The Overlooked

Chapter 16: Saving Katniss

The careers are still at the base of the tree, but they're sleeping. Now is my chance, last night I thought up a plan, I'm going to see if I can get Katniss to see me without raising attention, then I'll try to show her motions for what she should do. I figure she could drop the tracker jacker nest on them, that would give them a reason to run away and leave their position under the tree so Katniss can get out of there. I'm relying on two things

That Katniss has to have a knife to cut the branch

That she'll trust me enough to listen

I can only hope that she does trust me, otherwise it's no use. I slowly scale a branch that looks over to Katniss's tree. Before I get to far out on the branch I check to make sure all the careers are sleeping. Clove stirs but stays sleeping. Nows my chance

"Pss." I say 

She looks for the sound

"Pssssssss." I say again trying not to make it to loud

She spots me and stares. I stare back and mouth 'I'm here to help' she looks at me, searching for any signs of attack or lies. She nods, and I start to act out what she has to do, I start by pointing up. She looks up and I can hear her gasp as she realizes she's sitting under deadly wasps. She looks back, fear is clearly be portrayed in her eyes.

I continue, I make a cutting motion with my arm on the branch I'm on. She looks up and back at me, I point down to the careers. It takes her a second to understand but then she looks over at me, our eyes lock. I don't want to break the connection, I can almost feel her gratitude, and that's the closest thing I've felt to love in this arena. She nods and looks up. She starts to get up and climb to the nest.

I know I have to get a head start if I'm going to get to safety. I start hopping as quiet as I can, trying not to wake the careers. I keep going deeper into the woods when a thought comes to mind

Peeta!

He's with the careers, he'll get attacked to! I can only hope he escapes soon enough, if he wakes up in time. I keep going until I hear the signs of Katniss's success

A shrill scream echoes through the woods.

I turn my head around, I can't see them, but I know whats happening, Katniss dropped the nest. That or they killed Katniss, but that didn't sound like Katniss's voice. I keep hopping, hoping not to hear the sound of buzzing coming closer. After a while I stop and rest. I lean against the tree and look up into the sky, I can only hope Katniss won't be up there tonight. After about an hour of sitting there thinking, I get bored.

There hasn't been a sign of any other tributes, so I decide to take a walk. Hopping around in the tree's can make your back hurt, and since I've been doing so much of it lately it's starting to make me sore.

I decide to walk back to the tracker jacker nest. It takes a while but I make it. The nest is completely deserted, no sign of anyone or anything. Just the empty shell of the nest. I do see blood smears, which must be from someone who got attacked. With everything in me I hope its not Katniss.

***

I reach into my backpack to put the leftover berries I picked. I just finished searching the forest for something to eat. I found some apples, a big treat. I picked as much as I could carry in my small pack and stuffed myself to the rim. I start looking for a place to camp, it's going to be dark soon. I walk into a small grasy clearing. As I walk in I trip and find myself falling to the ground. I look back to see what I tripped over.

It's Katniss! I hold my breath, is she still alive or did she just die? I check her pulse, and I find she's very much alive, but hurt. There are three large bumps on her body: Tracker Jacker stings.