The Girl On Fire | Hunger Games | Peeta (1)

Chapter 14

It's the morning of day five in the arena. Alessia has lit a big fire, lots of smoke fly above head. She leaves it behind, setting out in search of Peeta.

She walks through a stream - crouched, like a hunter. She follows it for what seems like hours. Scouting, eating her bread... when she spots a canteen. Empty. She keeps going. Then stops. At her feet, a barely visible footprint...

She kneels down, letting some sand sift through her fingers. The sand falls into another footprint. She gets on her belly, blows the sand away, revealing a cleaner looking print. 

It's pointing North. She follows...

Moving quietly, until she sees a red smudge on a boulder; blood. She stops, draws her knife, eyes darting in every direction. But she doesn't see anything. So she starts moving again - through leaves - cautiously, delicately - trying not to make a sound, wishing her hearing was working better...

...When a voice pokes through, completely disembodied.

"I'm not dead."

Alessia freezes. The voice seemed like it came from below her feet. Peeta's voice. He grumbles, "Just buried."

He lies on this forest floor - camouflaged beneath mud, leaves, and twigs. His eye is the only part that can be seen. "Peeta! What're you doing down there?" Alessia asks in slight shock.

"Well, mornings I spend recovering from the Tracker-Jackers you dropped on my head. Afternoons and evenings I spend mostly bleeding to death," Peeta says while trying to take off the dirt.

She kneels down, lifts his head out of the mud, pulls a water-skin from her bag, puts it on his lips. Peeta takes a big gulp and says, "This means you heard the announcement? I guess we're on the same team now." Alessia nods, "Could that be real? Could we really make it out of here?"

Peeta shrugs, "I'll believe it if you do." He sits up, wincing in pain. Alessia notices, "Are you hurt?"

No reply. Then she sees it, something uneven about the contour of his mud-caked leg. He shrugs, won't explain. So, she brushes away some of the gunk camouflaging him - until it's right there, gaping at her. A gash, in his leg. Hidden by mud but deep. Very. Damn it.

"Cato. When he found out I was trying to help you," Peeta blurts out.

Alessia sighs in frustration, "I can fix it, Peeta." Peeta doesn't believe her one bit, "Oh, you've got a hospital handy?"

Alessia rolls her eyes, "My mom was a healer once with Katniss' mom, remember? We saw all kinds of injuries from guys in the mines - just need to get you cleaned up so I can see how deep it goes. Can you walk?"

She grabs his hands and yanks him to his feet. Literally.

He staggers, utterly unable to bear his own weight. She catches him, their faces suddenly an inch apart....

"And remember, we're madly in love. So any time you want to kiss me, feel free," Peeta hesitates to say. She blushes but is able to hide it from the hot suns already making their faces red and burnt. "Thanks... um, have you eaten?" She asks. Peeta shakes his head, "No." One soldier carrying another off the battlefield.

Alessia gets him to the riverbank, props him up against a rock, spreads her plastic sheet on the ground beneath him.

Peeta looks around, "This isn't smart. You shouldn't be out in the open like this."

She fills her water-jug in the river, returns to his side, starts searching for his jacket-zipper. Dried mud hides it. Peeta continues to talk, "Frosting. The last defense of the dying." Alessia shakes her head, "Nobody's dying."