Peeta has not yet woken up and the fire is closing in on him rapidly. The trees are getting scorched at the speed of light and the smoke is thickening, if he doesn't wake up, he'll suffocate before he can burn.

The Capitol is showing him the wrath of the girl on fire.

I wonder if it is Cinna's breathtaking costumes that placed him in this predicament.

I internally urge him to wake up, I'm panicking and I grab Haymitch's wrist so tightly that he hisses in pain.

"Watch it, sweetheart, you're going to crack my bones."

I give him a scowl and return my attention to the screens in front of me. Peeta's beginning to stir and the fire hasn't reached Vailea just yet. But the smoke is flooding in.

The air suddenly seems to get hot as the fire is barely meters away from Peeta. How can this be how he dies? I refuse, he cannot die like this, he was doing so well.

Suddenly, Peeta's eyes shoot open and he wrinkles his nose, obviously recognizing the smell of smoke because of all his experience with fires at the bakery. He's scurrying to get out of the bush quickly enough but he isn't. The minute that he stands up, the fire has already caught up, and the shrub of bushes are set alight. He's caught in the middle of it, but he hurries out and the ends of his pants are burnt to a crisp. But he runs, despite the smoke, despite being weak, he runs.

He's fast, and he's able to get a couple hundred meters ahead of the inferno, but it's still quickly closing in on him, like a game of cat and mouse.

The Gamemakers suddenly switch both of our screens to an overhead view of the arena, it's vast, much bigger than I anticipated, and I can see that the fire is closing in on a circle towards the Cornucopia. Then I get it.

They want another bloodbath. They're drawing the remaining nine tributes in and the second day hasn't even concluded yet. Only nine yet, and I can feel that some will perish in this fire.

A fireball sweeps across Vailea's shoulder, shocking her because there has been no trace of fire in her area yet. She finally notices the wisps of smoke rolling in, and she screams to Cato and Glimmer to run.

And so they run. Just like Peeta. However unlike the Careers, Peeta is nearing the Cornucopia.

However the Gamemakers are starting to attack him with fireballs as well. I want to go up to the Control Centre and beg them to stop, or yell profanities at them, but I know that they'll place Peeta in a much worse predicament that he already is in, they'll make sure of his demise.

The Careers are still running, Cato in the lead with Vailea close behind, however Glimmer is meters behind them, and the fireballs are getting increasingly larger and more deadly, and in a horrifying turn of events, Glimmer gets hit and incinerated with a fireball.

And the sixteenth cannon sounds.

Eight tributes left.

Looks like Glimmer shone so brightly that she burnt herself up. I almost feel sad now that she's gone, she saved Peeta once.

I make a note in my mind to thank Cashmere and Gloss once the Games are over, whether Peeta makes it out alive or not.

Vailea and Cato dodge fireballs left and right until the Gamemakers stop firing at them, but now the fire has caught up to them, and they need to quicken their pace if they want to avoid the same fate as Glimmer's.

But now it's Peeta I'm worried about. Because the Gamemakers have stopped fooling around, and they have given him two obstacles, a blazing inferno as well as fireballs.

It takes him by surprise, and a ball of fire skims across Peeta's back and gives him a severe burn, he whimpers in pain but he doesn't cease running. I can see soot building up in his face and his eyes accumulate tears. He's panting and exhausted, soon he'll be overwhelmed by fatigue.

He barely reaches the Cornucopia before another fireball hits him across his ribs, giving him another set of severe burns. He collapses in the ground and screams in agony. The back and the ribs are the worst places to get burned, it's painful to have control over your upper body, and if you don't have control, it's a death sentence.

There's a pain in my heart that stabs me repeatedly, I look away from the screen, hiding my face in my hands as I cry silently. I can't bear to look at him crawling towards the lake, covered in his own burning flesh.

Clove and Marvel seem to stir from their unexpected nap when they hear Peeta's scream. They're alarmed, unaware of what is happening around them, completely disoriented.

"You'd think for Careers, they'd be more aware," Haymitch says sarcastically.

Peeta's shaking violently, small whimpers of pain escape his chapped lips as he silently begs for help, I want to ask Haymitch to send him something, but even I know that now is not the time, not in the Cornucopia, not in plain sight.

"You feel something for the boy you know, it's not just about repaying a debt anymore," Haymitch says.

I'm confused, "What do you mean?"

"Look Katniss, it's obvious that your feelings towards this boy goes way beyond friendship. You have very strong feelings for him, I mean, you're obviously shaken up about him being in pain. Don't deny it, I've been noticing how you always look away when he's hurt, how your eyes light up when he's doing something right. Don't tell me that you feel nothing for this boy, because I assure you, you may not love him, but you surely do feel something for him."

I refuse to look at him, because I know that he is partly right. I have never felt this way. Not about any boy, even Gale. I don't love him, I know that, but I like him, a lot.

I focus my attention back on the television once again, my eyes drooping because of the lack of sleep.

When I look back, Vailea and Cato burst through the woods, and the first emotion that I see reflected in Vailea's face is shock, because she sees Peeta.

Thresh runs in shortly afterwards, but there is no sign of Rue or the girl from District Five who has a face like a fox. But I know that they didn't perish during the fire because there hasn't been another cannon since Glimmer's.

Peeta is still unnoticed, because he arrived from the other side of the Cornucopia, the only reason that Vailea saw him was because she was in the perfect angle.

Hatred clouds her eyes, and she shouts, "It's Peeta! Get him!"

Thresh seems to be alarmed, about how he wasn't attacked yet, he obviously doesn't understand the value and worth of Peeta Mellark.

Peeta is suddenly on full alert, but he's still weak and collapsed on the ground near the lake. The Careers are closing in and I know that he's a goner.

Clove comes up first to him and as she's about to stab him, blood spews out of her mouth and she falls to the ground, dead, with a knife in her back.

I see Thresh in the throwing stance, it's obvious that he threw the knife, but I don't get it, why not just let Clove kill him.

A cannon sounds.

Then I see him nodding towards the trees, and I see the little girl, she's smiling and nodding back. She mouths the words, 'thank you.'

I get it now, since she's so frail and small, she would never be capable of repaying Peeta, so she enlisted the help of her other, much stronger, male tribute.

It seems that the odds are in Peeta's favour so far.

Vailea, Marvel and Cato look mortified as they watch their ally fall to the ground, drowning in her own blood.

Marvel and Cato charge at Thresh, anger reflected in their eyes, as Vailea creeps onto Peeta, smiling viciously at him. She laughs at him wriggling around on the ground and calls him weak.

Just as she's about to raise the sharpest knife pointed at his chest, a small explosion rocks her back.

And another.

And another.

I try to see where the direction of the explosions came from, the ground? No, it can't be from the ground, that would mean mines. And District Three is gone.

It's coming from the trees that little Rue was in. I can barely make out her small frame holding a slingshot with apparently explosive pellets.

Vailea, now injured with cuts, burns and peeling skin from the explosives and fireballs, reluctantly retreats.

Rue jumps down from the tree and slowly pulls Peeta away from the Cornucopia into the vicinity of the woods.

Peeta whispers a small, "Thanks."

Rue shrugs as she places him beside a rock, "It's nothing, you saved my life, I save yours, it's a life for a life."

My own phrase seems to be haunting me, and everyone else seems to be repaying him successfully except for me.

My eyes droop once again, and I can no longer battle the fatigue. The last thing I hear is Thresh's scream and a cannon.

Six.

Someone shakes me awake and I scream. I feel like I'm in the Games again and I'm being attacked, but I'm not. It's just Finnick.

I rub my eyes and sit up, "Long time no see, stranger."

He gives me a small chuckle and sits beside me, "I've been busy."

I know what he means, he's had to entertain a couple 'customers' again.

"I'm sorry about that you know. What happened while I was asleep?"

"Rue's been treating Peeta, he's completely knocked out. Marvel, Cato and Vailea are down by the Cornucopia, they're beat up pretty bad, they won't hunt for at least another day. Who knows, they might even split up soon. The girl from District Five is nowhere to be seen."

"Don't you think these Games are going by so quickly?"

"I do, it's weird. But they got good tributes this year, they don't want to stop the show."

I nod my head and a million thoughts run through my mind, and I have to ask, "Finnick, how did you do it? When-when Annie was in the Games?"

Finnick drops his head downs and looks at his hands, "I didn't. I barely made it through her Games. I went insane. When she got hurt, I would go nuts and throw everything in sight. I feel bad for Mags because she had to witness it. I did everything I could to make sure she could get out alive. I-I was desperate. I slept with potential sponsors, anyone! Even if they could contribute just a little bit of cash, I'd sleep with them. Anything to get Annie home. You seem to be better at this than I was though. But still, when she got out of those Games, she wasn't the same. She was labelled as 'mentally unstable' but who can blame her? Aren't we all unstable after we win? It's just a matter of showing it or not."

I nod my head, speechless at Finnick's confession. His love for Annie goes as deep as the deepest ocean.

We sit there, staring at the floor, drowning in our sorrows when Haymitch bursts through the door, "Katniss, President Snow wants you in his office. Now."

Ohhh nooooo! Anyway, there's your action packed chapter! Not the best written, but hey! It's a chapter, sorry if there's mistakes, but I wanted to get this up quickly while I felt like writing. So sorry if it's crap, but I hope it's not! –fingers crossed- Thank you SO MUCH for your lovely reviews last chapter, it really was the main reason that I wanted to post up another chapter. Once again, reviews are welcomed :)