So I'm going to be completely honest with you guys. I think you are too generous with your reviews! :P But thank you for all the positive feedback! This will be almost the last chapter D: but don't worry I won't end only with Glimmer dying. Something at the end to look forward to…
Chapter 11
We push Peeta to the front of our group and we begin looking for Katniss by searching the pedestals and the areas around the Cornucopia. Clove tells him that she already tried to kill her by throwing a knife on the first day. Clove says Katniss ran into the woods that direction. She points east. So, we walk in the direction Clove points and enter the woody forest. The scent of pine needles fill my nostrils. The smell is nice, but at the same time a bit too powerful, like they were made to exude a powerful smell. Of course, the Capitol must have made these trees too…
Peeta sees a snare made on the forest floor, where none of us would have seen it. It is pretty intricate, doesn't seem like something she could have known before the Games. She must've learned various snares during training. I guess Peeta is good for locating some things. None of us Careers would have ever seen it. Last night I was just suggesting to Cato that we kill Peeta. After all he is good for nothing, but I guess I was wrong.
We follow him for two hours. We are all getting tired and I'm starting to question Peeta's loyalty. He seems like he knows where he is going, but he might be purposely leading us in the wrong direction to keep Katniss safe. I grab Peeta's shoulder and turn him around. He looks as surprised as the rest of our alliance. I push him against a tree and glare at him with intense eyes.
"Are you sure she went this way," I ask, not blinking as I stare at him fiercely.
"Y-Yes. I'm sure. Didn't you see? That was her snare back there."
"Fine."
I shove him back in front and he leads us out into a clearing, where the forest abruptly ends at a huge area of piled rocks, near the river. Cato steps out first restarting his joyful conversation with Clove and Marvel. I jump in and we all laugh and joke around with Peeta following behind looking lame.
Marvel yells and we all are startled by his outburst.
"Look there she is! There she is!"
We all turn around and see Katniss, sitting in the river. She sees us and gets a frightened look in her eyes. She tries to stumble out of the creek but falls on the slippery rocks near the river. We start jumping the rock bridge to cross the river, when Katniss gets out of the water and runs towards the woods. We are all so elated that we finally caught the stupid girl who has been taking all our attention, that we yell extremely loud and scream in happiness.
We get to the tree she has started climbing and laugh at her stupid decision. Cato takes a sword with him and begins to scale the tree. We yell at him encouragingly, but after about a twenty-foot climb, the branches get too thin for him to scale. He cracks on thin branch and falls to the ground. I get impatient and take an arrow from the sheath and string it. It releases, but I know that it won't even come close. Cato forcefully grabs the bow from my hands and takes an arrow, missing Katniss even more than I did. Then, Katniss yells from her perch near the top of the tree.
"Maybe you should try throwing the sword."
Standing near Clove and Cato, I can tell they are about to cut down the tree just to get her down. The audacity of that girl is also pissing me off.
"Lets just wait her out. She's gotta come down at some point. It's that or starve to death."
All four of us turn around to face Peeta. I had to admit, I wasn't a bad plan. We all felt pretty stupid when he suggested it. Embarrassed, that we couldn't figure that out. But, that was the thing. We are Careers. We aren't used to waiting for what we want. If we want to kill, we will. We are nothing like Peeta and Katniss, who were forced into this. We wanted to do this because we can. They are used to waiting, being patient. I guess everyone can learn something from this experience.
Cato sends Peeta out to find firewood and Marvel and Clove to find food. They seem a little irritated that Cato keeps ordering them around, but they don't mind going, as long as they are together. I think Cato purposely ordered them off so they can spend time together, but also so WE can spend time together. Ever since that kiss last night, I've been wanting to ask him about it.
"Cato, why did you kiss me last night?"
He didn't answer right away, probably wanting to collect his thoughts.
"Because I love you."
A simple straight answer, but it doesn't seem like the truth. There isn't much emotion behind it.
"Cato, look into my eyes and tell me again."
I turn my head expectantly, but Cato keeps his gaze ahead. I look back at the ground, gravely disappointed. Then, he takes my head in his hands and looks straight into my eyes.
"I. Love. You."
His eyes are such a beautiful blue. They are more precious to me than anything. I am so into the moment, that I practically thrust myself towards Cato, my arms around his neck and lips on his lips. I am almost on top of him now, both of us lying in the soft dirt. We continue on for a few minutes, and I am inclined to take off my shirt, but I hear a crack in the bushes. We both look up so see Peeta standing there with wide eyes.
I knew I should've killed this kid earlier. He is so lame just watching.
"What," I spit out, "You've never seen anyone make out before?"
Cato and I sit up and lean against the tree, sitting close together and holding each other's hands. He stumbles into the clearing holding a few pieces of firewood. Clove and Marvel also magically appear out of the brush, both of them snickering and making kissy faces at us. Then I realize, Cato and I have been broadcasted all over Panem. With juicy drama like this, the Capitol will be sure to use all the footage. But somehow, I'm not really embarrassed. I'm glad people know Cato and I like each other, and they should do something to help us through this. Katniss and Peeta aren't the only star-crossed lovers.
