A/N - Sorry, super rough, I was just so excited I had the time and motivation to finish this tonight I wanted to get this posted ASAP! Enjoy!


Katniss POV

I've just reached the edge of the forest when I stop to turn around to look for Peeta, I can't hear his footsteps behind me, but I'm relieved see him catching up to me only a few yards away. I survey the field and see about a dozen tributes hacking away at each other and several more already dead on the ground. I turn to continue running just before Peeta reaches me, knowing he will follow me. I run into the fox faced girl from District 5, we hardly have time to look at one another before Peeta breaks through the woods and scoops me to my feet and we continue running. After I feel like we've sufficiently put enough space between us and the bloodbath at the Cornucopia I slow to a steady jog that I think Peeta and I can maintain for a long time. I know Peeta's fast, but he's a sprinter, I'm the one used to travelling long distances for a long time. While we are alternating between jogging and walking I remove the knife and hand it to Peeta who looks it over and gives it a nod of approval, it's got a long sharp blade and is serrated near the handle; we're used to using much less fine weaponry than this. "Maybe you should carry it, if we get separated I've got the backpack, at least you'll have the knife." I say, knowing when he looks at me with a raised eyebrow that he's not going to go along with that suggestion.

"I thought you said that I would be able to handle myself in hand-to-hand combat? You need the knife Katniss, at least if I get into it with someone you can help me out by sticking a knife in them somehow, but if we get separated you know I want you to have the weapon." He says. I roll my eyes at him; it was worth a shot I guess. We continue walking until late in the afternoon when we decide to stop and take a break, satisfied that we've put enough distance between us and our competitors. We need to go through the backpack before nightfall anyway. We've seen wildlife, but what we haven't seen yet is water, none at all, which I'm worried about. I hope they aren't thinking of forcing us all to go to the lake for water, we've travelled to far for that to be an option for us anymore. The cannons start to go off, we count eleven, eleven dead tributes, at least I can rest at ease that we are together, if we were separated I don't know what I would have done. I'm more exhausted and thirsty than I thought, and Peeta is breathing heavily as well, we've both sweat a lot. I know we won't last long without water, Haymitch's second instruction to us for survival. I slump down on the ground, knowing that Peeta won't stop until I show some kind of sign of needing a break.

"Let's stop here; we need to go through the backpack before nightfall anyway." Peeta nods his head in agreement. "This backpack is so orange; it'll practically glow in the dark." I say. I remove the contents, a black sleeping bag that Peeta and I will probably both fit into, or at least under if we completely unzip it and use it as a blanket, a pack of crackers, dried beef strips, a bottle of iodine, matches, coil of wire, sunglasses, and an empty water bottle. "So how do you want to do this? I could set some snares; maybe have a rabbit for the morning. You look for somewhere to sleep for the night, pick out a nice high tree with lots of branches." I suggest.

"Really Katniss? Me, sleeping in a tree? If I can even get into a tree how am I supposed to sleep in it without falling out?" Peeta asks skeptically. I have to agree, he's not the best tree climber to begin with, and it's very risky to have him sleep in a tree, I could probably use my belt or something to strap myself in, but I don' t think his will be big enough for that. "I'll figure something out, just set your snares, don't go too far." I have to trust him, we split up, I walk about five minutes away to set my snares, and I don't want them too close to us. When I walk back the backpack and all the items are gone and a layer of pine needles spread out to conceal our resting spot. I'm afraid to say his name too loud; although I'm sure there isn't anyone who could have kept up with us. "Katniss," I turn and see Peeta a few yards away, motioning for me to follow him. He takes me to a willow tree with lots of branches, an ideal tree to sleep in, only we walk under and past it, the branches are just long enough to touch the top of a bush that is growing against a good sized boulder. "Look Katniss," He motions for me to look underneath, the backpack is pushed to one side, and the orange looks as if he's tried to camouflage it, mud would be better, but we don't have any of that at the moment. It also looks as if the ground has been dug away at to make a bit of a shallow hole and spread with pine needles, its perfect really. The bush is thick enough from the front, but accessible from one side where Peeta pushed all the dirt to, it's an impressive hiding spot. I smile at Peeta, "Wait, one more thing, just in case." He takes some of the dirt and covers my face in it, then does the same for himself. "It would be better if we had some mud, but say if someone has a flashlight or something we should be able to blend right in."

It's nearly dark so we climb into our hiding spot, we lay directly on the dirt and pine needles, Peeta covers us both with the black sleeping bag, and does his best to cover that with dirt and pine needles until we are essentially buries in the dirt under the bush. Just when I think it'll be impossible to spot us he pulls out a few branches that he must have taken from another bush of the same kind and places them around us and it almost completely covers the small opening that we climbed in through. It's small and cramped and Peeta and I are pressed against each other so closely we can hardly move, but I remind myself that we don't know what tomorrow will bring for us and try to think of this as a small blessing in this hell of being hunted. Surely the Careers have been taught to hunt the other tributes at night, I know that Peeta has hidden us well enough that they'll probably walk right past us, I hope we don't have to test that theory. We both fall asleep almost immediately, a whole day of hiking and fighting for our lives, combined with the sleepless night has taken their toll on us. We're awakened by the anthem, although Peeta has us hidden too well to see the sky, I shimmy out as far as I need to in order to see the display of tributes who have been killed. I say each on aloud, "The girl from District 3, that means all the Careers from 1 and 2 have survived. The boy from 4, the boy from 5, both from 6 and 7, the boy from 8, both from 9, and…the girl from 10." I shimmy back down into our hiding spot. "Rue, the little girl from 11 survived." I say somewhat happily. Peeta rubs my shoulder sleepily.

"That's good." Peeta yawns. I snuggle down into him, happy for his presence with me. I'm happy about the girl from 11, if something were to happen to Peeta, it would be nice if she could make it to the end, win possibly. She still reminds me of Prim, but all those times I saw her in the training centre I got used to her. After a few days of noticing her in our shadows I started to develop a soft spot for the little girl. Again I fall into a deep sleep that is interrupted by the sound of snapping, I keep hearing it and again shimmy as far as I dare until I can see the beginning of light, far too close for comfort. Someone started a fire! This late into the night, the Careers have had hours by this point to be combing the woods looking for victims. Who ever that is might as well be waving a flag and shouting "Come and get me!", Peeta and I are unintentionally a stone's throw from the biggest idiot in the Games. I shimmy back into the hiding spot, careful not to wake Peeta, I lay under the sleeping bag for the next couple of hours, sleeping and waking constantly, considering taking out this person who has become a hazard to my plan to keep Peeta alive. Stupid people at this point are just as dangerous to me as the Careers who will surely find the fire started before day break.

I can feel dawn approaching and I'm starting to believe that we've, meaning Peeta and I and the fire starter, have gone unnoticed. I decide to wake Peeta to let him know we need to come up with a plan fast so that we can escape unnoticed. When he wakes I quickly whisper to him our situation, midsentence he covers my mouth. I'm still as a rock, knowing that he wouldn't have done this unless he heard something, then I hear it too, several pairs of feet breaking into a run. The fire starter must have fallen asleep and they are on the person before they can escape. I hear a girl's voice pleading, the agonized scream that follows. Then there's laughter and congratulations from several voices, the Career Tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4. We hear them check for supplies, Peeta pulls his hood over his head to hide his blond hair, we sink as deep as we can into our hiding spot as they come from behind our boulder, someone cries out "Twelve down, and eleven to go!" which gets a round of appreciative hoots. They eventually realize that they should have heard a cannon and they discuss who will go back to finish off the girl, they have flashlights and torches, but our bush is hiding us so well that not so much as a stream of light is falling on me and Peeta, so I know he's hidden us well, and if we stay quiet enough we won't be found. While one of them reluctantly goes to finish off the fire starter while the rest talk amongst themselves, "Ugh, I wish that was at least one of those disgusting District 12 tributes. I couldn't stand them a minute longer, I can't wait to kill one of them and leave the other to suffer."

"Wish we knew how she got that eleven." Says one of them.

"Yeah, the boy I could at least see him doing something impressive, but she seemed to simple minded, spinning in that dress, I just wanted to puke." Says one of the girls.

A cannon sounds and when the tribute who left to finish off the fire starter returns they break out into a run just as dawn begins to break. After a few minutes we start to breathe normally again, I hadn't even noticed I'd been holding my breath. Then Peeta lets out a quiet chuckle, "If only they knew, you're the one they should be afraid of the most."

"Why is that?" I ask him.

"You are going to dominate the Games in these woods, they don't stand a chance, they'll run out of food eventually, but you'll be high up in a tree somewhere, picking off squirrels and surviving, like always." Peeta says in a light tone.

I let out one quiet sarcastic laugh, "Ha, with what bow and arrow will I be picking off squirrels? And besides, neither of us will be doing any such thing unless we find some water. So let's move." I check my snares, careful to watch out for any Careers that may have lingered in the area while Peeta packs up our supplies and hides our sleeping spot in case we may need to return to it. I use the fire starter's dying fire to cook the rabbit that was caught in my snare, Peeta grinds up part of a charred branch to better camouflage the orange backpack. I'm glad this is on camera; sponsors will see that we are resourceful, we won't be lured into a trap by hunger as most of the other tributes may be, and also we are still a team.

We start hiking, I follow every rule I know for tracking down water, but we pass another whole day without finding any. In the late afternoon we find a cluster of berry bushes, Peeta is so thirsty and so am I, but as I'm about to eat one I get a good look at it, "Stop!" I say to Peeta who quickly stops and looks closer at the berries himself.

"No, they're not…" He begins, but I interrupt him, having split one open and looked at the blood red insides of the fruit.

"I don't know for sure, and we can't risk it Peeta." I say, he looks at me disappointedly; it takes a lot of strength for me to throw them away and hike past the bushes. I'm so thirsty; the berries would have helped so much. We walk until nightfall, both of us are obviously dehydrated, I'm not used to his, hunger I can get through, but my woods in District 12 is rich with streams to drink from. I'm not used to being this thirsty, and we're looking at going on two days without water. We rest frequently, and Peeta's not a complainer, but I know he's just as bad off as I am.

In the morning I know we've travelled so far that going back to the lake that I saw on the other side of the Cornucopia is not an option. I fall in defeat, I've killed Peeta, I've taken him so far from our only source of water that I've essentially killed him. Peeta collapses beside me, dehydrated, defeated, we're going to die here because of me. "Why isn't Haymitch sending us any water? Surely we have some sponsors, enough for water." Says Peeta angrily.

If I had any water left in me I would cry, but my body just makes the motions and sounds without any moisture to spare coming from my eyes. "Water." I say in as loud a voice as I can maybe Haymitch doesn't know how great our need for it is. But then I think, we definitely have sponsors, he's not sending us any because we must be close, he must be sending me a message by withholding it. Determined that this must be the case, I pull myself to my feet, grab something I can use as a walking stick and encourage Peeta to find the strength to follow me. I think of our family back home as we are walking, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark, Rye, Graham, I wonder if they'll find some kind of comfort knowing that we died together, or if they'll curse my name for basically killing their son who may have had a chance if only he weren't so blinded by love for the simple minded girl they brought into their home.

By late afternoon we can't go on anymore I collapse and roll onto my back, Peeta on his stomach beside me. This is a nice place I think, the smell of lilies in the air, Peeta drawing something on my face with mud, I love mud I think and reach my hands up to swirl my fingertips in it. "Mud!" I say aloud suddenly, Peeta and I crawl five yards from where we fell and find the pond. As much as we want to jump in head first we control ourselves and fill the water bottle and purify the water, we each drink after waiting as close to a half hour as we can. Over the course of the night we drink several gallons of water and eat the rest of the rabbit, Peeta even manages to catch a few little fish from the pond for us to eat when the rabbit is gone. We sleep right there next to the pond, not hiding ourselves as we did the night before, we're so happy for the water we even manage a bit of fooling around under the cover of the sleeping bag, hopefully it's not obvious to the camera's what we're doing, but I can't help but laugh loudly once or twice, and my breathing gets heavy at one point and Peeta has to remind me to be quiet unless we want this broadcast for the entire nation to see, we bring each other to the point of orgasm using our hands alone. I fall asleep much more deeply than I did the night before, fully satisfied, well hydrated, and reasonably full. It's so disappointing in the morning to be woken by the stampede of feet, disturbing my slumber. I'm bewildered to see the wall of fire that is descending on us, Peeta had woken at the same time I did, and we hurriedly get up and stuff all of our supplies in the backpack.

We don't even have time to fully be afraid at the way the world has been transformed by flame and smoke. The smoke is so much worse than the heat, and after a few yards of running my lungs are filled with it. Things were too quiet in the Games the day before, I realize there were no cannons sounded since the career pack took out the fire starter the morning before, I know we are being herded towards the Careers; we travelled very far the day before in our search for water. I jump over a log, but the bottom of my jacket catches fire, Peeta pushes me to the ground and puts it out as quickly as he can, then scoops me to my feet and pushes me forward, away from the fire. In minute my throat and nose are burning, and my lungs feel as if they are cooked, I can hear Peeta's own coughing and know he is feeling the same as I am. I have to stop under a stone out cropping just to vomit; I get on my hands and knees and retch until there's nothing left. Peeta rubs circles on my back with his hand trying to comfort me, although I can tell his coughing is getting worse. "Run Peeta, keep going, I just need one minute to rest."

"I'm not leaving you, rest, we'll keep going. One minute Katniss give yourself a minute and we'll keep going." Peeta says, he takes the backpack and makes sure everything is in it and puts it back on my back. The minute is up, but the smoke has clouded both of our judgement, its Peeta's turn to vomit and retch now. I take in my new surroundings, the new terrain, trying to figure out how we should go from here. I'm on my feet and the Game has taken a new twist. I realize that the fire was meant to get us moving when two fire balls are launched at us, Peeta was already on the ground, and I flatten myself next to him, then we are up and running again. I don't know how long we've been running anymore, or where we are going, the will to survive is all that's pushing us forward.

"If we can just get away from this section, we might be able to move out of the way of the launchers, keep running Peeta!" I say with all experience of a lifetime of watching the Hunger Games. I can't worry about the next obstacle; I just have to get out of this one first. We keep pushing forward, then it becomes apparent that not only are the Gamemakers intent on throwing fireballs at us, but also splitting us up. It seems Peeta has caught onto this as well.

"Get away from each other, but keep in sight at all times!" He yells to me, and then runs sideways for a bit until we are running side by side, but with a considerable distance between us. I keep my eye on him and yell to him, "Run in a zig zag pattern!" We keep running until I see a fireball hit a tree, completely blocking Peeta's path and making him stop. I stop too and look at him, but he's looking past me, "Katniss, look out!" I hear the whizzing and my muscles react, only not fast enough and the fireball skids across my right calf. I twist and scuttle backward on my hands and feet, I can't help but shriek as I try to remove myself from the horror. As I finally regain enough sense, I roll the leg back and forth on the ground, I'm aware of an abundance of fireballs being launched, but they are whizzing above my head and I lay flat on the ground. When it's over I sit up and without thinking rip the fabric from my calf to stop the burning from making my calf worse, but now my hands are covered in blisters. I stand despite the pain and see that the fireballs above my head have created a wall of fire and trees, I can't see Peeta on the other side, they did it, they separated us. I can only hope Peeta went to find some way around, and is not lying dead on the other side of that wall of flame and trees. I hear Cinna's voice "Katniss, the girl who was on fire." The Gamemakers must be having quite a laugh over this. Now that Peeta and I are separated the attack seems to be over, I limp to the wall of flames, as close as I can get, I can't see Peeta and I haven't heard a cannon sound, two very good signs. It's so smoky I can hardly tell where I am going, but I follow the daylight that seems to be emerging through the smoke, I eventually find a pool of water and walk in, it's cool and relieving. I wash my face and dip my hands in trying to draw the heat out of my burns. I almost faint at the sight of my calf, its brilliant red and covered with blisters. I'm not good with seeing injuries, but I know I can't afford to show weakness for the cameras. I sit for a while, thinking it'll be easiest for Peeta to find me if I stay in one spot, but not daring to call out his name in fear of attracting the attention of the Careers, which is in vain because in the time it takes assess the damage to my body, jacket, and supplies they do find me. I'm drowsy despite the pain, so by the time I realize they are close they are practically on top of me, luckily I was ready to move, and I'm up and running, splashing across the pool, flying into the underbrush. My leg slows me down, but I sense my pursuers are not as speedy as before the fire as well. They are closing in, and for a moment I am thankful that Peeta isn't here because I pick a tree that I don't think anyone could easily climb, but I'm an expert and am up as quick as I can and am twenty feet off the ground before they even make it to the trunk. They're bigger and stronger than I am, I know they won't be able to follow me up the tree, my only worry is that Peeta will come across them any minute as I am sure he is looking for me.

"How is everything with you?" I call down loudly, cheerfully, hoping that Peeta will hear the voices and realize that he needs to take cover from the Careers and that I am safely away from them, if he is even within hearing distance. My cheerfulness takes them aback; I know the crowd loves the look on their faces.

"Well enough," Says the boy from District 2. "Yourself?"

"It's been a bit warm for my taste." I say, I can almost hear the laughter from the Capital. "The air's better up here, why don't you come on up?" I taunt, and watch as they try for some time to climb the tree. The girl from District 1 offers the boy from 2, Cato, the sheath of arrows and I see he has a heavy blade on his hip. When they fail to climb the tree they shoot the arrows at me but they are all terrible shots and I don't even have to really worry about them hitting me.

"So where's your lover boy?" The girl from District 2 calls to me.

"Ha," I laugh, "I ditched him long ago; you didn't really fall for that did you?" I ask. "I hit him over the head with a rock on the first day, he's probably dying somewhere, haven't seen him since." I say. After their attempts to climb the tree prove fruitless one of them suggests waiting me out. They set up camp right under the tree, it's almost dark, and they have clearly been affected by the fire as well. I'm treed for the night, the relief from the water is gone and my calf is in searing pain. I find a fork in the tree and set up to spend the night there, after a few hours all my bravado is gone. I'm weak from pain and hunger but can't bring myself to eat, not without Peeta out there somewhere. I sing as loudly as I can for as long as I can, knowing that he knows I wouldn't do this unless I was already found and as safe as I can be. The Careers are loudly telling me to cut it out, so I'm satisfied to know it's annoying them as well. Well after nightfall I see a pair of eyes peering at me from the neighbouring tree and realize that it's Rue. She points to the tracker jacker nest above me, and I spend much of the night working away at the branch that it's attached to with my knife until the pain wins out and I'm forced back to the fork in the tree where I set up camp.

It's there that I find my first sponsor gift, burn medicine, I apply it and rest until just before day break, then I'm up working away at the tracker jacker nest again, I almost have it free, but am stung three times before it falls. When it does it breaks open and the Careers scream and scatter, the girl from District 1 is stung so many times she dies, I fall painfully from the tree, already beginning to succumb to the hallucinations of my stings. I see Peeta pulling on the dead girl, he must have been hiding nearby the whole time. I walk over to him in a haze, and he's getting the bow and arrows from her dead body, when he finally gets them free he seems surprised to see me, I see a sting on his face, and he probably has more on other parts of his body. "Katniss, what are you still doing here? Run!" We hear a rustling in the bushes, "Run!" He yells to me again, shoving the bow into my hands and putting the sheath over my head. When Cato emerges from the bushes, tracker jacker stings on his face and neck I turn to run, assuming Peeta followed me, thinking his hands were on my back pushing me forward, everything looks sparkly to me.

Then the nightmares seem to begin, I see insects taking over the forest, crawling up my body. It takes all my will to remind myself that it's not real. "I hope I've run far enough" is the last thing I say aloud to myself when I feel my body give up, unconsciousness take over and I fall to the ground.