Kindred

Chapter Four

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Chapter Four

Clove twirled her knife around in front of Katniss' eyes, her own green orbs gleaming with intimidation. "Let's see if the world will love you with an ugly face!" she hissed angrily. She spat in Katniss' face, her saliva burning into Katniss' skin like acid. When she tried to scream, Clove slapped her hand over her mouth. "No point in screaming, fire bitch! Nobody's going to hear you! Certainly not lover boy!" Clove burst out laughing, the sound like nails scraping down a blackboard. The career grinned wolfishly, swung her arm up in a perfect arch before slamming her knife down into Katniss' cheek. Pain exploded across Katniss' face and blood splattered Clove, the red standing out on her pale face. Clove drove her knife in deeper and, with a maniacal giggle that gave away her lack of sanity, she began to twist-

Katniss awoke with her arms flailing around herself as if to knock her assailant over. She was covered in a thick layer of cold sweat and her bedcovers were tangled around her legs so tight that it almost felt knotted. Katniss felt a hand against her head and she jumped, looking up at the perpetrator with a shocked yelp. She knocked the hand away, momentarily believing it was Clove and she was back in the Games, but as the nightmare melted away and it became clear she had only been dreaming, Katniss saw who it really was.

"I'm sorry," Peeta immediately said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Katniss stared at him wildly. Her chest heaved as she fought to catch her breath and it took her several minutes to come down from what she had just experienced. She couldn't even find words until at least five minutes after Peeta had spoken. The lamp by her bedside had been switched on and he stood against the wall, probably after she had hit his hand away to give her space. As she slowly calmed down, ringing grew in her ears. No, not ringing . . . crying. Then she saw that Peeta was holding Willow.

"What's wrong with her?" Was the first thing Katniss said.

A little surprised, since he didn't expect that to be the first thing she'd say to him after having such a violent nightmare, Peeta answered, "She's just unsettled. All the sleeping earlier has caused her to not want to sleep tonight." He stepped closer to Katniss' bed, making no move to touch her again. "Are you alright?"

Katniss shrugged. She looked away. That was two nights in a row she had caused him to come into her room to make sure she was okay. How stupid she must seem to him.

"I heard you saying Clove's name," Peeta said gently.Hearing the career's name out loud made Katniss' face screw up as she fought away memories of the girl pining her down and threatening to cut her face off just so that Cato got comfort in knowing that she died painfully and horribly."I never told you about the careers, did I?" Peeta asked.

Katniss stared at him. What did he mean? What was there to tell? She drew her knees up to her chest and gestured with her head for him to sit, curious to what he was going to tell her. When Peeta sat down, he laid Willow on her back on the bed. She made a displeased sound, obviously unhappy with not being held all the time, but thankfully stopped crying.

"I spent days with the careers. Hunting, gathering, taking watch. You know, all the general stuff you do in the Games. In that time I got to know much more about them than I thought they would. I thought I'd go to bed every night with my spear clutched in my hands, worried that Cato was going to drive his sword into my back as I slept," Peeta explained.

"Why didn't you just leave then?" Katniss asked.

"Well, first of all I had to keep them away from you. Since you had this weird infatuation with unwittingly becoming career enemy number one in everything you did." Peeta smiled. "They really are just like us. The careers I mean."