Rue and I half-stare half-glare at each other for a long time. Then I start thinking.

"This is exactly what the Gamemakers wanted, that's why they made this rule. We need to stick together," I say. Rue is quiet for a long amount of time.Then finally she speaks up.

"Maybe. Let's make a deal."

"What kind?"

"We stick together. But we help each other to find out district partners. Once we find both, then we can split up. If you find Peeta, you still have to help me look for Thresh, and same applies to me," pause, "agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Well let's go look for them."

"Ok."

I'm glad we worked it out. I don't know what I would do if I lost Rue. First Noah, then her.

"Let's get some sleep."

"Um...in the broad daylight?"

"Yeah?"

"Um...why?"

"Because. We have to look for our district partners and it's going to be quite difficult. We have no idea where they are now, nor the past few days. Plus, we haven't seen Thresh at all since we left the cornucopia."

For a moment we're both quiet and stare at each other. She finally agrees.

"Fine you win, but we have to be careful. Cato plus Clove are a huge threat,"

"Yes, I'm aware."

Soon we are both asleep, in our own trees. We decided that sleeping on the floor with leaves would be far to dangerous. The trees will conceal us the best.

Knock knock. It's Rue. I knock back twice, which means I'm safe. I crawl out and Rue's already there.Marvel's pack is on her back and she's carrying her shoe. I see her rabbit jiggle in her pocket.

"Come on, let's go," Rue urges.

"Okay," I tell her. I carry my shoe and check my pockets. Bunny and the nightlock are both there.

We walk for a while, but finally, the cornucopia comes into view. Around it are ashes from the supplies we blew up. Oh wow, we really caused some major destruction.

Rue mutters something under her breath.

"What?"

"Oh I just said day ten..."

"How'd you know?"

"I'd been counting," she says sheepishly.

It's been a week and a half since we've been in the arena.

*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。

Katniss's POV

My sister has been in the arena for 10 days. And she's alive. I'm so proud of her. Rue is a wonderful ally. Prim's been treating her just the same.

I hope that she can make it through. Maybe District 12 will have a victor, and maybe I can have my sister back. Just maybe. I hate the word so much. I don't know what will happen next.

*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。*・。

"Ok, so which way should we go?"

"Well not back into the forest of course, we've been there for the whole time and we didn't see them. So maybe to the rocky area over there, or the plain,"

"It's kind of like a plain. But it has lot's of...stuff. And it's high, and we're short. We won't be able to see."

"Okay then, the rocky area?"

"Sure. It's our best shot."

We start walking and soon we are climbing over rocks. They get bigger and bigger as we walk further and further.

"Prim, I'm sorry but this pack's kinda heavy. Can you carry it now?"

"Okay," So Rue takes off the pack and I put it on. We keep going.

"I think we should head back, there isn't any f-"

"Prim! Look!" Rue whispers excitedly. I look where she is pointing. It's a stream.

"Water!" we exclaim in unison. We look at each other excitedly. It's pretty impossible to run in the rocky area but we try to walk as fast as possible. We're walking, as fast as our little legs can carry us, when suddenly, there's a sound.

"Ouch!" pause. Rue and I look at each other.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yea I did, and it sounds like Peeta."

"That is freaky, there is no one here."

"Prim? Rue? It's me!"

"This is so scary. Because I can't see anyone here, like at all."

"I'm here, down here."

So we both look down and still there is nothing.

"Um...where?"

Then we see him flash a smile and we can see his teeth. He must be under the mud and the other marshy stuff, camouflaged.

"Oh my goodness, Peeta!" I exclaim and start to pull him out of the gooey mess.

"Ouch!"

"What is it?"

"My leg is badly cut. Cato,"

"That must hurt, we're gonna have to fix him."

"Yup."
"Rue, you check to see if there are things in the first aid kit, I'm going back to look for herbs, or other healing plants."

"No way are you going back to the forest, alone. Cato and Clove are probably there!" Rue hisses.

"Fine, but we have to do something. He's bleeding real bad!"

"Okay, first let's wash him, then we'll see how serious his wounds are. We'll figure it all out from there."

"Fine."

"And then we go find Thresh," she adds. "We made a deal,"

"Okay."

"Thank you."

"You're so very welcome."

We start to wash Peeta. Rue's not too comfortable with it but I've been helping Mother out for the past few years. I guess it's all paying off now. I wash him, hoping he won't have any infections. I examine his cut, his burns, and did I mention he has a fever? Well he does, and it's real bad.

We find pills for the fever in Marvel's first aid kit. We also treat his burns with the tin of ointment that I received from Haymitch.

"From Haymitch?" he asks. I nod.

"Did you receive anything yet?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"No."

"I'm sure you'll get one soon," I tell him with a smile.

"Thanks."

"Okay, we have to treat the cut now."

"Mhmm."

"Well we've got to get all the pus out, then we'll see what we can do to stop it from getting infected further. Then we wrap it up to stanch the blood so it doesn't keep pouring out."

"Oh wow, that seems like a plan Ms. Everdeen," Rue says. "And...I know something that can help. I'm going back to the woods to get them."

"I'm going with you."

"What about Peeta?"

Long, very long pause.

"Okay fine, you go...but be careful!" I tell her and pull her into a deep hug. I'm scared. What if she doesn't come back?

I sit down and watch Peeta. I decide to move him since anyone could come and attack us. He's quite big and he's hard to carry but I manage to somehow move him. I look around and find a small cave like area where the rocks provide concealment. With a lot of heaving and pulling, I finally get him near the cave. Then I find some pine needles near the cave and cover the floor in them, because we need the patient to be comfortable. I push him into the little cave, and by then I am exhausted. I grow more worried, as Rue isn't back yet.

"We have to eat," I tell Peeta. "You must be starving."

"Not really, haven't eaten for quite a long time. And I'm not hungry at all."

Oh no. He's seriously sick.

"You have to eat," I tell him and go through my shoe. I've miraculously been able to keep it for this whole time. The pack too.

I give him some nuts. Then roots, then berries. I get worried that Rue won't come back. Maybe she ran off to find Thresh...I need her here. She's my friend, and she's bring stuff for Peeta.

It starts to get dark. Just when I think maybe she was killed, I see her run over the rocks as fast as she can. I come out of the cave.

"Over here!"

Rue runs over. Between her heavy breathing, she tells me, "Well, I...got...the leaves."

"What happened?"

"Well I ran into Cato. Not literally but...I saw him. I was collecting the leaves. Then he was there. I climbed up a tree. I ran away but it was hard. I jumped from branch to branch, tree to tree. It took me a long time to lose him. He's so fast! That took up so much time, then I also had to find my way back here, and trust me, it was hard,"

"Oh wow..." I can't believe she went through all that...for Peeta.

"Can I have some water?"

"Of course," I say as I take the water canteen out of Marvel's pack. She takes a long drink. Then she puts the leaves in her mouth and stars chewing. I know what she's doing. I've seen this before. She takes out the leaves and both her and I spread them across Peeta's leg. Pus oozes out, and we use the rest of the water to wash it away. Rue starts applying more leaves, and I go down to the stream to go fill the canteen again.

Just getting all the puss out takes a long time. We have to work well and quickly, or he may have to deal with blood poisoning. I treat all his cuts, and he doesn't complain one bit. I know it probably hurts. Either he's fighting the pain, or his pain tolerance is extremely high. Maybe it's both. Rue falls asleep and I totally understand. I let her sleep as I treat Peeta's wounds.

"How's it feeling?" I ask. I'm almost done and I want to make sure that everything is going well.

"It's great, I mean of course it hurts but I'm a lot better," Peeta says. I grin. I'm glad. Well there's not much I can do now with limited resources, so I decide to finally wrap him up, block the cut from infection and making sure to cover up his wounds. Peeta voluntarily gives up his jacket to wrap his gash. I do some quick knots and he's good to go. At least for tonight.

"Prim, you've worked all night. You need to sleep," Peeta tells me.

"Yeah, I'm tired."

"Of course you are, now go to bed," Peeta tells me.

"Ok," I say and I lay down next to Rue. The rocky area is not exactly the best spot to sleep, but it's okay. In District 12 the beds were hard...Since when did I get used to the fluffy Capitol beds?

Just as I start to drift off, I hear chimes. I look up from where I am. A silver parachute. It glides down and finally lands on Peeta's lap. I get excited and crawl over to Peeta.

"It's your first sponsor gift," I say, excited for him.

"Oh yes it is," he says and opens up his very first sponsor gift, which turns out to be a warm pot of broth.

"Oh Peeta! You've got to eat," I tell him.

"No no, I'm not hungry," he replies back. Ugh. He's still pretty sick, seeing that he doesn't want to eat anything and he should be starving by now.

"Peeta, you have to eat!" I tell him and try to force it in but he's not in the mood.

I try to act all cute and charm him and make him eat it.

"Oh Peeta puuuleeez~!" puppy eyes come in handy. "For Katniss?" I say hopefully.

"Oh fine," Peeta finally gives in and takes in all of the broth. I smile.

"Ok, good. You ate."

"Oh yes I did, and now you need to sleep," Peeta tells me. And I do.

"Ok, but you need to too, I'm gonna move you deeper into the cave," I tell him and start to move him. It's hard but it's a short distance. As I move him, I realize that he still has a fever. His body is just burning hot. I get out some more of the fever pills from Marvel's kit. I make him take the pills, and only then do I go to sleep.

~A/N~ Yay, a nice long chapter. I couldn't really write about how Prim treats Peeta's wounds because 

A: It would be way too long, and B: I'm not Prim, just writing in her POV, so I don't know about medical stuff that much.  

But I still hope I wrote enough for you guys. This chapter's for the folks who wanted to see Peeta. Here you go :) 

Read, vote, and comment plz!! Love ya,

-Monica