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Together Marl, Clove, and I walked into the simulation room. It still contained the one computer but two new chairs were placed beside the old one.
"Alright, you guys have all gone through this now, I'm not going to explain everything all over again," Thornia said as she walked into the white room. "Marl," she gesture to him to sit on the first chair. As Thornia hooked Marl up to the computer I peered at Clove. She was short, much shorter than me, but she was lean with muscle from years of training. Her black hair ended in a straight line at her shoulders and her face was very stern, the way I remembered it always being.
"Cato," Thornia said. I rested myself into the chair and Thornia put the cords all around my body, shot the liquid into my neck, and then did the same to Clove.
"Keep in mind that you're supposed to be working together, so no killing each other off. Ready?" Thornia asked. None of us responded so she plunged her finger on the computer and I drift away.
I aroused a few seconds later in a wood covered in a mount of white puff. With a quick swish of my foot I could tell it was cold. The trees all around us were covered in the stuff and the way the artificial sun bounced off all of it reminded me of the simulation room and then my last simulation. I shuddered and hoped the others thought it was from the temperature.
"I've never seen snow before," Clove said in bewilderment. Snow, of course that's what it was called. I'd only ever seen it in text books and other showings of the games I'd studied.
"I have," replied Marl shallowly. There's no, I thought, he could have seen snow; district 2 never got snow, not that I could remember. As I opened my mouth to proclaim him a liar I heard a buzzing from where Marl was standing. He had leaned into one of the nearby trees and in the process hit his elbow on a low hanging nest. In seconds we were swarmed by tracker jackers, their needle like bodies aiming for our exposed skin.
"RUN!" I yelled to Clove, Marl was too close to the nest to try and get away. Clove and I ran in the opposite direction seeking no real destination. Although Clove started with a lead I passed her in seconds. I looked back to see if there was any hope in Marl catching up but all I could make out was a horde of tracker jackers surrounding his carcass. "Keep going!" I screamed to Clove.
Our feet thudded into the snow and water came up to slap my cheeks. We ran for a good mile before Clove pushed ahead of my, grabbing my hand, and pulling me behind a thick oak tree.
"The tracker jackers are still coming but we have a lead," Clove said as she looked around the trunk. "What happened to Marl?"
"I-I think he's dead. Well, simulation wise," I stuttered as I recalled his lifeless body. Clove just shakes her head. "So what should our plan be?" I had my own plan—keep running—but the idea of the simulation was to work together so I thought I show the mentors I could be a good ally.
"I think we should just calm down and slow our heart rates so we can get out of here," Clove said matter-of-factly. I admitted to myself it was probably a better plan than mine—hers was definite while mine had many unsure outcomes.
"Okay," I told her as we both sat down in the wet snow. Clove closed her eyes and I followed in suit. Breathe, I kept telling myself. In and out. In and out. Everything was calm and I felt an arm shake my side so I thought I must have been back in the simulation room. When I opened my eyes I realized I was very much wrong.
Clove was standing next to me and pointing at the cloud of tracker jackers hurdling toward us.
"What do we do?" she shrieked.
"Uhh…they hate water right?"
"Yes, but I don't exactly see an ocean around the bend, Cato!" Clove flared with anger.
"Oh, shut up! I know what we can do," I pull a lighter out of my back pocket where I knew it would be. "Grab the candle starter by the tree," I instructed Clove. Confusion donned her face but she did what I told her to. As I started running my lighter on the snow around me I heard Clove screaming and I whipped around. Tracker jackers had started on her, enveloping her body. I ran to her standing form and slammed against it, both of us falling backward. I raised my lit lighter around us and tracker jackers started backing away.
"Throw snow on yourself!" I yelled at Clove. She did what I said and before long her and I were covered sitting in a shallow puddle holding fire in our hands. I looked over to see sweating covering her face and lumps forming on all around.
"'I'm dying," she whispered slowly to me as she laid down.
"No you aren't, this isn't real Clove. This may feel real but this is a simulation, you'll wake up in the room with Thornia," I told her. Clove's lips parted slightly and her breathes became heavy pants.
"It hurts," she choked out.
"J-just relax. The tracker jackers are gone. Control your heart rate and you'll leave this place."
"What if I don't?" tears ran out of her eyes, "what if you die in the simulation and in real life? What if I don't wake up?" Clove's sobbed and grabbed onto my hand, holding tightly. "Don't let me die."
"I'm not," I said. This was ridiculous, really. How could she think she was actually going to die? I wanted to slap her and tell her to control herself, but the mentors wouldn't have liked that. "Focus on your breathing."
Clove breathed deep through her nose and said, "Do you smell roses?" I inhaled heavily.
"And blood," I told her. Her eyes shut and her body disappeared from under me. I wasn't sure if she died or had calmed down enough to leave, although the death seemed more likely. I breathed quietly then coasted off.
When I came back into the room, Marl was gone and Clove was sitting on her chair shaking. Thornia was kneeled down beside her trying to calm her down.
"I died," she murmured lifelessly. Thornia tried reassuring her with 'shhhs' and 'everything's fine' but Clove stayed paralyzed until she looked up into my eyes, "You let me die," she said before turning back and starring at the tiles in the floor. I stood there for a moment, unable to stay anything. I hadn't let her die, she was dying and there was nothing I could have done. And she hadn't actually died, she was perfectly unharmed! I walked out of the room not feeling anger but pity on the stupid girl who thought it was my fault she had fake died.
I stormed into the hallway, around the corner, and into the elevator, punching the dormitory floor. I couldn't believe she was going to be my ally in the arena. She'd get us killed in the blood bath for sure.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! This was shorter than the other chapters, let me know if you like longer or shorter chapters? Also, sorry for the delay, I was reading Insurgent all last week! Please, please, please review, it means so much!
