Chapter 8
Cato
I've got to get some alone time with Peeta, I decide to put my plan into action.
"Okay, I was thinking because we don't know what Three can do, besides that," I say, indicating the mines Three had placed around our supply pile, "somebody could go to the woods with him and some weapons to see what he can do, using trees as targets."
I know Clove is the obvious choice to help him practice, but that means Glimmer could become a potential threat to the privacy I want. I know that if I ask Glimmer to go with him she'll ask for Clove to join.
"We also need our washing up done, I don't mind doing that. Glimmer, perhaps you'd like to help him?" I suggest, knowing she has to say yes.
"Sure. I'm not very good with aiming, though, why doesn't Clove come with me?" She asks back. I give myself a mental high-five for executing me plan perfectly.
Peeta
Cato doesn't let anybody eat before we leave, he gives us one minute to ready ourselves. It's like he doesn't know I'm mad at him.
We're weaving through the trees in a line. Cato first, Clove, Glimmer, Three, then me. Everybody seems so focused that I dare not speak or even stop to catch my breath. We're moving as one and something about that scares me.
I manage to hold out, it's Glimmer who demands we take a break from the running. As I rest against a tree I see the smoke looks like it's coming from a fire too big to be accidental. I wonder why the Gamemakers would be killing somebody instead of letting us do it. Then I realize that they're using the fire as a means of drawing us to our victim. It's probably Katniss. The girl on fire. How ironic.
"Come on, we've got to hurry," Cato says as he takes off his jacket and ties it around his waist.
"Cato, don't you see the Gamemakers are drawing whoever it is to us?" I say, sounding incredibly pompous.
"What d'you mean?" he asks shooting a glare at me. I'm not sure if he's acting like this because he's on the hunt, or if he's mad at me for being mad at him.
"The fire's too big to just be an accident, it'll be the Gamemakers bringing somebody to us," I explain, everybody hanging on my words. Cato being the exception, "I'll bet it's Katniss, too."
"If it's Katniss that means we have to hurry our asses up, there's only so much the Gamemakers can interfere," he says, his voice growing ever more impatient, "Glimmer, you can finish that as we go."
Glimmer stands up, taking the last few bites of her bread roll and waits for Cato to set off again. I was hoping Cato would listen to me and let us take it easy but somehow we're doing the opposite. Now Cato's running faster and he's getting frustrated that we can't keep up.
Cato
I stand here relieved I don't need an excuse to make Peeta join me by the lake. I collect the plates while Peeta runs to the supply pile. I forgot to tell him I'll need to go with him because he doesn't know the safe route through the mines yet. I look up and wait for him to turn back around, hopefully a bit embarrassed.
He's not turning around. What is he doing? Shit. He hasn't forgotten, has he? I see him wave his arms and I know. I know he's in trouble.
I'm running as fast as I possibly can. I manage to shout and tell him not to move, over the white hot panic. It's only when words escape my mouth that I notice it was me who said them. They must have made sense because Peeta is stepping forward. I ask if he's sure of what he's doing but he interrupts me. His places his foot on the ground.
I brace myself for an explosion and when I hear nothing I don't think I'd be able to smile any wider. I hold my arms out for him, longing to hold him. He jumps into them and once I know he's safe, everything feels right.
Peeta
It's not long before we come to the fire. We run parallel to a stream until we find somebody. And just like I guessed, that somebody is Katniss.
She is in the water and Cato doesn't hesitate running in after her. We follow him into the water as Katniss frantically jumps back out. She has a head start but Cato makes a meal of battling the strong current of the stream.
I've been so absorbed with Cato I forgot Katniss and I are from the same district. She thought we'd be working as a team. I betrayed her.
She's ahead of us but we'll catch up to her soon. I thought she'd last longer, she's a survivor. Obviously not as good as I thought she was.
When we get to her, our soaked clothes slowing us, she is climbing a tree. It's one of the trees that grows higher than the canopy. We all gather around the base, Cato already five feet up the trunk. Katniss has expertly climbed a great height, but Cato is hot on her tail. Clove cheers him on.
He grabs a frail looking branch, which snaps in a second, and lands on the ground with a heavy thud. As he curses and hops on his good leg, holding his hurt ankle, Clove attempts to reach Katniss who looks safe at the height she's gained. Clove too, falls, just short of where Cato fell from. She doesn't hurt herself when she lands, however.
Glimmer holds up her bow and arrow, but I know she won't hit Katniss. It hits the branch near Katniss' foot. She reaches down and pulls it free with a smirk and waves it at us.
"Thanks for the arrow," she gloats, I can almost see steam blowing out of Cato's ears.
"What are we going to do? Should I shoot at her again?" Glimmer asks. Cato considers what she says.
"Maybe we should wait it out," Three says, the first time I've heard him speak without being spoken to first, "it's not like she's going anywhere."
"I guess," Cato says, reluctantly, still staring at Katniss, "Clove, Three, keep watch, we're getting some firewood."
Cato, Glimmer and I then walk into the dense forest. We find some dry land and start cutting branches down with the serrated edge of the knives Cato gives us. Nobody speaks. That is until Cato approaches me, Glimmer high in a tree cutting its branches off.
"I'm sorry for," he begins, losing his words, "I didn't mean to use you like that."
I don't look into his eyes because I know I'll give in to him if I do. Maybe I did overreact. I mean, it shouldn't be so shocking that the leader of the Careers used me. But there's more to him than that. There's Cato. The person who saved me from exploding. The person who cooked an English Breakfast. The person who can make me lost for words.
I take his hand for a brief second, gently squeezing it, giving him a weak half smile. I turn back to the branch I'm sawing, letting his hand swing back to his side. I feel him hover over my shoulder for a second, then he walks away.
When we get back, Clove and Three are sat at the base of the tree looking tired and bored. We all are. We have an unknown amount of time to spend waiting for Katniss to give up.
Exhaling, I sit down against a tree, thanking the canopy above me for protecting my eyes against the harsh rays of the sun.
When night falls I find myself feeling sleepy earlier than I usually do. I guess it's because I didn't get much sleep last night. I tell the group I'm not that hungry and find a spot away from Katniss' tree so that I can have some peace and quiet.
Cato
"No, it's fine," I say.
How badly do I suck? Imagine this scenario: a guy you just kissed makes you go skinny dipping with him and comes up with reasons for physical contact. Isn't it obvious he's making a move on you?
Peeta can't be that oblivious, can he? Just thinking about him makes me hot. He's as built as I am. And his cock's a fair size, I'm obviously bigger.
I start stroking my dick. It's not long before I'm fully hard, wanking over Peeta. I hope he doesn't walk out the tent and see me. Then again, maybe he'll have a change of opinion if he sees what he'll be working with. I get out the water and squat next to my clothes. I continue wanking hard to the image of Peeta. His cock swinging, hitting his legs as he rushed to get out of the water. I grab the nearest thing to me and cum on it to the thought of having my way with him.
Oh god. I've left a stain on my shirt. I throw it into the water, dry myself off and get dressed. Hopefully Peeta won't notice the stain, or wonder why it's there.
Peeta
My eyes shoot open when I hear Glimmer screaming. There's a deafening buzzing sound and when I stand up I see a haze around her that she's swatting at. It's a swarm. I feel a prick on my arm. I hit what ever just stung me and when I see what it is I run as fast as I can.
That was a hive of tracker-jackers. A hive of pissed-off-blood-thirsty tracker-jackers. I hear the deafening sound of the cannon which makes the ground shake and can only guess that Glimmer is dead. The air feels like water. I'm trying to swim and kick but I just can't stay afloat.
There's a girl ahead of me. She's running, leaving a trail of orange flames and bright sparks. It's Katniss. Katniss.
She's the one who set the tracker-jackers on us. As I swim towards her I wonder why her flames haven't been extinguished. How can she run through the water so effortlessly? She turns right but Three comes out of the blue depths and stops her, telling her to run left because "he's coming."
I guess he's talking about Cato. Maybe Cato can help me make sense of this. Why is nobody else swimming? Of course! It's the tracker-jacker venom. I must be tripping badly.
When I see Cato walk out from behind a bush, brandishing a baguette, the water starts sinking.
"Peeta, why are you helping her escape?" he says, looking as if he's going to fall over. Does he think Three is me? I step out into Cato's line of view. He looks at me then at Three.
"How...? There's two..." he says, holding the baguette higher. I float over to him, making sure not to pop the bubble that I'm flying on. When I look at Three his shadow is there, but he isn't.
"Why would you help Katniss?" Cato asks. I take hold of the baguette but he doesn't give it to me. I look at my hand and water starts dripping from a hole in my palm.
"That wasn't me helping Katniss," I say, clenching my hand, trying to stop the water from draining out of me. I use my good hand to lower Cato's right hand, thus lowering the baguette. I don't understand how it could cut me, or why I'm bleeding water.
"It was you, I saw you! You told her to run, why would you do that?" He says, raising his baguette again. It scrapes along my thigh, making a black substance crawl out of my leg, along my thigh then drop to the floor and scuttle off. More of this stuff comes out. Not alive, yet somehow moving.
I fall to the floor, holding back vomit each time a slimy creature comes out of my wound. It becomes too much and I feel stones being dragged out of my throat into my mouth. I spit them on the ground, then they start to flutter away. Their wings growing, each one changing colour, flying into the sun. Taking the form of butterflies. Clove approaches me, but her arms are so long she has to drag them behind her.
"Peeta, what are you doing?" Cato asks, not to me but to her. Cato chases her with his baguette, shouting "Peeta, come back!" Does he not realize I'm on the ground?
The black coming from my leg begins to pour out. So much so that I begin to choke. I try to hold my head above the rising level of the thick, dark stuff. But my arms are melting and I am, too. I can't see anything. I can't even close my eyes. I give in to the force dragging me down. I'm nothing but a black puddle.
Cato
Seriously, what is wrong with me? Back in my district I'd be able to seduce anybody. I'd gotten used to being treated specially because I was training to be a Career. I was treated like I was better than most, so I'd act like I was better. You'd be surprised how many people you could get just by bigging yourself up.
But with Peeta, he sees through it. I started out wanting to use him but since I've gotten close to him I've realized that the feelings I'm faking may be real.
I'm trying to sleep but I can't knowing that he's in the cornucopia, unguarded. I need to give him some time alone. I lie down next to the door, unzipping it slightly, letting me see out into the field. I have a view of it from here. Giving me some piece of mind.
A/N: If you didn't figure it out, the italics are flashback to the previous chapter. I don't know why this took so long to write, considering it's not that long. Oh well. Hopefully Cato's flashbacks cleared up any questions raised in the previous chapter. Also, sorry the flashbacks don't specify when in the previous chapter they happened. Please review with your questions/opinions, after all it's you guys I'm writing it for.
Abugsaunt:
Well, I'm glad it was your favourite, I hope this one lives up to it. I was thinking about making a Cato pov chapter while writing the last chapter and after what you said I decided I'd add it to this one. Yeah, I find myself forgetting major plot stuff sometimes which I really shouldn't.
MangoMagic:
I didn't think it was going to be that long but I just kept writing :') I was hoping the Peeta/Cato scenes would be enjoyed, but I have to remember that Peeta has to go through some development before actually doing anything with Cato. So, hopefully, both of their fantasies will suffice in the mean time.
RueRajaram:
Thanks! Let me know how you like the rest of the story :)
Alykat14:
I'm hoping to work towards some Peeta/Cato action. A head canon that I have is that being gay is very big in the Capitol at the time. So the star crossed boys could be a thing. The rebellion starting early is a good idea, but I don't really know how to put it into the story if that makes sense.
:
Thanks, I'm really glad you like it :) I'm updating as regularly as I can.
SakuraDrops141:
Thank you! Yeah, Glimmer is a bit of a slut :')
