Sorry for the late update! I have been at my cousin's house and I didn't have my computer. I hope this chapter is good enough to make up for it though! Enjoy!

~Ohsnapitspercy~


Chapter 7

"Cato, have you seen Peeta?" I asked, trying to keep calm.

Cato shook his head and stood. He held out his hand and I took it, hauling myself to my feet.

He didn't release my hand. Instead, he intertwined our fingers together. I smiled up at him, and then started walking.

"When the fire came through, Peeta was in front of me at first. But then I couldn't see because of the smoke." I said.

I lead Cato through the woods. I felt safer now that I was with him, but I was scared to death that something had happened to Peeta.

After a few minutes of walking, we came upon a small clearing. In the clearing was the most horrific thing I had ever seen.

Thresh had Peeta in a headlock and Peeta's face was a dark shade of crimson. He had an ax at his throat and if Thresh saw me I knew he would hurt him.

"This is all my fault." I whispered. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll tackle him from behind. When he's down, grab Peeta and get out of here." I wanted to tell him that I didn't want to leave him, but Cato was already making his way behind Thresh.

"Wait, Cato!" He looked back to me. I unsheathed my sword and held it out to him. He took it with a grin.

Too late, I realized this plan had a flaw. Cato attacked Thresh but he didn't go down. He stumbled, but kept a firm hold on Peeta. He turned around and kicked Cato in the gut.

Cato pulled out the sword and stabbed it into Thresh's hand. He let go of Peeta and punched Cato in the jaw.

I sprinted forward and grabbed Peeta's limp legs. I pulled him a few yards away and laid him next to a tree.

"I'm so sorry Peeta." I told him, with tears in my eyes.

"Go help him." He handed me his belt filled with knives.

I quickly strapped it around my waist and darted back to the clearing.

It was sword against ax. I saw that Thresh had a large cut down his leg. Cato's shirt was soaked with blood; I could only hope it wasn't his.

I tried to aim my first knife but Cato kept getting in the way. If I threw, there was a chance that it would hit the wrong target.

Not seeing any choice, I rushed into the clearing. I jabbed my first knife into Thresh's shoulder, but that only made him mad. He whirled around and grabbed my neck.

I knew what was about to happen. He would snap my neck and I would die instantly. He started to move my head to the left when Cato screamed.

"No!"

Cato shoved Thresh to the ground. He handed me back my sword. "Do you want to kill him?"

I shook my head. "No, just make it quick."

Cato grabbed Thresh's head. Snap!

A cannon sounded. Cato had killed him the same way he planned on killing me.

I plucked my knife out of his arm before the hovercraft came to take his body.

Cato was kneeling on the ground next to me. He wrapped his arms around me in a hug. "I'm so glad you aren't dead."

"I'll have to die eventually for you to win." I pointed out.

"I don't want to think about that right now." He replied.

I nodded. I didn't either.

We walked back into the forest to tend to Peeta. He was in the same place I left him.

"Hey." He mumbled.

He was struggling to breathe; his neck was swollen and bruised. "What do we do?" I whispered to Cato.

He shrugged. "Maybe we should go back to the lake and get a first aid kit."

"Sounds like a plan." I said. "Peeta, can you walk?" I held out my hand.

He took it and pulled himself up. "Yeah," He looked at me and smiled. "By the way, that was a good fight you had with Clove."

I gasped. "You killed Glimmer, didn't you?"

He nodded. "I was in the woods behind you. When I saw what was happening, I threw a knife at Glimmer."

"Thank you, Peeta. You saved my life."

He didn't respond. He started walking in the direction of the lake with Cato and I behind him.

Cato wrapped his arm around my waist. He rested his hand on my burn. I hissed at the pain and carefully moved his arm.

"What happened?" He asked quietly.

"The fire," I whispered. "You don't have to worry about it. I'm fine."

He ignored me and crossed over to the other side of me to look at the wound. He peeled away a piece of my torn shirt that had gotten stuck to my skin. I tried not to show any discomfort, but I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming.

"We need to treat that before it gets infected." Cato informed.

I didn't argue. It hurt more than I allowed myself to show. Every time I took a step pain would shoot up my side. But Peeta should be our first priority, not me.

~O~

"Ow, ow, ow!" I screamed as Cato tried to clean my burn. I held on to his shoulders, trying to keep from falling.

He poured more clean water into it and grabbed a bandage from his first aid kit. He wrapped it tightly around me and tied it off at the end.

We had already given Peeta pills for the swelling in his neck and cleaned out a small cut on his leg. I had found out that Cato had a rather large wound on his stomach but he wouldn't let me touch it until he cleaned out my burn and the cut from Clove's knife on my arm.

"There, I think I'm finished" He said.

Cato's shirt was now completely soaked with blood. He slowly removed it, wincing in pain as he pulled it away from his chest. When I saw the gash, I knew it hurt worse than Cato said it did. It crossed from his right shoulder to his ribs.

I grabbed a piece of cloth and pressed it against his bare chest. He held my hand tightly, but didn't protest. When I had gotten all the extra blood off, I saw just how wide the wound was. About two or three inches.

"Cato, why didn't you tell me it was this bad?" I demanded. I didn't know for sure, but there was a chance it could be fatal.

"I didn't want you to worry about me." He ran his hand through his hair. "It's not that bad."

I shook my head and continued cleaning. I wrapped a thick bandage around him, making it tight enough to stop the bleeding but loose enough for him to breath.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked. I knew Cato had been the leader of the Careers so it would feel natural for him to make all the decisions.

Cato shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we can wait here until all our injuries heal. Who's still alive out there?"

I thought for a moment. "Boy from five, girl from seven, both from nine, Rue from eleven. Eight total including us."

"How are we going to kill them off?" The way Cato said this was frightening, like he enjoyed killing innocent kids. He probably does. He is a Career, after all.

"I don't know. I'll try to come up with a plan later." I replied. Suddenly, the Anthem was being played though out the Arena and the first tribute's face was being shown in the sky. I expected to see Thresh first, but it turns out the boy from nine had died today.

"I guess there's seven left now." I said.

"Yeah." Cato grabbed a few blankets from the pile of supplies. He laid them on the ground and sat on top, patting the ground next to him.

I sat beside him, tucking my knees under my chin. Cato wrapped his arm around me and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"I'll take first watch." He whispered.

I didn't protest, today had been a long day and I was tired.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.


Sorry it's kind of short. I'll update again soon! Have a great day and may the odds be ever in your favor!

~Ohsnapitspercy~