ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 19 - Ʈɧɛ A͜ʄтɛƦოɑтɧ օʄ тɧɛ ǷƖɑɳ I [/colorawoke with a start at the sound of the Capitol anthem playing while their seal shone brightly in the sky. It was pitch black, and I was half concealed by bushes that lay on the forest floor where I had fallen from the explosion and half of me was showing out in the open. Immediately, without thinking, I tried to move my body so I was more concealed, but a sharp pain hit my ankle. I looked down at it and saw that it was badly bruised, and completely out of place. I knew immediately from seeing my mother fixing this exact problem after helping people who were caught in the outskirts of mine explosions what my problem was with my ankle. It was dislocated. It must of dislocated when I had hit the floor from the explosion. I was sure of it. I looked back up towards the sky to see today's death, or deaths. I prayed to God that neither Peeta or Rue's face would shine in the sky. My preys were answered when the only face that was shown was the one of the District 3 boy tribute who had been guarding the Careers camp. They must of killed him after their stuff was destroyed – he was no use to them anymore, and he had failed them. A shudder went through my spine at the boy's death, but I knew I couldn't concentrate on him right now. I had to move away from here. I was so close to their camp, and I knew that back wherever Peeta and Rue were, they would be going out of their minds. I tried to drag myself along the forest floor, but the floor was full of twigs and leaves and every time I made the slightest movement, there was a tremendous amount of noise against the pitch silence. In the end, I rolled myself into a bush making as little noise as I possibly could and lay down trying to conceal myself with the leaves. I looked down at my ankle, but I could barely see it in this light. I knew how to relocate bones. I'd practised many a time with my mother on miners, but I couldn't do it here. I would probably cry out in pain, as the miners often did this when we had fixed their dislocated joints, and I couldn't cry out in pain here. The Careers would find me within seconds and kill me. I fell into an uneasy sleep that night in the bush, but I was woken by a familiar rough hand in the middle of the night. I opened my eyes warily even though the touch of the hand was familiar to me, I was still petrified. I saw the face of Peeta in the moonlight. His blue orbs shined at me. He couldn't conceal his smile. He didn't speak as he picked me up carefully and quietly. I winced in pain because of my ankle. Peeta frowned at my wince and his face fell when he saw my ankle, but he didn't stop moving. He held me firmly and carried me for what felt like a year. My ankle was swinging as we walked and the pain was intense. I'd never been in so much pain before in my life. When we stopped walking, I saw Rue sitting inside a bush, her eyes widening in horror as she saw me swaying in Peeta's arms. "What happened?" she whispered hurriedly, reaching my side as Peeta lay me down on the forest floor near a bush, ready to be concealed if needed. "I don't know. I found her a hundred meters or so away from the Careers camp. It's a miracle they didn't see her." He said quietly, stroking my hair. "I'm so thankful she's alive." I couldn't help but smile when he said this. He was still protecting me. I was so glad he was. I didn't know what would of happened if he didn't find me back then. The Careers probably would of found me by the time the sun came up and they went on the hunt for their sponsor gift destroyer after realising that they'd gotten away and were still alive. Peeta had practically saved my life. No, he had saved my life. I was so thankful. I tried to speak to tell him of my thanks, but I couldn't get a word out my mouth. I was still feeling breathless and woozy from the hit I had earlier on. I let out a crackled breath and using all my strength, I said one word. "Water." "We haven't got any left." Peeta said. His face was as hard as stone when saying this. "We'll go looking tomorrow for some, but we've got to get you better first, okay?" he told me slowly and gently. Peeta lifted up my trouser and pulled off my shoe a little bit, revealing my now very swollen dislocated ankle to Rue. She let out a gasp and clasped her hands to her mouth. "What are we going to do? What is wrong with her ankle? Has she broken it?" she asked. Peeta shrugged in response. I was in angst knowing that I knew what was wrong with me but I could barely speak to tell them. I knew I wouldn't be able to tell them what to do without the use of speech. I tried to sit myself up, in hope I would be able to do it myself, but the pain pushed me back to the ground as a yelp escaped from my lips. "Prim, do you know what's wrong with your ankle?" Peeta asked, reading my inner healers mind. I nodded back to him. "Do you know what to do?" he asked. I nodded again. "Okay. You're going to have to tell us what to do. Just one word at a time. You can do it." he said calmly. He had a very persuasive tone to his voice. After a minute of concentrating on my breathing and trying to get it back to normal, I managed to speak a little. "Dislocated." I said breathily. "Need to put it… back into… place." With every word I was managing to get out, my breathing got easier and the words seemed to flow better. "Hold my ankle gently… and turn it until it's back… where it should normally… be." Deep breath. Deep breath. "Then push. Push hard. Push up. Push… into place." Peeta nodded, taking in all of my words. He and Rue touched my ankle very lightly, but I still winced. I shoved my hands further up my sleeves and shoved the remaining material in my mouth, so I could brace the pain and hold in any screams. I knew this was going to hurt, especially because they didn't really know what they were doing even if I had briefly explained. They took a firm grip of my ankle together and I yelped into the material. They didn't waste any time when they turned the bones around until it looked like it should. My body reflexes were trying make me push away from the pain and I had to hold my own body down. They then pushed it very hard and firmly into place, causing me to let out a loud shout of pain. The shout seemed to echo around the forest walls and I was terrified someone would hear and come find us, but nobody did. I was still on guard though. The pain was still rippling around my ankle even after they placed it back. I could move it gently, but I didn't want to put much weight on it right now and I asked Peeta if he could just leave me covered in the bush for the night. "I'll stay on watch tonight." Peeta volunteered. "I'll wake you up after a few hours Rue, but I think Prim needs more rest." Rue agreed and she began to climb a tree while Peeta sat with me in the bush. I leaned against him as I covered myself in leaves. "What are we going to do tomorrow, Peeta?" I asked. I was glad to hear that my breathing was almost completely back to normal. "Well, I think Rue and I are going to go on search for water and pick berries on the way." He said. "You can rest, and lay off the ankle." "I need to do something. I've barely done anything for the team." I said, feeling guilty. "What are you talking about?" he chucked lightly. "You got the knife for us from your sponsors. You destroyed the Careers stuff. You got your ankle dislocated for us. And you fed us after you got the bow and arrow." "But I wouldn't of done any of that if it weren't for you guys. You two come up with all the great plans." I said. "Prim. Don't be silly," he said looking into my eyes. "You're a great value to our little… team. Now get to sleep." He said, tapping me on the nose playfully as if he was trying to pretend tell me off. I laughed slightly as I settled with my head on his shoulder and fell asleep. My last thoughts before I drifted into the world of sleep was of how safe Peeta made me feel. I knew he would go to no ends to protect me. I couldn't believe how amazing this boy could be. He was such a good friend. Probably my best friend. I do so wish we could both come home. And Rue. If only we could all go home.
ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 20 - Ʈɧɛ ℚʊɛʂт тօ Ƒɪɳɖ ωɑтɛƦ T hat morning, Rue and Peeta set off in search for water together. It was a possibly dangerous task, but we all figured out the route to the lake in the arena, and so Rue and Peeta were going to go opposite ways to the lake in hope to find a stream of some sort that they could collect water from instead of the lake. They left me with strict instructions of just to make sure I rested my ankle, only walking lightly for five minutes at a time. They only wanted the best for me and my ankle, of course, but it sure annoyed me. I felt so useless once again to my allies, just sitting around doing nothing. I just wanted to pick up my bow and arrow and get some rabbit or squirrel for dinner tonight. Our plan to destroy the Careers sponsors gifts had word great – minus my ankle, of course. I was pretty sure that the Careers would be furious with whoever they had believed to of done it, but I hoped that they had no idea that it was us. The plan had also made the Gamemakers lay off a little bit with the interference in the Games. Our plan against the Careers must of really spiced up the viewing. I bet the Capitol citizens were going crazy watching the Careers go out of their minds trying to find some more food or water or medicine and more weapons. Their sponsors would probably of sent more food by now, but I bet their mentors (the ones in charge of actually giving the food) would be refraining from sending food in case it would get attacked again. About midday, I decided to actually get up out of the bush. I was bored out of mind sitting there doing nothing. I picked up my bow and arrow and hobbled out of the bush. I put some weight onto my ankle, but it was still slightly swollen from being dislocated for so long. I put the weight on and off as I hobbled trying to see if I could find any animals to shoot, but my hobbling was loud and any animal that was around, I was surely scaring away. I unloaded the bow and arrow and just focused on walking. I kept putting more and more weight on it. It hurt, but I knew I had to get over it and make my ankle better. Not being able to walk or run in this arena was dangerous, and any medicines to help it heal faster would cost a bomb from sponsors. I was just getting used to walking around on my ankle when I heard a loud rustle from a distance. The rustle was getting closer and closer and louder. Whatever was coming towards me was running fast. I looked around my surroundings desperately, but there was no bushes for me to fall into and try to hide. I started to hobble as quickly as I could in an attempt to find a bush, but the owner of the running rustle found me and grabbed my shoulders. I felt a whole flood of relief hit me when I felt the familiar touch of Peeta's hands. I turned around quickly, thinking that he must of come back with water to see I wasn't here and probably started to panic. But when I turned around to look at him, I saw an urgency in his eyes. His pupils were huge, and his face full of fear. I noticed that Rue wasn't with him. "What?" I asked, my voice trembling. "I've lost her." He said, his voice dripping with the same tremble of fear. "What do you mean?" I said. My face was being painted with the same fear as Peeta's. "We… we were searching for water and we decided to spilt up, because we'd find it quicker that way, and neither of us wanted to leave you at camp alone when you were so vulnerable." He said. He was holding my shoulders still, his grip getting tighter and tighter the more fearful he got as he explained. "And we used the same mockingjay call, so if one of us found water, we'd make the call and find each other. But when I found the water in a stream and I made the call she didn't come and I don't know where she is, Prim, I don't know, I don't know where's gone." He had begun to babble. I could see how upset he truly was. I didn't even know he really cared about Rue this much. Maybe it's because he knows that I care about her. A lot. "We need to find her. You need to show me the way." I said. I tried to keep my calm. We would never find her if we were running around like headless chickens. And we'd make a lot of noise and get killed. Peeta began to do a light jog with me, knowing that my ankle would be hurting considerably from it. We stopped almost every minute so Peeta could make the mockingjay call. The pain of being on my ankle was strong, but I dismissed it firmly knowing that I had to find Rue no matter what. We stopped again to make to make the mockingjay call when a small scream came from a little distance. "PEETA!" it screamed. "PEETA! PEETA!" I knew immediately that the voice belonged to Rue. Without any regard for my ankle, I began to full sprint where the voice was coming from. I loaded my bow and arrow while I was running, just in case. I found her pretty quickly, struggling to get free from a net in a trap. "Primrose!" she said, her eyes lighting with joy at the sight of me. Peeta was by my side within seconds, pulling the knife we'd gotten from the sponsors out of the backpack that was on his back. He began to cut away at the string that was holding her in while I was trying to push the netting off her when all of a sudden my senses picked up a noise. The hairs on the back of neck raised and my eyes widened in fear. I could feel someone watching us. The same person who must of set the trap. I looked carefully out of the corner of my eye, trying to make it unobvious that I had noticed that the person was here to maybe by myself a little time while I figured out what I should do, but only one answer stuck out in my mind. I'd have to kill the person before they killed us. Before my mind could contemplate my first kill, I stood up and released my arrow that was still loaded from before on my way here to finding Rue, and it hit the person right in the heart, killing them instantly. But before it hit him in his heart, he threw a spear in the direction that Peeta and Rue were standing as she had just got out of the net. I whipped my head around, not even bothering to see who I had just killed, to see that Rue had collapsed on the forest floor with a spear in her stomach.