Catching Fire: The New Story

Chapter 48

Katniss's POV

I lay my head on Peeta's shoulder for a while after our talk about the baby. In the quietness, it was soothing and relaxing. The silliness of the day has passed and the quiet takes over. Peeta gets to sketch in his book, using lavish colors to create the most beautiful things. I get to rest like I should be, with the baby and all, I will need all the rest I need.

After too much time spent taking advantage of the stillness, Peeta takes me up stairs. He carries, seeing I am extremely tired. Making a baby takes a lot of work out of a woman. Peeta suggests we nap for a while, and I agree. Before he can tell me anymore, I am already asleep. We wake up later in the evening. Peeta wants to make something to eat, but he asks before he starts.

"Are you hunting today?" I nod.

"Want to come?" I ask, excited to leave the house after the bland day. I have never asked Peeta to hunt with me, or at least tag along to watch. I don't think he has ever been in the woods, besides the day of his birthday. And then I only took him to the cliff, not too far into the woods where someone was watching us for protection while we had an eventful day.

"Okay." His voice holds no nerves, somehow I feel like it holds bravado of his fear. I suit up in my father’s hunting jacket that I no longer keep in my old home, a tank top, a knitted black sweater, pants torn at the knee and my old boots. Peeta dresses in his normal clothes, which is fine since he won’t be hunting and have to move around a lot. We fill up with the lunch Peeta made while I was changing, then head into the cool, yet windy day. The wind will cover how heavy Peeta’s steps are.

"Is Gale going to be there?" Peeta asks walking a few steps behind me. I shake my head. It is not Sunday, so Gale won't be out of the mines until the sun in down and it is dark in Twelve.

We make it to the fence with no distractions, no one was really out today roaming around at this time. Adults had work, children were in school, and the shops were going slow. I carefully pull myself under the inoperative fence. I help Peeta out of the Seam and into the woods.

I sigh and start my walk, holding the jacket closer to my body. My boots leave print on the olden snow as Peeta follows not far behind. At times, I can feel his body heat an inch away from my back. He makes no noise since the snow has covered the floor of the woods. The sun has been trapped behind light gray clouds and the shadows are light against the ugly gray of the snow.

"Do you have a bow and arrow?" Peeta asks quietly, he would never ask me anything like this inside the fences, for if someone heard I would be arrested. Here, we are safe from the Capitol’s ears. I nod. I look for the hollow tree that had been thrown down for years now and is becoming decomposed by insects. I find it quickly and snatch the weapon from the hole. I sling the arrows over my shoulder and hand Peeta a knife I keep just in case of emergencies.

We start walking deeper into the woods were the animals hide in the winter. The arena soon comes back to me through blotches of panic. The dried trees of the woods change and they are rebuilt with wild leaves and mutts roaming them and the land they grow from. The sun shines through instead of deep clouds that make the day cold. It is hot and I am tired and weak from running. I stand in place, looking around as if for the first time, yet I have seen this picture thousands of times in my sleep.

I bring myself back to reality when Peeta calls me a little too loudly for the woods.

"Shhh," I command. He nods, giving me a sorrowful look, and walks a bit closer to me, keeping one hand centimeters from my lower back. It brings shivers up my back when his fingers graze the covered skin. We shuffle down a little hill besides a much larger one and stop. The cabin would be far to travel to and would take up all of our day getting there and back, but I consider it. Then, soon enough, accept.

We start forward again, Peeta never questioning or making a sound when I stop to listen for animals nearby. I take time to quicken my pace, Peeta following. He never notices, but he does indeed jump when I shoot. His face is surprised every time, his eyes blink at the little noise my bow makes when I release. That little noise echoes through the woods. I smile at him. Peeta, vexed by his own behavior and my reaction, picks up the game I have shot, I stuff it in my hunting bag once he hands it to me.

After what seemed like hours, which was only about one and thirty, maybe forty, minutes, we made it to the cabin. The small cement walls still stood in the evening air and the inside looked vacant. The other rubble of houses were laying away from the one left, the snow hiding most of it away.

I turned and raised my bow at the sound of a snapped twig somewhere behind me. I look around. Only Peeta stood in my sight, along with the many trees hiding us from views that might be around, no one else was there. I could see Peeta had his knife raised as well, probably to protect me. As if I need protection in my woods, I haven’t even told him stories from my times here. I don’t think I should tell him anyway. Peeta would never let me come back if he knew what has happened past the border of twelve.

I keep my arrow up and aimed at the air for a few minutes. I check around with Peeta at my tail, almost standing against my back, bringing the shivers again. The woods seem deserted of people and animals besides us. I only gained a few pieces of game to sell over our trip here.

"What are we doing here anyway?" Peeta asks over my shoulder, making me jump this time.

"To hunt, Peeta," I say quietly turning to him. "But everything seems… different."

It wasn't because Peeta's presents that made it seemed different. Everything seemed normal when I brought him on his birthday, normal even now. Better than normal, almost like I have always needed him by my side and now I have him. Maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me, making the twig snap in my head, but Peeta seemed to have heard it too. My gut says something is wrong, maybe not wrong but different.

I was growing more paranoid as the time passed in the silence of waiting, such different feel from the silence earlier, the silence I wished Peeta and I stood in now. Peeta being in the woods with me is something I do not do every day, and I know it won’t be an every day thing. It is hard enough to get out of trouble with just myself to watch out for, Gale makes it ten times harder for he is as hard headed as I, but Peeta is here. This would be a mission I might fail if something goes wrong in the next few minutes.

I take a few steps toward the cement cabin house, the only place I thought was secure to leave alone because it was empty. Soon enough as I crawl closer, I hear whispers coming from inside the walls.

I turn back to Peeta with a questioned face of who could possibly be inside. He shrugged. I raised my bow, waiting for anything to come out of the cabin.

When the man stepped out, I noticed how his clothes were ragged and fit too big for his small figure, his hair tangled and a bit too long, like how Peeta’s was before we won the Games. The man looked filthy, dirt and black smeared across his face and hands, like he had been in a fire. His limped movement reminded me of Peeta from months ago when he was learning to control his prosthetic, but that was unnoticeable to me now.

I didn't expect this man to look so distinct, but he looked like he belonged in Twelve, like he worked in the mines. His hands and who figure covered in ash and dirt from working. He reminds me of Gale for a second, the way his hair had flopped to cover his eyes because he is too stubborn to cut it when he has the time.

Peeta jumped forward when the man brought a gun to sight. A woman came rushing out of the cabin, grabbing hold of the man’s arm with the gun. In one of her hands I noticed, was a cookie. But it wasn’t an ordinary cookie, it was more like a cracker, square and dried. It had my Mockingjay pin printed onto it.



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Author’s Note:

Now we’re going somewhere. Since I don’t have school tomorrow because of Veterans Day, I will be revising and updating things. Yaaay (btw if you don’t know what Veterans Day is, it’s an American thing to celebrate the soldiers after the day of World War II, its crazy stuff I know I won’t get into it but it’s a holiday so no school)

Keep reading guys!

~Jez xo