Two chapters in one day! ;)
Peeta's POV
I jolt awake in what seems to be the middle of the night. It's difficult to tell down here in the usual faint light. Right now, we are engulfed in a thick darkness. I glance down at Katniss, whose face is pressed against the nape of my neck. I hardly shift before an excruciating pain surges throughout my body. I squeeze my eyes shut and take in a shaky breath.
I know my arm is totaled. And who knows what happened to my shoulder blade and spine? Those areas hurt almost as bad. What a burden I have turned into for Katniss. She already told me that she refuses to leave me behind, even though she has a decent shot at making it to Thirteen safely. Her family, the Hawthornes, and Haymitch may still be waiting in that cave for her to rescue them.
I'm certain Katniss thinks they're dead. I could see it in her gaze when those hovercrafts ripped through the sky. It was if the light when out in her silver eyes, leaving them dark and steel-like. And it greatly troubled me. I just have enough strength to lean forward to kiss her hairline. I'll give her as much comfort as I can manage. Realistically, we both probably don't have any family left. Katniss and I must depend upon each other now. She is all I have. I will do anything to make sure she reaches Thirteen. It will be my dying wish.
Katniss stirs against me, quickly snapping open her eyes. She abruptly sits up and looks around, a hand on her bow in an instant.
"Everything okay?" I ask her. She looks down at me, her face softening.
"Sorry, I just-I'm not used to nobody taking watch," she realizes, releasing her grip on her weapon. I nod.
"Don't worry, we're fine. Come back here, I was comfortable," I chuckle, reaching out my good arm towards her. She tentatively sinks down next to me.
"But are you still in pain?" she asks.
I shrug in response. "A bit. If I don't move it's okay."
"Oh, you know what might help?" Katniss sits up again and begins rummaging through the bag. She pulls out two large bottles of red wine. With a knife, she pries off the top of each.
"I want you to drink a bunch of this," she tells me.
"Oh, and what special occasion are we celebrating?" I joke as Katniss helps me sit up. She sets the bottle in my hand.
"You not dying," she replies with a smirk. I stare at the bottle for a second before beginning to chug. It's very bitter, as I'm not used to wine very much, but I try to take it down. At least the alcohol will dull the pain. I catch Katniss sitting there watching me.
"Well, aren't you going to have any?" I tease, poking her.
"That would be stupid, especially since I'm in charge of defending us, and I have to get us food," she replies with an amused look.
I fake a frown. "Okay, but it would definitely be more fun," I reply, almost halfway through the bottle.
"Maybe, but we don't need two Haymitch's," she quips. I laugh in response, maybe a bit too much because the wine is really kicking in. Katniss's eyes widen as I swiftly drain the bottle and try to reach out for the second one. I feel so much better, and the wine actually doesn't taste half bad. Katniss snatches the second bottle away from me and hides it in her bag.
"Okay, that's enough now," I hear her chuckle lightly. Her laugh causes me to feel even more wonderful. It's one of those precious, rare sounds that you wait anxiously to hear, and when you do hear the sound it is the most sweetest and joyful of all.
"Laugh again, it's great. Your voice is great!" I tell her in admiration. Katniss immediately shushes me because apparently I'm too loud, but who the hell else is around here? This place is completely deserted.
"We're fine, we're fine, sweetheart," I pat her shoulder. She raises an eyebrow, but tries to hide a grin. I suddenly grasp her hands tightly.
"I want to stand up," I exclaim. I feel so much better. The pain is nearly gone. But Katniss shakes her head.
"No, Peeta. Even though you feel better, you aren't. That's just the alcohol," she tells me. Alcohol... Haymitch drinks that stuff. Pretty good stuff. Well, sometimes... Sometimes, Haymitch doesn't seem to feel good even though he drinks it. He looks sad. Lonely. Not like me. I'm with Katniss, and I feel so much better.
"Ya… you wanna... dance, Katniss?" I sputter, for some reason getting a bit tongue tied. It's probably because she's so beautiful. And I drank lots of wine...
"You can't dance, Peeta," she informs me. I look at her confused.
"But it would be fun!" I protest. Katniss gently takes my head and tries to lay me down.
"Maybe later, okay? Go to sleep now, it's still dark out," she whispers. Her voice soothes me. Great voice. Yeah, I feel so much better.
"Hey, you-you're not going anywhere, right?" I ask her urgently as she pulls the sleeping bag up to my chin. Katniss shakes her dark head.
"No, I'm staying right here," she tells me. I reach out and take her hand.
"Right here," I repeat, as my eyes begin to droop. She strokes my hand as I drift off.
I am not sure how long as was out when I open my eyes again. Some streaks of daylight have reached the space beneath the stage, highlighting dozens of dust particles surrounding me. The effects of the alcohol are wearing off a bit, but I only remember certain pieces of last night. I hope I didn't do anything incredibly stupid to make Katniss regret ever kissing me.
I look around to find myself alone, and I try not to panic, but I instantly want to go search for Katniss. I force myself to sit up, no matter how terrible I feel. I discover that her bow and arrows are gone, so I assume she went out to hunt. I release some tension in my limbs when I catch her coming down the side stairs.
"Hey, you still drunk?" she asks bluntly. I give her a lopsided grin.
"Maybe," I reply. Katniss allows herself a small smile as she sets down her game on some crates.
"You were really something," she lets me know, coming over to check on my bandages.
"Did I do anything to freak you out too much?" I wonder as she gently lifts my injured arm.
"Oh, no, you just wanted us to dance and told me that I had a nice voice," she explains, keeping her eyes on my bandages.
"Well, both of those things are true. I'd like to dance with you sometime, and you do have a nice voice," I tell her, trying to catch her gaze, but she seems a bit too embarrassed to look at me.
"Thanks," she answers quietly. As Katniss peeks under my shirt, she sighs in what seems to be relief.
"At least you've stopped bleeding, I thought you might have needed some stitches. How's your head?" Her hands briefly touch the back of my scalp.
"Not horrible. Really, I'm not doing too bad," I insist as Katniss gives me an unconvinced look.
"Do you want me to put something cool on your head?" she suggests. I go ahead and nod to make her feel better Katniss takes my long sleeved, bloody shirt and rips it up to my shoulder. She then pours some water on the cloth and gently wraps it around my head.
"Thank you," I tell her. And I truly mean it. Yet again, I probably wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for her. She nods. I find my eyes wandering, tracing Katniss's rosy and chapped lips. I lean in, hoping she'll allow us to kiss again. And she does. Her fingers glide against my jaw, traveling to reach the back of my neck. With my good arm I grip her tightly, feeling her slender curves underneath her jacket.
When our lips part, I feel warm and elated, as if I'm floating in a sea of bliss. I tenderly kiss each of her cheeks and then her nose. Her face reddens slightly, but she doesn't pull away.
"This is okay, right? You're not going to change your mind?" I ask her with a slight laugh. Katniss peers up at me. She's quiet for a moment, her eyes studying my face.
"I don't think it's like that. I don't think I can just change my mind about it," she admits, a smile tugging at her lips.
We eat the meat Katniss hunted, drink small sips of water to conserve what we have, and rest for a while. Katniss wants me to sleep as much as I can in order to heal. Later on, she gives me some more wine when the pain increases again. For a few days, I hardly remember much. I eat, sleep, drink, and overall feel sort of useless. I try to force Katniss to rest more often, but she's been sort of an insomniac for a few days. I think she's brooding over some difficult thoughts. The possible death of her family, the bombing of our home, Twelve, and how far away we are from District Thirteen.
Sometimes, I wake up to find her eyes bloodshot and dry as she stares with an empty expression up at the splintered stage above us. I gather her close to me and tell her to go ahead and cry. She doesn't have to put on a brave face in front of me. Crying is good. I know we need to allow it to happen in order to feel a little less awful. So she sobs into me, soaks my shirt, but I don't care. I cry, too, at times because I can't help but have similar worries.
In about a week, I can stand up and get around some. The sling Katniss made for my arm helps, but I still have to sleep more than usual because of my concussion. On days when Katniss goes out to hunt for long periods, I glare at the hole in the stage until I feel extremely angry and ridiculous for wandering into this ruined theater in the first place. If I hadn't fallen through the stage, we would have probably made good progress heading to Thirteen. Now it may take weeks to arrive. Thank god it's nearly summer, otherwise I think we'd freeze to death down here during the colder months. By week two, I insist that we get going. I'm improving every day and my legs are uninjured and work perfectly fine. I should have no problem walking long distances. I just might have to sit down for a few minutes every couple hours because of my head.
"I don't know, Peeta," Katniss shakes her head doubtfully.
"We have to start moving at some point. If we are ever going to make it there, we better do it sooner rather than later," I urge her. She frowns.
"We'll still get there even if we wait a couple more days. I want to make sure you won't pass out or anything while we're walking," she says, heading over to arrange our bag of things. I sigh.
"I'll be okay, really," I insist. Eventually, we meet in the middle and conclude that we will leave the morning after tomorrow. When we mount the stairs and emerge from our cell-like structure, the sun momentarily blinds me. I have to lean against a crumbled building and squint for a while before I get used to it. Finally, when I blink the white spots away, I can see the pleasant blue sky and the sprawling blossoming trees beyond the ruins.
Katniss and I try to leave the ruins as quickly as possible and retreat into the woods so we aren't as exposed should any hovercrafts come our way. Katniss pulls out the map as we trudge through the trees, marking our spot and drawing arrows to where we should be headed. I see her outline in one large circle the area where we left her family, the Hawthornes, and Haymitch. It pleases me that she doesn't seem to have lost all hope on them.
"The moment we get within range of Thirteen, I'm pressing this button," Katniss informs me, pointing at the little square on the device Haymitch gave her. I forgot that we don't need to show up right at the entrance of Thirteen for them to let us in. They can still come and pick us up with their hovercrafts.
"Sounds good," I nod. "It should take, what, around 12 days for us to get within ten miles of the outskirts?"
"Yeah, I think so. If we plan to travel around 10 miles a day," she says. We're nearly there, and yet so far away at the same time. Every day, I get a bit better, my arm gradually healing itself. On day five, I realize I can move at my elbow joint which helps tremendously. One afternoon we reach a large river, and Katniss and I take a break to bathe. Katniss slips off my shirt and checks on the cuts on my back and arm. She takes off my bandages and washes them in the water before laying them out to dry on some rocks.
I wade chest deep into the water, allowing the cool liquid to sooth my injuries. I see Katniss hesitate before stripping her clothes off. She unzips her jacket to reveal just her bra. I avert my eyes, realizing that she destroyed her t-shirt and undershirt to use as bandages for me. She hardly has anything to keep her warm except her jacket. I feel instantly guilty about this. I should give her my shirt once we dry off.
Katniss reaches me in the water before venturing further out to swim. I almost yell for her to come back because I'm afraid the current will whisk her away, but she performs strong strokes against it. I admire her swimming skills, wishing I had learned how to swim when I was younger.
"I can teach you, you know," she calls to me. I shake my head.
"With my arm, I'm not sure," I reply dismally. Katniss makes her way towards me.
"Okay, well give me your hands. I'll show you how to kick," she says, her hands finding mine under the water. I feel my feet float up from the river's marshy floor. I lean forward and try to kick like how Katniss was. After a while, I get the hang of it.
"Hey, I think I've got it!" I tell her excitedly.
"Yeah, you do!" She smiles. My feet find the ground again and I pull Katniss towards me, spinning her around in the water. She laughs before lightly scolding me that I'll make my arm worse. However, she can't seem to escape the fun. She presses her chest against mine as I tip her under the water. My skin seems to tingle at our touch. I don't think we've ever been this close with so little to wear. And for once Katniss seems somewhat happy since the troubles of these past days. She looks so fresh, so naturally gorgeous. Nobody could look as good as her swimming around in a river in their underwear…
Careful, Mellark. I stop myself before my mind goes wondering. Katniss allows me to spin her a few more times before splashing me with water. We travel towards the shore and lay out in the sun before slipping our clothes back on.
After two more miles of hiking through the woods, we decide to camp under another tree. Katniss seems exhausted from today, so I tell her I'll take watch while she sleeps. Her eyes almost instantly shut and, for once, she drifts off into a peaceful slumber. I instinctively wrap an arm protectively around her as I watch the sun slip beneath the shadowy points of two pine trees.
A/N: I have to admit, writing drunk Peeta was too much fun! :) I hope you all enjoyed!