*A/N Wow! Three updates almost basically right after each other. Sorry, I've had a lot of time on my hands so I had three chapters revised and ready. So I decided to just put them up so... I don't know whether you like updates right away or not. You know what... PM me if you prefer fast updates or if you prefer to wait. Or you just don't have to but... enough talking. Here's mah chapter.*
Peeta fell down and rolled a couple of feet away from me. Cato slashed the sword where Peeta was, and it hit my thigh. I gasped out in pain. I felt a warm fluid start to flow down my leg. I looked at the wound and suddenly felt faint. I definitely saw bone. My head started to spin, and I started to fall to the ground. I fell on my back, trying to hold my leg together and stop the bleeding.
"Ivy!" Peeta yelled. He tried to reach me, but Cato got to me first.
"Look who we have here, Lover Boy! Ivy Undersee!" he yelled, waking the rest of the Careers up. Cato grabbed my hand and pulled me up next to him. I tried to rip my hand away from him, but I was losing strength quickly. Cato let me fall back onto the ground. Tears were streaming down my face, but I wasn't feeling any real pain. Everything had just gone numb and dark.
I felt someone grab me around the waist and lift me up. Cato had let Peeta lift me up. He held me around the waist, trying to support me. He began to pull me away from Cato.
The rest of the Careers were now standing up and around Cato, each holding up their weapon. They were ready to strike.
"Ha! Get 'em now Cato!" Marvel yelled.
"Yeah, Cato! Go!" Glimmer yelled. Cato started to walk towards us but was stopped by a rustling in the trees above.
I saw the outline of a little girl and then the outline of a falling branch of some sort. The branch hit the ground, and I saw that it was a nest. A tracker jacker nest. I knew what they were, and I knew how dangerous they were. Yet, I didn't move.
I saw the Careers scatter, as well as the little girl in the tree who saved us. Then I tried to run as well, but I couldn't. All I could see now were silhouettes. I felt like I was fading.
I drooped down, making Peeta hold all my weight. I felt sick to my stomach. Peeta sat me down and held my hand, almost like he was trying to protect me from the tracker jackers.
I felt a prick on my neck. I was stung. Peeta pulled out the stinger, and I tried not to flinch.
"Ivy, can you walk?" he asked hesitantly. I looked him in the eye, or at least what I thought was his eye. He grabbed me by the elbows and lifted me gently. I tried to take a step forward. I fell into his arms.
"Nope," I said. He gave a small chuckle. By now all of the tracker jackers were gone, and I could hear the Careers rushing back.
"We gotta go," Peeta said. He helped me stand again and tried to support both our weight as he tried to run with me. But I didn't get very far, even with all the help.
"Peeta, just go without me. I won't make it a day with this inju-" I was cut off by Peeta picking me up and slinging me on his back, like the piggy-back rides my dad had given me when I was younger. Peeta took long strides as he ran; I could feel every bump he hit as he dashed away.
"Peeta, I-"
"Shh, don't talk," he said as he continued running. I could hear Cato's loud thuds as he sprinted to catch up to us. Peeta kept running, but it was difficult with me on his back. Suddenly, there was slime falling down in front of us.
"Peeta! Watch out for the slime!" I yelled. Peeta kept running straight through the goop.
"There's no slime, Ivy."
"It's all over," I said. As he ran through the slimey waterfall, some of it stuck to my face. My hands flew to my face where slime was starting to stick. "Get it off of me!" Tears started to fall over the slime. The slime wouldn't come off, no matter how much I tried to pull it off.
"Ivy, it's the venom. It's not real," Peeta said. I tried to calm down, but the slime was stuck to my skin.
"Peeta, it's not coming off!" I said. Peeta stopped suddenly. I stopped touching my face.
"Do you hear that?" he asked. I stopped whimpering to try and hear what Peeta was hearing.
"I don't hear anything," I said, my voice quivering.
"Exactly, we lost him," Peeta said, smiling. Then, we were off again. Fleeing from the Careers in the dark.
"Ivy? Ivy?" he asked me.
I had fallen asleep or fainted or something. My eyes shot open; I looked at my surroundings. I was lying by a creek, with my leg drenched in blood. It was daytime.
"Peeta!" I gasped in relief. "Where…" I trailed off. I didn't know what to say. My whole time in the Games I wanted Peeta again, and now that I had him, I didn't know what to do with him.
"I, um… I think I need to examine the wound," he said.
"Whatever you say," I replied, just happy to be with Peeta again.
He looked extremely awkward as he cut off the bottom half of my pant leg, making them into shorts. I saw a few more tracker jacker stings and a couple of burns, but those were nothing compared to the large cut on my thigh. I couldn't even stand to look at it. But Peeta stayed calm.
"Umm, I…"
"I have burn medicine in my backpack," I said. Maybe if we took care of the other problems first, the cut wouldn't be as hard.
He slowly put his hands under my waist, and he raised my body up. Carefully, he took the pack off of my shoulders. Peeta gently laid me back down on the ground. His hands left my waist, and I already missed his touch.
He took out the medicine and started to apply it to my ankle burn. My larger burn was slowly healing from the medicine Haymitch had given me, but Peeta applied medicine on it too.
"How did you get these?" he asked, trying to forget the awkwardness of it all.
"Fireballs," I said. He looked at me and then at our surroundings.
"Do you think they'll come back now?" he asked. I smiled.
"They're used to bring tributes together to fight to the death. We're already together," I said, setting my hands on his shoulders. I didn't know why I did it, and I was suddenly embarrassed. Peeta smiled.
"I hoped we would eventually be together," he said. I propped myself up on my elbows.
"How do I know you won't kill me?" I asked quietly. Peeta looked me in the eye and lightly brushed my cheek with his fingertips.
"Because I love you," he said. My eyes stared into his. They were gentle and compassionate. I loved him, truly loved him, with all my heart.
My breaths were always uneven around him, and my cheeks started to burn as they blushed. He knew that I was flustered.
His hands went back around my waist. He pulled me up next to him, cradling me almost like a baby in his arms. He planted a kiss on my lips. My hands wrapped around him. I couldn't help the way I was feeling.
Peeta pulled away gently with a smile on his lips. He kissed me on more time on the forehead, before he went on trying to fix my leg. Peeta let me stay sitting almost in his lap as he examined the wound.
I stared at his hair. The way the sun hit it made it glow. It was almost blinding. I stared back down at his face. He had his look of concentration on his face as he considered what to do to help me. I began to feel faint again. It must have been all the blood loss. I drifted asleep in Peeta's arms.
I woke up feeling alive, more alive than I should've considering all my wounds. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked at my legs. There were leaves covering where my tracker jacker stings were.
"What happened?" I asked. I looked around for Peeta and found him a couple of feet away, sitting with his back to the creek. I was going to crawl next to him, but the pain in my leg stopped me. And Peeta didn't move, so we stayed a couple of feet away.
"You fainted and were out for about half an hour. Rue came here and gave me these leaves for your stings. I accepted them, and they've worked so far," he said. I looked around.
"Where's Rue?" I asked. I was sure that she was the one who saved us from the Careers, and I knew I should thank her. Peeta moved closer to me, and I tried not to give a sigh of relief. He talked as he moved.
"She said something about finding Thresh," Peeta murmured. I tried to hide my large smile as Peeta drew just inches from my face.
But then I noticed he was still trying to cure my thigh wound.
"So, how am I?" I asked as he stared at it.
"Do you want the truth or the lie?" he laughed, trying to lighten the mood. I laughed too.
"Truth, please," I said.
"Your leg, I don't know what to do with it. I think it's getting infected," he said. I took a deep breath. I tried to sit up, but Peeta lightly pushed me back down. "You really shouldn't-"
"Shut it, Peeta. I'm dying," I said. I sat all the way up so that our knees were touching in between us. I tried to act like I was okay, but my leg hurt even more from sitting up. I knew I should've listened to Peeta, but I was too proud to admit my mistake.
"Ivy, don't be so dramatic," he said, holding my shoulders as I started to sway.
"It will be dramatic when you go back to District 12 and see my family crying over me," I said, "when I'm brought back in a body bag."
"I think we should rinse off the cut," he interjected, trying to change the subject. But I knew I had won. He knew that I was dying, and that there was nothing we could do about it. I doubted rinsing off the cut would help, but if it made Peeta feel better, I would feel better.
Peeta grabbed my legs and looked up at me. "You're going to get a little wet."
"It's okay," I smiled. I tried to keep smiling, but my leg was screaming out in pain.
Peeta got in the creek and grabbed my hands. He started to pull me in until my wound was submerged underwater. He then got out of the water and sat next to me. I watched as blood tainted the water red. It never seemed to stop. I stole a glance at Peeta, figuring he wouldn't be looking at me.
When I turned to look at Peeta, I saw him looking at me. It was intense, like he was studying my face. Learning each detail.
"What?" I asked, feeling self-conscious.
"It's just. You're glowing. Your hair and eyes… they're glowing," he said. I turned and saw the brilliant sun as it started to fall from the sky. I smiled at him, remembering how I had been staring at his shining hair earlier.
"Yeah. You're sort of glowing too," I said, feeling embarrassed. So I looked down. Peeta didn't even blush when he told me I was glowing, so maybe he didn't mean it as a compliment. But I meant mine as a compliment. He was glowing, almost like he was the sun. He was radiant. As I began thinking about this, I lost my breath again.
Why did I never notice Peeta before the Games? Whenever I would walk into the bakery or see him at school, why didn't I see him? Why was it Gale that I saw?
His fingers brushed my cheek, making me forget all thoughts immediately.
"Sorry. You had some mud on your cheek," he said, folding his hands in his lap, finally looking embarrassed. I got a mischievous smile.
"I guess I should clean it off with some water," I laughed, splashing him with water.
He laughed and jumped in the water. I kicked my legs, drenching him from head to toe. He started splashing me back, and I tried to cover myself with my hands.
He grabbed my hands as they went up and pulled me in. I grabbed him by the creases in his elbows so that he couldn't move. He didn't try and pull away like I knew he could've. Instead, he let me shove his head under the water. Once I did, I jumped back, scared that he might dunk me back. I giggled as Peeta began to rise from the water.
His head came out of the water first, his hair shining even more because it was wet. His eyes were shut, and he shook his hair like a dog. I laughed, again covering my face with my hands.
Peeta snuck up behind me as I was laughing and picked me up. On arm was under my knees and the other arm was behind my back holding my shoulder. He laughed as he brought me under water with him. I opened my eyes while I was under. The only thing I could see besides the murk was Peeta. His blue eyes were squinted open at me too. My hands reached up to his face. He brought us both back above the surface. We both gasped for air, laughing.
I felt like a child playing in the pond for the first time with Madge and Poison. Poison was watching this now. I wondered how he felt. Proud, scared, or disgusted?
My hands were still on Peeta's face. He moved his face down to mine and kissed me quickly on the lips. I laughed.
Peeta set me back into the water. He bowed like we had finished a dance, and I curtseyed in return. Then his face grew dark.
"Oh no," he murmured. He quickly pulled me out of the water and propped my leg up on his own leg. The blood had started to flow out of the wound even faster.
He ripped the bottom of his jacket off and wrapped it tightly around my leg in an attempt to stop the blood flow. I straightened my leg out and winced.
"Well, I would say that the wound is rinsed," I muttered, trying to start a conversation between us.
"I would say that too," he said, smiling at me. He grabbed my hand. And he held it tightly.
"Do you think we could find someplace to hide out? Because the sun is almost gone, and I don't think I'm in a good position right now to run away from murderous tributes that hunt at night," I said. Peeta laughed.
"I already found one. When you were unconscious, I took a walk around the area and found a cave. We could hide in it for days. Close by water, hidden from tributes, you could hunt," he said. I smiled.
"Take me to this cave," I ordered with a smile holding my hands out for him to help me up.
He helped me stand up slowly. I tried to walk. Peeta rolled his eyes with a smile and threw me on his back again.
Soon, we were walking towards a cave. My Peeta and I. Together at last in the Games.