"Cato," I breathed. Claudius Templesmith just finished announcing the Feast. Cato was sitting there with a sly expression on his face, and I knew he was planning on going. "I wanna go to the feast. I wanna kill Twelve."
"No," He chuckled as he sharpened his sword, "That's too much for you. The Feast, Clove? Not gonna happen. Everyone's gonna be there, okay. Twelve, Five, and Eleven. Eleven is huge, he could kill you easily. Plus he's rather quiet for a guy his size."
"I don't care," I shrugged. "I'm going to the Feast. I'm going to kill Twelve. You can't stop me, Cato."
"Clove, you can say this all you want, but I'm going to be the one going." He sighed putting the sword down next to him.
"Then go with me." I blinked, "I don't care, I'm going."
"Fine. You can go." He slumped down into the dirt. "But I'm going with you. I'll hide in the trees in case anything happens."
"Deal." I smiled. "We should rest up, though."
"Yeah," He nodded, patting the ground next to him. A pink tinge slowly came to my cheeks as I layed next to him. He wrapped one of his arms around me and pulled me in close to him before he whispered, "Make sure you bring all your knives. You're putting on a show, remember?"
I nodded lightly, and shortly after we were both sound asleep.
"Clove," A soft voice lingered above me. "Clove, are you awake?"
I moaned lightly and rolled over in the dirt. There was a light laugh before something pricked me. I jolted up, and Cato was standing upright staring down at me.
"Oh, look who's awake." He smirked.
"What did you prick me with?" I glared.
"Nothing? What are you-" He looked down at the ground and pointed, "Was it that?"
"What?" I looked down at where he was pointing and saw a small creature with spikes. I wasn't sure what it was, but I was sure that was what poked me. "Oh, probably."
"Anyway, come on. Get up." He ordered. "We don't have much time left. It's almost sunrise."
"Yeah, yeah." I got up, and brushed off all the dirt from my clothes. I slipped on my jacket and checked all my knives to make sure they were all in order. "You do have your sword, right?"
"Obviously. I'm not stupid." He smirked, as he picked up the sword from a large rock that was behind him.
"Right," I laughed. I tightened the laces on my shoes, then fixed my hair.
"Hurry up, Clove." He ordered, "We don't have all day. Your hair isn't important."
"Thanks, Cato. Means a lot." I joked, "I'm putting on a show here."
"Yeah, yeah. But we have to go." He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, carrying me like he was a firefighter, "You can fix your hair now."
After about a half an hour of waiting, we finally noticed the table rise. Of what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably about 10 seconds or so, someone rushed out of the trees. The girl from Five. Come on, Twelve, hurry up. I motioned for Cato to back up into the forest more, and that's when 12 came running to the table.
I got out a knife as quickly as I could, and charged at her. I threw a knife but she deflected it with her bow. I reached for another knife, and by the time I got it, an arrow was heading straight for my heart, I spun a little bit, almost dodging the arrow, but it punctured my upper left arm. Slowing my pace, I yanked out the arrow, wincing from the pain, and threw it down on the ground. I took a few breaths, and began running again. She was already at the table when I threw my second knife. She couldn't deflect it in time, and it sliced open above her right eyebrow. I smirked as I continued running straight at her. She released another arrow, but it completely missed me so I didn't need to dodge it. I slammed into her, knocking her off her feet, and we both struggled to get up, but I won and managed to pin her to the ground with my knees.
"So, Twelve, where's your boyfriend?" I ask.
"He's out there, hunting yours. You know, Cato?" She snarled. Cato? My boyfriend? No, that's not right. Plus, Cato knows where he cut him, there's no way.. My thoughts got interupted by her screaming at the top of her lungs, "Peeta!"
I aggressively slam my fist into her windpipe, cutting off her voice. I quickly looked around, in search for both Cato and Peeta. I caught a glimse of Cato watching from afar, so I knew she was lying. I turned my gaze back to her and smirked as she struggled. "Liar. He's nearly dead. Cato knows where he cut him. You probably have him strapped up in a tree somewhere while you keep his heart going. Let me guess. The medicine for Lover Boy is in that little backpack of yours, right? Well, it's a shame that he's never gonna get it."
I opened my jacket, and carefully selected a knife, choosing the one with a curved blade. Her eyes widened in terror as I gripped it in my hand.
"I promised Cato that if he let me have you.. Well, that I'd put on a good show for the audience." I lied. She began struggling to get away or to get me off her, but it wasn't working. I didn't move a bit. "Forget it, Twelve. We're going to kill you. Just like your pathetic little ally. What was her name...Rue? The one that hopped around in trees? Well first we killed her, then you, and well, I guess we'll just let nature take care of Lover Boy."
I wiped away the blood gushing from her forehead with my jacket sleeve before I study her face. Where to start, where to start. I tilt her face side to side with my free hand, but she attemps to bite it.
"Ah, I think.." I say lightly, "I think we'll start on your mouth." She immidiately clenched her teeth together as I traced the outline of her lips with the blade. "Want to blow Lover Boy one last kiss?"
I stared down at her, but she spit up a mouthful of blood and saliva in my face. In anger, I grip the knife tighter.
"Clove!" Cato screamed, "Clove, watch out!"
I quickly twist the upper portion of my body so I'm looking behind me. I see Eleven heading towards me, so I fling the knife at him, it piercing him in the stomach. I pulled the knife out, dropped it on the ground, slowing his pace but not by much. I got out another knife and quickly cut open Twelves bottom lip.
Eleven didn't slow down as much as I'd wanted him to, he yanked me up by the collar of my jacket, letting my dangle there screaming for a few seconds before flinging me onto the ground.
"What'd you do to Rue? You kill her?" He shouted. My mouth hung open in shock, too shocked to speak. "I heard you. You kill her?"
"No! No, I didn't. It wasn't me, it was-" I yelped in reply, as I scrambled back on all fours.
"Did you cut her up like you were going to cut this girl?" He growled, his nostrils flaring with rage. He took a large step towards me, as I silently cried for Cato.
"Hey!" Cato called, throwing something heavy at Eleven, "I killed her, why don't you come over here and get me instead, huh? Leave my girl alone!"
"You kill her?" Eleven asked Cato as he turned around. He was only a few yards away from Cato, who with one swing, cut open Eleven's left leg sending him crashing to the ground.
I quickly scrambled over to Twelve, and pinned her back on the ground.
"Don't think you're getting away with this, Twelve." I spit, "We're going to kill you."
"Peeta!" She cried, but the look in her eyes told me it was hopeless calling for him.
"Ah, ah. You're just getting him killed, you know." I smirked. "Makes it easier for Cato and I."
"Clove!" Cato shrieked. "Clove!"
I spun my upper body, swinging my knife around with me, slitting the bloody neck of the tribute from Eleven. He collapsed beside Twelve and I, the life draining out of his eyes as the blood oozed out of his neck. There were already countless cuts all over his body from Cato's sword. I tossed aside the knife and got a new one out of my jacket. It was the same type of knife with the curve on the blade, just cleaner. I lowered my face close to hers and whispered, "Now's your chance to say goodbye to Lover Boy."
Cato walked up behind my carefully, wiping off the blood from his sword with his jacket sleeve. "Just do it, Clove. Kill her."
"As you wish," I slammed the knife down into her heart, causing her to scream as loud as she could from the pain. I removed my knife from her heart before slamming it down once more. I got up off her, and retrieved my knives before Cato and I left.
"I told you," Cato said, breaking the silence.
"Told me, what?" I asked, confused.
"Told you that Eleven-Thresh could kill you." He frowned, "He almost did. He would of had I not been there."
"Oh.. Well, you were kinda late catching him, you know." I said jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah. Not my fault. He came out from the opposite side of me. He was closer to you guys than I was." He said, "But if I wasn't there, you could have been dead."
"Yeah, but you also called me your girl. Where did that come from?" I asked.
"I consider you my girl, okay?" He said nervously. He took a deep breath before continuing. "The truth is.. I'm in love with you. I always have been. Ever since we met back in training school. I didn't want to tell you because I was scared something might happen to us. Something like this. At first I thought it was just a crush. Something that would go away if I ignored it. But it didn't. It just got stronger and stronger. I love you, Clove, and in my world you are my girl."
I was speechless. I stood frozen in my spot, I couldn't move at all.
"Clove?" He said, taking hold of my wrist which helped me regain control over myself. "I know you probably don't-"
I reached up and kissed him gently, bringing a smile to both our faces.
"I love you too, Cato." I blushed, as I wrapped my arms around his neck as I gently whispered in his ear, "And not just because you saved my life."
