Chapter 3 – Push Yourself
Peeta and I stand in front of the obstacle course. "When was the last time you ran one of these?" he teases. Non-deployables were notorious for being soft in this particular aspect.
"Like… two years ago?" I smirk. We were relieved fifteen minutes early by Gale and a foxy-like redhead from his battalion, so we had about a half hour to bullshit before the rest of the 74th arrived. "Come on, I can't get shown up by these guys, we'll run partners," I suggest. This meant that we couldn't move to the next challenge until the partner was ready. Times were always a little slower, but it taught people to rely on someone else.
"Ready?" I ask, setting my watch. We might as well time this officially. "Go!"
We run forward. The first obstacle was the tires, stereotypically easy for someone with small feet like myself, though somehow Peeta beat me through it.
"Cheater!" I laugh before diving into the dirt to crawl under the wire. The first time I did this it was full of mud, but now it was just hard sand. He beat me again and offered his hand to pull me off the ground.
Because of my size and lack of stocky muscle, the bars are where I could gain an advantage over Peeta, but only by a few seconds. The only major challenge was a slightly slanted wood wall with no rope, it was SUPPOSED to be down.
I got down on my knees and cupped my hands, "I'll break your-" he starts.
"Shut up and go, then lift me up!" I scold. His weight hurt on my knee, but I could deal. He lifted himself to the top and leaned down for my hand, lifting me like a rag doll before dropping down once I was situated.
"Jump! I'll catch you!" he yells.
1… 2… 3…I throw myself from the device and soon found myself in strong arms. We probably linger there a moment too long. "I- Sorry!"
Peeta set me on my feet and we were off to a similar obstacle with ropes. My lack of strength and his weight evened this one out. After we had lowered ourselves down there, it was just a one hundred yard dash to the finish. Since this was not a race, we kept pace with each other, one pulling ahead with the other catching up.
There was already a thin layer of sweat on my brow as we crossed the finish line, and our battalion had already gathered to watch.
"Six minutes," I tell him, stopping my watch. "Gonna have to up your game, Mellark," I elbow him playfully.
"It's your short legs, Everdeen," he says, pushing back. I was about a head shorter than him, but years of track, the only sport I participated in, made me fast. It was probably the good minute he was cradling me that slowed us down.
I clap my hands together, rubbing some dust off them. "Alright, we're going to jog the perimeter, nothing too strenuous, everyone line up!"
Peeta was the second highest in rank. After his next physical test, he would most likely be promoted to Sergeant. We ran in two rows - the two of us in front, Cato and Clove behind us, followed by Marvel and Glimmer. I didn't know the rest, but they all fell in neat lines not second guessing my actions, my commands, or my pace.
Everyone was still groggy at this hour, even me, but I had to push on. When we got back to the course, I crouched on the ground. "Warm-ups aren't over, did you think I'd go easy on you?" I'm good at making friends, "Come on, drop and we'll do twenty!"
I had learned a cool trick in Basic… push-ups with one hand. I think everyone expected me to drop to my knees. "One!" My battalion followed suit with no one else daring to go one handed, not even Cato. "Two!" We went slowly. On each dip close to the dirt, I could see my breath kicking up dust but continued until we got to twenty.
"Alright, shake out those wrists. You're going to have a little break now. Get a drink, you all need it," I order, wiping my brow. Though it was only about eight in the morning, the temperature was easily seventy five degrees, and would only get hotter.
Cato and Marvel were the first ones in line for the obstacle course, thinking they would breeze through and get off early. "You'll all do it twice, once with myself, once as a battalion. You're all very cliquey, and unless you want to spend the rest of your time here on guard duty, or cleaning guns for actual divisions, you're going to have to get over that juvenile train of thought."
I stretch my arms and steal a glance at Peeta, his concerned eyes meeting mine. I was willingly running PT in the climbing Iraq heat, and would be running the course at least ten times for the rest of my division.
"Cato, since you're so eager…" I say, then notice something. "Too eager to put on your bulletproof vest?"
"Don't wear Kevlar for PT… Sarge," he retorts.
I cross my arms. "I'll tell those snipers on the hills that," I say, pointing off in the distance. "That's only about one thousand yards, doesn't take much training to make a shot like that." He sneers at me as I take off my jacket, feeling no need to overheat myself too soon.
"Here," I turn, handing Peeta my watch. "Person with the best time doesn't get overnight duty!" I was already planning on saving that patrol for myself and Peeta, since it was quiet and calm then, not to mention cool.
"Ready?" I ask, and Cato nods. "Go!"
Everything went swimmingly. Much to my surprise, he managed to wait for me whenever I ever fell behind. When we got to the wooden wall and kneel, he groans.
"You can't be quitting, seriously?" he sounds so condescending as I place my hands on my knee like I did for Peeta.
"Put your foot here, pull yourself up, then pull me up," I hiss. "Clock's ticking!" He hesitated for a second before putting his weight on my knee, then pulling me up like a rag doll. Without hesitation, he jumps off.
"Oof!" I groan, feeling a warm sensation in my right ankle. I press on, ignoring it, and soon enough, it goes away. After I run through Cato, Clove, Glimmer, Marvel, Cresta, and the largest man I've ever seen, Thresh, I find that my limp is noticeable. A firm hand pulls me off to the side.
"You're hurt," Peeta whispers, though I pull away.
"I'm fine," I reply and rest my weight on my bad ankle, "See?" I tried not to let my face betray me, but soon it was contorted in pain.
"Go get it looked at, I can take it from-"
"No, Peeta, you don't understand," I say, interrupting him. "They look at me like I'm a piece of meat. If I limp off with my tail between my legs, they'll never respect me and we'll be sitting here on this base until we're sent home. Don't you want to see Rue again?" I knew which buttons to press to get him to stop bothering me. The little girl in Fallujah was definitely one of them.
"Katniss…" he starts, there he goes with that damn concern again.
"It's just one more run, then I'll get off it…" I promise, though I couldn't look him in the eyes. Just off to the distance, the air was hot and dry. I wanted nothing more than to strip down and find water to roll in, but I couldn't, at least not yet.
"Fine…" he hisses through gritted teeth.
When we ran as a group, Peeta and I kept up the rear. Thresh and Cresta set the pace seeing as they had the two best times. Thresh, though last, was the winner, mostly because he was strong enough to carry me over the two climbing obstacles like a sack of flour.
When I reach the top of the ropeless wall, Peeta looks up at me, "I'll catch you!" he promises again. I trust him, though I should probably be more apprehensive. If I land on my ankle wrong again, though, I probably won't be getting back up.
I didn't linger in his arms, instead flailing out and running to the next obstacle. I won't rely on him, I told myself. I could do this, I was strong.
My legs felt like jell-o as we walked into breakfast. Despite my speech, the tired and sweaty 74th still divided into their cliques. I went to sit alone, but Peeta followed me. "You promised you'd get off your ankle," he reminds me as I sit down.
"Breakfast first, then shower, then I'll sleep it off…" I say. "You should, too, since we have guard duty overnight again…"
I pushed my "eggs" around with my fork, "Ah yeah, best shift of the day," he remarks and I look up at him. Normally, people didn't want to offset their sleep schedule like that, but he was completely serious. "There's not a lot of light pollution out here… did you notice the stars last night?"
I shrug. To be honest, all I was looking at was him, a blush finding my cheeks. "Everdeen, you're flushed, drink more water," he commands, handing me his canteen which I sip from slowly. After a workout like that, too much water can result in projectile vomiting. "You are not doing that again."
I shrug at his warning tone, "Says who? I outrank you… I-"
Our voices were hushed, but still it seemed like the room was trying to overhear our soon-to-be argument. "Katniss, rank only means so much, especially when someone's running themselves to death just to prove they're not weak," he implores. "Even the strongest of us ask for help from time to time. Let me help you…"
I would have hit him if I had the energy, or at least stormed off. Instead I sat there, exhausted and fuming. He's right - well, kind of. "Fine, you can help with PT…" I grumble, after all he was my second in charge. I took my hair out of my braid and ran my fingers through my dirty hair.
I shovel the rest of my food in my mouth and guzzle some more water. "Remember the schedule I gave you?"
"Mhm?" he questions.
"Add vomiting to that," I could feel my stomach gurgling. I calmly threw out my trash and found my way to the nearest ladies room… which was in the barracks.
The bathroom was empty as I expected, with most everyone at breakfast. I barely made it to the toilet before my food and the gallon of water I had chugged came up. I was still in my vest, making it impossible to get a good breath of air. Gasping and heaving at the same time has to be one of the scariest combinations of bodily functions in the world. As I fumble for the Velcro, I feel it ripped from my body and my hair removed from my face. I don't question this at all; my only concern expelling the rest of my breakfast from my body and sitting on the cool bathroom floor. Afterwards, I wipe my mouth on a piece of toilet paper.
Shame was the first thing I felt upon seeing Peeta's concerned face. "See?" he asks. It was as good as him telling me, 'I told you so'. His strong hand was rubbing the sweaty nape of my neck.
"How can you touch me? I'm filthy…"
He just shrugs and smiles, "Then get a shower, and go to bed." I felt like a child. First the ankle, now the vomiting… couldn't the odds be in my favor for once?
"I brought your toothbrush… I hope you don't mind me going into your room, figured…"
I put a finger to his lips just to shut him up. "Thanks, Mellark. Maybe you should be the Sergeant…" I put my head between my knees, his hands rubbing my back.
"Well… I have my exam in two weeks, but I won't be a staff, just regular… if I pass," I knew he was smiling, don't know how though.
"You help me survive this week, and I'll make sure you pass that damn test." I promise and put my hand on his shoulder, attempting to shake him a little but only managing to topple myself onto him.
I don't know if it was the heat or what, but I let myself linger for a second too long. "I…" he stood up, hauling me to my feet. "I better head to bed. See you tonight." I nod as he rushed out of the ladies room off to his own barracks.
Bed, that's what I need. I didn't bother to check my computer or get dressed. I flop onto my bed, pull the sheets up to my neck and let everything go black. At 1500, there was banging at my door. "Ugh… Can't they take care of themselves for five minutes?" I question to the wall, getting up and realizing I was still naked. I pull on a grey t-shirt and sweat shorts before answering the door.
"Ravishing, as always," Major Abernathy smirks. I fidget, realizing that my shorts were too short, shirt was too loose… combined with the lack of a bra.
"Sorry, sir, I was grabbing some shut-eye before patrol tonight," I say as he glances at my living space. He wasn't inspecting - just getting a feel for it, a feel for me.
"I was watching your PT today… Impressive…" he remarks, picking up the picture of Prim from my helmet. "I've never seen a more dedicated Sergeant, especially after one day. Cute kid, is she yours?"
"No, my little sister," I laugh and snatch the photo from him. It was more precious to me than my rifle… and I really love my rifle.
"We've decided to move up Corporal Mellark's Sergeant test, not because you can't handle them-"
I cut him off, "He deserves it, sir. If there's anything I can do to help him, I will." I saw the old man's eyes light up.
"Eager like your old man…" he chuckles. "It's his dreamy eyes, isn't it?" I groan at him, sitting down on my bed. "You're going to have to move him off guard duty. And with that ankle of yours, I wouldn't bother going out there. We've rescheduled for the next few days." I glance down at my foot - it had turned black and blue with a twinge of green.
"Aw, come on!" I said to my foot, while the major only seemed to grow more and more enthused.
"Let the Corporal run PT for the next few days while you heal. We could always use it as his Sergeant test," he suggests, which is very unorthodox. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Maybe it was something in his lively eyes, or maybe it was the small smile playing on his lips. But for some reason, I just knew he wasn't.
"The sooner you cooperate with my orders, the sooner you'll actually get off the ground and start doing something, Everdeen. You've been relieved from guard duty and PT, though I expect to see you on the range. Major Odair and I both expect Mellark's score to be exceptional," he says, closing the door.
After the Major left, I got on my computer. My mother emailed me pictures of our new house, telling me my room would be waiting when I came home. They got a deal on a house that was in foreclosure with two bedrooms more than we needed. Space for guests, I imagine…
All of a sudden something popped up on my screen. Prim was calling me though Skype. My heart skipped a beat, knowing I could see her face, talk to her, and actually hear her voice.
"Hey little duck!" I greet, feeing at ease for the first time in a few days.
There was a few seconds lag but she smiles back, "Katniss! How is it? Is it hot?"
"A little… Excited for the move?" I ask hopefully.
She rolls her eyes, "Not really, I'm hoping this one is more permanent…"
"It should be, at least until you graduate high school." I debate whether or not to tell her about Peeta, not wanting to keep Prim away from her day. It was Saturday after all.
"How's Mom?" I finally ask.
"Cleaning everything. She doesn't stop moving until she passes out. I think she's afraid… but she's sleeping now so…" Prim shrugs. I hear my door open and close, but no footsteps.
"Hey, Gale," I watch him approach on camera, my eyes not leaving the screen.
"Prim! Look at you I bet you have all the guys going after you now!" he exclaims.
"No! No guys, Prim!" I shook a finger.
"Rory lives in Jacksonville with your Mom, right?" she asks. Gale chuckles and nods, knowing about her crush on his younger brother since grade school.
"Damn you, Gale!" I shake my fist and push him away, shifting on my ankle and wincing a little.
"Katniss!" Prim gasps. "What happened?"
"It's fine, Prim, just a sprained ankle. I'll be up and running in no time. If Gale has nothing better to do, he should take me to get it wrapped." I knew this information would alleviate Prim's stress over such a minor injury.
"I'll let you go," she says. "I love you, Katniss."
I smile, "I love you, too, Prim. Tell Mom I'm safe and good luck with the move. I can't wait to see the house!"
After I close my computer, a dark piece of fabric hits my face, my sports bra. "Don't think you want to go out there without one," he admonishes. "You've already caught the attention of every man on this base. Though… only like three quarters of them want to bend you over and-"
"Gale!" I hiss. He turns around as I lift my shirt up to hook the bra in the back. "I don't need to hear about that!" I say, applying deodorant. I pull my shirt down and put on the only other pair of shoes I brought to Iraq, well-worn sneakers that wouldn't put much pressure on my ankle.
"Ready, Catnip?" he asks, his back still to me.
"You can turn around, don't know why you bother… you've seen me naked before," I tease. We don't talk much about the few times we were intimate, but they still happened.
"Yeah, just giving you some space, come on." He wraps his arm around my waist as I hold on to the shoulder farthest from me for support. I attempt to walk as naturally as possible. Since the Marine Corps doesn't have medics, any doctor, nurse, or field medic we have are on loan from the Navy. For the most part, we're all trained on how to keep each other alive. For us, step one was to apply a tourniquet or Quikclot, a magical powder bored Marines like to play with because of how hot it gets. It was better than playing with explosives, I guess?
The woman looks at my ankle. "It's not bad. You should be able to get back to your routine by next week." I groan in reply, that was far too long. The nurse carefully wraps my foot and ankle in a tight Ace bandage after including a splint. The support alleviated a lot of the pain, so maybe I could get back by tomorrow…I'd just have to rest tonight. "Here's an icepack. Come back for a new one whenever it gets warm. For tonight, keep it elevated and no running on it!" she scolds as I put my sneakers back on. I'm given some aspirin for the pain, which I dry swallow.
"I'm starved," I tell Gale, the smell of dinner wafting through the warm halls.
"Yeah, you're looking a little thin…" he says, squeezing my side, which almost sent me toppling over.
My dinner consists of another Tabasco-covered random protein, veg and carb tray, as was every meal I picked at. I emptied the small bottle on my food while Gale took off his jacket and vest. "Any idea when you'll get out in the city?" he asks, shoveling food in his mouth like a proper gentleman.
"Not for at least two weeks… We're team building," I sigh. "Also, Corporal Mellark is hopefully going to become Sergeant Mellark in seven days, which will give me more time up in a post instead of on the ground like a sitting duck…"
"You've never liked being on the ground… probably why you spent all of our winter breaks up in your tree stand," he teases.
"Hey!" I point my fork at him, "We ate like kings those winters." He chuckles in reply.
"So… if you're getting a second Sarge, does that mean you're going for Gunnery?"
Gunnery Sergeant was the rank above Staff Sergeant. I made a face that earned another chuckle and went back to my food. "Maybe by the time you leave, you'll be Major Sergeant Katniss Everdeen," he jokes with a mouthful of food.
"And you'll be a five star General…" I retort, pushing my hot sauce covered potatoes around my plate. "I think I'm done with promos. I just want to do my job, not climb the corporate ladder." I clean my plate with my finger today, not bothering to act like a lady. "Could you show me to Mellark's room? I'm not sure if the Major told him our… situation."
"Situation?" Gale balks, raising his eyebrows. "Katniss, you just met the guy… well…" he crosses his arms over his chest, going into 'older brother mode'.
"They pulled me from guard because of my ankle, and him because they want him to score high on his Sergeant test," I shrug.
"They?"
"Odair and Abernathy." I could see Gale drooping, dark circles under his eyes. "Come on, show me to his room and go to bed." I stand, tapping the back of my hand against his shoulder.
When we got to Peeta's room, I knocked lightly. Gale had left me to go to bed and I was getting stares from men in the hall. Maybe Peeta had a lot of female guests in his room?
I knew I had permission to barge into his room given my rank, but respected him enough to wait for him to open the door.
"H-hi," I said, my breath catching in my throat. I squeezed the frozen icepack in my hand, which resisted the pressure from my fingers. I stood there gawking at his muscular chest for much longer than I should before he pulls me into his room.
Someone whistled, another one told him to 'give it to her good'.
"Shut the hell up, Jackson," Peeta barks and closes the door behind us. I stand there, completely unable to speak as Corporal Mellark stands in front of me, clad in only a pair of sweat shorts.
"Something the matter, Katniss?" he asks, putting a shirt on and breaking my trance. "Here, sit down." He pats his bed, which is immaculate. I could feel myself blushing as I lowered myself onto the bed , placing the icepack on my ankle.
"Did the Major come by?" I ask, itching at my leg a little where the bandage was chafing.
"Naw, should he have?" he replies, browsing his computer and not bothering to look at me.
"Yeah, probably. I was removed from guard duty tonight… and every night until I can stand on this." I lift my ankle a little, wincing now that the throbbing has started again.
"You should have stopped this morning when I told you," he says sternly, still not looking at me.
"You're off guard duty as well. Major Abernathy and Major Odair want you to spend the next few days working on your test to make Sergeant, as well as running PT."
He smirks in reply, finally looking in my direction. "Isn't that your job?"
"Yeah, but I'm disabled. I can watch and critique, but you're the one being tested. I think they figure if we have a Sergeant on the ground, I can be up in a sniper's post. They really want you to pass."
He chews at his thumbnail a little. "So you got them to push up my test so you could spend twelve hours sitting on a bucket waiting for something to shoot?"
"No, that's just the payment I get for helping you. If I keep off this tonight, I should be up and running tomorrow morning anyway. I-"
He cuts me off, "Let me look at it." I try to pull my injured ankle in, but he was already on the bed, sitting with my bad foot in his lap. He removes my sneaker and then the bandage with expert care. "Well, it's not swollen… but it's bruised pretty bad. You shouldn't be running the obstacle course on this," I bit my lip as his fingers felt along the worst part of the bruising. "But you're going to try anyway no matter what I think," he says with a defeated sigh. Good, he's learning.
"Maybe… Major Abernathy told me he'd be watching. I don't want him to demote me because I can't follow directions…" I watch him wrap my ankle again and put the icepack back on it. We sit there for a few minutes in silence. "We should probably get started," I say. "You can pass the physical part with your eyes closed." On his bed side table were the heavy work books on the history of the USMC, along with every other fun factoid he'd need to know in order to become Sergeant.
Because Peeta and I had slept through the day, we stayed up until sunrise, only studying for a few hours. We sat there talking about when we were kids, though we never really interacted. We find out we were pretty much in the same classes from the time we were five up until middle school. I kept my foot in his lap until the ice pack got warm and the pain pills wore off.
He was telling me about wrestling. "Yeah, you came in second to your brother your junior year," I recall as the memory emerges from my mind.
I had just gotten off track practice. The only person besides Gale I ever considered my friend, Madge Undersee, came up to me. She was the Mayor's daughter, and had a fair amount of friends, giving me a good hand of acquaintances. I'd always be that weird girl that would rather be out hunting, though.
"Aw come on, you know you want to go," she said. I was sitting on a wooden bench in the women's locker room, braiding my hair. Most days I'd be out in the woods hunting after practice. but Gale had detention. I didn't really like going into the woods alone, especially with the mountain lions and bears around. We saw one two days ago from afar and turned right around. You didn't mess with a full sized black bear.
Gale made me promise not to go in the woods without him. I was sixteen and he was seventeen. We were experimenting with dating, so he was ten times more protective than normal.
"Fine… but you owe me," I said. She was trying to get me friendly with her other friends, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed merchant girls from the richer part of town. I stuck out like a sore thumb with my black hair and dark skin. Each and every one of them looked at me as if I was an outsider in my hunting boots, flannel shirt and well-worn jeans. I idly watched each of the matches until the end, two blonde boys. They were both about the same size. I recognized one of them as Peeta Mellark. The other must have been his older brother, Ryan.
This was the only match I watched intently. When it looked as if Peeta would win, he looked up at the crowd towards me. Our eyes locked for two seconds too long and Ryan flipped him over.
"You lost because of me," I claim, leaning my head back against the wall.
Peeta just shrugs and smiles. "Doesn't matter now, the past is the past. Now come on, we have a half hour before we need to be outside and you're going to take forever to get ready." He put my shoe back on and helped me to my feet.
"Why, because I'm a woman?"
"No, because of your ankle…" he remarks, looking around, "I have to take my shorts off. You might want to turn around; it's not very professional for you to gawk at me again," I lean forward, trying to take a swing at him before he gingerly throws me onto his bed so I'm facing down.
"Would you stop trying to hit me and let me get ready?"