I wake to Katniss shaking me. I open my eyes and pull Katniss down for a kiss.
"We're wasting hunting time," she says after she breaks away.
"I wouldn't call it wasting," I say, stretching. "So do we hunt on empty stomachs to give us an edge?"
"Not us," she says. "We stuff ourselves to give us staying power."
"Count me in," I say. I'm a little bit surprised when she divides up the rest of the stew and rice, but I go along with it. "All this?"
"We'll earn it back today," she says. It's even good cold. Katniss spoons up the last bits of gravy with her finger. "I can feel Effie Trinket shuddering at my manners."
"Hey Effie, watch this!" I say, licking my plate clean. I blow a kiss and say, "We miss you Effie!"
She covers my mouth, laughing.
"Stop! Cato could be right outside our cave."
I grab her hand and get it away from my mouth. "What do I care? I've got you to protect me now," I say, pulling her to me.
"Come one," she says exasperatedly. I get in another kiss before she wriggles her way out of my grasp.
We get packed and head outside, the mood darkening to serious. Katniss hands me a knife and I slip it into my belt.
"He'll be hunting us by now," I say. "Cato isn't one to wait for his prey to wander by."
"If he's wounded-" she begins.
"It won't matter," I say. "If he can move, he's coming."
We stop to replenish our water and Katniss goes to check snares and returns empty handed.
"If we want food, we better head back up to my old hunting grounds," she says.
"Your call. Just tell me what you need me to do," I say.
"Keep an eye out," she says. "Stay on the rocks as much as possible, no sense in leaving him tracks to follow. And listen for both of us."
We've just passed my hiding spot when Katniss turns and glares at me.
"What?" I ask.
"You've got to move more quietly," she says. "Forget about Cato, you're chasing off every rabbit in a ten-mile radius."
"Really?" I say. "Sorry, I didn't know."
We start again and I really try being quiet, but we only get a little of the way before Katniss turns to me again.
"Can you take your boots off?" she suggests.
"Here?" I ask in disbelief. Why here? The ground is rough.
"Yes," she says. I can tell she's trying to be patient with me. "I will, too. That way we'll both be quieter."
We strip off our socks and boots, but in the couple of hours it takes to get to Katniss' old campsite, she hasn't shot anything. I feel really bad about it; I can tell she's getting agitated. We stop to rest and get drinks.
"Katniss," I say. "We need to split up. I know I'm chasing away the game."
"Only because you're leg's hurt," she says. She's trying to make me feel better, which is nice of her, but unnecessary.
"I know," I say. "So, why don't you go on? Show me some plants to gather and that way we'll both be useful."
"Not if Cato comes and kills you," she says.
I laugh. "Look, I can handle Cato. I fought him before, didn't I?"
"What if you climbed a tree and acted as a lookout while I hunted?" she asks.
"What if you show me what's edible around here and go get us some meat?" I ask, mimicking her tone. "Just don't go too far in case you need help."
She sighs and shows me some roots to dig. She teaches me a bird whistle and tells me to whistle every so often to let her know I'm all right.
I pick roots and exchange whistles every now and then with Katniss. I see a patch of berries further down and put my supplies down to go and pick them.
"Peeta!" I hear. What's Katniss doing? "Peeta!"
I make my way out of the brush and almost die of fright to see Katniss, arrow pointed at me. She almost shoots me, too. I jump, flinging the berries I'd picked back.
"What are you doing? You're supposed to be here, not running around the woods!"
"I found some berries don by the stream," I say, confused by her anger.
"I whistled. Why didn't you whistle back?" she snaps.
"I didn't hear. The waters too loud, I guess," I say. I walk to Katniss and put my hands on her shoulders. She's trembling.
"I thought Cato killed you!" she yells.
"No, I'm fine." I wrap my arms around her. "Katniss?"
She pushes away. "If two people agree on a signal, they stay in range. Because if one of them doesn't answer, they're in trouble, all right?"
"All right!" I say.
"All right. Because that's what happened with Rue, and I watched her die!"
She turns away and goes to get some water from the pack.
"And you ate without me!" she yells.
"What? No I didn't," I say. It's weird; I could've sworn nothing touched the supplies.
"Oh, and I suppose the apples ate the cheese," she says.
"I don't know who ate the cheese," I say, trying not to lose my temper, "but it wasn't me. I've been down by the stream collecting berries. Would you care for some?"
She takes a few and rolls them between her fingers in deep thought. A cannon fires. Katniss whips around and I raise my eyebrows at her. I turn to see Catherine being taken into a hovercraft.
Fear runs through me. The hovercraft is close, Cato won't be too far away at this rate, and he'll have his sword.
I take Katniss' arm and push her towards a tree.
"Climb. He'll be here in a second. We'll stand a better chance fighting from above."
Katniss stops me. "No, Peeta, she's your kill, not Cato's."
"What? I haven't seen her since the first day," I say. "How could I have killed her?"
She holds out the berries in response.
Katniss explains that Catherine stole food from the career's before Katniss blew it up. The explosion caused her deafness. She thought that the berries I'd picked were safe, so she ate them and died.
"I wonder how she found us," I say. "My fault, I guess, if I'm as loud as you say."
"And she's very clever, Peeta. Well, she was. Until you outfoxed her."
"Not on purpose. Doesn't seem fair, somehow. I mean, we would have both been dead, too, if she hadn't eaten the berries first," I say. "No, of course we wouldn't. You recognized them, didn't you?"
She nods. "We call them nightlock."
"Even the name sounds deadly," I say. "I'm sorry, Katniss. I really thought they were the same ones you'd gathered."
"Don't apologize. It just means we're one step closer to home, right?" she asks.
"I'll get rid of the rest," I say. I gather the plastic together, careful to get all of the berries inside, and go to toss them in the woods.
"Wait!" Katniss cries. She pulls out the leather pouch that belonged to Marvel and fills it with some berries. "If they fooled Foxface, maybe they can fool Cato as well. If he's chasing us or something, we can act like we accidentally drop the pouch and if he eats them-"
"Then hello District 12," I finish.
"That's it," she says, securing the pouch to her belt.
"He'll probably know where we are now," I say. "If he was anywhere nearby and saw the hovercraft, he'll know we killed her and come after us."
"Let's make a fire. Right now." Katniss begins gathering up branches and twigs.
"Are you ready to face him?" I ask.
"I'm ready to eat. Better to cook our food while we have the chance. If he knows we're here, he knows. But he also knows there's two of us and probably assumes we were hunting Foxface. That means you're recovered. And the fire means that we're not hiding, we're inviting him here. Would you show up?" she asks.
"Maybe not," I say.
I light a fire and in no time Katniss has the rabbits and squirrels roasting, the roots which are wrapped in leaves baking in the coals. We take turns gathering greens and keeping watch for Cato, but he doesn't turn up.
When the food's cooked, Katniss wraps it up in the plastic, after washing off any traces of nightlock. We eat a rabbit leg each as we walk.
Katniss suggests that we should climb a tree to sleep in for the night, but I resist. "I can't climb like you, Katniss, especially with my leg, and I don't think I could ever fall asleep fifty feet above the ground."
"It's not safe to stay in the open, Peeta," she says.
"Can't we go back to the cave?" I ask. "It's near water and easy to defend."
She sighs. "Sure. Let's go back to the cave."
I'm relieved. Sleeping in a tree is about as safe as sleeping in the open, for me anyway. "Well, that was easy."
Before we leave, we throw some more wood on the fire so Cato doesn't think that we've moved. The water level's dropped significantly, so Katniss suggests we walk in the stream. I'm happy to oblige, my feet are sore from the long trip to the hunting ground.
The trip is less arduous but still as lengthy; when we reach the cave the sun is setting. The sky lights up with Catherine's face and I feel sorrow for her death; she seemed like a nice girl and probably would've had a lot of friends in District 5, maybe even a boyfriend. Katniss senses my dismay, so she takes first watch. I settle into the sleeping bag, thoughts of Adriana and Catherine and Glimmer running through my head.
A/N: This is definitely the last post for this week; I'm leaving for Melbourne tomorrow. Hopefully I'll update next Sunday, but if not I'll definitely update around then. Reviews for my triumphant return? :D