A/N: So, I left off with all the tributes getting separated from each other amidst the chaos of flaming woods and venomous pests. I don't really know how to handle showing you what's going on with them individually, so let's just start off with our Girl on Fire and work our way from there, shall we?
Katniss dashed through the smoke-filled forest, running till the hum of the tracker jackers died away. As her body raced on, her mind was racing even harder. Thoughts of killing the pair from four, the Careers barreling down on her, and worse, Peeta left dangling in the tree vines racked her frazzled brain. Her heart was sinking at the shame she felt for leaving Peeta behind. But he told her to go and he was right. If she stayed, they both would have been stung. But now her heart was stinging not with poison, but with guilt. He was her friend and partner. She would never leave Prim behind. Would she have left Madge? Gale? Katniss was so far into her anguished thoughts she didn't even see what was in front of her until she smacked right into it.
"Why are you always body-slamming into me, girl?" a booming voice chuckled above her. Katniss had bounced right off and lay dazed on the ground. Looking up at the face attached to the voice, relief flooded her mind for a moment and soothed her weary soul.
"Thresh!" She exclaimed and her joy amplified as she saw a small pair of chocolate eyes peeking around the towering tribute at her. "Rue!" The two girls embraced and delighted in their meeting until it was clear that someone was missing from the reunion.
"Katniss, where's Peeta?" The young girl asked, her innocent face etched with deep concern.
"When we got separated from you two, Peeta and I ran into the Careers. They chased us and we managed to pick off the pair from 4 before I threw a nest of tracker jackers at the rest of the pack. But Peeta got caught in some tree vines and he told me to go before I got stung. I left him there. We need to go back for him."
"Katniss," Thresh started, resting his giant hand on her shoulder. "You said you and Peeta took care of the pair from 4? Rue and I heard three cannons. I don't want to assume the worst, but that last cannon could have been Peeta's."
Little Rue's eyes began to flood with tears before Katniss corrected him. "No, it wasn't him. It was Glimmer. I saw her body. The tracker jackers got her."
"Well then that means Peeta still has to be alive somewhere!" the little girl exclaimed with relief.
"I gave Peeta a knife to cut himself out of the vines before I ran. If there wasn't a fourth cannon blast, then we have to go find him. He may not be dead, but he definitely could be hurt."
"Lead the way, fire girl," Thresh declared.
The reunited allies cautiously ventured back into the smoking woods where all the chaos had taken place not long ago. They came upon the site where Katniss had lost her quiver of arrows and she gratefully retrieved them and continued forward. The danger of the mission radiated throughout the three tributes as they prepared to face lingering tracker jackers or even lingering Careers. They came across a patch of earth soaked with pus and blood. "Glimmer," was all Katniss stated as they kept moving. Up ahead lie the broken and ominously empty nest that Katniss had thrown earlier. She ran carelessly past it to the tree she had climbed and entwined its vines around her wrist, replaying the nightmare of the Careers descending on her partner.
Thresh approached and studied the vines before concluding, "The vines were cut. Peeta must have escaped the tracker jackers well enough to run away."
"Or the Careers came back and took him," Katniss coldly acknowledged.
"Why would they do that? If the Careers had found Peeta, they would have just killed him. He had to have gotten away, Katniss. Don't worry about the Careers."
"I am worried," she mumbled. "Look, guys, I really think that if the Careers captured Peeta, they wouldn't just kill him right away."
"Why not?" Rue questioned. "That's what Careers do; they kill. Peeta got the highest training score. They wouldn't risk leaving him alive."
Katniss turned to stare at them grimly. "Cato would."
The pair from 11 looked at the huntress confused, realizing they were missing some key information. "What are you talking about?" Thresh asked.
"When I was up in the tree cutting down the nest and Peeta was tangled in these vines, Glimmer was about to kill him and Clove stopped her. She said, 'Peeta belongs to Cato. He's not ours to touch.' And then Cato came over to Peeta and started, I don't know, being all possessive and intimate and stuff. I can't believe I didn't see it before."
"See it before? What do you mean?" Rue asked wide-eyed.
"Every day back at training, Cato would stare at us. As time went on, it became obvious he wasn't looking at 'us,' he was looking at Peeta. The first day he came over and even sparred with Peeta. And then the next day, he and Clove tried to come over and train with us. I thought I was just being paranoid at first, but I realized Cato was interested in us way more than any other district. All this time, I thought he just saw Peeta as a threat, and for good reason after the scores were announced. But guys, the way he looked at and touched Peeta while he was tangled in the vines, it wasn't full of blood thirst and malice. Cato wanted Peeta… like, really wanted him."
The two from 11 soaked in Katniss' deduction and were about to speak when the blast from a cannon tore their attention to the surrounding forest. Another tribute fallen. "Peeta," Rue whimpered as she buried her small face in Katniss' jacket.
"Shh, Rue. We don't know that was him. It could have been anybody," Katniss soothed the small child, although the blast had shaken her too. Please be okay, Peeta.
Thresh interrupted the worried girls to take control. "We can't lose focus now. Look, if what you're saying is true, Katniss, the Careers could have Peeta. But even if they don't, we do know for a fact that they have all the supplies. With half of their pack gone now and a good possibility that the rest of them are stung, I say this is our chance. It's time for the hunters to become the hunted."
At that, the three tributes collaborated and formulated a strategy to take down the remaining Careers. If the pack wasn't too badly stung, there was a good chance that they would return to camp. That meant 11 and 12 knew exactly where to find them: the cornucopia.
Meanwhile, the Careers were indeed feeling the effects from the tracker jackers. Cato had managed to reunite with the surviving members of his pack, and they were all lying on the cold hard earth of a random patch of forest floor, writhing in pain.
"Shit! My veins feel like they're on fire!" Marvel muttered through gritted teeth.
"I just don't want to open my eyes again and see any more of those fucking, trippy-ass hallucinations," Cato groaned back.
Clove managed to slowly prop herself up as she addressed the whining boys beside her. "I think we need to try and make it back to camp. Maybe there's a crate with some salve or medicine for these stings."
"Shouldn't we wait for Glimmer?" Marvel asked.
"Dumbass, didn't you hear the cannon?" Clove retorted. "The bitch is dead."
"I tripped over her body on the way here," Cato confirmed.
"Damn," Marvel answered, "district 12 took out half our alliance. You still sold on this idea of fooling around with that boy, Cato? Seems to me he's more trouble than he's worth."
"Just shut the fuck up, Marvel," Cato barked. Cato hadn't mentioned to his allies the rendezvous that occurred between him and Peeta after they were stung. He was certainly thinking about it though, specifically what Peeta had said. He told me that he didn't want me to stop. He looked at me the same way he did back on the training center rooftop. I don't think that was just the venom talking.
Just then, the pack was rattled by the same cannon blast that Katniss, Rue, and Thresh had heard. It seemed tributes were dropping like flies now, and it wasn't by the Careers' hands. Let that be anyone but Peeta, Cato wished.
The three Careers slowly gained enough composure to painfully sit up and follow Clove's suggestion to head back to camp. They seemed to not have their bearings back yet as they found themselves going in circles. After about another pitiful hour, Clove finally managed to focus her venom-laced mind well enough to lead them the right way home. As they made their way back to camp to recover, they were attracted to a golden glare in the distance. It looked like the woods were on fire, but the Gamemakers had sucked all the fire away hours ago. As the pack trudged on further, they realized it wasn't the woods that were burning; the flames were coming from their camp.
"What the fuck!" Marvel roared as they all clumsily ran closer to the blaze. They were about to break out of the tree line when Clove stopped them.
"Wait!" she hissed to the two boys. "It could be a trap!"
"Clove, all our shit is burning! We have to do something!" Cato hissed right back to her.
"Look, we lost three of our pack in a matter of minutes and now we're all stung and sluggish and totally off our game. I hate to admit it, but we are no longer in a position of power here in the arena. We can't just stumble out into the clearing like a bunch of idiots. Whoever did this could be waiting for us."
"But what about our camp and all our supplies?" Marvel asked exasperatingly. This was a huge blow to the Careers. Every Hunger Games, it was the supplies from the cornucopia that sustained them. Their years of training focused on fighting, not survival. It seemed like a waste to learn how to discern edible berries from poisonous ones because in their minds, they would never need to pick them. They assumed they would have everything they needed at the cornucopia. That assumption was coming back to bite them in the ass at the moment.
Cato knew that Clove was right. Career or not, they were in no position to face their enemies head on right now. Instead, Cato tried to rally his defeated team. "All we can do right now is just rest here in the forest and recover. The camp and supplies are a lost cause. We'll start fresh in the morning. We can still do this."
The pack watched for movement under the cover of the woods, waiting until they recovered from their stings well enough to go and venture out to the cornucopia. They were left helplessly witnessing their camp and all their supplies go up in a fiery blaze. This is certainly not how any of them saw their time in the Hunger Games going. They were stuck; wounded, confused, and at the mercy of tributes who were supposed to be their prey. Some Careers we are, Cato thought bitterly.
As the Careers were hiding out due to 11 and 12's handiwork, Peeta was left all alone, his body slowly trying to work his own tracker jacker venom out. He tried to regain focus when he heard the cannon blast everyone else had heard far away. Peeta fell and crawled under a fallen tree to hide from the world that seemed to be crashing down upon him. He managed to regain enough composure to talk himself down. None of it's real. Everything you see isn't real. Calm down. It can't hurt you. Just breathe. After a couple of hours the world stopped spinning and the trees stopped melting and Peeta was finally brought back to reality by the sound of crying. It wasn't coming from him though. He hoisted himself out from under the fallen timber and silently crept towards the sobs that seemed to be coming from across a creek. As he scanned the landscape on the other side of the water, he found the source of the crying; a tiny hunched figure with mousy brown hair was curled up amongst the leaves.
"Pip? Pip! I'm coming! Are you hurt?"
Peeta crossed the narrow creek bed to rush to the little boy's side. As Pip realized it was Peeta coming to his aid, he burst out crying even louder and met the older boy, pressing his tear-stained face into his chest.
Peeta knelt down to inspect the boy and found nothing more serious than a couple cuts and bumps. "Shhh, you're okay, Pip. You're okay. Don't cry."
"I'm not okay!" Pip screamed. "I'm so scared! Jazz got killed and I was left all alone and, and-" the sobs started back up and choked off his rant. Peeta simply embraced the boy and held him close, comfortingly rubbing his back to calm him. Jazz; the burnt-out district 6 girl. That's whose cannon fired earlier. Peeta wasn't all that surprised that she was dead. "Shhh. You're not alone anymore, Pip. I'm here. Just relax and tell me what happened."
"Jazz and I were together looking for food when we heard footsteps," Pip managed to hiccup out in between sobs. "We panicked and started running away when the boy from 10 jumped out and struck Jazz with a huge rock. He started hitting her with it over and over again and she wasn't even fighting back. I ran into some bushes and hid but I wasn't far enough away and I could still hear him hitting her. The cannon went off but the attack didn't stop. He just kept hitting her even though she was already dead. I just stayed in the bushes until he finally left and the hovercraft came. Why didn't he stop hitting her, Peeta? Why?"
"I don't know, Pip," Peeta replied as he cradled the boy. "Maybe he didn't hear the cannon. Maybe he just went crazy. It's not hard to lose your mind here."
"I feel like I'm losing my mind," Pip croaked. "I can't do this anymore, Peeta. I miss my mom and my dad. I just wanna go home." The tears fell freely from the small boy as he sank further into Peeta's embrace.
Peeta held the boy until he fell asleep and decided to stay with him. He wondered if Katniss, Rue, and Thresh were okay. He thought about Cato. The tracker jacker venom had broken through the barriers Peeta put up to protect himself against his own reckless emotions. He recalled the passionate fury in which they embraced without inhibition. The sensual way Cato caressed him and kissed his lips was so surprisingly gentle; not an aggressive monster but like a caring lover. Peeta felt the rush of warmth in his cheeks and the flutter in his stomach from just the memory. Then he was shaken by the memory of the horror that had followed as the hallucinations appeared and drove them apart. Just shake it off, Peeta told himself.
As night descended upon the arena, he looked up into the sky to see the faces of Glimmer, Cast, Coral, and Jazz. Peeta breathed a sigh of relief. His allies were okay. Did any of them find each other again? Peeta was taken from his thoughts by the sight of a silver parachute descending towards him. Gently setting the sleeping boy down, Peeta crawled over to the gift and opened it. He found a sack full of the tiniest rolls he had ever seen. But that wasn't the main part of the gift. Pinned to the sack of baby rolls was an expensive-looking gold pendant. What the fuck? I'm fighting for my life right now and the Capitol people think it's necessary to waste their loads of undeserved wealth on a fashion accessory? He actually became really angry and wanted to just chuck the damn thing into the woods. But they did still give him some bread, so instead of losing his temper, he read the note attached under the light of the moon. "Keep this close to your heart and you shall be free… From the Sponsors that have been there for you all along."
Peeta took a closer look at the pendant. It was a bird. A mockingjay, Peeta surmised. They don't have mockingjays in the Capitol. So the gift isn't from a Capitol sponsor. Peeta took the note and read its cryptic message over and over again, trying to decipher its meaning. The sponsors that have been there for me all along? My district? My family? If it was from his district or his family they could have just said so. The whole gift and note were clearly a riddle. Arranging every piece of the gift in front of him, he racked his brain. The stupid mini rolls had to be more than just food. Staring at them, Peeta's calculating nature had caused him to start counting them. 13 tiny pieces of bread from a sponsor who's been there for me all along. 13 pieces of- District 13! Haymitch got the funds for the gift from district 13!
Peeta felt a rush and started laughing at the absurdity of it all. He was actually communicating and getting help from district 13 in the fucking Hunger Games, right under the Capitol's nose! It was just as Haymitch tried to tell him. Peeta felt renewed with a second wind and the hope he thought he lost had returned. He did as the note told him and pinned the mockingjay on his jacket, right over his heart. He had no idea how it could "set him free," but he figured that it was just a way of district 13 secretly saying they were coming to help him. He ate a few rolls before returning to the sleeping boy on the ground. He nestled down and covered himself and Pip up with his sleeping bag. Tomorrow would be day three. He needed to be well rested for whatever was in store for him.
Peeta awoke early on the morning of day three to the sound of another cannon blast. Panicked, he looked over to see a startled, but still alive, Pip. The two got up, ate some more of the tiny rolls, and wondered who the latest victim was.
"Whoever it was, there's nothing we can do about it now," Peeta bluntly stated. He was hiding his worry that it was one of his allies, or to his chagrin, Cato. He looked over at Pip and saw that he was still in the same funk from yesterday. "Come on now, Pip. Stop moping. You have to be strong now. Jazz would want that from you."
"I just miss her. She was my only tie to home."
"Why don't you tell me about home so I can be tied to it too," Peeta offered as he scooted closer to the boy.
"Well, I'm an only child," Pip started off. "We're the transportation district so my dad works as a conductor. My mom has to stay home. She uses too much morphing like a lot of people do in our district. She's addicted to the stuff. She wouldn't even quit it when she was pregnant with my baby sister so she miscarried. She supposedly was on the drug when she had me. They say I'm a miracle baby. But yeah, my mom's kinda not all there anymore, a lot like Jazz was. I think it was pretty obvious she was addicted to the stuff too. But I still cared about her. Just like I care about my mom."
"I could tell you cared about her, Pip. You're a good kid and I know you-"
Crraaaaacckk!
Peeta was cut off by the brightest, blinding light that covered the sky and created a deafening, thunderous crack. Peeta instinctively covered his ears and closed his eyes as he hunched over Pip protectively. His senses were stunned but he managed to look up to see the sky radiating waves of pixilated color. What the fuck? Peeta thought as he stared dazed and confused at the sky that appeared to be fazing in and out. Is the sky short circuiting? Can a sky do that? Of course it could when it wasn't a real sky. The pixilated sky was overcast but when it cut out, Peeta caught glimpses of the real sky; brilliant blue much like his eyes. He realized it wasn't just the sky short-circuiting. It was the entire force field that encased the arena. He had never seen anything like this in past Hunger Games. But today was day three. This had to be district 13's handiwork. But what was he supposed to do now? Run? He had no idea where the end of the arena was and if he got out, where the hell was he supposed to go? What the fuck was his secret little gift even good for in a moment like this? Nevertheless, he grabbed Pip and started running, their ears still ringing from the crack of the electrical surge that took out the force field. They didn't get far though as a blanket of mist soon covered the entire arena. Peeta breathed it in as he ran with Pip and soon felt like he was swimming. His legs were like jelly. He lost control and fell over, dropping the small boy. Peeta's eyes grew heavy as darkness crept in and the baker boy slipped into black…
When Peeta awoke he found himself alone, locked in a small room with a tiny window. Looking out the window, he realized he was in a hovercraft as he saw one of the two engines with the Capitol logo on it. The Capitol? Shit! They got to me first! He realized he had been stripped of his knife, but before he could panic, a huge blast rocked the hovercraft. Looking out the window again, Peeta saw giant plumes of black smoke barreling out from the left engine that was now failing. It wasn't the smoke that grabbed his attention though; it was the object sticking out of the engine that was causing the smoke. Still stuck into the now failed and smoking engine was a giant piece of shrapnel. On the shrapnel was an image of a mockingjay. The same mockingjay that was on Peeta's pendant. It was the sign Peeta was waiting for. He reached down to the pin still on his jacket and turned to the locked door. "Keep it close to your heart and you shall be free." It all clicked for Peeta in that moment as he unpinned his mockingjay and took action. No way in hell was he going back to the Capitol as a prisoner.
abugsaunt- Haha! Action is always good in any form ;)
sundragons9- I've always wanted Peeta to be more bad ass. I'm glad you like him that way too.
Pale Is The New Tan- I always go into depressive withdrawals when I finish a book! I think we need to check into literary rehab or something, lol.
CupcakeSprinkles14/HungerWho37- Haha, with all the drama and espionage taking place between you two, you both should write a story about your own lives together. It seems action packed and hilarious.
MangoMagic- All I seem to do is tease, I'm sorry! I've managed to make a rough outline of where this is going and I still have a little more plot progression before I get to the good stuff. I promise though, if you stay with me, I'll give up the goods!