Chapter 11: Careers

60 seconds. 60 seconds to stand on your circle. 60 seconds to make a plan. 60 safe seconds before the Games begin. 60, 59, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54, 53, 52... I think about my family, Katniss, Haymitch, Katniss, and the Careers. I look around me. I see a lake, woods, and some kind of plain. I see Katniss look at the Cornucopia and I'm scared. I'm scared she might get killed. Then, her eye focuses on something. I look at where she's looking and my heart nearly stops. A sheath of arrows and a bow. Oh shit. Dammit Katniss! Don't go for the bow and arrows. Don't you dare! Run to the forest Katniss. Do you hear me? Dammit! I think and grit my teeth. I know she's fast. But there's NO WAY she's risking her life for a weapon. Katniss is five tributes to my left. She's positioning herself to run when she looks at me. I shake my head, desperate to have her understand. She looks puzzled and then the gong rings. I take off, running towards the Cornucopia, hoping Katniss will use common sense. But I see her then, fighting a tribute for a pack. KATNISS! I'm trying to PROTECT you and you're not making this any easier! I wanted to yell. Then Clove throws a knife and it hits the boy's back. She grabs the pack and runs, runs to the woods. And Clove throws another knife but she raises her pack and it lodges into the pack. A sigh of relief escapes me and I grab as much as I can. Clove finally notices me and she's just about to kill me when Cato grabs her hand. She shoots him an annoyed look. Immediately, the phase "If looks could kill" runs through my mind.

"What the hell Cato? Gone soft for the star-crossed lovers? Or do you want to kill him yourself?" Clove growls.

"Shut the hell up, Clove. He's one of us." Cato says and Clove lowers her hand. She shoots me a dangerous glare and she stalks off. I continue running into the Cornucopia. Glimmer, the girl from One, has the bow and arrows and when she sees me coming her way, she shoots at me. It hits my leg and I fall backwards, but she doesn't have a very good aim. She's about to kill me when Cato comes.

"Glimmer, meet Lover-boy. He's part of our group now."

"Cato? Lover-boy is in our group? Why?"

"He's our best chance of finding her." Cato says and Glimmer lowers the bow suspiciously. "One wrong move and he's dead." Cato says and Glimmer relaxes a bit. Just a bit. We grab the supplies and Cato gives us all a pack. He's clearly the leader. I put it on and stand up. I almost wince but put on an almost bored face. We walk into the forest.

"So, what do we do next?" I ask. Cato grins, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"We hunt."

I find out very soon after that instead of hunting for animals, we're hunting for tributes. I feel sick and trudge along, wincing. Then, a shadow darts out, running with a knife in his hand. The Careers run after the stupid boy, and he whimpers as we gain on him. In desperation, he throws a knife our way and it lodges itself in the chest of boy from Four. His allies, boy from Five and boy from Seven, fought alongside him, and I ended up with a bloody hand, a lot of bruises all over my face which is now swollen from fighting. They fight hard but they're no match for Cato, Clove, Glimmer, Marvel, and Aqua, the girl from Four.

Aqua looks back and sees the body from Four. "Triton!" She shrieks. "No, no, no..." They must have known each other. The dead bodies lie there, silent and still. An eerie but awkward silence comes over the group. Then, the cannons sound. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Eleven dead on the first day.

"Come on, Aqua. He's DEAD. There's no use TRYING to bring him back from the dead." Glimmer smirks. And Aqua glared at her.

"Shut UP Shimmer."

"It's Glimmer." Glimmer growls.

"How would YOU like it if I killed YOUR District partner?" Aqua says menacingly with a knife in her hands. Marvel backs up but soon he's wielding a spear.

"Do it." He dares and Aqua lowers her knife, shooting a dirty look at the tributes from One. We continue, Aqua fuming the entire way. Then, the anthem plays and we all stop and look up. I counted off who died. Girl from Three, Triton, boy from Five, both from Six and Seven, boy from Eight, both from Nine, and girl from Ten. I feel a sigh of relief escape my lips. Cato turns.

"Glad your girlfriend's alive, Lover-boy?" Cato asks. "Then don't be. Because you're going to kill her." And I feel sick to my stomach again. We continue walking and soon, we see a spark and flames. Oh. My. God. I hope that isn't Katniss. But I'm underestimating her. She's not that stupid. But I feel sad for that girl.

"There!" Clove whispers. And we run, run towards the death of the poor girl.

"Please- please don't!" She pleads. And Cato stabs her. The agonized scream hurts me more than the physical pain I feel. And what makes me truly in danger of vomiting is the cheering the Careers give Cato.

"Congratulations, Cato!" Marvel laughs. Then, they check the girl for any supplies. No, not we, because I mostly just stood there and watched in horror.

"Ugh, nothing." Clove groans.

"This girl was going to die anyways, we did her a favor." Cato sneers. And we continue on. "Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking." Cato smirks. Every agrees and we head forward. There's been no cannon. Hopefully, they haven't noticed. We suddenly stop.

"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon now?" Cato asks.

"I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately." Clove says.

"Unless she isn't dead." Aqua said.

"She's dead. I struck her myself." Cato argues.

"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done." Glimmer says.

"Yeah, we don't want to track her down twice." Marvel says.

"I said she's dead!" Cato growls. And they argue until I get sick of it.

"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!" I say, exasperated with the arguing. I hear the rustling and I know that Katniss is up in the trees. I just hope no one noticed the rustling.

"Go on then, Lover-boy. See for yourself." And I half-limp, half-walk to where the girl was. I walk there to see Rue bending over the girl. I see her, scared and shaking.

"Please." The girl whispers.

"I'm not here to kill you." And I sit there, hoping that the girl will die with some company. The strike is mortal and Rue knows it. But she's singing softly to the girl.

"Why are you with them?" Rue asks, hurt in her eyes. "I thought I could trust you."

"I'm trying to keep them away from Katniss." And Rue smiles weakly.

"That's brave of you." Rue says. "Is it true?"

"What's true?"

"You know, you and her." Rue says mischievously. .

"I-I got to go. Good luck, Rue." I say and walk back. They're talking about me. They silence themselves as I walk back.

"Was she dead?" Cato asks.

"No. But she is now." As if on cue, the cannon fires. "Ready to move on?"We set off at a run, my leg burning from the pain. We set up a small camp and we sit and rest. I apply medicine from the packs on my wounds and bandage them up.

"Mind telling us how your girlfriend got herself the eleven?"

"I don't know, Cato. She never told me." I lie. But they bought it. Except for Cato, who shoots me a suspicious glare.

"What could it be?" Clove asks to no one in particular. And they all wonder. We rest for the night, with Cato on guard. And later, he's shaking us.

"GET THE HELL UP!" He shouts. We get up and pack up.

"What is it?" I ask and he points. In the air, there's a lot of smoke. All that smoke can only be from a huge wildfire. Then I see the sparks and flames. And it's advancing towards us.