The hand over my mouth slowly loosened, and I felt the fingers relaxing before finally pulling away. My heart pounding, I slowly turned around and found myself face-to-face with Peeta Mellark. "Hello, sweetheart," he drawled sarcastically, giving me a slight smile.

I hit my around the head with all my might. "You absolute snake, Peeta!" I cried in a strangled voice. "Why would you sneak up on me like that!"

He gestured at my knife lying besides my fleecy blanket. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like we're in an environment where when you hear a sound, it's kill first, ask questions later."

I allow myself to sink back into a half-sitting position. "Where did you come from? How did you find me?"

Peeta sits beside me. "I was walking through the stream, trying to clean this." He indicates to a jagged cut along his shin. He winces when I reach out to touch it. "Haymitch will be proud, I guess. We both went straight for a water source as far away as possible. I was trying to keep moving through the night, and the Careers had the same idea. As soon as I heard their voices, I froze. Lying down in the stream was the safest thing to do, because the moonlight is blinding when it reflects off the surface. While I was trying to stay still and quiet, I saw you. Just the slightest movement near the ferns and branches… I thought it might have been a rabbit or another animal, but then I saw your face."

"How could you possibly see me in the dark?" I retort. The fact that he spotted me is insulting.

He spreads his hands out. "Don't get me wrong, you've camouflaged the cave really well. I laaaahve what you've done with the place, daaahling," he drawls, mimicking Effie perfectly. He reaches behind himself into a bright orange backpack that is soaking wet. He pulls out a pair of sunglasses. "These help you see in the dark. That's how I saw you."

I grab them out of his hand and inspect them. "Do you think the Careers have any pairs?"

Peeta nods. "There were a couple scattered around the Cornucopia," he confirms. "It's a very high chance that they do." His voice drops an octave. "Any sight of Prim?"

I shake my head.

"I'm sorry," he says softly.

"Don't be," I answer brusquely. "She's fine. Her face wasn't in the sky tonight; that means she's okay." I don't dare mention the cannon shot that woke me up. The cannon shot that represents another dead tribute. I don't bother mentioning it because it isn't Prim.

He nods, studying my face. "I saw her in the Cornucopia," he begins. "She got to that bag of medical supplies. I didn't know how fast she could run."

Neither did I. "What else did you see?" I ask.

"I saw her get her hands on a knife," he says.

"That's good," I say, pleased. "That's better than good. She can defend herself if it comes to it."

"She can more than defend herself," he mutters. "Katniss, she's not the helpless little girl you think she is."

"I know she isn't!" I reply, stung. "But she's my little sister. I have to look out for her."

"I saw her in the field!" Peeta speaks over my voice, silencing me. "I saw her sling that bag over shoulder and hightail it out of there."

"And what, Peeta?" I ask. "What? Did she team up with the Careers? Did she steal Clove's knives? Whatever she's managed to do, I don't care. She's still alive, and that's all that matters. And if I'm not there to keep her alive, then she's got to find another way, so whatever the hell she's doing, it's fine by me!" I know I'm ranting, but I don't care. I lie down in a huff.

"I'm sorry," Peeta says. "I was going to say that I saw her go through the forest close to the lake side. If you wanted to find her, I think that would be a good place to start."

I'm quiet for a few seconds. "Thank you," I answer stiffly. I don't believe for a second that that is what he was going to say, but it was helpful. "Before I can go traipsing back through the forest the way I came, which is another full day's journey, I need to get some sleep."

Peeta responds by pulling a sleeping bag from his backpack and setting it up next to mine. He unzips it and lies it flat, inviting me in, but I silently decline by turning my back on him. He chuckles and shuts his eyes. After a couple of minutes, I give in to the cold and roll over so that I'm next to him. He immediately wriggles over and allows me to get inside without a word. I can see a smile playing at his lips, and I remember that he and I are supposed to be the star-crossed lovers from District 12. For some crazy reason, this urges me to lean forward and press my lips to his. He reacts slightly, like a buzzing electrical current has hit him at full force in the face, and then responds enthusiastically. We pull away at the same time, and he casually slings his arm over my body. I begin to drift in and out of consciousness, painfully aware that I only have a couple of hours sleep before we have to get moving.

"Peeta?" I say drowsily.

"Mmm?" he responds.

"How did you get that cut?" I ask.

He's silent. I prod him twice before he finally replies. "In the bloodbath," he says. "Go to sleep."

So I do.

The sun is shining through the gaps in the foliage at the front of the cave, and it hurts my eyes when I open them. I feel the warmth of a body next to mine, and remember Peeta's bizarre appearance a few hours ago. I struggle out of the sleeping bag and begin to fold my blanket back into my backpack. Peeta awakes and yawns.

"I wonder what awaits us today," he says. "I mean, so far, this place has seemed more like a resort than the hellhole we know it to be. The Gamemakers must be pissed off that we've managed to escape an entire day unscathed."

"Maybe they're rooting for us," I say dully. I zip up the bag and tug at the end of Peeta's sleeping bag. "Get out of there. We need to get moving if we're going to have any chance of finding Prim today."

Peeta tumbles out of the bag and I snatch it up, refolding it quickly. "She could be anywhere by now," he points out. "Are you sure you want to go all the way back there?"

"Yes," I decide. "But we'll cut through the woods instead of going back to the field. The Careers will be on their way back to there as well; they'll have left all of their supplies there."

Within minutes, we're on the move through the woods. We don't speak the entire time, fearful that our voices might be overheard. I tread carefully, knowing that single snapping branch can be a deadly broadcast of my location, and am dismayed to learn that Peeta's gait a somewhat heavier. As we walk, we chew strips of beef and some tree bark. Peeta screws up his face, but I force him to keep eating.

"Have you run into any of the other tributes?" Peeta asks as we gingerly step down a precariously steep hill.

"Not so much," I answer quietly. "The girl from District 5 passed my cave hours before the Careers."

"The one with the red hair? With a face like a fox?"

"That's her," I answer. "Good old Foxface. She's smart, you know. And so sly. She practically floated across the ground, she's that quick."

"I'm more afraid of Thresh," Peeta comments. "I was running towards the wheat fields before I noticed he was doing the same. I didn't fancy competing against him for a bunk bed so I quickly changed direction. He's the real competition, I think."

We don't mention that we're both competition to one another, but it's on both of our minds. "Once I find Prim, we'll probably go in another direction," I say.

"A wise precaution," he says indifferently.

"It's just that we'll be easier to track if there are three of us," I say.

"What if she's teamed up with someone?" Peeta asks. "Would you break that alliance, or just stay with me?"

"Are you actually asking me to choose between you and my sister?" I ask.

"Of course not. That's not even an option. Blood is blood," he answers. "But you know that the two of you can't win, right? I mean, if what you're hoping for happens and it's just you and her left, one of you is going to have to kill the other."

"I'd kill myself," I say firmly. "I'd do anything for Prim to make it back."

"You'd actually kill yourself?" Peeta says dubiously. "What if Prim has the same idea?"

"I wouldn't let her," I say. "You face the thought of life without your flesh and blood and see what you'd do."

"Sssh," Peeta says.

"No, I'm serious. Think about -"

"No!" Peeta hisses. "I mean, be quiet!" I immediately close my mouth and stop moving. "Listen."

I listen.

"Can you hear that?" Peeta asks quietly. "That sound?"

I can hear it. "What is it?" I ask Peeta.

He shakes his head. "I don't know," he replies. It's like a low-pitched hissing sound, like the kind of noise a kettle makes when it's been boiled, but lower. "I've never heard it before."

"I think I have," I answer. We stand there for a couple more seconds before it happens. Something flies past me and hits the tree directly to my left. We whip around just in time to see the bark melting away, and a gooey black liquid oozing down the trunk.

"Isn't that the stuff Prim made in training?" Peeta asks, staring at the tree. It takes another shot landing near out feet to startle us into running. "Katniss! What the hell is that?"

I don't answer him, not because I don't know, but because I'm running so fast that breathing is out of the equation, let alone speaking. We weave in and out of trees, every so often hearing another hissing splat as another handful of Prim's potion finds its mark. I trip over an upturned tree root, and fall to the ground, crying out. I struggle to free my foot, and flip over onto my back and try to haul myself up. "Peeta!" I cry.

All I can see is a burning ball of black, heading directly for my eyes.