Catching Fire: The New Story

Chapter 56

Peeta's POV









I gasp once President Snow finishes. Shit. I grab my jacket and run to Katniss's house. I open the door without a knock to care for. Glass spreads across the shiny floor. The tv went off. Prim and her mother are looking at Katniss. Her eyes are locked on the black screen. Her face is so shocked.

"Katniss-"

But she runs faster than she's ever ran. Her boots are on in a flash, I have her hand and about to pull her back inside when she runs off. I follow her. "Katniss! KATNISS!" I screamed. She kept going. I started running after her. Her speed much more than mine. She was almost out of eyesight when I bumped into someone coming from my left. She was gone down an ally.

"Peeta. Get up. Or we'll get caught. We have to get Katniss." Gale says, helping me up. We run after her. He obviously knows exactly where she's going, because we are right behind her in minutes. I see her climb her house and grab hold of a tree branch. Shes in the woods in minutes before we've even gotten to her house. The trees now hide her from view.

"Climb." Gale instructs. I climb as fast as I can. I slip down the house and reach for the branch Katniss had hold of. "Fast. We both can't get on at the same time."

I nod and get to the floor of the forest faster than I've ever moved ever. Gale's beside me in seconds. He reaches his hand in a hallow tree. "Shit.

"What?" I ask. My eyes trail the woods for Katniss. "She took her arrows." He brings out two small knifes. He hands me one and keeps the other for himself. We start off towards distant footsteps. We catch up with Katniss as she starts running uphill. She looks back and keeps running. And faster now. A lake came into view and a small house. Everything seemed scarier by the covered moon.

I reached out for Katniss. Only feet from me. I realize then, the hill we traveled over was ending and Katniss would fall. She looked back again. Her last step I screamed;

"Katniss!"



Gale's POV










I watched her fall. No scream. No movement. The whole world was going slower. I could feel it. I knew she was going to hit the lake. And it was frozen shut, a layer of frost hiding the water. She's hit and brake the ice then fall in.

I started removing my jacket. It would be a long fall, but I'd take the chance. "Wait!" Peeta screams. I took notice that he didn't do anything but watch me dive down. Maybe he didn't know how to swim. He was a baker and all. Never being in the woods didn't help either.

The crash of Katniss breaking the ice and the water splashing up made a huge splash. The cold water hit me hard as my body dived after Katniss. My whole body stung. I opened my eyes and tried my hardest to not freeze. My muscles flexed at how cold the water was.

I swam deeper and deeper. I saw bubbles of air fly up. I looked down, with the little light I had, I spotted Katniss. She wasn't moving. Crap. I swam to her. Her leg was caught on a katniss root. I grabbed my knife and cut it off. It was hard because it was almost frozen. I pulled her body to the surface. I took a big breathe of the cold air that stung my lungs like knives.

I held Katniss under her arms. Her head laid back and on my shoulder. I was shaking. I swam until my feet could reach the lake floor. Peeta jumped in and helped me. We hulled her body into the trees that hid us. We leaned over her. I removed her wet jacket. I tossed it over. Along with my shirt.

Peeta didn't care. He checked her pulse. "She's not breathing." He says worried.

"It's okay." I say. I start to pump her heart. I try to be careful of her stomach. It's much bigger. I hold her nose, I'm now glad Katniss taught me how to do this now, and breath in to her mouth.

I pumped her heart again. I ha less time than a regular person. Katniss is pregnant. If I don't do this fast, she could have a miscarriage. And I know she doesn't want that.

I turn her when she starts coughing. We pat her back. She vomits all the water in her system until she stops and shakes.

"Inside?" Peeta asks. I nod. He picks her up and we walk into the cement house. I grab our wet clothes and some woods. I start a fire quickly with sticks. Katniss taught me that too.

"We have to take her home." Peeta says.

"I know. But we have to warm her up first. She could freeze if we just left after what happened." I say, placing more wood into the fireplace.

Peeta sighs. "Fine."

Katniss seems a bit scared. And shaken up. We sit her right by the fire to warm. I sit our clothes by the fire too.

"I-I'm c-c-cold." She shivers. Peeta sits by her, I still on her other side and we hug her. In cold but she feels hot. So I probably feel hot as well.

"Me too." I say through my teeth. If I release them, they'll chatter. Like Katniss's. Peeta was half soaked now. And shivering. We were all cold. We'll all freeze if the fire doesn't dry our clothes.

Katniss curls up as much as she could into our arms. The fire flicked around for a while. Our chattering calmed very little. Katniss finally got up with our help and walked to a corner of the house. "Help me." She said. I gave Peeta a questionable look. He shrugged. We came by Katniss, she was bent over a crack on the floor. We helped pick it up and move it from its space. Katniss reaches her hand down the dark hole. She brought back a few blankets. Sewn nicely and colorful.

"My mom made them. I helped her when I was younger." She coughs. Her voice was hoarse. "Take one."

She hands one to Peeta and reaches out for another. "No. You have it." She shakes her head and roses me one. She refuses it. But Peeta refuses to use it without Katniss having one.

Her wraps it around both of them. She sits on his lap. Her hands cup mine. We try to get warmer.

"Katniss." I say. It wakes her. "You can't sleep." She nods. She understands. Peeta's confused. I explain in his ear after what happen, if she falls asleep, she might no wake up. He agrees she can't sleep yet.

We sit there, looking into the fire, for about an hour or two. Our clothes are still a bit damp, but we wouldn't be as cold. We slip them back on. Katniss and I have stopped shivering.

She looks up to me and Peeta. "I'm cold." She says. Her face looking like a child's. She looks sad and cold. We both hug her. We decided its time to head home. It was already extremely late when we reached the forest, saved Katniss, then warmed up. It was almost dawn, when everyone could get up and leave their homes. We would get to the fence just after.

We covered up the fire with water, the sizzling over powering all the flames flickers. We fold the blankets and place them back into the secret hole underground, then help Katniss up. We start walking, but Katniss almost trips.

"Are you alright?" Peeta asked worried. She nods.

"My knee locked. That's all." Her voice was a bit hoarse. But not as noticeable. Peeta carried her first through half the woods, then u carried her. She feel asleep right after Peeta scooped her up and her arms surrounded his neck. She never woke when we exchanged Katniss for the weapons. Peeta hid them, and I woke Katniss. Her knee was still hurting, so she was careful getting up the tree and across the branch to the roof of her old house. Peeta followed. Me last.

We got to Twelve a bit too early to be out. She decided to stay in her old home. It was still her mothers. They just didn't live there. If Katniss died in the next minute, they would move back to it. She unlocked the front door and allowed us in. She looked back and closed it behind her.

"I'll make tea." She said. Peeta and I sat across from each other and waited for Katniss. we never made eye contact. It was still awkward between us.

I didn't notice Katniss standing between us. Waiting, her hand on her hip. "You two need to stop fussing over me. Neither of you will win."

We shot our eyes back to her. Tea cups sat by our hands, waiting to be drunken. She seems angry at us both. "What?" we ask.

She laughs. "You two both had a conversation right now about who will win me! Did you not hear yourselves? You were speaking gibberish!" She was so confused at how we didn't know what she was saying.

"No. When did we say that stuff?" Peeta asks.

"Right now!" she screamed. Peeta flinched back. I stood up.

"Be nice. What did we say?" I ask. She calms herself.

"You were both grumbling about who would win me over. You. Or Peeta. Then I came." She says. We nod. I wondered if Peeta knew anything about this. "Forget it. Just drink your tea and go to sleep. We all need rest."

She walks upstairs and leaves Peeta and I alone. Again. I sit back down and hold the cup in my hands. The heat penetrates through the frost bit my hands received and allows them to gain back some color in them.

Peeta drinks the tea slowly. His eyes watch mine. "You know. It wouldn't be hard to be friends."

His voice is low. So maybe Katniss wouldn't hear. I doubt she would be listening. I shrug. "Maybe. If it makes Katniss happy. I could give it a shot. But I'm not promising anything."

"Neither am I." Peeta says. We shake hands and finish our tea. We leave the cups in the table and head upstairs. Katniss is asleep in her old room. On the bed she shared with Prim. I walk past it and enter the extra room. I lay on it, much like my own house. And bed. Just not comfortable. I heard Katniss talking to Peeta.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?" he asked.

"For making friends with Gale. It means a lot."

That's all I hear. I then fall asleep, thinking about how Katniss would want me and Peeta to be friends.














Like legit. I'm so stupid. It's like three in the morning. I updated. And because I was bored (btw my friends asleep during this and I wanted ice cream) I go to my fringe and open the freezer to see a bunch of fucking ice everywhere. I pick some up and cup it into a ball. I've never felt or seen snow EVER. I live in a desert. What do you expect. Anyway, I didn't even realize my hands were so cold. I ended up throwing the snow ball (deformed ice block) to the wall, making a loud noise and running back to me room. My hands were so numb. I couldn't feel them.

ONE OF MY STUPID STORYS. yeah you see how dumb I act now :| hope you liked the update. Sry it too so long. I had to go to the mall then my friends came over then... well. Yeah. COMMENT AND VOTE PLEASE!!!!!!!!!










~Jez