23

After having had three sex fantasies within each other, Peeta's having a mighty amount of trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality. But he knows that he's the size of a mouse, and lost in the Appalachian wilderness, and unaware of what to do next.

At first he thinks he's hallucinating. But after sometime, he sees that droves of mice are running from something; that much wasn't a dream. Or, he might've saw something like it before falling asleep, and it inspired him... But if only he could think of what.

And it's better that he can't. He's been inspired; that's all that matters.

Without ambition, he stands, and stumbles in the direction from which the mice are running. It shouldn't be too hard. The droves spread thin sometimes. And sometimes they spread so thin that Peeta has to stop and wait for another to scurry past him. But in whatever case, this seems worthwhile. It's either that or wait around for a bobcat to find him.

And they're still out there. Peeta can see them, and hear them break things wherever they stalk.

But he can't think about that right now. Or rather, he can't think about that until a bobcat has actually cornered him-and he hopes one never does-as unlikely as it seems.

That spider got way too close. As did that copperhead mutt. Peeta still doesn't understand why the spider didn't eat him. And that copperhead had more than one opportunity to ingest him...

But then, the copperhead wasn't there for him. It was there to kill Johanna, even if Peeta was smaller and easier to... Wait; is Peeta even thinking about something that actually happened? And with that said, what's the point in going to extremes to avoid these bobcats if he's probably just going to wake up again?

OTOH, if this were a dream, there'd be MUCH more femininity to go around out here-unlikely and lovely. And right now, the only femininity there is for clicks is the estrus markings of the local fauna and flora-which Peeta, of course, is a stranger to, and is therefore not seductive.

No doubt about it; this is reality. If Peeta doesn't walk a fine line this time, he'll end up in a bobcat's stomach...and he WON'T wake.

Peeta nearly gets trampled by some of the mice droves. But fortunately, being stuck out here has made him more flexible-if his subconscious hasn't.

Soon, the droves are closer together. And there are more of them. Whatever's making them run must be putting up quite a tantrum. Peeta's not prepared to see it...but he must, in case whatever this is poses a threat to him.

Up above, birds start flying in the same direction as the mice. Closer to the ground-but farther away from Peeta-deer fly over rocks while running in the mice's same direction. Peeta also sees a raccoon, a skunk, and an opossum, among other less-likelies. Peeta's starting to suspect that he's taken a wrong turn-or that the mice have taken a turn he somehow hasn't noticed, despite being fully awake for the first time since getting stuck out here...maybe...

Peeta smells smoke. Apparently there's a home nearby and they're having a cookout. If Peeta was taller, he could see where the home was. And yet...noisy people usually attend cookouts, and Peeta doesn't hear anyone shouting...

Peeta sees a light up ahead. At first he thinks it's the sun. But he slows down. The sky is covered in clouds. If the sun was up there-and Peeta has no doubt that it really is, but that's irrelevant-he wouldn't be able to see it. Something's wrong...

It's getting brighter. And bigger. And hotter. Now it's too big. The sun never gets this close to Earth. That's neither dawn nor dusk. It's a forest fire. And it's only expanding.

Okay; time to go the other way. Peeta starts to feel bad about following a forest fire right to its source.

Now he knows how Katniss felt, at one point during the 74th Hunger Games, when the arena tried to get her to stay closer to her fellow tributes. They caused a temporary forest fire, which prompted Katniss to stay in harm's way-where the other tributes were sure to try to kill her at some point.

And he would've had to, under the traditional system. But this time there's no Gamemaker for the forest fire to pin its own responsibility on.

Alas, as Smokey the Bear still says in Panem, there's no such thing as a plant or an animal that's capable of causing a forest fire. Whoever did this was clearly human and irresponsible.

Alas, it's also likely that they ARE responsible, and they did this to either cause a distraction, or to destroy something they think is in the forest... The former seems more likely; question is, who are they, and what are they trying to distract who from?

Running from forest fires is a workout, Peeta knows. But it's either that or wait and burn like tinder when it gets here.

Peeta takes shelter. The shelter gets hot. The whole damn place gets hot. At times, Peeta has trouble breathing.

He wouldn't believe that his wife accidentally caused this fire. He'd believe that Katlanna did.

The night passes. The fire dies. The smoke blows away. The heat vanishes. A new dawn approaches. And soon-but not as soon as many would like-a new forest will too.

Peeta crawls from his shelter. The tree's leaves are higher up than before. The grass is gone. The tree trunks are black. The ground smells like ashes. Smoke still rises from a few small spots on the ground.

Peeta's lost his cover. If a bobcat attacks him now, he won't get away.

And with dawn approaching, they're back out. The remnants of the fire will only make them hungrier. And Peeta's alone out here. This'll be a crucible if he survives it.

Something scurries around him. Peeta jolts. There're at least two or three. Peeta sure hopes they're not predators.

Peeta hears a bobcat yowl. He thinks he sees one through the mist. He slips away. He knows it's only a matter of time before the monstrous cat picks up his scent.

It's foggy. Or...is it smokey? It's one or the other. Peeta's visibility has been better.

Peeta still doesn't know if he imagines it, or if it's really there, but bobcats are out there. If he encounters one before he's ready...

Peeta steps on a loose pebble. Before he can correct himself-because he tries to correct himself-he falls.

It's a long fall. He yells. He gets rained on by gravel. He bounces off several rocks. It feels like Katlanna all over again. At least this time he won't kill another coyote.

Alas, that doesn't mean he won't meet two boars that try to kill him. Or worse...

He hits the bottom hard. The bottom is flat. And it's surrounded on three sides. At least the smoke is less cloaking here.

Peeta gets over the shock of the fall. He staggers to his feet, and wanders on.

He runs into a tree trunk. He feels dazed.

He blinks. That tree trunk was furry. And it sure was wide at the crown-and not to mention barbed. And...isn't he too small for tree trunks to be that size?

He doesn't want to...but he looks up. His eyes follow the tree trunk to its canopy.

A pair of sinister lavender-glowing eyes are looking down at him. And among other things, he can also decipher a pair of tufted triangular ears...

Peeta screams. His scream is amplified by the cliff walls that surround him and the great cat.

But before the cat can pin him, something runs past them. It grabs Peeta and keeps running.

Behind them, the bobcat gives chase. But it doesn't last long. Cats have speed, but not stamina. As soon as Peeta's savior outruns the bobcat, it gives up the chase and wanders off.

Along the way, several other bobcats start to give chase. But Peeta's savior is running too far for too long for them-and for the faster ones, Peeta's savior is too swift.

Peeta's savior runs to a hole in some rocks. It stops, and lets Peeta fall/roll inside.

It's just as long a fall as it is a roll. One would think that Snow would've leveled this ground during his reign...

But of course, Snow thought of District 12 what everyone else in Panem probably did under his rule: that District 12 is too insignificant and too poor to care for. But in whatever case, Appalachia is still geologically unstable, and Peeta will be lucky if he doesn't accidentally cause this cave to cave in while he's in it.

He falls to a stop. This time, he hesitates for a REALLY long time before getting up...

Hairy noses pick on him. They tickle his sides. Peeta finally rolls on his back and looks around. When he does, he screams even louder than he did for the bobcat-and this one is amplified even louder by all four walls-and then some-by the underground chamber he's in, of whatever size.

He's surrounded by mice mutts. Their noses and whiskers are long...and Peeta's worried that these aren't the rats from the Secret of NIMH...