CHAPTER 27
SURVIVAL INSTINCT

HER whole body was in survival mode, and she wasn't quite sure how to turn it off.

Bex tore through the jungle, cutting down branches and leaves that got in the way with her axe. She kept moving, even as her lungs felt like they were going to give out the longer she went. She just needed to keep running. A whisper of wind hurled her forward and begged her to never stop. Bex breathed heavily through her mouth and continued, her wet ponytail slapping against the nape of her neck.

Her foot caught onto a root hidden beneath the moist soil below. Bex lost her balance and tripped, somersaulting across the dirt and hurtling deeper in the jungle. She spat out soil and sat up on her knees. Her hands curled into the dirt and she began to rock back and forth, breathing loudly. That's all she needed to do. She needed to hear herself breathe, remind herself that she was still here.

She was no longer drowning. She was alive.

Bex tilted her face up and felt a few dew drops trickle down her cheeks. She exhaled again, and everything began to feel lighter. Wiping the back of her hand against her mouth, Bex looked down at her axe, which flew back a foot away when she fell. With a groan, she stood up and grabbed for it, fingers latched onto the leather handle.

Something rustled in the distance. She saw a flash of black up ahead.

Bex stood up straighter, holding the axe out in front of her. She traveled further into the jungle. Creatures howled from the treetops. They sounded like monkeys. But what Bex had seen in the trees wasn't an animal. It looked human.

She took off into a sprint, veering right, the same direction the figure went. Within seconds, she was body slamming into someone else. They both crashed to the earth below, eyes meeting as they both sat up.

Shaggy, black hair covered his soot-colored irises. His lips wobbled with fear and anguish. Blood leaked from a deep wound on his leg. Bex blinked, trying to focus on his face. It was one of the morphlings – the male tribute from District Six.

He tried pushing himself up with his skinny arms, but the leg wound stopped him completely. Bex flinched, attempting to fake him out, and he gasped loudly. She reached for her axe. Her muscles felt like they were tearing as she extended her hand, and eventually, her rough fingers curled around the handle. When she looked back at the morphling, he was scrambling away, using his arms to push himself across the dirt. He should know, as a Victor, that that was going to get him nowhere, but his brain was too fried by morphling to think otherwise.

Bex slipped on the wet soil before finally getting her footing. The male morphling was still crawling, doing his best to get away, but his escape method was useless. "STOP!" Bex rasped, and then whipped her axe in his direction. The blade lodged itself deep in his back.

The scream he released was not human.

She sprinted over to him, watching the way he pounded his fists into the dirt and wept for her to end him already. Bex swallowed hard, her throat begging for water. She reached down and ripped the axe from his back, creating a wet, crunching sound. Releasing ragged breaths, Bex straddled his back, locking her arm around his throat to lift his head. She paused for a moment, only hearing their heavy exhales. Tears dried on his cheeks.

His glazed eyes met her own. She blinked, her vision going blurry.

"I'm sorry," she croaked.

With one hand under his chin and the other locked around his throat, she twisted his neck in one fluid motion. Bone snapped. His neck felt like a weak twig in her hands. Bex exhaled, allowing his body to go limp in her arms, and a cannon fired.

He was dead, and she was already exhausted.

Bex was so thirsty from all the saltwater that entered her mouth. It felt like a hundred insects had stung her throat. She grabbed her axe and began to stagger into the jungle, hoping to find fresh water. But more sounds came from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw nothing, not even a figure dashing through the trees, but she decided to not engage. She couldn't. Her body felt like it was going to collapse and she didn't have the strength to snap another neck.

Freshwater would have to wait. She just hoped she could wait longer.

Bex began to fast-walk, pressing her hands to the tree trunks as she wandered passed. Half a mile later, she found a hollow trunk. It looked big enough to fit her and the bark was thin. She rapped her fist on it, hearing a soft, vacant sound on the inside. She suspected that none of these trees were real, and as usual, she was correct. Bex remembered practicing this tactic in her first Games years ago.

Using her axe, she ripped through the bark on one side, creating a small door for herself. The door would camouflage itself with the rest of the bark once it was closed, or so she hoped. Bex took some dirt and rubbed it over her face and suit, just to be extra precautious, before climbing into the hollow trunk. With one last look at the jungle, she secured herself inside.

Leaning her head against the wood, Bex released a breath of relief. Her eyes fluttered open and she noticed a small hole through the bark that could be used to her advantage. Unfortunately, she was too tired right now to keep watch. She'd just have to trust that this hiding spot would be safe enough.

Her back slid down until she was sitting on wet roots. The axe laid in between her legs. Bex dug her fingers in her hair and cried, just to remind herself that she was still human. Memories of Nico flashed in her mind: when they first met, how he got worse over time, the tears he shed at Blight's funeral, the hug he gave her when she did a simple act of kindness for him. They all faded together until all she saw was his body floating in the water, one hand stretched for her. And Bex sobbed and sobbed, body shaking, but she tried not to make a sound.

He shouldn't have gone down so brutally. Nico didn't deserve that. But he was still a hero, and that was one thing Bex had to keep reminding herself. He died doing his duty: protecting the Mockingjay. There had to be some respect in that.

Bex wasn't sure how, but it seemed she cried herself to sleep in that tree. She woke at the sound of a cannon, sitting up with a start. A sigh of relief escaped her lips. She rubbed at her face, smearing the dirt more, and she told herself yet again that she was alive. However, if she didn't drink water soon, that might not be the case.

She heaved and got to her feet, peering through the peephole. Bex stood there for a few hours, drifting in and out. Sometimes, she leaned her head back and rested her eyes, and then looked out the hole again if she heard something. It was usually animals. No tributes had passed by her hiding spot while she was awake.

The sun had begun to set when screaming resonated near her tree. And then, two cannons fired. Bex's brow furrowed. It had all happened so quickly, she almost didn't believe it. She looked around, waiting to see a figure, but no one emerged from the darkness of the jungle.

Something began to drip near her. She couldn't see what it was from her peephole, but she could hear it, clear as day.

Bex licked her chapped lips. Her throat ached. She wondered if it could be freshwater.

She listened intently for at least ten minutes. The dripping didn't cease. She needed water so badly that she was willing to risk it. The inside of her throat literally felt like it was on fire, the scratchiness making her gag.

Bex finally pressed a hand against the tree door and stumbled out, dragging the axe along with her. She walked slowly through the darkness. Night had fallen throughout the arena, and she hoped to use that as her shield. Using the axe to cut through any leaves in her way, Bex ventured more into the forest, following the dripping sound with a dry tongue.

She wasn't sure how long she walked when she found it. But it must've been a hundred feet, maybe more. Something dripped down her face and she gasped with surprise. Her mouth opened wide, expecting rainwater to grace her mouth, but all she tasted was salt and rust. Her eyes snapped opened and she looked down at her hands. Tiny droplets trickled down her palms. She couldn't quite see the color in the dark, but it became clearer when she lifted her head.

Blood was raining down on her, cascading down her face, running through her hair. Bex's eyes opened wide in horror as she recognized the Victors from District Five hanging from the trees, their intestines wrapped around the branches like some party decoration. She cupped her hands around her mouth to stop from screaming, but the blood still leaked in. She could taste it on her tongue and spat out as much as she could. It coated her entire head and torso, but she was in too much shock to move.

Finally, she started to run, racing through the trees. Blood was smothering her, gluing her lips together. She could hardly breathe and it felt like drowning all over again. Wiping it from her eyes, Bex did her best to sprint away, far from those corpses and anyone else. Her feet glided across the earth as if she were running on a cloud, kicking away rocks in her path. In the distance, she heard the wings of a hovercraft coming to collect the bodies.

A shimmering light appeared before her then, and a pebble she kicked bounced right back in front of her.

Bex stopped in place, rubbing the blood from her chapped mouth. The shimmering revealed a wall of steel before sealing itself back together, like it had never happened. Once it was back to normal, Bex saw nothing but the jungle ahead. That couldn't be real.

She threw the pebble back, and again, it bounced off the invisible wall and landed at her feet. The wall thrummed with life and closed back up. It must be a forcefield, like the one in the Training Center. She was at one edge of the arena.

Carefully, Bex walked by it and turned around, heading north this time. Animals lurked between the shadows above her head, causing Bex to move faster. She felt so sticky and out of breath, but she needed to find a way out of this jungle.

Bex recognized sand on the horizon and shoved past a hoard of leaves. There was the beach, practically singing her name. Gentle waves crashed against the shore and dragged seaweed along with it. Bex huffed and peered out from her hiding spot. No one was on the beach, not even across the water. This might be her only chance to wash off all the dirt and blood.

Bex ventured out and onto the sand. Her eyes scanned the beach repeatedly as she approached the water. When she felt the waves brush against her boot, she halted, hesitating before getting any closer. She remembered the way this ocean almost swallowed her up.

Now wasn't the time to be scared. The Gamemakers would start using it against her if she didn't toughen up.

So she hardened her skin, pushed all that fear to the back of her mind until there was nothing left. Bex stuck her axe in the wet sand and sat on the shore, allowing the water to wash up on her. Her throat still begged for something – anything – to drink, but she could wait it out. The body can go a few days without water. Hopefully, Johanna could get her a sponsor to send over some.

She hoped Johanna was alright. Phoenix said she'd do everything she could, and Bex believed that.

Rubbing a hand down her face, Bex realized she needed to get back to her allies. She couldn't count on any sponsors if she wasn't keeping up the charade with Finnick. Not to mention, she probably owed them an apology for running away after promising to be allies. Bex had never been that good at apologizing though, and it wasn't like her reaction to Nico's death wasn't justified.

She looked down at the water running between her fingers and shivered.

Bex cupped the saltwater and washed her hands. She ran it over her face and tried rubbing the blood off, but it was so caked on that she wasn't sure what to do. A groan resonated from her mouth. She tore out her ponytail, dunked her hair underwater, and began to work through the blood-stained strands. She spat and a clump of blood came out, floating into the ocean.

"Ew," Bex muttered, now picking at her teeth. She wouldn't be surprised if they were stained red.

Voices surface from the trees surrounding her.

"You want to face the Career pack alone?" One person whispered loudly.

Another voice – female, one she'd heard before – husked, "No, but we have to do it sometime. Just to get them out of the way, and I want it to be sooner rather than later."

"What we should be doing is looking for any signs of fresh water before we all dehydrate to death. But by all means, Katniss, go take care of your little Career pack revenge plan. Just don't expect us to be here when you get back."

Bex whipped her head up and stood. They were talking up ahead, a few feet from the beach. Bex's hearing had never been that good since her first Games. But her survival instinct had kicked in, and somehow, every single part of her was heightened. Her fingers wrapped around the axe on instinct, recognizing the last voice as it were her own.

Finnick.

Not minding the blood and soil still drying on her face, Bex ventured back into the jungle, following the sounds of her allies. She could hear them walking now, traveling into the thick of the trees. Monkeys cried above their heads. Bex ignored them, focusing on Katniss arguing with Finnick, who finally convinced her to not go after the Careers.

They walked about a mile and stopped, finding a nice rock pattern to camp out at. Bex began to run to keep up. She couldn't lose them now. She almost did earlier to her crumbling sanity, but she needed them. Terribly so. And she made a promise that she intended on keeping.

Bex hurried and tore down anything in her wake. She hoped they wouldn't be too angry with her, but that would be a given with Katniss around. The girl was practically made of fiery rage, much like Bex.

She didn't have a plan right now. All she knew was that she needed to be with her allies if she wanted to survive this, if she wanted to see a better tomorrow. Plutarch promised her as such.

After hacking one last branch away with her axe, Bex emerged from the dark jungle and approached her group with a wary smile.

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A/N: sorry this chapter was so boring and we were just in bex's head all the time shdhuisuh but it needed to happen for bex to calm down! I think a lot of y'all were expecting her to go with beetee and wiress, but I thought that was kinda taking johanna's canon storyline and I don't want bex to be like a johanna oc replacement ya know??? this kinda needed to be done for my own character's sanity lol. but now bex is back with the crew and we can get some finnick/bex action once again 🥰

also there's a new trailer and epigraph gifset for this fic made by the talented, soulofstaars! check out the trailer below!!

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