Ugh fine. ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 22 - Ʈɧɛ ɪɳʄɛʗʈɪօɳ When I woke Peeta up at the crack of dawn from our night shift agreement, we packed the sleeping bag and climbed down the tree in silence. We continued the silence as we got some rations of food for breakfast and began to walk uphill. I didn't really know we were walking towards or for exactly, but as if on some unspoken agreement, I began to get my bow and arrow ready to hunt any nearby creatures that may be cooked later while Peeta picked berries and asked for my expertise on whether they were safe or not. We continued like this until around midday when I caught a squirrel that high up in a tree. The squirrel died when my arrow hit it, but it only fell two branches down the tree. "I'll go fetch it for you." Peeta offered as he began to scale the tree. "Thanks," I called up to him. He looked down and gave a little forced smile in reply. I leaned against the tree waiting for him to get down and bring me the squirrel. I had worked up quite a hunger with Peeta today as we had been walking quiet far, and I couldn't wait for him to get down with our next meal. My thoughts focused back to Rue as I waited for him. I hadn't really stopped thinking about her since she'd died. I felt as if a part of me died with her. It still had barely sunk in that she wouldn't come skipping back to Peeta and I with a handful of berries ready for us to eat with our dinner that night, or that she wouldn't beckon me down to sleep on a branch in a tree with her ever again. Tears were just threatening to resurface again, when Peeta fell with a hard thump next to my feet. He fell on his face and I could hear his deep stifled moans. "Oh my God, Peeta, are you okay? Did you fall?" I asked hurriedly, trying to turn him over to face me. I was horrified when I saw the fall had generated a massive cut along his forehead. It was deep, and was bleeding all over his face. His nose was also bruised along with his jaw. The rest of him seemed okay, suggesting that he must of fallen face first. I pulled off my jacket and put pressure along his cut to stop the bleeding. He moaned loudly. But my jacket was getting wet with bloody quickly and it was a very cold day in the forest and I shouldn't of really been without my jacket. I took the jacket off his cut, unsure of what to do. I remembered the bandages in Rue's pack, but the blood would just soak the bandages within seconds. I needed to stitch his forehead. I began to flap about. "I don't know what to do. It's too deep and large for a bandage. It needs stitches. It's going to get infected pretty quickly if I don't get it stitched." I honestly told Peeta. He nodded, but only lightly. I force opened his eyes and saw that he had concussion. Fantastic. I thought sarcastically. "I need stitches." I said again loudly, hoping that Haymitch would get the message and send me something, but nothing came. That bastard. I thought. I needed the stitches so badly, but they weren't going to come and I couldn't wait any longer or else who knows what infections could get into his cut. I quickly got the bandages and water bottle from Rue's backpack. I tipped a little bit of water from the bottle onto his cut, to clean it slightly, and wrapped the bandages thickly and tightly around Peeta's head. I was right, of course, about his bandages being soaked in blood, but we were already running low on bandages and I knew I would have to wait a little longer before putting fresh ones on. I hoped that with the tightness I'd put on the bandages, it may stop the bleeding. Or induce the concussion more. God, I wish I had my Mother here. She would know so much better than me on what to do. I dragged Peeta and I to a nearby bush and sat him down conceal both of us. I waited for almost an hour until Peeta's concussion slowly went away, and in which the hour he threw up because of the concussion. He kept moaning all the way through the hour. "Could you be more much more of a moan?" I sarcastically asked him when he was coming out of his concussion. He moaned again on purpose. He lifted his hand to his head and touched the blood that was seeping through. "Can I have fresh bandages yet?" he asked. I sighed as I took off the bandages from his head, knowing that the bleeding would probably restart when I took off the bandages and washed them a little with the water. I put a thinner layer of bandages on which again, within around fifteen minutes this time, were blood-soaked. I only had enough bandages left for one more head wrapping – and it would be a very thin head wrapping at that… "At least it's gradually slowing." I said. "It'll be okay. As long as it doesn't get infected." Said Peeta warily. He took the water bottle from me and had a big gulp. I did the same after him, suddenly realizing my thirst. We decided to stay in the bush all night, considering Peeta now had a fear of trees. When he told me this, it made me genuinely laugh for the first time since Rue died. Peeta was a naturally funny guy. He could make the best out of any situation. Before we slept in the bush that night I washed and changed Peeta's bandages with the last of the bandage and made a silent prayer that Peeta wouldn't get infected from the cut. We did night shifts again, with Peeta sleeping first and me sleeping second. When I woke up after the very few hours of nightmare riddled sleep, I checked Peeta's cut. I undid the bandage carefully, making sure we could put it back on afterwards to act as a pathetic layer of protection, but when I looked at his cut I was greeted by a deep yellow and green bus seeping out of his cut. The smallest parts of his cut had scabbed over, but it was mostly still an open wound with mixed pus and dried blood and new blood. The colour of the pus told me the worst. It had gotten infected. I looked up at the sky, betting on every whim I had that the Gamemakers had something to do with this. I bet they knew how easily it would be to get infected and sent out the perfect germs to create a horrible infection. I cursed under my breath. "What? Is it bad?" Peeta asked with a huge amount of fear in his tone. "Yeah." I admitted. His face fell, but I didn't want to beat around the bush. I couldn't lie to him. Within seconds of me telling him this, an announcement boomed through the forest. "Attention, attention tributes." It said. What the hell could the Gamemakers want? I thought. The Gamemakers rarely make announcements throughout the Games. "There will be a feast today at the Cornucopia. But this will be no ordinary feast." My heart skipped a beat. I knew what they were doing now. I knew full well. "Each of you need something. You need something desperately. Today at the Cornucopia will be bags with your Districts number on. They will be put out at noon. You may go collect them when you want. Good luck. Oh, and, remember." The voice snarled. " May the odds be ever in your favour." It finished. They had infected Peeta on purpose and then set up a perfect medicine in the arena, luring me in to go fetch it and help save Peeta from this (for all I know deadly) infection. "No. No, Prim, you can't." Peeta said, realising I had worked it out in my mind that his medicine needed to get rid of his infection was going to be there. "It's a slaughter house. They're just luring you in to kill you." "I know," I said. "But you could die from this infection. I have to go, Peeta. Please." I begged. "No. I can't let you. If you die out there and don't come back then I don't know what I'm going to do." He said. "I know what you'll do – you'll die. You'll die from the infection in your cut." I said bluntly. "And if I don't go, you'll die from the infection in your cut. Either way, Peeta, you die. The only way you don't die is if I go and get your medicine and I live through it." He was silenced as the truth set upon him. He knew it was true. I couldn't believe I had been so harshly honest with him. I'm never normally like that. Back home at 12, I would say whatever made others happy. "Take your bow and arrow." Peeta said grimly after a few minutes of silence between us while he realised there was no persuading me. "You didn't think I was honestly going to go without it, did you?" I laughed lightly, trying to make him smile. It didn't work. He just looked at me flatly. I knew I was hurting him by endangering my life because he had sworn to protect to me to the whole of Panem before we were forced into these Games – but this was something I had to do. I sat with Peeta, both of us snacking on the only packets of dried fruit and beef we had left, before I saw by the position of the sun that it was nearly noon. I picked up the bow and arrow and made my way out the bush. "Hey, Prim," Peeta said. "Do it for Katniss." He said, repeating his infamous motivational line that always seemed to have a confidence boosting effect on me. I nodded firmly and turned around and began to walk when he shouted again. "And do it for me, of course!" he laughed. I turned back and gave another genuine laugh and began to walk to the general direction I believed the Cornucopia was in. Let the Games begin. I thought as I saw the golden gleam of the Cornucopia and the large table in front it with four bags on. One was labelled '12'. That held the medicine that would make Peeta better. Let the Games bloody begin.
ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 23 - Ʈɧɛ ʗօƦɳʊʗօǷɪɑ ƑɛɑʂƮ Blood was pumping so quickly around my body that I could feel my own chest throbbing as I sprinted towards the golden gleam of the Cornucopia. My bow and arrow was unloaded, but I had it tightly in my left hand, ready to use just in case. I was so close to the table now, I could practically hear the bag with my districts number on screaming my name, egging me on the get it and save Peeta's life. I grabbed the bag the second I was near enough and clutched it tightly as I began to run. Thank god. I'm going to get out here alive. I thought. But I thought too soon, clearly, as I was tackled roughly to the ground, causing me to drop my bow and arrow and the bag that contained Peeta's medicine. It wasn't until after a minute or two of struggling against the strength of the tribute that they pinned me down and I saw it was the last surviving Career girl, the one from District 2. She started at me with her dark eyes full of no emotion but hate. She snarled a smile when she saw she had me pinned. "What in the bag, hmm?" she said teasingly, grabbing a knife quickly from her trouser pocket. "Aw, you here for your little sister's boyfriend? Too bad you can't help him now, huh?" she lifted the knife and let it's silver blade shine against the sun before putting it to my forehead and gently slicing my skin. Blood trickled down my face as I struggled against her tight grip, trying to move my limbs, but she was much too strong for me which was strange to me, as when she was up close to me, it was more obvious that she was in fact younger than eighteen like her fellow tributes. I wonder what caused her to volunteer. She must really hate the world. "You know who else you couldn't help? Your little… friend. What was her name? Rue?" She growled. Rue. My Rue. My heart gave a pang of emotion. "Well, we killed her." She continued. Anger flooded my body. Had she been a part of the trap that had caused Rue's death? I began to feel a strong hatred for the girl on top of me. Before I could even think, I spat in her face. My spit landed in her eye and the look of hate in her eyes deepened as she wiped my saliva off her face. "And now, we're going to kill you." She said, lifting her knife, ready to shove it into my heart. This is it, this is my death. I thought. A million thoughts crossed through my mind, thoughts of such like my family and my pets and Rue and Peeta and Haymitch and Effie and Cinna and… But my thoughts stopped as the girl was pulled off me by a familiar looking huge figure. I couldn't see his face, and I began to shake, thinking that it could be her district partner Cato, coming to finish me off himself. When my limbs began to respond to my urgent need to move, I heard the voice coming from the huge figure and knew that it wasn't Cato – it was Tresh. "What did you say? What did you say about Rue?" he shouted in her face as he held her by her collar on her jacket, shoving her against the Cornucopia wall. She struggled against him, but his grip was far too tight for her. "You kill her?" "No!" she lied, shouting back, still struggling. Her legs were flaying and her fingers trying to pull Tresh's hands off her. "Uh-huh. You killed her!" he shouted, banging her head against the wall again. "CATO! CATO!" she screeched, her voice full of a vulnerability I'd never seen or heard in this murderous girl. Before she could scream the boy's name again, he shoved her against the Cornucopia repeatedly until she was dead. He threw her limp body against the floor and a canon sounded. He turned around to look at me, his yellow eyes screaming with the same amount of hate that the District 2 girls did when she pinned me down. I knew I should be grabbing my stuff and running as fast I could right now, but I seemed to be stuck to the ground with fright, standing helplessly. "What happened with you and Rue?" he said gruffly, pointing his large fingers at me, coming closer and closer to me. My whole body was stifled with fear. "I… We… Peeta and I… We were allies with her and we went to look for water and she got lost and stuck under this… this, net thing that the… District 2 girl and her friends made and she died and I… I sung to her until she passed on and covered her in flowers and… and…" I had begun to sob thinking of my beautiful dead friend Rue. Her face flashed up into my mind. I closed my eyes and let the tears flow. I tried to rub them away, but nothing stopped them from flowing. I looked back up at Tresh who was still standing close to me. His eyes of hatred looked much more soft. "Go." He said deeply, looking down at the floor. "Go. Now." "You're not going to kill me?" I asked. "Just this time 12. Just this time. For Rue." He said as he began to run quickly away with his district bag in his hand. Without hesitation, I grabbed my bow and arrows and my district bag with Peeta's medicine in. I was so thankful I'd gotten it as well now that my head had also been cut. I began to run back to the direction where I believed I had come from and after ten minutes of full on sprinting and found Peeta the bush, waiting for my arrival. His eyes shone with a happiness I'd never seen before in him. "Prim!" he said gleefully jumping up from the bush to hug me. "I'm so glad your back, you took so long, I heard a canon, I didn't know what the hell had happened to you." He said, pulling me away from him at arm's length. "What the hell happened to your head?" he asked, touching it lightly. The touch made me wince. I began to dread what had gotten into the cut already. Maybe the infection that was going around that got Peeta's cut was in mine too. But I had the medicine now – thank dear god. "The girl from two. But it's okay, she's dead now. That's who the canon was for." I told him as I sat down in the bush, still grasping my bow and arrow and the district bag. My head was thumping angrily. "Did you kill her?" he asked, sitting next to me. "No. Tresh did." I said. He looked confused, so I explained properly to him. "The girl from two-" "Clove. That's her name, Clove." Peeta interrupted. "Okay, well, Clove was antagonizing me after she had me pinned and cut. She was mentioning Rue and stuff and Tresh heard. He grabbed her and killed her, basically, and let me go free for this time because I'm Rue's friend." I told him. I closed my eyes shut as the pain in my head was crippling me now. I shoved the district bag into Peeta's hands, hoping he wouldn't ask me any further questions. I really wasn't in the mood to talk. I just almost died. Again. Peeta opened the bag to reveal to us a silver tub that when opened had inside a thick, gooey substance. Peeta scooped some on his fingers and began to put it onto my cut. A relief filled over me immediately. Whatever this medicine was, it had a pain killing aesthetic in it, and I thanked god for the millionth time today for this. I gave a deep breath of relief. "Ok, now you." I said. I dipped my fingers a little more thickly into the goo than Peeta did, as his cut was larger and more infected. I rubbed into his cut and he gave the same breath of relief. Once I had rubbed the stuff into his cut, we both sat back and let it sink into our cuts. I closed the silver tub and placed it in a backpack, knowing that maybe I'd need the rest for later. A little less than an hour later, I decided to hunt a little bit before it got too dark. I caught two squirrels – and luckily this time, nobody fell out of a tree trying to get the dead squirrel bodies. I brought them back to Peeta who had been looking for berries the short while I'd been gone. That night, I cooked the squirrels quickly, batting away any tribute revealing smoke while doing so. We feasted that night on the squirrels and berries, and for the first time in the Games, I felt slightly full. It was a glorious feeling and I savoured it, knowing it wouldn't stay for long. Peeta and I moved into a nearby tree that night, knowing we'd been at our temporary camp for much too long and if anybody happened to walk by, they'd easily see that some tributes were nearby. We walked about a mile until we felt confident with the tree we'd found. Peeta was still fearful of falling out, so I gave him the sleeping bag as a compromise to having to stay in the tree. Before I fell into the first shift of sleep, I began to count the tributes left in the Games in my head. There was Tresh and Cato, obviously. Me, Peeta. That was four of us. And who else? My mind flashed back to the Cornucopia and I remembered the only bag that was left when I ran away. It said five on it. District 5… that meant, the girl, the foxfaced girl, was still alive. That made five of us. Four more deaths to go. Four more deaths until someone gets to go home.
ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 24 - ƝɪցɧƮƖօʗқ That morning Peeta and I went hunting for squirrels and berries as normal. We decided to spilt up and meet up at little after noon so we could get as much food as we could. That part of getting as much food as we could was especially for me, as Peeta was being a very loud foot today. He was stepping on every twig possible and was beginning to scare away all the animals. When I'd caught a squirrel and a rabbit, I decided that would be enough for us for now and to go back to where we decided to meet up. I got to the camp and saw several large piles of berries. Man, Peeta's been hard at work with the berry hunting. I thought. I walked over to them and noticed that the largest pile of berries were a sweet, blue colour – like blueberries. I reached down to the pile with excitement and picked one up. I'd only ever had blueberries once, and that was in one meal at the Capitol. They were much too of an expensive rare luxury for District 12. In fact, it was never even sold in the markets, not even in the Hob. Katniss had never found blueberries in the forest either, only ever strawberries. Wait. I thought pulling back the blueberry before I put it into my mouth. Blueberries don't grow in the forest - so where would Peeta of found them? That's when it hit me – they weren't blueberries. They were nightlock. Nightlock was a poisonous berry that if eaten would kill you the moment it was swallowed. My mind began to race as I threw the berry on the floor, appalled that I had almost eaten it without inspecting it properly. I knew Katniss would be screaming at the screen when I was about to eat it. I should of known better. I was just about to pick up and throw the berries away into the forest and to find Peeta to let him know about the unsafe berries when a canon went off. My mind began to race. Had Peeta eaten the berries already? My mind was screaming. I began to run around, speaking as loudly as I could to get Peeta to hear me, but trying not to be too loud so that other tributes could easily find me. "Peeta? Peeta!" My heart was thumping loudly through my chest, but Peeta's voice shouted nearby. "Prim?" he said. I looked up at the sky with my eyes closed and mouthed a thank you to someone out there that Peeta was alive and that the canon that just sounded wasn't for him. He quickly found me and gave me a tight hug. "You're not dead. You're not dead." He said breathily. I pulled away from him and saw that in his hands were a another handful of nightlock. "That's nightlock, Peeta. You'd be dead in a minute." I said, grabbing the berries out of his hand and throwing them on the ground. "I didn't know. I'm sorry." He apologised, smashing the berries into the forest floor and beginning to walk back to the place he'd put the other berries. We sat down next to the berries and I began to work through the different piles of them, telling him which ones were edible and not. It wasn't for a couple of minutes after throwing the inedible berries away from us that I saw the hand sticking out a couple of trees away. I pulled Peeta's shirt and pointed in the direction of the hand. Silently, Peeta and I got up and carefully walked over to the owner of the hand. I was greeted by the lifeless face of the District 5 girl. She had been the one who the canon was for. I saw a handful of the nightlock in her hands and knew what had killed her immediately. I bent down towards her dead body lying on the forest floor. I felt sorry for the poor girl. She must of felt like she was so close to winning. I pulled her eyelids so they would close. I couldn't stand her eyes just staring out at me. If they were closed, it would seem like she was just sleeping. I didn't want to face the fact she was dead. I hated seeing so much death – that's why I liked healing so much. At least with healing I know I'd of tried to help to save someone from death. "We'd better go," Peeta said. "So the hovercraft can take her body away." I nodded and slowly pulled myself away from the girl. It hit me that I didn't know what her name was, just like most of the other tributes that had died. We walked back to our pile of berries and continued our edible and inedible fashion as before only speaking when we had to. As we ate the edible berries I began to think that tonight in the arena would not be peaceful at all. The past few days had been slightly boring. The last two deaths had been bloodless, and considering that Peeta had gotten better over his infection, Capitol citizens would be getting edgy and tired of the lack of entertainment these past few days. The Gamemakers were surely going to interfere tonight, and there was pretty much nothing I could do to hold it off any longer as now there were only four of us left. And I sure as hell was never going to try and form a plan against Cato or Tresh. They were five times the size of me and could easily crush all of my bones in one try. Maybe tonight when the Gamemakers interfere would be when I died. My death was bound to happen soon. My death was pretty delayed in the Games. My heart crippled at the thought of my death and I dug my head into Peeta's chest to stifle my tears that were full of fear. Peeta put his arms around me comfortingly. I began to dread about how far he would go to protect me. How far would he go to save my life?
Le bump~! I probably disappointed lots of people because they thought this was an update. Well, I'm sorry!