An Alternate Ending to The Hunger Games
Chapter 1
Katniss's POV
The mutts are clawing at the Cornucopia. The wailing and screeching sounds coming from their mouths drive into my ear. I am crouched, panting on the Cornucopia's metallic surface. My vision is fuzzy and unstable as I look down at the shrieking mass of fur and teeth. Foxface's red hair, Rue's dark eyes. They glint in the moonlight. Suddenly, a rough hand seizes me around the middle, and I am face to face to face with Cato. He gives me a monstrous grin.
"Looks like Lover Boy isn't here to save you, is he, Fire Girl," he snarls. Peeta is trying to climb the Cornucopia, but the mutts are tugging at his feet, converging on him. Guilt washes over me for only thinking of myself and forgetting Peeta.
Cato shoves me down onto the Cornucopia. I look around frantically, but my bow is out of reach and I have no arrows.
Cato produces a short jagged knife that glints in his hand. "I'm going to kill you now, and then I'll be victor." He kneels down, pinning me to the ground. I can feel his hot breath on my face. Peeta's cries come to me, as the mutts work on him.
"This," he says raggedly, "is for Glimmer." The knife comes down and slices my cheek in one swift movement. The pain is instantaneous and blinding, flashes of light crossing my vision. Cato's face goes in and out of focus. A strangled sound works its way out of my mouth. Cato smiles with pleasure.
"And this. This is for Marvel." The knife slashes my other cheek. Blood and tears are stinging my eyes, and I am nothing but pain. That is all I know. There is no hope for me. For Peeta. I do not struggle. I am waiting for the end.
Cato cuts my face one last time, across my forehead. "Clove," he whispers. "For Clove."
I am swimming in a hot thick sea of blood. It fills my eyes, ears, nose. I sink, pulled under the red waves. Heavy. I am so heavy. I can only think of the freedom that awaits me. Soon. Peeta will be free too. I wonder if I would have come to truly love the boy with the bread, had I known him longer.
Through everything, I can see Cato's face above me. His knife is raised high in the air, ready to plunge into my heart and finish the job. As Cato brings his hand down I can only think of how, in a place called District 12, my mother and sister are watching my death unfold on a screen before them. How much I want to protect them from my pain. The last image that flits across my vision is Prim's untucked shirt, forming a ducktail. Then everything goes dark, like someone covered my eyes. Somewhere, a cannon fires.