Our final morning in the arena. It has a nice ring to it. I wake Peeta.
"Hello Sleepyhead" I grin. "Shall we head out?" he asks. I feel sick to my stomach. I clench my head in my hands. "Hey, hey, you're ok." Peeta says gently and I lift my head from my hands. We head towards the pool where I washed my burn after the fire, but it is strangely empty. I glance towards Peeta.
"They're drawing us towards the lake." My heart sinks. The grand finale. We head that way, hoping to get there by sundown.
When we reach the lake, my side has started bleeding and Peeta tends to it. It is a lot better. He uses the burn cream and I hope it helps. The sun has just dipped below the horizon and now it is dark. And cold.
Then I hear something. A crashing in the woods. I clench Peeta's arm. He hears it too.
Cato comes barreling towards us and I load my bow. Only a few more of Glimmer's arrows are left. He runs by us and that's when I realize. He wasn't running towards us. He was running away from something.
Peeta realizes it at the same time I do.
"The Cornucopia!" He shouts. But I am frozen. I see them. The mutts.
There are about 20 of them and they are gross. Peeta yanks my arm. "Delphi!"
That snaps me out of my daze and I follow close behind Peeta. Peeta is climbing the Cornucopia when he notices me.
"No!" I shout. "You can't help from down here." Adrenaline is shooting through me. I shoot one of the mutts and it goes down. Cato is already on the Cornucopia catching his breath. Peeta is still climbing and I attempt to. Too small!
The mutts are getting closer.
"Peeta!" I shriek. He realizes the intensity of the situation and grabs my arms to yank me up. I can feel the mutt's breath on my feet. And then I hear a sickening crack.
I grab Peeta even tighter.
"Peeta! Hurry!" There is desperation in my voice and I can feel the pain in my ankle. With one final yank, Peeta pulls me up.
"My ankle..." I say weakly. He rips a strip of fabric from the bottom of his shirt and is about to tie it around my ankle when I feel something lift me up by my neck.
The cloth flaps away. Peeta's face is full of fear and I am getting dizzy from lack of air. I think I need to do something, but it is hard to think. I am trying to stop the blood flowing from my ankle. It is at an odd angle. I point to Cato's hand. Peeta realizes what I am trying to tell him. He throws a knife at Cato's hand and it just it. His grip loosens and I am falling.
Peeta grabs me by my jacket at the last second. It rips and flutters to the ground. My heart is beating so fast. That could have been me. It is so cold. Peeta takes his jacket and wraps it around the both of us as we listen to Cato's screams. I look in my first aid kit and find a bandage. I hand it to Peeta. I can't do that. He wraps up my ankle and all we can do is wait.
I doze off and Peeta shakes me awake.
"You can't sleep." I still can hear Cato and I feel sick. Peeta looks at me.
"Do you think you can ..." he drifts off and I understand. I lean over the Cornucopia and can make out Cato. I grab my last arrow and Peeta grabs my calves. I shoot Cato out of pity. A cannon sounds and the mutts disappear.
"What...why isn't the hovercraft..." I am confused. I am tired. I want to go home.
"Do you think you can make it to the lake?" I nod. Peeta slides down the Cornucopia. I slip and thankfully he catches me. I attempt to walk but it's no use. I collapse on the ground shaking my head. Peeta comes over and picks me up and carries me to the lake. We see the hovercraft and then hear trumpets.
All I can think about is how bad my ankle hurts. The voice congratulates us and I see another hovercraft with a ladder a few feet away. Peeta carries me and I am frozen in place. When we reach the top, a doctor takes me away and I feel the twinge of a needle and then nothing.