"Allies?" "Always."

Chapter 25

The first one jumps at me with incredible speed and height. I lift my sword and the mutt falls onto the blade. The first thing I notice about these mutts is that they don't bleed.

I see the rest charging toward me and I decide that I've held them off long enough.

I stumble toward the Cornucopia as fast as my bad leg will take me. When I make it to the clearing used for the Game's starting point, I see Cato laying on top of the golden horn, catching his breath; and Katniss standing at the bottom. She shoots and takes down one of the mutts that got too close for comfort.

I wave her up the horn. "Go, Katniss! Go!"

She seems to effortlessly scale up the side of it. I make it to the hot metal and start to climb, when one of their rasor sharp claws catches the back of my leg. I cry out then continue to climb.

When I get close enough to the top, Katniss grabs my arm and pulls me the rest of the way up. I look to Cato, who's staring at the mutts and doubled over in pain. "Can they climb it?" He breathes.

We don't answer becuase we don't know, ourselves.

The mutts regroup. They easily stand on their hind legs, giving them a disturbing edge.

Katniss lets out a scream and shoots an arrow in its throat. I reach for her arm in a frenzy. "Katniss?"

"It's her!" She shouts.

"Who?" I ask. She doesn't respond. "What is it, Katniss?" I shake her shoulders.

"It's them! It's all of them! The others! Rue and Foxface and...all the other tributes!"

When I get a good look at them, I gasp. Some of them have straight coats, some are curly. Some are blond, red, and every natural hair color in between. There's a blond, fairly good sized one with its tight pink lips snarling. It has a 1 in laid with jewels. Its green eyes are unmistakable, Glimmer. And the worst, the smallest mutt with dark glossy fur, huge brown eyes, and a colar that reads 11 in woven straw. Rue...

"What did they do to them? You don't think...those are their real eyes?"

She doesn't answer that either. She doesn't have time to before the tributes begin their attack on the horn. They've split into two groups, both trying to jump up to us. They can jump pretty high.

Higher than expected.

Another one grabs my calf, right where they got earlier, and rips it open deeper. I scream louder than I ever have. With its claws latched in me, it tries to drag me off the side and into its feeding grounds.

Katniss grabs my arm with both of her hands and uses all her strength to keep me on. "Kill it, Peeta! Kill it!" I reach for my sword, which is laying on the edge of the Cornucopia. It flew from my hands when I fell. Luckily, it stayed close enough to grab.

I stab it in the face and its claws retract. Only then did I see the inside of it. It's a mix of darkness and mechanics. They aren't real.

She hauls me back onto my feet, or should I say foot? The excruciating pain won't let me stand on my left leg any longer.

Katniss takes down another mutt as I get jerked out of her grasp. Cato holds me in a headlock. I can barely breathe. I claw at him arm, trying to loosen his death grip. Nothing is working. I am no less than screwed.

Katniss aims an arrow at his head and I get hopeful. All that hope is leached away when Cato lets out a maniacal laugh. "Go on. Shoot me, Katniss. Then he goes down with me."

That doesn't faze me. I know my girl is smart, and she can definitely take a hint. With some blood from my calf dripping off if my fingers, I draw an X on the back of his hand. I can feel myself getting dizzier and my chest trying to tear itself open from lack of oxygen.