Chapter 26: Avalanche!

The rest of that second day is pretty uneventful. I feel grimy in my clothes with all the blood still on me; and I can tell Martin does, too. For a moment, I consider breaking a patch of ice somewhere and doing laundry, until I remember that we'd essentially be surrendering ourselves to extreme chill and thus, certain death.

We make camp as nightfall arrives, and by the time we have a decent fire going, the anthem is playing in the sky.

The Careers we took out are each from separate districts: one from 2, and the other from 4. Then we see Jesse, and we bow our heads in respect. That's it for tonight.

I turn to Martin. "Do you think something went wrong with the Career alliance?"

He shrugs. "Who even knows?"

Then I realize: with our kills today, we are already down to the Final 8. Tributes who make it that far have their friends and family interviewed. Will they interview Katniss for me? I can practically count on it, because ratings! They probably won't even let my parents or brothers get a word in edgewise!

And what of Bond? All I know of his mother is that she's somewhat elderly, and it probably wouldn't look good to interview someone like that from the Seam. Interviewing Cray, a District Head Peacekeeper, would probably be even more awkward, not to mention garner bad imaging for a show that caters to Panem's elite.

After dinner, Martin and I repeat our technique from last night and settle down to sleep.

Once again, we wake up early and fix breakfast - a couple of squirrels who unwittingly became target practice for our knife throwing. Then, my ally and I struggle on.

I can't tell how long we have been walking when I suddenly hear a violent rumble. Martin and I look back. In the distance, I can see what looks to be a giant cloud rolling over the trees towards us.

I don't know if Martin somehow reads my thoughts, or was thinking the same thing himself, for he says slowly, "I don't think that's a cloud…." Understanding crosses his face, and suddenly he is shoving me forward. I stumble in the snow. "Run. RUN!"

We sprint blindly through the trees, not even knowing where we are going. I know that this has to be a Gamemaker trap. But what kind of trap, exactly?

I am jolted back into reality when Martin abruptly forces me to change direction, making for a large tree similar to the one we camped under on our first day.

"Climb. You always want to be on high ground for an avalanche. Now, move!"

Avalanche? I think almost dumbly. But I do as Martin says and begin to scale the tree frantically.

"Don't stop until I say so! I'm right behind you!" I hear Martin from below. He is barely audible over the rumbling of what I now understand to be snow, getting closer and closer. How high am I now? 20, 25 feet? I don't know.

Martin calls a halt when I reach what seems to be a sturdy branch, wide enough for the two of us to perch on. I pull my friend up beside me. We watch the horizon, seeing the tidal wave of snow advancing. It is not at eye level, maybe ten feet below where we are.

"Let's just ride it out. We should be OK!" I advise. Martin nods grimly.

The snow finally reaches us. It engulfs the jungle floor and surrounds our tree, quickly flowing past us like a river with too many rapids.

Then, I hear the cannons. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

If I had to bet, that was the rest of the Career alliances. Plus one other poor soul. But who? Is it Bond?

CRACK! A section of our branch just ahead of me breaks off, sending Martin tumbling into space!

"NO!" I lunge in a wild dive and manage to grab his hand.

It is the ultimate tableau: me flat on my stomach on what's left of the branch, dangling Martin precariously over a tsunami of snow.

"Martin!"

"Peeta! I need you to let go! The branch won't hold us both!"

And he's right; I can see it sagging under both our weights as I look back. But I can't bring myself to do it.

"I'm not going to do that to you!"

"Peeta, you need to go home! To your girl! Your daughter! It's time to let go; it's better this way! Everything's going to be alright!"

"How do you know?" I cry. "How do you know something bad isn't gonna happen?"

"I don't! You're gonna have to trust me!"

I am running out of time. I squeeze my eyes shut and turn my face away.

I let go.

"WIIIIIINNNNNNNN!" my ally calls in a chilling Doppler effect, as he plunges to his death in the snow below.