Chapter 4: Let the 74th Games begin!
I'm already up, when Portia knocks on the door. In fact I've been pacing around my quarters already for an hour. I don't know what to do. Horrible images from old hunger games are running through my head. Bloodthirsty careers, Gamemakers and their dangerous traps and deadly mutts of different kinds. To be honest Portia's coming is a relief because it busies my mind. She comes in with a worried tragic face.
„How are you feeling?" she asks softly.
„I don't know Portia. Like a pig before a slaughter." I give her a nervous grin. She hugs me tight and it's kind of comforting to have someone to hold onto. Not to be alone.
„I wanted to give you this." I hand her my drawing. „So you could look at the Capitol sunset whenever you want." I give her a smile. She just hugs me again and I see a single tear running down her cheek.
She leads me to the roof and we're transported into a hovercraft. They place a tracker into my forearm and we're seated and transported towards the arena. Through the window, I see my last look at the Capitol from the bird perspective. After some time the windows grow black as we are entering the arena area.
In half an hour, we're in a special quarters just for me. I dress up into arena clothes, which is undergarments, simple tawny pants, light green shirt, sturdy brown belt, thin hooded black jacket that falls to my thighs and soft leather boots.
Then we just sit and wait. I play with the leather bracelet from Delly nervously, while Portia finally speaks.
„What is your plan?" and she looks at me intently.
„Well as Haymitch said, run from the bloodbath and find water first. Then I'll see." she doesn't say anything just stares at me with a knowing look.
„Don't try to fool me Peeta. I know that you truly love her, so what will you do?" she asks again. What does it matter I may be dead in ten minutes.
„I plan to run from the bloodbath, but only into the edge of the forest or whatever will be there. Out of sight. When the bath is over, I'll go to the Careers pack and try to join them. That's the only option for me. I will be able to keep them away from Katniss and I'll have easy food and water. If I would be on my own I doubt I could find much food." I finish and lock my eyes on her. I see only sadness in her eyes, but she doesn't try to change my mind. She just nods sadly.
„I knew you would do something like that. I knew you would sacrifice yourself for her, you're just that kind of person I guess." she says sadly.
„Well then the only thing left is to wish you luck, because you will need it honey. I hope your plan will work and if you die, let all of the Panem know it is for love." she says and a little smile appears on her face, but then I see two silent tears going down her cheeks. I hug her one last time and then a woman's voice calls me to stand on the plate.
„Good luck Peeta Mellark. Fight for your love." is the last thing I hear from Portia. And then a glass cylinder is lowering around me and the last thing I see before the cylinder rise is her tears, now streaming down silently on her face. For maybe fifteen seconds, I'm in darkness and then I can feel the metal plate pushing me out of the cylinder, into the open air. For a moment, my eyes are dazzled by the bright sunlight and I'm conscious only of a strong wind with the smell of something familiar from district 12. Pines I would guess. If I'm right that's good for Katniss. Then I hear the legendary announcer, Claudius Templesmith, as his voice booms all around me.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!"
Now we have sixty seconds to prepare for fight. Or prepare for run in my case. In the middle of the circle made of tributes, there is the Cornucopia, a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which is at least twenty feet high, spilling over with the things that will give us life here in the arena. Food, containers of water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters. Strewn around the Cornucopia are other supplies, their value decreasing the farther they are from the horn.
I search the tributes for Katniss. She's five tributes away to the left. And the moment I see her, I know I'm in trouble. Her eyes are locked on something in the Cornucopia. I even don't have to look for it for long. It's a long silver bow, and same color quiver lying in the entrance. She seems like she's deciding very hard. But right now, she positions her legs into a running position. To my horror it's not towards the forest, but towards the Cornucopia. Her eyes still locked on the bow. I keep staring at her and I don't know what to do. She absolutely spoils my plans. When suddenly she turns her head and looks directly at me. This is my chance, so I don't break our eye contact and I shake my head as much as I can to show her that she should not do that. She seems confused and right in that moment a gong rings out.
I don't even hesitate and run to the woods, but I'm turning my head where Katniss is going. She runs towards the cornucopia, picks up bread and something else and runs towards an orange backpack. Some boy reaches it first. For a while they are fighting for it and then the boy is killed by a girl from 2. I think her name is Clove. Katniss is confused, but as soon as she notices her, she turns and runs as fast as she can in direction of the forest. Clove throws a knife towards her and that's when my heart almost stops. But Katniss rises her backpack up to cover her head and it dives into it. She keeps running and disappears in the forest. I let out my breath finally and watch the bloodbath by the Cornucopia from my hiding place in a bushes on the edge of the forest.
I decide to stay in the forest until the late afternoon. Until the careers pack will settle down. They seem they want to make a camp right here by the cornucopia and lake. They move all the supplies from Cornucopia and make a big pile by the lake. Splitting different things between themselves and choosing their favorite weapons. For now, there is six of them.
From district one it's Marvel and Glimmer. Marvel is an average sized boy, he's best with spears and he also likes to make traps for people. Glimmer is that sexy blonde, she isn't good at something in particular, but she's good in combat. The weapon she chose is a bow. Bow which should be in Katniss's hands, because I'm sure she can't compare with her.
Then there are tributes from district 2. I would say that those would be worse. Cato is a huge fellow, with big muscles and I'm sure he's able to break your neck spine in just one move. His strength gives him advantage in hand combat of course, but his favorite weapon is a sword. Right now he's holding a big one with shiny silver blade. The girl tribute from 2 is Clove. Very dangerous both in close and far fight. She is an expert about knifes. If she throws, it never misses its target. She made and impressive collection of all knives she found. They are all attached to her jacket, waiting for her victims.
Then the fifth member of the careers pack is a boy from 3. His name is Ted and I don't know how he got into the careers pack. He wasn't excelling in combat or weapons and his rating was six. He must have some secret skill, which persuaded the careers to keep him. And finally there is one more girl from district 4. Her name is Mary and I don't know her very much. She's having a spare and knife now.
The sun is slowly coming to the horizon and I decide to start my plan. I feel in terror now. Showing up at careers camp with no weapon, begging for alliance is a dangerous thing to do. The best I can hope for is a quick death if they won't let me in. I come as close to their camp as I dare and listen for a while.
„We'll start hunting them down at twilight. It's better at night. The dummies will make a fire, which is a good way to find them. And the others has to sleep somewhere so night is best." says Cato and the others agree with him. I know I won't have another chance. It's now or never. So I take a deep breath and step into the meadow, into the light of the setting sun with my hands up.
„I want to be your ally." I say clearly and don't move so I would not provoke them to fight.
At first I feel a sharp pain on my left arm where Clove's knife made a long scratch. In the next second Cato jumps on me and knocks me to the ground. My ankle twists a little and I feel sharp pain in it. I get two punches into my mouth until one of the girls speaks.
„Wait Cato!" she shouts. He stops punching me, but I still remain pinned on the ground.
„Let him speak" she says in a quiet voice. Than Cato releases me and I stand up in front of them.
„What can you offer in exchange of being an ally?" Clove asks slyly and eyes me from ankle to head.
„Well I'm a good fighter. I can use knife well." I say and hope I don't sound too silly.
„Well we have Clove for that, what else do you have?" Cato asks and stands next to Clove with a mocking smile.
„I know how to find her." I say with a calm clear voice. And immediately I see a spark of interest in Cato's eyes. For a long moment he looks me in the eyes intently and I don't dare to blink. Finally he blinks and smiles.
„So you are saying you can find her?"
„Well I know her well, I know how she thinks and I can recognize her snares and tracks." I lie of course. I have no idea about snares and tracks, but I guess no one else will try to hunt animals in here than Katniss. So any snare we find should be hers.
„Hmmm" Cato says again and examines me closely. He looks at my muscles and my body and then smiles at me.
„Then Welcome in the Career pack." he says with a pleased smile „Loverboy!" he adds and I guess I won't get rid of this nickname.
„Wait a moment!" Clove says and she looks me in the eyes examining.
„How come that you want to help us with killing her?" she says suspiciously and I see a surprise on Cato's face behind her. He didn't think about that.
„Didn't you said that you love her?" she hisses „Don't you have a crush on her for ever?" and she still keeps looking me in the eyes. This is the moment when I can't let them know my plans. I keep my stone face and use my most cold voice.
„I was playing it all. I only wanted to mess her up before the Games. I wanted to make her weak, because she's one of the most dangerous enemies. Trust me, she knows how to hide well and she knows how to hunt animals so she would be a tough one to kill." I say and keep my voice calm and cold. „If you don't believe me, I will happily kill her myself when we find her." I say finally hoping that I will convince them.
„Okay, you help us find her and kill her and you can be our ally." says Cato. „But if you even try to help her somehow or if you try to do something against us." he threats me „You're dead, deal?!" he says and locks on my eyes.
„Deal." I say calmly without a blink. I can't believe how lucky I am. I got into the careers pack and I'm not even good with weapons. I got a scratch, few bruises and twisted my ankle a little, but that's nothing.
„Here is a knife." Cato says and gives me a big hunting knife. „If you want any other weapon, pick whatever you want." and he points towards the huge pile of weapons. I keep the knife and pick up a spear, which is one of the weapons I handled well enough. They give me a bottle of water and some food
At twilight we head to the forest hunting down the other tributes. We walk through the forest all night but we're not very lucky to find any other tributes. I guess they are all hiding. No sign of Katniss too. I'm sure she's up on some tree now. Watching everyone and everything from the high and safe nest in the trees. I absentmindedly look up into the trees looking for some sign of her. But in this dark I have no chance of seeing her.
„Oh wait!" Glimmer whispers towards us. „Look! There!" she points down the valley, towards a little clearing and a clump of few willows with their long branches falling down full of leaves. That would be a perfect tree for hiding. I hear in my head and I think of Katniss.
On the clearing, there is a little fire. Shining through the darkness, spotting a tribute sitting by it and warming her hands. Yes it is a girl, because I can see her long hair around her back. But I'm sure it's not Katniss, because she is much smaller, her hair would be in braid and above all she's not that damn stupid to set a fire at night. So we slowly approach this unlucky girl, while Glimmer steps into the fire light as first. Holding a long creepy knife and smiling at that poor girl. As she catches the sight of us, she screams and jumps up, but she has really no chance to escape us, when we're around her in circle.
„No! Please don't kill me!" she pleads with cries, but Glimmer has no mercy with her and dives her long knife into her belly. The girl collapses to the ground and remains shaking there in agony, while our pack continues ahead and all of the careers laugh. I do not though.
„Twelve down, eleven to go!" Glimmer exclaims and she laughs again. Marvel stops few yards from the clump of willows.
"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" he says.
"I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately." Cato agrees.
"Unless she isn't dead." Marvel says again.
"She's dead. I stuck her myself." Glimmer says offended.
"Then where's the cannon?" Cato argues.
"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done." Clove comes in.
"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice." Cato agrees.
"I said she's dead!" Glimmer argues.
This continues for another few seconds until I get angry with them.
"We're wasting time! I'll go, finish her and let's move on!" I say angrily.
"Go on, then, Lover Boy," says Cato. "See for yourself." he adds and I go back there.
When I'm back at the clearing, the girl is still lying there, her hands holding her belly, where blood is flooding out, her body shaking in agony. I can see that she's still alive. Her eyes are open and they look at me desperately, full of fear and pain and quiet cries escape from her mouth. It's a terrible sight. I never wanted to do something like this, but I don't have any other choice here in the arena. If I want Katniss to survive this, I have to get over this.
„I'm sorry." I whisper to her and I stroke her hair trying to calm her. „I promise it'll be quick and you'll be on a better place soon." I say and meet her scared brown eyes, which are full of tears.
„Please" she pleads with hoarse voice and looks at me desperately. I know what she's asking me for. Kill me please. End my agony. And so I do. I dive my knife right in the place where her heart should be and she breathes out her last shaky breath. My hands are shaking as I look at her lifeless body. I killed her. I close her eyes with my shaking fingers, which are now strained by blood and I lay her down on the ground. Then I stand up and go back to the rest of the careers so they would not get suspicious. In my head I still think about what I've just done. I've murdered and innocent girl. Her blood is still on my hands and even though I will clean it, it will never truly be gone. Not from my mind.
„Was she dead?" Cato asks.
„No" I say and I see Glimmer's angry face „But she is now." as a proof the canon fires right in that moment.
„Ready to move on?" I ask and they all start to walk ahead again.
We move through the forest for the next two days, but we're unsuccessful. In the afternoon of the second day, we arrive back to the lake to refill our supplies and with twilight, we head to the forest again.
The third night, we travel through the forest, looking for tributes, but again we're unsuccessful. I'm afraid that it must be boring for the audience. And in such cases Gamemakers usually use some traps or mutts to make it interesting or to put the tributes together to fight. My fear is confirmed, when a huge walls of fire grow around us, just in one quick moment. In a few minutes, there is a thick smoke in the air and we hardly keep together. We try to run away from the fire, but it seems impossible. On some places, they are fireballs flying against us. I get a few burns on my chest and arms, but luckily I escape all the fireballs. Marvel is not so lucky and gets one near his arm, so he ends up with a really bad burn. We stumble through the forest in the thick smoke and finally we somehow get out of it. We rest a little through the morning and during the afternoon we continue walking through the forest, when it's closing to dawn, we're finally lucky to find a tribute. And to my horror it's Katniss. In one moment, we find a pond and we want to cool our burns so we go towards it. And in the next moment Marvel is calling excited.
„There she is! We found her!" pointing at the other side of the pond.
There I see Katniss, laying against a stone, with her leg prompt into the water. I guess she's burnt. She confirms that when she quickly jumps up and runs away. She limbs badly and with that she doesn't have much chance to run away. All the careers run immediately of course, in attempt to catch her.
When we catch up with her, she's climbing a tree. By the painful sounds she's making I guess it's not easy for her, but she's already like twenty feet up. For a moment we all stop, staring at each other. I look at her just once and then look down. I don't want to know how angry she will be when she gets to know that I'm with them.
„How's everything with you?" she calls down cheerfully.
"Well enough," says Cato. "Yourself?"
"It's been a bit warm for my taste," she says "The air's better up here. Why don't you come on up?"
"Think I will," says Cato again and he extends his arms towards the tree to start climbing.
"Here, take this, Cato," says Glimmer and she hands him the bow and arrows. I have to do something so I would not look up, so I polish my knife with my shirt. I just can't look at her now. They would see that I still love her.
"No," says Cato, pushing away the bow. "I'll do better with my sword." and he pulls out his short and heavy weapon. I'm scared, but I hope he won't be able to get as high as Katniss. As he starts to climb, so does Katniss and I must admit that even when she's injured, she's like a squirrel and in a while she's another twenty feet higher. Just in that moment a branch brakes under Cato and he falls down. He stands up angry and swearing.
After that Glimmer tries to climb the tree too, but she's too inexperienced and she gives it up finally. She tries to shoot Katniss with her bow, but she's unsuccessful. Her arrows don't find Katniss. One of them lodges near Katniss, but she only takes it and waves it over her head to tease us. If it would be Katniss who would be holding the bow, we would be all dead in a minute.
The others start to think up, how we can get to her or get her down or in what way could we kill her. The only thing which crosses my mind is waiting for the morning.
"Oh, let her stay up there. It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning." I say harshly and put a lot of effort not to look up at her. I'm sure they would see my worries about her in my face. Cato gives me a long intent look.
„Okay, let's camp here. We'll kill her in the morning" he says finally „Somebody make a fire." he orders.
So we camp here for the night and in the morning, Katniss will be in a biggest danger in here. Trapped on a tree with a career pack under her. I guess my membership in the careers pack will not last for long now. All of us lie in our sleeping bags around the fire. I don't lie very close to them though. I don't trust them. I can feel, that they don't entirely trust me too. Especially Cato and Clove.
After some time, the anthem plays to tell us that no one died today. I can't help but wonder if Katniss's face will be there tomorrow. No I won' let that happen. I assure myself and I lie down. Looking up into the branches where Katniss is, I decide I won't sleep tonight. I have to be at bay if the careers want to do something. We take turns in having watch all night and sometimes I doze off a little. I'm woken up, when Cato wakes up Glimmer for her watch. It has to be close to the dawn. She sits against the trunk, but after few minutes, I see how she dozes off. I open my eyes and look up. The darkness is getting lighter and I can see further than before. Suddenly I hear a quiet ruffle in the leaves. Like a little squirrel or something. Then I see something moving up there. If it is Katniss, I'm sure she's up to something. I quietly attach my knife to my belt and get my legs out of the sleeping bag. To my luck no career wakes up. Then I hear a faraway noise like sawing and in a few seconds a loud breaking and noise of falling branch startles me. I jump up and away from the tree just in the moment when a branch with a tracker-jacker nest lands in the middle of the careers. I don't wait anymore and start running away. Even though I get a few stings and my head is suddenly woozy.
„To the lake! To the lake!" Cato screams and he, Clove and Marvel run off. Glimmer and Mary are not so lucky. I run towards the lake. As I do, I see Glimmer trying to shoot the tracker-jackers with her bow and I see Mary running in the other direction.
They're all ahead of me, when I remember Katniss. What if she get some stings, what if she's fighting Mary or Glimmer now? I quietly turn and go back. I hear someone, rushing on the ground. When I arrive, my spear ready to fly and save Katniss, I'm surprised that it is her, who's kneeling next to Glimmer's ugly swollen body, with a bow in her hand and an arrow which she is unable to use obviously. I see stings on her body too so she must have been confused by the venom too. Okay I'm already dead, so why not to reveal my secret.
"What are you still doing here?" I hiss at her. I know the others will be here soon, I can hear their calls.
"Are you mad?" I hiss again. She seems like she's totally out of her mind so I prod her with the shaft of the spear now. "Get up! Get up!" I give up on hissing „Run! Get away from here!" I yell at her so she would move. She gives me one unbelieving and confused look and she finally runs, just in the moment, when I hear a rush of leaves behind me and Cato makes his way through the bushes. I'm surely dead now, but I will fight until the end. I get my knife into my hand securely. Even though I start to feel dizzy and my vision is strange, I will fight. I have to give Katniss some time to run away.
„So Lover Boy." Cato hisses. „I knew you're lying. I knew you just wanted to save her!" His eyes are burning into me and I just try to hold the ground under my feet as I start to see strange things like orange dots on his face. He runs towards me and I fight as well as I can in this state. I cut his arm badly with my knife and I also cut his face. But in response, he dives his sword into my right tight. The pain is agonizing. When he pulls out the sword, I see how he does a few steps back and falls down unconsciousness. I try to move away as far as I can. I stabber and crawl over trunks and bushes, finally I end up in the middle of some bushes. I hear a water streaming somewhere near and that's the last thing I remember before I pass out.
When I wake up, it's day. Afternoon I would guess. I feel weak. Almost all my body hurts. It's either burns, or stings or my stabbed leg. When I examine it, my hopes for surviving are melting away. The blood is not running out of it, but it is really bad. I can see a bone in there! Somehow I get towards the creek and drink as much as I can. In my pocket I'm lucky enough to find some crackers and dried meat. I eat the meat for now and think about what should I do. In this state I'm not able to fight with anyone. If I could I would try to find Katniss, but that's out of question too. I can't walk far and she could be anywhere. The only plan I get is to hide. And I find a good place for that right on a bank of the creek. Who would look for me in there? If I do my camouflage well, the only way how they could find me is stepping on me. So I start with my arms, coloring them with mud and leaves. Than I lie down into the stream bank and start to put mud over me too. I dive plants into the mud so it would look more real. I also put a lot of mud on my face. When my body is covered, I dive my head into the cold mud and I dive my hands in too. I think I'll be okay for some time. If I won't die because of the wound. As the night comes, I can't help falling asleep, because I feel so tired and so weak.
When I wake up again, I find out that it is morning. I can't do anything else then lie in here. I can't move much, because every move is painful for me. If only Katniss would go by. I think in my head. But she doesn't. An hour goes by and nothing happens. And then... Booom!
There is a huge explosion somewhere further away, but I know exactly what it is. The mines around the careers supplies. Ted has done some kind of trap around the supplies. Someone had to step on those mines and everything blew up. I'm anxious. What if it was Katniss? But why would she do that? She can hunt and she doesn't need their supplies. After a few minutes I hear a canon. Another tribute dead. Well I can't do anything. Just hope it was not her. The forest around me seems quiet. The only sound I hear is the music of the birds, water flowing by and leaves in the wind. It won't be so bad to die like this. I think for myself. I start to doze off again, while listening to this nature lullaby. I wake up suddenly and it must be late afternoon, because the shadows are pretty long. I'm startled by a heart piercing child's scream. I bet this was Rue if I count who else is left. I guess the careers have found her then. But then there is another cry which surprises me. Even though it is far away I can recognize what is she screaming.
„Katniss! Katniss! Help me!" My insides are turning around when I hear it. It is terrible just to hear it and not be able to do anything. And then I hear another scream.
„Rue! Rue, I'm coming!" that's Katniss for sure.
So she's alive. That's such a relief... But right now, she's running towards screaming Rue and she's screaming all the way too. Not a good idea. But again I can't do anything, just wait if I hear a canon. Nothing. Just silence for a few minutes and I'm like going to get a heart attack not knowing what's happening. I feel a terrible pressure on my chest and I'm not sure if I'm still breathing enough. And then I hear a canon. Please don't be Katniss. Please don't be Katniss. I whisper quietly to myself. After a few minutes I hear another canon and my heart sinks. Two canons in such a short time. Something really bad happened and I don't know who died. I will get to know in the evening I guess. For some reason I'm not able to stay awake for long and I doze off again.
I end up in a nightmare, where I find Katniss in Careers hands. They cut her slowly with knives and she's screaming and I can't help her. I can just watch. I wake up suddenly and I'm confused for a moment until I realize where I am. Just in that moment an anthem plays and I expectantly look at the sky. My heart is beating fast and loud and I hold my breath. As first there is a picture of Marvel. That's good. One Career gone. Second face is Ted. And the third face on the sky is Rue. That's sad, but I'm happy I didn't see her dying. It must have been terrible, only to hear her screams was enough. I think of Katniss. So she's alive. She was probably late to save Rue, but she at least killed Marvel. And now she's alone and I'm sure Rue's death has depressed her even though she would not admit it.
The day after that is nothing interesting. I feel like I'm losing my consciousness, because I doze off so often. But in the evening I'm startled and woken up by trumpets announcing something important.
„Attention, tributes, attention! There has been a rule change. From now, two tributes can be crowned as victors, if they both originate from the same district." it's voice of Claudius Templesmith and it surprises me what he says. I don't remember a time when there would be a rule change like this. Then it hits me. It must be because of me and Katniss. They want us to get together and give them some love material. Oh, I hope she'll find me. I wish and with that in my head, I doze off again.
In the morning I feel even worse than I did yesterday. I'm so weak I doubt I could move my arm. Not even talking about sitting or standing up. Just from the early hours I feel very hot, I don't know if it is the sun or fever. I guess both.
Suddenly I hear something and I open my eyes slightly. And to my shock I see Katniss. She still some distance from me and she's examining something on a boulder by the creek. Is she looking for me? She touches it with a finger and seems to track something to other boulders by the creek towards me. It's surely my blood. She's looking around, but she doesn't see me. I guess I did my job well then. After a while she looks around, seems hopeless so she calls my name twice in a hushed voice. Mockingjays start to sing her calling and she seems annoyed by that so she doesn't call anymore. That's when I finally decided to help her.
„You here to finish me off, sweetheart?" I call as loud as I can. In my current state that is just loud enough for her to hear me. She whips around in my direction, but she still can't see me. I close my eyes and mouth so I'm invisible and wait.
"Peeta?" she whispers. "Where are you? Peeta?" she creeps along the bank and she's so close now I could catch her ankle if I would have enough strength.
"Well, don't step on me." I croak and I can feel how she jumps back. Then I finally open my eyes and I see her over me. With face full of amazement, which seems so funny, that I can't help but smile wide. Oh, I'm so happy she's still alive.
"Close your eyes again," she orders me. I do and for a moment there's silence. Then she's laughing quietly and she kneels next to me.
"I guess all those hours decorating cakes paid off." she says with a smile.
"Yes, frosting. The final defense from dying." I smile back at her.
"You're not going to die," she tells me firmly
"Says who?" I ask weakly
"Says me. We're on the same team now, you know," she says
"So, I heard. Nice of you to find what's left of me." I say and she gives me some water to drink.
"Did Cato cut you?" she asks, looking worried.
"Left leg. Up high," I say.
"Let's get you in the stream, wash you off so I can see what kind of wounds you've got," she says and immediately I see her mother in her. A healer.
"Lean down a minute first," I say before she does anything else "Need to tell you something."
She leans down and puts her soft and beautiful ear right over my lips. So close I could kiss it and as I whisper my lips touch it.
"Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it." I mean it as a joke partly, but I also mean it seriously. We should continue in this if we want to win. She jerks up and starts laughing.
"Thanks, I'll keep it in mind." she says with a smile.
But all the fun is over, when she wants to get me out of the bank and into the stream. I'm so weak I can hardly lift my arm, not speaking about moving my entire body. So my best effort is not to resist while she moves me. I'm really trying to keep my pain in and not to scream, but sometimes it's impossible and a sharp cry escapes my mouth. It seems that the mud and these plants don't want to let me go and she has to pull me out with all her strength. That is agonizing for me, firstly, because she's pulling me by my arms, where the burns and stings are, but most of the pain comes from the leg. When she pulls me it feels, like it will tear away from my body. I can grit my teeth as much as I want, but I can't stop tears of pain coming down from my eyes and I can't keep those terrible cries in me. I'm relieved when I'm finally lying out of the bank and breathing heavily. I feel a little dizzy too.
"Look, Peeta, I'm going to roll you into the stream. It's very shallow here, okay?" she says
"Excellent," I answer through my gritted teeth and I close my eyes to prepare for the pain which will surely come. I keep saying myself that it's worth it.
„On three" she crouches next to me and I grit my teeth again „One, two, three!"
As she rolls me a sharp pain goes from my leg through all my body into my spine. I can't stop the scream coming from my mouth and she stops after that.
"Okay, change of plans. I'm not going to put you all the way in," she tells me and I can hear worries in her voice.
"No more rolling?" I asked with relief.
"That's all done. Let's get you cleaned up. Keep an eye on the woods for me, okay?" she says and looks at me with her worried eyes.
She looks at me and seems to be deciding where to start. She frowns for a moment and then she goes for her water bottles. She props them against rocks in the stream so that two are always filling while she pours the third over my body. It takes a while, until she finally gets rid of enough mud to find my clothes. She gently unzips the jacket, unbuttons the shirt and takes them off me. She has to cut the undershirt away with a knife and drench me again to work it loose. She examines my injuries in my upper body. The burn across my chest and the stings.
„Okay I will do something with this first." she touches my chest „and then I will continue down on your legs okay?" she says and looks at me.
As she looks at me I see how brave she is. Her voice is calm, her hands are steady, she has a calm face, but her eyes betray her. I see worries there and I'm sure she wants to avoid my injured leg as long as she can. So she props me against a boulder and washes the rest of the mud and dirt from my chest and arms. Her hands are so soft and careful. I could easily get used to their touching.
Firstly she treats my stings. She chews some leaves as a medicine for it. It seems funny to me, but I trust her. It is really painful when she digs the lumps out, but the moment she applies the leaves I sigh in relief. When this is done, she leaves me for a while and washes my muddy clothes. I close my eyes and feel so tired and weak that I would like to sleep. Her cold hand on my chest startles me and I open my eyes. She's applying some cream at my burn and it is so relieving that I moan. But her hand stops on my chest for a while and her forehead winces at it. She goes away, digging something in a little box and then brings me some pills.
"Swallow these," she tells me and I don't object not even asking what it is
"You must be hungry." she adds looking at me.
"Not really. It's funny, I haven't been hungry for days," I say and it's true.
She offers me a groosling, but I turn it away because I don't have any appetite. She scowls at me.
"Peeta, we need to get some food in you," she insists with worried look.
"It'll just come right back up," I argue, but she's stubborn and in the end I agree to eat a few bits of dried apple.
"Thanks. I'm much better, really. Can I sleep now, Katniss?" I ask. I really feel awful now. All that pain and heat.
"Soon," she promises "I need to look at your leg first." but she doesn't seem very eager about this job. I don't blame her, I guess it will be a pretty mess. Gently, she pulls my boots off, then my socks and in the end, she very carefully pulls even my pants off. Even though I'm half dead I realize one thing.
Katniss Everdeen is undressing me! I'm lying almost naked in front of her! But my enthusiasm doesn't last very long.
There it is. The deep inflamed gash oozing both blood and pus. The swelling of the leg is bad and the smell of festering flesh is terrible. I watch Katniss closely. As she looks at it, I see the panic in her eyes and I see how her hands shake slightly. For a while we're just silent.
"Pretty awful, huh?" I say and still watch her closely. She takes a deep breath to calm down.
"So-so." she shrugs, trying to convince me it's okay. "You should see some of the people they bring my mother from the mines." I'm not eating that up with that panic in her eyes.
"First thing is to clean it well." she says and I stay calmly laying on the ground, letting her do anything she thinks is good for my wound. She puts some plastic square under my leg and washes it all over. She treats my burns and one more sting and then looks at the gash again. I can't miss the panic and hopeless look of her eyes.
"Why don't we give it some air and then..." she trails off. I'm really sorry that I'm such a burden for her.
"And then you'll patch it up?" I ask, trying to give her an encouraging smile.
"That's right," she says determinedly "In the meantime, you eat these." she puts a few dried pear halves in my hand and goes back in the stream to wash the rest of my clothes. I force myself to swallow the pears when she's washing it. When she's done she examines the first aid kid and has more and more panicked look in her eyes. I guess it's not very good.
"We're going to have to experiment some," she admits and she can't hide her worries now. She puts some leaves on the wound saying that it helps with infection. Within minutes yellow pus starts to run down my leg. When I look closely at Katniss, I see how hard this is for her. Her eyes are scared and hopeless. And disguised as she looks at the pus. Her face is starting to get some shade of green. I guess she needs some cheering up.
„Katniss?" I say and she looks up at me, trying to look calm. "How about that kiss?" I say with a charming smile. For a second she looks confused and like I'm going crazy and then she bursts out laughing.
„Something wrong?" I ask as innocently as I can.
"I . . . I'm not good at this." she stammers „I'm not my mother. I've no idea what I'm doing and I hate pus," she says finally revealing her true feelings. "Euuuh!" she groans as she changes the leaves for the new ones.
"How do you hunt?" I ask with a smile.
"Trust me. Killing things is much easier than this," she says. "Although for all I know, I am killing you."
"Can you speed it up a little?" I ask because I'm really starting to feel tired and sleepy.
"No. Shut up and eat your pears," she says annoyed.
„You know, ironically, I think in this moment, you would appreciate my little sister more than me. She's the healer not me." she says with a slight smile. „She would know what to do with this." she admits and looks hopeless. I give her a smile.
„I'm glad you're here and not her." I say and that makes her smile a little. She keeps changing my leaves and the pus keeps streaming out. The swelling is smaller so I guess she's doing it well.
"What next, Dr. Everdeen?" I ask to add some humor into this terrible situation.
"Maybe I'll put some of the burn ointment on it. I think it helps with infection anyway. And wrap it up?" she says hesitantly and then she does so. When my wound is wrapped in a fresh bandage, it doesn't look so bad. Maybe she really will heal me. She turns around and looks for something and then hands me a little backpack.
„Here, cover yourself with this and I'll wash your shorts." she says and suddenly she seems shy and avoids my look. A blush comes to her face. I smile.
„Oh I don't care if you see me." I raise my eyebrows at her.
"You're just like the rest of my family," she says annoyed "I care, all right?" she adds and turns her back to me stubbornly.
I just smile over it and do as she says. It takes me a while to get my shorts down, but when they finally are, I throw them into the stream right in front of her.
"You know, you're kind of squeamish for such a lethal person," I say as she beats the shorts clean between two rocks. "I wish I'd let you give Haymitch that shower after all." I smile as I imagine that situation.
"What's he sent you so far?" she changes the topic quickly.
"Not a thing," I say and I'm curious if he kept his word and send something to her "Why, did you get something?"
"Burn medicine," she says quietly. "Oh, and some bread."
"I always knew you were his favorite," I say and smile a little
"Please, he can't stand being in the same room with me," she argues
"Because you're just alike," I mutter and smile again. That's the last thing I say before I doze off, I'm so tired and the sun warms me so nicely, that I can't help it.