And over the next few days, we do become friends, or at least we move beyond the not-speaking-to-each-other-unless-its-neccessary phase. I'm not going to say Cato's fun to be around all the time, but he can be funny when he wants to be and he knows when to leave me alone.

That day, we go out hunting, for food in addition to any tributes we might find. Checking snares has become a daily occurence for us. I check those on my side of the river and he checks his. I find a squirrel in mine and bird that must have landed and accidentally gotten caught. Not bad for one day, in fact, quite good.

I walk back to the river bank and see him already waiting for me, holding nothing but a tiny rabbit. "Oooh, impressive", I laugh. "Well, we can't all be champion animal catchers like you apparently are", he nods at my squirrel and bird. "I'm just especially gifted then", I roll my eyes and tuck strands of hair that've come loose from my ponytail back, only to have them blow forward again.

The wind's been blowing extremely heavily all day, making it a challenge to be able to see. We're heading down a steep portion of the slanting mountain now and as I turn to say something to Cato, my foot trips and I fall. I topple down the last bit of mountain and come to a stop at the bottom, knocking the wind out of me.

"You alright?" he asks, quickly stepping down the mountain after me. "Fine, just bruised", I sigh, brushing myself off, annoyed at my own clumsiness. But I take his hand when he offers it to me, something I don't usually do, if only to prove to everyone that I'm strong enough to take care of myself. The wind's still furiously blowing my hair around as it's come loose around my face from my roll down the hill. We're near camp now, but as I approach the site, I find that there's not really any camp left.

The tents have come loose in the wind and have blown out to the center of the lake. Along with whatever we'd left in them. I looked up at Cato and see he's got surprisingly, not an expression of rage, but of resignation. An improvement. "Did you leave anything important in yours?" I ask.

"Not really. A spear, a few other weapons. You?" "Some knives and a bit of leftover food from last night's dinner. Sleeping bag, pillow". I'd been cautious about putting at least three or four knives, my water bottle and the iodine, and the night vision glasses in my pack when we left during the day. But even so, this left us without shelter and with no means of protecting us from assault. Anyone could come right up and kill us in the middle of the night, with no warning.

He realizes it too, I can tell. "We can't go look for new shelter until tomorrow at least. It's getting dark already. We can stay here for tonight and look tomorrow", I offer. He agrees and we cook up our dinner. The Capitol anthem plays, but there's no pictures in the sky tonight. There haven't been in days.

My best guess is when Katniss heard the new rule, she went out to find Lover Boy and somehow's managing to keep him alive, that's why his picture hasn't been in the sky. I'm about ready to fall asleep on the ground, when trumpets blare, immediately startling me out of my deep sleep. Claudius Templesmith's voice comes blaring out.

He's inviting us to a feast. "There will be something there that each of you needs desperately". Protection. That's what we need desperately. If there's something there for us, we have to go. I should have guessed something like this would be happening soon. There hasn't been bloodshed for days, not since Marvel and the girl from 11, Rue, I think her name was.

Then I realize; Katniss will have to be there. I'm guessing what she needs most is medicine for Lover Boy. She'd risk it, to save him, most likely. "I assume we're going to go?" I tease. "Most definitely. It's time to speed our victory up a bit", is his response.

"Cato", I use my best pretty-pretty-please voice. "Can I have Katniss? I promise to cut her up extra special for you". He looks down at me skeptically and says, "No, she's mine". "Oh come on, I'll give the Capitol a show", I say. I jokingly bat my eyelashes, just to look ridiculous.

"Fine. But make it good". "I will", I promise. We work out a strategy. I'll go in for the backpack, kill Katniss and leave. Cato will stay in the trees surrounding the grassy field around the Cornucopia and go after any other tributes. Once it's all worked out, we fall asleep, on the grass, out in the open.

I wake in the middle of the night to find I'm sleeping curled into Cato's arm. I should move, I think before I drift back off into sleep.