I feel a huge lump in my throat begin to form. My arms are shaking and I can feel the food I scarfed down beginning to make a reappearance.
"We weren't alone?" I croak out. Peeta shakes his head.
"I was alone." He says. I stand silent and think about what he said. There was no one in the crevice when I was in there, so when I left, someone must have crawled in, unknowing to Peeta's presence of course, and then just left? It didn't make any sense.
"But why would whoever was in here just leave? Why didn't they stay?" I ask. Peeta puts his hand to his chin like he's thinking real hard.
"Maybe they did know I was in here." He says finally. I furrow my eyebrows and give him a look. "But--what?--that makes no sense. If they knew you were here, why didn't they kill you while they had the chance?" I ask, confused. Peeta makes no sense. How can-
"Cato!" I blurt out, understanding who was in the cave suddenly. Peeta looks at me as if he's asking for an explanation. "It had to have been Cato. He's the only one who's after both of us. He wouldn't kill one of us at a time alone. He would want both us of present to witness each other dying-"
"So he waited to catch us both together to attack again!" Peeta interrupts. I nod.
"So we need to move out of the cave now. Before he can strike again." I load my bow with arrows and we silently sneak back into the crevice to grab our things. Peeta--poor Peeta--is as loud as can be. I wish he warned me before that he wasn't the quietest sneaker.
"Peeta, could you be any louder?" I whisper. He shrugs and gives me an apologetic look. I creep into the crevice and grab our stuff, then make a run for the trees. We walk through the forest, which is greatly increasing in temperature, and try to find a new home.
"We'll never find any home that was as close to water as that crevice." Peeta says. I shake my head in protest, even though I know it's true. That stream was the closet thing to fresh water. There isn't any clean water like that for probably miles. It might take days to find it. And we don't have much time left to be searching for water anymore.
"Why don't we just find a tree to rest in?" I suggest. Peeta agrees. I scan the trees, and finally decide on a massive one that's been perfectly hidden among the branches. I stealthily climb up the branches and estimate it about twenty feet up so far. I keep climbing until I"m sure I have to be forty feet and place our packs down.
"Alright, Peeta, your turn." I say. Peeta starts to make his way up the first branch, but can't push himself up and crawls back down.
"I'm not a tree climber," He says. "can you help me get up?" I roll my eyes and grab his hand and pull him up the tree. We eat the rest of the crackers and dried fruit and finish off the water. I groan and hold my stomach as it lets out a gruesome growl. I'm starving. I haven't eaten much, even when I cook the food I catch. I'm a saver. I save everything so I have surpluses later.
The other tributes are probably feasting, with the food they found. I know that Cato, Clove (Before Peeta killed her), Marvel, and Axel were using the food supplies that they had. The rest of us had to hunt. I grit my teeth and ball up my fists in envy. How I wished that I didn't have to always be starving. How I wish I lived in the other districts that never ran out of food. How I wish-
"Sh. Do you hear that?" Peeta asks me in a low whisper. I strain my ears and can barely hear the soft rustle of leaves being crunched under someone's boot. I peer down to the ground, and see Cato making his way across the tree. He doesn't see us, and I clamp my hand over Peeta's mouth and put a finger to my lips. I notice Cato holding his leg--the same leg I stabbed him in--and limping. He cuffs his mouth with his free hand and calls out for Clove.
"Clove! Where are you? Clove!" His voice grows hoarse. I almost feel sorry for him, but glance at Peeta's shoulder and remember what he did. I am ready to scream out to Cato that Clove is dead, but Peeta grips my arm before I can. He shakes his head at me and glares. Cato stops in front of our tree and sits down. He groans and lifts his leg up to examine it. I use all my strength to resist myself from yelling at him, but I can't control it, and suddenly I feel my legs in the air and my hands flailing like crazy.
I land on the ground with a loud thud and I'm certain I broke something. Cato yells in surprise and I slowly raise myself up to look at him. He searching the area for his weapon and I spot it a foot away from him. I guess he spots it too, because we are both trying to reach it.
I hear Peeta's feet lead behind me and come to my rescue. I look at Peeta and he's loading his bow with an arrow. "
Stop, Peeta!" I scream. He looks at me surprisingly. I snap my head towards Cato.
"Is this what you want?" I ask. "To see us both witness each other dying?" Cato doesn't respond. His face is motionless and still. I pick myself off the ground and tell Peeta to leave. "Don't kill him yet." I tell him. Cato stands up and slowly backs away.
"Alright, I'm leaving." He says, and limps away from us. I hold my side and groan. Peeta pokes his finger in my side and I yelp out in pain. "I think one of your ribs are broken." He states. I nod my head and sit down. I know what to do. I've helped my mother fix tons of people in our house before that had broken bones. It's easy to know what to do.
But I have no materials. I have nothing but the pain reliever cream and leaves. Besides, I can't operate on myself. It'd be too hard. I grip my side tightly and tug at Peeta's hand with my free hand.
"Peeta, give me your shirt." I say. He yanks my hand away and gives me a look of disbelief. "What? My shirt?" He asks. I nod my head. "Your shirt! I need something to help keep my rib in place." I say. The pain is increasing intensely. I feel like I had been stabbed over and over. Peeta rips a piece of the shirt off of him and hands it to me.
"Not all of my shirt. Take this." I grab the fabric and set it next to me. I reach for a nearby stick and place it in front of my wound. I take the fabric and wrap it around the stick, so it stays in place. Peeta helps me up and grabs my arm as I start walking away.
"Where are you going?" He asks. "Our stuff is up there." I yank my hand free.
"So? I can't get to it, you can't get to it. What's the point of staying?" I snap at him. He drops his arm and silently follows.
I make it about two miles before I drop to the ground. Peeta is at my side immediately, holding my head in his hand.
"Prim? Prim? Are you ok?" He asks, his words jumbling and speaking faster than normal. I look a mess. I have a bandage still wrapped around my head, and to make it worse, I have a stick and a piece of clothing wrapped around my waist as a makeshift cast.If they even make casts for broken ribs.
"Peeta I'm fine." I say. "Let me up." Peeta grips onto my arm, forcing me to stay on the ground. "No, Prim. You need to rest or something." He snaps at me. I shake my head. "No Peeta. Let me up so we can keep walking. Hurry. Someone is going to find us." I say.
"I don't care who finds us, I'll kill them." He says. I give a half-hearted smile. "With what?" I ask. He shrugs. "I don't know, Prim, but you need to sleep. Now." I shake my head. "Peeta I can't. I need-"
"I'm no doctor like your mom Prim, but I know you need to sleep!" He yells. He's using the same voice he did when I stormed away from him.
I finally give in and throw myself on the ground. Peeta sighs and mutters a 'thank you'. I don't know how he expects me to sleep in the condition I'm in. It's burning hot, we have no food or water, I have a broken rib, my head hurts, and I'm not even tired. But almost instantly I shut my eyes and am off in dream land.
I am awaken by the sound of the anthem playing. It's dark out? Already? Why am I such a heavy sleeper? I look around and spot Peeta sitting next to me, in the same position he was in when I began sleeping.
"Hey Prim." He says. I look up to the sky and see Clove's face appear. Poor Cato, probably bawling right now. Good thing he deserves it. No other tributes. It takes me a moment to realize that besides Peeta and me, no one else in the games still has their partner alive. That just makes us twice as more vulnerable.
I groan and rest on the ground again. Peeta curls up next to me and offers to keep watch again. I shake my head and decide I'll do it. He doesn't hesitate to agree.
As he falls asleep, I begin to pick away at a pine cone. Now that Peeta and I are more likely to be targeted, I must make a plan. I want Peeta to live. He has much more of a future than I do. He's got his whole family back at home. I, on the other hand, have only my mother left. Katniss is gone, my father is gone, everyone I love is disappearing from me. It'd be best to let Peeta go on. I wipe the tear suddenly forming in my eye. It's been decided.
I'm going to risk everything to keep Peeta alive.
Suddenly, I hear stomping from a distance away. The low growl of something makes my hairs on my neck stand. I try not to panic, but can't help freaking out a little when I remember that I have no weapons. And then, I see them. The animals that the Capitol created. The Tigers.
"Peeta, wake up!" I shout as I violently shake him. He rubs his eyes and gives me an upset look. I point to the Tigers and tell him that they're back. He instantly awakes and his already up, sticking his hand out to me.
I let him help me up and then we are running. I am running as fast as I can, and am able to keep up with Peeta, but know we are no match for the Tigers. They are almost near us, getting inches closer. I can't climb anywhere, because my rib is broken. It already hurts to run now. And suddenly, I collapse on the ground, leaving myself open for the Tigers to get me.
"Peeta keep running, go!" I yell. He shakes his head and runs back for me. The tigers get closer, and I close my eyes and prepare myself for what's about to happen. Peeta's hand touches my arm, and is immediately pulled away by something. I think the tigers got him, but when I open my eyes, I see the boy from district 7, Kelin, standing above me with a knife in his hand.
*~**~~*~
Omigosh I'm sorry for the late update and crappy ending but...no, no excuse. I hope you're happy with the story though, until next time! Bye!(: