I hadn't slept well last night. I've been fooled by that District 12 boy. He's not going to help me kill Katniss. If anything – because of his love for her – Peeta will completely distract us so we don't find her. He knows her tracks, her tactics and her biggest secret. What if this is a big District 12 plan to help Everdeen win? That will not be happening - let's hope he'll still be useful, and when he's spilt everything, there will be no use for him.
"Listen, Cato." Bird chirps, as I jog up and down waiting for the pod to open. Adrenaline is pumping in my blood quicker and quicker every second. I need to get out of this chamber into the arena. I need to see what I'm about to face. I've been guessing how many are going to be killed within the few seconds I get my hands on a weapon. If I can, no one will be able to get their hands on a weapon – can't allow my victims to have a slight advantage. "Are you listening?"
"Tweet away, Birdie." I smile, turning around stretching. In what I'm wearing – a red t-shirt, brown hiking trousers, black hiking boots and a waterproof dark rust red jacket – means high ground, possibly in a forest. The outfits the tributes wear have always been the way many tributes know what to expect. I doubt I'd be wearing this if it was on a snow cap mountain.
Her big black eyes glare before she rambles, "Make sure you take advantage of every possible situation arises."
"You don't th-"
One of her skeletal fingers closes my mouth before I finish. No one shushes me! "I'm here to help, Cato. I've seen it many times when a Career pack is formed. You wait till everyone else is dead then the strongest member usually dies because the others saw the advantage. You are the strongest, Cato, and I would hate it if you didn't make it."
"I know, Bird." A heavy sigh and a shake of Blackbird's head made me angry. "Why do you doubt my abilities? Every time I speak to you, you just insult me – doubt me. Why?"
She stands towering over me. Her big black eyes pierce into mine. "I'm meant to give you guidance but you are too full of yourself and won't listen. Help isn't a bad thing. What if your little friend from 4 told you to kill the others? Do you trust her?"
"Yes." I snap, standing my ground.
Again, she sighs loudly. "You can't trust anyone in the Games. The people you befriend are the ones you have to watch out for the most. Katniss Everdeen is not your problem, neither is Thresh. That girl from 4 is."
"How can you question Wisteria's motives?"
"How can you not?" She glares, crossing her arms. "Yes, she has a role to play and it may not be the one you are expecting. Do you think Finnick will allow her to become anything less than a Victor? You can't have two. She will use your trust to her advantage."
"30 seconds."
Before I even think about it or even know about it, I'm in the pod anticipating my new surroundings. Brutus had said to form a camping ground with high leverage and water, an open area and somewhere in the middle of the arena. He even showed me how to see if there is a force field nearby, there's a glitch. Every time we have spoken he's told me to trust the tributes in my pack but here's Bird saying opposite. I don't trust many people as it is but Wisteria I do. It may be a stupid idea. I'll just have to more conscience of my surroundings, than usual.
"20 seconds"
Come on. Come on! This is torture. Let me go up, let me see my stage.
"Good luck; I will give you anything you need. Just whisper my name and the thing you most desire. I promise." The pod closes me, away from her, as the countdown from ten begins. Two strides are all it takes for her to reach me. One of her bony hands touches the glass, "Please listen to what I have said Cato. Let's hope that you win the games for District 2, like I did."
What?! How did I not know that she was a district 2 winner? "Bird!" I yell at her as she strides back towards the door. "Answer me!"
"Let this be a lesson to you, Cato. I tricked you and who says no one in there won't." With a wave she exited the door. How could she have done that to me?! I slam my arms into the glass surroundings so I can chase after her so I can ask her some many things. Who could she have been from District 2? Why didn't I listen to her? Why has she just told me, putting me off?
A buzzing in my ear occurs when I am drawn up to the blinding sunlight. The golden Cornucopia is in front of me. Adrenaline kicks in and I want a clear head to concentrate all my energy on getting to the weapons first but I can't shake the filling that I have been let down somehow. I had two tutors. Two and I didn't even know. If I lose now, it is their fault.
Please Cato, listen to yourself, failure is a word you have never had to use and it shall not be now or ever.
I look across to the others in the Pack. Clove is looking really scary and could be turned on by the amount of sharp knives just out of her grasp. Marvel and Glimmer just look smug as usual – going to wipe those smirks off their faces when I kill them. Wisteria is looking hungry for the axe. Peeta and Apollo are just running away from the bloodbath – I do not want them killed first thing. Next are the people I am going to kill in the next 5 minutes. The boy from 4 is definitely going. Wisteria might not like it but he called me dumb. No one insults Cato Stark and gets away from it.
3, 2, 1. I don't hear anything. Spears and swords are my focus. Someone's in front of me, the district 8 boy. Tackle and snap. One dead. Clove has gotten to her knives killing a boy from the back, showing Katniss fallen on the floor. Focus! A head bobs below one of the crates. District 4 boy. I charge after him. He pleas frantically but I can't hear. Three punches are all it takes. Two dead. Thresh appears around the corner with a scythe like weapon. I won't to take him now but I cannot look back for the spears, 2 metres away. His lips move before running off, into a very high field of grass with many supplies. A spear appears in my hand just as another tribute enters the cornucopia entrance, unaware of my presence. A sound most leave my mouth as she looks up startled. Her body is impaled before she can even begin to think of running away. Three dead.
I stand my post in the back of the cornucopia, checking supplies when I don't think there is any danger left. Wisteria finds me first with very little blood on her. She smiles before saying, "Looks like everyone's scarped. You'll be pleased that there are nine dead."
"Let's go tick them off then." I wink slinging my arm around her shoulders. "I got three. How many did you?"
"None. I just got my axe and ran for it." She shrugs, "Finnick said to just get out of the way when the Bloodbath happens."
"Yo, how many did you kill?" Marvel's cheerful shout explodes from the tree line behind. "I got three."
Great. I'm on a par with this loser. "Same here." I smile falsely, high fiving his hand.
Glimmer and Clove appear from the other side of the cornucopia, chatting as if they have known each other for ages. We all list off how many we have destroyed but there's one left over. "Did everyone count properly?" Wisteria asks who's still under my arm. Everyone nodded. "I did see Thresh with a weapon, maybe it was him."
"Who cares?" Glimmer glares, tossing the bow and arrow around her back. "Let's go get the others."
"We have to wait here for Peeta, Vixen and Apollo." Wisteria points out, as the Career pack gathers around. "They are all vital."
Marvel scoffs, "A boy from 3?"
"Our tutors thought it would be a good idea," Clove stated, "Just because they are weak, doesn't mean they can't outsmart us."
"What if Everdeen is watching us right now and we are just sitting ducks?"
"Ha, do you really think that would be her plan?" I laughed at the stupidity of it. "She will be the furthest one away from us. We are gonna have to track her."
Glimmer pouted, "I wanna go now. I wanna hear her scream as an arrow pieces her heart!"
"Katniss is mine to kill!" I demand. "I want to see her face as my spear punctures her stomach. The pain, the suffering captured in her eyes as blood escapes her body. That is mine, no one else's. Clear?"
They all nodded to my order. They all seemed a bit taken back by the comment but it's true. Everdeen is mine to kill and I will not hesitate to kill her. If my sheep help me to injure her, that is fine, but the final blow is mine. I need to feel her life exit her body. I need to do it for Panem as well. The whole country is has got my back so nothing can stop me.
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A/N - I'M BACK! I'm so sorry for the late update but since the last update it has been crazy busy. I've had university interviews, art final exams, revisions for my exams that are happening in a weeks time. All those things that just inhibit your writing etc. I hope you like it. It could have been longer but I didn't want it to be jumpy through parts. I quite like how Cato is becoming the alpha dog and how apparent that is.
:O BIRD IS A VICTOR, bet you weren't expecting that one :P
I don't know when the next update is because after my exams I have a month travelling in Europe. Sorry for having a life :P
