CHAPTER 14
I spend a long time in a tree. I hear the Anthem twice, but I'm not aware of anything that's going on. I'm just there, with my eyes shut, my knees drawn against my chest, and my mind blank. I don't think about anything. I don't think about my high fever, my aching muscles, the children I killed. I don't eat, I don't drink. I don't die. I don't live. I don't do anything.
But after three days, I am threatening to die of starvation which would be ridiculous because I am surrounded by foodstuffs. So I force myself to open my eyes and fetch supplies. I manage to spend a whole day doing so because I move so slowly. I t hurts to move and I'm hopelessly tired, despite not moving for days. I am also very weak from my fever and lack of food. I force myself to choke down a few berries over the day though. I refill my water skin and gather up more medicine leaves which I store in my backpack, which has become considerably light.
After climbing around in the trees for so long barefoot, my feet have become as tough as Capitol steak. I test them by sticking a long thorn into the ball of one. I barely feel a thing, however far I push it in. When I take it out, no blood is drawn and I know I will not have to worry about losing my boots in the fire.
By the time it is getting dark, I am shattered . I have spent a little time on the floor and it feels odd to be on solid ground again. I wonder if I should sleep down here for a night until I spy the Career's camp close by and, with a terrified squeak, scramble up the nearest tree and lay in it, my eyes shut and my belly fuller than it has been for days.
A few moments later, I am awoken by a sharp stabbing pain on my wrist. I hear a buzz and nearly jump off the branch in fright. I haul myself into the next tree and huddle in a ball, chewing up my leaves for my sting, frightened to go back to sleep. How did I manage to fall asleep under a Tracker Jacker nest? I know I was tired, but I must have remembered to check my surroundings. Cato could have been right next to me for all I knew!
I am now far too cold and far too scared to go back to sleep. I sit there, silent apart form my teeth rattling, for several hours. I have drained the venom out of the sting before the hallucinations or anything serious began and am left with just a slight itch. But more stings and it could become dangerous. So I stay awake, ready to move but to stiff and tired to move further away now.
Suddenly, I hear the snap of a breaking twig and angry mutterings from the tree beside me. Then the unmistakable sound of a bag being thumped down on the branch. A tribute! Guiltily, I hope it's Cato who's about to be devoured by the deadly wasps. Then I remember that the wasps aren't the only things who aim to kill out here. So I peer through the branches and gasp.
It's Katniss Everdeen! I've found her, I realise. But is she going to kill me, too? Maybe she's as deadly as Cato – or worse?
But, to make up for all the people I might have killed in the fire, I whisper her name urgently a few times so she turns towards me, frowning. But her eyes widen when she sees who it is. I jerk my thumb upwards and then disappear into the branches, praying that she got my message and that the Game makers didn't.
The next morning, Katniss is still alive, and so am I. I listened for cannons all night but heard none. That's a relief at least.
I see Katniss again sooner than I expect. She pokes her head through to my tree and makes a sawing action. I frown in puzzlement for a moment. Then I remember the Career's camp below. Would she? Would I? Perhaps. I picture the Career's screaming and running from the nests, half of them dropping down dead from the stings. And Peeta! I wonder if she knows.
But I nod and disappear, wondering if I have just killed somebody else. I wonder if any of this counts?