As sunrise approached, I sleepily raise my head and try to figure out where we are. My bow and arrow are at my feet still, untouched, and Peeta is sleeping beside me, his knife held tightly in his hands. My whole body still aching in pain, I grudgingly sit up and stretch my muscles, allowing my eyes to adjust to the light.

As if sensing my quiet movement, Peeta stirred in his sleep. Then his lips moved so quickly, he may not have spoke at all when he whispered, "please don't leave."

I stared down at him, watching his eyes as they moved under his eyelids, watching as his lips quivered in the shade of the tree's and rocks that we were hidden behind. I didn't speak. I couldn't.

"I've been searching for you for days, Katniss, please-"

"Just stop," I finally spoke, "don't pretend to care about me! I heard what you said to the careers, about finding me!"

Peeta's eyes opened and gazed up at me, his face and body still and unmoving. I looked away, anger flushing through my body.

"I told you to run, didn't I? I told you to run away after you dropped the nest on us. I saved you, and you're not even grateful," Peeta paused, as if a sudden thought had occurred to him. "Kill me. If I'm such a threat, why don't you just kill me?"

I faced him again, a look of disbelief playing on my face. The knife that he had guarded so well during the night was pushed into my hand, his blue eyes staring into mine as I gripped it tightly. I wasn't sure what his game was, giving me his knife. I didn't trust him, but I didn't want to kill him. He had that effect on me.

I push the knife back to him and turn away, rising to my feet and pick up my bow and arrow. "We need to leave now,"

I walk ahead of Peeta and wonder if Prim is watching me right now. I wonder what she's thinking, if she's being strong for me. I can feel myself tearing up and sternly warn myself of the consequences of this and sober up.

"Katniss,"

I ignore Peeta, knowing he'll just annoy me if I respond, and instead pick up my pace.

"Katniss, listen to me. I only lied to the careers to protect us! You have to believe me!" exclaimed Peeta, only then to hush quickly as if suddenly aware of his surroundings.

As I spin on my heel to lay into him my harsh words, out of the corner of my eye I sense movement and stop, completely paralyzed and unable to move. I slowly bring my finger up to my mouth indicating silence to Peeta and turn my head to face the noise. In the bushes there is scuffling but I can't tell if it's an animal or someone waiting to kill me. I squint and can see a pair of huge eyes staring back at me, but as the figure realised I could see them I heard more scuffling and then the sound of movement in the opposite direction.

I hadn't realised that Peeta was limping until we had began walking again. I watched as he dragged his foot along the pathway and twisted his face in pain whenever he accidentally put too much pressure on his foot. Out of sheer annoyance I turned to Peeta and stopped him by placing my hand on his chest.

"What happened to your foot?"

For a second he just stared, and for all the right reasons. I smelt him before I felt him and just as I did a large hand grabbed me from behind and hauled me up into the air only to then force me into the ground. Every bone in my body cried out in agony as the large figure beat into me, kicking me. As my eyes teared up I searched for Peeta but he was nowhere in sight and I knew that as much as I hated him for leaving me to die, he had every right to.

I knew that the tribute trying to kill me was Cato from district 2. I wasn't surprised, as after looking into his face for the first time since the nest incident it appeared he had only barely escaped with his life from the lumps and scars on his formally good-looking face. Every muscle was aching and I wished for the ground to swallow me up whole rather than be beaten to death by this madman.

As I was close to passing out, as black spots appeared before me once more, I could hear the distant sound of Prim begging me to stay alive. I wanted to call back to her, to tell her that it was over and that I loved her, but I couldn't move my mouth. I wasn't sure which breath would be my last and just as I watched Cato pick up a large rock, surely intent on smashing my brains into the ground, he suddenly froze in his place.

I narrowly moved out the way of the rock and it landed on the floor beside me as I rolled away. Cato collapsed in a heap on the ground and before me stood Peeta with a large post in his hand and panting.

"Get up, we need to run."