A/N -Please note: I changed my username but it's still me!

The scarlet blood is washed away in the torrential downpour as if it had never existed. Never flowed through the veins of a living boy.

Cato and Thresh have been hunting each other for days and it was only a matter of time before the inevitable battle. But even as the boys wrestled in the mud, splattered with red and brown, I was unprepared for the desperate, brutal fight that ensued. Which is odd because this is what the Games are supposed to be about. Us watching the tributes smash each other to death. These two boys, giants when compared to the rest of the original field, clawed and hacked and stabbed until the winner emerged.

Cato barely stopped to glance at the still body of the Eleven tribute. The rain poured down his face along with sweat, but he just gritted his teeth and turned. Off to hunt down another tribute.

Clearly the rainstorm was targeting these boys because not long after the fight was over, the body cleared, and Cato well on his way, the rain ceased like someone had turned of the spicket. Which of course, they had.

Four tributes. Only four. And two of them are a team. So my son really might have a chance to leave the arena now. For the first time since he was reaped, I allow myself to think about what that would mean. Peeta back home. His cakes in the window again. He'd be rich, too. We'd never have to eat stale bread. And the Victor's Village house - he'd own that, too. All of the food, wealth, fame and riches would certainly improve our way of living. But most important than any of that is the fact that I'd get my son back. Peeta would be safe, what with Katniss finally his and protected from the reaping forevermore. Yes, maybe, this dream could become a reality.

Then I stop myself. There are still two other tributes who have Katniss and Peeta on their kill list. And one of them's Cato. He's definitely the bigger threat of the two - I think the tribute from Five is hoping to hide until everyone else has killed each other. She's doing pretty well with staying hidden, but food is hard to come by. She's weak from the lack of it. But even still, she's probably clever enough to set some sort of trap. Don't count anyone out until the cannon blows.

So onward then. With the fair weather comes the opportunity for Katniss to hunt. She and Peeta gorge themselves with heaping plates of breakfast, then head out. It's the first time Peeta's been out and about in ages. And even Katniss seems a little dazed after a few days lying down with her head injury.

Certainly, they aren't the strongest yet, but there are two of them. Maybe, if they're attacked, they'll be able to hold their ground. As they trek, Katniss seems to be annoyed by something which turns out to be my son.

Apparently, he walks too loudly. She doesn't say it directly, but she means he's scaring off the game. He must understand what she's getting at too because after awhile, he offers to gather roots while she hunts.

They agree on a whistle to signal their safety and then disperse. I can't help but think that to split up means sure death should they get jumped. Even with the strength of numbers, a confrontation with Cato would have been bad news. Alone, weak, barely recovered from injuries… Well, they might as well fire the cannon now.

But when the sound does ring out across the arena, it's not for either of them.

Katniss has been silently creeping along, hunting and Peeta's been patiently gathering roots. He wandered a little ways and found some berries, which of course, would provide diversity to their meal. The noise of the current must have been too loud for him to hear her whistles because he stops responding. Panic begins to set in Katniss's face and she rushes back to their spot. And then the cannons blow.

What they didn't see that the viewers did was the way the Five tribute had been following them for a little while, attracted by their noise. When Peeta had gone to gather berries, she'd carefully snatched just the tiniest nibble of cheese and a handful of the berries.

If she can locate them, Cato will be able to as well. And I'm pretty sure he's not coming for the food. Still, this girl is smart enough to only take a little of goat cheese and just a few berries. But she only needs one to pass her lips before she drops to the ground. Dead.

"What - are they-" my wife stares uncomprehendingly at the screen. "What the hell just happened?"

Katniss clears it up. The berries are poisonous. Nightlock, she calls them. And if just one berry had tempted Peeta, he too would be on the ground. I can hear my heart pounding in my ears as I realize how close he was to death.

On the screen, we see Cato look up at the sound of the cannon, and like a wolf, he tries to calculate what it means. Peeta has started a fire and the smoke is clearly visible. Cato must know that the cannon signified someone in that vicinity and the fire basically announced the exact location. To my surprise, though, he doesn't beeline for the spot.

"Well, it would serve them right if he did track them down. They needed to get out of there - it was clearly their kill whether it was intentional or not! Why'd they start a fire?" After a pause, she shakes her head and mutters, "sorry I'm not supposed to say that, am I?"

"Just change the way you view it," I tell her. "Cato must think they're playing a trick or maybe he understands they outnumber him two to one. If you were in that situation, would you go knowing they're together and allied?"

"No," she admits grudgingly. "I suppose not. So what's there to do now?"

"Well, the climax can't be far off. Now we wait."