Fifteen

                                    

                                          
Marissa has never seen an animal move so fast in its life that was not in water. They slide down the vines as if they are greased. They leap dangerous distances from tree to tree and, their fangs are bared with heckles up.
                          
"Mutts!" Katniss spits, recognising that these animals are not acting as they would in nature.
                          
Marissa suddenly finds herself wishing that she had picked up a dagger, like the one she used to win her first Games. They are much more practical in close combat than her throwing knives but, she did not so, she has to deal with the impracticality of her chosen weapon. She knows every knife must count and, her aim is fatal. Every knife she throws buries itself into a monkey's neck or heart, taking them down instantly. Finnick's back is pressed against hers and, he spears the beasts with his trident as he would a fish before he tosses them aside.
                          
Peeta and Katniss are beside them, Katniss marking the monkeys with her arrows and Peeta slashing them down with his long knife. Marissa frowns when she reaches for another knife and finds her belt is empty.
                          
"Finnick!" she shouts over the shrieks and growls of the monkeys. "I need more knives!"
                          
"Take my belt. I'll cover you," he says, placing himself so he is covering her front and Katniss and Peeta are guarding her back.
                          
Marissa crouches down behind Finnick, struggling to undo the belt in the eerie light. Finnick's constant movements only make it more difficult, and her efforts are growing more and more frantic.
                          
"Finnick, I can't undo it!"
                          
Finnick thrusts his trident into her hands, pushing her in front of him for protection as he undoes the belt of knives from around his waist. Marissa would never choose a trident as a weapon, but she had learnt how to fish with one when she was younger and, Finnick had taught her how to use them in combat a while ago. She impales one of the monkeys, throwing it aside and taking down a couple more as Finnick fastens the full belt of knives around her waist. She kills another monkey with the trident before Finnick snatches it back from her and, she retrieves one of her knives.
                          
One of the monkeys is far too close for Marissa to throw her knife at so, she instead slices the blade through its throat. The orange mutt drops to the floor, bleeding out into the earth and, she throws the same knife at another beast.
                          
"Peeta! Your arrows!" Katniss shouts. Marissa does not see what happens but her eyebrows furrow when she hears a high-pitched scream that does not belong to Katniss or Peeta.
                          
The scream startles Marissa and, she turns her head, breaking her concentration from fighting. The Morphling from District Six is standing in front of Peeta with a mutt's fangs sunk into her chest. Peeta buries his knife into the monkey's back, stabbing it again and again until it releases its jaw.
                          
"Marissa!" Finnick cries out as a monkey buries its teeth into her shoulder. Finnick's trident stabs straight through the mutt's head and, its jaw slackens. "Are you okay?"
                          
"Fine," Marissa speaks through gritted teeth. The adrenaline dulls down most of the pain in her shoulder but, blood pours steadily from the wound.
                          
"Come on, then! Come on!" Peeta shouts, panting with rage but, the monkeys are withdrawing. They climb back up the trees, disappearing into the vegetation.
                          
"Get her," Katniss says to Peeta. "We'll cover you."
                          
Peeta gently picks up the Morphling, carrying her the final few metres to the beach while Finnick, Marissa and Katniss keep their weapons at the ready. No more monkeys appear, the only ones that remain are the carcasses on the floor.
                          
Peeta lays the Morphling on the sand, cutting away the top of her jumpsuit and revealing the deep wounds on her chest.
                          
"We'll watch the trees," Finnick says to Katniss and Peeta, who the Morphling clings to. No mutts appear from the tree line but, Marissa is just grateful she does not have to watch yet another person lose their lives.