Just don't hate me...

Three people left…

That's all that was left in the games. Thresh was the last to be killed before the final three and he died in a fire that was set by the fire he had before he fell asleep. The screams were heard throughout the arena, the flames could be seen for miles. Things were quiet now. Katniss was deep in thought, very distracted and Cato was worried about her. She wasn't talking like she used to. She didn't smile and when night came along all she would have terrible night terrors, screaming and crying in her sleep. Cato would wake up and quickly take her in his arms. She refused to talk about them and would go back to sleep for the rest of the night.

Peeta was completely by himself. He was doing better since his last encounter with Katniss, knowing that he wanted to try and stay alive for her. He was eating more and was better at hunting than ever. His strength was up and he felt like he was doing alright and that's when he figured out about the final three. What was going to happen now? The people outside of the games were going to want this to end soon and that meant that two people had to die. It couldn't be Katniss… That's all he thought. He wanted to get out of there as much as the next person, but he knew that she had to get back…

That day seemed darker. The clouds had rolled in and thunder sounded throughout the woods. A cool breeze swept past Cato and Katniss as they were walking towards the creek to get some water. Katniss felt different, dizzy and sick almost. She knew something bad was going to happen today and she could tell Cato felt it too. As they bent down to get water, a voice came over the speakers in the arena.

"Hello tributes," the Gamemaker said. "You are the final three, congratulations. We're making a rule change… Two tributes will come out of this arena alive… May the odds be ever in your favor…" The voice cut out and Katniss and Cato looked at each other. Cato smiled wide, but Katniss frowned. "Peeta… I can't… Cato…" She whispered and bit her lip.

"You don't have to…" Cato whispered softly.

"I can't see him die or anything either… There has to be some way around one of us dying. I don't want to lose you and I don't want to lose Peeta…" Katniss said softly and began to walk away.

"You're being irrational…" Peeta said bluntly. "Two of us can win this game. Two of us can get out of here and go home. The two of us, me and you, we can be together still."

"How could you be so selfish?! Peeta has a life too! Peeta has a family too! He's from my district! What's going to happen when I go back and he's not there when two people could win?!" Katniss shouted at him. "What's going to happen when his family sees him dead? I have to see them all the time, Cato… You don't…"

"But I have to see Clove's family and she's already dead and she's dead because of me and you… So how do you think going back to my district would be?" Cato countered back. Katniss was silent as she looked at Cato. She turned and started walked away. Cato ran up to her and grabbed her arm and turned her around. "What are you thinking?" He asked, searching her face.

Katniss didn't say a word and she just shook her head and looked down. "Don't worry about it…" She whispered and backed up then started walking.

"Katniss!" Cato shouted and went towards her. As he reached out to grab her, the ground fell beneath the two of them. Katniss screamed as they fell into a deep hole and crashed to the ground. Cato fell next to her and groaned in pain. Katniss cursed and rolled on her side and held her arm. Cato looked at her, winded he tried to catch his breath. "A-Are you ok-kay?" He asked as he sat up and took a deep breath.

She nodded her head lightly. "But… I think my arm might be broken…" She muttered and sat up herself and then looked up at the opening of the hole. They fell pretty far down too.

Cato went over to her and took her arm gingerly in his hand. Katniss cursed and pursed her lips. "Yeah…" He said lightly, "I'm pretty sure it's broken…"

Katniss nodded lightly and cradled her arm, holding it close and sighing lightly. "Okay… um…" She took her jacket off and handed it to Cato. "Have you ever made a sling before?"

"Once… My friend broke his arm while we were training…" Cato said softly. "That was a few years ago…"

"Okay… Just make one for me really quick, please…" She said softly and sighed heavily.

Cato began to do so and then smiled lightly when he finished. "How does that feel?" He asked and looked at her.

"Fine…" She said softly and sighed, looking down at her arm. "Now what though? We're stuck…" Katniss looked up at the sky through the opening of the hole. "If we don't get out of here then we'll end up dying down here…"

Cato looked up. "I can climb it and then pull you up…" He said and looked back at her. "There are a couple of roots from the trees sticking out… It shouldn't be that hard…" He said and smiled lightly.

Katniss looked at him lightly. "Okay… That sounds good…"

Cato looked up and grabbed a root from a tree and began to climb, being careful and finding foot holds for himself. He got to the top and smiled and then threw down a rope he had in his pack. Katniss tied it around her waist and held onto it and tugged it. Cato started pulling her up and smiled when she surfaced. "You alright?" He asked pulling her over the edge.

Katniss nodded. "Yeah, thanks…" She muttered. "Let's keep moving."

"Where to?" He asked.

Katniss shrugged, but then there was a rustling in the bushes. They turned and a cougar jumped out and snarled at them. The two tributes were frozen in place at the sight of the creature. There was a scream and the cougar got distracted looking the distance. Cato grabbed Katniss and ran off away from cougar. "Peeta's in trouble…" Katniss said worried.

"He'll be fine…" Cato said simply as they ended up in the open field with the Cornucopia in sight. "We'll climb up there…" He said as there was a growl from the cougar that had pursued them.

"We have to hurry!" Katniss said in a rushed tone.

Cato bit his lip and looked up and set Katniss back on the ground and then jumped up, and then threw the rope down to her like in the hole and she quickly tied it around herself, Cato quickly pulling her up just as the cougar ran into the opening. Katniss took her bow and cursed realizing she was disabled in using it. Cato reached in the bag only to find a knife. The cougar jumped up, trying to get to them, growling and snarling and in its eyes you could tell that it was set to kill and wasn't giving up. "A knife isn't going to kill that thing…" Cato muttered.

"No…" Katniss said and then started looking around at the line of the woods, searching for any sign of Peeta, wondering if he would show up. There wasn't a canon, nothing announcing that he was dead. There was movement that caught Katniss' eye and she stared there and soon, Peeta came running out with a cougar hot on his tail. He ran to the Cornucopia and jumped, latching onto the side and sliding a bit. Katniss ran over and pulled him up quickly, the cougar jumping at him, leaving a scratch down his back. He cursed in pain. "Peeta! Thank God!" She said and hugged him tightly as she got him up, not noticing the scratch at all.

Cato looked at the two and bit down on his lip. Peeta smiled lightly and hugged her back. "Thank God you're okay…" He said softly and then looked at her. "What happened to your arm?"

"I fell into a whole and broke it…" Katniss said and smiled softly. "Cato helped me with the sling…" Cato smirked and nodded lightly.

Peeta groaned in pain and Katniss looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows. "What is it?" She asked and looked at him worriedly.

"My back…" He said softly and took a deep breath.

Katniss pulled back and looked at her arms and they were covered in blood. "N-No…" She muttered and looked to Peeta who was already looking pale. Katniss looked at his back and gasped, seeing how deep the scratches actually were. "No… No…" She said, tears in her eyes.

Peeta looked at her, his vision slightly hazy. "What's wrong?" Peeta asked lightly.

Katniss looked at him and shook her head lightly. "N-Nothing… It's alright…" She told him. "H-Here… Lay down…" She laid him back and looked at him lightly.

Cato walked over. "What's wrong Katniss?" He asked her, noticing that she was upset all of the sudden.

She looked up at him and leaned into his ear. "He was scratched and is bleeding out…" She whispered softly.

Cato knitted his eyebrows together and looked at her. "I'm sorry…" He whispered back.

Katniss bit her lip and looked back down at Peeta who was getting paler. "Peeta… How do you feel?" She asked him softly, trying to stay calm and not be hysterical, knowing the inevitable end to the boy from the bakery.

"I'm cold…" Peeta said. "And my back hurts…"

Katniss nodded and looked around for anything to cover him up so that he would be more comfortable, but all she had was her sling. She started to untie it and draped it over him and sniffled lightly. "Better?" She asked and her voice caught in her throat.

"Yeah…" Peeta responded. "Are you okay? You… sound upset…" He whispered. "What's wrong?"

Katniss looked back at Cato and sniffled lightly. "Should I tell him?" She asked.

Cato nodded. "It's better for him to know than to not know…"

She nodded and looked back at Peeta, moving closer to him and biting her lip. Katniss took a deep breath before saying, "You were scratched… Really bad in the back, Peeta… There's… There's a lot of blood…" She sniffled.

Peeta looked up to her, his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes glazing over. "Am I-I dying?" He asked.

Katniss let out a choked sob and covered her mouth with her hand and nodded lightly. "Y-Yeah…" She said softly. "I'm so, so sorry Peeta…"

"I'm scared…" He confessed and looked to her, tears in his eyes now. "I don't want to die…"

"I don't want you to either…" Katniss told him and put her face in his chest crying.

"I-I love you Katniss… And-And I mean really love you…" Peeta admitted and looked at her. She turned to face him and he looked down at her lightly. "Can I-I kiss you?"

Katniss looked at him with wide eyes and then bit her lip. She nodded and sat up and leaned over, kissing him softly. He kissed her back lovingly, each breath drawing closer and closer to his last until he stopped breathing completely.

Katniss pursed her lips when she felt his cold lips stop moving and didn't hear his breathing anymore. She placed a hand over her mouth again, sobbing into her hand.

The canon blast went off and then the Head Gamemaker came over the speakers. "Congratulations to you both. You have both came through victorious in the 74th annual Hunger Games."

I was crying in the middle of the room I was in while writing this and my teacher just looked at me and my friend had no clue what was going on but... It's the Hunger Games. Your lucky I let two people live... Meh. Anyways... I'm sorry to say that this part is almost over. There will probably be two or three more chapters and then I'm going to write a sequel (based on Catching Fire). This is just to give you guys a heads up! So when after this series is over and you want to read the sequel, either keep a look out or... you know... you could follow me to... That would be a little easier in my book to be honest. Thank you for reading! I love reviews so if you want to leave one that'd make me really really happy!

xxKellyn