【饥饿游戏】53

I bathe the blood and ash from my face. I try to recall all I
know about burns. They are common injuries in the Seam
where we cook and heat our homes with coal. Then there are
the mine accidents. . . . A family once brought in an unconscious
young man pleading with my mother to help him. The
district doctor who’s responsible for treating the miners had
written him off, told the family to take him home to die. But
they wouldn’t accept this. He lay on our kitchen table, senseless
to the world. I got a glimpse of the wound on his thigh 1,
gaping 2, charred 3 flesh, burned clear down to the bone, before I
ran from the house. I went to the woods and hunted the entire
day, haunted by the gruesome leg, memories of my father’s
death. What’s funny was, Prim 4, who’s scared of her own shadow,
stayed and helped. My mother says healers are born, not
made. They did their best, but the man died, just like the doctor
said he would.
My leg is in need of attention, but I still can’t look at it.
What if it’s as bad as the man’s and I can see my bone? Then I
remember my mother saying that if a burn’s severe, the victim
might not even feel pain because the nerves would be destroyed.
Encouraged by this, I sit up and swing my leg in front of me.
I almost faint at the sight of my calf 5. The flesh is a brilliant
red covered with blisters 6. I force myself to take deep, slow
breaths, feeling quite certain the cameras are on my face. I
can’t show weakness at this injury. Not if I want help. Pity
does not get you aid. Admiration 7 at your refusal to give in
does. I cut the remains 8 of the pant leg off at the knee and 
examine the injury more closely. The burned area is about the
size of my hand. None of the skin is blackened. I think it’s not
too bad to soak. Gingerly I stretch out my leg into the pool,
propping 9 the heel of my boot on a rock so the leather doesn’t
get too sodden 10, and sigh, because this does offer some relief. I
know there are herbs, if I could find them, that would speed
the healing, but I can’t quite call them to mind. Water and time
will probably be all I have to work with.
Should I be moving on? The smoke is slowly clearing but
still too heavy to be healthy. If I do continue away from the
fire, won’t I be walking straight into the weapons of the Careers?
Besides, every time I lift my leg from the water, the
pain rebounds 11 so intensely I have to slide it back in. My hands
are slightly less demanding. They can handle small breaks
from the pool. So I slowly put my gear back in order. First I fill
my bottle with the pool water, treat it, and when enough time
has passed, begin to rehydrate my body. After a time, I force
myself to nibble 12 on a cracker 13, which helps settle my stomach. I
roll up my sleeping bag. Except for a few black marks, it’s 
relatively 14 unscathed. My jacket’s another matter. Stinking 15 and
scorched 16, at least a foot of the back beyond repair. I cut off the
damaged area leaving me with a garment that comes just to
the bottom of my ribs 17. But the hood’s intact and it’s far better
than nothing.
Despite the pain, drowsiness 18 begins to take over. I’d take to
a tree and try to rest, except I’d be too easy to spot. Besides,
abandoning my pool seems impossible. I neatly 19 arrange my
supplies, even settle my pack on my shoulders, but I can’t
seem to leave. I spot some water plants with edible 20 roots and
make a small meal with my last piece of rabbit. Sip 21 water.
Watch the sun make its slow arc across the sky. Where would
I go anyway that is any safer than here? I lean back on my
pack, overcome by drowsiness. If the Careers want me, let
them find me, I think before drifting into a stupor 22. Let them
find me.
And find me, they do. It’s lucky I’m ready to move on because
when I hear the feet, I have less than a minute head
start. Evening has begun to fall. The moment I awake, I’m up
and running, splashing across the pool, flying into the underbrush.
My leg slows me down, but I sense my pursuers are not
as speedy as they were before the fire, either. I hear their
coughs, their raspy voices calling to one another.
Still, they are closing in, just like a pack of wild dogs, and so
I do what I have done my whole life in such circumstances. I
pick a high tree and begin to climb. If running hurt, climbing is
agonizing 23 because it requires not only exertion 24 but direct contact
of my hands on the tree bark. I’m fast, though, and by the
time they’ve reached the base of my trunk, I’m twenty feet up.
For a moment, we stop and survey one another. I hope they
can’t hear the pounding of my heart.
gruesome adj. 可怕的；阴森的
rehydrate vt. 补充水份 
unscathed adj. 未受伤的