Chapter 19 Chapter 19 New Allies

I quickly covered my mouth, but the words were out of my mouth, the sky fell into darkness again, and groups of frogs croaked. "Stupid!" I said to myself, "how stupid!" I froze and waited for the attacker to appear in the woods, but there was no sound around me, and it occurred to me that there were not many of us left. Peeta has been badly injured, and he's my ally now.Whatever suspicions I had about him had to be put aside, because either of us would be cast aside in District 12 no matter who killed the other.In fact, if I were a spectator, I'd also hate people who don't unite with their own players.Besides, it pays to protect each other.In any case, as two star lovers from District 12, it is impossible to get any sympathetic patronage without helping each other.

Star lovers... Peeta has definitely been playing this angel role.Otherwise, why would the contest organizers change the rules?Just to allow both players to appear at the same time when they win.Our romance is sure to spread among the audience; to curse it is to threaten the success of the contest.Don't thank me, all I did was try to avoid killing Peeta; but he did everything to convince the audience that it was all about keeping me alive.He shakes his head when I'm about to run for the Horn of Zeus; he fights Cato to make me escape; he even hangs out with the pros to protect me.As it turned out, Peeta was never a threat to me.

Thinking of this, I smiled.I put my hands down and turned my face up to the moon so the camera could catch me. So, which of the rest should be the one to be afraid of?Fox face?The boy from their area was dead, and she was alone at night, and her current strategy should be to avoid, not attack.I think, even if she hears my voice now, she doesn't want someone to kill me. Then there's Sarrish, well, he's a serious threat, but I haven't seen him since the game started, not once.I remembered that Foxface immediately became alert when she heard the sound after the explosion, but instead of running into the jungle, she ran in the opposite direction, toward the arena in a direction I was not familiar with, and I felt pretty sure that the person she was hiding from was Salish, and that was his domain, where he would never hear me, and even if he did, I climbed so high that no man of his stature could climb up.

So, that leaves Cato and the girls from District 2, they must be celebrating the new rules, they are the players who benefit from the new rules besides Peeta and me.Afraid that if they hear me calling Peeta's name, should I run away from them? "No," I thought, "let them come." Let them wear night-vision goggles and drag their heavy, branch-breaking bodies, right within range of my bow.But I know they won't. If they don't see the fire during the day, they won't take the risk because they are afraid of falling into a trap at night.Therefore, even if they come, it is entirely their own decision, not that I have exposed my whereabouts.

"Stay here and sleep for a while, Katniss." I ordered myself, in fact, I hoped to track down Peeta's whereabouts at this time. "Tomorrow, you will find him." I am asleep.When I wake up in the morning, I am more cautious.If the others won't attack me in the trees, they can set up an ambush on the ground.I make sure I'm ready for the day's fight, eat my breakfast, check my pack, and get my weapon ready before I descend the tree.But the ground seemed to be quiet and everything was safe. I must be extremely careful today.The pros will know that I'm looking for Peeta, and they'll wait for the moment when I do.If Peeta is seriously injured as Cato said, then I'm going to protect the two of us without any help.How did Peeta survive if he was badly injured?How can I find him?

I tried to recall what Peeta said that night, to find any clues about Peeta's hiding place, but there were no clues.So I flashed back to him yelling "Run" at me in the sun with the glistening water dripping all over his face.Peeta finished talking to me, and then Cato showed up with a knife in his hand, and he stabbed Peeta after I ran away.How did Peeta escape?Maybe he was better off than Cato after being stung by a wasp, maybe he just escaped by luck, but he was stung too, how far could he go with the sting and the venom in his body? ?How did he manage to survive the many days that followed?If his wounds and bee venom hadn't killed him, he must have been dying of thirst.

Thinking of this, I found the first clue.He couldn't survive without water, and neither could I for the first few days.He must be hiding near a water source.It's by the lake, but then I thought it was impossible, because it would be too close to the pro players' camp.Otherwise, there are a few springs in the arena, which is tantamount to waiting to die.Then there is only the creek, the one that passes through the habitat of Lulu and me, flows by the lake, and runs to the distance.If he stays near the stream, he will always be near the water, and he can keep changing his position.He can walk in streams without leaving any marks, and he can even catch some fish to eat.

Well, anyway, you can start here. In order to confuse my opponents, I lit a fire with twigs to create a thick smoke.Even if they think this is a trap, I hope they will deduce from this that I am not far from the fire.And actually, I'm going to find Peeta. The scorching sun quickly dispelled the morning fog, and I knew it must be hotter than usual today.I walked down the stream in the stream, the stream water submerged my feet, it felt cool and comfortable.I started to think about calling Peeta's name, but it didn't feel right.I'll find him with eyes and a good ear, or he will find me.But he should know I'm looking for him, right?He won't underestimate me, thinking that I ignore the new rules and only play wisely to protect myself, right?His mind is quite difficult to guess. Normally, guessing his mind is very interesting, but now it is not easy to find him if he guesses wrong.

I soon reached the branch off the stream to the pro camp, but there was no sign of Peeta, which was to be expected.I've been back and forth on this road three times since the wasp sting.If he's around, I'll feel it.The stream flows to the left towards a woodland that I am not familiar with. There are many intertwined aquatic plants growing on the slippery and muddy bank. There is a big stone along the river bank. The further you go, the bigger the stone is. The road ahead seems to be blocked. Now, escape from this direction of the stream, there are many rocks, and it must be difficult to guard against the attacks of Cato and Salish. It is impossible for a wounded person to take this route. I think the direction must be wrong. But when I saw blood on the corner of the boulder.The bloodstain had already dried up, and judging from the blurred marks, someone had tried to wipe off the bloodstain on the ground when the brain was not completely obeying the control.

Around the stone, I followed the bloodstains looking for Peeta, and I saw more bloodstains, some thread of cloth clinging to a pool of blood, but no sign of Peeta.I keep walking, whispering Peeta's name. "Peta! Peeta!" A mockingbird landed on a bush and started to mimic my voice, and I had to stop.I gave up searching and crawled back to the creek, thinking: "He must have walked forward, far away." I had hardly set foot in the stream when I heard someone say, "Are you here to kill me, dear?" I hurriedly turned around, the voice was coming from the left side, I couldn't hear it clearly, the voice was hoarse and weak, it must be Peeta, otherwise, who would call me "honey" in the arena?I squinted my eyes and looked towards the bank. There was no one there, just mud and plants and stones. "Peeta," I whispered, "where are you?" There was no answer.Am I delusional?No, I'm sure I heard the voice and it was very close. "Peeta?" I tiptoed along the river bank.

"Hey, don't step on me." I jumped back a step, his voice was coming from under my feet, but I still couldn't see anything.Then he opened his eyes, his blue eyes clearly visible between the tawny dirt and the green leaves, and I gasped as he smiled, showing a bit of his white teeth. He must have learned this in the personal disguise course arranged by the organizers of the final contest, and he could disguise himself as a tree, or a stone, or a muddy river bank overgrown with weeds. "Close your eyes again." I ordered.He closed his eyes and mouth before disappearing completely.I judged that most of his body was actually hidden under a layer of mud and weeds, his face and arms were neatly hidden from view, and I knelt beside him. "It's good to put in effort to decorate the cake, huh?" Peeta smiled. "Yeah, Frosting, this is the dying man's last act of self-preservation." "You are not dying," I told him firmly. "Who said that?" His voice was hoarse. "I said, we're in a trench now, you know that," I told him. He opened his eyes wide, "I've heard that too, you're so kind, you found me when I was in such a mess." I took out the water bottle and let him drink some water. "Did Cato stab you?" I asked. "Left leg, heel," he replied. "Go to the stream and wash the wound, and I'll see how it's hurting!" I said. "Bend down first, I have something to tell you." I leaned over and put my good ear to his mouth, and his ear was itchy when he spoke. "Remember, we're madly in love, so you can kiss me anytime you want." I raised my head and laughed, "Thanks, I'll remember." At least, he was still able to joke.But when I tried to help him to the stream, his lightheartedness disappeared suddenly.After all, how hard can it be to walk to the creek only two feet away?But when I knew he couldn't move an inch, I realized how difficult it was.He is so weak that the only thing he can do is obey me.I tried to pull him, but despite his best efforts, he screamed in pain.The dirt and weeds seemed to entangle him, and it took all my strength to pull him out.There he lay, jaw clenched, tears stained on his mud-stained face.He was still two feet from the stream. "Look, Peeta. I'm going to roll you in the water, it's shallow here, okay?" I said. "Great," he said. I knelt down beside him and said to myself, no matter what, don't stop until he rolls into the water. "I'll count to three," I said, "one, two, three!" I only rolled him once, and had to stop when I heard his horrific cry.Now he was almost at the water's edge.Maybe it's better this way. "Okay, change the plan now, I'm not going to roll you all in." I said to him.Plus, I'm going to roll him in and god knows if I'll ever get him out. "Aren't you leaving?" he asked. "That's it, wash you now, and help me keep an eye on the situation in the woods, okay?" I said.Really don't know where to start.He was covered in mud and grass, and I couldn't even see his clothes, if he had clothes on.Thinking of this, I hesitated for a moment, but immediately got back to work.Being naked is nothing in an arena, is it? I have two water bottles and Lulu's leather water bag.I prop two of them up on rocks in the stream so they're always full, and use the third for the pita rinse.It took a while, and finally after I washed the mud off, I finally saw Peeta's clothes.I carefully unzipped his jacket, unbuttoned his shirt, and took it off gently.His shirt was already clinging to the wound, and I had to use a knife to pull it open and soak it in water to soften it.He had a long burn on his chest, behind his ear, and four wasp stings.I feel okay, I can handle this.I decided to take care of the wound on his upper body first, to relieve some of the pain, and then deal with Cato's stab wound in his leg. Since he was lying in the mud puddle to treat the wound, it didn't seem to be effective, so I put him upright and leaned against a big rock.He sat in silence while I washed all the mud from his hair and skin.In the sun, his skin was pale, and he no longer looked strong and strong.I tried to pull the sting out of his skin and he flinched in pain, but he let out a sigh of relief as soon as I applied the medicine.He was basking in the sun and I hurriedly washed his dirty shirt and jacket and hung them to dry on the rocks.Then he applied medicine to the burn on his chest.Only then did I realize that his body was very hot. The mud and water covered up his high temperature. I found antipyretics in the first aid kit I took from the boy in District 1.Mom buys it when her own prescription doesn't work. "Swallow this," I told him.He was very obedient and took medicine. "You must be hungry." "Not too hungry, ridiculous, I haven't felt hungry for days," Peeta said.He sniffled and turned his head away as I lifted the toucan meat to his mouth.That's when I realized how sick he was. "Peeta, I need you to eat." I insisted. "I'll spit it out right away," he said.I can only persuade him to eat some dried apples. "Thanks, I'm better, really. Can I sleep, Katniss?" he asked. "Soon," I agreed, "I need to see your legs first." I took off his boots and socks as lightly as possible, and then slowly, bit by bit, his trousers.On the outside of the clothes, I could see the big gash that Cato had cut open, but I never thought that the inside would be so badly wounded.The deep wound was red and swollen, with pus and blood oozing out, and the entire leg was already swollen.Worst of all, the carrion stinks. I wanted to run away and disappear into the woods, like the day a burn patient came home and went hunting in the woods, leaving Mom and Prim tending to someone I had neither the strength nor the courage to face.But here, there is no one else but me.I imitated my mother's composure in dealing with serious patients. "Sucks, huh?" Peeta said, leaning close to me, looking at me. "It's okay," I shrugged, pretending to be okay, "you should see the patients people bring to my mother from the mine." But as long as the patient's illness is worse than a cold, I will run out. I didn't dare to tell him.Come to think of it, I rarely even get a cold myself. "Wash the wound first." I left Peeta's shorts on because they looked okay and I didn't want to take them off Peeta's inflamed thighs and, well, maybe I have to admit that Peeta's nudity made me uncomfortable .It’s not the same with a different mom and Prim, who feel nudity is okay, not embarrassing, ironic, and here and now, in a game, my little sister is more useful to Peeta than I am to him.I put a little piece of plastic under his buttocks so I can rinse his legs.I poured water on his leg in bottles, but the wound looked worse.The rest of the leg was fine except for one sting and some small burns which I took care of quickly but the knife wound on his leg... oh my god what am I supposed to do? "Why don't we let the wound see the air, and then..." My voice fell away. "And you patch it up?" Peeta said.He even looked sorry for me, fully aware of how lost I was at this point. "That's right," I said, "don't be idle, eat this." I put some dried pears in his hand, then went to the stream to wash the clothes, and spread the washed clothes, waiting to dry Dry, then double check the first aid kit.There were only the basics in it, bandages, fever reducers, stomach medicine, no medicine for pitta. "We're going to do some experiments," I said, and I knew that the herb for bee venom would suck out the pus from an infection, so I'd try the leaves first.I put the chewed herb on his knife wound, and after a few minutes, the pus flowed down the thigh. I told myself that the herb was good for the wound, and at the same time I bit my cheek hard because breakfast It's about to come out of the stomach. "Katniss?" Peeta said.I met his eyes, my expression must be very green, he said with his lips, "how about that kiss you just said?" I couldn't help laughing out loud, it was so disgusting I couldn't stand it. "Is something wrong?" he asked a little too naively. "I... I'm not very good at this, I'm not a mother, I don't know if it's right, I hate pus." I cried out in pain, "Woo...!" "Then how do you hunt?" he asked. "Seriously, it's much easier to kill animals than that," I said, "and I'm killing you right now." "Can you hurry up?" he asked. "No, shut up and eat your dried pears." I said. After three dressings, which felt like a vat of pus, the wound did look better.The swelling has gone down a lot and I can see how deep the wound is, down to the bone. "What's next, Dr. Everdeen?" he asked. "Maybe I should put some burn ointment on you. I think this will cure the infection too. Then bandage it up," I said.I fixed it and wrapped it in clean white gauze, and the wound looked much better.However, the shorts next to the white gauze looked dirty, probably full of bacteria, I took out Lulu's backpack, "Here, here you go, cover it, I'll wash your shorts." "Oh, I don't care if you see me," Peeta said. "You're like family to me, I care, okay?" I turned to face the creek, and after a while, he threw the shorts into the water.It must feel pretty good that he can throw things. "Look at you, you're a little too sensitive for someone who's dying," Peeta said as I washed my shorts on the rocks. "I wish I'd left you behind for Haymitch to shower that day, too." I frowned, "So far, what has he given you?" "Nothing," Peeta said, and he paused a little. "What, did you get anything?" "Ointment for burns," I said, almost sheepishly. "Oh, and a loaf of bread." "I knew you were the one he valued the most," Peeta said. "Come on, he can't stand being in the same room with me," I said. "That's because you two are alike," Peeta murmurs.I didn't answer anymore because my first feeling was that now was not the time to scold Haymitch. While drying the clothes, I let Peeta take a nap for a while, and when it was almost dusk, I didn't dare to wait any longer.I shake Peeta's shoulder lightly, "Peeta, we have to go." "Go?" He looked confused, "Where are you going?" "Get out of here. Maybe go down the stream and hide you until you get well," I said.I dressed him so that he could go barefoot so we could walk in the water, then pulled him up.As soon as his legs were exerted, his face immediately turned pale. "Hold on, you can do it." But he can't, he can't go very far.He held me by the shoulders, and we walked about fifty yards down the stream, and it was obvious that he was failing.I sat him by the stream with my head tucked between my legs, and patted him awkwardly on the back as I surveyed my surroundings.Of course, I'd love to get him up a tree, but that can't be done, which makes things even more difficult.I found some hollowness in the rock, and my eye fell on a stone twenty yards from the stream.When Peeta can stand, I half-drag him into the hole.Actually, I wanted to find a more ideal place, but he was injured, so I can take refuge here temporarily.His face was pale, the weather was only a little cold, and he was already shivering from the cold. I spread a layer of pine needles on the cave floor, opened my sleeping bag, stuffed him in, put a few pills in the water when he wasn't looking, but he didn't even want to eat the dried fruit.He lay there, looking straight at me, and I made another camouflage with vines to cover the hole.It didn't work very well, the thing wouldn't arouse the animal's suspicions, but one could tell at a glance that it had been put on hastily, and I tore it off, in great dismay. "Katniss," he said.I walked over and brushed his hair away from his eyes, "Thank you for finding me." "If it were you, you would come to me too." I said. His forehead was so hot it didn't seem like the pills were working at all.Suddenly, for some reason, my heart tightened, and an inexplicable worry arose spontaneously, he won't die, right? "Yes, you see, if I never go back—" he said. "Don't say that, your pus is not squeezed for nothing." I said. "I know, but in case I can't—" He wanted to go on. "No, Peeta, I don't want to say that," I say, putting my finger over his mouth to keep him from talking. "But I—" he insisted. Impulsively, I leaned down and kissed him, not letting him continue talking.Maybe the kiss came a little late, but maybe he was right and we should be madly in love.It was the first time I kissed a boy and it was supposed to impress, but all I could feel was his hot lips.I got up quickly and tucked him a sleeping bag. "You won't die, I won't let you die, okay?" "Okay," he said softly. I stepped outside into the cool air when I saw a parachute floating down.I undo the straps quickly, hoping to deliver medicine for Peeta's leg, but it's just a pot of hot broth. The message Haymitch sent me couldn't have been clearer, a kiss is a pot of soup, and I could almost hear him roar, "You're in love honey, he's dying, give me an actionable reason! " He's right, if I want Peeta to live, I'm going to give the audience more reason to care, star lovers yearn to go home together, the two of them are connected.This is Romantic. I've never been in love before, and this first love was purely a ruse.I think of my own parents, how my father would always bring presents to my mother from the woods, how my mother would beam with joy at the sound of my father's footsteps, and how her life almost stopped when my father died. "Peeta," I say, trying to sound like Mom talking to Dad.He fell asleep again, but I woke him up with a kiss, and he seemed surprised.Afterwards, he looked at me with a smile on his face, as if he wanted to look at me like that forever.He's really good at it. I held the pot up, "Peeta, look what Haymitch has brought you."