Chapter 18
Someone shakes my shoulder. I open my eyes and see Katniss. I grin and pull her to me and we share a kiss. Katniss pulls away. "We're wasting hunting time." she says. I notice the rain stopped.
"I wouldn't call it wasting, so do we hunt on empty stomachs to give us an edge." I ask.
"Not us. We stuff ourselves to give us staying power." she says.
"Count me in." I say.
Katniss divides the rest of the food.
I'm surprised. "All this?" I ask.
"We'll earn in back today," she says. We both dig into our plates. Once Katniss's food is gone she scrapes the last bit of gravy with her finger.
"I can fell Effie Trinket shuddering at my manners." she says.
I grin. "Hey Effie, watch this!" I say tossing my fork over my shoulder, I lick the rest of the plate clean. Katniss laughs. I blow a kiss. "We miss you, Effie!"
Katniss covers my mouth with her hand but she's still laughing. "Stop! Cato could be right outside our cave."
I grab Katniss's hand. "What do I care? I've got you to protect me now." I say and pull Katniss to me. Katniss pulls away.
"Come on," she says. I kiss her again before she can get away.
We pack all our things and step outside of the cave. It's almost like when we first arrived in the arena. The cave felt safe. And now we're back in the arena, where Cato hunts us down.
"He'll be hunting us by now," I say and look at Katniss. "Cato isn't one to wait for his prey to wonder by."
Katniss keeps her eyes away from mine. "If he's wounded-" she begins.
"It wont matter, if he can move he's coming." I interrupted her.
She walks around quietly and I follow, doing my best to stay quiet.
"If we want food, we better head back to my old hunting grounds." she says.
"Your call. Just tell me what you need me to do," I say.
"Keep an eye out, stay on the rocks as much as possible, no sense in leaving him tacks to follow. And listen for both of us." she says. She lost her hearing in her left ear. And I can tell it bothers her. We walk through the arena, and we finally get to the woods. It's been a while since I was in this part of the arena. Katniss looks at me.
"What?" I ask.
She looks frustrated. "You've got to move more quietly. Forget about Cato, you're chasing off every rabbit in a ten-mile radius."
"Really? Sorry, I didn't know."
We continue walking and I try even harder to walk as quiet as I can.
"Can you take your boots off?" she asks.
"Here?" I ask.
"Yes. I will too. That way we'll both be quieter." she says. So we both take off our boots.
We start walking again. I cringe at every sound I make. I can practically hear my brothers laughing at me. Frustrating Katniss Everdeen with every twig snapped. But I'd like to see them do it!
We stop to drink water. "Katniss. We need to split up. I know I'm chasing away the game." I say.
"Only because your leg's hurt," she says. I can tell in her voice that she's just being nice.
"I know. So why don't you go on? Show me some plants to gather and that way we'll both be useful." I say.
Katniss looks right into my eyes. "Not if Cato comes and kills you." she says.
This causes me to laugh. "Look, I can handle Cato. I fought him before, didn't I?" I say.
"What if you climbed a tree and acted as a look out while I hunted?" she says trying to make it sound like an important job.
I roll my eyes. "What if you show me what's edible around here and go get us some meat." I say mimicking Katniss's tone. "Just don't go far, in case you need help." I add.
Katniss shows me whats edible and teaches me a bird whistle to use if one of us need the other. Then Katniss leaves. We exchange the whistle and I gather the roots Katniss showed me. Somehow I find myself at the stream and gathering berries.
I gather the berries in my hands but I feel like someone's watching me. I shrug the feeling off. Of course someone's watching me. I'm on television.
Then I hear Katniss screaming my name. And I run toward the voice.