"Cato!" A voice shrieked, making Cato jump. "Cato!"
"Clove!"
Cato ran blindly towards the noise. It couldn't be Clove who was screaming. Clove never, ever shrieked like that. Never shrieked with such open terror in her voice. As he ran, he saw fire girl running away into the woods, and Thresh running back over to the grassy area. Clove, meanwhile, lay on the ground, crumpled like a broken doll.
He dropped to his knees beside her, his breaths ragged. Clove reached out for his hand, panting. Blood ran down from her forehead.
"You stay with me," he ordered. "You have to stay with me, Clove, do you hear me? I can't lose you, Clove. I can't!"
"I don't want to die," she rasped, her breathing ragged. She blinked, tears running down her forehead.
"You won't," Cato lied. Tears were running down his face now, too. "You'll be ok, Clove. I promise."
She just shook her head, blood mixing with her tears. Her breathing was slowing now, and the girl Cato loved looked more scared then ever.
"Don't leave me!" He shouted desperately, gripping her hand like a vice. But he knew she would. Clove was fatally wounded, and there was nothing he could do for her now. Finally, just before her breathing stopped completely, she reached up, and touched his face. And then, the canon fired.
She had left him for good now.