A skinny dip interrupted

I chew on a strip of dried meat as I walk through the forest.

I'd managed to stay relatively isolated since my near miss with the Careers. There had been a few more deaths, but I figured staying out of the way while the rest were thinned out was my best way to survive, especially as I didn't have my bow.

I'd been **** to forage back home, so doing so here was easy. I'd wager that my ability to survive off nature was garnering me even more supporters than I already had.

A shimmer in my peripheral visions causes me to stop: a lake!

Between the dried sweat, blood, and pee, I feel disgusting.

I know that stopping to have a wash was a bad idea, but I'm pretty confident I'm a long way from the rest of the tributes.

I'd become numb to the fact that cameras were most likely watching me at all times, but still blush as I begin to remove my clothes.

After locating a safe place to store my pack, I remove my boots and peel off my socks. I shrug out of my jacket, exposing my bare arms, and flex my toes as my bare feet sink into the mud. Taking hold of the hem of my t-shirt, I pull it over my head, revealing my bra and stomach. It doesn't take me long until I'm down to just my underwear; although it's pretty disgusting peeling my soiled pants down my legs.

I wade into the lake, wash my clothes, and careful hang them on a couple of branches to dry. My pee-covered underwear is still giving me discomfort, so I crouch down in the body of water. I drag the garment down my thighs, work it past my folded knees, and off my feet. My underwear joins the rest of my clothes on the makeshift drying rack... which is joined moments later by my bra.

I make sure to keep my chest under the water as I remove my final item.

Despite my predicament, I can't help but smile. My first time skinny dipping, and it was on live TV in a **** arena! The water is a cooling relief from the heat of the day, so I swim a few laps, and dunk my head under the surface to wash the sweat out of my dark hair.

It's so peaceful that I almost forget where I am...that is, until a voice cuts through the tranquility.

"What do we have here?"

I scream and spin around, clapping my arms across my chest as I sink lower in the water.

The career pack had managed to sneak up on me unnoticed, and were currently divvying up the contents of my backpack, and passing around my clothes.

"Hey, give them back!" I demand, pathetically.

"Why?" the girl from District Two asks, innocently. "You're not using them, so as far as I see it, these supplies sre faie game."

"B-but...they're not your size!" I try to reason. I'm now so low in the water that my knees are touching the bottom, and only my head is visible above the surface.

"I never said I'd wear them! They'd make good fuel for a fire!"

"N-no! You can't!" I know how pathetic I must sound and look. A high pitched voice much unlike my own, face bright red, and looking longingly at my garments that were heartbreakingly out of reach. Even if I was brave enough to expose myself, four careers vs one naked girl only had one outcome.

"Let's just get this over with and kill her," the boy from One interrupts, raising his spear.

"No!"

For the first time, Peeta speaks.

"She'll have to come out of there eventually. Either that or she'll starve to ****. She's not a threat if she's naked, and if the exposure doesn't kill her, we will next time. And I bet the cameras would love to see tits again."

As the group finishes gathering all of my belongings, the girl from District One gives a mock shiver.

Brr? It's getting cold! I'm sure glad I've got these nice warm clothes to wear!"

I shoot one final, pleading look at Peeta as they depart, but he returns an unreadable expression.

Only when their laughter has faded into the distance do I bury my face in my hands and start to cry.

I thought Peeta was starting to become my friend, but he was now actively routing for me to die, in the most humiliating way possible.

He had claimed at the Tribute interviews that he loved me...but leaving someone shivering naked and humiliated in a lake was a funny way of expressing love!

Had it been his plan all along; to befriend me, confuse me, and then kill me?

I hug myself and shiver while I try and formulate a way out of my latest disaster; but none of my hunting experiences had involved being naked. Was it possible to make clothes from vegetation? Probably, but I'd never had cause to do that, and covering myself with leaves while I streaked around the forest did not sound appealing.

My only hope was a sponsor to furnish me with a replacement outfit; but as they all loved my naked body so much, would any of them pay to cover me up?

I squeeze my thighs together and whimper.

What on Earth was I to do?