Peeta's Story- The Hunger Games

Chapter 31

hey guys! i've been super busy and this is the only story i've been able to upload. IM SO SORRY! after this week, it'll be over..hopefully. today i have to accompany a girl for her flute competition, tomorrow i have a viola lesson, wed i have an orchestra concert, thurs i have to work a band concert, saturday i have a state piano competiton,.. then it's over! but here you go

so we're changing the rules. if you like it, vote, if you hate it, vote. <3 :) btw, i've never been delirious so that might explain alot of this chappie

amanda

read cilla's stories! just click the dedication. there are some other authors i'm going to recommend in the next chapter and everything. also, if i said i'd read your book, make sure it's in my library hahah if it's not, message me!!! i need to be bothered or else i won't read hahaha

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I lunge out of the water and grab my bag, pretending to be eager for the hunt. In reality, I just want to get to the campsite and scope everything out before everyone else gets there. "Let's go!" I say.

Cato narrows his eyes at me suspiciously. "Why so excited?"

I shrug nonchalantly. "Might as well kill her before I get way too attached."

He opens his mouth to reply, still looking suspicious, but stops as he sees something over my shoulder. Turning around, I see a young boy staggering from behind a tree. There is a large lump on his forehead, most likely where a tracker jacker has stung him. When he sees us, he retreats quickly back into the forest, scared, but Cato calls out to him. "Wait!" Turning to Clove, he says, "You lead the group. I want to talk to him."

As Clove ushers us back into the trees, I hear Cato ask, "You're from District 3, right? So you know how to rig stuff?"

His voice fades away as we get further and further. I am suddenly struck with a sense of urgency. I need to find Katniss and warn her of our arrival. I crash through the thicket loudly, until Clove hisses at me to be more quiet. I begin to recognize the area we are in now; this is the place around last night's campsite. A bush is flattened to my left, probably having been trampled in everyone's mad dash to escape the jackers. Through the trees, I catch a glimpse of someone moving. I freeze before I realize it's Katniss.

She is hunched over someone's quivering body, tugging at something as I run over to her frantically. As I near her, I see she is trying to pull some arrows from under the bloated body of Glimmer. "What are you doing here? You need to leave, now!" I hiss at her. She doesn't seem to hear me, so I pull at her arm.

She has a dazed expression in her eyes as she says, "Why?" She reaches out a hand slowly, frowning, as if to touch my face, but I swat it off.

"Go! Run away before they get you!" I nearly scream. She blinks uncomprehendingly, so I shove her back into the dense trees. "Run!"

I don't have time to wait for her reply, though, because something collides with me and I am knocked to the ground, winded. "Sorry, Peeta, thought you were her," Cato apologizes, his eyes darting around the clearing. I can only hope that Katniss has made an escape, though in her state, she might be too confused to do so.

"Cato? When did you get here?" I get up, panting.

"After I talked to the District 3 guy, I bolted up here." He is looking up into the trees now, his fist clenched around the base of his knife. Suddenly, he has me in a death grip. "Where. Is. She?" he asks, growling and punctuating every word with a shake.

I try not to whimper as he presses down on my stings. "I don't know," I say miserably.

He lets go of me forcefully, causing me to stumble onto the ground. A maniacal light glints in his eyes, but it slowly dims. "I'm sorry," he says "I got too caught up." He walks away as if nothing unusual just happened. As he walks across the clearing, he kicks Glimmer's body away as if it were a piece of dirt, not one of his old allies. I feel sick to my stomach as I get a glimpse of her bloodied face, her beautiful expression contorted by the swelling of the stings and the mask of horror her face seems to have frozen in.