Peeta looks up at the sky. “Effie, you are an angel. Thank you.” He blows her a kiss before he removes his backpack to put the items away, planning on drawing from memory.
“Hey Bread Boy, why don’t you go climb one of those upside down tree looking thingies and wait for us. The rest of us will go in farther and see if we can find any more tributes.” Clove suggests. She is intrigued to see if he’s as good as their escort makes him sound.
“I agree with Clove, Peeta,” adds Katniss. “I’ve seen your work and I bet this will be a nice challenge for you.”
Madge pipes in. “I think you should stay as well. You are really talented; I’ve seen your work too. Plus, I bet the others left behind would have loved to have been here to see this, including your brothers.”
“Marvel, Thresh I’ll only stay if you agree as well,” Peeta says looking at the other two members of the group that haven’t spoken yet. “I have no problem sticking with the group and drawing this from memory.”
“I say if you’re as good as Katniss and Madge say you are, I have no problem with you staying,” Marvel says. “I admit that I’d like to see your work.”
“Stay Peeta, this may be an opportunity that you may never get again. Take it while you can,” says Thresh. Peeta catches the hidden message – there may not be another chance for him to draw again for a while, especially if and when they get rescued.
“Thanks guys, but I’ll only agree to this if we set a time to meet back here, say two hours?” he asks. “There are still a lot more tributes out there.” They all agree to the two hour meet up time and as soon as Peeta is situated in the tree, they leave.
“See you in two hours Peet,” Katniss calls back to him. He doesn’t answer back as he’s already begun to draw.
The heat of the savannah may have been the only saving grace for the group. Had it been cooler, the pride of lions they saw on a rocky outcrop not too far away could have killed them. They did find a watering hole that contained what they thought looked like floating logs. But when a pack of wild dogs approached for a drink, one of the ‘logs’ moved in to attack. Needless to say, the group moved away quickly and quietly, keeping a sharp eye out for more of the wildlife.
After an hour of walking and not finding any tributes, it was decided to head back to Peeta and possibly head to another part of the arena before regrouping with the rest of their friends for the night. Clove is leading the group back, flipping a knife in her hand as she walks. She sees something moving in the grass in front of her and throws the knife. When she goes to investigate what she hit, she finds an 8 foot long dead snake. She retrieves her knife. Thresh walks over and picks the snake up, wrapping it in a piece of plastic that was in his backpack. When asked why he was did it, he simply replied, “Foxface can tell us what it is.” They continue on. They find Peeta still in his tree, his tongue sticking out over his bottom lip, as he is entirely focused on what he’s doing.
“Hello Bread Boy! You might want to put your tongue away. If Cato finds out you were ‘flashing’ it at us, it could cause problems.” She yells up at him laughing at her own joke.
Peeta is startled at Clove’s voice, nearly falling out of the tree, so involved in getting the blending of colors in his drawing just right. He closes the book and puts everything in his backpack before climbing down. “I was able to get three drawings done. I can’t wait to show everyone! You guys don’t mind waiting do you?” He takes off his backpack to take a drink of water.
“We can wait Peeta. We want to try –”
Before Katniss can finish her sentence, Peeta has pulled out his ninja stars and, flicking his wrist, shoots them past the group in a blur of silver. The cannon blast goes off, startling them. It happened so fast even Clove was standing there with her mouth agape. As Peeta walks by her, he places two fingers under her chin to gently close her mouth.
Chapter 9: Day 2: Tribute Hunting
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