Chapter 20
Guidelines
That night, I didn't go into Cato's room. I know I should have. It was probably our last night to be worry free. Well, at least as worry free as a couple of careers could be. Instead, I went to my own room. It was cold and dark and made me feel worse than ever before. I laid down and started to cry for all the horrible things I had done, and not even morning could stop me from remembering the horrible things I was doing. I kept telling myself it'll all pay off in the long run. But there was something dying on the inside.
I woke up to the horrible churning in my stomach. The world was turning upside down. Oh god. I sprinted into the bathroom and threw up, again and again. Maybe it was part of the abortion meds. I wasn't sure, but the only thing I was sure of was that I felt like shit. "Rise and shine." I heard Haymitch's voice as he entered my room. In the next second, he was standing in the doorway. "Hangover?" he questioned, a smirk on his face.
"Shut up." I spat, standing up, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth and pushing past Haymitch.
"Last chance to say goodbye to baby daddy and then you'll be on your way to immediate death."
"SHut UP!" I shouted, watching as my hand cracked across the mentor's face. He stared at me incredulously and I almost expected a slap back.
"Nice hand you got there."
"Unbelieveable." I opened my door and stomped out into the hallway. Cato scooped me up, burying his face in my hair.
"I never thought I'd have to say goodbye again." he whispered in my ear.
"Only for now. I'll see you after the bloodbath." I replied.
"Yeah." he pulled back and kissed me one last time before Enobaria pulled us away, leading me off.
"Alright Clove, now heres your suit." Flo handed me a strange looking wet suit that I continued to put on. "Now good luck." she basically shooed me off.. I stepped onto the platform and the tunnel closed around me. Flo turned away from the tunnel looking a bit choked up. I rolled my eyes and the platform started to rise.
My heart started beating faster and my chest seized up. My breath staggered and the light took my eyes. I blinked a couple times, trying to see again. "5...4" I looked around at all the tributes in a circle. Platforms were above water and I could see the cornucopia right in front of me. Waves lapped beneath my feet and the only thought that was going through my head was, thank goodness we trained for this kind of thing at the training center. The numbers echoed in my skull. "3...2"
Cato was on the opposite side of the cornucopia, trying to communicate to everyone else. My nerves pulsed with electricity as Cato started to mouth words to me. Go into the bloodbath and defend. Keep all the supplies you can. "1" the horn sounded and about half of the tributes dove off their platforms. The other half was either paralyzed with fear, or the haunting realization that they couldn't swim. Johanna was one of them.
Finnick swam over to her platform and helped her off, almost drowning when she clung desperately to him. I finally dove off my platform, torpedoing through the water and feeling all the bubbles around me. For a moment it was quite peaceful. There were no shouts, no blood, no worries at all. But I snapped back to reality. I had a cornucopia to protect.
I sam in vain to the cornucopia where the bloodbath had already begun. Cashmere and Gloss went around Cato, who stood at the mouth of the cornucopia occupied with the tributes from eleven. They ducked into the cornucopia and started picking away at the supplies, realizing they had all the time in the world to be choosy.
I climbed up onto the sliver of land and hacked my way to the cornucopia, already feeling my body weaken. I ran past Cato, who noticed me and almost mistook me for another tribute, but let me by, and I hurled myself at Cashmere as she reached for the one thing I wanted; the knives.
I landed on Cashmere, who fell to the ground with a bone crunching sound and smiled. For a moment, I could remember last year's games, when I had almost don the same thing to Katniss. Almost. I reached around blindly for a weapon, anything to get Cashmere with, when the hand of Thresh fell on my back. No, not Thresh, but Gloss, lifting me off of Cashmere. Gloss flung me across the interior of the cornucopia and I grimaced We were wasting time. Underlying districts were getting supplies while I battled the pair from one.
A canon boomed in my head but I didn't give myself time to figure out who it was. I realized I was slumped against a box of ninja stars. I smiled to myself. Throwing ninja stars couldn't be that much different than knives, could it? I took them into my hand and hurled them at Gloss, one shredding through his arm, and the other through his leg, maybe even his femoral artery. My aim hadn't been soo great, but it was effective. My opponents were distracted and it gave me just the right amount of time.
I ran past Cashmere who was rushing to her partner's side, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. I picked up couple knives, suddenly jumping in front of Cashmere and Gloss. They were trying to make a run for it. Instead of keeping people out of the cornucopia, now I was keeping them in, with every bit of strength I had.
Cashmere stopped to curse a bit, but she knew I had the upper hand. I was armed and more prepared. It was fight or flight and I chose fight and they chose flight. "I can't let you leave."
"Clove-" Cashmere pleaded.
"No, you're not leaving."
"Bitch." Gloss muttered.
"Clove! Let them go! They're no real harm!" Finnick's voice echoed in the cornucopia.
"What?" I lowered my knives and just as I did, Cashmere ran Gloss out, disappearing into the forest.
"We're trying to keep the death tolls to a minimum." Finnick reminded me.
"If you don't recall, we're fighting to the death. Not attending a tea party." I retorted, wiping the grime from my forehead.
"That's three." Cato wiped the blood of his sword on his suit leg. "Out of pure self defense, though."
"Make that four." Johanna used the heel of her foot to wipe away the blade of her axe. "I really didn't like the girl from five."
I know this was terrible . sorry