Finnick

We went down to the sewers yesterday night. I had known them to be dirty, but I never expected them to smell so bad. On the bright side I have a new trident that helps to distract me from the horrors of the war. It's beautiful, made of a shiny metal, with tips so sharp they could cut through stone. I'm so very thankful for the trident.

Now, as I wake up, what I did last week sinks in. I left Annie. I left her alone. It was for the best, but I still left her. And, as selfish as it is, I miss her. I want to be home with her instead of here, watching people die again. But I need to fight. I need to protect our child. A strange sound interrupts my thoughts. It sounds like a whisper mixed with metal scratching stone. I haven't felt truly afraid in a long time, but this would do me.

As the strange hisses grow nearer, I start to decipher what it was saying. Katniss. Katniss. Katniss.

"Guys, we have to go, now!" Peeta says, helping people up.

"What's that noise?" Asks Jackson.

"Mutts." He responds. Mutts. Mutations. I wonder what sort of mutation would make a sound like that.

And I really don't want to find out.

We break into a run, which is hard, being knee-deep in water- or whatever that stuff is.

"Come on!" Katniss urges. The mutts keep getting closer, their hisses bouncing off the dirty sewer walls and directly into our ears.

"He says that there is an exit at the far end of this tunnel, if we turn left." One of my squad mates says.

"Hold on." Says Jackson. She turns around slowly, as if sensing something. And the mutts attack. She doesn't even get time to scream as she's torn down by the mutts, which seem to be reptiles. We break into a run, trying to get to the exit and freedom. Before we even get under the hole in the roof, two more members of the squad are killed by the mutt, their intestines and flesh scattered across the sewer floor.

And then the mutt leaps at me.

Luckily, I am able to fend it off with my trident, successfully taking it down. That was close.

And then I realize: I'm afraid. In fact I'm terrified.

I know then I can't win. I made the wrong choice. Now Annie will be a widow, alone forever, and our child will grow up not knowing who his father was. He will have no brothers and sisters, either. And it's all my fault.

I tear down mutt after mutt, knowing in the end I won't be good enough.

And I know I'm right when a feel claws at my back, bringing me down to the water.

I barely feel it as they tear me apart, my arms and legs and even my abdomen. I don't even see the mutts as it goes down to take the death bite.

First I see the mast of my father's fishing boat, a sight I grew up seeing. My mother would take me there and we'd sail off, remembering my father.

Second, I see a silver parachute, but not any silver parachute. It was the one that contained my salvation, my only way to win, my trident in the Games.

Then, I see Mags, a friend, mother, and family to me. She's laughing about something I said. Boy, how I loved to make Mags laugh.

After, I see a pink sky, the same pink sky that settles in District 4 every night before the Sun leaves. I remember how much I missed that pink sky when I was in the Capitol.

Next is Beetee's trident, the one that he made for me. The trident helped me through the war, like a little piece of home, a little memory of a little boy fishing.

And then, I see Annie. It's our wedding day, and she's walking to the altar. Her smile looks as radiant as the shining Sun, her eyes and dress like the waves in the ocean, her hair like a storm of fire. Annie. My Annie.

Finally, I see our cabin, with our many children, happy, living in a free, peaceful world. Annie is holding a child, and another plays on my lap. There are wrinkles around her eyes but I don't care because we're together and we have a family. And so I look out the window to look at the sea. I stare at the magnificent green water before closing my eyes, lulled by the sound of the waves breaking over rocks.