(Point of View: Katniss)
It was nearly impossible to tell a mutt copperhead from a common copperhead without a genetic test of the specimen. Unfortunately, both mutt and common copperheads lived in District 12. So there was no way to know what kind of copperhead had bitten me. The mutts were more aggressive, and the symptoms of their bites were much worse. When a copperhead bite caused a death or very severe problems everyone assumed it was probably a mutt bite. Even common copperhead bites were dangerous and could be deadly though. Copperheads were treated with respect in District 12! I couldn't believe I'd stepped on one. Walking in the woods for years, I'd never even come close before.
Some said you could tell a mutt had caused the bite by the incredible speed with which the symptoms appeared. If that was the case then I was in serious trouble. My leg throbbed and burned with surprising intensity. I'd experienced the pain of burns and surgery. Although the burns were certainly the worst pain I'd ever felt, the pain from the copperhead bite was severe too. Within minutes my leg was significantly swollen. As the skin began to feel taut, the pain increased. I started to feel nauseous, and I knew the venom must have moved beyond my leg.
Despite all of that, my mind stayed fixed on my baby. I wanted to be reassured of the baby's well-being by feeling the baby move, but I felt nothing. I pressed my fingers gently into my belly until I felt some part of the baby, almost certainly its head or rump. I was hoping the baby would push back, but there was no response.
I thought, if the baby dies then it will never know how much we loved it. I felt a sudden ache in my arms to hold my baby. It was a feeling I'd never felt before.
Trying to think of a way to show the baby love, I began singing the lullaby I'd been singing after my nightmares. I had to stop as nausea overwhelmed me though. I was afraid of vomiting because I knew it would cause me to move around, and I was trying desperately to stay still. Although I lost sense of time, I remember feeling very woozy sometime after singing the lullaby. Thinking clearly was still possible though.
I shouldn't have come out here into the woods. I feel so badly for Peeta. He didn't want to lose us. He's going to lose us. I don't want to die. I don't want the baby to die.
My vision started to blur. The dizziness intensified. I felt incredibly thirsty.
The baby still hadn't moved. I wondered how long it had been since the bite and since the baby had moved. My mind grew fuzzier. I felt a tightening in my belly occasionally, but the baby still didn't move. It was not a painful tightening, just strange. The pain was still concentrated in my leg.
Maybe I should say goodbye to the baby, just in case. I thought.
I couldn't bring myself to say or even think a "goodbye" to my baby, but I did touch my belly gently. Even though my hand barely moved, the small expression of affection was important to me.
'You'll be a great mother.' Peeta had said.
I felt too weak to get upset. I heard myself sigh, but I couldn't feel it somehow. My body felt distant from my mind. I thought of what I'd say to Peeta if I could speak to him; the words that came to mind were "thank you." I knew he knew that I loved him. I didn't know for sure if Peeta knew how grateful I was for how he loved me. The pain was still there, but a feeling of weightlessness was taking over every other sensation. I don't remember closing my eyes, but everything turned black.
(Point of View: Delly)
I'd already crossed over into the merchant district before I saw anyone!
Why is it taking me so long to get help? I thought.
The first person I saw the grocer's son. He was about 12 years old. I didn't know him well, but I didn't care. When he saw me running and frantic he looked startled.
"Peeta Mellark." I said breathlessly. "Do you have any idea where he'd be?"
"No." He said.
Then Rory, Gale's brother, walked up behind the other boy.
"Rory, where's Peeta? Any ideas?" I asked.
"I saw him earlier. He was going back home, I think." Rory said.
"Rory, I need you to go find him. Please. Katniss was bitten by a copperhead. She's out in the woods. "
Rory's face turned a little pale. He was old enough to understand that this was a bad situation.
"Ok, I'll get the other kids together too. We'll find Peeta and send him to the woods. Where is she in the woods?"
"She's at a rock ledge. I don't really know how to tell Peeta how to get there." I said, worrying about yet another problem: directions!
"Can you see across the valley from the ledge? Is it the one near the berry patches and the steep hills?" He said.
"Yes!" I said.
Finally, some good luck, I thought.
"I know the place. I can find it." Rory assured me.
Rory and the grocer's son ran down the street. I saw them stop and quickly gather several other kids for their mission. Then all the kids ran in different directions.
I ran for the clinic. Both the midwife and the doctor were often there. I ran in through the door, interrupting the midwife as she was talking to a very pregnant woman.
"You've got to help me!" I said. The pregnant lady moved away.
"What's wrong, Delly?" The midwife asked calmly.
"Katniss. We were in the woods and a copperhead bit her leg!" I told her. The midwife grabbed my arm and pulled me back through a door to the back of the clinic. She started shuffling through a refrigerated drawer filled with medicines.
"Was it a mutt or not?" She inquired, her voice sounding concerned but controlled.
"No idea. Katniss was hurting really bad though. Does that mean it was a mutt?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"Not necessarily." She replied. "Was she having trouble breathing? Did she feel faint?" She asked.
"No, not when I left. I ran back to town right away though." I explained.
Having found the medicines she was looking for the midwife picked up the phone. I thought she was wasting precious time, but I decided to trust her. First she called the doctor and asked him to meet her at the edge of the woods. Then she called Haymitch. I couldn't hear much of her call with Haymitch. I did catch the end of the conversation when she said, "she is the Mockingjay after all."
Once off the phone, the midwife gathered a few more supplies in a bag. Then we made our way to the woods. The doctor was there when we reached the fence. He'd been seeing a patient nearby, he said. He wanted to know exactly what happened, so I told him as we walked as fast as we could through the woods. He asked the midwife about the pregnancy – How far along? Healthy? First baby? I found out that Katniss was 31 weeks pregnant. That was about how far along I'd been when my baby was born dead. My heart sank. The doctor asked about the bite, and I told him everything I'd already told the midwife.
Finally, we reached the ledge. When I saw Katniss slumped over completely, I ran ahead. The doctor and midwife quickly followed behind me.
"Katniss! Katniss!" I said. She didn't wake up. The doctor checked for a pulse at her neck and nodded at the midwife. They started working fast. The doctor started an IV and commanded me to stand up and hold the bottle with the fluid. I obeyed. He put a syringe in the tubing of the IV and injected something into it. The midwife listened with an instrument that I knew was supposed to find the baby's heartbeat. My eyes started filling with tears. She nodded to the doctor.
"They're both still alive." She said without looking at me. "We've got to keep it that way though.
Katniss looked so helpless lying there on the ground. I realized what a disadvantage it was being in the woods when I watched the doctor listening to her heart and checking her blood pressure. There were no monitoring machines in the woods and no extra supplies. Even for district 12, this was primitive. The midwife examined Katniss the way she'd done with me when I was in labor with my baby.
"Four centimeters. That's new. And she's contracting." She said, looking at the doctor. The doctor and midwife turned Katniss on her side.
"We're going to keep her on her side because it's better for the baby." The doctor said.
I nodded.
I was starting to panic again, but I didn't fully understand what they were saying either. Was Katniss in labor? Was she in shock? Why was she unconscious?
Just then Rory came over the hill with Peeta following close behind him. Peeta looked terrible, as worried as I'd ever seen him look. He froze when he saw me standing over his unconscious, pregnant wife. I tried to give him an encouraging look that said, "They're both alive, at least." It fell flat. He rushed over to Katniss, dropped to his knees, and took her hand in his.
"Peeta, they are both still with us." The doctor said quietly. "Katniss is in labor though. The baby probably won't live if it's born in these circumstances.
I could no longer hold back my tears. They started streaming down my face, and I swear one landed right on Peeta's hand before I could keep it from dropping off my face.
"What do you mean 'here,'" I said because Peeta didn't.
"We usually can't save a baby born this young in District 12. We simply don't have the facilities and the means." The midwife admitted. "It's possible the labor will stop, but there's no way to know that for certain. She's already four centimeters though. Sometimes premature babies come quickly; they are small. There's not much we can do, especially out here. Moving her to town will probably make the labor progress faster."
"What about Katniss?" Peeta whispered. They were the first words he'd uttered since arriving.
"Her blood pressure is too low, Peeta. This hit Katniss fast. There's a good chance that this copperhead was a mutt. I don't know what's going to happen. The baby is dependent on Katniss and will be affected by whatever happens to her. We've already given Katniss the anti-venom we had at the clinic, and we're giving her fluids and medicine to try to raise her blood pressure." He motioned up towards me and the bottle I held. "The anti-venom won't reverse the damage already done though. It simply stops the progression."
I watched as Peeta lowered himself to the ground completely, struggling to do so with his artificial leg. He lay down beside Katniss placing his face next to hers. I suddenly felt that I shouldn't be there. The doctor and midwife did not seem uncomfortable with Peeta's gesture though. In fact, for a moment the midwife put her hand on Peeta's shoulder reassuringly. Peeta wrapped his arm around Katniss right over her swollen belly. I thought I saw a tear escape Peeta's eye. I looked away, feeling that I was intruding.
"I'm so sorry, Peeta." The doctor said. "Don't lose hope yet though. Katniss could pull through. The labor could stop. This is not over yet."
Peeta was quiet. I didn't look down. I was sure he was crying, and I couldn't bear to see Peeta cry. My heart broke for him. I thought of how he'd stayed with me while I held the baby I lost. I prayed that we weren't doing something similar for him: staying with him while his family slipped away.