A/N: Hey, hey! The long awaited chapter 20 has finally arrived, along with the summer time! No more school :P Not that the weather has been lax here where I live :( It's so hot and this may sound weird but I don't want a tan this year. I get SO dark and it doesn't fade until winter time... Ruins my school pictures. Maybe I should share my annoying ability to completely tan within a day with some paler people. ANYWAY. Yeah. It's really short. The chapter, I mean. But will you love me anyway? I'm actually really proud fo teh reviews I've gotten so far. It's cool just seeing how many people like what I'm doing :) I've already started on the sequel to this one (like I'm gonna be done anytime soon). I shall call it Burning Bliss. Maybe. Whenever this one gets done, the new one is gonna come out really fast hopefuly, considering that in the past month I've already written like 5 chapters of it... When I should be writing this one :\ Oh well.
Enough rambling; there will be time for that at the end. READ:
I've been telling Ruby about Katniss - how she isn't really in love with me, softly, so the cameras won't be able to pick up my words unless they decide to invest their time in the Capitol to turn up the volume, because at this point I hardly care about what happens next; I just need someone to talk to. The others have been listening intently.
It's so obvious - the flame lights up the night like a flare that even a blind person could see - that I laugh. It's so ridiculous. It would never have even occurred to me to start a fire, and so close to dawn? Whoever placed a bet on this girl as the victor is surely bashing their head against the wall as of this moment.
Marvel is next to spot gently undulating orange speck. He hoots, too, jostling Glimmer's head, which has been resting on his shoulder until now. Glimmer complains an awful lot for a Career. Marvel promised to help her along, on the condition that she promised to shut up.
Cato and Ruby look up at the same time from their entwined hands. I know that, if I were watching from home, I would be slightly sickened by what the two of them feel for each other. Two monsters, wrangled together in a sick gladiator match. But here, seeing it from this vantage point, firsthand, it's heartwarming instead of gut-wrenching. Maybe it's because it's probably the last show of love I'll ever see - if what they have can really be called love. They've known each other for no more than a week. When you're here, though, you have to cling to what you have.
Comet has already taken off running. Cato looks aggrieved. It'd be nice to have the element of surprise on our side, but even now, when were about two-hundred yards from the fire, the starter doesn't seem to have noticed his or her death approaching, closing in on them.
Clove, a nasty grin having spread over her face, breaks into a sprint. She draws a knife, just one of which she always seems to have at the ready, from her jacket. Something inside me, a faint whisper of a feeling, wishes she would trip, fall and impale herself on the blade she holds. She deserves it. From the blood-thirsty expression on her face, you can tell that she's going in for the kill. A strange, almost glassy look of excitement has slid over Glimmer's eyes as well. It's like somewhere embedded in her – almost every Career's – genetic code is the urge, the need to kill.
Ruby and Cato break their hold on each other, but hang back. I know I won't be able to partake in the murder of whoever this person is – I, no doubt, can name him or her out of memory - but I'm not eager to be left behind.
The others are already creating somewhat of a large gap between Ruby, Cato, and I, so I start running, the nightlife flying by, my packs bouncing rhythmically against my spine. The leaves on the trees ruffle as I pass and the old dry twigs they have shed crack with each of my footfalls. My calves burn, my injuries smart, and the rise and fall of my chest becomes unsteady. I ditch one of the backpacks, leaving it for Cato to pick up, and my tread becomes noticeably lighter.
I hear someone scream. "Please!" the girl shrieks. I try to think of who is might be; there currently are six live females in this arena, three of which are with the Careers. That leaves three vulnerable. The little twelve-year-old, the shadow, Rue; the girl from whichever district - 8, I think, Willow; and of course, Katniss.
I am highly doubtful that Katniss lit that fire. She's been smart enough to stay alive in District 12 all these years, after all. She probably knows which meats don't have to be cooked so that she won't risk revealing her whereabouts by means of smoke. Besides, I don't even really think she had fire making down well enough at training to have started a blaze like this one.
Rue has obviously been smart enough to keep herself alive for the entire fist day - which is obviously more than can be said certain other, older tributes. So I don't think she would have endangered herself like this.
That leaves Willow, from District 8. I try to call to mind everything I know about her. She's tall and, well, willowy. She has the longest caramel-colored hair I've ever seen. Stupidity isn't really a defining trait when I think of her, though.
"Please!" the girl screams again. In the glow from the flames, I can see that it is Willow who decided to light the fire, and Comet has a fistful of her pretty hair, yanking it. I hear the scalp give with a sickening rip, and a small clump comes free in Comet's hand. Willow howls.
"Don't kill me! I can help you!" she tries to bargain.
"Hey, maybe you should have thought about that before you started this fire," Clove sneers. "Though, I never could get a good, steady flame like this one going. My fire was second best next to yours - oh well. Now it'll be first!"
I can't believe Clove would even think of something so petty to say at a time like this. Maybe she's been trained in how to make the very last moments of a person's life as miserable as humanly possible.
While Comet stares at the handful of hair he has just grabbed from Willow's head in momentary fascinated surprise, Willow, now completely unrestrained, takes the opportunity to try and escape.
Clove simply extends her foot and trip the girl. Willow lands face first in the dirt.
"Well, don't just stand there, Lover Boy," Clove says, looking over at me with a scowl. "You think the girl's gonna do all the work around here? Hold her down!"
I walk over with no verbal objection, but I think Clove can see the reluctance in my face and gait.
I don't want to hurt her anymore than she already is, so instead of sitting on her ankles like Marvel did to me, I pull out my knife and try something one of the mentors in the Training Center showed me. I don't know how I do it, but I weave the blade in and out of Willow's fingers in such a way that she can't pull free from it without tearing her fingers up. She doesn't squirm any longer, though, and I'm not even completely convinced that she'd even attempt another getaway if she could; she seems resigned to her fate.
Marvel approaches – he's been berating Comet for letting her go for the past two minutes – and examines my work.
He raises an eyebrow in the half-light. "Nice job, Lover Boy," he comments. Then Ruby and Cato emerge from the trees.
"You haven't killed her yet?" they both ask at the same time. It's a bit eerie, because Ruby asks the question with worry in her voice, and Cato in a clipped, business like tone that suggests that the moaning, sobbing person lying on the forest floor is nothing more than a piece of garbage on the ground while we are on clean-up duty.
"Just waiting for you," Clove says, practically shivering with excitement.
"Well, why don't you do the honors?" Cato asks.
"My pleasure," Clove replies, taking a lunge, thrusting forward with her knife in hand. With a final scream, Willow falls silent.
Marvel and Comet let out a whoop and Clove a sort of animalistic growl. Cato watches with a grim, thoughtful expression. I look at Ruby. Her face mirrors mine, eyes wide. We are both trying not to be sick to our stomachs.
We both just stand there like that for a moment as time passes. She is the only person who can empathize with Cato in this arena. Right now, she is the only person who can empathize with me. What did such a wonderful girl do to be condemned to death in a place like this? That is all I can think.
By the time we break away from each other's gazes, Cato has already scooped dirt onto the fire and is stomping it out. The green in the soil smolders and produces puffs of smoke.
"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking," says Comet.
We all follow him into a small clearing. I'm finding it horribly ironic that Willow died on the roots of a willow tree, a species of which there seems to be an abundance of in this particular sector of the arena. We walk for a little. Ruby has her arms wrapped around her stomach, not expecting Cato's hand. He walks with a flashlight now, close behind her.
I'm examining a willow as we walk. I notice that one of the branches near the top is slightly off, bent at a strange angle. I shine my own flashlight on the roots of the tree.
My mind careens back to Katniss at the climbing station back in the Tribute Center. We didn't spend long on that particular activity - after about five minutes, two things became clear: Katniss was a whiz at climbing; and I was a complete failure. Even the trainer laughed at my attempts to shimmy up the artificial trunk, not to mention Star, who was in stitches. Katniss even cracked a smile or two.
It she's that good a climber, then she's almost definitely decided that up a tree is the best place to be. I decided to keep on walking. But I see her boot and my protective instincts kick in. I have to get them away from here. If the others see her...
Think, Peeta, think.
Cato stops suddenly, causing the rest of the group to halt behind him. Clove rams into his back and the back of my shoe grazes her ankle. It takes Ruby, the only person ahead of Cato, a moment realize that we've come to a standstill. She turns and gives the boy behind her a questioning look, shining her light over his face.
"Shouldn't we have heard the cannon by now?" Cato asks, glancing back in the direction that the body should be in.
"I'd say yes," Ruby supplies. "Nothing to stop them from going in immediately." I can tell by her voice that she can't wait until the dead girl has exited the arena.
"Unless she isn't dead."
"She's dead," Clove says matter-of-factly, "I stuck her myself."
"Then where's the cannon?" Cato counters, his voice rising.
"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done." Marvel's teeth glitter in the moonlight.
My eyes keep shifting, back and forth, back and forth, between the now fighting Careers and Katniss's boot, which hangs out of the tree, unmoving, but still so unnatural-looking, and just frankly boot-like, that I'm positive that one of the others is going to notice, regardless of what I say or do.
"We're wasting time!" I say finally. Everyone stops and looks at me. Glimmer holds out her fist, just about to hit Comet and the anger on his face is almost cartoonish. "I'll go finish her and let's move on!"
If they're going to finish Katniss, I won't be there to see it.
Okay: I do realize that Peeta is being really mean, but I guess he's just wrestling with his emotions? Idk. I had to do that to make the storyline work. Yeah, I had a lot more in my head planned for this chapter, but I've been really tired lately - like seriously, I am typing this while sitting bleary-eyed at my computer from a nap and I am still really tired - but I guess I'll just have to tack it on the next chapter because I feel like I've kept you waiting long enough.
I also just wanted to say that I've been reviewing stats and stuff, and it's amazing how many people are bothering to read this stuff (and how many are not reviewing, but what can you do? Not that I mind all that much; read it, and if you're happy and coming back for more, I'm happy :) So yeah, THANK YOU EVERYONE :D
And last but not least, I would like to thank Sanctuaria for beta-ing and getting back to me in a very timely fashion. I am grateful, but I dropped the ball this time - the chapter was finished and ready to go two days ago, but I just forgot, in my frenzy to get places on time, to publish it. Oops. Sorry :)
And I still have a lot to say. I was listening to the Hunger Games, so my attitude toward the story is totally revamped :) I CANNOT wait until the Cave part y'all. That's it. I hope you like it!
-seastar