The Hunger Games: Peeta's POV

Chapter Eighteen

UPDATE: Well, here's chapter eighteen!!! I don't know if I'll update this weekend be cause I'm going on a retreat!!! Hope you enjoy!!! Comment, vote, and follow!!! 💗
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Peeta's POV-
Before I can even catch a glimpse of Katniss, there is a stinger making its way into my flesh. A surge of pain shoots through me and out of pain, I scream.

I hear panicked cries of, "To the lake! To the lake!" And I know where to go. I sprint for the fresh water that will free me of this unbearable pain. It feels like a thousand bees, however the pain is much worse, due to the fact that these are mutations the capital created.

We all sprint for the lake. My lungs are beginning to burn, but I don't care. I don't care!

We finally make our way to the cornucopia and leap into the lake.

I'm immediately relieved. The water washes away the awful mutations. The awful things that could kill me at any moment. They buzz away, and some of them drown. However, the pain of the stings I've received is still present.

All the pain sinks in when the water touches my damaged skin and all of us are screaming in pain.

We finally manage to get up and out of the water with the stings still laying on our flesh, but the pain has gone down.

"I know who did this!" Cato screams as soon as we're on land again. "It was her! She did this!" It was obvious that Katniss was the one who did this. She was the only one up in the tree who could make that nest come down on us. There's a question itching in the back of my head, and somehow I know there's not a good answer. What are they going to do to her? The answer is obvious. Kill her or at the very least injure her badly.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" The insane boy screams, not bothering to acknowledge the fact that all of the tributes probably heard him.

Panic shoots through me, like my insides are being squeezed inside out. They're going to kill her! No. I tell myself. No they will not kill her.

I'm going to protect her like I promised myself I would.

Without even thinking, I make a run for it which quickly breaks into a sprint. My lungs burn and they scream for breath, but I just keep running. I can hear Cato's screams behind me telling me he's going to kill me, but I still am set on finding Katniss.

I'm running for only two minutes and then she comes into view. She stands clueless on the ground with a silver bow and arrows in hand.

What is she doing here?!

I want to ask her to be allies with me, but the only thought that comes to my mind is to get her out. Tell her to get to safety. Away from this insane boy.

"Run!" I scream as my words boom in the arena. "Run! Katniss go! Get out of here go! What are you doing?!" She looks up at me with confused eyes. I clear it up with one final word. "GO!" She takes off and Cato arrives.

"Where the hell is she lover boy?!" I stand there helpless with only a spear in hand and he has who knows how many weapons? "Well?!" He demands. "Where is she?!" I still stand there and he chuckles in a sickly sweet way. "I know what you did. You helped her. It was your plan all along, wasn't it? To turn on us at the last second?" In answer I stand still in silence.

I raise my spear in defense, but Cato walks up to me and shoves it out of my hands. What do I do?! I panic. I have nothing to defend myself with. It takes me a moment to except the fact that I'm as good as dead.

"Please! No!" He raises his sword without thinking and cuts me in my leg.

Pain explodes through out my body. I don't know what kind of pain. Just pain. Very painful pain. I don't know how bad this cut is, but I can't move so it's obviously very severe. "Good luck recovering from that one, lover boy!" He walks away without another word.

Why would he leave me still alive? Why wouldn't he just kill me and hear the cannon sound and be done with me? And then it hits me. He wants me to die, but in the slowest and most painful way possible.

For a while, I just lay there, helpless and I'm not sure what to do, but I realize I don't want anyone to find me. I have to disguise myself, but if I do it here, where I lay, I won't be near a water source and I won't last very long.

I prop myself up with the little bit of strength I have and begin to hop on my good leg, south.

After about an hour, I find a good spot to lay and camouflage myself. A place with a small stream and a rocky surface.

I look back behind me and realize I have left a small trail of blood, but I don't bother to cover it up. I'm going to die eventually. Why not now?

I fall to my knees and begin to dig a hole. I finally manage and begin to bury myself in moss and mud.
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Over the course of the next few days I experience pain and the cannon fires a few times, but I don't listen. Why can't that cannon be for me? I think. I wish I could just lay here and die like I was meant to.

And then the trumpets sound which usually signifies a feast of some sort. Claudius Templesmith's voice booms through the arena.

"Attention tributes! Attention!" He says. "The regulations requiring a single victor, have been revoked!" I have an itch of hope in the back of my mind. "From now on two victors can be crowned, if both originate from the same district." I almost jump out of my little hole, but the pain holds me back. "This will be the only announcement."

Where are you Katniss? Please come and find me!

I would get up and try to find her, but the pain is unbearable and I can only form one clear thought:

I hope I don't die before she finds me.