Hunger Games 1

Chapter 37 New Allies (2)
"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 [-].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, and 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."

(End of this chapter)