Chapter 17

It took a surprisingly short amount of time to reach the point where I started to follow Katniss.  I sat there for a moment, deciding what to do next.  Suddenly, I heard voices nearby and I hid in the bushes, listening.  "Are you sure she went this way, Lover boy?"  I heard someone say.  Peeta's smooth voice replied, "Yeah, I'm sure."  Cato, Clove, Glimmer, Marvel, the girl from District 4, the boy from District 3, and Peeta emerged from the bushes across from me.

Cato said, "Good.  Because if she didn't, then you won't get off the hook easily."  Peeta didn't respond.  Glimmer poked the coals of the girl's fire from last night and said, "It's still warm.  Let's camp here for the night.  It'll be easier to make a fire."  Clove sneered at her.  "We could make it a bit further, if you just-"  Cato interrupted her and said, "No, we're staying here."

Clove fell silent, and no one seemed to want to argue.  Cato must be the leader.  I knew I couldn't stay in the bushes for a night, and I tried to back away slowly and silently.  I tripped over a root and fell backwards, knocking the wind out of me.  The Careers fall silent, listening.  I heard Cato say, "I've got this."  I realized the danger almost immediately and I scurried up a tree as fast as I could, shaking all over.

I heard Cato coming nearer and he walked directly under my tree not a moment later.  I held my breath.  He was holding an axe in his hand and a sword in his other hand.  I watched as he looked around carefully.  He finally shrugs and goes back to the camp.  I grab a sturdy branch from a nearby tree and then leap across into it.  I repeated the same process for the next tree and I find myself right by the Careers camp for the night.  Cato was saying, "I didn't see anybody.  It was most likely just a squirrel."

My shoulders relaxed and I started to belt myself to the tree and put my extra socks on my cold hands.  Soon I was all prepared for sleep.  I listened to the Career's conversations and take mental notes in my head.  I would call it spying, but I just couldn't help but overhear their voices.  I watched as Clove started up a fire, trying to remember the way she did it so I could make one sometime.  I remembered the girl who died last night because of her fire, and I decided I didn't need to add another possibility of getting killed to my list just because I make a fire. 

Glimmer took off her jacket and rolled it up into a pillow.  Marvel held his hands over Clove's fire once she finished.  Cato was telling Clove that he was going to get some supplies from his stash down by the lake.  I finally closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I slept through the deaths that were announced by the Capitol that night, if there even were any, besides the girl that made the fire. 

The next morning, I woke up even earlier than before, but the Careers were already all packed up and ready to go.  I quickly packed up, too, so I could follow them to see where their water supply is, even though I knew it was probably the lake.  Sure enough, their camp was at the edge of the woods.  I noticed how their supplies were stacked up in as pyramid, and all of the earth around it had been dug up and then filled up again.

A small tent was set up nearby, and that's where the Career pack headed.  I spent the rest of the day eating berries and nuts in a tree nearby the edge of the forest, while spying on the Careers every once in a while.  The day passed by quickly, and before I knew it, the moon was entering the sky and the Capitol seal had just appeared in the sky.  No tributes died today.  I snuggle up in my sleeping back and fall asleep almost immediately. 

When I wake up, it's not even dawn. I rub my eyes wearily.  What is that smell?  Once I sit up and look around, my eyes widen.  The smell was smoke, which seemed to be everywhere at the moment.  Once it mainly clears away, I see the source of the smoke.  The forest was on fire.