Catching Fire: The New Story

Chapter 50

Katniss's POV

I leave Peeta by the electrical fence alone. My instructions for him were pursuantly first, to not come near or touch the fence no matter what happened. I warn him that he could get electrocuted and that wouldn't help us in this crisis. Second, to follow me against the fence and watching me wherever I go, left or right, up a tree and back. And lastly, to stay as quiet as he possibly can. And with Peeta, I don't think that's going to be well of a rule for him.

"Run if someone comes, run as fast as you can. Don't wait for me. You'll get yourself killed," I say. He seems worried. Not for himself but for me. If he's gone, I'll be stuck in the woods forever, or until the fence turns off, although I doubt that will happen any time soon. Being trapped in the woods is something that I could learn to accept. I shake my head of that wonderful thought and step back into the darkness of the forest. I looked around for a gigantic and tall tree. I find many with branches too short to ever reach over the fence and too thin to hold onto. If they aren't long enough or sturdy enough, I won't make it out. Then Peeta would go crazy. I don't want that. No one wants that.

I find one far out enough. The trunk of the tree is frost bit and as hard as the earth beneath me. I try to climb but find myself slipping in my grasp with my gloves on. I consider taking them off, which would bring frost bite to my fingers. I brush that thought off.

I look around and find yet another tree too wide in rage to climb with too little branches low enough for me to reach. I then settle on a thin tree with branches big enough to hold my weight besides one tree with a long enough branch to give me the chance to get inside the district. I find Peeta straight ahead, staring at me in worry. I walk to him and explain what I am going to do to get out.

"You’re crazy if you think I'm letting you do that!" Peeta states. I roll my eyes and smile. "Trust me." He nods and smiles along.

My plan is to climb the smaller tree, carefully, Peeta added to my plan. Jump from each limb to the one I am waiting on for to hold me for long enough time. Then I sit on the branch and slide to the end. I jump onto the roof of an old abandoned house where the branch ends, slide down and Peeta catches me.

I see so many flaws in this plan, so many things can miscalculate in seconds, but it's worth a shot. We have nothing else to work with but Mother Nature. The trees and my strength, which is all I have to work with at the moment.

I pull myself onto a slim branch of the smaller tree. All Peeta can do is stand back and watch, his eyes are full of fear of me falling, yet filled with the encouraging words he wants to utter to me. I hope I don't fall. I have taken a fall or two before. Actually, multiple times, but Gale has always been there to take me home afterwards. I almost broke my back once. I am glad I didn't, but I am still afraid of doing this, the child like fear of heights too high even for me. I rarely have to climb this high into a tree to be protected from a wild boar or just to aim better. Maybe fifty feet or more was the branch I need to reach. Peeta was small from this distance.

"Katniss, be careful!" he shouted.

"Shut up!" I screamed back. He did as told and I sat on the cold, yellowing tree branch. I started sliding down to the end. My breathing getting heavier by the second, fear crawling through my veins with every pump of my heart. The branch bent downward, making me slip from the branch. Luckily, my hands caught myself and was holding onto the branch itself.

"Katniss. Don't look down. Just keep going," Peeta said without a stutter. I nodded and kept sliding my hands across the almost broken twig of a branch it is now. It seemed to be getting thinner as I went. My breath became hitched in my throat as the branch cracked. Another snap, and my hands slipped from the spot they were holding onto.