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In the reather rocks and doof the cave It&039;s a slow and arduous process, but after a lot of sweating and shifting things around, I&039;m pretty pleased with er pile of rocks, like so h a s, but it&039;s undetectable froood, because I&039;ll need to share that sleeping bag again tonight Also, if I don&039;t make it back from the feast, Peeta will be hidden but not entirely ier without medicine If I die at the feast, District 12 isn&039;t likely to have a victor

I make a meal out of the smaller, bonier fish that inhabit the stream down here, fill every water container and purify it, and clean my weapons I&039;ve nine arrows left in all I debate leaving the knife with Peeta so he&039;ll have soone, but there&039;s really no point He was right about caht have use for the knife Who knohat I&039;ll encounter?

Here are sos I&039;m fairly certain of That at least Cato, Clove, and Thresh will be on hand when the feast starts I&039;m not sure about Foxface since direct confrontation isn&039;t her style or her forte She&039;s even smaller than I am and unarmed, unless she&039;s picked up so soe But the other three I&039; to have reatest asset, but I know I&039;ll have to go right into the thick of things to get that backpack, the one with the number 12 on it that Claudius Te for one less opponent at dawn, but nobody appears tonight Tomorrow there will be faces up there Feasts always result in fatalities

I crawl into the cave, secure ood long sleep today I have to stay awake I don&039;t really think anyone will attack our cave tonight, but I can&039;t risk ht As if the Gamemakers have sent an infusion of frozen air across the arena, which may be exactly what they&039;ve done I lay next to Peeta in the bag, trying to absorb every bit of his fever heat It&039;s strange to be so physically close to soht as well be back in the Capitol, or in District 12, or on the ht now, he&039;d be no harder to reach I&039;ve never felt lonelier since the Gaht, I tellofif they&039;ll sleep a wink tonight At this late stage in the Games, with an important event like the feast, school will probably be canceled My family can either watch on that static-filled old clunker of a television at ho, clear screens, They&039;ll have privacy at hoive them a kind word, a bit of food if they can spare it I wonder if the baker has sought theood on his promise to keep my sister&039;s belly full

Spirits h in District 12 We so rarely have anyone to root for at this point in the Games Surely, people are excited about Peeta and ether If I closeus on I see their faces - Greasy Sac and Madge and even the Peacekeepers who buyfor us

And Gale I know hi But he&039;ll be watching, everythat Peeta makes it as well Gale&039;s not my boyfriend, but would he be, if I opened that door? He talked about us running away together Was that just a practical calculation of our chances of survival away fro

Through a crack in the rocks, I watch the e to be about three hours before dawn, I begin final preparations I&039;ht beside hi else will be of much use if I don&039;t return, and even these would only prolong his life a short time After some debate, I strip him of his jacket and zip it on overwith his fever, and during the day, if I&039; in it My hands are already stiff from cold, so I take Rue&039;s spare pair of socks, cut holes for ers and thumbs, and pull them on It helps anyway I fill her ses, tuck the knife in et my bow and arrows I&039; the star-crossed lover routine and I lean over and give Peeta a long, lingering kiss I i from the Capitol and pretend to brush away a tear ofin the rocks out into the night

My breath makes small white clouds as it hits the air It&039;s as cold as a Noveht at home One where I&039;ve slipped into the woods, lantern in hand, to join Gale at soether, sipping herb tea froa comes on Oh, Gale, I think If only you had lasses are quite re the use of my left ear I don&039;t knohat the explosion did, but it daet ho rich, I&039;ll be able to pay so

The woods always look different at night Even with the glasses, everything has an unfamiliar slant to it As if the daytihtly more ominous versions of the tricky, like taking a new route I make my way back up the strea place near the lake Along the way, I see no sign of another tribute, not a puff of breath, not a quiver of a branch Either I&039;m the first to arrive or the others positioned theht There&039;s still le into the underbrush and wait for the blood to begin to flow

I chew a few oodness, I have Peeta&039;s jacket as well as my own If not, I&039;d be forced to ray and still there&039;s no sign of the other tributes It&039;s not surprising really Everyone has distinguished the Do they suppose, I wonder, that I have Peeta with me? I doubt Foxface and Thresh even knoounded All the better if they think he&039;s covering o in for the backpack

But where is it? The arena has lightened enough forIsn&039;t it ti location But no, I&039; the Cornucopia And there it is And here I am So where&039;s lints off the gold Cornucopia, there&039;s a disturbance on the plain The ground before the mouth of the horn splits in two and a round table with a snohite cloth rises into the arena On the table sit four backpacks, two large black ones with the nureen one with the nue one - really I could carry it around my wrist - that must be marked with a 12

The table has just clicked into place when a figure darts out of the Cornucopia, snags the green backpack, and speeds off Foxface! Leave it to her to come up with such a clever and risky idea! The rest of us are still poised around the plain, sizing up the situation, and she&039;s got hers She&039;s got us trapped, too, because no one wants to chase her down, not while their own pack sits so vulnerable on the table Foxfacethat to steal one without her nu on a pursuer That should have been h the eer, jealousy, and frustration, I&039; that reddishrange Huh I&039; the others, but maybe Foxface is the real opponent here

She&039;s cost et to the table next Anyone who beats one Without hesitation, I sprint for the table I can sense the eer before I see it Fortunately, the first knife coht side so I can hear it and I&039; back the bowstring and send an arrow straight at Clove&039;s heart She turns just enough to avoid a fatal hit, but the point punctures her upper left arht, but it&039;s enough to slow her down a fewto pull the arrow fro, positioning the next arrow automatically, as only someone who has hunted for years can do

I&039;e backpack My hand slips between the straps and I yank it up on my arm, it&039;s really too small to fit on any other part of ain when the second knife catchesa gash that sends a gush running downmy er backward but still eneral direction of my assailant I know as it leavesround, with her knees

This is it, I think, and hope for Prim&039;s sake it will be fast But Clove means to savor the moment Even feels she has ti for Thresh and possibly Peeta

"Where&039;s your boyfriend, District Twelve? Still hanging on?" she asks

Well, as long as we&039;re talking I&039; Cato," I snarl at her Then I screas "Peeta!"

Clove ja offfrom side to side, and I know for athe truth Since no Peeta appears to save me, she turns back to rin "He&039;s nearly dead Cato knohere he cut hiot hioing What&039;s in the pretty little backpack? That et it"

Clove opens her jacket It&039;s lined with an impressive array of knives She carefully selects an al number with a cruel, curved blade "I proive the audience a good show"

I&039; now in an effort to unseat her, but it&039;s no use She&039;s too heavy and her lock on et it, District Twelve We&039;re going to kill you Just like we did your pathetic little ally as her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue? Well, first Rue, then you, and then I think we&039;ll just let nature take care of Lover Boy How does that sound?" Clove asks "Nohere to start?"

She carelessly wipes away the blood from my wound with her jacket sleeve For ait from side to side as if it&039;s a block of wood and she&039;s deciding exactly what pattern to carve on it I atterabs the hair on the top of round "I think " she almost purrs "I think we&039;ll start with your ly traces the outline of my lips with the tip of the blade