Chapter 30: 74th Hunger Games: Final Crisis

[Summer of 74th Hunger Games]

The viewing for day 14 showed Katniss slowly waking up again, with Peeta talking to her. She asked how long she had been dozing, but Peeta said that he did not know. The medicine from the orange pack had apparently helped a lot, as the boy was clearly looking better this morning. He was of course a little angry about the treatment with the sleep syrup, but he also said:

"Look – this morning, almost all the swelling in my leg is gone."

They talked about what had happened at the Cornucopia and Thresh letting Katniss go.

"He let you go because he didn't want to owe you anything?"

"Yes. I don't expect you to understand it. You've always had enough. But if you'd lived in the Seam, I wouldn't have to explain"

"And don't try. Obviously I am not smart enough to get it."

"It's like the bread, you see. How I never seem to get over owing you for that."

"The bread? Which bread? From when we were kids? Really? I think we can let that go. I mean, come on, you just brought me back from the dead."

"But you didn't even know me at that time! We had never spoken to each other. Besides, it's the first gift that's always the hardest to pay back. I wouldn't even have been here to do it if you hadn't helped me then!"

Here in the bakery my father looked at Prim and asked if the owing issue was really such a big deal, and my girlfriend replied:

"For some Seam people it is, really, and I know that it is for Katniss. When she goes hunting with Gale, she's always careful about sharing the game in a fair way, and I think when she's trading, she always makes sure that the trade is justified."

"Oh yes" Dad confirmed. "I have tried a few times to give her something extra, but she almost always refused. She does not like gifts."

"Yes" Prim replied. "For her and many others, gifts look like charity, and this is not something desirable. Seam people are proud to manage on their own in a difficult environment."

"And I am glad that you are a little different, my love" I told my girlfriend. "I really like that I can give you some nice little gift from time to time."

Meanwhile, in the arena Katniss had changed the topic, and after a brief time of silence she sighed:

"I want to go home, Peeta!"

"You will; I promise."

How could he promise something like that? With his bad leg, he would not be able to help her much with that, or could he?

"But I want to go home now!"

"Tell you what. You go back to sleep and dream of home. And you'll be there for real before you know it. Okay?"

"Okay," she whispered. "Wake me if you need me to keep watch."

"I'm good and rested, thanks to you and Haymitch."

Meanwhile, the camera switched focus and showed Foxface sneaking around. She had not found the place where Katniss and Peeta were hiding, but she had followed Cato and Thresh, trying to steal again, but without luck on this day. Thresh was back in his wheat field, and Cato stalked him, but did not try to stage an attack.

Back in the cave, Prim՚s sister must have realized they they did not have much food left and thus said after some time:

"Tomorrow is a hunting day!"

"I won't be much help with that; I've never hunted before."

"I'll kill and you cook, and you can always gather."

"I wish there was some sort of bread bush out there; the bread they sent me from District Eleven was still warm."

"Where did Thresh go? I mean, what's on the far side of the circle?" Katniss asked Peeta.

"A field. As far as you can see it's full of grasses as high as my shoulders. I don't know, maybe some of them are grain. There are patches of different colors. But there are no paths."

"I bet some of them are grain, and I bet Thresh knows which ones, too."

Indeed, he knew, as we had seen before, but of course that information was not accessible to Katniss and Peeta. After some more talking between them and a couple of kisses, the day ended in the arena, and so did the viewing.

The next day, the 15th in the arena, started with some more conversation between our two tributes.

Katniss asked:

"Peeta, you said at the interview you'd had a crush on me forever. When did 'forever' start?"

"Oh, let's see. I guess the first day of school. We were five. You had on a red plaid dress and your hair... it was in two braids instead of one. My father pointed you out when we were waiting to line up."

"Your father? Why?"

"'See that little girl? I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner,', that's what he said."

At the bakery, we all looked at my father, and he looked a little bit embarrassed hearing about that again. But we could not ask him right now because we wanted to listen to Katniss and Peeta further.

"What? You're making that up!" Katniss claimed in the arena.

"No, true story. And I said, 'A coal miner? Why did she want a coal miner if she could've had you?' And he said, 'Because when he sings... even the birds stop to listen.'"

"That's true. They do. I mean, they did."

"So that day, in music class, the teacher asked who knew the valley song. Your hand shot right up in the air. She stood you up on a stool and had you sing it for us. And I recall that every bird outside the windows fell silent."

"Oh, please!" Katniss laughed.

"No, it happened. And right when your song ended, I knew – just like your mother – I was a goner. Then, for the next eleven years, I tried to work up the nerve to talk to you."

"Without success."

"Without success, indeed" Peeta confirmed. "So, in a way, my name being drawn in the reaping was a real piece of luck."

"You have a... remarkable memory," Katniss said slowly once she had tried to digest all of that.

"I remember everything about you. You're the one who wasn't paying attention."

"I am now!"

"Well, I don't have much competition here."

"You don't have much competition anywhere!"

They kissed again, but a few seconds later there was an odd sound from outside; Peeta glimpsed outside and retrieved another parachute. It had a larger container attached, and inside there was a lot of food, like fresh rolls, goat cheese, apples, and a tureen of lamb stew on wild rice.

"I guess Haymitch finally got tired of watching us starve."

"I guess so, too."

Both of them decided to take it slow with eating, as their stomachs had been almost empty for some time.

While they were eating and the camera switched to what the other tributes were doing, both Wheat and I urged father to explain, and he admitted:

"Peeta is right. Mabel – Mrs. Everdeen – was my first real love. For a while, when we were very young, it looked like she also loved me, but when she met the coal miner who could sing so that the birds stopped singing when he did, her heart was fully with him, and I did not stand a chance any longer."

After a couple of minutes he continued: "And when I see the two wonderful and beautiful girls the two of them got together, I cannot even feel sorry about that."

Prim was almost in tears when she heard that, and all she could do was to take my father's hands and shake it. So that's why he always seemed to be so close to Mabel; she had been his first love, and maybe he still had feelings for her. But wait a second – she had been a widow for a few years now, and he was single again; so I asked:

"Dad, with Mrs. Everdeen being a widow and yourself being divorced, are you going to be close with her again?"

"Son, this is quite a personal question" he responded. "All I am saying is 'maybe'."

The camera had started to show various scenes on what the other tributes were doing. Foxface stalked Cato and Thresh, and Cato waited for a good opportunity to kill the big boy from Eleven. After patiently waiting for hours, the opportunity came when Thresh was focused on preparing food and neglected to pay attention to his environment for a few minutes; Cato finally managed to get close and kill his opponent with his sword. Searching around, he found the backpack with his District's number on it, opened it, and found a body armor tailored for him.

"What is this for?" Prim asked.

"Well, using this, Katniss will have a hard time to kill him, unless she hits his face" I explained.

"That's not good!" Prim said, with concern showing on her face.

During the evening, Katniss and Peeta talked some more and did not move from their current location; with this scene the viewing was over for that day.

From now on, only four tributes were left alive – besides the two from our district, there still was Cato from Two, the only Career left, and Foxface from Five. Day 16 started in the arena, and the morning review and summary showed that not much had happened during the night. A short nighttime conversation between our two tributes was repeated:

"This means we're one step closer to District Twelve."

"It also means Cato will be back hunting us."

"And he's got supplies again; but, he'll be wounded, I bet."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because Thresh would have never gone down without a fight. He's so strong, I mean, he was. And they were in his territory."

"Good, the more wounded Cato is the better. I wonder how Foxface is making out."

"Oh, she's likely just fine. Also, probably be easier to catch Cato than her."

"Maybe they'll catch each other and we can just go home.

They were wrong about Cato being wounded, but they could have known that the big boy had been able to kill the male District Eleven tribute that quickly.

Real time viewing started, and the sun was rising over the arena.

Katniss shook Peeta՚s shoulder; his eyes open sleepily and when they focused, he pulled her down for a long kiss.

"We're wasting hunting time!"

"I wouldn't call it wasting. So do we hunt on empty stomachs to give us an edge?"

"No, we don't!" Katniss corrected. "We stuff ourselves to give us strength."

"Count me in," Peeta says.

Once they had eaten, they left the cave and looked around outside. They replenished their water supply and Katniss went to check her snares, coming up empty, though. Having Peeta move close to Katniss was obviously a problem; she had to remind him a few times that they needed to move more quietly, and when that did not work, suggested that he remove his boots., but after some time they decided to split up, with Peeta trying to collect some berries and stuff.

My brother was not paying much attention to his environment, and he missed to register that his pile of berries grew slower than it should. A few times Foxface՚s hand was shown to grab a handful and carry them away, and once she had enough, she started to eat, obviously finding it easier to steal than to pick on her own.

When Katniss and Peeta met again, the boy showed the berries:

"I've been down by the stream collecting berries. Would you care for some?"

Katniss indeed wanted to and walked over but stopped herself right before touching the berries.

"Oh no, Katniss, do not touch them!" Prim shouted. "Don't you recall those berries?"

"What's wrong with those berries? They look quite good." I told her. "Wait – are those the same ones you recognized as being deadly a few days ago?"

"Yes – they are nightlock berries, and they are very poisonous!" my girlfriend explained.

Her sister in the arena leaned down and scooped up a few, rolling them between her fingers. Apparently, something registered in her mind, but before she could tell Peeta, the cannon fired. A hovercraft appeared a hundred meters or so away. What was left of Foxface՚s emaciated body was lifted into the air.

Suddenly Peeta grabbed Katniss' arm, pushed her toward a tree and said:

"Climb! He'll be here in a second. We'll stand a better chance fighting him from above."

She stopped him: "No, Peeta, she's your kill, not Cato's."

"What? I haven't even seen her since the first day. How could I have killed her?"

Understanding now dawned on his face. Foxface had indeed not only stolen from the supply pile on the Cornucopia before it had been blown up by Katniss, but also from the berries my brother had collected, apparently not questioning the safety of eating them.

"I wonder how she found us; but, 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. It does not seem fair somehow. I mean, we would have both been dead, too, if she hadn't eaten the berries first. No, of course, we wouldn't. You recognized them, didn't you?"

Katniss nodded: "We call them nightlock, and I saw them before days ago in the arena."

"Even the name sounds deadly. 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?"

"Right – unless we've overlooked something, only Cato is alive besides us." Peeta said and tossed the rest of the berries into the woods, but not before Katniss grabbed a few of them and put them aside, telling Peeta that maybe they could also fool Cato with them.

Despite knowing Cato might be around, they lighted a fire and roaster the meat they had from rabbits and squirrels. For the night, Katniss wanted to climb a tree, but when the boy told her that he would not be able to with his wounded leg, they compromised and decided to head back to the cave, which implied a couple of hours of walking. Once there, they were both exhausted, and the day's viewing ended.

When the screen went dark, Prim sighed:

"Only three tributes left alive. Let's just hope that they can somehow get rid of Cato, and then they both can come home!"

The next day's brief review was indeed quick, and nothing had really happened during the night. Day 17 of the Games was on in the arena.

"How long do you think we'll have before the Gamemakers drive us together?" Katniss asked in the morning. "Well, Foxface died almost a day ago, so there's been plenty of time for the audience to place bets and get bored. I guess it could happen at any moment," Peeta replied. "Yeah, I have a feeling today's the day," Katniss nodded; "I wonder how they'll do it." As Peeta remained silent, she continued: "Well, until they do, no sense in wasting a hunting day. But we should probably eat as much as we can hold just in case we run into trouble."

Outside the stream, or rather what used to be the stream, was shown as completely dry. Obviously the gamemakers had decided to add another challenge. Katniss and Peeta slowly started to walk towards the Cornucopia, as the only other source of water they knew was right there, and the afternoon viewing showed them around there. They had refilled their water bottles from the lake and looked to see if Cato was there, but he was not.

Another camera showed Cato running, but not for hunting, but being hunted. A group of beasts, looking like large wolves, were chasing him, and he fled full speed towards the Cornucopia.

"What are those beasts following him?" Prim asked.

"Must be mutts, muttations, kind of artificial predators introduced there by the gamemakers to drive the last few remaining tributes together" my father told her. "They did something similar in a few games before, as I recall."

Around the Cornucopia, Katniss and Peeta enjoyed a few minutes of silence, only interrupted by mockingjays singing. When Cato and the beasts came closer, the singing got interrupted, though, and soon our two tributes could hear Cato's loud steps coming closer. Cato was heading straight for them, and we expected a fight to happen, although Cato was not wielding a weapon, but he ran right past them. As soon as Katniss and Peeta realized what was chasing him, they also turned around and ran.

While Cato quickly climbed the big Cornucopia structure, Katniss followed, and she started to nock an arrow to attack Cato, when she found Peeta needing her help. Shooting the closest mutt instead she helped the boy up, and they were safe for the moment. When they had calmed down and looked at the mutts, Katniss suddenly shouted: "It's her!"

At the same time a camera zoomed in on the mutts, and we could not fail to notice that at least some of them looked strikingly like dead tributes. Prim shuddered on my lap, and Leevy, who was watching with us today, ran off towards the bathroom. There was no time for us to digest that, though, as Cato had used the time where Katniss and Peeta were distracted and suddenly had his arms around the boy's neck. He threatened to throw Peeta down if Katniss shot him, and they had a stalemate. Eventually, Peeta managed to mark Cato's hand with blood, and just before the big boy had noticed that, Katniss shot his hand. He released Peeta and slipped on the blood on the horn, falling down to the ground. With the body armor he wore protecting him, he fought the mutts with a long knife he had, and he managed to kill some of them. He was overwhelmed by the rest of them, but still not dead; his body armor prevented severe injuries, even from the Mutts. Night descended on the arena and the viewing ended, keeping us in suspense.

During the following night, I had to comfort Prim several times. She was plagued by nightmares about the mutts looking like dead tributes, and a couple of times she was almost screaming. If I was honest, those images troubled me, too, and we both did not sleep too much. Holding each other very tightly helped a little, and in the morning, when we eventually woke up again in broad daylight, Prim told me:

"Rye, without you I'd have gone crazy during those games. I can't even start to tell you how glad and happy I am that you are here for me."

The others also looked like they had not had too much sleep. We only had a very small and quick breakfast, and we switched on the screen to see Day 18 dawning in the arena.

"Surely Cato will be dead now, and they have won, right?" Prim asked.

"Let's see" I said while switching on the viewer.

Indeed, Cato died in the morning and the cannon went off. A hovercraft came to retrieve his body, but there was no announcement about the winners.

"What are they waiting for?" Wheat asked. "They have won the Games!"

My father shook his head: "I do not know. I hope that there is not going to be a nasty surprise."

Unfortunately, it turned out that he was right suspecting something, as after some time there was an announcement being heard:

"Greetings to the final contestants of the 74th Hunger Games. The earlier revision has been revoked. Closer examination of the rule book has disclosed that only one winner may be allowed. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor."

"They cannot do that! This is totally unfair!" Prim shouted, with anger written on her face.

In the arena, Katniss and Peeta started debating on who was supposed to live, both of them offering to allow themselves to get killed in order to save the other.

Suddenly Katniss seemed to have an idea, and her fingers fumbled with the pouch on her belt. Peeta noticed what she was getting out and his hand clamped on her wrist: "No, I won't let you."

"Trust me," she whispered. His grip loosened, and Katniss got the remaining nightlock berries out, dividing them between Peeta and herself. He understood now. And Katniss suggested: "On the count of three?"

Peeta kissed her one last time and nodded: "On the count of three, yes."

Both of our tributes stood, their backs pressed together and their empty hands being locked.

"Hold them out. I want everyone to see." Peeta suggested.

The cameras clearly got that, and everybody could see the dark berries in their hands. The counting started: "One".

Nothing happened, and then there was "Two".

Still no reaction from the gamemakers, and we heard "Three".

Prim now used her hands to cover her eyes and started to sob. Both tributes lifted their hands and pushed the berries into their mouth, when suddenly the loudspeakers crackled with the voice of Claudius Templesmith:

"Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! I give you – the tributes of District Twelve!"

Katniss and Peeta both spewed the berries from their mouth. Peeta pulled Katniss to the lake where they both flushed their mouths with water, and he asked: "You didn't swallow any?" The girl shook her head. Whatever else they talked about was drowned by the roar of the crowd in the Capitol that they were playing live over the speakers.

A hovercraft showed up and dropped two ladders. Peeta apparently had a hard time getting on one, and even once Katniss helped him, he failed to climb up higher. However, some kind of force field held him there, and both tributes were pulled up on their ladders, with blood still dripping down from Peeta՚s leg wound.

At home in the bakery we had all stood up, and once the hovercraft had collected the two victors, we were jumping around like crazy, even my father.

Today we were going to celebrate, and I prepared a feast at home. Prim was sent to the Hawthorne home to ask her mother if she wanted to join. The girl had visited her mother a few times during the Games to see how she was doing, and today, with the victors being confirmed, she almost looked like new and promised to come.

The mood at the bakery was totally different now. Rather than brooding and worrying, we rejoiced and were happy again, and we were looking forward to the time when Katniss and Peeta would come home.

This was going to be exciting, as they were entitled to move into special homes, the Victor's homes, in a separate corner of the district. Those homes were rumored to be very special and luxurious, but Haymitch Abernathy was so far the only living person in our district occupying such a home, and he usually did not entertain visitors, although I had heard some rumors of some nightly clandestine activities in and around his house.

For now, though, we'd have to wait a few more days, and slowly our behavior got back to normal, while our nerves settled down. The bakery was open for business on the next day, and I reported back to work at the Justice Building. Right when he came in, Mayor Undersee shook my hand and congratulated me for my brother's victory. "This is a great time for our district" he said, beaming. "I do not believe that there ever was a time for two tributes to win together, and it has been a long time for one of ours to win."

A day after the victory I took Prim to our meadow once more, and I had brought a bedroll so that we could spent the night there, taking advantage of the warm and dry summer weather. We had a nice picnic in the evening, and we were both able to really relax again after two weeks of being on the edge. When we laid down and darkness dropped around us, I repeated the words Katniss had used in the arena, although my voice could not compete with hers of course:

Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head, and close your eyes. And when again they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, and here it's warm. Here the daisies guard, you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you.

Prim had her head on my chest and liked it; she whispered back: "And here is the place where I love you, too."

After the exciting and stressful weeks before, we could finally relax again, and for the first time in many days, we got to sleep without any major worries. A cloudless sky, comfortable temperature, almost no wind, the smell of grass, trees and flowers around us, and of course, most importantly, my wonderful girlfriend in my arms – at least for this night, life could not get any better.

[Author's Notes: The last few chapters had a lot of dialogue close to canon. This is going to change now again, and I will make up some events. Actually, I won't have a choice, as the first months after the victors come home are barely covered by the books.]