Wow! Thanks so much for the insane response to this story! For those of you saying this is better than the book . . . wow. Thank you so much. That means a ton! I can't believe you'd even compare this to The Hunger Games! Thank you all so, so, so, so, so, so much!
I wake to someone walking the next morning. I tense against Peeta and he wakes, too. I put my finger to my lips to make sure he doesn't talk. He nods and we silently look down. I see that it's the tributes from District 11, Rue and Thresh. They're an odd pair; during Training, I discovered that Rue is twelve and Thresh is eighteen. They look comfortable enough together. Thresh is giving Rue a piggyback ride. Peeta looks at me and smiles. I know then that if Peeta and I don't win, I want it to be Rue and Thresh. I'm convinced we go undetected until Rue looks right up at me and smiles. I find myself smiling back.
"They won't kill us," Peeta says inaudibly. "They're good people."
I nod my head. When I'm sure they're gone, we sit up and begin to get ready to move. "Should I fall out of the tree?" I whisper in his ear, and he laughs.
"Too soon," he says. "Later." I'm sure the population of Panem assumed I just said something sexual, but I don't care. We want people to think that.
"Okay," I say, jumping from the branch and landing on my feet soundlessly. I look up to Peeta, who's staring at me in utter disbelief.
He throws our supplies down to me and climbs down slowly. When he hits the ground, he says, "You never cease to amaze me."
"Yeah, yeah," I say. "We need water."
"You're the hunter," he shrugs. "You know this crap better than I do."
I laugh. "I say we head downhill," I reply. "Water runs downhill."
"That makes sense," he says. He takes the bags, grabs my hand, and set off downhill. We walk in silence and I cringe every time Peeta steps on a crinkly leaf or a twig. I don't want to upset him by bringing it up, and if someone attacks us, we're prepared, but it's really rather annoying. After a mile or so, we stop to take a bathroom break. All the urine I'm able to pass is dark brown, which is very dangerous.
"What color was yours?" I ask.
"Excuse me?" he asks as we continue to move.
"What color?" I ask.
"My pee?" he says incredulously. "I didn't really look." He laughs then.
"Mine was brown," I say. "That means I need water. And soon."
Peeta nods. "There's got to be water somewhere, alright? If worse comes to worst, Haymitch can send us some. I mean, he won't let you die, and he definitely won't let the baby die."
I nod my head. "Let's go," he says. We continue moving for a few hours but we find nothing. We're getting weak. We take breaks more often and it keeps getting harder to get up. I work to act weaker because of the baby, but that just tires me out more.
"Haymitch, please," Peeta whispers, looking up at the sky. "Please."
Nothing comes. "Damn it," Peeta says. "He says he was on our team, but he never was."
"Peeta, please," I say.
We move just a few yards down and we find a small pond covered in some green leaves. No wonder we couldn't see it and Haymitch wouldn't send us any. We fill the canteens and purify it. It's torture waiting to drink it, but we occupy our time by talking about random things. When we finally do drink, we do it in small sips. That night, we stay by the pond and drink as much as possible. The next morning, we fill the canteens and set off again. We don't know where we're going, but we just keep moving. In the next few days, the boy from 10 and girls from 4 and 8 are dead. That leaves Marvel and Glimmer, the District 1 tributes, Cato and Clove, Rue and Thresh, Peeta and I, the girl from 5, and the boy from 3. We decide that the girl from 5, who we've nicknamed Foxface, and the boy from 3 will be the next to die. Then the fun will really begin.
As we continue to walk, I make sure I trip a few times. Each time I do, Peeta scolds me about the baby. I'm sure the Capitol is eating the drama up. At night, we're sure to kiss each other a lot and we snuggle the entire time. In the next two days, the boy from 3 and girl from 5 die, surely at the hands of the Careers. We know that soon, the Gamemakers will drive the final eight together and we'll have our huge final battle.
"I say we find Rue and Thresh," Peeta said one night as we were eating dinner. We'd long since finished off the beef strips and crackers. We caught at least a squirrel and day and we were fairly healthy. "I mean, for a final battle. We kill off District 1 and 2 and then we take out Thresh."
"What about Rue?" I say. "I refuse to kill a twelve year old girl."
"Same here," Peeta says. "But I just think four on four is better than four on two on two."
"I know," I say. "They're going to drive us together at some point, you realize. And when they do, it's going to be with something that's going to hurt us."
Peeta nods grimly. "I say we start heading back to the Cornucopia tomorrow morning. So we can avoid anything that might hurt us."
"You think so?" I ask. "I don't know. That's where the Careers are hiding out."
"Exactly," Peeta says. "Not only would it be perfect for a sneak attack, but we won't get killed by a fire or earthquake or avalanche."
I shrug. "I don't know." That's when I see it. Something flying through the air, headed straight for Peeta. "Move!" I scream. We jump and a spear hits a tree directly behind where Peeta's head was. But it's no regular spear. No, it explodes upon impact and Peeta and I are shot back at least twenty yards. My ears are ringing and I'm trembling, but Peeta and I get our hands on our weapons. Technically, we only have two knives, but that's plenty to kill.
The boy from 1 comes walking out of the woods, thinking he's succeeded. I turn to Peeta, make sure he stays quiet, and throw the knife directly into his temple. The boy is dead before he hits the ground. I break into a huge smile before I see the girl from 1 run to his side and then turn to us. She has the bow and arrow. My bow and arrow, I think. She sends an arrow at Peeta a millisecond before he throws his knife. The arrow hits Peeta in the foot. He groans in pain and falls backward. I step protectively in front of him. The girl from 1 is down, but she's not dead. I take my chances and run from Peeta, grab my knife, and run back to him. Glimmer is preparing to stand up and I throw the knife. It hits her in the neck and right before I hear the cannon, she shoots another arrow. This one hits Peeta in the forearm.
"Peeta," I say breathlessly. "It's going to be okay. I move to take off my jacket to prepare a tourniquet but he stops me.
"Use the blanket," he says in a pained voice. "Hurry."
I tear the blanket into two strips and begin wrapping the first on his foot. I dislodge the arrow and begin to tie it. He groans in pain. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I say repeatedly. "I'm really sorry." When I have it finished, I move on to his forearm. This one isn't as bad, but I tie it just as tight.
"Katniss . . ." he says his voice soft. "We need to find shelter."
"Baby, you can't move," I say. "I won't let you. I refuse to let you die tonight."
"If you leave us out here I will," he says forcefully. "Please. Just help me up. I'll hop my way somewhere."
"Let me get the bags," I say. I grab the bags, sling them over my shoulders, and grab his good arm. I pull him up, wrap it around my shoulder, and we walk off at an incredibly slow pace. He takes breaks often. After about an eighth of a mile, we find a cave. I drag him in, lay down the sleeping bag, and lay him on it. I sit down next to him and he grabs my hand.
"Don't you ever, ever, put your life and our child's life on the line like that again," he says. "What if Cato and Clove had been there?"
"I'm sorry," I say, on the verge of tears. "I had to kill her. She almost killed you."
"Katniss, I'm fine!" he nearly shouts. He lowers his voice, remembering where we are. "Stop worrying about me. You're caring way too much about me and not about the baby." I translate this as 'I appreciate the care, but remember you're supposed to be pregnant.' I look at him, Peeta Mellark, the boy with the bread, the love of my life, the boy I lost my virginity to just a week before on the roof of the Training Center, the boy who's child I was supposedly carrying, and I see the wounds that were inflicted because I didn't move fast enough to block them. I see the faces of the innocent teenagers I just killed. I hear the cannon and I see the look of distress and pain on Glimmer's face as Marvel went down. But above all, I see Peeta Mellark, wounded and probably bleeding out before my eyes, and I start sobbing. I hear Peeta sigh as I bury my face in his chest, which still feels strong and sturdy. He puts his good hand on my back, rubbing it up and down and shushing me. "C'mon, Katniss," he says softly. "It's okay. I'm sorry for shouting. Please don't cry." But I continue to, and he continues to rub my back. He even takes his bad arm and wipes away a few of my tears. I look to him. "There's my girl," he says, smiling. "I'm fine. Just look at me. I'm happy. You should be too, alright?"
I nod my head, but when I look at his wounds about an hour later, I already see the streaks of red. There's no doubting it. Peeta's coming down with blood poisoning.