HI all. Another week, another chapter. I hope this chapter is ok. Thank-you so much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favourited and read my stroy. On to the chapter I suppose... :)
Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Katniss? I think I'm gonna be-" I turn around just in time to see Peeta throwing up all over the floor. My eyes widen, and I feel a little nauseous my-self. Peeta's sick, really sick. He's even paler than usual, his eyes are bloodshot, his lips are a purple/blue and he's shivering like crazy.
"Peeta! Are you ok? Drink some water, please?" I beg, even I can hear how frantic I sound, but right now I don't care. All I care about is Peeta and him getting better.
He shakes his head, "I don't want anything."
"Peeta you do. At least to get the taste out of your mouth." I crab the water and squat next to Peeta.
"Ok." He agrees. I hold the container to his lips and make him drink a little. He swallows and then starts coughing violently.
"Peeta!" I scream with panic. What was wrong? What the hell am I supposed to do? I start to pat him on the back to help him with the coughing. He eventually stops and then he collapses in a heap on the floor. Oh my god. I lift his head up and put it in my lap and start to wipe his forehead. "Peeta? Come on open your eyes." I say somewhat calmly.
I wait a few minutes before he slowly opens his blue eyes again. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I had been holding. "Sorry." He croaks out quietly.
"Why are you sorry? You haven't done anything wrong Peeta." I say and stroke his cheek softly. He shrugs in response. I have to get Peeta better somehow. I don't want him to die especially from an illness. I don't want him to die, I don't want him to leave me. So how the hell do I fix this?!
Haymitch, why didn't I think of this before? If we have enough sponsors maybe he could send us some medicine for Peeta? "Haymitch please help!" I yell to I don't know what. All I hope is that he can hear me.
"Don't bother Katniss. He can't do anything." Peeta mutters.
I look back down into his eyes. "Peeta, you need this. You have to get better." Why wasn't Haymitch listening? Does he not see how sick Peeta is?
"Attention all tributes! Tomorrow there will be a feast at the cornucopia. Now before you write this off listen. This is no ordinary feast. Each of you need something, desperately. And we've decided to be generous hosts and give it to you. All you have to do is collect it. Hope to see you tomorrow."
"Peeta that'll be your medicine." I say excitedly.
"No-way. You're not going anywhere Katniss."
"I have to Peeta. There's no other way to make you better. If you don't get this medicine you're going to die."
"I don't care, you're not risking your life for me!" Peeta argues. How he has the energy I don't know.
"I do care Peeta. You're not going to die!" I argue right back.
"Neither are you!" I get up and walk to the entrance of the cave. "Where are you going?" Peeta asks.
"I'm going to get more water. I need to clean this all up." I wave to the spew.
"Oh. Sorry about that."
"It's fine."
"Promise me you won't go Katniss." He looks at me so earnestly it makes my heart break. I know he's talking about the feast now.
"Fine Peeta. I won't go." I feel so bad for lying to him. I know I'm a bad liar, but hopefully he won't see through my bluff.
"Ok." He says. He seems to have believed me. I nod and then exit the cave. I walk down to the lake and fill up the water. How am I going to get to the cornucopia without Peeta realising?
Something flickers in front of my eyes. I glance up and see a parachute. Haymitch sent us something! I collect the parachute and open it up. The first thing I see is a short note.
Use this on Peeta. Good luck sweetheart – H.
Curious I open up the small circular container. I see some sort of liquid. I smell it and almost drop it. It smells sweet, extremely sweet. There's only one thing that has that sweet of a smell. Sugar berries. My mum uses them sometimes to knock patients out when the casualty is in heaps of pain. These things have the potential to knock you out for days.
I have to cover up the smell and taste though. I grab some berries from the bush and mash it into the mix already. Satisfied, I go back to the cave. Peeta's there leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. I pinch my nose when I walk in. The cave stinks.
"Look what Haymitch sent you Peeta." I say and hold up the sugar berries.
"What is it?" he asks.
"Soup." I answer him. I put the 'soup' down and start cleaning up the vomit. I rinse it off and it trickles out of the cave. I hold back a shudder before turning back to Peeta. I pick up the container and sit down next to Peeta.
"You have to eat this, ok?" I tell him.
"Sure Katniss." He replies.
"Good." I pick up the spoon that came with it and start putting it in Peeta's mouth. His face scrunches up.
"It's really sweet."
"Is it?" I ask playing dumb. I shove a few more spoons into his mouth.
"It's a little too sweet."
Crap he's catching on. "Must be some good soup then Peeta." I make him swallow some more. Just a few more to go.
"I think I've had it before." He says. I give him a couple more spoonful's. It seems to click then. I shove the last spoon in his mouth and make swallow it. He starts to cough and try to bring it back up, but it's too late. He looks at me and I see the pain, hurt and betrayal pool out of his eyes.
"I'm sorry Peeta." I whisper as his eyes close. I feel so bad for doing this to him but I have to. There was no choice really. I turn Peeta onto his side so he won't choke or anything and leave the water container with him. I grab my bow and arrows before I slink out of the cave. The sky has darkened now. I take a few breaths before I begin my journey. Who knows what awaits for me tomorrow.
I finally make it to the edge of the forest. I have the perfect view of the cornucopia. There's a small table and on the table are 4 small bags. Each bag has a number on it; 2, 5, 11 and 12. That means Thresh is still alive. I'm happy about that. I like Thresh. 5, that's the red head girl, the one I call foxface. And 2 are the people I fear most in this arena. Cato and Clove. I haven't thought about him much since I found Peeta, but now he's on my mind. What if he catches me or something? He'll surly take it out on me and won't be sort of civil this time. I shiver, not from the cold air, but from what he could possibly do to me.
The sun is rising, I know I'm going to have to make my move eventually. I get up and am about to take a step forward when the girl from 5 bounces into view. She grabs her bag and sprints off. She was cunning that girl. I take a deep breath and make my move. I sprint to the cornucopia and grab my bag. I'm about to sprint off when I hear a whooshing sound.
I duck just in time to see a knife fly just above my head. I spin around and see Clove standing behind me. "Miss me fire girl?" Clove sneers.
I shoot an arrow at her, but she jumps away just in time. "Of course Clovey." I taunt.
Her shoulders stiffen and then she pounces at me. We both tumble to the ground, rolling around fighting for dominance. I finally get her down under me I punch her in the jaw and elbow her in the stomach. She shrieks in pain before she flips us over and then holds a knife to my throat.
I squirm and try to get away but she only pushes it into my throat harder. "You know I promised Cato that I wouldn't kill you, but now that you're here I really want to. So you know what? I am going to kill you. Slowly and painfully, just how I like it."
"Cato won't be too happy with you then." I grumble.
"No he won't be. But he'll thank me later. When we win that is. There can be two winners and when he realises he doesn't have to kill you, then he'll be grateful."
I snort. "Keep dreaming Clovey."
"I plan to." She starts trailing the knife around my lips, digging the point in enough to draw blood. "This going to be fun killing you."
"You're sick." I spit at her.
"Lover boy still alive? I bet that was for him, wasn't it? Too bad he'll never get it." she smiles at me. "Oh well he can join you and your dead friend. What's her name again? Rue?"
"Go to hell Clove." She laughs at my words before raising her knife. Suddenly she topples off me. I look around and see Thresh standing next to me. He offers me his hand I take it and he pulls me up.
"You're lucky I like you 12."
"Thanks Thresh." I say before smiling. I hear feet trudge against the ground. I look to my right and see Cato come to a stop in front of Clove.
"What did you do to her?" he yells at us.
"I pushed her that's all." Thresh answers. Just then Clove jumps back to her feet.
"How's it going Katniss?" Cato asks staring right at me.
"Just fantastic Cato. Your-self?"
"Great." He replies. This isn't going to end too well.
"Enough with the small talk, let's just kill them!" Clove yells.
"I was just thinking the same thing." Thresh states. Thresh steps forward with some sort of sword thing and waits for them to make the next move.
Cato smirks and steps up for the challenge. They face off before they start their battle. Their swords clank, I see kicks and punches thrown. God I hope Thresh wins.
"Ready for round two princess?" Clove sneers in front of me.
"Not really." I say as I sling my bag over my shoulder. "Maybe some other time?" I say before sprinting off away from her. I hear her scream in frustration. I don't stop though, I just keep running. That is until something sharp digs across my forehead. I'm startled but I keep running. I feel blood ooze down the side of my face.
I turn back just in time to see Thresh running away into the grassland. I see Cato on the ground bloody. Clove is crouched next to him. I smile before sprinting as fast as I can back to Peeta.
I arrive back to the cave around noon. Peeta is still in the same position that I left him in. I smile when I see him. I open up the bag and take out two containers. I open them both. One is some sort of drinking liquid and the other is a cream.
I pull Peeta's pants down and unwrap the bandage from his leg. I remove the leaves and almost vomit when I see what's in front of me. Peeta's leg is seriously infected. It's swollen and puffy. There's even more puss and it's all red and grimy.
I take the cream and rub it onto his leg. I make sure to give him a generous amount. Then I take the liquid and sit him up. I tilt back his head and poor the small vile of medicine into his mouth. There was only a little, just enough for one person. He swallows it in his sleep.
I feel exhausted and dizzy. I feel my-self sway and not a minute later I feel my-self collapse and darkness take over my eyes, mind and body.
I stir and blink open my eyes. "Oh my god your awake!" Peeta exclaims.
"Yeah." I grumble. I hold my head in my hands, bad headache.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was? I woke up Katniss ready to yell at you and then I see you next to me in a pool of blood. I thought you were dead!"
"I'm fine Peeta. How are you feeling?" I ask sitting up. I take in his features. He looks so much better. His skin has returned to his normal pale self, his hair is golden, his blue eyes are shining and his lips look full and pink. The medicine must have worked.
"Great actually. But I'm also angry."
"Why?" I ask, even though I know the answer to that.
"Because you lied to me. What if you hadn't returned Katniss? What if I had have woken up and you weren't here?"
"You would've just stayed put." I tease.
"No I would have tried to come after you."
I shake my head, "But then you would've died."
"I would much rather die than live in a world where you don't exist." he admits.
"Well then lucky I survived then huh?"
"Yes. What happened anyway?" he asks. I sigh and get right into the story. I tell him absolutely everything. Me and Clove, Thresh, Cato, the fighting the running, getting hit by a knife. Everything. I tell him how I fixed him up and how I must have knocked my-self out due to blood loss.
"So that's why I didn't have any pants on."
"Yeah sorry about that. I had to get to your leg somehow." I mutter sheepishly.
"You would have died if Thresh hadn't been there you know?"
"I know. Let's not dwell on that though. I'm feeling rather peckish."
He looks down sheepishly. "Well when I fixed up your forehead I kinda ate the rest of the food. I was really hungry."
I laugh. "That's ok Peeta. I'll go hunting and get some food." I say and try to get up.
"You will do no such thing. I'll pick some berries for you to eat. You can hunt tomorrow. Today you're just going to rest." Peeta instructs. I'm about to argue but he cuts me off, "No arguments." I watch him trudge out of the cave.
A feeling of relief floods through me. He can walk properly now. That stuff really worked. I sit and wait impatiently for Peeta's return. He walks back in not five minutes later with a handful of berries. I eat all of them. "Thank-you Peeta." I say when I'm finished.
"No thank-you Katniss."
"I'm so glad you're ok." I mutter.
"And I you." I pull him down to me into an embrace. My hands weave together behind his neck and my face rest against his chest. He encircles me and I feel safe. I love the sense of security Peeta makes me feel.
I pull away slightly and look up into his eyes, the eyes I love so much. "I love you Peeta."
"I love you too Katniss." He bends down slightly to brush his lips against mine. Something in the pit of my stomach stirs and just as he is about to pull away, I bring him closer and crush my lips to his.
Peeta wastes no time in responding. He lifts me up and places me on his lap so that I am now straddling him. I lightly trace his bottom lip with my tongue. He opens his mouth for me and then our tongues wrestle.
We give a little and take little. I love the way his lips feel against mine. His hands start to rub circles around my hip bones and a sense of fire is left in its wake.
We pull away at the same time to catch our breath. "What was that for?" Peeta pants.
"Because I love you." I breathe. He smiles at me before pulling us down to lay on the ground.
"Feel free to do that any time you like."
"Oh I plan to." I say before bringing our lips together once more.
So there's chapter 14. I hope it wasn't a let down or anything. I know Clove didn't die. I have plans for that later on and I kind of need her alive for that. Thresh made an appearance again too :) So the games are coming to an end :( But that's ok. Next chapter I hope will be a little more exciting for you. I have a few idea's, hopefully it won't let you down...
Anyway I want to ask you guys if you want me to re-write the other two books in the series. If you do just leave a comment or PM me whichever :) If I do write the sequels I will put up a fourth book to which will be about their lives after the war. Thanks for reading again, I like to hear your views by the way! I'll post again by the end of next week, maybe earlier if I find the time but it will be posted no later, PROMISE! Untill next time I guess!
Oh also if anyone was affected in America my prayers and throughts are with you. I hope you and all your family are safe and well.