Chapter 3: Public Defender

The 74th Hunger Games are in their third week.

And I have never been more terrified in all my life.

We are now down to the Final Five tributes, and my baby's father is remarkably still living. Even more amazing, so is his district partner, Delly Cartwright. The other three competitors are District 2's Cato, the last living Career and a brute of a killer, District 11's Thresh, a dark-skinned boy who is just as imposing, and District 5's girl whom I have taken to nicknaming Foxface. She does not fight, preferring instead to sneak and steal and flee when and where it suits her.

Back home, the Games play at all times, even when we are in school. It is only turned off of mute when something important is happening. So, I try my best to listen to my teacher while occasionally looking at the projector playing the Games on the back wall, watching Gale struggle to come home.

Nothing significant has happened for several days. No battles, no Feasts, no Gamemaker traps. With each hour that passes, I can't help but dread that something horrible will happen soon and my hunting partner's luck will finally run out.

My only ally, it seems, is the far-away presence of Haymitch Abernathy, our district's last and only living Victor. He's a legend in his own right, winning the Second Quarter Quell at the age of 16, but he has become more well-known for his drunken antics. Little wonder our tributes never make it this far, let alone win. But this year, he had better the hell be doing all he can to pull out a win for our district.

"Mrs. Munger!" A classmate interrupts the lecture to point to the screen. Something's happening! I spin in my seat, my hand instinctively going to my abdomen and the baby just within. Voices murmur as Mrs. Munger practically sprints to the back of the room and turns up the volume.

It is night in the arena, but by the light of the moon, we can see that Thresh has caught Foxface trying to steal something near his fire. She has nowhere to run this time. Thresh grabs her by the neck and twists it in an instant. She falls, the cannon sounding rapidly after. BOOM.

My heart speeds up. Four tributes left….

It is raining now, but even behind the sheets of water and the surrounding darkness, we can see Cato suddenly leap out of the shadows and now engage Thresh in a fierce duel. It is furious, desperate, one of the most anticipated showdowns in this year's Games. I have no idea who I want to win, as either one could be a real threat to my love.

"I guess it's too much to hope that they simultaneously destroy each other?" a voice asks the room at large. It is Peeta Mellark, the baker's son. Several friends laugh nervously at what is obviously a joke, and clap him on the back.

I want to glower at them. Nothing about this is funny at all. But then I realize that by asking that, they all really do want District 12 to win.

Peeta's hope is in vain, however, as Cato at last subdues Thresh in a dramatic final beatdown. Another cannon sounds.

I try to hide the shaking that threatens to take over my body. Though a tough choice, Cato is probably the worst of the two to come out of this fight, and I pray that Gale or a Gamemaker mutt gets the last Career first.

I look down at my belly, which I still have a grip on. This is too much. The stress of watching my baby's father fight to the death….. what if it endangers my pregnancy?

Meanwhile, thinking the action is over, Mrs. Munger is reaching for the remote to mute the TV.

"No!" someone calls. "Something else is happening!" Howls are heard as the camera cuts over to Gale and Delly - allies all the way through the Games and probably will be to the bitter end. Wolf-like mutts are chasing them through the midnight forest, driving them out of the safety of the trees and to the meadow that holds the Cornucopia. Ingeniously, both scale it to avoid the beasts.

Trouble is, someone else has thought of the same thing.

Cato attacks ruthlessly, quickly knocking Delly to the ground and dazing her before going for Gale. I am gripping the back of my chair so hard, my knuckles are turning white. Please, please, don't let him die…. please God….

Gale is thankfully able to hold his own in hand-to-hand combat, but I don't know how long he will last. Thankfully, Delly has roused herself and decided to serve as a distraction to let Gale find an opening in Cato's defenses. She leaps onto the Career's back like a monkey and holds fast. Cato swings his sword around and around, trying to hack at her, but Delly has effectively cut off his range of motion. Gale tries to move in, but is knocked back in the confusion by Cato. Having finally lost patience, the blond boy reels back and body-slams himself and Delly into the horn's metal, crushing her underneath him. She is killed instantly, and her body slips off the horn to the waiting mutts below as the cannon sounds.

People in my classroom are crying because of Delly's brave death and I even notice Peeta Mellark trying to fight back tears. I don't know much about the young baker, but I heard that he and Delly were childhood friends.

Gale and Cato are circling each other like the wolves who wait for either of them below.

"I thought you'd be my last kill, 12! You're the strongest from your district I've seen in years, and I've always loved a challenge!"

"Thank you for the compliment," Gale returns courteously. "I've worked hard to become so. But you are my last kill. Have you ever tasted arrow, Cato? I hear it's delicious!"

Classmates are now cheering encouragement. "Do him, Gale! Waste him!"

"GALE, DESTROY HIM!" I scream at the TV, ignoring the stares people give me for my unusually emotional-driven state.

But my prayer is in vain. Gale should not have brought a bow to a knife fight. He is loading the shot when Cato suddenly lashes out and slices through the weapon like it's paper. Gale lunges for his sword, but it is too late. Cato strikes him through and he crumples to the ground. The cannon fires.

"NOOOOOO!" I wail. So close. I was so close to having him back….. nooooo….. I am hyperventilating, clutching my stomach, ignoring the announcement of Cato's victory or the stares from the rest of my classmates. I can't do this! I run from their stares out the door, a minute before the bell rings to end class.

I am at my locker by the time some of the boys in class come up to me. They circle me, and one of them gets right in my face.

"So, he's the father, isn't he?" a boy named Axel accuses.

I refuse to look him in the eye. "I don't know what you're talking about," I reply as firmly as I can.

"Don't lie to us!" his friend, Coal, pipes up. "Violent emotions and crying fits! You may not be showing, but you're knocked up, good as the nose on my face!"

"Didn't know you were available," Axel sneers. "Hawthorne shouldn't have had the first crack at you; he had too many women…."

"You're lying!" I shriek at him.

"Wanna bet?"

"HEY!" Axel and Coal jump and move away from me so I can see Peeta stalking towards them. "Pick on somebody your own size!"

"That's a rich joke, Mellark, considering this one" Coal jeers, and he gestures at me.

"And that's irrelevant!" Peeta shouts him down. "Leave her alone NOW!"

Axel and Coal disappear down the hall. There is a moment of silence where Peeta and I stand awkwardly. He finally speaks up as I shoulder my bag.

"I'm sorry about that. They mean no harm."

"Don't they?" I barely get out, trying not to cry. I walk away.

Of course, I can hear his footsteps following me all the way home, but I don't confront him until I am feet away from my house. "Is there something you want?" I ask.

"Yes…. I'd like to talk to you."

I cannot imagine why Peeta Mellark would want to talk to me. He never has before. So, I put up my usual guard. "I'd rather not," and I turn to go inside.

"I can help you, you know." It comes out desperately, which makes me turn back. "With your pregnancy," Peeta continues, once he sees he has my attention. "Now that Gale is gone…. somebody will need to help you get through it all. Trust me, I know enough from my mother."

It is a generous offer, but what motive would a Merchant boy have for helping a Seam baby that isn't even his? I can't find a reason, even as I stare in disbelief at Peeta's suggestion. I shake my head.

"My mother's a Healer, and she is perfectly capable of helping a girl through her pregnancy, thank you." I stride into my house and slam the door shut.