CLOVE POV
It took Clove quite a while to realise she wasn't dead. When the persistent pounding in her head seeped through the fog she almost wished she was. Almost. There was nothing quite like almost dying to make you appreciate life.
Muttering curses at the pain in her head she shoved off the jacket lying over her and sat up, looking around with a frown, part from the annoying ache in her skull and part from confusion. The symbol scratched crudely into the rock was the first thing to catch her eye and she couldn't help but smile at its familiarity. So Cato was here. She looked around properly. Or had been, because she was completely alone now. No sword, no water, nothing to indicate he was still here. Except his jacket which she now realised she had been lying under.
Realising how thirsty she was she used a jagged edge in the rock to haul herself to her feet, but as the world lurched alarmingly she decided perhaps the ground wasn't so bad after all.
Groaning with frustration she pulled her knees up under her chin, resting her head on them gratefully. Patience was not one of her natural traits. It was then that the sound of the canon boomed across the trees. A nearby bird fluttered up into the air, startled by the noise. Clove waited, holding her breath, to see if anything else would follow. She didn't know how much time had passed so she had no idea how many tributes were left. Could it have been Cato's? Or was he already dead? The thought made her shiver, though she told herself it was because of the dusk dampness seeping into her clothes.
Every muscle in her body tensed as she heard something crashing through the forest, getting closer. Instinctively her fingers flew to her favourite knife. She swore when she found the slip empty.
"The bastard took my best one!" She curled her fingers around the handle of another and waited, ready to hurl the blade into an unsuspecting tribute in seconds if need be. It was lucky that something about the thundering footsteps jogged her memory or Cato could have had a very nasty welcome. As it was, when he skidded around the rocks into view all he received was a furious glare. She told herself it was because he had made so much noise. It had nothing to do with the fact that her heart was pounding in her chest, terrified it would be him, even more terrified it wouldn't be.
"Clove!" he gasped.
"Well done genius," she scowled at him to hide the smile that wanted to appear.
He stepped further into the space and dropped the full canisters on the ground next to her with a thud. Without waiting for an invite she grabbed one and took a long drink of the ice cold water. She lowered the canister to see him watching her.
"The canon...I thought..." he said, his eyes studying her face.
"Nope. Not dead yet," she said simply. She took another drink to stop herself from telling him she had feared the exact same thing when the canon boomed across the sky. "So who's left?"
With a sigh he took a seat on the ground. "Dunno. I've been holed up in here all day. Two canons gone so that makes," he did a quick calculation. "Two others left. And us."
"I hope it was Eleven," she said coldly. He looked at her through the growing gloom of dusk. Suddenly he got to his feet and crouched in front of her. She watched him warily but his eyes weren't on hers.
"What kind of idiot gets hit with a rock?" he muttered scathingly as he reached out to look at her head. Clove made an indignant noise. A sharp reply on her tongue turned into an angry yelp of pain as his fingertips found the wound.
"Watch it!"
He pulled his hand back grinning.
"Like you can talk," she spat at him.
"Huh?"
"What the hell did you do?" she asked. When he stared at her blankly she frowned and jabbed one finger into his arm. He winced and looked down at his arms, as if he genuinely hadn't noticed the scratches and gashes covering them. He lifted them up and twisted to look at the back, inspecting the damage disinterestedly.
"Must have been the trees," he muttered to himself. "When I was run-" He stopped and looked up at Clove, meeting her inquisitive gaze with a stony one. "Anyway. Let's get some sleep."
He jumped to his feet again and walked over to the other side of the clearing.
"I'll take first watch," he stated. He bent to pick his jacket up off the ground and held it out to her.
"No. I don't need it."
"Take it," he said gruffly, shaking it in her direction.
"No."
"It's the jacket, or me."
She glared at him.
"Fine," he muttered, stomping back across the space towards her. He took a seat on the cold ground next to her and she let him spread the jacket out till it attempted to cover both of them.
"I think I would have preferred the jacket," she muttered grumpily, huddling in next to him. He grinned with amusement, unseen in the darkness.
CATO POV
An unnatural wind picked up after a few hours of silent darkness. It howled through the trees and the night was filled with the snapping and creaking of their limbs. He was glad they had such a sheltered location because even there the chill of the storm made him shiver. He smiled grimly to himself as he thought of Fire Girl and her preference for tree hide-outs.
"Hope she freezes to death," he muttered to himself. "Or falls out."
It was no doubt some trick of the game makers, hoping to send off a few other tributes already close to death from dehydration, starvation or hypothermia. It was getting to the point in the game where the slightest thing could mean life or death. At the thought he pulled the jacket tighter around them, making sure Clove was covered.
The wind was so strong that he almost couldn't hear the Capitol music when it started across the arena. He glanced eagerly up to their chink of sky to see the faces of the recently fallen tributes.
"Eleven...twelve," he breathed to himself. He felt a leap of elation as Lover Boy's image flashed up, but nothing compared to the sadistic pleasure he felt seeing Eleven's image. He was only sorry he hadn't been the one to rip him to shreds. That would have been a phenomenal kill.
'So,' he mused to himself as the trees whipped above his head. 'Fire Girl and Five left. That should be manageable.' He was surprised Five had survived this far to be honest. He had barely seen the flash of red hair the entire games. And a part of him was glad Fire Girl was left. He may have changed their plan and left his sword behind but he couldn't deny the bloodthirsty part of him that still wanted to draw out her death excruciatingly.
The storm died in the trees just as the first hint of light began to appear in the sky. No canon had fired that night.
For hours now Cato had been staring at the symbol he had scratched into the rock. If he focused intently on it everything around it became blurry and he could almost believe that he was back in District 2, hiding in the quarries during a training exercise. A movement at his shoulder brought his focus back to the present and he reminded himself that he was a long way from home, no more so because of the girl asleep next to him. These games did strange things to people.
"You didn't wake me," a disgruntled voice said next to him. He turned his head slightly to see her frowning at the ground and rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"I wasn't tired," he answered curtly.
Clove gave a short laugh and unravelled herself from the jacket they had been using as a blanket. "That's not how it works and you know it."
He rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth as she scolded him for letting her sleep. Could she be any more ungrateful? He generally let her rant, having learnt some ago that it was just easier to do that. It was a good thing he internalised his aggression, until it exploded that was, because if they both had a tongue as sharp as Clove they would have killed each other within a few moments.
"So what's the plan?" she asked, ignoring his irritable expression and fists clenched with anger.
"We wait."
She looked at him with narrowed eyes that just about drowned him in contempt.
"Do you have a better idea?" he asked viciously, his tempter rising.
In answer she reached over to him and plucked her knife from where he had slid it into his jacket. "We hunt her down."
He should have known she was still lusting after the violent death of Fire Girl. She had barely stopped hissing about it since their training scores had been released.
"No." His voice was cold with command.
"What is wrong with you?" she hissed at him.
In response he gave her a shove away from him, his temper snapping. He watched with cold eyes as she winced and closed her eyes. "What's wrong with you?" he spat, climbing to his feet and marching over to their supplies. He crouched at his bag and began rummaging through the contents. When he realised he didn't even know what he was looking for stopped and glared at the contents, trying to cool his anger.
He turned back to her with what could well have been the first apology of his life almost on his lips. His mouth opened but the words died as a canon shot rippled through the forest around them. It wasn't night time but in the sky above them the Capitol symbol appeared followed by the pale, flickering image of the girl from District 5.
Any thoughts of apology or argument had fled from his mind as he realised that they were one step closer. And it was only Fire Girl, District 12, who stood in their way. His heart thudded with exhilaration that paid no heed to the decisions of his brain. He lowered his eyes from the sky and his gaze connected exactly with Clove's. She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him mischievously.
"Come one Cato," she urged. "Let's go and play."
