CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR!

LIKE CLOCKWORK

ROSALIE IS WELL AWARE THAT KATNISS HARDLY TRUSTS HER AND FINNICK. Adding more allies to the mix will more than likely make her even less trustworthy than before. Especially when one of those allies is Johanna Mason, who comes across quite brash at times. Regardless of that, Rosalie is quite fond of the girl from District Seven and she knows Finnick is as well.

The brunette gently runs her hand through Wiress' hair in order to remove some of the blood that has accumulated. The woman is muttering the same phrase over and over again, almost as if she's in a maddened state. Katniss is crouching beside her, trying to soothe the older woman as she repeats the words tick tock.

Rosalie simply smiles softly and nods her head, not wanting to upset Wiress at all, it's the furthest thing from her mind. The games are traumatic, that she knows first hand, and it has different effects on everybody. Some hide away their pain and others slowly slip into a state where their mind just won't function properly.

"Do you have any idea what she's talking about?" Katniss questions Rosalie quietly, receiving a shake of the head in response. "I can take care of her, go see what they're talking about,"

The brunette gives Wiress one last smile before standing up and moving over to the group. She gently dusts the sand off her outfit as she does, ignoring the slight red tinge to a few of her fingers. Nobody comments on it as she joins the small circle, the tributes in some sort of deep discussion. The girl lightly places her hand on Finnick's shoulder and he turned to look at her, a soft smile pulling at his lips. Johanna still looks incredibly irritated at the fact she has blood all over her.

"There's weird stuff happening all over this place," Rosalie comments, thinking back to the mysterious fog that had almost killed them. "The fog, the blood, even the lightening that seems to strike in the same place,"

"Yeah. It's different from anything I've ever seen before," Finnick adds, confusion washing over his facial features.

"What's that?" Rosalie is gesturing towards something that Beetee is holding in his hands, fiddling with the silver looking metal.

"A coil of something, like wire. He almost died trying to get it," Johanna responds with a sigh, the man from District Three looking up at the small group.

Rosalie knows exactly why he wants it, but unconsciously her eyes travel to Peeta who is listening as well. None of this can be spoken about in front of the District Twelve tributes. Katniss is too preoccupied with Wiress but there is no doubt that Peeta will pass on any information that seems suspicious to him, and then the entire operation will be in jeopardy.

"There's got to be some sort of explanation for it," Peeta finally injects himself into the conversation that the victors are having. Rosalie agrees with what he has to say, she knows the Capitol have a lot riding on these games. Districts are on the brink of rebellion, the Capitol not exactly happy about their victors going back in.

One wrong move, and it's all over for them.

Katniss rushes over, the skin of her hands caked in blood, and her eyes are wide. "It's a clock!"

Rosalie has always known that Wiress is a smart woman, but it seems as if she still underestimated just how brilliant she truly is. The constant mummers of the same phrase, tick tock, had not been mindless rambling — no, she knew exactly what they were dealing with.

"This entire arena seems to be laid off like a clock with a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge. It all starts with the lightning, then blood rain, fog, monkeys. That's the first four hours. At ten that big wave hits from over there," Katniss explains to the group, drawing in the sand with a stick.

Each sector seemingly comes with a new form of horror that they have to face when it reaches that time. Much like Peeta had said, there was an explanation for the random events — well not so random anymore.

"Wiress you're a genius," Finnick says to the woman.

"But the tail points at twelve," Peeta interjects and Katniss nods her head.

"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight,"

Beetee's eyes almost light up at the girl's words, hand still clutching the coil tightly. "Where?"

"That big tree,"

Wiress is now singing, hands splashing about in the water in front of her. Rosalie recognises it, a nursery rhyme that Carter loved to sing about when he was a toddler. She's pretty sure Asher had taught him, the two of them laughing about on the beach whilst the sun hit their skin. It's memories like this that make her long to go home.

"So twelve to one lightning. Then one to two is blood, then fog and then monkeys," Peeta points to each part of the makeshift clock on the sand that had been drawn.

"And then then ten to eleven the wave. What about everything else? Did you guys see anything?" Katniss asks Johanna who shakes her head.

"Nothing but blood,"

"It doesn't matter. As long as we stay clear of whichever sector is active, we'll be safe,"

Rosalie hears a quiet gasp to her left and her eyes widen as she sees the knife enter Wiress' body. The canon fills the air and Katniss reacts before any of them can, stringing her bow and shooting the bow in the direction. It slips through Gloss' skin and he falls back into the water.

The brunette scrambles to grab one of the knives that she has left, ready to fight if she has to. Johanna manages to take down an approaching Cashmere who falls to the ground with a thud as the axe contacts her. The canons now seem to be ongoing, both District One tributes now deceased as well as Wiress.

Brutus and Enobaria are more of a threat, Rosalie is sure that the man could take her down with a simple hard hit to the back of the head. However, there is no opportunity for more conflict as the area around them begins to spin quickly.

Rosalie almost goes flying, her body smacking against the rocky surface and her fingers clinging to it as hard as can. She can feel it slicing up the tips of her fingers, drawing blood and causing her to wince in pain. The brunette can swim, she has been swimming her whole life, but she's not sure she would even survive the way the water is at the moment.

Johanna's calls for Katniss to hold on are desperate and loud, and when Katniss' grip fails she falls into the water. Without even a moment of hesitation, Rosalie lets go and follows, completely ignoring the shouts from Finnick and Johanna who watch her disappear below the surface.

Rosalie opens her eyes, ignoring the harsh stinging sensation and grabs a hold of Katniss' arm, kicking her legs as hard as she can to get them to the fresh air above them. It becomes a little easier when the water seems to calm down, the island no longer spinning about. Katniss helps with her own kicks and soon they're both above the water and taking deep breaths.

Johanna and Finnick, as well as a visibly worried Peeta, are standing on the edge looking down at them. She swears she sees her district partner sign in relief before leaning down and grabbing her outstretched hand, pulling her up. She practically sinks into his embrace, the warm of his body extremely comforting.

"That was stupid," Finnick mumbles into her shoulder, her arms winding around him just as tightly.

"I know," Rosalie admits and he lets out a breathy chuckle.

"Thank you, Rose," Katniss coughs.

"Don't mention it,"

The small group move themselves back onto the sandy shores moments later, knowing that they have to formulate some sort of plan going forwards.

"So besides Brutus and Enobaria, who's left?" Katniss asks.

"Maybe Chaff. Just those three," Peeta responds.

"They know they're outnumbered, I doubt they'll attack again. We're safe here on the beach," Finnick nods.

"So what do we do? We hunt 'em down?" Johanna questions.

Nobody has a chance to answer her, a high pitched scream echoing throughout the air around them. Rosalie sees Katniss stiffen up and she rushes off before anybody can even tell her to stop. Rosalie had seen the reaping, and she knows who that voice belongs to, Primrose Everdeen.

Then another shout follows.

"Rose! Rosalie!"

NOTE!

It's been like six months and I'm so so sorry for that! I lost a lot of inspiration for this story, but hopefully now I'll be able to start updating some more. If you've stuck around, thank you so so much, I appreciate you all :)