{Clove's P.O.V}
I don't understand how she made it this far, she isn't suppose to be here right now, and neither is Peeta. He should have been dead by now, they both should have, but they aren't. I don't know how they did it, but I'm willing to end this here and now, and when I'm done with her I'll make sure Cato takes care of Peeta, that way we'll be sure to win the games and make our district proud.
"I think…" I whisper, trying to figure out whether starting with her lips is the best thing I could do to please Cato, after all, I promised him to give the audience a good show. "I think we'll start with your mouth." I say as I teasingly trace the outline of Katniss' lips with the tip of my knife. By now I would have thought that she would have reacted, but nothing, she hasn't even closed her eyes. This should be interesting. I can see rage building up in her eyes while she stares at me, it's like she's trying to intimidate me, but I can assure you, this isn't going to happen. She must be doing this because of what I said about Rue…why does she even care so much about her anyway? She should have known that one of them would have died sooner or later. "Yes, I don't think you'll have much use of your lips any more. Want to blow lover boy one last kiss?" I tease her, knowing it'd annoy her more than she already is, but in the position she is, she shouldn't do anything. A few seconds later she spits a mouthful of blood and saliva at me. She shouldn't have done that, now I'll make sure her death will be more gruesome and painful than I was already going to make it.
"All right then. Let's get started." I say. I start by the side of her lip, digging with the tip of my knife into it, making a deep gash; I try to keep myself from feeling, somehow, guilty. As I'm about to slide the knife half-way through her lip, I get stopped by someone who yanks me off her and picks me up. I scream at the top of my lungs and quickly shut my eyes, not knowing who or even what it could be…their strength terrifies me, all I know right now is that if it's one of the tributes I haven't got a chance. I slowly open my eyes to find the male tribute from district 11. I try to reach for one of my knives, but his grip is so tight that I can only move my arm a few inches.
"What'd you do to that little girl? You kill her?" he shouts, emphasizing the words 'kill her' with his voice…this isn't the same guy I saw in the interviews or at the training, I would have never been afraid of him, he seems to have gotten a whole lot stronger and less afraid; he wants me dead, I can tell.
"No! No, it wasn't me!" I shout in a whisper, hoping he'd believe me and let me go.
"You said her name. I heard you. You kill her?" he shouts louder than before, his rage is building up quickly. "You cut her up like you were going to cut up this girl here?"
"No! No, I—" as soon as I catch sight of a large rock in his hand my mind goes blank, I can feel my heart beat in my head, and suddenly I can't hear a thing. "Cato!" I screech. "Cato!" that's all I manage to say before it comes in contact my temple. As I collapse to the floor I hear Cato shout my name and in a matter of minutes he's with me. He kneels beside me begging me to stay with him, I try to reply to him but I'm too weak to even talk. As I listen to him talking all the memories we shared shoot through my mind, but the one that seems to get most of my attention was the night before the reaping, before I ever even imagined that I'd be killing anyone.
I remember I stayed up late that night because I couldn't get any sleep, for some reason that was the first year I was so nervous about being picked, I just knew something was going to happen. I decided to go to the river a few miles away from town; it was actually pretty close to the fence that kept all the secrets of each district away from each other.
This was the place where I first met Cato, and where my mum used to bring me when I was a child, I remember her telling me about these secretive stories about a place called America where people were once free to do whatever they wanted, passed down from our family, from generation to generation. It's hard to believe actually, if there was such a place I hope people realized how lucky they were to be living there. But, of course, she only brought me here a few times because a few months after she had introduced me to the place some peace-keepers brought her away from me and my family. I never saw her again after that evening; I can't even imagine what they could have done to her…I was only a child back then, so I didn't really understand what was going on.
When I had gotten to the river I remember crouching down beside it and I just stayed there for a long time, I occasionally let the cold water gently flow through my fingers. The sky was clear that night, so you could easily see the stars glowing in the sky. At one point I heard footsteps coming towards me, it sent a shiver down my spine, at this time at night it could have only been one person.
"I knew I would have found you here." Cato whispered and sat next to me. There were a few minutes of silence until he said, "Why are you so nervous?" Showing no emotions in his voice. He obviously knew half of the reason, but not all.
"I don't know, I guess it's just the reaping. I mean, what if I get picked?" I replied while I stared at the water flowing, trying to avoid any eye contact. He sighed.
"Clove, I don't think I made it clear in the past, but if you get picked, I do too." He whispered. "It's not that I don't think you couldn't do it, because trust me, you could win without putting a lot of effort into it. It's just that I just won't let you go in the arena on your own, if you'll have to go you'll need an ally you can actually trust, don't you think?" I don't think he was thinking about the fact that even if we do kill everyone, we'll be the only ones left in the games, and until one of us is dead the games just won't end.
"Thank you." I simply said as I turned to look at him I found him smiling at me; he extended his arm and pulled me into a hug. That's when I felt the safest.
"I'll never leave you, Clove. It's you and me, until the very end." He whispered, as he said that I felt tears building up in my eyes. I don't think anyone cared so much about me since my mother died, and that's what I loved the most about him. Like he said that night, he volunteered when my name was drawn out of that bowl, which explains why he's with me right now as I lay dying.
He's holding my hand so tight with both his hands that it's making it hard for my blood to circulate properly…I can feel his tears dropping down on my chest, he's still talking. I listen to him one last time and hear him whine, "Please, Clove…don't leave, it's us until the end, remember?" He takes a deep breath. "I love you, I just—" I wish I had the strength to talk right now…to tell him what I never told him; that I love him and that I'll be with him forever, no matter what. Before he finishes telling me what he's saying, my heart stops beating and all goes black.