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The sound of rain druently pulls h, wrapped in a waruely aware that my head aches Possibly I have the flu and this is why I&039;h I can tell I&039;ve been asleep a long time My mother&039;s hand strokes my cheek and I don&039;t push it away as I would in wakefulness, never wanting her to kno h I still don&039;t trust her Then there&039;s a voice, the wrong voice, not my mother&039;s, and I&039;m scared

"Katniss," it says "Katniss, can you hear me?"

My eyes open and the sense of security vanishes I&039;m not home, not with mydespite the cover, the air tainted with the unard, pale face of a boy slides into view, and after an initial jolt of alarm, I feel better "Peeta"

"Hey," he says "Good to see your eyes again"

"How long have I been out?" I ask

"Not sure I woke up yesterday evening and you were lying next to me in a very scary pool of blood," he says "I think it&039;s stopped finally, but I wouldn&039;t sit up or anything"

I gingerly lift esture leaves me weak and dizzy Peeta holds a bottle to my lips and I drink thirstily

"You&039;re better," I say

"Much better Whatever you shot into , alone"

He doesn&039;t see off to the feast Maybe I&039;m just too beat-up and I&039;ll hear about it later when I&039;entleness

"Did you eat?" I ask

"I&039; before I realized it ht have to last a while Don&039;t worry, I&039;m back on a strict diet," he says

"No, it&039;s good You need to eat I&039;ll go hunting soon," I say

"Not too soon, all right?" he says "You just let me take care of you for a while"

I don&039;t really see and raisins and makes me drink plenty of water He rubs some warmth back intothe sleeping bag back up around my chin

"Your boots and socks are still da htning electrify the sky through an opening in the rocks Rain drips through several holes in the ceiling, but Peeta has built a sort of canopy overthe square of plastic into the rock above ht on this storet?" says Peeta

"Cato and Thresh," I say without thinking "Foxface will be in her den somewhere, and Clove she cut me an then " My voice trails off

"I know Clove&039;s dead I saw it in the sky last night," h says "Did you kill her?"

"No Thresh broke her skull with a rock," I say

"Lucky he didn&039;t catch you, too," says Peeta

The memory of the feast returns full-force and I feel sick "He did But he let s I&039;ve kept to myself because he was too sick to ask and I wasn&039;t ready to relive anyway Like the explosion andand the boy from District 1 and the bread All of which leads to what happened with Thresh and hoas paying off a debt of sorts

"He let you go because he didn&039;t want to owe you anything?" asks Peeta in disbelief

"Yes I don&039;t expect you to understand it You&039;ve always had enough But if you&039;d lived in the Seam, I wouldn&039;t have to explain," I say

"And don&039;t try Obviously I&039;et it"

"It&039;s like the bread How I never see you for that," I say

"The bread? What? Froo I ht me back from the dead"

"But you didn&039;t know ift that&039;s always the hardest to pay back I wouldn&039;t even have been here to do it if you hadn&039;t helped me then," I say "Why did you, anyway?"

"Why? You knohy," Peeta says I give ht, painful shake "Hay"

"Hayot to do with it?"

"Nothing," Peeta says "So, Cato and Thresh, huh? I guess it&039;s too much to hope that they&039;ll siht only upsets me "I think ould like Thresh I think he&039;d be our friend back in District Twelve," I say

"Then let&039;s hope Cato kills hirimly

I don&039;t want Cato to kill Thresh at all I don&039;t want anyone else to die But this is absolutely not the kind of thing that victors go around saying in the arena Despiteto pool in my eyes

Peeta looks at me in concern "What is it? Are you in a lot of pain?"

I give him another answer, because it is equally true but can be taken as a brief o home, Peeta," I say plaintively, like a small child

"You will I proive o hoo back to sleep and dream of home And you&039;ll be there for real before you know it," lie says "Okay?"

"Okay," I whisper "Wake ood and rested, thanks to you and Hay this will last?" he says

What does he s us? The Games themselves? I don&039;t know, but I&039; when Peeta wakesstrea where earlier there had been only drips Peeta has placed the broth pot under the worst one and repositioned the plastic to deflect most of it fro too dizzy, and I&039;m absolutely fa for et started

There&039;s not , a small mishmash of roots, and a handful of dried fruit

"Should we try and ration it?" Peeta asks

"No, let&039;s just finish it The groosling&039;s getting old anyway, and the last thing we need is to get sick off spoiled food," I say, dividing the food into two equal piles We try and eat slowly, but we&039;re both so hungry were done in a couple of minutes My sto day," I say

"I won&039;t be much help with that," Peeta says "I&039;ve never hunted before"

"I&039;ll kill and you cook," I say "And you can always gather"

"I wish there was some sort of bread bush out there," says Peeta

"The bread they sent h "Here, chew these" I hand him a couple of mint leaves and pop a few in my own mouth

It&039;s hard to even see the projection in the sky, but it&039;s clear enough to know there were no more deaths today So Cato and Thresh haven&039;t had it out yet

"Where did Thresh go? I mean, what&039;s on the far side of the circle?" I ask Peeta