Being careful was something you needed to accept and adopt quickly. Katniss hadn't been as careful as she should have last year. But this year, this year would be different. It had to be, she wouldn't be the only one at the end, she'd make sure of it. Last year, she was ready to kill herself and Peeta if it meant proving a point, if it meant truly escaping the evil monstrosity of The Capitol. Things were different now. She couldn't be so rash. She had survived and now she had to do it again, except she would make sure that the others got out too. She and them could refuse to fight if they were the last one standing. Or perhaps they could find a way to dig their way out. Plans weren't her thing, clearly, but Katniss could at least hope Haymitch or Gale might be thinking of something to help them out. 

The man by her side was one who walked with purpose, if he thought he was going to die, Katniss wouldn't have expected so much fight out of him. Thankfully though, he wasn't giving up which gave her a clue that some plan was in the works. If there was a plan, and she wasn't being overly hopeful in a hopeless place, then Katniss wanted to know about it so she could help, so she knew they were working for something specific, not just flailing their arms. In her mind, they had to be working toward something though, and she would treat the Games as if they were going to find a way out or a way to beat the system again and make a stand. Prim and Gale had a future, so did Johanna and Haymitch. People like Snow couldn't determine their fate. It wasn't right. With a stronger resolve, she kept her eyes forward, knowing Haymitch had their back, just in case the mist decided to try to come out and play again.

When Haymitch thought they might find the others, her first instinct, was to just agree for the sake of keeping a positive outlook. But she remained quiet, trying to think of the likely outcome. Gale and Prim were out there, possibly heading for the mountains to be safer. Could they find any of the other soon? Katniss knew to keep fighting for a chance at surviving, they needed to find them soon. The ones pulling the strings however, would have other ways of preventing that as long as possible. "You're not getting tired of me already?" Katniss decided to give an amused remark, rather than continue to mull over the odds of them finding anyone who wasn't an enemy. Looking up, the hair on her arms rose as she swore she saw a horde of bugs hanging in the air beyond where they were. They were tiny and black and Katniss was sure their only design and function, was to inflict pain of some sort upon the Tributes. "Looks like we have company."

For the time being, the collection didn't move.

It was as if they were unaware of her and Haymitch. Maybe, like the mist, this obstacle was triggered by something. Whatever it was, she didn't want to stick around and risk finding out. "Let's change our direction, try to avoid whatever it is they are." She muttered and looked around to see where they could go. The indented pathway was very narrow and followed a rough pattern. Soon she saw a way for their direction to change but it would also mean not finding the edge of the arena as soon since their direction would shift. Moving north, she hoped it wouldn't set them off. Trying to avoid being spotted was impossible though. The hum grew louder and she looked to her right to see the collection of flies coming toward them. "Shit shit." Katniss picked up the pace, forgoing a delicate pace, as she stomped along the ledge, her right foot dipping into the water sporadically. The swarm kept after them and as a large wheat field came into view, she dove for it and the swam stopped just as the mist had. Rolling onto her back, she looked at her wet feet, trying to see if anything had latched itself onto her.

"Gross...let's hope we don't have to eat these." She glared at the leeches and looked to Haymitch for some help as the stinging intensified.

Moving along wasn't easy and he knew the next few days would prove that.

When Primrose noticed the noises of discontent his stomach made, he felt guilty. He almost felt like he was back home as well, when food was hard to come by but at least back in District 12, people looked out for each other, had hearts. Being in the Capitol had been horrible, Gale knew he would bad but he didn't think the stark contrast between what he knew as home and what others knew as home. Back home, he had his family and Prim and Katniss had their mother. He vaguely wondered what Johanna and Finnick and Beetee and Wiress had waiting for them. They all had to have some kind of reason that was pushing them to fight the system, rather than one another. Gale knew his own reason for rebelling was Prim, as well as his own family and the home that he loved. He was sure the people watching them with dead eyes and painted faces, didn't have as much of a passion like the others they deemed to be entertainment. 

Even if he did feel better than the spectators who were nothing to him, it didn't change the fac that they had a long way to go and that Peeta was still back there, trying to make the impossible happen. "I can wait a little bit longer." He told Prim, knowing he could wait a few more days before they dug into the chocolate and that if on the off chance something with their plan went wrong, the chocolate may be more useful when they were trying to find their way in the wilderness. It was a slim chance but it could still happen. He thought about Effie and what she may be eating or if she wasn't eating very much to show her support. The way Katniss spoke of Effie made him think she wasn't very bright, didn't care about the cycle of bloodshed she was involved with. But to him, the more he got to know her, he could tell Effie was the kind of person who did care about stupid things but who also did sympathize with what was going on. He knew she and Peeta were in a tough spot, just to make a difference and he hoped she was well.

If anything, she was better off than them.

"We're pretty close to the field up ahead, it looks like it could give us a lot of cover but then there's not telling what's inside." He at first imagined a bunch of leg traps and pits people could just walk into without even noticing. He then thought about the sort of creatures that might plague and prowl among the tall thin whispers of honey and grain. It looked so pretty but Gale knew by now that when it came to pretty things in the haze of the city, that it could be very very dangerous. "Your leg feeling alright?" He asked her as they kept walking. With what little sleep they had, it was making a difference when it came to their perception and now at least, things would be a little easier and there would be less slip ups. Hopefully. Gale rubbed his eye and kept moving and saw the shoulder head length field waiting for them not too far away. "It might be easy to get lost here." He considered and knew that enemies could also be lurking.

"We should make some kind of tether so we're together." Holding hands wouldn't cut it this time. Gale approached the grass and took a knee. He then began to used his blade to carefully cut around the edge where his shoulder met his chest. He then removed the long sleeve of fabric and motioned for Prim to come a little closer. Gale then tied both their backpacks together. It wasn't much but it had to be good enough for them. He then put his pack on to test the strength of it. At least now, the pair could walk side by side and even have some space between them but stil, it did its job, which was to keep them connected. "We will take this slowly, the tall grass might be even trickier than the marsh." He said, wondering if he could believe it, despite the horrors they saw, at least they could see them. In the grass, they'd nearly be blind. "I don't know if there's anything here we could forage but I doubt it. What do you think?" He looked to her, considering her more of an expert on the matter.