I wake up to the sound of moaning. Something is pressed against my leg and I slowly move my fingers over it. I want to scream as I realize my fingers are trailing over a maimed body. I gingerly move myself out from under the body and take a closer look at the victim's face.
"Peeta!" I scream, loud enough to wake up any nearby predators. I run my fingers over his gashed cheek and still eyes. My insides want to poor over but all I do is cry my heart out. I look around; trying to find Gale, but no one is in sight. I see something gleaming next to the dying fire we had made the evening before. I grab at it and study the emblem on the handle. The Capitol was here. Movement in the forest catches my attention and a man in a black costume emerges from within the bushes. I watch him take his last breathes of life before falling still. I can barely make out Peeta's knife snarled between the man's shoulder blades.
The thought of Peeta makes me turn back to my love's dead body. Suddenly, the setting around me shifts into one that came from the depths of my nightmare. I spot myself in the clearing with the Cornucopia. Peeta still lies dead at my side and the dead form that had once been that of the Capitol guard is now Cato's.
"We have a victor for our seventy-fourth Hunger Games!" comes the taunting, booming voice of none other than Claudius. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Katniss Everdeen!"
"No!" I scream. "No! Peeta doesn't die! He's supposed to live! We are both supposed to live!" I stare helplessly as two hover crafts emerge from nowhere, one picking up Cato's body. The other one hovers above me, readying itself to pick up Peeta.
"I won't let you take him!" I scream at the hovercraft while clutching on to Peeta's body. I try to drag him along with me but his body feels as heavy as lead. The hovercraft inches closer and inside I can see the wild face of one of the mutts – the one that looked like Rue. She snarls at me and I scream, letting go of Peeta. Instantly, the hovercrafts takes this chance to take his body.
"Peeta!" I scream at the top of my lungs. "Peeta come back!" I cry.
"Hush now, Katniss. Consequences must be made. After all, you dared try to question the Capitol's authority." The same booming voice echoed within the landscape. I screamed and grabbed for a non-existant pouch of berries that should've been on my belt. I wanted to kill myself. Without Peeta, I felt worthless. Feeling hopeless, I fall to the ground and cry my heart out.
"Peeta," I whimper, "Come back to me."
"Katniss?" a hushed voice whispers. My wet eyes jerk open and I'm looking into Peeta's blue eyes, only visible by the nearby flickering flames. It was still dark out and everything was as it was before I fell asleep, including Gale fast asleep a few feet away from me.
"Peeta?" I say in a hoarse voice. I sluggishly get up and nearly flush with embarrassment when I realize I was dreaming all along. "A nightmare," I explain to Peeta.
His eyes seem troubled. "And I was in it because?" I turn a darker shade of red. I had probably yelled out his name during the nightmare.
"It was the Hunger Games," I say mystified, "I was the only one who came out alive." I let out a choked sob and Peeta takes me into his arms while trying to make me feel better.
"I'm here," he says into my ears. The sound of his voice makes me feel relieved and I twist myself into his arms, just like I did in the Games.
"I can't stop thinking about it," I say barely audible.
"Me neither," he says with ancient pain. "But I realized the Games helped me with just one thing."
"What is that?" I ask curiously.
"They gave me the chance to finally talk to you after all those years of only standing at the sidelines." Not knowing what to say, I only stare up into his eyes.
"I'm sorry Peeta," I finally whisper, "for everything."
"Can we pretend this is a night in the Games just one more time?" he asks. I gaze at him with questioning in my eyes. He smiles and drags over his sleeping bag, opening it wide enough for both of us to fit into it. I instinctively glance over at Gale and Peeta catches me.
"Don't worry. We can get up before he wakes." I can sense the urgency in Peeta's voice. What was the harm? Like I said before, this would be the last time they are going to see me in a long while.
As a response, I climb into the sleeping bag and wait for him to slip in. He does so right after me and he positions his arm under my head, just like during the days of the Games. But unlike the Games, I felt his new leg, cold as metal, pressed against me. A scar left forever from our battles. I ignore that feeling knowing I should be thankful for him being alive. Knowing I am going to need much energy tomorrow, I fall asleep instantly.