He could kill her right now. But where would be the fun in that?

It was still dark, the time maybe 5 am. Leaning against a tree, idly turning over a spear in his hands, Cato stared at the girl lying on the ground only a few feet away from him. Even as she slept, her fingers were clasped tightly around the hilt of a knife in her pocket. She was ready to fight. But killing her would be easy. She was vicious and she was clever, but she was small. He could grab her by the neck right now and she would barely have time to react. He could grab her neck right now and just –

His grip on the spear was tight now, his knuckles white. He dropped the weapon and cursed. It was a shame that she trusted him so much, sleeping so close. That almost made it unfair. It was different when the other Careers were with them. Now it was only the two of them. She was smart; he'd expected her to know better.

Maybe she was inadvertently calling his bluff, though, because even as he sat there with all the opportunity in the world, he knew he wouldn't kill her. Not now.


The sun was peeking through the trees. Clove stirred, rolled onto her back, and blinked against the light.

"You're awake," Cato muttered. He was staring at her. Clove hated it. How long had he been watching her, evaluating her weaknesses, plotting against her while she slept?

"So are you. When did you wake up?"

"I never slept. I told you last night I wasn't going to," he answered dismissively.

"You really are stupid," Clove remarked and sat upright. "You won't last long without sleep. You'll go mad," she added with a smirk.

"Better than lying down and asking to be attacked," Cato replied gruffly.

"Nobody's going to bother leaving their little safe havens to hunt for us," Clove spat. "Who would attack you?" It only took her a moment to catch his meaning. "You mean me," and she felt an overwhelmingly infuriating combination of flattered and insulted. "Is that what you were going to do? Stab me in my sleep?" she demanded fervently.

"It crossed my mind." And in an instant Clove's knife was wedged in the tree trunk, not an inch from Cato's face. He didn't flinch, though. In fact, he didn't even look surprised. He wasn't taken aback by her aggression; he was smiling!

She hated his stupid, smug, disdainful, pompous smile.

He didn't realize that she could kill him right now, did he? Cato may be stronger than her physically, but she was fast and cunning. Besides, he was arrogant and temperamental. He would sabotage himself with his overconfidence. To be quite honest, that was fine with her. More than fine, in fact. If he did something impulsive and stupid maybe somebody else would kill him. Then she wouldn't have to do it herself.

She wouldn't hesitate, of course, if it did come to that. But it would be a bittersweet victory for District 2 if their tributes were pitted against each other. And that's all that mattered, wasn't it? Victory for District 2.

District loyalty, that was the only reason she wouldn't kill him. Not now.

Cato reached over his shoulder and pulled the blade from the tree trunk. His eyes were sparkling with something that almost resembled amusement. "You really never do miss," he observed, "do you?"