BOOM. You woke up the next morning to the sound of a cannon. You jolted awake and sat up immediately, whacking your head off of a protruding rock. You gasped in pain, throwing a hand up to the already-forming lump and rubbed it miserably, looking around. Peeta was gone. Your insides turned to ice and you began to scramble out of the cave.

"Peeta," you called, clawing at the dirt and trying to push yourself to your feet. Your arms felt like jello knowing that the last cannon you heard could have been marking his death. "PEETA?" you screamed and you felt a hand come over your mouth from behind and you began thrashing, not knowing who had you. "Peeta!" You shrieked through their hand and the person pressed their lips against your ear and began to whisper.

"Stop," they said, "it's me." You immediately stopped moving around and let yourself go limp against him. He turned you around. "Okay?" he said, looking slightly frustrated.

"You left," you said angrily.

"I was getting some food," he said, holding up a dead squirrel. Your eyes burned with tears and you tried to blink them back but you couldn't. "What's the matter?" he asked, "why are you crying?"

"You said you weren't going to leave!" you said loudly and he quickly stepped towards you and put a hand onto your shoulder.

"Go inside," he said. You jerked away from him and angrily slid back inside the cave. You moved to the very back and sat against the wall, hugging your knees to your chest and resting your forehead on top of them. Peeta followed in after you and dropped the squirrel beside the fire pit he had constructed before leaving earlier that morning. He walked to you and crouched down. "Hey. Stop crying," he said.

"I'm not crying," you said into your knees.

"I can tell that you are." You looked up at him angrily with your tear-free eyes and he smiled slightly. "My mistake." He got up and moved to the pit where the backpacks were and he grabbed some matches from inside. He scooped up some dead leaves and threw them inside the circle of rocks, struck a match and tossed it in. You watched the leaves begin to smolder and then your heart skipped a beat.

"What about the smoke?" you asked quickly. Peeta looked up at you and began to blow the wisps of it towards you. He smiled at you, showing his teeth and your heart melted. He did have a gorgeous smile. You smiled halfheartedly back. You watched him pick up the squirrel and get a knife from his pack. He began to skin it and, even though it disgusted you, you watched. You only ate the meat back home, you never saw what actually happened to the animal. Another cannon went off and you jumped.

"There's only 5 of us left," you said. Peeta shook his head.

"No there isn't."

"What?" He didn't look up as he continued stripping the skin.

"There's still 7 of us." You stared at him, wondering if he was crazy. After he was done cutting the meat from the bone and placing it on leaves, he looked up at you. "There's still 7. Those are fake cannons, I can tell by the resonance. They want us to let our guards down..." He trailed off as the smell of meat began to fill the cave and he began waving his hands in front of the fire to send the scent and smoke your way. As soon as it was done cooking, he blew out the tiny flames until they were only embers and brought the meat to you.

"I'm scared," you whispered, accepting one of the leaves.

"Don't be. I see through their tricks." This made you feel a little better as he sat down beside you and stretched his legs out. "Ah," he sighed in relief and leaned back against the wall. You both simultaneously took a bite of the squirrel. You ate yours faster than him, but it didn't satisfy you. Your stomach still growled by the time you were finished. You looked at him. He smiled, offering you a piece of his.

"Oh no," you said, shaking your head and pushing his hand away. Electricity shot through you at the touch. You blushed. "I'm sorry," you said. You turned away and began to draw in the dirt.

"For what?" he asked. You didn't say anything back, you just kept drawing. He went back to eating his squirrel and when he was finished, stood up to kick dirt over the remaining embers. He turned to you. "Jacklyn." You looked up to him saying your name.

"What?"

"Come here." he beckoned you over with his hand and you pushed yourself up and over to him. He pointed outside the cave and up high into a tree. You squinted your eyes and followed his line of vision. There was something hanging from the branches, a parachute attached to it and a red blinking light. Your heart jumped inside your chest.

"That's from Haymitch," you said, beginning to crawl out of the cave but Peeta caught the back of your jacket and pulled you back in.

"Don't just run out," he said, "it could be a trap."

"But it could be from a sponsor."

"But it's really far away. It could be a trap."

"Peeta, you pointed it out to me. You must think there's something in it." You pried his hand off your jacket and climbed out with him right behind you. You walked to the tree and stared up at it. You cursed Haymitch and Katniss in your mind for allowing it to land so far up.

"I'll get it," he said as you placed your hands on the bark, preparing to hoist yourself up to a branch. You looked at him.

"Peeta, I've seen you climb. You're not going up." He smiled slightly and then it faded just as fast.

"And I've seen you climb." Your cheeks turned red.

"I made it to the top," you said, turning back to tree and grabbing onto the bark tightly. You pulled yourself up and threw a hand up, grabbing onto a branch. "I fell." You grabbed the next branch and pushed against the trunk with your bruised, scraped feet and grimaced in pain as you got them on top of a branch. You began to climb and could feel Peeta's worried eyes on you, even when you had made it to the top and were sitting safely beside what Haymitch had sent you. You grabbed it and opened it immediately.

"What's in it?" Peeta called up. You furrowed your brow in confusion.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" You looked down at him and chucked it down angrily, causing it to break into 2 pieces at his feet. He jumped back and stared at it dumbfounded. He reached for it as you began climbing and picked it up, examining it. He took out a piece of paper and began to read it.

"What's it say?" you asked, carefully placing your feet on each branch so you didn't fall.

"It says not to shut our eyes," he said, placing it back in the container and closing it. He tried to snap it shut, but it wouldn't you had slammed it against the ground.

"What's that supposed to mean?" you said, dangling from the branch above him and dropping down beside him. He grabbed your arm to steady you. "I'm fine." He handed you the container.

"It means one of us needs to be watch at night or we don't get anything." Your stomach churned angrily inside you.

"I have to sleep alone," you said. Peeta nodded.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll stay watch all night." You shook your head.

"No way. You need to sleep too."

"I have 2 older brothers...I never slept much anyways. I can do it." You lifted the container and slammed it against his chest. He gasped and threw his hands over it, taking it from you. You glared at him. "What-"

"I said I would take a watch!" you said loudly. He stared at you, surprised.

"Okay, okay." He lowered his hands. "Okay." Suddenly, there was a rustling in the brush behind you and you both whipped around immediately. Peeta's hand instinctively wrapped around your wrist. Normally your heart would have started pounding because of this, but it was already pounding from the sound of someone coming towards you.

"Someone must have seen you climbing," Peeta said, quickly turning towards the cave and running to it. He slipped inside and you ran after him, planning on sliding in too but he was already climbing out when you made it to the opening. He had the backpacks around his shoulder. He grabbed the rock and pulled himself up. "Come on!" He pressed a hand to your back and pushed your forward and you began to sprint, Peeta at your heels. Whoever had been lurking in the brush suddenly burst out and you screamed, looking back to see who it was. Peeta pushed you forward. "GO!"

You started running faster, dodging broken limbs and jumping over fallen trees. You noticed one that was still standing that would be perfect for climbing, and then remembered that was one of Peeta's weak spots. You ran forward until a yell from behind caused you to stop. You whipped around, expecting to see Peeta in a choke hold, but instead you saw him running at the Tribute who had been following you and was now laying on the ground with blood oozing from his head. Peeta ripped a knife from his skull and turned towards you, wiping it on his pants. You swallowed, breathing deeply.

"That's two."

"Don't remind me," he said coldly. Another rustle came from the trees behind you and you turned quickly and backed away over to Peeta. He pushed you behind him and gripped his knife tightly. Three Tributes emerged from the woods, 2 boys and a girl. They all narrowed in on the dead Tribute and then looked back up at you, enraged.

"We really liked him, too," said the tallest of the two boys. He stepped forward and over the boy Peeta had killed, and he pushed you farther behind and took a few steps back himself. "What's the matter? Scared you're outnumbered?"

"No," Peeta said, gripping his knife tighter. The boy threw his arm out and grabbed Peeta's wrist, twisting it violently and causing him to let out a cry of pain and drop the knife. The girl quickly rushed forward and picked it up.

"No?" the boy hissed in his face, throwing him backwards into you. You both stumbled but you were able to find your footing against a protruding root. You held him steady. The boy grinned. "Got yourself another girlfriend, Mellark?" he said, walking over and examining your face. "She's much prettier than the Katniss girl, I must say. I doubt she'll get you a free ride out of the games again this year though." You glared at him and he shoved you backwards, causing you to trip and fall into the dirt as he grabbed Peeta's arm and whipped him around and over to the other two Tributes. They each grabbed one of his arms and held on tight. He struggled but it was no use.

"She's not my girlfriend," he growled, "she's just from my District." Your heart sank as he said this.

"Oh yeah? You wouldn't mind if I..." He took the knife away from the girl and held it up in front of his face. "...had my way with her then?" He turned towards you and quickly ran over before you could get up, throwing a hand around your throat and pinning you to the ground. You screamed and wrapped your hands around his wrist, gasping for breath.

"No!" Peeta shouted, struggling. "Let her go!" You clawed at the boy's hand and tried to breathe in some air but it was no use. He was much stronger than you were. Peeta wrenched an arm free and the girl almost ripped it out of its socket when she grabbed hold of it again.

"No," the boy said, "there aren't gonna be two District 12 winners again this year." He pressed the tip of knife to your stomach, just under your ribs, and tears sprung into your eyes. You shook your head as your eyes began to roll back and he pressed the knife against you harder.

"Dammit, Jacklyn! Fight him off!" You started kicking, still struggling for breath, and he moved the hand with his knife and struck you across the face with the back of it. Your head flew backwards and hit the ground hard as a gash formed across your cheek. You had barely begun registering the pain when you heard Peeta shout, "Jacklyn, go where I told you to go!" His voice sounded distant and you could tell that he either had a hand over his mouth or he was being dragged away. You wondered what he had just meant, snce he had never told you to go anywhere. He must have been trying to deter the Tributes. It was a very bad attempt. Suddenly, as the light began to fade from your eyes, you felt not just the tip but the whole knife slide into your stomach and you gasped as his hand released your throat.

"NO!" Peeta shouted as the Tribute stood up, staring down at you. Your mouth hung open slightly in surprise and you tried to glance down at the damage, but you were too weak. You looked away from him and at Peeta who had something stuffed inside his mouth. This explained why he sounded so far away. Tears were streaming from his eyes, and from yours too. You closed them.

"Get him out of here," the Tribute growled and you heard scuffling, which could only be Peeta trying to get away from them.

"Why don't we just kill him!" the girl said, "he's hard to keep still!"

"Because, he's done this before. He can help us. We'll kill him last." Nobody said anything after this, except when the girl began complaining about him struggling again. "Let's go!" the Tribute shouted, "She's good as dead. We'll come back later to make sure." You opened your eyes and moved your head so you could see Peeta. He was still trying to break free, so the Tribute who stabbed you wrapped an arm around his legs and lifted them up. You tasted blood in your mouth and you began to cough. You put a hand over your stab wound, trying to stem the flow of blood.

"Help," you whispered, hoping Haymitch or Katniss could hear you. Nothing happened. No container with a special medicine in it came. Nothing came.

You shut your eyes again and laid your head back. Blood seeped through the cracks between your fingers and a few tears leaked from your eyes. After a minute or so, you suddenly felt a pressure on your stomach and you gasped, your eyes popping open but only a little. You were too weak to open them all the way. The little girl from training was there, her jacket pressed against your wound.

"L..." you started to say her name but she silenced you with a look.

"Don't talk, it'll make it worse."

"How..."

"Shh!" she said, "I'm not gonna let you die." A lump formed in your throat and you tried to swallow it back, but the amount of blood coming up made it impossible. You looked back up at the sky as she put pressure on you and, not being able to keep them open another second, shut your eyes. Everything went black within seconds.

And the unconscious fight for your life began.

End of Chapter 12