❝somewhere in the haze,
got a sense i'd been betrayed❞

BEETEE WAS ACTING LIKE HE WAS IN LOVE WITH THIS 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, Katniss, and Lexa. "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 four people going to unspool some wire and leave only two people to protect him. If the Careers caught them by surprise and took out at least one of them, 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. They knew that Lexa and Johanna would protect Katniss, and they knew that Finnick and Isla would not just turn around and kill Finnick. So, they must be planning to run. "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 some guards."

"Finnick and Isla can protect you just fine on their own," Peeta pointed out. Both of them were a lot more skilled than him in weaponry, and they were also more badass than he was. Lexa 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 the Armada woman and the Angler woman both looked at each other knowingly, realizing that the two must have a plan that they did not know about. The Everdeen girl offered, "Why can't Finnick and Johanna and Lexa and Isla 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."

Lexa then moved to hug Isla, and the blonde was surprised, but she wrapped her arms around her as well. They pulled back and looked at each other for a moment, not sure what to do until Johanna shouted at them. "All right, let's go! Frying is not how I want to go!"

The brunette was walking behind the other two, making sure that the coil did not get tangled or anything. 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.

Lexa 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. Johanna leaned over the Everdeen girl as Lexa 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, the brunette did not know. As soon as they got the tracker out, the two older women 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. Lexa needed to make sure that Isla was somewhere near there as well so that she would be the next to be saved hopefully.

The Armada woman raced back to the tree, and she breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw the familiar head of blonde hair. She practically dove into the District 4 girl, and Isla was almost scared that it was another tribute until arms wrapped around her.

"Thank God, you're all right," she whispered into the Angler woman's hair. They had been separated for maybe ten minutes, but once she saw those Careers, panic had shot through Lexa's veins at the thought of them gettitng to Isla before she could.

Isla nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"Lexa!" someone yelled in the distance, and the voice and anger in it told both of them that it was Johanna calling for help. She probably found out where the Careers were hiding and needed some backup.

The brunette woman looked back at the sound of the shouting before turning back to the girl in front of her who also had a panicked expression on her face. Finnick was somewhere behind her, and Lexa knew that she would be okay with him. "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

"Hey, I'm coming with you," Isla told her, stopping her before she could disappear again. She was not about to let her out of her sight again. They would stand a better chance against the Careers if there were more of them. Isla had absolutely no idea what had happened to Katniss, but she had not heard a cannon yet. So, she assumed that she was okay for now.

"No, you stay here," Lexa ordered, shaking her head. She was not about to put her life in danger. She needed to stay with Beetee and Katniss. She needed to go back. She had no clue why she was so far away from the tree in the first place. "Get to the tree and find Katniss. Stay with Katniss."

Isla scoffed, wondering why the hell she was arguing with her when they could be helping Johanna. "No, I'm not leaving you."

"I'm sorry." Lexa shot her an apologetic look that terrified the blonde. Then, the brunette took out her sword and whipped it fast along the girl's leg. Isla cried out in pain and screamed as she collapsed. She looked up at the other woman in betrayal as she just sighed and ran off.

The Angler woman stayed on the ground, clutching her leg. Tears were forming in her eyes, partly because of the pain and partly because someone that she trusted had just hurt her. There was blood coating her hands and the ground beneath her, and she did not know what she was going to do. She lied there for what felt like hours, but the sound of screaming distracted her.

Lexa.

Despite the fact that she had just been betrayed by the woman, Isla was not about to let her die. She dragged ehrself to her feet, and she had never been in so much pain in her life. She limped toward the sound of the terrified screams. All of a sudden, the screams stopped, and that just made her speed up.

She finally reached a clearing, and her eyes widened when she saw Brutus straddling Lexa. The woman was unconscious, limp, and bloody, and he was raising a knife above his head, clearly about to slam it into her chest. Isla panicked and patted down her body for anything that could help her. She finally found a dagger that she had stashed in her boot. She snatched it and lifted it.

And then she threw that damn thing straight into his skull.

After she was sure that he was dead and that Lexa was safe, she fell to the groun once again because of how lightheaded she was from the pain and loss of blood. She groaned and realized that she was probably not going to make it, but at least she saved Lexa in the process.

Her vision became cloudy moments, and she saw the arena break just as everything goes black.