So we both strip off our boots and socks and, while there’s some improvement, I could swear he’s making an effort to snap every branch we encounter

Not like this. He wanted it to be real.

I miss him so badly it hurts.

One time, my mother told me that I always eat like I'll never see food again. And I said, "I won't unless I bring it home." That shut her up.

I'm very hard to catch," says Rue. "And if they can't catch me, they can't kill me. So don't count me out.

Peeta smiles and douses Haymitch's knife in white liquor from a bottle on the floor. He wipes the blade clean on his shirt tail and slices the bread. Peeta keeps all of us in fresh baked goods. I hunt. He bakes. Haymitch drinks. We have our own ways to stay busy, to keep thought of our time as contestants in the Hunger Games at bay.

A need for revenge can burn long and hot. Especially if every glance in a mirror reinforces it.