I really don't know how to react to the way Peeta has helped Katniss escape from the wrath of Cato. What are his motives? Katniss is probably just as confused as me, but the venom from the wasps are probably keeping her preoccupied at the moment. Her screams have dissipated, but the tension between Peeta and Cato is easily felt all the way here in District twelve. Both boys stare intently at one another, Peeta features more difficult to decipher then Cato's, whose easily scream that he is pissed off at Peeta for letting the one who made his eye swell, get away.
I'm suspicious about Peeta. If only he laid out his emotions like Cato, I would be able to tell what his motives were for letting Katniss go. Surely it cannot be because he actually does have feelings for her. If he did, he would have never joined up with the careers in the first place. Unless he believed that teaming up with them, he would be able to gain their trust and he could then stab them in the back when they least expect it. All these thoughts are rushing through my head I miss Cato take the first swing at Peeta.
I looked up shocked by the sudden start, for some reason I believed Peeta would talk his way out of this just like he does with everything else, but he says nothing, just fights back. Cato is roaring towards Peeta with his trusty knife he also has on hand. He swipes at Peeta's chest, but Peeta leaps to his left and is behind Cato with his arms around him, before Cato can even curse. Cato grunts and shoves Peeta roughly to the ground and lands with a grunt. Peeta looks lost for a second, as if the knock took the breath out of him.
However, Cato isn't fast enough to make his second blow before Peeta has recovered. Cato tries to stab Peeta with his blade, but Peeta rolls away and pulls Cato to the ground and sits on his back, while pushing his face into the ground. Cato struggles by kicking and reaching for Peeta, but Peeta doesn't budge. Cato then catapults Peeta off he back by swiftly lurching his back upward. Cato stands up and spits out dirt from his mouth. "You're dead, lover boy" he says to Peeta who lies where he landed after Cato threw him off his back. He isn't fast enough to avoid the attack and tries to protect his chest with his legs. He manages to protect his chest, but ends up being sliced on his thigh by Cato.
Peeta's eyes grow wide and he halts all movement. Cato laughs menacingly, looking down at his prey with satisfaction on his face. He lifts Peeta by the front of his shirt and punches Peeta in the face. Peeta's eyes roll back and his neck seems to have a hard time carrying the weight of his head. Cato throws Peeta hard on to the ground and grabs his knife he threw down before he punched Peeta.
Just as he's about to make his final blow someone emerges from the trees. "Cato!" It's the boy from District one. Cato looks up with a sigh and agitation on his face. "Don't you see that I'm busy here?" He stares at the boy until he flinches under his glare, but he doesn't leave. "I see that, but it's an emergency. It's Clove. She's been stung pretty ad and has been asking for you." The boy waits for Cato to yell at him, but Cato looks down at Peeta and gives him a couple of kicks to the ribs and leans down to get closer to Peeta's face, " You're lucky lover boy. I'm not going to kill you at the moment. But by looking at the cut on your thigh, it won't be long until your face is lighting up the night sky." He pats Peeta on the cheek, but must feel more like a slap to Peeta and sprints away with the boy.
Peeta lies in a pool of his own blood. His breathe is coming out ragged and painfully. I do feel for him at the moment because really no one deserves to ever feel the kind of pain he must be feeling at the moment. Peeta groans and tries to sit up, but all the strain to sit up must be hurting his ribs, which were repeatedly kicked my Cato. He finally manages to sit up after many attempts. His cheek is already becoming swollen from Cato's punch and there seems to be more blood on the floor then humanly possible. Peeta looks down at his leg and he swallows back his fear as he moves the fabric out of the way to assess the damage.
I hear my mother suck in a breath and my brother's making gagging noises and I know that he will die. It looks like Cato's assessment was right because the cut is so deep I think I can see the bone. I feel sick and I wonder what must be going on through Peeta's mind. Peeta is good on putting on an act because he doesn't cry or scream or react in anyway that would amuse the people of the capital. He just carefully places the fabric from his pants back over the wound and then tries to stand. He grunts and struggles and doesn't have the strength to stand. His last resort is to crawl. We watch and he breaks into a sweat as he drags his body to a more secluded part of the forest.
He is more vulnerable then anyone in this game at the moment and I give him points for getting his injured self out of harms way. Luckily Peeta has come across a stream and he rushes as fast as his leg and other injuries will allow. Instead of going to the water like I believe he would. Instead he goes to the edge of the stream and scoops up the mud that has been created by the water. He starts to camouflages his clothes and himself with the mud. He avoids he wound on his thigh as best as he can, but every once in a while you see him flinch when comes into contact with it by an accident. Peeta drags himself closer to the water and looks at his reflection from the water to help paint the mud on the spots he missed.
After he is done covering himself head to toe with the mud, he decides to brave the water and take a couple of sips. Even if the water is poisoned in some way, it will definitely be a faster way to die then from his wound. Peeta does takes his camouflage to the next level by crushing some leaves and dusting it over the mud. It's like watching a painter come up with a masterpiece. I never really cared to know about Peeta and his hobbies, but I'm guessing painting was one of them since his camouflage design is really starting to fool even my eyes. He crushes up some more leaves and even adds twigs to the mud and then he crawls about two feet away from the stream, lies down and closes his eyes.
I blink a couple of times because I can no longer make out where he is. I'm astonished and I look at my family to see that all of their faces are masked with the same looks of confusion as mine is. I return my gaze to the television and it's still hard to make Peeta out. The camera must give up on him because they switch away from him. I want to protest because I want to see what will happen to him, but then I keep myself from saying anything. There's nothing I or anyone else can do for Peeta and he seems to be able to take care of himself just fine. So I push my worry for him away. He probably wouldn't even want my worry in the first place, so there is no point for me to put effort in.
The camera is now on the careers pack, which has diminished in size from the attack by Katniss. It's sundown and most of the careers are asleep, recuperating from today's events. Cato and the girl from his district are up and they are both looking through the items they have. Cato seems pleased by the things he has collected. Nothing big is going on at their camp so the cameras once again move to find something more interesting. They come across Katniss. I sit up at the sight of her and then slouch back down at the state she is in. She is curled up in a ball with her knees at her chest. She seems to be lost in her mind and her body is still. I get a sudden shock wave travel down my spine and my thoughts widely travel to the thought that she must be dead because she is lying so still. But then I see her twitch, which reassures me that she is in fact alive.
The camera leaves Katniss too soon for me to feel relived, but at least I got to see her at all. We follow around the girl from five, who seems to be on the hunt for something for a while until we shift to Rue. Rue is once again traveling by tree. As she jumps from one branch to the other my thoughts wind back to Katniss and to our days hunting in the forest and her scurrying up the trees to collect eggs from nests. I must have gotten so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that the games have come to a close until my mom shakes me back to reality.
I smile up to her and go to help her make dinner. As I place the plates on to the table, I think about the Everdeen's and the Mellark's who have one empty place at their table, reminding them that there is a part of their family missing. I look up at my brother's who are making faces at Posy and then I look towards my mom who is preparing our meal out of leftovers and trying her best to put a new spin on something we have almost every night. Even though my life isn't the best, at least I have my family. My dad may be out of the picture, but he will always be a part of us. Right now, I just want to focus on what I have so after setting up the table I help my mom place the now finish food on to the table and put on my best face of gratitude. I look at all their faces trying to remember them all with these smiles because they could be gone in a heartbeat.
Today is a new day and I wake up to an empty house. My mom left a note letting me know that she took the boys to their friend's house so they could watch the games and she took Posy with her on some errands. I take this opportunity to switch on the television and the games are on. I curse myself because I feel I might have missed something important but as I watch the boy from district eleven hunt and the career pack gather more stuff for their stash, I start to get agitated with the world because they aren't showing Katniss.
At last the camera is on Katniss, but then I see why they haven't shown her for the past hour. It's because she is still curled up in a ball asleep. I sigh and run my hand through my hair. At least no one has found her or that could be trouble. The camera is off Katniss in a flash and back to the other tributes. I leave my seat, l turn off the television and I go into my room to put on proper clothes. I wash my face and soak my hair in place of a bath and throw on some fresh clothes. I decide to head over to the Everdeen's instead of being here by myself. I quickly leave a note next to the on my mom left me and make my way outside.
As I'm walking I spot Madge. She's talking to another girl our age. I stand their watching until the other girl takes her leave. As Madge starts to head home, I decide to make myself noticed. "Madge!" I yell out as I make my way to her. She turns around and smiles as she sees me. We reach each other and she waits for me to talk. I realize I don't know why I called her over. "I'm heading over to the Everdeen's to watch the games. You want to join?" I say to her. I don't know why I'm inviting her. I usually don't like to hang out with people, but I guess she's an exception because she is a friend with Katniss. She smiles again at me and answers back, "Well that nice of ask, Gale but I actually have to go pick up something from the justice building for my mother." I nod at her, feeling disappointed by her reply. "That's all right, maybe next time." I turn around and start to walk away when Madge calls my name. "If you like we can hang out tomorrow." I turn back to her a give her a slight smile and say, "Yeah, that 's good with me." She smiles back and tell me to meet me in the courtyard after school is finished. I nod and then head off to the Everdeen's house.
Even though I have always believed that Madge was a spoiled girl who didn't understand my problems, I have come to realize that she actually is one of the easiest people to get along with. I'm made it to the Everdeen's and I sit with Prim and her mother once again and we watch the games unfold. Katniss is still knocked out from the venom so I'm not fully interest in what is going on. After the games end, Mrs. Everdeen gives me a slice of bread with Jam on it. As she put the jam back in her cabinet, I see that it's emptier than usual. I scold myself because I haven't been living up to Katniss' wish. I tell Mrs. Everdeen that tomorrow I will go out hunting for food. She insists that I shouldn't but I argue against her until she breaks down.
I head home after that, but take a detour to the place in the fence that is broken. I make my way through it and I make some snares to set up throughout the forest. After I'm done I leave and tell myself I'll get up early to check on them. I finally reach my house to a sleeping mom and sister, but my two brothers are awake. I greet them and tell them they should be asleep, but they just tell me the same thing. In the end, we all stay up talking about what brothers should talk about on a daily basis. After an hour of talking my brothers have passed out from exhaustion and I make a mental note to tell them I told you so tomorrow. In no time I'm asleep, but this time there are no dreams, just sleep.