A/N- Again, I apologize for the slightly late update, as well as the somewhat shorter chapters, but I'm kind of letting my new story take priority. Don't worry, though. I'm going to finish the 74th Games, and do the last chapter right afterwards. When that's finished, I'll completely finish my Harry Potter story (I'm getting that one done before I even post it, to avoid situations such as these, so it'll only take a couple weeks at the most), and after that's finished, I'll start my final volume of what I've decided to make a trilogy, which is going to extend from Catching Fire and through Mockingjay, sticking with the events of the book until near the end, for obvious reasons.
So, thank you for reading all of that, and I hope you won't mind biweekly updates until the end of this story. I'm hoping that once I finally get to the last part of the trilogy (Which I'm expecting to post around February), I'll be able to get really into it again. Thank you for sticking with me this long, and please read and review.
Their Games started a day later. Felix and I were thrown into that horrible little room, and were forced to watch the bloodbath on the first day. Rowdy, with all of his stealth and cunning, managed to get himself killed by a thirteen year old girl from District Six, who swung a sword through his head, despite the fact that the sword that was bigger than she was.
It wasn't a huge tragedy for either Felix, or I, however. We knew he wasn't going to win, and we weren't expecting him to win. Despite that, however, I was slightly thankful when Mia teamed up with a very nasty looking pack of Careers. I was convinced that they would protect her, at least from a horribly cruel death.
On a side note, Mia wasn't the only one who joined the normal pack from One and Four. To my intense surprise, Peeta approaches the group with his hands raised, as soon as the bloodbath is done. I hadn't been expecting to pay much attention to him, just because he seemed like such a non-factor, but my eyes are glued to the screen that he's on as I listen to him smooth-talk the Careers into letting him join their group.
"What's he doing?" I ask Felix, like he'd actually know. To my intense surprise, he throws out an idea.
"The only thing that I can think of is that he's protecting Katniss. Maybe his confession was serious."
"I don't think-"
"Look at him, Finnick. That boy couldn't hurt a fly, and I bet that he probably bottle feeds babies in his spare time. Do you think that he has it in him to lie about something like that."
"Everyone in this nation does. It's part of being raised by the Capitol."
"He's from out in District 12, where they have very little influence."
"They also ignore them completely, completely neglecting to give them food or anything else that's necessary for life. The people in that district are in some of the worst conditions in Panem. He hasn't exactly grown up easy just because he hasn't been watched by the Capitol his entire life."
"I still don't think that he's lying," Felix says, and to my intense surprise, I realize that I don't really think so either. That's the only reason I can give for him to join the Careers.
While all of that is going on, Katniss is simply running. She continues going on and on, taking as few breaks as possible while moving at a somewhat impressive speed. By the time that night falls, she's a decent distance from the Careers, although not exactly close to a body of water either.
I fall asleep about halfway through that night, because very little looks like it's going to happen. The only thing worth any mention at all that does, is that when the Careers find a girl who'd been dumb enough to start a fire, Peeta jumped up and very quickly asked who she was.
When he heard that it wasn't Katniss, he relaxed and allowed them to kill her, but when I saw his face, I realized that he would've fought them if it had been Katniss Everdeen. Anyone could see it in his eyes.
"That's cute," I mumble, thinking of Arowana and me. Really, that's the only other time I've seen anything close to romance in the Games, and I'm not interested in seeing it again. I'm worried that it could bring back memories that I'm not interested in reliving.
"Maybe it'll end more happily for them," Felix says, his thoughts right on pace with mine. I just shake my head, thinking that he's psycho.
"Yeah, maybe, if they're really lucky, they'll both die so that they can be together." Felix smacked my arm.
"Isn't it for the best that Arowana died. If not, you and Annie wouldn't have found each other." I sigh, knowing that he's right, but also thinking about how unfair it is that Arowana had to die at the same time.
"Yeah, I guess." That's when I slide into bed and sleep, hoping to stay out as long as possible. The Games always go faster when I don't have to watch them.
The next day or so goes by extremely slowly, although Katniss is making alarmingly slow progress. It's obvious that she's getting horribly dehydrated, and I want to march over to the District 12 room and scream at Haymitch to get her some water, but I also see what he's doing. He knows that if he gives it to her, she may stop looking, and right now that wouldn't be convenient. Not a hundred yards ahead of her is a small pond that runs into a slow flowing creek.
Eventually, she does find it, and to my surprise she even takes the time to purify the water. She gulps down a jug of it, then refills it. Right when she's about to put the second jug away, I guess that the Gamemakers decide that things have been too boring. A fire starts straight behind Katniss, and she's forced to run. It keeps getting closer and closer to her, until finally it seems to stop. She slows down for just a second to catch her breath, and the Gamemakers take advantage. Now, instead of a normal fire, they start launching balls of flames at her, some of them hitting her or narrowly missing. One scorches off the back of her jacket, and another gets some of her hair. Then, a last one leaves a nasty looking burn on the back side of her calf.
Katniss, forcing her way forward, finally escapes the flames, and Felix and I both look at each other, trying not to laugh.
"The Girl on Fire," we both say at the same time with small smiles, although I'm not much in the smiling mood. I'd been on the verge of a heart attack the entire time, watching the District's hope getting chased by fire. But now, she was safe, and she was even smart enough to f, find another source of water, where she took to caring for her burns in the best way she could.
At that same time, I noticed a crisis in the making. The pack of Careers was moving towards her, and there was no doubt in my mind that they would find her. Soon enough, they did. One of them heard her moving at the same time that Katniss heard them. Katniss quickly climbed a tree, despite the fact that her hands each looked like a single giant blister. Pain was obvious on her face, but she kept going until she looked confident they couldn't get her. Just seconds later, the pack burst into the clearing.
The Careers hadn't completely escaped the fire, but none of them were burned quite as badly as she was.
"How's everything with you?" Katniss called down with a smile on her face. Both Felix and I laughed. If she was winning over us, I could only imagine how the rest of Panem was feeling.
"Well enough," Cato, the boy from Two says. "Yourself?"
"It's been a bit warm for my taste." I find my smile growing larger. It's easy to see that she knows the danger she's in, but she's still joking around. "The air's better up here. Why don't you come on up?"
"I think I will," Cato says, although he's obviously too brawny to get up as high as she is. I think he knows It too, but he just wants to scare her.
Katniss starts climbing higher as he hoists himself into the tree. Before he goes another two branches, he's back on the ground. Once again, I find myself laughing. When the Games are like this, there's almost a comedy effect involved. If it weren't for the death and killing, I would almost be enjoying myself.
There's even some drama involved as well, I notice when I see Katniss trying to make eye contact with Peeta, no doubt intending to send him a horrible glare. And why wouldn't she? She probably doesn't think that he was serious about his comment, and to her, he did nothing but betray her. Peeta, however, keeps his bright eyes focused on the blade of his knife.
After Cato falls, Glimmer, the girl from 1, gives it a go, but she doesn't get very much higher. She tries to shoot her with a bow, but she doesn't even hold the thing right, although it does get pretty close to Katniss. Seizing the opportunity, she grabs the arrow and starts waving it around, like she's rubbing it in her face. It looks like she's just using it for show, but from what Haymitch told me, I have a hunch that she's planning on using it later on.
The Careers start debating about what to do, when finally Peeta pipes up and says, "Oh, let her stay up there. It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning."
Sure enough, they listen to him. He does have a point. The burns that Katniss had suffered are obviously bothering her, and if she tried to get away, she'd be caught almost instantly.
She does manage to clumsily get ready for sleep, but she looks truly horrible. I want to tell Haymitch to give her something, but then again, I know that he isn't going to let her die if he can help it. He's just waiting. I guess I'm still too used to my Games, where I was sent food simply because my sponsors were worried that I was getting hungry.
"Do you think she'll make it?" I ask Felix. He shrugs, not seeming to concerned. That helps me relax somewhat.
"I don't see why not."
"Well, tell me if she falls or something. I think I'm going back to sleep," I tell him. He puts a hand on my arm, telling me to wait. Pointing the screen, he shows me a little figure, crouched in the tree right beside the one Katniss is in.
"If that stupid fart kills her-" I start, but then I see what the girl is doing. She's trying to get her attention.
Finally Katniss sees her, and the two stare at each other for what seems like a long time. Finally, the little girl from nest. I look at Felix and grin.
"Now this," I tell him, "is going to be interesting."