Chapter 7: Lethal Distractions

I came too from the nightmare that wretched itself upon Gloss and myself, for the greater part of an hour, only to find greater horror waiting for us. A new chapter of suffering that would defy each and every realization of our impending death. With each new twist in the arena, Peeta would come to realize that the gamemakers had only begun to make the tributes suffer. How much more could they torment me, before the madness would take its toll, I thought.

When I finally came to my senses, I lay there, ears pulsing in agony, watching as Gloss managed to pull himself from the ground into a sitting position. I felt disoriented from the ringing that hacked itself throughout my head, my mind jumbling into an assault of memory fragments.

I was first brought from my subconscious when a warm hand pressed itself against my cheek. Passing a glance upward, I could see that Johanna had made her way over to me, and was staring down with worried eyes, her head hung low in what mimicked shame.

"I'm so sorry, Peeta, if I wasn't so preoccupied with talking to Cashmere then I could have been there for you," she said solemnly, as she bent down to level herself with my troubled figure.

"Don't worry, I'm f-fine" I responded, the sound of her voice like that of gunfire to my hemorrhaging ears. I noticed how low my voice was and Johanna's expression caught on to the pain that filtered its way through my cracked lips. I recalled that I had bitten down on them when the screeching commenced, and now they were peeling from their worn out skirmish.

"Are you alright to stand?" Johanna asked. I was aware that her voice was somber, almost painful. It wasn't her fault, I thought, but no words would be able to replace the manifestation of guilt in her eyes.

"I think so," was all that Peeta could mutter, before Johanna looped her hand through his arm and pulled him to his feet.

"Three dead yesterday. A small number considering it's already been a few days. The boy from District 10…" Johanna said, but he did not care to hear about any more unnecessary casualties. "On the bright side…" she started.

"Don't. There is no bright side to all of this, Johanna. People," Peeta began correcting himself, "innocent people, are dying. There's no celebrating this," he reasoned. He motioned his hand toward the arena surrounding them. I didn't mean for my voice to came across as anything other than truthful, but my tone had offended Johanna, who retreated her hand from my arm and began to sit in silence.

For the rest of the night Cashmere and Johanna gathered berries from the vegetation and some greens that Cashmere had luckily found over near the line of bushes surrounding their camp. Refreshed by some ointment that the District 1 tributes had received from their sponsors, I worked to knead my aching joints and to clean the dried blood from my ears.

Cashmere volunteered to take the first watch, but Peeta was still wary of their intentions so he told them that he would take the first watch instead; he had too much on his mind to even begin to think about sleeping.

The night was significantly colder, I noted, sure that the gamemakers were reducing the temperatures throughout the night as to assail any unprepared tributes. My ribs had slowly started to protrude ever so slightly against my toned abdomen, for lack of food over the last few days in the arena. He had made sure to indulge in the Capitol's generosity of food over his time there, knowing that he would be starved during his period in the arena.

While I mulled over my options for the following day, a shuffle to my left and a small whimpering sound began to make its way over to where I sat on guard. Johanna, I thought, as her figure began to writhe slowly but surely. I made my way over to where she lay, and began rubbing the small of her back, calmly soothing her distress while I whispered, "it was only a dream." She glanced up toward me once or twice throughout the night, to make sure that I was nearby, and her surprise grew with every glance. I had taken up grounds beside where she rest for the night, keeping my eyes peeled for any disturbances while readying myself for anymore nightmares that could wretch themselves onto Johanna's unconscious.

Johanna woke up several hours after my watch began, before she signaled that she would take over, knowing that I would need my rest for the coming day. I planned to find Cato tomorrow, but made note that we would need to travel at a slower pace than usual. I had many wounds to contend with, such as sore muscles, unusually tired joints, cuts that resulted from falling during our encounter with the mutts, and eardrums that still rang from the sounds of the bat muttations.

When Peeta woke the following morning, he was the last of the tributes to rouse. The others had allowed him to sleep unusually longer so that his tired joints could heal themselves. Before long Johanna beckoned for him to join them. We would have to get moving early, I mumbled to myself.

My muscles ached with any and every sudden movements, and Johanna helped me to my feet before any of us had begun moving through the thick foliage. As we made our way through the hard terrain, Gloss fell back, allowing Johanna to lead the party, and joined me at my side.

"I wanted to give you these…" Gloss said, as he handed me two of his knives. Both were slightly small, refined blades with an impressively lethal row of serrations. I made sure to take the blades before Gloss could second-guess himself.

"I don't understand," Peeta said questioningly. He knows I don't trust him, I thought, but I made no expression that would reflect this most dire secret.

"We're a team, are we not?" Gloss said, and for the first time since he had met Peeta, he gave him a smile that held no cruel intentions masked behind it. Before I could thank him for his charity, he was off again to rejoin his sister once more.

I scanned the tree line with my goggles and watched for any pursuers as we rounded the nearest sector. The ground was still wet from what must have been a rain shower the previous day, and Peeta was sure to watch his footing as he walked single file behind the others. Gloss would call out that there was a stone or two in front of them on more than one occasion, and the four tributes would round it with a wide traction.

I took this time to look through the gape in the trees toward where the Cornucopia would have been, the tail pointing its way through the trees with a glistening of reflective steel. It protruded from the trees like that of Finnick Odair's trident and its point directed itself toward the other side of the arena where Peeta and Johanna had first camped out; the southern jungle.

"We've got company!" Gloss shouted back toward him and the other tributes, before the sound of a whizzing trident flew past them, escaping Johanna's right shoulder narrowly, before it fell to the ground with a heavy crash.

I braced myself for the onslaught of tributes that would surely crash through the thick, moss-covered vines that weaved themselves through the woods several yards ahead of them. The first male appeared and his reflectors signaled that he was weaponless. His elegant form and slim figure gave away his identity immediately. Finnick, I distinguished quickly.

The next tribute filed in quickly behind Finnick, a large spear hanging down from his arm as he lunged toward Johanna. She met his attack head-on with her own lunge, as steel clashes with steel. A quick howl escaped from his lungs as Johanna's axe slipped its way past his unguarded shoulder, and the sound of splitting fabric mixed with tearing flesh erupted into the clearing.

I was taken from my train of thought as a zipping sound passed by my face, opening a gash in my left cheek. The warm, sticky oozing from my cheek made its way down my face uncontrollably. The taste of the blood hit me first, as its metallic flavor pooled down over my lips, followed shortly thereafter by its bitter scent. I lurch backwards, as the next knife catches my thigh, embedding itself into my now-torn skin.

I let out a horrific yelp as I pull the knife from my punctured leg; a wicked blade with jagged teeth that split my skin open as I clenched it sturdily. I recognize the girl who had propelled the knife as Clove, from District 2, her petite figure giving her away in the reflection of my eye ware.

I staggered forward, almost loosing my footing, as I readied for Clove's next assault. Closing the distance between us, Clove pulled another set of knives from her impressive collection, throwing two in my direction. I immediately dove for the grown to avoid being hit once again and felt the mud instantly splash up into the open wound on my face. It stung as I tried to wipe it away, the mud fixating itself deeper into my injury.

I grasped the knife in my hand, which had already been splattered with blood from the gash it left in my thigh, and managed to send the knife in her general direction. The knife pierced her hip, as she then swayed from the blow. She had no time to recover from the shock before I sent the next blade. I clenched my eyes shut as I heard the gurgling sound of Clove choking through the knife that rested in her throat. I pulled my hands up to my ears to protect myself from the sound that would haunt my dreams if I did not.

Between his clenched fists that rested over his ears, Peeta heard the cannon that signaled that Clove's life had come to an end.

Managing to pull myself from the earth, my glance shifted over the where Johanna had been fighting with Brutus. He had time to make out the slender shape of a girl resting over a large male before a cannon sounded in the distance and a spray of blood soaked the surrounding ground.

I succeeded in making my way over to Johanna through the pain of my thigh and a bloodied vision from the mud over my masked goggles. Johanna gave me a quick flash of her goggles before she ran off to help Gloss who was currently fighting hand-to-hand with Finnick.

Peeta passed his glance over the clearing searching for Cashmere, whose goggles turned to meet his as a silver spear impaled itself into her abdomen.

"No!" Peeta cried out as he tried to pull himself from his position to make his way over to his female ally. He watched as the blonde-haired beauty fell to her knees before crashing backwards into the ground, the spear still resting in her body.

I was helpless but to look on as Gloss caught side of his sisters mangled form, before the realization of what had happened truly hit him. A powerful, and completely heart-wrenching scream exploded from his lungs that lodged itself into Peeta like an arrow. Even Peeta had to wipe away at the tears that stung his eyes and protruded from his goggles.

I caught sight of Marvel who had sent Cashmere to her death with a single toss of his harpoon, before a smirk came to his face along with a call for the Careers to retreat with him.

I stood powerless as Marvel and Finnick tore off through the woods, followed closely by Glimmer and Enobaria. There must be two Career packs, I noted as anger filled the void in my heart from Cashmere's passing.

Gloss worked his way over to Cashmere's lifeless body in a bound or two, before falling to his knees and placing a warm hand up to her cheek. Tears began to flood over his face, and I remarked that I had never seen someone cry so intensely before.

Johanna stood behind Gloss now, and Peeta could see that she was struggling over the idea of whether or not she should say something to ease his pain. She settled on nestling in beside him on the blood-soaked ground in silence, combing the hair back from Cashmere's face.

I shifted slowly toward my remaining two allies and time seemed to slow down as I watched the incontrollable sobs shudder across Gloss' body. The guttural sound of heaving between breaths was no more as Gloss' voice betrayed him.

I placed myself across from Gloss and watched as he whispered words of reassurance to his sister: "it would be okay now," "you won't suffer anymore," and an immeasurable amount of apologies for not being with her when she needed him most.

"We'll make them pay for it, Gloss. I promise you. If it's the last thing I do in this arena…we'll make them pay," Peeta whispered through clenched teeth, his hand rising to stroke the other boy's back.

Peeta was taken at first when the other boy turned from the mangled body of his once gorgeous sister to wrap his arms around him. He was a lot stronger than Cato, and his grasp seemed to take all the air from Peeta's lungs away from him. Slowly, but surely, Gloss whispered through cracked vocals: "Together."

"Together," I assured him.

Peeta led the expedition this time, as Johanna walked steadily beside him and a silent Gloss followed far behind as he kicked at rocks in rage.

"They did everything together, you know," Johanna whispered, breaking the silence for the first time since they began on foot.

"It's hard to see him like this…" Peeta said, recalling how he had turned away when Johanna drew the spear from Cashmere's body. Peeta had fetched some flowers that grew nearby and placed them in her hair as Gloss zipped up her jacket to keep her body warm. They had stayed there for almost an hour before they had to keep moving and a hovercraft retrieved the body. A tributes greatest mistake in the arena is to stay in one place.

"Even I'll admit that I can't wait to sink my axe into that bastards face," Johanna said, pulling him from his thoughts. She had a way with words, this one, but he knew that revenge was best served cold.

"I hope he's the one to do it," I whispered in reply. He thought back to when they first began hiking through the thick jungle and Johanna had given the spear to Gloss. He watched as Gloss took the spear with an embodiment of anger. He was not upset with Johanna, more than he was with himself for letting his guard down. By giving Gloss the spear, Johanna acknowledged that he would be the one to enact his revenge on his sister's behalf.

All three tributes marched on in silence after that, as Peeta hacked away at the vines that hung down all around them.

"It's getting pretty thick," Peeta said, passing a glance back at the other two who nodded in understanding.

"Maybe we should rest here for now, before we move on," Gloss stated, which surprised Peeta the most. He was sure that Gloss would want to track down the Careers, but nodded back that this clearing would do perfectly. It was fairly muddy, he thought, but it would be enough to keep them free of the forest that had caused them so much heartache.

"Thank God!" Johanna said, before she unstrapped her gloves and tossed them to the muddy floor. "We've made a lot of progress today, and we're basically at the most northern point, so Katniss and Cato should be close if Haymitch was right," she added.

My heart sprung at the idea of being reunited with Cato and my best friend, Katniss. Although it had only been a few short days, it had felt like an eternity. Every single day was a new chapter of terror that threatened to take away everyone he cared most about. I looked to the open sky and admired the twinkling stars that were the only light that shone throughout the arena, with the moon at its centre.

Exhaustion is starting to take its toll on me, but it's not the typical drowsiness that pressures me to rest my burning muscles at every stop. It's the impending heartache and the only cure for it is finding Cato.

I watched the tree line around us shimmering, the cold wind shuffling against the leaves. I took in the sight of walnuts that hung higher in the trees – the only edible ones, I remind myself. As I stare at the treetops I find that they are beginning to grow. But it wasn't the trees themselves that were growing taller and taller with each moment, but myself that was shrinking. That is when I found the answer: I was sinking! Not again, I think to myself, before turning to the others.

"Gloss! Johanna! It's not mud, it's a form of quicksand!" I call, but it's too late. Both tributes have already begun to sink and I find myself in the same vulnerable position.

I watch as Johanna's gloves vanish under the muddy terrain, and a flicker of irritation passes over her face.

I turn my gaze back to the forest floor before me, where I had just cut with a knife before Gloss stated that we should rest in the clearing. Attached to a tree was a vine that hung loosely under the treetop. Better make this count, I think, before I throw my last remaining knife overhead and the sound of the vine snapping alerted to me that I was successful.

The vine made its way from the tree onto the ground, inches from Peeta, as he tossed his arm over to it, clenching his fist over the mossy rope.

"Johanna, take my hand!" Peeta hollered, as Gloss did the same. The vines here were incredibly sturdy, which thankfully allowed the tributes to pull themselves to freedom. Peeta was the first of the tributes to make it to safe ground before Johanna and Gloss had done the same. All three of the competitors were panting from exhaustion, and Peeta was sure that he had pulled another muscle in his shoulder from the extensive force needed to pull the other tributes to safety alongside him.

"Looks like this year they didn't waste any money on the arena," Gloss said sarcastically, before shaking his head and spitting on the ground in front of him.

That's disgusting, I mumbled under my breath. The miners in District 12 had a habit of spitting in the streets after their long shifts in the coalmines. Being away from most civilization on a daily basis had its repercussions.

I was going to talk to Johanna about our weapon supply, but figured that since I had been dying of thirst I would take the spile from Johanna and head over to the nearest tree for some much needed refreshment. She handed me the small silver apparatus before I made my way slowly, being careful to stick to the jungle tree line to avoid the sinking pits of mud. I found a large tree with a huge radius of bark and began digging the spile into it.

The smell hit me first – taking me back to the gouge that had only recently begun to scab over – before the spile started to pour out thick doses of blood. Gagging was the first of many effects that inflicted my body, as I looked up to find a tribute's distorted body hanging from the clutches of the tree.

As I pulled the spile from the tree more blood poured out, and Johanna and Gloss were quick to their feet to help me from my immobility. The shock was the hardest to deal with, before Johanna could calm me down.

"I just want to get out of here," Peeta said, uneven breaths catching between each syllable. It was hard to shake the image of the poor tribute that had been a victim of another nasty plot that the gamemakers had issued for the games.

It took a while to bring myself from my lethargy and tremors as we continued to move. Gloss had come up with the idea of walking through the open clearing that surrounded the Cornucopia for miles, so as to avoid any more lethal tricks that the gamemakers could conjure. If they were to run into any tributes, it would be three against one, unless of course the Careers had found them again, Peeta thought.

Johanna silenced Peeta as they made their way through to the northern jungle. He noticed that this side of the arena was a completely different environment compared to the southern side – the tree line thinner, more birds chirping in the distance, and an inescapable smell of fresh lilies. It was more peaceful in the arena here, Peeta noted, which meant that it would be more lethal.

It began as it always had, in a moments notice, and at a time where he was in an extensive train of thought: a huge explosion in the distance. Definitely man-made, he assumed.

As they picked up the pace and Peeta grimaced through the pain of his injured leg, he rounded the corner to meet the gaze of two tributes who were pulling themselves from the ground, eyes wide with fear. Something was wrong.

But before he could even consider it, Peeta was on his feet, barreling toward them. He recognized the distinct height of both tributes, and the females' slender form that currently grappled with a bow that had distanced itself during the explosion.

"Cato!" Peeta exclaimed, as he began running for the other boy, whose goggles turned to meet him a couple of metres away.

"Peeta?" the other boy called out questioningly, his face contorting into a huge smile as he realized the other boy's identity.

The last thing I remember is the look of terror that crossed Cato's face as an arrow lodged itself into his ribcage, and then everything went black.

Author's Note: Prepare yourselves. Things are going to get a little crazy (if they aren't already!). Enjoy :)