It seemed like hours before I could function again. Peeta was the most important thing in the world to me, and I forgot about him! I'm so ridiculously stupid it's not even funny sometimes. How many cannons went off? I think it was seven, that's a lot of deaths… I can only hope that none of them were Peeta's. I was still clutching my necklace tightly, it gave me hope that Peeta was hiding somewhere safe and sound. I closed my eyes and thought back to what Peeta said when he gave it to me… 'I want you to have it.' He smiled at me and gave me a quick kiss. 'As long as you do, we'll be okay. I promise.'
"Peeta… I'll find you. I promise." I opened my eyes again and picked up the bag and slung it over my shoulder, I grabbed the bow and walked deeper into the woods. Peeta most likely ran as far away from the other tributes as possible, that would give him a decent head start, if I skipped sleeping tonight, I might be able to find him. Throughout the entire walk I kept thinking about how this was all my fault… if I had just listened to him, I shook my head. If I listened to Peeta, we'd be together… unprotected, but together.
"Oh… Peeta." I blinked hard, I didn't want to cry, but that didn't stop the tears from coming. I had a knot in my stomach, I was terrified that he was hurt, dying somewhere or already dead. It was almost dark out, so I guess I'd find out soon. I kept walking, my tears flowing silently until the anthem played and I forced myself to stop. I watched as the faces of the dead light up the sky, I didn't bother to make a note of who was gone, I was only searching for Peeta, when the seal appeared and he hadn't made an appearance I allowed myself a sigh of relief. I had to keep moving, Peeta wasn't dead, but he could be hurt or dying. I didn't want to think of that.
I kept walking until the Capitol sun started to rise, I was tired, hungry, and thirsty. I needed to rest, so I decided to check the contents of my pack, it was brown, so it blended in well with the woods surrounding me, I almost felt bad for the poor tribute who got the florescent ones, furthest from the Cornucopia. Inside my pack were: two bottles full of water, a loaf of bread, a sleeping bag, and some crackers. None of those things would help me find Peeta, but I took a sip of water and ate a cracker, then I packed up and got ready for more walking.
"Peeta! Where are you? Can you hear me?" I called. I figured we were far enough away from the other tributes by now that it'd be okay to yell to him. I heard rustling in the trees to my left, I drew my bow and aimed. The girl from 9 came running towards me and I let my arrow fly, the cannon that went off was instantaneous. I walked over to her lifeless body and pulled my arrow out of her chest. "One less to hurt my Peeta." I frowned.
"Katniss?" I heard my name faintly and I looked at the corpse by my feet, confused. "Katniss!" I heard again, louder this time, I heard footsteps behind me and I pulled an arrow. I turned around quickly. "Katniss! Don't shoot!"
"Peeta!" I dropped everything and ran to him, slamming him into a hug. "Peeta! Oh, Peeta! I'm so sorry! I never should've left you! I was so worried about you!" I hugged him tighter, not wanting to let go.
"Shh, it's okay Katniss. I'm okay. Everything's okay." He gently rubbed my back. "I'm not mad at you, it's better that we have protection." He kissed me gently. "I love you so much."
"I love you too Peeta." I leaned my head on his chest and let him hold me for a while.
"We need to find food, and water." Peeta pointed out.
"Yeah, that'd be good. We need shelter too." I took off my pack and handed Peeta a cracker and a water bottle.
"Thanks. I found a place to sleep not far from here, you look exhausted."
"I stayed up all night trying to find you. I'm really sorry Peeta."
"Stop apologizing Katniss, it's not your fault." He picked up my bag and motioned for me to follow him. "There's a bunch of caves over here, nobody will bother us there."
"Sounds good." I followed him for about an hour before we got to the cave Peeta spent last night in. It was dry and looked safe, that was a step up from the freezing cold night I spent in the woods.
"So what do you think?" Peeta asked. Helping me roll out my sleeping bag.
"It's perfect." I smiled and pulled him in for a kiss. "You're here." Peeta kissed me back and smiled at me.
"Lay down and get some sleep, I'll protect you."