Doe In The Meadow | Peeta Mellark

twenty six

My eyes fluttered open and the sound of birds was all I could hear at first. The trees above me, blew gently in the wind. I looked over to my left to see Peeta and Katniss talking with Johanna, Beetee and Wiress. Where the hell did they come from? Finn sat next to me and I quickly jumped upward. "What happened?" I asked.

"Hey, hey, breath." He said to me. "You passed out from dehydration." He continued. "Katniss and Wiress figured out that this whole arena is a clock and something new happens each hour." Finnick told me as we began walking down the stone walkway over the water to get to the weapons base again. I stayed further back with Finn, trying to catch my breath as he explained everything that had happened in the twenty minutes I had been passed out. Something in my body just felt wrong and I felt sick again. I was always sick since the last games.

I watched as a few tributes began to attack and then suddenly, the base we were on began spinning in a swift circle. Finnick grabbed onto my hand as it spun quicker. "Hold on!" He shouted. I held on as hard as I could.

Once Katniss had flown off, it began to stop and I found myself puking off the edge.

"Now how the hell do we tell time?" I asked, spitting out the last bit of chunks of squirell I had to eat the night before. But before anyone could answer, we heard a loud scream of Katniss's name and then watched as she rushed into the forest, with Finnick following after. "Goddammit, wait!" I shouted, now following him as well. I couldn't let them go in there alone. I continued on as birds began to crowd us, lovely, I had a pretty nice history with birds from the last games. Some sounded like Annie calling after Finnick and others sounded like Katniss's boyfriend, Gale or her sister, Prim.

"Arizona!" A voice screamed that I recognized. And it sounded exactly like Peeta. I looked around but couldn't see him. Those damn birds. But the voices became overwhelming, driving us to the point of insanity. We ran through the woods again, trying to take cover and escape from these things. Especially since in the last games, one type of bird took a chunk out of my ear, I wasn't trying to lose another part of my body to some winged beasts again.

I suddenly noticed Peeta in the distance with his hands out, telling me to calm and I charged to him, smacking into a clear barrier. Katniss dropped to the ground next to me, sobbing. Finn just sat nearby, emotionless. Peeta was trying to speak to me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. My body felt numb as I hugged my knees and began to rock back and forth.

The blood. The bodies. The sound.

After some moments, I felt two arms wrap around me as the voice became much more clear now.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Peeta assured, holding onto me. "I'm right here. The hour is over. It's gone."

"Fuck you, Snow!" I screamed and everyone looked to me as I jumped to my feet. "Fuck you! Fuck the Capitol, fuck these games, and fuck all these goddamn birds!" Peeta grabbed onto me, covering my mouth with his hand.

"You need to calm down. He can do anything to us in here." He whispered to me, calmly, trying to ease my hectic mind.

"Then let him!" I cried. Now, Finnick was walking towards me. He took my face in his hands and looked into my eyes.

"Calm down." He said. "Please, they can do what they want but remember, they also can hurt Jackson." My expression dropped, remembering the only real friend I had, who had taken care of me these years. I couldn't let them hurt him too.

"I've got this, Finnick." Peeta said, sternly, attempting to sound intimidating, but Finnick wasn't phased.

"I'm just trying to help. You seem to forget, I've known Arizona longer than you, bud." He snapped back.

"Please, stop." I held my hand up, before standing to my feet. "We're tired. We're all just drained physically and emotionally. I don't want to hear petty arguments right now, so put your egos aside please." I sighed at them and they complied. I let myself hold back the rest of my fury toward Snow and the Capitol, and I followed them to the water once more and sat on the beach next to Peeta as the sun began to set. I wrapped my arms around my knees, hugging them as I felt Peeta staring at me. Both of us, not knowing really what to say, but silence was all that was needed in this moment.