Catching Fire: Peeta's POV

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-four

I redraw the map easily. Right as I finish the map, I hear a scream from the jungle. "Prim!" Katniss cries from within in the jungle. I jolt upright. The map fluttering away from me. Another scream echoes in the arena. "Prim!" Katniss's voice sounds again.

Johanna follows me as I run toward the jungle. We reach the treeline, and there's no sign of Katniss or Finnick. I keep running and smack into a force field. Not like the force field that I hit earlier. This one just keeping us out of the jungle and Katniss and Finnick within.

A short time later, Katniss and Finnick come into view. My hands are pressed to the force field. I try to shout out to Katniss but to no avail. Beetee is behind me, trying to get me to back away from the force field. She doesn't seem to hear me. They keep coming toward Johanna and me. As they're about to reach us, they smack into the force field and fall back onto the jungle floor. Katniss lands on her shoulder; while Finnick lands face-first, his nose now gushing blood.

My hand still pressed up against the force field; Katniss does the same on the other side. "Katniss? What happened?"

"She can't hear you," Beetee's voice comes from behind me.

Soon these birds arrive. Finnick huddles on the ground, hands over his ears and his eyes squeezed shut. Katniss turns to shoot some of the birds from the trees. She gives up after ten minutes, curling up near Finnick.

"What's going on?" I ask, mostly to myself.

"It seems there is some type of force field up, keeping us out and them in. And those birds are jabberjays, they record the sounds they hear and mimik them. From those two screams we heard I would guess one of them is what's her name? Oh, yes, Prim. And that this is this hours' torture," Beetee explains.

I don't answer. My hands still pressed upon the force field. I sit there for the rest of the hour. As soon as it's over, I rush over to Katniss. I pick her up to carry her out of the jungle and back to the beach.

We sit on the beach, Katniss in my lap.

"It's alright. It's alright. It's over," I repeat over and over while rocking Katniss gently.

Her muscles gradually relax and then she starts trembling.

"It's alright, Katniss," I whisper against her hair.

"You didn't hear them," she responds.

"I heard Prim. Right in the beginning. But it wasn't her. It was jabberjay."

"It was her. Somewhere. The jabberjay just recorded it," she mumbles against my shouler.

"No, that's what they want you to think. The same way I wondered if Glimmer's eyes were in that mutt last year. But those weren't Glimmer's eyes. And that wasn't Prim's voice. Or if it was, they took it from an interview or something and distorted the sound. Made it say whatever she was saying," I tell her.

"No, they were torturing her. She's probably dead," Katniss insists.

"Katniss, Prim isn't dead. How could they kill Prim? We're almost down to the final eight of us. And what happens then?" I say.

"Seven more of us die?" she says.

"No, back home. What happens when they reach the final eight in the Games?" I lift her chin to force her to look at me. "What happens? At the final eight?"

She stops and thinks. "At the final eight? They interview your family and friends back home."

"That's right. They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they've killed them all?"