I climbed down out of the tree. I couldn't trust anyone anymore, so I was on my own. I went over to my cave and sure enough the careers were talking, laughing, and being as cocky as ever. Most important to me, though, they were snooping through mine and Peeta's stuff… My stuff… I slowly crept to the mouth of the cave. "How did it feel Cato?" I heard Glimmer ask.
"Yeah, I mean, was it hard?" Clove asked as well.
"Not at all! What the hell are you taking me for? A weak little boy like 12? No, but he did put up a hell of a fight."
"Really? I thought he was weak."
"Weaker than me. Anyways, let's look through some of this stuff."
I heard my orange pack getting shuffled through. Shit, they were going to take everything. I threw a rock into the cave to throw them off guard. "What was that?" Clove said.
"She might be coming in. Hide. We can ambush her," Cato said.
"Can't we just—" Cato cut Glimmer off.
"Hide, Glimmer!"
I heard all their feet and then silence. I slowly walked in, bow and arrow at the ready. "I-I know you're ready to ambush me!" I called out. "So, j-just come out!"
I heard Cato's dark laugh. Glimmer's evil one; Clove's insane one. They all came out of their hiding places and blocked all my exits. "Wrong move 12," Cato said. "Now, would you like to die quickly or slowly?"
"Neither." I thought of something quickly. "I-I want to join the careers."
Cato looked taken aback. "Liar! You'll just kill all of us while we sleep!" Glimmer yelled.
"Yeah, Cato! If we let her join us, she'll kill all of us!"
"Shut up! Let me think!" Cato yelled. He stood there looking at the ground and moving his lips as he thought to himself.
I never let my bow and arrow down and kept looking back and forth from Glimmer and Clove. They death glared at me and looked ready to kill if Cato gave the signal.
"Fine," he finally said.
"Fine to kill her?" Clove said with a glint of blood lust flashing across her face.
"No."
"Cato, she'll—"
"If she knows what's good for her, she won't. Anyways, she'd be a good ally."
"But, Cato—"
"No, Glimmer. That's how it's going to be. If you don't like it, I'll just kill you!"
Glimmer froze in place and so did Clove. I think they were used to that from Cato, but not towards them.
They both muttered something to each other and then brushed pass me out of the cave. Cato came up to me. I didn't want to talk to him much since he had just killed Peeta and I think he knew that, but didn't care. I started to walk away, but he caught my arm. I looked at him in shock. "Is you reason because I killed your lover?" he asked completely serious.
"My reason for what?" I asked innocently.
"For joining us."
I looked down at his hand which was still firmly holding my arm. "One of the reasons I guess. Peeta was one of the only people I could trust… I just needed others who I could trust."
"So you trust us?"
No. "Completely," I lied.
He gave me a sexy alluring smile that probably had all the girls in the Capitol swooning. Hell, he had me getting weak in the knees.
Damn him.
He released my arm and we walked out. A canon was fired and Glimmer and Clove were high-fiving over a kid's dead body. He only looked thirteen. I almost threw up at the sight of his blood-ridden face. I stood over a bush and dry heaved. "Wow, 12, weak stomach?" Glimmer asked with a little laugh.
I took a few deep breaths and then stood up straight. "I'm fine…" I muttered.
She laughed. "Haven't you killed anyone yet?"
"Not a thirteen year old boy!"
"Well, it's not our fault that he tried to kill us! He almost strangled Clove!"
"Whatever… We better get out of here."
"She's right. Let's go," Cato said.
We all walked toward the lake. I knew this was where we were probably headed. I don't know why they stayed here after Rue and I blew up their food. I thought that was a stupid move. They had a few berries and one I noticed. "Hey, uh, guys?" I said as they all went to go and sit.
"What?" Clove asked.
"Why do you have a pile of night lock?"
"What's night lock?" Glimmer asked.
"An extremely poisonous berry that will kill you in seconds."
"Who the hell picked that?" Cato asked.
"Me, but I had no clue! I thought they were, like, blueberries!" Glimmer said.
"The outside does look like a blueberry, so don't blame her." I let out a little laugh.
"What?" Glimmer asked leaning against a rock and staring at me.
"Nothing, but you guys are lucky to have me now."
Cato laughed. "Oh? And why is that?"
"You won't die by eating poisonous stuff."
"Wait, you know what's poisonous and what's not?" Clove asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Cato, what if she brings back poison food for us to eat so we'll die?"
"Why do you keep jumping to conclusions that I'm going to kill all of you? If I wanted to, I would've killed at least one of you while we were walking just now!"
"Sure! I'm so sure that you would've been able to kill one of us!"
"You two! Stop. Fighting."
"Why the hell would I try to kill you?" I snapped.
"Because we killed your fucking lover and or buddy killed your precious ally. Oh, and what happened to him? You killed him!" A smile crept across her face because she knew she had just hit a nerve.
I went up and got in her face. "Don't you talk about killing Peeta or your 'buddy' killing Rue in front of me again," I said darkly.
She started at me a second then rolled her eyes and walked away. I turned and went to sit on the log. Cato came and sat by me. He sighed. "You know that they're not going to trust you for a while, right?"
"Yeah, but I swear… I'm not going to 'kill' any of you, but I'm afraid they're going to try and kill me, you know?"
I felt him look at me and it made my heart flutter like crazy. I squirmed in my seat a little. He chuckled noticing me being uncomfortable, probably. "Don't worry, you're a good ally, so I won't let them hurt you, okay?"
Cato had a soft side? What was this? A joke? A plot to kill me? "Thanks," I said finally.
Night came quickly and people flashed up on the screen. When I saw Peeta, it brought tears to my eyes and I put my face in my sleeping bag and cried. I cried myself to sleep wishing I could touch his face one more time. Hold him one more time. Feel him one more time.