stopped screaming and started to look at Finnick expectantly. "Yeah, I think I've learned my lesson," she snapped. "It wasn't like I was going to say anything."
"Well you almost did," Finnick said in a hushed whisper.
"But she didn't," Cameron asserted. "We don't want another member of the group to end up dead," she pointed out. "We've already lost too many, and I really don't fancy hearing another cannon ring through the night. So put her down."
Finnick sighed, slinging the girl off of his shoulders and letting her fall back into the water. Johanna ducked her head under the water once more, using the liquid to wash the blood out from the roots of her hair. She popped her head back up, gasping for air as she reached the surface. She tried to stand up, grabbing onto the side of Cam's arm to help her up. Cameron obliged, bringing the woman to her feet. "She brought out the big girl voice," Johanna taunted, shooting Finnick a triumphant glance. "I didn't think you could be ordered around, Finnick."
"I can't," he said shortly, brushing Cameron's hand off of his arm.
"Sure looks like you can," Johanna retorted, glancing over at Cameron. "What happened to Carnett? Usually, you two don't separate unless something's gone wrong."
Cameron cleared her throat, "Greenwood killed him during the monkey attack," she said quickly, using the water to wash off the bits of dried blood that still clung to the side of her neck.
Johanna narrowed her eyes, "Greenwood huh," she hummed. "I didn't think he was that much of a threat," she admitted.
"He's not," Cameron said instantly. "Cause I killed him."
Johanna clapped her hands together, "Well, that gets rid of one problem," she said quickly. "I'll see you two on the shore," she continued as she waded her way over to the other members of the group, who were sitting patching up Beetee's wound.
Finnick looked down at Cameron, who was still washing dried bits of blood off her skin. "I had it under control," he told her
Cameron glanced up at him, "We can't kill Johanna," she stated.
"I know we can't," Finnick responded. "And I wasn't going to kill her."
Cameron pursed her lips, "Sure you weren't," she replied.
Finnick scoffed, "I don't need a lecture from you, of all people, Cameron," he said sternly. "We need all of us to keep this well-oiled machine running, and you were ready to throw all of that away last night when you told me to kill you."
"Well, the invitation is still open," Cameron snapped. "It should be easy for you. Just take that trident and swing. One swift movement and I'm gone. Just the way I want it to happen."
"And you know I'm not going to do it," Finnick responded.
Cameron shook her head slowly, "Well you should," she said simply. "You don't want to have to deal with another wildcard. Trust me, it's easier for both of us
"Fucking hell, Cameron," Finnick scoffed. "We already lost Carnett and Mags, we don't need to lose you too. The sooner you realize that the better.
Cameron sighed, watching as Finnick waded through the water and back to the shore. She narrowed her eyes, a million thoughts running through her head at the same time. 'Why the hell does he care so much?'
Say you'll remember me,
standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset,
babe ☁︎
Grace talks ig: I'M SORRY THIS IS LITERALLY LIKE THE SHORTEST THING I'VE EVER WRITTEN, BUT I JUST WANTED TO GET A CHAPTER OUT BECAUSE IT'S BEEN TOO DAMN LONG SINCE I UPDATED THIS STORY (which is actually really upsetting because I love this book more than words can say I just keep forgetting to write it, which is a shame). Anyways Cam and Johanna are about to carry the next few chapters like seriously I love them so much. They are like the same person just in different fonts. Also, kodair, my beloveds <3 I promise I'm gonna write more heartwarming scenes between them I just don't know when that's gonna happen because the Mockingjay portion of this book is just a whole lot of pain. Yay! Anyways, I'm gonna go now and I will see you in the next update. BYEEEEE <3
also vote/comment if you enjoyed this chapter. I love hearing your feedback!
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