Darker And Colder

1.12: The Arena

Chapter 12
Peeta's POV

The sun blinds me and it takes a few seconds to see my surroundings.

The golden cornucopia is in front of me, on a patch of sand. There are spokes of sand running down separating off slices of salty-smelling water that hold two tributes each. Behind me there is a beach that slopes up to jungle. I try to look for Katniss, but I can't see her, so I assume she is the other side of the cornucopia.

There is so much water. It is so hot. I want to jump into the water, but living in District 12, I have no idea how to swim.

After exactly a minute, the gong goes.

I am stuck on the plate, unsure of what to do. I notice Katniss at the cornucopia. I can see she shares a brief conversation with Finnick and then spots me. She runs down a strip of sand, Finnick following.

I can tell she is ready to dive in the water but Finnick stops her and launches himself across the water to me. He puts his arms up on the metal plate and I can see Haymitch's gold band on his wrist.

"Guess we're allies then," I say. 

I jump in and he pulls me over to the strip of sand with Katniss on. I get up and hug her. "Hello again," I say kissing her, "We have allies."

"Yes. Just like Haymitch Intended," she says back.

"Remind me, did we make deals with anyone else?"

She tucks a strip of wet black hair behind her ear, stepping back a little, looking around to make sure nobody else is coming for us. "Just Mags I think." I turn to see the old woman standing beside me.

"Well," Finnick chimes in, "I can't leave Mags behind. She's one of the few people who actually like me."

"Katniss wanted her on the first day," I say, and smile.

Finnick replies, "Katniss has remarkably good judgement."

Suddenly Katniss doubles over, clutching her stomach.

I rush to her, "Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"Cramps," I hear her say.

Finnick looks around as if unsure of what to do in this situation, and then states, "we need to get weapons and get out of here." I nod and, seeing Katniss is finding it hard to move, pick her up.

Finnick and Mags load themselves up with weapons and pass me a few, and we run down a strip of sand to the jungle. I find it hard with my artificial leg, carrying Katniss and the fact that even walking on sand is hard. We soon get far into the jungle and have to stop because there is a slope. We begin to walk up the slope and Katniss clings to me. As we are walking I talk to her.

"You sure you're ok? Can I help?"

"I'm fine. It just hurts. A lot. But I get cramps like this on my period sometimes so I can deal with it. Where are we going?"

"As far from the Cornucopia as possible, I'm guessing."

After a while her cramps stop and I can put her down, which is good because I didn't want to say but my arms have started aching.

We get quite far up the slope, with Finnick at the front, slashing at the foliage with his knife, and Katniss screams for him to stop. Finnick turns.

"What is it?" he asks.

Katniss points in front of him, "There is a force field right there." She sees us all looking at her, puzzled and adds, "I can hear it... huh, just with the ear the Capitol reconstructed." It is such an obvious lie, but as me and Haymitch are probably the only people who can pick it out, I don't say anything.

♤♤♤

It begins to go dark and we still haven't found any water. Mags found some nuts earlier, and Finnick says there is bound to be seafood in the water, but no-one suggests going back down there because the Careers are likely there.

I can tell Katniss is exhausted so I suggest setting up camp for the night.

Mags weaves mats out of tall grass she sees, and Finnick helps her secure them into a shelter.

I vote to have first watch, because I know everyone else is tired, and if I can, I want to talk to Katniss as alone as possible. I know at the with the cameras there will never be a truly private moment for the both of us ever again, but I don't want Finnick listening in.

Mags says something unintelligible that I assume means she is ok with me having first watch, and Finnick agrees. They are both asleep within half an hour and it is just me and Katniss left awake.

"Peeta?"

I turn to Katniss to show I'm listening.

"What are we going to do? I trust Mags, but I'm not sure about Finnick. I mean, I don't want to kill either of them, but... I'm also not sure if I can trust them to keep you alive." She looks so fragile.

"Hey," I say softly, "don't worry about me. Worry about yourself. You need to keep yourself safe and I'm going to make sure that you are safe too."

At this she looks concerned. "Peeta, if I'm going to be looking after both of us so do you. You have to look out for yourself too." I look away. "Peeta, please."

"Katniss, it really doesn't matter if I look after myself or not. I'm not getting out of here alive, so I might as well just concentrate on getting you out of here."

I decide to turn back to her again, and she looks so horrified with me, it feels like someone is holding my heart out of my reach and stamping on it again and again.

"How dare you say that," she retorts angrily. "I am not letting you die in here-"

"Well you are going to have to." Her face turns into a look of genuine hurt. I don't normally lash out like this, and I feel bad as soon as I say it. "I have to get you and the baby out alive. Besides, if I didn't make it back nobody would really care."

"What about me? You think I won't care?"

"Maybe you will, but you would get on with your life. You wouldn't be tied to me, you would be free to live your life how you want. You could find someone else, live with your family, or on your own and you wouldn't be harassed by people to be with me if you didn't want to."

She stares right into my eyes. They look so kind yet so harsh. "And what if I want to be with you? Peeta, I love you, do you not see that? Okay I know sometimes I shut people out, but if you died and I lived I would be so broken."

I go to talk and she kisses me. And I kiss back. We fit together perfectly, and I don't want anything else. I don't care about the cameras. I let the whole world see that I love her and nobody else.

Eventually we break away, and I let her fall asleep, to leave me guarding all three of them.

♤♤♤

Katniss's POV

I walk among the meadow. The flowers are so pretty. Orange. Peeta's favourite colour. I see him sitting with a child, a baby girl. I go to lie down by him. It feels so nice. So warm. Then he starts shouting.

"KATNISS, KATNISS WAKE UP!"

I jolt out of my dream and see Peeta.

"KATNISS WAKE UP, WE HAVE TO GO!"