Clove POV
"I guess this is where we part ways then." Her voice breaks our silence.
I'm already turned away from her, and for that I'm grateful. Tears form behind my eyes, but I refuse to give the Capitol the satisfaction.
"Goodbye Katniss. You made your choice." I walk off, but not before I hear her muffled "See you soon."
I don't know if that was meant as a warning, or meant to scare me, but I feel no fear. Not now. I have no real reason to fight now. Honor for my district be damned. The people there never cared for me, and even if I do win, and by extension live, it won't be worth it. I've seen what becomes of the victors, they are all still stuck in the arena in one way or another, and I don't want to go through that alone.
I hear rapid footsteps, and growling behind me. It's the mutts, and they're gaining on me fast. The only place for me to go is up a tree. I'm in the middle of the forest, and there's no way I can outrun them. I've never been much of a climber, but I have enough motivation that I get up the tree pretty fast.
I don't want to win alone, but I don't want to be ripped apart piece by piece either. I want death to be swift, and mostly painless, if that's possible. Maybe I can convince Katniss to do it for me. Death by the mutts is always slow and painful. The tribute is always covered in blood, ripped to shreds, but then left to slowly die from blood loss, or something else. I refuse to allow myself to go out like that. I still have a little bit of fight left in me.
Some of the mutts are jumping at the tree, while other are throwing their full weight against the trunk, shaking it, trying to dislodge me from my branch. I tighten my grip on the branch. Just when I think I'm about to fall, a cannon goes off in the distance.
My thoughts are racing. Who died? Was it Katniss? It couldn't have been. She has to live. I have to make sure she wins.
The mutts take off in the direction of the shot, leaving me alone in the thoughts are consumed with her. Katniss can't be dead.
Katniss POV
I didn't want to leave Clove, but I had something I had to do. Peeta needs me. He saved me once, and I can't just let the infection kill him. The venom in her voice is evident when she tells me goodbye, but I can't blame her. If I thought she was abandoning me, I have a feeling my voice would have held the same tone.
I don't respond with a goodbye, instead I say "See you soon". She stops walking for a moment, but she refuses to look at me. It hurts, but I hope soon she will understand.
I hike up to the cave I left Peeta in. He's still sleeping, and I feel slightly grateful for it. I'm not sure if I would be able to do this if he was awake. I set the pack with his medicine down, and sit down and slip my pack from my back. I rummage through, till I find my food. I leave him half, then walk back to the entrance.
"Goodbye Peeta. I can't stay with you anymore." I murmur, and a rustling comes from the cave.
He's waking up now. It seems like I got out just in time. He's obviously seen the supplies and put two and two together. Footsteps are coming towards me, and I quickly duck into a bush.
Peeta comes out of the cave, covered in sweat, and limping heavily. His leg is bleeding heavily, he must have reopened it in his sleep. He walks right past me and into the forest, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
It's short lived, because I hear his scream not thirty seconds later. I can't help but run towards him. I wanted to leave him, but the sounds he's making allude to massive amounts of pain being inflicted. I don't want him to suffer.
By the time I get there, whatever attacked him has disappeared, leaving his broken body in its wake. He's making a disgusting gurgling noise, there's blood everywhere.
"Peeta, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for…"
"Mom? Is that you? Mom, I'm so sorry Mom. I tried, but I wasn't good enough." He whispers
I've never met his mother. She died when he was born. The fever and the pain have gotten to his mind. But this is the last thing I can do for him, so I play along.
"No Peeta, you did so good. I'm so proud of you. You can move on now. I'll be there waiting for you okay? I promise. Just let go Peeta."
He nods towards me, and with a smile, his innocent smile that could light up a room, Peeta died. His cannon goes off, and I move away from him to cover him in the flowers around us, just as I'd done with Rue.
Barking and the ground shaking alert me to the mutts' presence. I scramble up the closest tree, and watch them run past both me and Peeta, but before I can come down and finish my task, the Capitol has his body moved. I drop the flowers in my hand, and look up at his one last time.
"I'm so sorry." I murmur, than turn towards the camera I know is in the tree to my right. I make the signal of my district, then head to the last place I saw Clove. I planned to return to her all along, but I didn't want to come back like this. Never like this.