Chapter 12
They tread across the arena for a couple more hours after that (well mostly Cato since he's carrying Katniss), but both of them tiring out by the minute, both of them short of breath, and the dizziness is starting to kick in. Cato stumbles a couple of times, but for the most part, he stands pretty well for a person carrying someone else and suffering from dehydration. Katniss is resting her head against his, her eyes starting to flutter close, but she forces herself to keep them open.
At the very second Katniss can barely keep her eyes open, Cato shouts out:
"Water!"
Katniss' eyes snap open, her head comes up just far enough to see the source. She's about to say something and scramble down from his back, but ends up losing her balance, because at that exact moment Cato begins to run towards it, his hands slipping out from around her legs.
She falls to the ground, landing on her back, and big "oomph" escapes her lips. She pushes herself up with her elbows, still trying to catch her breath.
A rustle of a bush next to her makes her jump, her head swiveling around fast enough to see a fist flying at her face. She falls back, a little trickle of blood runs down her face.
The girl from 1 jumps out from the bush, pulling out a knife, and holding it to an unconscious Katniss' throat.
Cato spins around, his hand automatically reaching for his sword and pulling it out of its sheath.
"Glimmer," he growls, his eyes unwavering from her's. He doesn't blink, doesn't move from where he stands. He just glowers at her, unfazed by her being there.
'"Cato," she greets calmly, pushing her gold locks out of her face.
"What are you doing here? Where are the others?" Cato says, wasting no time in getting to the point.
"Why haven't you killed that piece of shit yet?" Glimmer asked, anger slightly seeping into her usually soft, seductive voice.
"I asked you fist."
"Clove has been a real bitch since we've been in here, and I didn't feel like standing around and waiting for her to have another one of her tantrums and have me as her next anger-deflating dummy." She shakes her head, her blonde curls bouncing slightly. She looks back to him, flashing one of her smiles and fluttering her long eyelashes. "Your turn."
"I don't know," he says, shrugging his shoulders.
"What do you mean you don't know!" she says, her smile fading from her face. She's confused at first, but then points her finger at him accusingly. "That's not an answer." She scowls at him, crossing her arms over her chest.
He smirks at her. "I don't know can to be an answer. I don't have an answer for you, so therefore, 'I don't know' is the answer to your question."
"That's not fair," she whines. "My answer was more elaborate and it actually answered your question."
"You had an answer to my question; I don't." She narrows her eyes at him in disbelief. "It's not my fault that you asked the hard question."
She lets out a short, frustrated huff of breath that sounds more like a small, shrilly scream. "It shouldn't be a hard question. She's from 12, and you're from 2; WHY would you side with her instead of with the careers. All this week you've talked about how much and how long you've trained for this, and now you're just going to throw it away. This...This coal scum isn't going to help you win this!"
"Why do you care so much?" Cato asks, taking a step towards her. Glimmer looks down at her feet, a light blush creeping up to her cheeks. "If being her ally is going to make me lose these games, then that gives you a better chance, right?"
She opens her mouth several times, but then closes it just as many times. Finally, she gets out what she wants say. "I don't have a chance," she whispers shakily. "I don't have a chance as long as you, Clove, and Katniss are alive. You three are the real competition in here. Don't even try to argue, you know it's true."
"Technically, everyone in here has a chance; it's just that some people's chances are much higher than others. Anything could happen after all."
She scoffs. "Stop being such a smart ass."
He chuckles lightly, and then says: "You never answered why you care so much about what I do."
Her cheeks redden a little more, and her hands start to play with the end of her jacket as she tries her best to not look at Cato. "I don't know," she answers quietly, hoping he won't hear, but of course he does.
"That's not an answer."
"Can to," she snaps, finally looking at him. A big smirk is plastered across his face, his blue eyes filled with mirth.
"I used that as my answer because I didn't know it, but you, you know the answer to my question."
She looks away to the side, knowing she's been caught. Her cheeks get a shade even darker than before.
Cato watches as her eyes roam everywhere but him, trying to find her thoughts. He watches as she suddenly stops, and looks at him through her long eyelashes. Before he has a chance to react, she reaches out and grabs the front of his shirt, pulling him down, and smashes her lips to his. He's too shocked to react to her bold move at first, but when he does, he's already forming a plan in his head. He starts to kiss her back, when she tries to pull back. Her hands slip around his neck, and kisses him ferociously. Her fingers tangle in his hair, pulling him in closer. He rests one hand on her waist while his other hand grips the knife hidden in his belt, and pulls it out as quietly as he can. Right as Glimmer starts to push herself into him, he stabs the knife into her stomach.
She pulls back with a loud grunt. She stares at the knife in astonishment, then she looks up, her eyes full of hurt and betrayal. She slumps to the ground, her breaths becoming short and heavy. Her bloodied hands yank out the knife, which cause more blood to flow out and stain her shirt.
Cato stands there and watches, with no emotion, as her life flows out of her. Glimmer closes her eyes, her face contorted with pain. Her body shakes, and tears fall freely down her paling face.
Suddenly, an arrow is shot into her neck, and a cannon is sounded a few seconds later.
Cato looks up to find gray eyes, full of rage, staring at him.
"What?" Cato asks defensively.
"You were just staring at her as she was withering in pain!" She screams back.
"What's your point?"
She walks around Glimmer's limp body. She walks so close that their noses are mere inches apart. "What's my point?" Her voice is lower, deadlier. "What is with you careers? Is it so hard to just kill someone quickly? Do you have to let all of the poor innocent souls who just happen to cross your path die slowly?"
"Does it really matter? She was going to die at some point in these games."
"No one deserves to die slowly like that. NO ONE!" She shouts the last words, the sound making Cato's ears ring.
"Whatever. Now let's get some water so tha-"
"No! Not whatever. We are all just children stuck in this damned giant fish bowl. CHILDREN! How is it that a child can be that cruel? Don't we children deserve to see our parents when we close our eyes for the last time? No one wants to see some merciless killer."
She waits for him to respond, but he doesn't, just stares at her blankly. She shakes her head, taking in a big gulp of air. "Whatever," she mutters. She pushes past him to the small slides off the backpack from her shoulders, pulling out the half-gallon water jug. Once she has it filled up as much as possible without it overflowing, she adds a drop of iodine, and then closes the cap. Then, connecting her hands into a cup and fills it with water. She takes several cup full until her dry throat is quenched, not caring how contaminated the water might be.
At some point or another, while she was filling herself up with water, Cato had come and knelt down next to her for some of the cool liquid of the pond. She doesn't pay him any mind, just stands up and stretches her legs a little before going over to a tree and resting her back against it.
She sits there with her eyes closed for about maybe five minutes before she hears a slight rustle in the trees above where she is sitting. At first, she doesn't move, believing it to be birds. Then, not thirty seconds later, there is another one, this one closer and louder.
Her eyes fly open. She waits for another rustle.
Her head swivels around to look for anything unusual.
Out of the corner of her left eye, she see a flash of brown. It quickly moves around to hide behind the thickest branches.
Katniss realizes what it is, and turns her head back to look at Cato. He is also looking in that direction. Not the exact tree, but in that general area. His eyes are squinting in suspicion, roaming over every branch in sight. Katniss looks back at the tree she was in to makes sure she's not noticeable, but when her eyes look at the place she was, she isn't there. She lets out a quiet sigh of relief. She knows it's stupid to feel so attached to the little girl she doesn't even know, and will have to die in order for her to go home to her little duck, but she just can't help it. She doesn't want the little girl, that looks so much like her own little sister, to die, most definitely not by Cato's hands, or any of the careers for that matter.
The sun suddenly fades away from over her. She glances back at Cato, and she finds him towering over her, staring at her expressionlessly.
"Your head is still bleeding." He bends down next to her, some bandages in his hands. Behind him she sees a parachute laying on the ground, which means that Haymitch probably sent it.
She tries not to flinch away from him as his hands move slowly towards her wound. He gently wipes away the blood, then he places the bandage on, his touch is light like a soft tickle that sends goose bumps throughout her body.
What is with this boy? She thinks to herself. He changes so quickly. One moment he's joking and teasing, the next a sadistic killer, to a serious blank face. It's like there are a dozen different people living inside him, each one taking over his body as some point or another during the day. He's so confusing that Katniss is not sure what to believe anymore (not that's she has even known him very long to even have a good idea what he is really like). But she can't help but wonder which side of him is the real him and what is fake? Are they all real? Are they all fake? Has she even seen a glimpse of the real him? Has training for these games messed up his brain so much that the real him is gone or forgotten? She's not sure why, but she wants to see the real him. She's curious as to what this career boy would be like if these games had never existed. She'll probably pay for it later, seeing as only one person can win, but she can't help it.
Okay...so I know I said many, many weeks ago that I would update again in 2 weeks...obviously that did not happen. I am SO terribly sorry for that.
Thanks to all the reviews and new reader I got last chapter, hope I see more for this chapter and ones to come. I proofread this as much as I could, hope it's alright. Let me know what you think of it in your reviews.
One more thing before you go. If you guys know a good fan fiction out there please tell me, I am craving one right now. I just finished reading this one called I can still do this by significationary. It was AMAZING!
Have a great day all you wonderful readers. *salutes*
~Txcutee
