(Cai)
Peeta's had another bad day, but a different kind of bad. For two days I watched over him as he showed less interest in everything around him. He grew weaker, slower, and listless. On the third day Min and I had to help him walk, and I knew we were going to lose him if we didn't do something differently. Gao would say that losing Peeta might be for the best, that Peeta simply wasn't going to survive this winter, and that his death would all but guarantee that the rest of us would live. Even Peeta might say that, but I can't let him go. Yesterday was the fifth day, and Peeta complained of feeling cold. Since he rarely complains about anything I knew he must feel cold, but when I touched him he felt warm. Thinking he was suffering from chills I wrapped him in one of my blankets in addition to his own. He grimaced as I tucked it under his side.
Yes, Peeta, this is what starving feels like, and I have to try to stop it.
When I round the corner I tell Min my plans while she tends the fire.
"I'm going out to dig up one of the large preserve jars. Try to help Peeta drink something; there's a little soup. Maybe you can give him that and he'll get a bit to drink and eat at the same time." Min nods, her gaze dropping. She's as concerned as I am.
Digging the preserve jar out of the frozen ground is hard work, but it's the wind that challenges me most. Unfortunately, I buried this particular jar in a clearing on high ground, so there's nothing to block the wind's ferocity as it cuts through me. The shovel hits the clay pot with a familiar dull clanking sound. I reach down to push frozen chunks of soil away with my chilled fingers. Soon I'm walking home carrying the jar and dragging the shovel behind me, having attached it to my waist with a short piece of rope. The shovel bounces around loudly as it bumps against rocks, hits large sticks, and crushes dead leaves. Maybe that is why I don't hear anyone approach me.
Without warning the shovel stops moving and I cannot go any further. I look back to see what obstacle might be blocking the shovel, and as I turn the clay pot I'm holding is lifted out of my arms. Hands wrap around my eyes, obstructing my view. In my shock I scream and another hand quickly covers my mouth.
"Be quiet, Cai," a menacing voice I don't recognize tells me. "We don't want to hurt you. We only want the food."
I can only assume that a couple of my hungry neighbors have chosen to steal from me, thinking that with Gao absent I am an easy target. They may or may not know about Peeta. Regardless, I will not give up my family's food without a fight. I struggle, probably foolishly, kicking one of my attacker's legs and pushing my body hard into the person that is holding me from behind. I'm shoved to the ground, landing facedown, my head striking something hard.
"Don't tell your foreigner about this. We'd do worse to him," the voice says.
I hear the crunch of leaves as my attackers flee, and when I try to look up to see who they were my vision blurs. I feel something warm trickle down my cheek. The warmth is welcome on my wind burned skin. With a sigh I lay down my dizzy head to rest just a moment, but the moment grows too long and I feel myself falling asleep.
(Min)
I'm worried. My sister does not normally take so long to fetch anything from outdoors. I glance down at Peeta, whose chest is rising and falling evenly. He seldom sleeps so soundly. Cai tells me that in his home it is like harvest all the time for him. He has never been hungry like this. While he's clearly been suffering from the hunger, he's also been sad. At this point he's nearly shut down. I don't think he talked to Cai about the two of them yet, but if he did whatever was said only made him sadder.
I like Peeta. He's a much better friend and companion to my sister than Gao ever was, but he's not doing well. I wonder how Cai will feel if he dies. She has a difficult time with grief, not as hard a time as Mother, but a hard time none-the-less.
Peeta's probably too weak to go and look for Cai even if I did wake him, so I decide to put on my warmest clothes and venture outside myself. The cold wind stings my face, and I pull my layers of clothing more tightly around my body as soon as I'm outside. A few hundred yards away, I see a figure clumsily moving along the trees.
"Min!" A voice calls to me as it dawns on me that the staggering figure is my sister.
I run to her, and she collapses to the ground. I notice the blood immediately. Panicked, I look her over to see how she's been hurt, discovering a deep gash on her forehead.
"What happened?" I ask frantically, helping Cai to her feet. She's so cold!
"Somebody pushed me over and took the food," she says as she leans on me heavily. We try to make it back to the house with quick uneven steps.
She says nothing else. Once we're inside Cai's legs seem even wobblier, and I fear they are about to give out completely. I start to turn toward our sleeping area to lay her down, but remembering something my mother once told me I turn toward Peeta's instead. Peeta doesn't stir when I try to lower Cai down to his sleeping mat.
"No," Cai whispers, anticipating my plans.
"He's warm," I tell her, "you're much too cold. This is a good way to warm you."
Cai doesn't fight me when I strip off her clothes. I quickly pull one of father's old threadbare shirts over her head. It falls lower on her frame then her own shirts do.
"Lie down, Cai," I say, guiding her head down next to Peeta's.
"I'm dizzy," she says.
"That's why you need to lie down."
I settle Cai under the same blankets that cover Peeta. His eyes open, a bewildered expression on his face.
"Take your shirt off," I tell him.
"What?" he asks me, his blue eyes reflect his confusion when he notices Cai lying beside him, her eyes closed.
"Take your shirt off and get as close to her as you can. She's very cold, Peeta," my voice finally cracks, and I brush a tear out of the corner of my eye before it has a chance to run down my face. Peeta recoils when I touch his hand to Cai's cold fingers to help him understand.
He leans forward, sits up, and lets me help him remove his shirt. Then I quickly cover him again as he lies back down and shifts closer to Cai.
"I'd have Mother do this, Peeta, but she can't always do what I ask her to do," I explain.
"No. I want to do it. Will she be all right?" he asks, wrapping his arms around my sister.
"I hope she will be," I tell him.
Then Peeta sees the blood. He pulls his bare arm from the covers to touch the skin near the gash. Cai flinches but her eyes stay closed.
Peeta looks up at me desperately, then turns back to Cai, calling her name and shaking her too hard for my liking.
She opens her puffy eyes and stares at him causing him to stop shaking her.
"What happened?" he asks in stunned concern.
Cai doesn't answer, instead burying her face between his shoulder and jaw. Good, it'll be warm there.
"Someone hurt her and took the food she was carrying," I tell Peeta.
His mouth drops open.
"Who?" He demands angrily.
I'm afraid for a moment that Peeta will try to find whoever attacked Cai.
"She hasn't said, but she was outside for a long time. They'd be gone by now," I tell him.
Peeta runs his hand down Cai's cheek following the trail of blood.
I touch his hand.
"Put your hand under the blanket. You are supposed to be warming my sister," I order him. "I'm worried for her."
"Don't you believe I am, Min?"
I do, of course, but he needs to be focused on helping Cai and not on whoever attacked her.
Peeta begins to rub Cai's hands with his under the blanket. Cai barely moves on her own, her eyes closed again.
"Why would they hurt her? Was this something about me?" he asks.
"Probably not. We're all just so hungry, Peeta. It makes people desperate."
/
Cai sleeps more than usual, and Peeta tries to take care of her. But he cannot help her stand or walk because that's something he sometimes needs help with also. They lie together quietly for hours, sometimes sleeping, sometimes awake, trying to keep warm as they huddle together under the blankets. I am grateful for the sound of their gentle breathing. It reassures me. I can't remember a winter quite this bad, and I'm sure Cai's injury and Peeta's bad leg add to their misery.
Peeta asks me if I've ever seen a gun and shows me the one that Gao gave him. It belonged to one of the men on the plane, he says. He tells me he wants to teach me how to use it just in case I ever need it, but I know he's just telling me in case something happens to him. He wants to be sure we don't forget we have the gun.
Someone comes to the door a few days after Cai was attacked and yells to be let inside. He's one of the landlord's servants, but I'm not sure whether to trust him. I help Peeta to his feet and lead him to a place where he can hold onto the wall near the door after stalling the servant. Then I put the gun in his hand. He nods approvingly as I go to open the door.
The landlord's servant walks into the house and glances around disapprovingly. He looks Peeta up and down, but doesn't appear to be aware that Peeta's hiding the gun.
"You should have told me there was illness in the house," he says.
"Nobody is ill," I snap. "Just hungry and weak."
"Hmmm. Well, my master sent me to fetch the American," he says.
"Why?" I ask.
"He says he needs him to read some papers in English."
I laugh a bit. I'm not required to respect this man more than any other man, and his suggestion that Peeta should go with him to the landlord's house is comical.
"He can't walk that far," I tell the servant, stepping forward in an attempt to back him out of the door. "He can barely stand."
The servant looks at Peeta again, turning his head curiously.
"Where's Cai?" He asks.
"She's worse than he is," I tell him, which isn't entirely true, but I want the servant to understand that one of our own is near death also in case he sees Peeta as a complete outsider.
Peeta slips down the wall a bit, and I can't tell if he does it to emphasize the point or because he can't help it.
The servant blinks a few times before turning his attention to me.
"I didn't know this winter had been so hard for you," he says. "My master says he will pay the American to read the papers."
"We want to be paid in food," Peeta says from behind me. "In advance."
The servant stares at Peeta for a moment, then shifts his eyes to me as if to ask what I think.
"Peeta is the only one who can read English, and if the landlord wants to use that ability then helping Peeta and this household stay alive is important."
/
Peeta offers Cai some of the food the Landlord's servant brought as soon as I've cooked it, even before he eats any. Her eyes widen with surprise when she sees it since she knows that it's nothing that she put away for winter. Peeta smiles at her shyly and pushes a set of chopsticks into her fingers. When she seems too uncoordinated to finish on her own he helps her, scooping the rice up on the chopsticks with his less skilled hands and catching some of the other morsels which include a few pieces of meat. When she's finished eating I see Cai reach for him. She tries to press her lips against his, but he doesn't allow it. Instead he just smiles again, a pained smile. Then he tells her she needs to lie down.
Still, Cai's resting on Peeta's sleeping mat, and he's caring for her more often than I am. Only late in the evening does he help her stagger over to her mat beside me. It is the first night since Cai was injured, that he has done that. They usually just fall asleep beside one another for the night. Tonight, as Cai lies down, I can feel the tension of their parting. Cai grasps Peeta's hands, and he looks at her gently and swallows hard. His soft voice sounds unsteady when he talks to her.
Cai would say, "You don't know anything about this, little sister," if I told her what I thought of her and Peeta, but anyone can see that they have to try to keep themselves apart. Anyone can see that it's not working.
Tomorrow the landlord's servant is going to bring a cart to take Peeta to his master's house to read the papers.