My guess was Peeta was a goner, he had no real hope left. With his leg severly damagaed and he in pain and drugged with the tracker jacker venom, he likely decided to just stay hidden. He might have had inital delusions about coming back out "when the time was right", but once the infection set in, combined with his dwindling strength, he probably realized there was nothing he could do. I don't think he even had the strength left to remove himself from the mud he encased himself in.GrayceM wrote:So I know he was sincere in his feelings for her, I just wonder what his plan was during that time since he didn’t plan to survive the games…
Peeta might have tried calling out if the games had ended with just him and Katniss, but he likely wouldn't have been able to do even that, being very dehydrated. The only thing he could really do was hold on and keep the other contestants guessing for as long as possible.
That whole thing about painting himself into the ground was a little unreal anyway, though it didn't bother me. I mean, how in the world could he have done that so perfectly when he was suffering from the venom?