Peeta's Story- The Hunger Games

Chapter 34

hey guys! i know this isn't my best. i'm kinda in a half asleep, thinks everything is funny, feels kinda loopy mood.

you know what i mean right?

enjoy, comment, vote, and try not to slap me. oh, and if you like things the way the happen in the book, i'm sorry. i changed things up a bit chronologically. :P

also, click the dedication and check out her stories. they be AWESOME.

xox amanda

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"Eughh." She looks down at me distastefully after a few silent minutes of picking at my clothes. Most of the fabric is plastered to my wounds, and she keeps pouring water over me, hoping in vain that the fabric will just slide off without any help.

I can't help but keep the amusement out of my voice. "You know you'll actually have to touch me to help me?"

She frowns at me and sighs. "Fine." She leans over daintily and starts picking at my undershirt with a wrinkled nose. When she catches me staring at her, she glares daggers and says "Stop looking."

I can't help but laugh. "You know, you act so tough and you hunt like a vicious tiger, so it's just funny how you seem so squeamish around blood and dirt."

She glares at me and rips the shirt off my body. It clings to a burn on my chest and slowly detaches itself, causing me to wince in pain. As I look ruefully at Katniss, she blinks back at me innocently. "Oops. I didn't mean to pull it off so hard."

I wave my arms lazily, admitting defeat. "Okay, okay, sorry. You are the most amazing nurse ever. Better?" Katniss smirks in satisfaction and begins removing my pants.

Five minutes of comfortable silence pass before Katniss speaks again. She douses water all over the cut in my leg, soothing it. I resist the urge to itch my wound, knowing that it won't help my situation at all. "You know," she says, grabbing a handful of leaves and chewing them up, "I've never been good around wounds. It's funny, though, because my mom and sister would be so much more useful to you right now." She spits out the wad of leaves and presses them against my leg, trying her best not to actually touch my flesh. As soon as the leaves touch the cut in my thigh, I sigh in relief as a comforting feeling rushes over me. It numbs my wound and I watch in interest as yellow puss oozes out of it. Katniss involuntarily scoots away when she sees the pus, eying it like it might explode at any second.

"Is it that bad?" I ask, trying to keep a cheerful expression.

She looks constipated and avoids my eyes. "No, it's not that bad. I'm just going to... bandage it?" Her voice inflects at the end, as if she's asking a question. Obviously, she has no idea what she's doing. Still looking away from me, Katniss grabs for her bag and pulls out a roll of white gauze. Her backpack rattles, as if full of tools, and I wonder how she obtained all of them.

"Here," she says, awhile later, patting the makeshift bandage with satisfaction.

"So I guess it's not too gross for you anymore?" I ask, teasing her.

She slaps me. "Shut up." She surveys me with a piercing glare and suddenly I feel overexposed. "Go get washed off," she orders me, turning around to zip her backpack up. I wriggle out of my boxers and she squeals. "Turn around!"

I laugh at the blush creeping up her cheeks. "I don't mind if you see me naked," I say nonchalantly.

"I do," she says shortly, resolutely looking away from me.

"Your loss," I mumble, smirking, as I head into the water. I hear her mumble something incoherently and I laugh, gasping in pain as I suddenly double over. The burn mark on my chest is searing with every movement, the skin stretching and threatening to break apart at any second. I sink into the stream, trying to keep my upper body as rigid as possible. When I finally am submerged in the water, I sink gratefully into the muddy ground, relishing the feeling of the satiny water against my burning skin. I splash around a little and scrub away the layers of dirt that have covered my body for who knows how long. Without it, my skin feels raw and exposed. "Can you throw me some clothes?" I ask Katniss, turning around in the water. She turns away from the trees, deep in thought, and throws me a pile of clothing, which I catch just as it is about to hit the water.

I reluctantly leave the stream and shiver in the sudden cold that surrounds me, hurrying to get the clothes on. Even when I am wearing three layers of clothing, I still feel chilled to my very bones. Simply bathing in the lake has tired me out, though I won't admit it to her because I don't want to be a cumbersome burden. She jerks her head back to me when I softly call her name and she smiles.

"I think I've found a place for us to stay," she says, her eyes darting around where we are standing.

I eye her warily. "And how do you plan on me getting there?"

"I'll drag you, of course," she says brightly. "Look, there's a small cave there made from rocks. We can stay in there until you are strong enough to move." I relax slightly when I realize she isn't trying to drag me into some hideout in the trees.

It is not far to the cave, but to me it seems like an eternity. With every step I take, it feels like the wind is being knocked out of me. Katniss watches me, concerned, not knowing what to do. She brings my arm around her shoulders and acts as a stilt, and I feel bad for letting her carry half of my body weight. By the time we reach the cave, I feel like collapsing and she is sweating profusely.

As I sink to the ground, leaning against the cool walls, she lines the floor with moss and pine needles, then spreads a sleeping back over the makeshift mattress. "Get in," she says, gesturing to it while digging in her bag. Obediently, I crawl into it, relishing in the sudden warmth that envelops me. I close my eyes, ready to sleep, but Katniss wakes me up. "You need to eat first," she says, handing me a flash of water and some dried fruit. I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head furiously. All I want to do now is sleep, and the smell of the food is making me sick. And suddenly, she's up close to me, right in front of my face. "Please?" she whispers, her breath tickling my cheek. I look up into her gray eyes and nod blindly, unaware of what I am doing. I manage to swallow some water and pills before I push everything else away. The smell of the dried pears makes me want to gag, and I see a flicker of sadness cross Katniss's face as she looks at me. The fire she has started in the middle of the cave flickers, and her face is cast into shadows.

I hear shuffling around, and look over to investigate. Katniss is covering the entrance of the cave with vines, branches, anything she can find. She steps back from it and surveys it with a disgusted expression, then tears it back down. This time, she covers the opening with more care, trying to place the branches and vines as naturally as possible. I can probably do a better job of disguising the entrance, but I am too tired right now. I turn around in the sleeping bag and close my eyes, but something is nagging at the back of my mind. "Katniss?"

She turns around at the sound of her name and comes up to me, looking concerned. "Why did you help me?" I ask, somewhat drowsily. My head throbs and it's hard for me to think.

"Didn't you hear, Peeta? We're on the same team now. If both of us are the last ones standing, we both win."

I smile in content as she runs her fingers through my hair. "Oh," I say, yawning and snuggling up to her, my head resting comfortably in her lap. "Katniss?"

"Mmhm?"

"Thank you for saving me." I try to put as much love and gratitude in my voice as I can.

Her voice is almost a whisper, and I can't decipher her expression. "You would've done the same for me." As she looks down upon me, she looks almost lovingly, almost tenderly at me, and even in my half unconscious state, my heart thumps loudly. She presses her hand to my forehead, gauging my temperature, and she freezes, frowning. A flicker of something crosses her face- sadness, maybe- and she looks down upon me with worry. Suddenly, I have a sense of foreboding, like I know I won't survive.

It's hard to keep the urgency out of my voice as I speak."Listen, if I die, I want you to-"

I am immediately silenced by the hard glare she gives me. "You won't die," she says, a bit harshly.

"Just, if I do-"

Her lips coming crashing onto mine, not giving me a chance to comprehend what is happening. They feel cool against mine, soft and tender. As I regain my senses, I kiss her back urgently, my mind reeling in confusion. She pulls back and looks away from me, towards the entrance of the cave. "You won't die," she says with finality.

I am too stunned to argue. What just happened?