The next days pass quickly for Peeta. On the first day, she decides to stop sleeping in trees. She fears if she falls out of one in her sleep it could seriously hurt her. She spend the day trekking around the forest, trying to find a place for shelter. When she gets closer to the lake, she finds exactly what she is looking for. There is a small cave like area. She decides to set up camp there.
None of the food she has needs to be cooked, so there's no need for fire. She also still has her jacket and a sleeping bag, so no need to light a fire to get warm either. When she runs out of water she can trudge to the lake to fill her bottles. She keeps one full at the bottom of her backpack.
After she is situated in the cave, her days start to have a pattern to them. She wakes, she eats, she waits, she drinks, she waits more, she naps, she eats, she ventures out to the lake, she returns, she sleeps. This repeats for many days. She doubts any of the cameras focus on her, there is nothing interesting about her routine.
On the day she starts to wonder if there will be anything incentive to get the games more interesting again, an announcement is made. There will be a feast at the cornucopia the next morning. These are common. Usually when they get down to less tributes, they'll try to do something to bring them all together. Peeta has noticed that there haven't been any cannons for the past few days, or she has been unable to hear them. She wonders how many people are left in the games.
Peeta checks her supplies. Eating as little as she has been, and having grabbed enough food for two people, she still has enough food to last at least two more days. She can't think of anything that she could need from the feast. The blonde has been living pretty comfortable. Excluding her ears, but she doesn't feel like chancing running into the other tributes just for the chance that she might get her ears fixed.
So instead she stays in her hiding place. The next morning she is woken by the sound of a cannon. Peeta makes sure she has her knife near her, but doesn't think anyone is close enough near her spot. Only a few minutes later she hears another cannon. The feast must be particularly bloody.
There are no more cannons after that. Later in the afternoon, Peeta goes out to the lake. She notices that the water seems lower than usual. Thinking this might be her last chance around the water, she washes quickly and fills her water bottle.
To prove her wrong, it starts to rain.
Instead of staying in the cave that had started to flood, Peeta decides to try the trees again. At least there, she can keep her backpack from floating in dirty water.
As the anthem plays Peeta makes her way up a tree. The rain skews the faces of the fallen, but Peeta recognizes Clove and the girl from training who glared at her. She wonders if they took each other out.
With the rain and the cold temperatures, the tree is cold that night. Peeta does not get much sleep.
The next day it continues raining. The tree does not provide a lot of cover from the cold water, but it does still keep her hidden from whoever is left in the games. Even with a jacket and her sleeping bag she feels cold. Peeta eat less to try and stretch her rations. She sleeps more. If she is careful, she might be able to make her food last an extra day longer.
The next day Peeta feels as if she is soaked to her very core. Around midday, a cannon goes off. The rain stops as soon as it does. Peeta wonders who has died.
With the rain stopped, Peeta decides to go and try to clean herself in the lake one last time. She can't help but notice that the temperatures are suddenly climbing very hot.
She finds an area with water that is deep enough. After setting her sleeping bag out to dry and taking off her clothes and laying them out on rocks to dry, she submerges herself in the water. She undoes the tight bun and braid her hair had been in.
She gets out of the water after a few minutes and puts her bra and underwear back on. They are just damp, not as soaked as the used to be. She leaves her hair down. She looks at her meager supplies. There is only one piece of dried meat and one strip of dried fruit.
She slowly munches on the fruit while she waits for her clothes to finish drying. After sitting in the sun awhile she realizes her skin is starting to get too hot. She moves back towards the trees, leaving her clothes there.
While she sits under the shade of the tree, Peeta goes through the other supplies she has. She decides to try to get rid of everything she doesn't need. The bandages are thrown out, and other supplies she doesn't think she'll need go to.
She keeps all her water bottles but refills them. Then she checks her clothes. They are dry, so she puts them back on. As the sun sets, she decides to head back to her cave. The darker it gets the more she regrets the idea. The anthem plays and Peeta looks for the faces in the sky. There is only one, it is the other tribute from District 11.
Peeta has ventured closer to where a stream had previously been. It has nearly dried up. She walks along, trying to recognize things in the dark. As she walks, she tries to figure out who is left in the games. She tries listing off the districts and the people she knows who are dead, and still the math doesn't seem to be adding up.
Then suddenly she sees something drifting down towards her. It is a gift from Haymitch. Food! It is a thick soup and a roll. She wonders why she is getting a gift the late in the night. This is the first thing she has been sent. She takes a few bites, not wanting to upset her stomach with the rich food. She recognizes a roll as one that they serve in District 2.
That is when Peeta realizes it. This isn't just food to fill her stomach, it is a sign. She seals the food and puts it in her backpack and keeps walking, trying to figure out what the sign meant. Did he mean that there were two tributes left? Or that her competition was from District 2? She knows that Clove has died, so if Haymitch meant District 2, it must mean that Cato is the tribute left.
Finally she makes it back to her cave. Peeta's sure that Cato is still alive, but is he all that is left? She hopes if he is that he has decided to rest for the night. She pulls out the soup and eats more of it and the roll. Then she puts it back in her pack. Just in case Cato finds her, she puts the knife into her boot. She just wants to rest her eyes for a bit.
Peeta is woken hours later when she hears loud crashing through the woods. She gets up quickly and leaves her cave. She can see Cato barreling through the woods almost straight towards her. She wonders what his plan is.
But he barely seems to register her presence, and rushes right past her. She looks towards where he came and sees them: Muttations. She doesn't even think, she just starts running after Cato. Peeta hopes that Cato is running to a place that will be safe from the mutts.
Soon they reach the clearing where the Cornucopia is and Peeta realizes what Cato's plan was. With a burst of energy, she passes Cato and makes it to the structure first. WIthout taking time to pause, she starts to climb up the thing and makes it to the top. She sits there trying to catch her breathe. Cato is up there only a few moments after her. They sit there trying to catch their breathe. Peeta wishes she would've grabbed a water bottle or something. But she has nothing with her except the knife still in her boot and the ring she has had on her finger since Delvin gave it to her.
After a few minutes, Cato starts laughing. "You're all that's left?!" His smile makes him seem even more insane. He stands. "Do you wanna start begging for life?"
Peeta stands also. "Do you wanna start begging for yours?" She glares.
This makes Cato laugh. He starts to advance towards her. He doesn't have his sword, and Peeta doesn't see any other weapons, but he does have armor that covers his vulnerable areas.
Excluding his neck.
When he gets close enough, he grabs her neck in his hands. But Peeta is faster. She lifts her leg and grabs the knife out of its holder. Before Cato can move to get it from her, she already has swiped it across his throat. He lets go of her neck. She lifts her leg and kicks him off the side of the Cornucopia. Only a few moments into the mutts attacking his body, the cannon goes off.
Then comes the Head Gamemakers voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victor of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Peeta Mellark!"
Peeta can't help but wonder who is currently awake to see this. The sun is just starting to rise. She watches as the mutts back away from the Cornucopia. They run away back the way they came. And that's when she notices it. There are 22 of them. And they all look a lot like the other tributes. The smallest one even has her ribbon. She throws up.
A hovercraft materializes above her. First she thinks they are here to collect Cato's body, but she realizes that they are hear to collect her. Everything still seems surreal. She grabs onto the ladder and finally relaxes. When she gets into the craft, they explain that they are going to take her tracker out. When they do that, they must give her some sort of sedative, because soon Peeta is falling unconscious. Her last thought is that maybe she had been safer in the arena.
