Catching Fire in Peeta's Point of View
So today, somebody told me about a girl reposting my Peeta Point of Views on a different website (Quizazz), and taking credit for it. I've made her take them down, and it seems her profile has disappeared. Kassidy, if you are reading this - plagiarism is not the way to get people to like what you do. Create your own stories, work on your own writing. If any of you see something like this, I would appreciate you telling me, because I don't want other people taking this as their own. The only person who has permission to repost is a fanfic member, who is rewriting these stories in Spanish.
I don't want you guys to suffer for the actions of one girl, so I will still continue to write and post for you.
On a happier note, on Friday I will be posting two chapters in celebration of the release of The Hunger Games film!
Chapter Thirteen
"Run!" I open my eyes slowly, feeling sluggish and unsure I had heard correctly. Perhaps it had been part of a dream. "Run!" No, not a dream. I get to my feet, looking around in confusion. Finnick already has Mags on his back, and Katniss grabs my arm, pushing me forward.
"What is it? What is it?" I ask, not sure what's going on. Is that fog behind us?
"Some kind of fog. Poisonous gas. Hurry, Peeta!" She urges me forward. I don't say anything, but try to move forward as quickly as the others. But dying, even for a minute, seems to have a terrible effect on the body, and I can tell that I'm not moving as fast as I need to. I keep tripping up on the vines snaking across the ground, that I never seem to see. Katniss stays at my side, and I want to tell her to just go ahead. Her fingers slide into mine, interlocking tightly with my own.
"Watch my feet. Just try to step where I step." She tells me, and I keep my eyes focused on her running feet, trying to keep my steps in hers. Parts of my body are stinging, from where droplets of the fog mist have scarred me. They burn, a searing pain deep in my skin, but I try to ignore it, concentrating on pushing my feet forward. Ignoring them does no good, because it feels like my nerves are starting to twitch. It's an odd feeling, and feels like parts of my body are not my own. My fake leg gets caught in a tangle of vines, so that I sprawl on to my front. The feeling is spreading, the nerves in my face start to spasm, my left eyelid closes of its own accord.
"Peeta-" Katniss begins to say, but cuts herself off. She pulls me forward, but I'm not ready and my real leg doesn't co-operate, making me stumble even more. I finally manage to get to my feet, with a lot of help from Katniss, but they seem to be out of my control. I try to walk, but my legs lurch under me and I hardly move at all. Finnick is suddenly there, pulling me forward with him. Katniss puts her shoulder under my arm, and together they pull me along with them. After a while, Finnick stops.
"It's no good. I'll have to carry him. Can you take Mags?" I want to protest, that they should go on, but I can't open my mouth, or find the words. My eyelids are drooping, and my head is starting to drop. I need to stay awake. I think I'm on Finnick's back now, and he's running. I try to look around, to find Katniss, but my head barely moves an inch. I just have to trust that she is safe.
"I need you to hold this," Finnick's voice rouses me. He's holding his trident to the side. Yes, a task. I take the trident from his hand and hold it in my own, using all of my concentration to make sure I don't drop Finnick's weapon. Didn't he have two more? Where have they gone? We stop again after a while, and I'm starting to feel more comprehensive of my surroundings. Katniss is asking Finnick to take both Mags and I, something about catching us up. I try to rouse myself, but my legs twitch painfully, and I have to relax again.
"I'm sorry Mags, I can't do it." Finnick says, with a flat voice. I manage to lift my head, just in time to see Mags hobble straight into the fog. Her body twitches, and it looks like she's doing an odd dance. Her body slumps to the ground, and the canon above alerts us that she is gone. Finnick doesn't stay, he turns and begins walking away, so that I am left to watch the fog roll over the already dead Mags. I see Katniss walking behind us, seeming to drag one of her legs behind her. I grasp Finnick's trident in my hands.
He keeps running for a long time, but eventually he collapses on the ground, with me still on top of him. I try to move and roll off him, but then Katniss falls on top of us. So this is how we die, in a pile on the ground. Finnick groans, and Katniss rolls away onto the ground. She croaks something, but nothing that sounds like a word.
"It's stopped," she says, and I turn my head to look at what she means. It's like an invisible wall has stopped the fog, which is rising up to the sky. I watch until there's nothing left, then remember I am still on top of Finnick. I lay the trident down, and roll off Finnick onto the ground. I haven't been the one running, but I'm still gasping and my nerves are still twitching. I'm laid on my back, looking up at the trees. I blink and frown, trying to figure out if my mind is playing tricks. No, those are monkeys, looking down upon us. I manage to lift my hand and point upwards.
"Monkeys," I say, but I don't think it comes out correct. I don't know how I know what these creatures are, it must have been something I have seen when I was younger. We all seem to observe the other; monkeys staring down at humans, humans staring up at monkeys. Eventually, I turn over and begin crawling on my knees, down the slope to where I'm sure the beach is. Water, to clean the wounds. I crawl right to the water, and begin to dip into it. The wounds burn even more than when the mist had seared my skin. I'm about to draw back, onto the sand, but I realise there's a different sensation. Something is being drawn out of the wounds, a white substance floating in the water. The pain of the washed out wounds is subsiding, so I start to strip off the jumpsuit. I stand in my undergarments, washing out every wound on my skin.
Once I've gone over my own wounds, I notice Katniss is pouring handfuls of water onto Finnick's arms. I wander over and cut away the jumpsuit, revealing the wounded flesh beneath. These jumpsuits are of no help, the droplets have seared straight through them. I find some shells, which Katniss and I use to gather water and pour onto Finnick, making sure to stay away from the white wisps of smoke. Finnick lays with his eyes closed, groaning occasionally. I wonder if he's even aware of what is happening.
"We've got to get more of him into the water," Katniss whispers. We both take hold of a leg, and drag him down into the water, little by little. Whilst we do this, I notice that the longer I spend in the water, the better I feel. I can open my eyes properly, and my face feels relaxed, everything seems clearer than before. Finnick comes to, and we sit for ten minutes, allowing him to soak in the water, his head in Katniss' lap. He lifts his arms above the water. I look up at Katniss and we exchange a smile.
"Just your head left, Finnick. That's the worst part, but you'll feel much better after, if you can bear it." I tell him gently. We both take an arm each and help him as he dips his head into the salt water, still unable to talk. When we get him sat up, Katniss decides she wants to tap a tree for some drinking water.
"Let me make the hole first," I say. "You stay with him. You're the healer," I tell her, remembering the year before when she had helped to nurse me back to health. I wander away, managing to find a good tree a few metres from the edge of the jungle. The awl that Mags had has gone, most likely into the fog along with her. I have to use my knife to dig into the bark, making a hole big enough for Katniss to wedge the spile into. I work away at the tree, having to dig away around the edges, and deepening into the bark, until Katniss' voice sounds from somewhere behind me.
"Peeta, I need your help with something." She says calmly.
"Okay, just a minute. I think I've just about got it." I dig the knife in again, and twist. There's a small break. "Yes, there. Have you got the spile?"
"I do. But we've found something you'd better take a look at. Only move towards us quietly, so you don't startle it," her voice is still calm. I frown and turn towards them.
"Okay," I say. I start walking towards them, trying my best to walk quietly and slowly. As I walk back, I notice something strange. Like a mass of eyes following my movements, something hostile above me. My eyes dart up for a moment, just to see what it might be. I barely have a moment to realise what is happening. There's a loud shriek, and a mass of fur and claws rain down upon me. I bring up my arms to protect myself, then remembering the knife in my hand. I start slashing at the creatures, managing to take down a few of them, although their sharp talons and teeth still come down upon me. Katniss and Finnick fight their way through the mass, and we create a triangle a fwe metres apart, backs to one another, fighting off the onslaught.
"Peeta! Your arrows!" Katniss shouts to me. I slash at the throat of a creature, and turn to see Katniss with no arrows, her knife in her hand. I shrug off my sheath to hand to her. She starts running to me, and I turn in time to see the monkey lunging for me. I've no time to slash at it, my hand is stuck in the strap of the sheath. There's a shriek, and suddenly a body in front of me, embracing the mutt, which sinks it's teeth into the person. I manage to drop the sheath towards Katniss, bringing the knife up to stab the creature multiple times, until its jaws lets go. It falls away, and I recognise the female morphling from District Six. But why? Why would she throw herself in front of me in order to save me? And where had she come from? It makes me angry, and I find that I'm shouting.
"Come on, then! Come on!" I shout at the mutts, but they are withdrawing from us. They disappear into the trees, leaving only their dead.
"Get her. We'll cover you," Katniss says, and I rush forward to grab the female morphling, carrying her to the beach. I lay her on the sand, as gently as I can. Katniss cuts away her jumpsuit and examines the wound, whilst the woman gasps for air, looking sick, starved, and dying. It's obvious that there is no way to save her.
"I'll watch the tress," Finnick says quietly. The morphling is holding on to Katniss' hand tightly, and I crouch down on the other side, stroking the hair from her face. I remember her obsession with the camouflage station in Training, of how she spent hours playing with the colours.
"With my paint box at home, I can make every colour imaginable. Pink. As pale as a baby's skin. Or as deep as rhubarb. Green like spring grass. Blue that shimmers like ice on water," her eyes are glued to my own. "One time, I spent three days mixing paint until I found the right shade for sunlight on white fur. You see, I kept thinking it was yellow, but it was much more than that. Layers of all sorts of colour. One by one." I murmur softly to her, noticing how her breath is shallow and slow. Her fingers move slowly, painting swirls in her own blood. I force myself to keep my eyes on hers. "I haven't figured out a rainbow yet. They come so quickly and leave so soon. I never have enough time to capture them. Just a bit of blue here or purple there. And then they fade away again. Back into the air." Her shaky hand lifts to my cheek, where she paints something on my flesh. "Thank you," I whisper. "That looks beautiful." I don't know what she's drawn on my cheek, but her face stretches and lights up in a grin, but then her hand falls, and the canon fires.
I don't speak when I stand up and pick up the morphling's body, I don't speak as I wade out into the water until I am waist deep. I only speak when I lay her in the water, and allow her body to drift off. "Paint me something spectacular," I murmur, watching her for a moment. I turn and walk back to the beach, not watching the hovercraft that picks her up. I still cannot fathom why she had saved me.
Finnick returns, with a handful of arrows covered in blood. Katniss takes to them to the water to wash them, and we wander up into the jungle for some moss. All of the bodies have vanished. My face is itching, where the mist droplets had scarred me. I begin to itch them, barely listening to Finnick and Katniss when they talk about the disappearance off the muttations.
"Don't scratch," Katniss suddenly says, making me drop my hand. "You'll only bring infection," she adds, reminding me of the year before. I leave the scratches alone. "Think it's safe to try for the water again?"
The tree I had cut a hole into isn't far, and I wedge the spile into it whilst Finnick and Katniss stand guard. We all take turns in having a long drink, and use the water to wash most of our bodies. We return to the beach, which seems to be the safest place we have found so far. Katniss offers to take first watch, but Finnick insists. I lay down, feeling momentarily guilty at not weighing in, but that guilt makes way to sleep.
Someone's shaking me gently, Katniss' voice soft in my ear, rousing me from my slumber. I feel rested, ready to- "Aaa!" I shout, jumping when I open my eyes. Finnick and Katniss are both inches from my own face, and when I shout in shock, they both fall about in laughter. I sit up slowly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and trying to look disdainful.
A parachute interrupts their joy at catching me off guard. Finnick takes the loaf of bread in his hands, turning it over. The bread has a green tint to it, and Katniss and I say nothing. This bread is not ours, it is for Finnick. "This will go well with the shellfish," he says.
Katniss brings a tube of foul smelling ointment over to me. "A present from Haymitch," is all she says when I glance at her in puzzlement. She helps to lather it over my scabs, and I sigh in relief when it covers the flesh. It's an instant relief, and the itching stops. It just happens to make the scabs greenish colour.
We stay on the beach for the day, not wanting to return to the jungle, which no longer seems so safe. At some point, we hear some screams from somewhere in the distance, and the ground seems to vibrate. A huge wave appears over the hill, crashing down over the trees and into the seawater. We're at the opposite side of the arena, but the water at our feet still rises up to our knees, taking our few possessions with it. The three of us jump up and quickly retrieve the important things, deciding that the jumpsuits are worthless, allowing the water to take them. A canon fires and a hovercraft appears, plucking the body from the trees.
One less person, I think to myself, wondering who it could be. The water calms down, and we out our things back down on the beach, but Katniss goes still.
"There," she points, and Finnick and I both follow her finger. There are three people stumbling onto the beach a little way from us. Without speaking, the three of us back up into the jungle, hiding in the shadows and watching the figures draw closer. They've had it rough, that's obvious right away. One seems to be going in circles, possibly not of sound mind. One is being dragged by another, and they're all bright red, as if covered in paint.
"Who are they?" I ask quietly. "Or what? Muttations?" Katniss draws an arrow, ready for a fight. We all watch in silence, the one being dragged collapses on the ground, and the one dragging stamps the ground in frustration, then shoving the circling one over.
"Johanna!" Finnick calls brightly, setting off at a run towards them.
"Finnick!" One of the red figures replies, and it's certainly Johanna's voice.
"What now?" Katniss asks, glancing at me.
"We can't really leave Finnick," I sigh.
"Guess not. Come on, then." Katniss says, not sounding very happy about it. We wander down the beach towards them.
"She's got Wiress and Beetee," Katniss says.
"Nuts and Volts?" I frown in puzzlement. "I've got to hear how this happened." When we reach them, Johanna is chattering quickly to Finnick, talking about the blood that had rained down on them. They had been unable to find water, and tried to drink the rain, but only received mouthfuls of blood. I shudder at the thought. Johanna's male counter part Blight had run into a force field, but had not had Finnick to get his heart beating again. Johanna talks about Wiress and Beete, and I notice that Wiress is still circling around, covered in dried blood, and murmuring "tick, tock. Tick, tock."
"Yeah, we know. Tick, tock. Nuts is in shock." Johanna says, which draws Wiress to Johanna. She lurches into Johanna, who shoves her hard onto the beach. "Just stay down, will you?"
"Lay off her," Katniss snaps, causing Johanna to narrow her eyes in Katniss' direction.
"Lay off her?" Johanna hisses. She steps forward and slaps Katniss, which shocks me so much I can't react. "Who do you think got them out of that bleeding jungle for you? You-" Finnick plucks Johanna from where she's standing and tosses her over his shoulder. I can only watch as Finnick dunks Johanna repeatedly in the seawater, whilst she hurls insults at Katniss.
"What did she mean? She got them for me?" Katniss asks, still watching Finnick and Johanna.
"I don't know. You did want them originally," I say. I don't really know what Johanna had meant, or why she might wish to do anything for Katniss.
"Yeah, I did. Originally. But I won't have them long unless we do something."
I pick Beetee up from the ground, and Katniss takes Wiress' hand to lead her back to our camp. Katniss takes off Beetee's belt, and finds an odd metal cylinder attached to it. She throws it up on the beach with the rest of our belongings. We can't just take his jumpsuit off because the drying blood is sticking to his skin, so I have to hold him under the water so that Katniss can loosen them. When we do finally get it off, we find his undergarments are also caked in blood and there's no choice but to completely strip him. Surprisingly, Katniss doesn't seem bothered by this like she once would have been.
There's a long gash on Beetee's back, which is still oozing blood. Luckily, it's not too deep and there's a chance to save him. Katniss stops for a moment, probably mulling over some kind of solution. I leave it to her, because she seems to know more about healing people than I do, even if she doesn't think so. An idea comes to her, because she jumps up and disappears into the jungle. She returns with an armful of moss from the trees, which she makes a padding on Beetee's cut, securing it to his back with some vines. I pick him up again carefully, laying him down in the shade of the trees.
"I think that's all we can do," Katniss says.
"It's good. You're good with this healing stuff. It's in your blood." Katniss shakes her head.
"No. I got my father's blood. I'm going to see about Wiress." I nod and let her leave to clean and help Wiress. I have nothing to do but sort out our supplies and keep an eye on Beetee until everyone else returns. Johanna and Wiress are clean, and Finnick's wounds are peeling when everyone returns. Johanna drinks a lot of water and stuffs herself on shellfish whilst Finnick tells the story of the fog and monkeys, in a flat tone. He doesn't say anything about Mags, and Johanna doesn't ask about her. I wonder how close the two of them are, for her to know what not to ask. Tonight, I do offer to take first watch, but Katniss and Johanna end up staying awake. I lay down on a matt and fall asleep easily.