"Halt! We have you surrounded," the head peacekeeper informs us, aiming his gun at my mother. "Which one of you is the instigator?" He already seems convinced that my mother orchestrated the escape.

I raise my bow defiantly. "I am!" All guns are now pointed at me, giving the others a chance to flee.

Lavash takes my sister's hand and runs in the opposite direction. As guns begin to fire, I shoot an arrow at the head peacekeeper, catching him in the shoulder. That holds him off until they have disappeared into the trees with my mother.

Peeta pushes me to the ground as a gun fires dangerously close to where my head once was. He curls his body around me, protecting me from the bullets. He'll be shot dead if I don't act quickly.

I reach for an arrow and aim at the nearest peacekeeper, hitting him in the chest. Peeta continues to shield me as I pick off a few more of them. I see an opening and know that now is our last chance to get away.

I help Peeta to his feet and pull him along as we run after the others. I zigzag through the maze of trees, hoping to lose our pursuers. It's working. The sound of footsteps and gunfire is getting farther and farther away. I slow to a stop and allow Peeta to rest. He leans against a tree, gasping for air.

"Thanks," I say. "For saving me." I can never repay him for risking his life to save mine.

Peeta gives me a small smile. "You saved me by not leaving me behind. We're even now."

We take a few minutes to rest and then set off to find our families. I'm still worried about Haymitch, but he is bound to catch up with us eventually. I find a set of footprints leading away from the lake and follow them, knowing they were left by either Prim or Lavash. It doesn't take us long to find Prim. She is staring up into the branches of a small pine tree.

"Be careful!" she shouts into the air.

I'm about to tell her to keep her voice down when I spot Lavash in the tree. "I've almost got him." He is clinging to a branch that can barely support his weight, reaching for a clump of fur. Buttercup.

"Get down from there!" I can see the branch bending underneath him. "You'll fall."

Too late. There is a loud snap as the branch breaks away from the tree and falls to the ground, taking Lavash and Buttercup with it. The cat lands on his feet, unscathed. Lavash isn't so lucky. His arm is twisted in an awkward position, indicating that it is broken.

Prim scoops up Buttercup and rushes to Lavash's side, tears in her eyes. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have asked him to get Buttercup for me." She tentatively touches his arm, instantly finding the break in it. "Mom has the first aid kit."

I hear footsteps coming toward us. "We can worry about that later. Our first priority is to get out of here."

The poor boy has been knocked unconscious by the fall, so I help get him situated on Peeta's back. We decide to find the river and follow it upstream. The sun begins to rise by the time we reach it, sweaty and exhausted.

By now, Lavash is awake and in pain. We set him down by the river and clean the blood from his arm. Prim fashions a makeshift splint out of two sticks and a vine.

"Can I give him some food?" she asks me. "He doesn't know how to be hungry, not like us."

That's true, I guess. Peeta and his family have always been well fed. They have never had to worry about starving to death. "Alright. Give him something small."

She reaches into her backpack and grabs some cheese. "This is from my goat Lady. We had to leave her behind with Gale's family. They promised to take good care of her."

Lavash takes the cheese from her. "Won't you miss her?"

"I already do," Prim tells him sadly. "But she wouldn't survive out here."

He carefully splits the cheese in half and hands her a piece. "Let's share it. It's from your goat, after all."

Prim instantly cheers up. "Okay."

I'm glad that Lavash came with us. He is helping Prim cope better than I ever could. I sit beside Peeta and lean against his shoulder, allowing myself to relax for a bit. "Your brother is so nice."

"He was terrified of coming out here," Peeta says to me. "I told him that you had a sister about his age who was also afraid of the forest."

"That calmed him down?" I ask. I smile at the thought of two scared kids helping each other to be brave.

Peeta places an arm around me and rests his head against mine. "He was so excited to make a new friend. I think your sister gave him a reason to be strong."

We rest by the river for an hour before traveling upstream. We still haven't found my mother or Haymitch, but I try not to worry too much. Haymitch knows how to fight; and my mother, well, she knows about medicine. I hope they are together somewhere.

A bullet strikes the ground in front of us, spraying dirt into the air. The head peacekeeper stands before us, gun poised to shoot. How did he find us so quickly? I had assumed that the peacekeepers knew nothing about the forest, which would have made it easy to avoid them. It seems I have misjudged them. I aim my bow directly at him, ready to kill.

Peeta raises his hands and walks toward the head peacekeeper. "Don't shoot." He's protecting us.

I lower my bow and set it on the ground. They will kill him for sure if I remain armed. "Please," I add, raising my hands as well. I notice the bushes rustling behind him. More peacekeepers? No. It's Haymitch!

Lavash covers Prim's eyes so that she doesn't see Haymitch killing the head peacekeeper. He lets the body fall to the ground before pulling his knife out of the dead man's back. My mother walks up behind him, carrying both hers and Haymitch's backpack.

"He led us right to you," Haymitch says.

Prim runs over to our mother and gives her a big hug. "Mom! I was so worried."

"It's okay," she whispers into Prim's hair. "Everything is going to be okay."