Disclaimer: The Hunger Games Trilogy is property of Suzanne Collins. This is a parody fanwork by fans for fans. No money was made off of the creation of this fanwork.

Spectator

By Fanfic Allergy

Chapter Fourteen

Unfortunately for her, Clove couldn't even attempt to make good on her threat that day. When she tried getting up, she got all woozy and nearly fainted. Cato caught her and vetoed going out hunting again that day. The Capitol has to be getting annoyed at the lack of deaths today. Granted, they have another alliance to hold people over, but it's still not interesting watching.

After the focus of the morning, they don't bother going back to Peeta, Rue and Prim. Instead they focus on the growing tension between the Career Pack. Cashmere was right, Glimmer is about the only thing holding it together at this point. Marvel is about ready to strike out on his own and Axel is still fiddling with wires and mines while glancing at the other four warily.

I spend most of the afternoon talking with Madge. It turns out she talked her mother into giving me the maternity clothes that her mother had stuffed in the back of her closet. I'm grateful for them. While they still are too big for me, that is something easily fixed. My own clothes are starting to become too tight across the middle and bust. The fact that I even have a bust now takes some getting used to.

Madge goes home after Mandatory Viewing. Most of the tributes spent the day much like Prim, Peeta and Rue, looking for water. Uranium has staked out a little place by the Career camp and the lake and is for the most part subsisting on cattails and dandelion greens. It's obvious her strategy is to raid from the Careers but with them refusing to go out hunting, she's stuck. Thresh is doing well for himself. There's a seep in the back of his cave for him to get water so he doesn't need to go anywhere. He's trapping rodents for meat and making the seed heads of the wheat into a mush. He's doing fine.

My mother doesn't come home until late, someone fell off a ladder while repairing a leaking roof and was knocked unconscious and additionally broke their wrist. She has a few baby clothes as payment. Must be from one of the miner families with older kids. I'd rather have her be paid in food, but that is rare. Mostly we get random stuff that the merchants won't buy and they are too afraid to go to the Hob to trade. Those who do trade at the Hob will generally pay my mother in chits, one tenth of one coin printed on a dyed wood and stamped with the Capitol seal. Counterfeiting is an offense punishable by death, not to mention being near impossible out here in Twelve.

We have dinner, more fish stew, and go to bed. She's too tired to talk and I talked myself out with Madge earlier.

The next day I get breakfast before I turn on the television. I don't want a repeat of yesterday. A slice of toasted bread smeared with goat cheese and jam should be enough. My mother's put a note on a bottle of Lady's milk for me to drink. I really am not fond of milk but I drink it anyway. Then make some mint tea to wash away the taste.

I turn on the television and they're still showing the Career camp. Apparently not much has happened overnight and this is causing some serious tension between the group. Marvel is pacing back and forth like a caged animal and Glimmer is trying to talk sense into him.

"I don't see why we can't kill that weakling now and be done with it!" the tall Career growls.

The blond girl tries to talk some sense into him. "We need them for now. At least until we take care of the girl from Seven and the boys from Eleven and Twelve. You saw how easily Eleven took down Reef. And Twelve took out one of us almost two. They're strong, it's better to go after them as a group then by yourself."

"I could take them!" he protests.

"Sure you could, but without getting seriously hurt? Be honest with yourself," she cautions. "It's better to take them out as a group. And who knows, maybe one of them will take out some other competition in their death throes."

Marvel turns to glare at the makeshift tent Cato's erected. "I am sick of waiting for her to get better. He should kill her and be done with it. It's not like both of them can win."

"I tried broaching that with him," Glimmer admits. "He won't listen. I think that in his mind if he does a good enough of a job, performs better than expected, the Gamemakers might just reward him by letting her live. I think she's more aware of the reality of things but she's not ready to die yet." She pauses and gives Marvel a warning look. "You do know she's sleeping with her knives now."

He shakes his head. "No, I didn't. Thanks for the warning."

She shrugs away the thanks. "I figured you deserved it."

"Still, I want to get out of this camp. I'm going crazy!" He runs his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Glimmer shrugs again. "So go," she says indifferently. "Set some snares. Pick some wildflowers. Whatever. Just don't do something stupid like try to hunt down another tribute on your own."

"Fine," he grumbles.

They both walk back to camp. "I'm going to go set snares, see if I can get us some fresh meat. Any of you want to come?" Marvel announces when he gets there.

"Oh I would love to," Clove says from where she is resting with her head in Cato's lap. "But, I'm afraid Cato and I have other plans." She gives him an insincere smile.

"Why doesn't he speak for himself?" Marvel grits out, rising to her bait.

Cato's eyes narrow. "I'm staying here with Clove. I don't trust you, any of you," he adds looking at Glimmer, Axel and Marvel pointedly, "not to stick a knife in Clove the moment I leave camp."

For his part, Axel just shrugs. "I'm not really all that interested in hunting so I'll stay here. No offense Marvel, but I think you'd kill me just because you're getting antsy."

"None taken, because I would," Marvel replies with a sneer. "What about you?" he turns to Glimmer.

She looks torn. I can tell that she's itching for action but something is stopping her. Probably Marvel's attitude, she doesn't trust him either. "I think I'm going to stay here and work with Cato to try to get Clove back into fighting form."

"Suit yourself!" He grabs a net and a coil of rope and stomps off into the woods.

"You didn't have to stay, Glimmer," Clove says softly, the earlier sarcasm in her voice gone.

"I don't trust him either," Glimmer admits. "He's always been a loose cannon. Even in training all he wanted to do was fight, never wanted to learn defense only offense. And he doesn't have any patience."

"I noticed," Clove says drily. "And I thought Cato was bad."

"Hey!" he protests.

She reaches up and strokes one of his cheeks. "It's okay. I like that you're impatient most of the time."

He plants a kiss on her nose. "Thanks."

"Okay, enough mushiness," Glimmer says. "Time to work on standing up without puking."

Clove grimaces but nods.

The cameras cut to Peeta, Prim and Rue. They've set up a nice camp by the pond and have a good amount of supplies. I still haven't seen what all Peeta managed to get from the Cornucopia but he keeps it bundled up and on his back pretty much at all times. Only when he's sleeping, does he take it off and even then it's within arm's reach. It's another thing that he does that's smart. You don't want to lose your supplies if something or someone comes along that makes you need to run. The girls mimic him, even going so far as to sleep with their packs on. Peeta's pack is too big to do that with otherwise I think he'd do that too.

Peeta and Rue are both napping while Prim sets out a net to catch a fish or two. It's quiet. This fact goes unnoticed by her for a few crucial seconds. In the woods it should never be quiet. Only when there is danger does the wood still. She stands up and nudges Rue and Peeta with her foot.

The two come awake in time to see a herd of deer stampede by.

"What the?" Peeta asks, sitting up groggily.

"I don't know," Prim answers. "The forest went silent then the deer ran through."

Rue stands up and looks up toward the cliff. "And I think I know why." She points to where the dark spots in the cliff were the day before. These spots are now giant jets of flame.

"Crap!" Peeta swears, grabbing up a bedroll with one hand and stuffing it into his pack before slinging it over one shoulder. "Come on! We gotta move!"

Both Prim and Rue just stand there, transfixed on the spurts of flame coming down the mountain.

With a muffled oath, Peeta picks up first Prim then Rue and sets off running away from the fire. He runs awkwardly with the bag of supplies bouncing against his hip with a girl over each shoulder. He doesn't stop running though.

The flames are right on their trail. A falling tree barely misses them, crashing to the ground and throwing up sparks as it hits the ground. Peeta pushes himself harder for a little extra speed.

"Put me down, Peeta!" Rue shouts over the crackling of the fire. "I can run now."

"Same!" Prim shouts from his other shoulder.

Peeta stops and gently lowers them to the ground. With a cry of thanks, both girls start running. The blond boy straightens and a jet of fire comes up almost directly behind him, setting his jacket ablaze.

Peeta screams. I can only imagine the pain he is feeling at this moment. Fortunately, he doesn't lose his head but instead grits his teeth and drops to the forest floor, using the weight of his body against the ground to smother the flames. It has to be excruciating but it's the only way to stop the fire from spreading.

When he stands up, the camera zooms in on his back and I can see the blackened and blistered flesh along with the strips of fabric that have fused themselves to his skin. It looks beyond painful. Then Peeta does something that has my jaw dropping. He picks up the pack where he dropped it and slings it over his shoulders directly onto the burn.

With great effort, he starts running again. I can see from the expression on his face that the only thing keeping him going is sheer willpower. Rue and Prim are far ahead of him when a terrified stag bursting from the undergrowth forces them to veer to the left.

They follow the stag, guessing that the animal must know where safety is. After about ten minutes, they hit another clearing and beyond it is a large stream. The two girls stop to catch their breath and turn to see where the fire and Peeta are. Peeta is struggling manfully with the pack but I can see that the adrenaline that has been sustaining him is running out.

Rue and Prim run back to him. They each slip an arm around him prompting Peeta to scream in pain. Prim pulls back and sees the results of the burst blisters on the sleeve of her jacket.

"He's been badly burned," she cries to Rue. "We've got to get him to the stream!"

Rue nods and they support Peeta for the last hundred yards. The flames are still coming so Prim and Rue pull Peeta into the stream.

The water is cold and fast moving and I can see that both girls are struggling to keep their footing. I pray that the bottom doesn't give out. I know that Prim can swim a little but I have no idea about Rue or Peeta. It's touch and go as they cross to the other side but their luck holds, the water comes up to their necks but they don't lose the bottom entirely.

They pull Peeta up onto the bank and roll him onto his stomach. Prim carefully removes the large backpack from Peeta's back while Rue starts looking around for any kind of danger. The fire might have herded other tributes their way, it's a common Gamemaker tactic when action is slow. So far the coast is clear, but the question is for how long?

Once the pack is removed, Prim assesses the damage. I can tell it isn't good. The blisters I saw earlier have burst and have rubbed raw and red. There are rivulets of blood running down his back and into the waistband of his pants. About a third of his back, from the bottom of his shoulder blades to the small of his back, is burned.

Prim pulls out her knife and the commentators gasp that she's going to kill him because he's injured so badly that he can't protect her. I snort. These Capitol people don't know my sister at all. She's not going to kill Peeta, she's going to try to save him.

She starts to cut away the fabric around the edges of the burn. I can see she's trying very hard not to cut off all of his clothing, probably not because she would be embarrassed at seeing him half dressed like I would, but because burn victims are susceptible to changes in temperature. I remember that my sister has experience treating burns since she often helps my mother with the cases that are brought in. I remember one miner whose leg was so charred and burned from an explosion in the mines that I could see the bones in his leg. Prim helped with that case and even though the man later died, she learned a lot about severe burns at that time.

She finishes cutting away the fabric around the wound and starts to remove the burned in pieces and the few darkly charred patches of skin. Third degree burns won't heal. So the only way to get the patient to recover is to remove the dead skin. Peeta screams as the first patch of skin is removed then falls unconscious. It's better for him that way, I think sympathetically. Burns hurt worse than any other injury, I've been told. I don't really want to find out for myself firsthand.

While she's cutting, she calls to Rue, "Can you go through Peeta's pack and see if he picked up a first aid kit? I don't think mine's going to be enough."

That answers a question I'd had, apparently Peeta hasn't sorted through the supplies he got at the Cornucopia. Or if he did, he didn't do it where Prim and Rue could see. That could be a mistake.

The little girl from Eleven roots through the pack carefully, putting the supplies into piles based on what the items are. The bedroll Peeta grabbed is shoved under the unconscious boy's head to keep him from breathing in water or dirt.

Then there's a few water bottles of varying sizes, none larger than a half gallon. These she places next to Prim. My sister looks at her gratefully and I think I can guess why. This water, unlike that from the stream, is already purified so she shouldn't be risking infection by washing his wounds with it like she would from the unpurified water from the stream.

Rue starts pulling out food next. There's several packs of dried beef and fruit. A few packs of hard crackers. Three grain and nut bars. A bag of walnuts and a bag of almonds. Several thin protein bars. Two dried sausages. A hunk of cheese. Three cans of soup with pull tab lids. A box of tea. And a largish bag of rice. Both the rice and the tea have me shaking my head. Rice is about useless without water or something to cook it in. I suppose they can reuse the cans from the soup but that's not the best option. The tea, if it is just straight tea, has almost no nutritional value. Herbal tea is better but not by much.

After the food, Rue pulls out a blanket, some rope and a small cooking pot. At the very bottom of the pack is a small metal box and a small pouch. Inside the pouch is another sewing kit like Prim managed to find but with more thread.

The box though is the real gem. Rue opens it and it's another medical kit. But completer than the one Prim grabbed. It's got gauze, bandages, more packets of ointment, a bottle of sleep syrup, and best of all a little bottle of morphling with a syringe. Rue claps her hands in delight and shows Prim.

"Good. Tell me what the packets are for? I've got only one burn salve and it won't cover even a fraction of his injuries."

Rue flips through them. "They're all antibiotic cremes."

Prim wrinkles her nose. "I was afraid of that. He'll need that too, but burn creme is better. Get my pack and bring me the iodine too," Prim orders. She's clearly taking charge and Rue scrambles to follow her orders.

Prim washes Peeta's back with the purified water then carefully dries it with a cut off piece of blanket. The broken blisters are weeping clear fluid rather than blood, which is good, but Prim's frowning at them. "I'm worried about infection," she says.

"Is there anything you can do about it?" Rue asks.

"Other than use the ointment? Not really."

"Then do what you can and we'll go from there," Rue counsels pragmatically.

Prim makes a face. "I suppose."

Rue stands up and looks around. "You need me?"

"This making you queasy?" Prim asks. "Katniss can't stand the sight of human blood. She's so strong when it comes to everything else, but when someone's hurt she can't handle it. She always goes someplace else when my mom has a really injured patient."

Shaking her head, Rue says. "Nah, I've seen worse when the Peacekeepers whip someone for snitching food. I was just thinking about taking a look around. See if I can find any shelter. We're real exposed out here."

Prim looks around and nods. "Yeah, we are. I don't know when he'll wake up, though."

Ever the pragmatist, Rue tells my sister, "We'll deal with that when we come to it. You work on healing him and I'll see if I can find us a place to hide."

Prim nods and goes back to her work. She judiciously dabs what little burn creme she has on the worst of Peeta's wounds. It doesn't go far. Then, she carefully smears the antibacterial cremes on the rest of his wounds and then lightly covers it with some gauze. When she's done she takes stock of what medical supplies she has left and sighs.

"There's not even enough for another coat," she says sadly. She picks up her trash and puts it back in the box. Possibly to try to salvage more from it later or to just keep people from finding her. Either way, it is smart.

Rue returns a little while later. "I found a cave," she says. "It's small, but it's close."

Prim perks up. "Really? That's great news. Do you think we can get Peeta there?"

"I don't know," Rue says with a frown. "He's pretty heavy."

"We gotta try," Prim insists. "How far away is it?"

"About a thousand feet that way," she points to a small hump of rocks and fallen trees. "It's pretty rough going."

Prim looks around, a thoughtful expression on her face. She walks around the area that Rue piled Peeta's supplies, stopping every so often at the piles to rifle through it. "Rue?"

"Yeah?"

"You think you can carry all of the supplies over to the cave and then bring back the packs?"

The dark skinned girl considers it. "I think so. It'll take me a few trips. I'm not as strong as Peeta."

"I don't think anyone's as strong as Peeta," Prim says with a little laugh.

"Thresh is."

"True," she concedes. "Leave my bedroll here along with the rope. I'm going to try to rig something up."

Rue starts hauling the supplies over to the cave while Prim lays out her bedroll and unzips it. She then pulls out a knife and makes several thin cuts along one side about four inches down from the top. She threads the rope through the holes with the dangling ends on the far side. She gets the second coil of rope and carefully loops it through the holes so that the fabric will be less likely to tear. Then she takes the two dangling ends which are nearer to the center of the bedroll and lays them out parallel to the first. By the time she's done, Rue is back with the two smaller backpacks. She ties the rope to the straps of the backpack and pulls it on backwards with the pouch on her front instead of her back.

"It's like a harness," Prim explains. "We put Peeta on the bed roll and cushion his head and then the two of us pull him to the cave. This way we can see where we're going and we don't have to roll him onto his back."

"How are we getting him onto the roll?" Rue asks.

"Carefully."

The two girls struggle to move Peeta's unconscious body. At one point, they have to strip off his ruined jacket and the packet of Clove's throwing knives falls out.

"Probably good we found these now," Prim says. "I don't want all of my hard work to go to waste."

Rue nods in agreement.

They manage to get Peeta onto the roll then start pulling him inch by inch toward the cave. It's slow going, Peeta weighs almost as much as the two of them put together and neither of them is used to carrying a lot of weight. But they manage. Every few feet or so, Prim stops them and checks to make sure that Peeta is okay.

The announcers cut in that there's more action elsewhere in the Arena and I want to scream. I understand that now that Peeta, Prim and Rue are out of immediate danger they aren't as interesting but it's still frustrating.

The terrain changes and it takes me a moment to recognize that it's near the area where Prim, Peeta and Rue's camp was. Marvel wanders onto the screen, I can tell he's slightly out of breath from running. He must have taken off in this direction as soon as he saw the smoke.

He must know, just like I do, that the sheer amount of flame can only mean one thing. The Gamemakers are trying to make the Games more interesting by harassing the tributes. He listens carefully and then smiles. He hears something. He deliberately turns around and walks in the opposite direction from where Prim, Peeta and Rue ran to.

I frown. What could he have heard?

I have my answer soon enough as the camera cuts to the trio's old camp. The camp itself is unscathed although there are still burning trees on the outskirts. The foxfaced girl from Five, Uranium, is there and gathering up the items that my group had to leave behind. She's got the bedroll Rue was sleeping in and the pile of cattail, water lily, and katniss roots that Prim had gathered. She's got a smug little smile on her face as she pilfers what my sister and her friends spent a long time working to get.

She sees the net that Prim'd placed that morning in the water and her smile grows wider. She goes up and starts to pull it in. She slips on the slick grass by the edge of the pool and falls on her bottom.

Right as a spear flies over her shoulder and impales itself in the ground behind her.

She starts and her eyes fly in the direction where the spear came from. Marvel's there and he's angry that he missed.

Uranium stands up and carefully backs up to the spear and pulls it out of the ground, holding it in front of her. "You lost this," she says quietly.

"Why don't you be nice and give it back to me and I'll give you a treat," Marvel replies with a sneer.

Tilting her head to one side, she asks, "And what will that be?"

The boy from One pulls out a hunting knife and holds it low in front of him. "A nice painless death."

"Tempting," Uranium answers, her tone mocking. "But I think I'll pass."

"Suit yourself. Now I get to play with you."

Uranium turns and runs and I can hear the words she shouts float back to Marvel. "You've got to catch me first!"

Marvel curses loudly and takes off after her. The girl from Five is fast, darting in and out of the still smoldering and burning shrubs and trees with ease. Marvel isn't as graceful. He brushes up against some of the flora and has to spend precious time putting himself out. Still, he doesn't give up.

I'm a little confused when I see Uranium stop and double back a few yards. She likely saw something up ahead that she didn't like. She skirts the area in front of her then stops and turns around.

"Tired of the cat and mouse game, mouse?" Marvel asks when he catches up to her.

"Something like that," she replies.

He smiles. It isn't a friendly smile. "Good, I was getting tired of chasing you. I'd much rather be doing something else to you."

"I don't think you could get it up. Your weapon looks a little wimpy." I can tell from her tone that she isn't talking about Marvel's knife.

Marvel takes it about as well as I would expect, which is to say badly. "I'll show you wimpy!"

"Well, why don't you stop talking and do something? Or are you all talk?" Uranium taunts.

Marvel charges.

Uranium just stands there, a little smile on her face. A smile that widens into a full on grin when Marvel crashes face first into a pool of quicksand.

The boy from One comes up spluttering. "What the?"

"You Careers," Uranium scoffs. "You never pay attention to your surroundings. Always so focused on your prey. Well, now this prey is going to have the last laugh." She pulls back her arm and hurls the spear. Not at Marvel, like I thought. But at the burning canopy of branches above Marvel's head.

Fire rains down on the mired boy. He cries out in pain as fiery branches scorch his face. He tries to protect his head from the debris but is only partially successful. His hair singes and burns and he thrashes about in the quicksand to try to free himself.

Uranium smirks at his pain then runs back to Prim's abandoned camp. I have to give the girl her due, it was an interesting tactic. But not necessarily a deadly one. She could have speared Marvel, but the more I think about it that is what he was expecting her to do. He could have caught the weapon and pulled her into the quicksand with him and she'd have lost her advantage and likely her life. This way, while less certain, allowed her to get away relatively unscathed and reclaim the supplies she had scavenged.

A cannon goes off and her smile widens, assuming it is for Marvel.

She's wrong. Marvel is hurt but still very much alive.

He manages to get his hair put out by slathering it with the wet muck. He gingerly gets out of the quicksand and I can see that he's pretty hurt. One eye is swollen shut and his whole left side is dotted with burns. I can see his anger coming through the pain. He wants to go after Uranium but he doesn't know where she went or if he could fight her in his condition. So slowly, painfully, he sets back toward the clearing and the Career camp.

The announcers interrupt to say that they're going to show a recap of something else that was going on at the same time as Uranium and Marvel's confrontation. In another part of the forest, Jace, the boy from Nine walks around. I can see he's nearing desperate. He's clearly dehydrated and I can see tear tracks on his cheeks. He's walking aimlessly, ignoring clearly edible plants and berries.

My heart goes out to him.

He reaches the edge of the stream and lets out a glad cry. He runs toward it gleefully. When he reaches the edge, he drops to his knees and slurps up several mouthfuls. His immediate thirst slaked, he sits up and surveys his surroundings as if he's now finally aware of them. He spots the flash of a trout in the stream and he gets to his feet. Carefully he wades out into the water, one hand dangling in the stream.

Jace is almost at the fish when he places his foot wrong. He slips, losing his balance, the fish and his life. He tumbles into the stream and strikes his head against a partially submerged rock. He then rolls face first into the stream and the current carries him away.

A few moments later a cannon sounds. The same cannon Uranium mistook for Marvel's death knell.

Jace is dead.

Not by the hands of any tribute but by the brutality of the Games themselves. It strikes me as ironic that with all of the fire set off by the Gamekeepers, so far the only death today is an accidental drowning.

I glance over at the clock. It's not even noon. If this is how the morning is going to be, I'm worried about how the rest of the day is going to go. I'm worried if my sister is going to make it through the rest of the day, let alone the rest of the Games.

AN:

Written as part of NaNoWriMo in November of 2012.

Revised 7/25/13

Beta Read by RoseFyre.

Welcome back to the action. Like the Capitol audience, I figure that my readers can only take so many transitional chapters before they get bored and move on. Besides, I do want to finish this eventually.

Tributes killed in this chapter and how they died.
11. Jace. District Nine. Killed by the Games. Drowned while trying to catch a fish.

Up Next: The alliance grows and another tribute falls.