Thank you so, so much for all your reviews and subscriptions and such! So pleased that you all like the story. I should clarify, just in case it's unclear that the third part is from Haymitch's point of view. Hope you enjoy!
Cato.
Cato and his sword.
Cato with his sword pressed up against my throat.
Cato letting me go.
These are the only memories from my Tracker Jacker trip that aren't shrouded in blinding colours and strange sounds. I'm still not sure that they're real, though.
Why would Cato let me go? He wants to kill me just as much as I want to kill him. I dropped a nest of Tracker Jackers on him and his posse. There's no way he'd let me go.
Would he?
I push myself up into a sitting position and take in my surroundings. I seem to have spent the past…well, I don't know how long, sleeping in a ditch. I wonder how long I was out? A day at least.
I wonder how many people my Tracker Jacker attack took out. I wonder if Peeta survived. I don't know why I care. He betrayed me.
My stings are still painful, but I know that the worst is over. The pain isn't what's bothering me, though. I can deal with pain. What's bothering me is that Cato may or may not have attempted to kill me, changed his mind and then let me go. If he did, I guess I owe him. I may owe a Career my life. The sheer thought makes me want to vomit.
I wonder what Gale thinks of all of this. I wish he was here. Well, no, I don't. Not in the arena, then he'd be my enemy. I wish I could talk to him. Ask him for his advice.
No, I wish I was back at home. Hunting in the woods with him. Trading at the Hob. Sat in our spot overlooking the valley. Do the things we used to do before Prim's name was called at the reaping. The moment Effie picked up that slip of paper with my sister's name on it, everything changed. My life was turned upside down. Whether I win this thing or not, I'll return to District 12 a different person. The murdered or the murderer.
She doesn't get it. She can't see what we do. I wonder if she was here that she'd realise that the boy from District 2 has feelings for the girl from District 12.
Probably not. She's always been hopeless when it comes to recognising affections.
I wonder if she misses me, her old hunting partner. Probably not, not when she has her precious baker boy and her Career, I think bitterly.
No, that's not fair. She didn't ask for this. She didn't want this. Those in the Capitol are convinced that Katniss is in love with Peeta just as much as he is with her, but I know otherwise. They might have taken her pursed lips and faint blush as a reciprocation of his feelings for her, but as someone who knows her well, I know that she was fighting the urge to scream every foul name she knew at him.
As for the Career. Cato, I think his name is. He's obviously struggling on how to deal with his feelings. I get it, I really do. I felt the same way when I realised that my feelings for Katniss were, well, more than friendly. Except I wasn't partaking in a fight to the death at the time.
She's not as worried about this as she should be. She doesn't realise that these feelings that he has for her make him all the more dangerous. He wants to win more than he'll ever want her. If he thinks that she's an obstacle he'll take her down. Maybe not straight away, but when it comes down to her: her or the Games, he'll choose the Games every time.
"Come on, sweetheart!" I groan at the screen as I watch Katniss waking up. She's been out for two days and I can tell by the look on her face that she's trying to piece together what happened. I sit back in my chair and pour myself another measure of some alcoholic drink I can't remember the name of. Some fancy Capitol concoction.
I growl as the screen cuts to the boy from District 2. He's sat by the side of the lake sharpening his sword. How am I supposed to sell the Star Crossed Lovers of District 12 story when the boy from District 2 is running around? She's had more interaction with him than with Peeta since they entered the arena and people are starting to wonder.
I decide that it's probably best to move on. Anyone tracking me will be able to find me easily; it's easy to see where I was crashing through the forest when the venom was still in my system.
I make sure that everything's in order. I check my backpack and survey my bow and count my arrows. Everything seems to have survived my crazed trip.
I swill my mouth out with water as I walk in the opposite direction I came. I imagine that the Careers are not too happy with me after what I did. If they've recovered then they'll be out looking for me.
"When I find her," she throws a knife and it sinks into one of the empty crates, right on target. "I'm going to cut her eyes out," She throws another one which joins the first one on the crate. "And then I'm going to saw her ears off."
I turn my head to look at her and she turns to me, an expression of purest loathing on her face. It's not directed at me, though. She's furious that Katniss managed to cause us even a moment of pain. It's a good job she doesn't know how close I came to killing her and how I bailed at the last moment. I have a feeling that if she did, it'd be my eyes she'd cut out.
"We'll get her. I promise." I say. The words sound like lies even to my own ears. We won't get her. But Clove will. I've proved that I'm incapable of killing her, but Clove is more than willing. If Clove gets rid of her, it'll get rid of my problem and mean I won't have to deal with any feelings of guilt or regret or whatever. I don't really know how you're supposed to feel in these situations. I do know that I want her out of the way, though. Katniss, that is. And since I seem incapable of carrying the deed out myself, the job falls to Clove.
