Rise From the Ashes

Chapter Thirteen

Cato slips his arm around my waist and shakes his head. I grip my bow. Gale turned against me. I knew this was coming but it's still a shock. Poor Katniss. We wait in the tree until dawn and then slowly get out and repack. Cato has a sword and his own pack. We leave the tree and I quickly pick off a rabbit.

"The coals." Cato says softly. I nod and carefully clean the animal. I leave the head, feet, and guts under some leaves and carefully fashion a spit. I roast the rabbit over the spit and then split it between us.

"Got any water?" I ask. He shakes his head and I sigh. "We need to find water."

"Let's find it then." He says. We start walking and I'm in much worse shape then before. My tongue is dry and my lips are cracked.

By the time night falls I'm hoping for a miracle. Haymitch! Surely I must have some sponsors. "Water." I croak hopefully. Nothing comes. I must be missing something. If he won't send it then it must be close.

"Theyre leaving us to die." Cato says. I shake my head.

"If Haymitch won't send it, it's because we're close." I say. "Come on let's get into a tree." We climb into the tree and carefully check over our supplies. We both have a sleeping bag but still cuddle up in one together. It makes me feel safer despite that it's harder for me to shoot.

The next morning is harder to deal with. I force us up and to keep going. Neither of us have really dealt with dehydration like this before. Around mid afternoon Cato falls. I manage a few more steps and I'm on the ground too. I swirl my fingers in the mud. I love mud. It has so many uses. Something sweet scents the air. Mud! If there's mud there must be water. I drag myself a little bit further and plunge into the small pond. I pull myself up gasping and sputtering. I can't drink the water now. I carefully fill my water bottle and purify it. I force myself to wait the half an hour and sip the water. I slowly drink the whole half gallon and refill it. Once it's purified I take it to Cato and slowly help him rehydrate.

"Come on. We're going to the pond." I say. I drag him up and we slowly hobble to the pond. I fill both our water bottles and purify them. We slowly drink them too. I break out our crackers and dried fruit and we nibble on it. Slowly we get back to normal and I smile.

"Well now that we feel better." Cato sneaks a kiss. I giggle and kiss him back. I told him I loved him. I think I really do. Madge flits into my mind. But Madge is a problem for another day. I know I like Cato at least but right now and the past week haven't been the time for that. "We should stay here for a few days."

"Yeah." I agree. I pick up a fallen stick and start whittling. "I'm going to set up some snares."

"Yeah it'll be good to have some fresh meat." Cato agrees. I nod.

"We should also get some sleep." I say. I finally start counting my arrows. I have 24. One for each of the tributes. I have a shot. I could find a tree and just sit there eating squirrels and picking off anyone who walks below the tree. I refill our bottles and get him back up.

"Back into a tree?" Cato asks. I nod.

"It's the safest place for us." I say. I select a tree and scurry up it. He follows me slightly clumsily and I smile. I pick a large branch big enough to support both of us. "We sharing a bag again?" I ask. Cato nods and I get the bag out. My backpack is thankfully black and easily hidden. I slide into the bag and Cato follows. He belts us in and wraps his arms around me. We kiss Goodnight and fall asleep.

We wake the next morning to a wall of fire. I scramble to unbelt us and we fall to the ground in a heap. Cato gets out of the sleeping bag and helps me out. I sling my bow over my shoulder and jumble up the bag in my arms. We start running and I dodge to avoid a falling tree and find that the fire has separated me and Cato. I slip behind a rock and start gagging. I vomit until theres nothing left in my stomach and then give myself a minute to shove my sleeping bag back into my backpack and sip some water. I force down a cracker and then start running. A hissing sounds and a fire ball shoots towards me. I jump out of the way and slide down a hill. I start running again. I keep dodging fire balls for a while. I'm too slow and one skids across my calf. I bite back a scream of pain and scramble away. I rip the pants leg away and then have the sense to roll. I get up and start running again but the fire balls have stopped. I slow down as I find a spring fed pond. I lower my hands into it and nearly cry out in relief. I take a chance and lower my leg it. It's pain revealing almost instantly.

I soon find that my leg is too burned to be taken out of the water. My hands can handle a few minutes out of the water so I take some time to roll up my bag and get everything back in order. I lean back and wait for everyone. If the career back came through the trees I would still run. Sure enough the career pack bursts through the trees and I go flying. I'm slower then I would be normally but so are they. I fly up the tree and make sure to get to the top of the tree so Gale can't follow. I smile and wave teasingly.

"Lovely weather we're having." I call. Gale is taken back.

"Bit warm for my taste." He answers. I shrug.

"It's better up here." I call. He starts climbing and is soon plummeting down to the ground. The girl from One tries to climb up the tree but is smart enough to stop when the branches start cracking. I slip my bow off and aim down at them but I stop before I shoot. I need to chase them away and I don't think I can stomach killing all of them.

"Let's wait her out." Gale says. The others nod and they set up camp under the tree. I carefully set up my sleeping back and slide in. It's too hot for my leg so I slash it open.  I stare up into the other tree and see a pair of raccoon eyes. I sit up. That's Rue. Her small hands slides out of the tree with out rustling a branch and points up. I follow her hand and see a nest. Wasps or maybe tracker jackers. My best bet is to do it during the anthem. I shove my bag and bow into my sleeping bag and get out my knife. I climb to the nest and stay there until the anthem starts. I start sawing and grit my teeth. It hurts me way too badly for this to be good for my hands.

By the time the anthem is over I'm almost through the branch. I climb back down to my sleeping bag and find a parachute. Attached is a tiny jar of of medicine. I open the jar and probe it with my fingers. I sigh as the relief hits instantly. I generously apply it to my burns and crawl into my sleeping bag falling asleep. 

I wake the next morning when a bird chips beside my ear. My hands have almost healed overnight and my calf is now a light pink rather then the red it was last night. I reapply the ointment and look around. I carefully repack everything and swing my bow over my shoulder so everything is secure.

"Rue!" I say softly. Her eyes reappear and she points at the hive. I hold up my knife and saw back and forth. She nods and then disappears. I hear rustling as she flies away. It's impressive. That's what she must've shown the Gamemakers. I climb the tree and pat down my hands before I start again. The tracker hackers have woken up from their smoke induced haze and a few are flying around lazily. There's a sharp stinging pain in my knee. One must've found me.

I finally cut through the branch and shove it away from me. There's two more sharp stinging pains in my neck and cheek. The nest crashes down to the ground and bursts open sending them sprinting away. The girl from One and the girl from Four takes the brunt on it. The girl from One falls to the ground screaming. The girl from Four manages to leave to area and I carefully climb down. I stumble and fall to the ground. Someone's arms go around me and they help me up. I'm dropped again and I stumble to my feet. I start to run but the trees are morphing into a bunch of butterflies and bubbles. I hear a distorted yell of pain then someone catches my around the waist and helps me away from the scene. I fall forward and the world goes dark.