Thank goodness I had the sense to stay up in the tree. At least here I'm safe for the time being. But that doesn't stop the Careers with the arguing.
"Okay. You guys get Rose down, I'm going to make sure the girl's dead. She better be out of that tree when I get back," says Cato.
This isn't good. For any of us. If I don't get down, who knows what will happen to the others. I don't think Cato will kill them this early on in the game. Careers don't usually turn on each other this early in the games. If I get down, I could risk getting killed or being forced to join the alliance.
What would Haymitch want me to do? Haymitch doesn't know that Cato took an interest in me during training. I think Haymitch would want me to stay up here for the time being. At least until I make a plan on what to do next.
I climb up to the top of the tree and make myself as comfortable as possible. I could be here for a long time.
The Careers frown that I decided against doing what Cato said.
"Oh, come on, Prim. Just get down," says Glimmer.
"Yeah. We won't hurt you," Amber says with a sadistic smile on her face.
I ignore their comments. I'm not moving.
"Cato will be really mad if you don't get down," says Marvel. "And you haven't seen him like that."
I haven't? So was he calm while he was slicing up all those tributes? I wouldn't define that as calm.
"Why don't you get down? We'll come up and get you if you don't," says Amber.
"We promise we won't hurt you. I swear. Right guys?" Glimmer turns to the other Careers.
"Yeah. We promise," Amber says, rolling her eyes.
"I bet Cato can get her down," Clove says.
The sound of Cato returning silences them.
"Did you get her down from the tree?" Cato asks.
"Well, no. We couldn't get her down. Why don't you do it?" says Clove.
Cato's face turns red and I can tell he's getting angry. But he has another idea. "Clove, you get up there and do it. You're small enough," he says. Clove is probably around one hundred and ten pounds. She could get up here easily.
"Fine! I'll get down," I say. So I quickly climb down and on to the ground.
None of us say a word. Cato tells someone to start a fire. So I just sit down on the hard dirt ground while the Careers work around me, setting up tents, starting a fire.
Once the tents are all set up, Cato decides to pair off the tributes that will sleep in a tent together.
He puts Amber and Clove in the small tent, Marvel by himself in the medium tent, and Glimmer, Cato and I are sharing the large tent. I'm not exactly excited. I'm fine with Glimmer but sharing one with Cato is well…inappropriate. Even though I'm scared, the Careers haven't killed me so I'm guessing they're not going to yet.
As we get settled in the tent, we sleep on a red blanket with Glimmer and I on either side of Cato. That was how Cato wanted it set up.
For a couple of hours, Cato has an arm wrapped around my waist so I can't move. He's asleep, so I'm not sure if he knows he's doing it. But after about three hours, he turns over and replaces me with Glimmer. I suddenly realize that I'm closest to the tent opening. And it's unzipped. Maybe I could run away…
I have strange feelings for Cato. He's scary. But I feel protective of him which is ironic because I couldn't protect him from anything.
I carefully exit the tent. It's easy to be quiet because I'm so small. No one wakes.
After managing to leave the tent, I grab a pack set with the other supplies. I couldn't just leave with nothing.
I take off in the opposite direction that we were camping in. It's day time, because apparently, Careers sleep during the day and hunt at night. I eat another chunk of bread from my loaf as I walk.
It's only the second day of the games. Is that right? Yes. That means that there's maybe twelve days left here for the victor.
I wonder if Cato has realized that I'm gone yet. I'm sure that if he did, he's furious. I hope not.
I walk for another few hours. It's probably not smart because I have no weapon at all. Anyone could easily kill me right now. Should I go back to the Careers and say I went looking for food? No. I shouldn't go back to them because they might turn on me and kill me. I'm doing this thing alone.
I find a nice, sturdy tree after walking for a while.
Once I'm settled, I'm happy to find that I got a gift from a sponsor. It comes in a silver parachute and someone has sent me a pint of water. I still have my bottle of water. So now I have some water, enough to keep me going for a while. I take a sip from the bottle and put the rest of the water in my pack.
I try to sleep. If I'm not going to kill or look for food, I might as well get as much rest as possible.
When I'm just drifting off to sleep, I notice a hollow in the tree I'm in. It's filled with throwing knives. Did somebody stash them here? I'm not sure but I think I'd better switch trees in case the owner of these weapons came back. I steal the knives. Why shouldn't I be able to play this game too? The knives could easily come in handy even though I doubt that I could kill anyone here. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Not that I'd have to long after.
I turn to find a tree when I see her. It's unmistakably the owner of these knives who wants them back. And I suppose she noticed I left and followed me.
Standing right in front of me is the District Two sadistic Career herself. Clove.
