A/N- I'm just going to state it again. I do use direct quotes from the book in these chapters. The quotes don't belong to me, I'm just trying to stay true to the books.

"Oh, sure, drug the boy who's already half dead." My wife throws her hands up in frustration as Katniss wipes a bit of berry from Peeta's chin. He's completely out.

Shortly after the announcement of the feast, Katniss was sent another parachute. But this one held sleep syrup. She was very clever, the way she disguised it's characteristically sweet taste in berries before feeding it to Peeta. By the time he realized what it really was, the medicine had already begun to take effect. It makes me nervous to have my son so vulnerable when he's already ill, but what other choice does Katniss have? That medicine is the only thing going for them.

The next morning brings the feast and the feast means death. Whether we like it or not, at least one tribute will die today. And if Katniss is the one to draw her final breath at the feast, Peeta will follow shortly behind.

As the sun rises, a table comes up from the ground in front of the Cornucopia. The camera shows us shots of each tribute, crouching the bushes, lying in the tall grass, and in one case, inside the golden horn itself. As promised, the marked backpacks are on the table, waiting for the tributes to make their moves.

The first one to take their chances is the tribute from Five. The one hiding inside the Cornucopia. She grabs her pack and flees - fast, smart, and swift. That breaks the ice. Katniss follows behind, sprinting for the table. The girl from Two comes around the horn and launches a knife. Fortunately, Katniss deflects it, but her retaliation only lodges itself in the girl's arm - not a fatal blow. She reaches the table and snatches up the small backpack marked with a twelve, but as she turns, another knife takes a slice of her forehead. Disoriented, she's unable to get a clear shot at the girl from Two and the arrow goes wide.

Now the other girl reaches her and they wrestle on the ground. This is just what the Gamemakers want to see. A feast, a trap, baited with necessities. I guess they figure things have been moving too slowly - haven't I been saying that all along?

And now comes the showy death of Katniss Everdeen. Because Clove - I think that's her name - has pinned our tribute down now. She holds a knife threateningly near the face of her prey, but delays the death slash.

"Where's your boyfriend, District Twelve?" she taunts. "Still hanging on?"

There's only one thing for Katniss to do. Lie. Keep the girl talking. "He's out there now. Hunting Cato."

She screams Peeta's name, but that only gets Clove's fist in her windpipe. Great. Maybe suffocation will be less painful than stabbing. The story doesn't hold the Two tribute for very long.

"Liar. He's nearly dead. Cato knows where he cut him. You've probably got him strapped up in some tree while you try and keep his heart going. What's in the pretty little backpack? That medicine for Lover Boy? Too bad he'll never get it."

Now she'll kill her. The chat is over.

Clove goes on about Cato and promising to give the audience a show, but I'm not really listening. I can't help but think of Peeta and what he'll do when he sees Katniss in the sky tonight. If he ever wakes up. She used the entire bottle of that syrup - maybe the infection will take him before he sleeps it off. A little part of me hopes that'll happen. That Peeta will die in his sleep - without anymore pain and certainly without experiencing the agony that will come when he finds out about her death. Maybe he'll see Katniss on the other side - wherever that is - and they'll have a happy little reunion away from the danger. Away from the Games. Death will insure them something they never had here in life - safety.

Clove has the knife on Katniss' lips now. A tiny drop of scarlet blood blooms where the point digs into her flesh. Then, the knife falls and Clove is swung into the air. The camera tilts upwards to reveal her trapped in the boy from Eleven's arms. Next to the two girls, he looks even more mammoth than he did by himself. His muscles ripple and there's no hope of escape for the girl from Two. When she's flung to the ground, she makes a panicked attempt at escape, crawling backward, but it's futile.

"What'd you do to that little girl? You kill her?" he bellows.

It takes me a moment to realize he's talking about Rue. Did Clove make some sort of comment about the little Eleven tribute? Probably while she was taunting Katniss and I was tuned out thinking about my son. Clove didn't kill Rue, but how's this towering boy to know that? He must feel obligated to avenge her - he was her district partner.

"You said her name. I heard you," he shouts when Clove protests. "You kill her? You cut her up like you were going to cut up this girl here?" His features are contorted with pain and rage.

When he picks up the massive rock, she goes mad with panic. She begins to scream. I think she's calling to the boy from her district. I wait for him to come barreling out of the trees, but no one shows.

And then the rock comes down on her temple. I grimace as the camera shows the dent in her skull. But I have other things to worry about because now that Clove is surely on her final breaths, Katniss is the next target. So maybe she didn't die at the hands of the Two tribute, but it hardly matters. Peeta won't see who killed her - just that she died. I go back to wishing for his slipping away in sleep.

"What'd she mean? About Rue being your ally?" The boy stares at Katniss, the rock still raised.

"I - I -" Katniss stutters. "We teamed up. Blew up the supplies. I tried to save her, I did. But he got there first. District One."

The Eleven tribute doesn't seem to care that the girl he killed wasn't Rue's actual assailant. Another obstacle down, I suppose. "And you killed him?" he asks Katniss.

"Yes. I killed him. And buried her in flowers. And I sang her to sleep." Katniss' voice drops and she sounds close to tears.

"To sleep?"

"To death," Katniss corrects herself. "I sang until she died. Your district… they sent me bread." She draws a shaky breath and wipes her nose. Just like a small, scared child. "Do it fast, okay, Thresh?" That must be his name.

I can't watch this happen, so I turn my head away. My wife scoffs at my weakness, but I just can't bring myself to watch that rock come down on her skull. Sucking in my breath, I wait for the sound of impact. The sound that signals her death. But it doesn't come.

And now my wife is shaking me, forcing me towards the screen. Thresh has lowered the rock and is pointing a finger at Katniss. "Just this one time, I let you go. For the little girl. You and me, we're even then. No more owed. You understand?"

Without fully understanding what's happening, I see Katniss nod. In the background I hear a boy calling Clove's name. Thresh tells her to run and Katniss doesn't hesitate to follow his advice. She stumbles back through the trees, blood pouring from her wound. On the other side of the screen, we see Cato kneeling beside the battered Clove. He has tears running down his face and even after the canon blows, I hear him pleading.

"Please Clove, please hang on," he sobs. "I'll think of something. Please! Stay with me, Clove. Help! Please send something to help her!" He's begging the sponsors now, but it's much too late. The Gamemakers will want him to clear out now so they can collect the body, but he just crumbles, throwing his body on hers as if to protect it.

I switch my attention back to Katniss because seeing this usually tough boy so overcome by grief just reminds me of Peeta's probable reaction should his ally die. She's wading through the river now, trying to staunch the blood flowing thick and fast down the side of her cheek. She's pressed a sock up against the wound, but the fabric is quickly stained crimson.

After much groping around, she finds the cave and crawls inside. Peeta is still under the drugs, so she rips to pack that she's miraculously still holding onto open and dumps out the contents. And yes, it's medicine. She plunges the syringe into his arm and barely has time to focus on her wound before she blacks out.

For the rest of the morning, the cameras show us shots of grief-stricken, yet furious Cato, powerful Thresh, and that swift-footed girl from Five. The star-crossed lovers are still passed out next to each other. Things seem pretty still as everyone tries to recover from the morning's traumas. The Gamemakers send in rain, spiced up by the occasional rumble of thunder.

And that's when I understand. The feast was just an opening act. As the field narrows down, the final, bloody battle for victory is drawing nearer and nearer. The calm before the storm starts now.