Catching Fire: Peeta's POV

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-six

The anthem begins to play as soon as the sky darkens, but no faces appear in the sky tonight. The audience will be wanting action. They'll be getting bored soon. No attacks come from the Gamemakers, though. Perhaps they're curious about Beetee's plan.

At around nine, we leave our camp before the ten o'clock wave. We cross over to the twelve o'clock beach and begin the trek up the slope to the lightning tree. The climb makes us all breathless, especially in the thick, humid air.

Finnick assists Beetee, while the rest of us stand guard. Before Beetee attaches the wire, he unravels yards of the wire. Finnick secures the loose wire around a broken branch on the ground. Then, they pass the spool of wire back and forth, wrapping it around the tree.

The work on the tree is just being completed as we hear the sound of the ten o'clock wave. Beetee, then, reveals the rest of the plan to us. He wants Johanna and Katniss to coil of wire through the jungle, unraveling at they go. They are to bring it down to the beach dropping whatever is left in the water.

"I want to go with them as a guard," I say, immediately after Beetee's done.

"You're too slow. Besides, I'll need you on this end. Katniss will guard. There's no time to debate this. I'm sorry," Beetee says with finality. "If the girls are to get out of there alive, they need to move now," he hands the coil of wire to Johanna.

"It's okay," Katniss tells me putting her hand on my shoulder. "We'll just drop the coil and come straight back up."

"Not into the lightning zone. Head for the tree in the one-to-two-o'clock sector. If you find you're running out of time, move over one more. Don't even think about back on the beach, though, until I can assess the damage."

Seeing the distress on my face, Katniss takes it between her hands. "Don't worry. I'll see you at midnight." She kisses me before I can say anything. "Ready?" she says turning to Johanna.

"Why not?" She replies shrugging. "You guard, I'll unwind. We can trade off later."

Without another word between them, they set off down the slope. Beetee doesn't give us any instruction. Finnick and I longue around while Beetee inspects the tree. Soon the clicking starts in the section next to us. Suddenly, the wire goes slack. Someone cut it from below. Finnick takes off with me following behind as fast as I can. I feel a knife fall from my belt, but there's no time to go back and get it. I quickly lose Finnick in the jungle. I hear a scream off to my right. I push myself toward the sound, running toward it as fast as I can. I can see two tributes through the vegitation around me. Brutus and Chaff. Chaff is trying to defend himself. Brutus strikes with his knife killing Chaff. A cannon fires.

I run out of the vegitation at Brutus. Pulling the extra knife from my belt, the remaining one. Brutus turns at the last moment, raising his knife to meet mine. I knock the knife from his hand, before he can pull another weapon from his belt I strike at him, slicing his throat. Another cannon fires.

"Katniss! Katniss!" I call.

"Peeta! I'm here! Peeta!" I hear Katniss yell. "I'm here! I'm here! Peeta!"

I just running as fast as I can toward the lightning tree. Another cannon boom.

"Katniss!" I yell.

I'm still running toward the tree. The lightning strikes signalling midnight. A few seconds later, the night sky of the force field turns to a bright blue-white. I fall to the ground paralyzed, unable to move any farther. 

Edited