Katniss couldn't believe her luck so far. First, her leg got badly burnt because of some horrible pun the Gamemakers probably made up, and now she was treed by a pack of ruthless bloodthirsty Careers. Adding insult to injury, Peeta was part of the pack as well. That dirty little traitor! She sighed inwardly. How she longed to have her best friend Gale here in the woods with her, instead of the lethal killing machines that are plotting her death below. She shook her head. No, she wouldn't want Gale here with her. Because, in the end, he would be her opponent in these brutal Games, someone she would have to kill.
"I say we slit her wrists, and she could bleed out." The girl from Four suggested. Katniss was surprised the girl from Four was a contributor to the Careers' discussion of her demise. She really didn't seem the type. But then again, she was a Career.
The girl from Two, Clove (At least, Katniss thought that was her name), smiled as she fiddled with her knife. "Way too tame. I say we rip her to shreds."
Glimmer laughed as she slithered her arm underneath Cato's. "Oh, Clove, how plain! We need something with a bit more…sparkle to it. What do you think, Cato?"
Katniss glared at the congregated tributes below. She would make them pay for this. If she survived this, she would make them pay dearly.
Cato pulled his arm away from Glimmer's, clearly not liking the invasion of his personal space. He stared at the roaring campfire, before smirking at his fellow Careers. "I say we take care of it like we would any other fire that needs to be extinguished. Trample it."
The Careers howled with laughter, while Peeta just stared at the ground. Cato looked up towards the tree where Katniss was, the smirk still adorning his face. "You like that idea, Fire Girl?"
Katniss returned Cato's smirk with her own. No way was she going to just sit here and take this. "Be careful, Cato. When you mess with fire, you get burned." Her smirk grew as Cato's shrank. She swore she heard a couple of snickers come from the others, especially Peeta.
Cato must have heard them too, as he whipped around, furious at being made a fool of twice within a couple of hours. "Enough!" He roared. "Everyone get some sleep, I'll take first watch." The Careers obeyed him, probably because they knew better than to defy the angered monster from Two. Cato took his post under Katniss' tree after doing a quick survey of their campsite. Katniss decided to tie herself down for the night as well. Maybe, she would come up with something that would get her out of this mess.
Within an hour, the Career pack was sound asleep. 'How nice it must be to not have to worry about finding a safe place to sleep for the night.' Katniss thought as she fiddled with her first sponsor gift, the burn ointment. She was about to drift off to sleep too, when she heard Cato talk.
"You knew that the branch was going to snap, didn't you?"
Katniss sighed. Should she be honest with him? She had nothing to gain from lying or telling the truth. "Yes."
He laughed. "Guess I'm going to enjoy extinguishing that little fire of yours a lot more then, huh?"
"What makes you think you can snuff me out, Cato?"
"What makes you think I can't?" He growled.
"Simple. I won't be defeated, especially by someone like you." She fired back.
"I highly doubt that, Twelve, even with your eleven-worthy skills."
"We'll just see about that, won't we?" Katniss responded coolly. This Career's arrogance was getting on her last nerve! She always hated cocky arrogant guys.
Cato stood up and turned to face her tree. He inclined his head towards her. "Oh, we will, and when you're writhing underneath me, begging for mercy, I'm going to relish every moment of proving how wrong you are." He chuckled a bit, as he sneered. "Sweet dreams, sweetheart, because they're going to be your last."
Cato stalked off to wake Glimmer for her watch. The poor blonde was still half- asleep, and quickly continued her slumber after plopping herself under the tall tree Katniss currently occupied. Cato drifted off as well, leaving The Girl on Fire unsupervised. She was about to give up before some movement in a couple of trees away from her caught her eye. She swiveled her head towards it, and was met with a pair of brown eyes staring straight at her. Katniss widened her eyes in surprise. It was Rue! The small female tribute from District 11 was perched silent and unmoving on a thick branch. She pointed at Katniss before pointing above her head. Katniss looked up and noticed a tracker jacker nest, its inhabitants still a bit sedated from all the smoke in the arena. When she looked back at Rue, the small girl was gone.
Katniss smiled. This was going to be her ticket out. She glanced back at Cato, sound asleep and completely unsuspecting of her retaliation. 'Sorry, Cato, but there are some fires you just can't extinguish.'
Hi Everyone! This was my first fanfiction for the Hunger Games! I really like the pairing CatoXKatniss, but I really don't think I was ready to come up with a full on romance story for them...so I did the next best thing! Anywho, as this is my first HG fanfiction please feel free to give tips and/or advice in a review or pm. Thanks for reading and feel free to review!