10. Katniss the Double 0
Bond awoke to a high pitched scream. He thought it was his nightmares, but he quickly discovered it to be very real indeed. Bond looked over and saw a swarm of bees covering Glimmer from head to toe, her continuous screaming and crying so loud that it blocked out the sound of the buzzing. Instinctively, he grabbed Clove by the arm and took off. As they ran, Bond felt a pang of pain on the back of his leg. He grunted. The pain was intense.
"Try your best to ignore it," shouted Clove. "We have to get back to the lake."
The run seemed to take hours. All the while, strange figures and images appeared around him. One moment, he looked over and saw Baron Samedi gripping his hand. The voodoo God of the Dead cackled menacingly as Bond trudged along. Then, he saw a light ahead. It looked like a thousand suns. Then, he fell.
Seconds later to Bond, water was splashing all over him. Bond found himself by the edge of the lake. Clove was cleaning his stings with water. He saw a mark on her as well. Bond had to give her credit. She clearly handled the sting better than he did.
"Thank God you're okay," said Clove, "you were out for two days."
"What were those?" asked Bond.
"Tracker jackets, don't you remember Marvel. They use them in a lot of Games."
"Of yes, my mind's still a bit daft. Who are you again?"
"Clove, now try to stay with me. I cleaned the wounds, but you need to stay awake. You can't let the poison take over you."
"Yes, ma'am."
Bond sat up feeling better. He noticed that Cato was lying on a patch of grass yards away. Yet eerily, nobody else was around. Cato didn't appear conscious.
"Glim…"
Clove shock her head. She added, "Aquifer didn't make it either."
Bond threw himself onto the grass. He thought of how sad Cashmere must be at the passing of one of her tributes. Bond himself had even appreciated the girl, though she did get a little bloodthirsty. Bond cursed himself for momentarily thinking ill of the dead. He thought of how awful it must have been to die that way. And Aquifer, well he didn't know her as well yet still no one deserved that.
"Katniss. Peeta?"
"Peeta was nowhere to be seen when I came back. I found Cato barely alive. District 2 trains for this. Gives us small shots of tracker jacket venom each month since five. Builds immunity. Must have been a lot to knock Cato out. I dragged him here. He hasn't woken up, but I think he'll come to in a couple of days. I only heard two cannon shots."
"So they're alive then?"
"Yes, and judging by the knife cuts I found on Cato, I think Lover Boy betrayed us. He's probably with her now."
Bond cursed himself for suggesting that Peeta become part of the pack. Now two girls were dead. Bond bolted up from the ground and ran madly towards the woods before falling down after a fifty yard sprint.
"You're in no condition to fight," said Clove.
She ran over and dragged Bond back to the lakeside. As Bond was pulled over he thought about Coin's warning about Katniss. She was certainly right. Katniss was not one to be messed with. With two corpses to her name now, Katniss was a double 0 as well.
The following morning, Bond felt like his old self again. He, Clove, and Minus had as good as a breakfast that could be had in the arena – fish from the lake plus apples from the Cornucopia. To Bond, the fish tasted so much better than forest lizards. Cato was still unconscious, but he was showing more signs of life. Every so often, a groan came from his direction.
Bond knew what he had on his agenda for the day. He wanted to check out the wheat field. Bond guessed by this point that most of the remaining tributes including Thresh were probably there. Getting rid of Thresh would ease Bond's mind about Clove's safety.
"I don't think Cato's going to wake up today, but I don't think he needs any more nursing either," said Clove.
"Would you be willing to watch him?" Bond asked Minus.
The boy nodded. Bond hoped Minus would dispose of Cato in his sleep and take off. He doubted this would happen, though, as Minus clearly did not look like he had it in him to kill. He would do his best to watch Cato.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking," Bond asked Clove.
"The wheat field?"
"Yes."
"We've been ignoring it for too long. We gotta see who's there."
"I'd much rather deal with them than Katniss. Not after yesterday."
The two finished breakfast and packed their bags with all the supplies that they could. Before noon, both were trudging their way through the wheat which went well above both of their heads. Neither could see anything on any side. Still they moved onward. At any moment, Bond imagined Thresh slashing through both of their necks simultaneously.
After a five minute walk, they reached a clear circle in the field. A cleared path radiated out from it directly opposite the two. In the middle was a well. Clove had already drank through her canteen foolishly and was about to fill it up again, when Bond grabbed her hand.
"I sense a trap," he said. "There's three liters of poison back at the horn. What if Thresh has a fourth. I did see him take a few items day one."
"Good point," said Clove.
Bond looked down into the well and could see a slight discoloration in the water. He knew he was right about two things. The water was poisoned, and Thresh was likely around.
The two set off along the cleared path. They followed it for a mile until the wheat disappeared and was replaced by a swamp land of tall grass which had no cut paths, although it only went up to about Clove's waist. Bond thought of the dangers it might hide.
"Do you think there're any booby traps?" asked Bond.
"Don't think Thresh looks like the type to build 'em," said Clove. "No, he's like Cato. Muscle, not brains."
The two walked through the swampy grass. Clove refilled her canteen with some swamp water. They ventured forward all day but found nothing but grass, grass, and more grass. The two decided to call it a day and head back. After walking back fifteen minutes, both heard a rustle from below.
"What was…" Clove couldn't finish her sentence. She was grabbed at the side by a giant anaconda.