Here's the next chapter! It's not very long, but I like it. I hope you enjoy! I do not own THG so any direct quotes will be in italics!


Ch. 29

"Pretty awful, huh?" I say looking at Katniss. She tries to compose herself as she looks at my leg; it's hard for me to look at it myself. Katniss looks like she's about to throw up whatever she'd eaten last. I'd thought since her mother was a healer she would be comfortable around such things. I've seen the people they've rushed to the Everdeen's, they're much worse than me. Katniss must leave. I know Prim likes to help, but the healer trait was definitely not passed to Katniss.

She tries to compose herself, but I still see the fear in her eyes, "So-so. You should see some of the people they bring my mother from the mines." She's trying to hide what I already have figured out, that she's not into that stuff, "First thing is to clean it well."

Taking off my pants had been hard, but she had gotten them off eventually. Not soon after did she see my wound. Now it was hard to look at the white puss mixed with still coming blood. It didn't smell too pretty either. She had started to wash off my legs, avoiding the cut as much as she could. With each pour of water, my leg got redder, the cut more scary. This wasn't amateur stuff. She seemed to get sicker and sicker with each pour of the water.

"Why don't we give it some air and then…" Katniss says, looking at the wound one last time before going to the other side of me and sighing. She honestly doesn't know what do next. She is as scared as I am.

"And then you'll patch it up?" I say, trying to help her along. Honestly I think she isn't completely here. I lost her somewhere between taking my pants off and cleaning my legs.

"That's right. In the meantime, you eat these." She hands me dried pears. Which actually sort of sound good, but not really. She goes into the creek to wash my clothes, riddled with mud. After that she goes to dig through a first aid kit, but I don't think she finds much to help something to this extent. Right now I think I need a trained doctor. But the daughter of a healer is the closest thing I'll get. At least I love her.

"We're going to have to experiment some." She admits. She starts using the leaves that were used for the tracker jacker stings. They seem to draw out a lot of puss as the stuff starts running down my leg. Katniss looks even worse than she did before.

I decide to lighten the mood, but really the words I say are serious, "Katniss?" Her deep grey eyes meet mine, "How about that kiss?" I get another laugh from her. Her head tilted back, wind blowing her stray hairs; she's absolutely gorgeous. At least I got her to look away from my gruesome leg for at least a second. "Something wrong?" I ask oblivious. I would love that kiss, but really she was just treating my gross, disgusting leg. Nothing like puss to put you in the mood. I was really just trying to get that laugh again; it's like wind chimes in the spring.

"I… I'm no good at this." She finally admits, "I'm not my mother. I've no idea what I'm doing and I hate pus. Euh!" She expresses her true feelings. I was kind of getting tired of her trying to be strong for me. She didn't have to do that; I'm okay with her being weak with me. It's what you do with the people you love; you let your guard down. I know she was just trying to make it so I wasn't scared, but she can't stop that. I've been scared since the moment the games started. I just have to be strong! I have to fight through this, not only for me, but also for Katniss. Because for some reason she wants me, no she needs me alive. Why else would she try so hard?

Katniss is so disgusted by this, but how does she hunt, having to kill the animal then skin and gut it? It couldn't be much worse than this, but she hunts so easily. It's her life style, "How do you hunt?" I ask her as she keeps on working on my leg, even though she's kind of sort of let her guard down.

"Trust me. Killing things is much easier than this. Although for all I know, I am killing you." Her face scrunches as she looks at my leg.

"Could you speed it up a little?" I ask.

"Shut up and eat your pears." That comment, right there, shows me that she doesn't want me to die. She's avoiding really saying it to my face, but she lets settle comments drop. I watch as she just keeps working, her brow furrowing, and her face deep in work. She's really trying. It's one of the things I love about her, how she puts in all or nothing. When she decided she was going to provide for her family, she really went out there and did it. She risked getting caught and charged, but she knew she had to do it. And now working on my leg, she doesn't really want to do it, but she has to. She's decided she wants to save me and she's all in. She can't back out now, not after all of this. We're a team. And sure I'm the crappy teammate that screws everything up right now, but still. Katniss chose to save me. She actually wants me alive, which is a step up from not knowing I existed.

I remember all the endless afternoons, frosting bag in hand, watching as Katniss walked by. Most of the time a grimace on her face. The only time she would be smiling was if Prim was by her side, holding her hand. I always wondered if she ever looked at me, if she wondered how my day went. But then I remembered all I was to her was the baker's son. Nothing more. Now, if we make it back, which is a risky thing to say, Cato and Clove are still in, but if we do I'll actually have a chance with her. Maybe she'll be mine and all my wildest dreams will come true.


I hope you liked it! Guess who's birthday is tomorrow (August 10th) Suzanne Collins! Our favorite author! Yay! Haha, anyways, don't forget to review on the way out! Thanks -boywithbreadlover