Chapter 25- Deadly Lies

(Clove's POV)

"Peeta!" I cry out. Ever since last night, since he disappeared I've been looking for him. My legs are beyond exhausted. Beyond numb.

They give out beneath me, and I fall to the ground involuntarily. Maybe he's already dead. Maybe I just didn't hear the cannon. I feel defeated, destroyed not only physically but emotionally. But he can't be dead. He just can't.

Who would kill him anyway? It wouldn't be Glimmer, she'd still be hung over him, but then again that rage which passed across her face when Peeta broke up with her, I have only seen anger of that degree on one person before: Cato; Cato when he snapped District Three's neck. Pure rage. Pure malevolent rage. My insides churn. Maybe she would kill Peeta. Maybe she'd even enjoy it.

I force myself to get up, with great exertion. If anyone came now I would be an easy target. I don't know if I'd even be able to get a knife out. I'm tiring myself from just imagining it.

"Peeta!" I try again.

Then, there's that unknown girl. District Five. I don't know anything about her. When I should have been paying attention to my adversaries weaknesses and strengths in the training centre I was too busy showing off my skills along with every other Career. It seems like eternities ago now. It's like I was living a totally different life then.

A lone thought crosses my mind: I could win this. I could just let Peeta die and take out Glimmer and five and I would win. I shake my head in refusal. The thought of returning alone, without him is too devastating to conjure. I just can't imagine a life without him, not now, not after this. I want him.

I need him.

I love him.

Now I just need him to feel the same way.

And to be alive.

"Peeta!" I scream again, as I jog lightly, seemingly have found an unused energy source.

I am about to shout again when I hear him. His angelic voice casting light in the darkness of this present. He is talking to someone.

I close in on the chatter, making sure to not bring attention to myself. My ears straining to make sense of the noise.

"I don't want to sound impatient, but any chance you've made a decision yet?" The voice is unfamiliar. I want to look to see who it is, but I remind myself that I don't have to. There's only one other person in the game: five. My hand reaches down to my waist, searching for a sharpened knife, inside me I can feel the rage boiling over me. Not at five, but at Peeta. How long has he been chummy with her? A better question is: why?

I can feel the hesitation in the silence. My hands stop in curiosity.

"Well if that wasn't clear I don't know what is." She sighs. "I know I can't rush this but I really need to know soon. We're down to the final four Peeta. I could die next. And I don't want to die without knowing your answer." My fingers spread across the tree I stand behind. I can't even remember what she looks like. It's taking everything I have in me to not have a peek. She could see me then run off. But I'd be able to kill her before she got far. Yet my curiosity to find out what they are talking about is so much stronger.

"I know. It's just hard." His reply is soft and barely audible against the wind.

"Well, just remember Peeta," I press my head against the tree further, as if straining will help to hear. "I love you and I will understand your decision no matter what." My jaw drops. Did I really just hear that correctly? Was his love for Katniss just an act? Was he really just playing the idea for sponsors? My fists clench in anger at the thought of being lied to so much. Or maybe it wasn't Katniss, maybe Glimmer was a lie. Maybe they were both a lie, just another possible choice for him to take.

Was he just setting me up like the others? If I look at his face my heart will tell me there's no way Peeta, a boy so sweet could ever do something like that. But, I don't know if I can trust my heart. It's not like it's ever had much experience in these conditions before.

But did he ever lead me on? I can't think of any one time where he ever showed that he was interested in me like that. He didn't tell me otherwise though, and that is what infuriates me. That is what sends anger coursing through my veins, and adrenaline to my head. My hand reaches down, preparing to grab onto a knife. Preparing to throw it and end a life. Five or Peeta's? I don't know, I feel outraged enough to consider the latter.

My face falls. Where are my knives? They're gone. I force my anger to subside, and allow worry to take over. If I don't have my knives, I don't have anything. They're the only weapon I can use fluently. The only one I specialised in.

Did I leave them at camp? No. I remember specifically leaving them attached to me before I went to sleep. If they've fallen along the way then they're gone. No way will I be able to retrace my steps, I've come too far to do that, gone through too many variations in emotion to be able to remember.

I slide down against the tree, feeling a mixture of emotions. Furious, disappointed, confused, destroyed, just to name a few. All these feelings warring inside of me, each one looking to reign over the others, to penetrate my mind with their poisoning tendrils of corruption.

I'm sure the Capitol right now, is beside themselves knowing I've been listening. They're probably watching me now, watching my reaction. And that thought is the sole thing keeping me from falling apart.

I'm suddenly aware of the throbbing pain in my legs. Good. Something to distract me. Something painful to take away the sorrow.

I close my eyes, hoping to find escape, only to find the image of the boy I'm trying to escape from. I drift through sleep, my mind refusing to leave behind the boy with the bread. His arms ensnare me, and for some reason I don't fight it. He tells me he only wants me. He tells me he doesn't love her. Not five. Only me. He tells me she's the one whose hitting on him, not the other way around. He tells more and more sweet lullabies, words to calm and ease my sorrow.

I awake, wishing life could be that simple. Like he has some magical reason as to why she said what she did. But I'm not an idiot. My dream self may be gullible, but I'm far from it. Darkness is just closing in now and I'm worried. What If I don't see him again? I want to hear his reason. His explanation. I need to release some anger at him. I need the chance. I can't die with this much anger on my mind. I can't die without hearing it from him.

I stand up, my legs only hurting a little now.

I don't know where to look. I don't even which direction to start in. This is feeling more and more familiar. Confused and lost, I stand idly, trying to make sense of what to do with my predicament.

SNAP! I turn around in the vicinity of the noise. Nothing.

"Peeta?" I ask, hoping for the best.

No reply.

My heart begins to race, whirring inside my chest like a perfectly played drum. Glimmer? Five? I am unarmed. Whoever my opponent is, the odds won't be in my favour.

SNAP! Louder now. I can feel my heartbeat in my head, louder and louder.

My breaths are becoming jagged and unnatural. I can feel eyes upon me.

But when I look, there is nothing.

Boom-boom. Boom-boom.

I need a weapon.

I grab a fallen branch and hold it firmly in my trembling hands.

I try to force them to still, no success.

Faint movement in my peripheral catches my eyes. My head turn slowly towards it, my heart thumping more and more. My eyes lock on a dark green bush, it's leaves almost black in the lack of moonlight.

Boom-boom. Boom-boom.

The bush splits open and a creature jumps out before me, sending me stumbling backwards.

And just as quickly as it arrived, it left, hopping away bounce by bounce. A bunny? Are you serious? I can almost hear the laughs back from the Capitol. Clove: the girl who got scared by a little bunny-rabbit.

Something warm pricks my neck. Heat falls over it in small bundles.

The fragrance of morning breath reaches my nostrils. Somehow I don't think this is any rabbit.

I turn my head slowly, reluctantly.

I suppress a shriek as the image comes into view.

Before me stands a cheetah, it's body shape awkward and unnatural. Its mid-body arched, and a massive -tail?- curling up behind it, hanging over it like a cobra ready to strike. On the very edge of the furry tail is a small prick (in comparison to the whole tail) the size of a butcher's knife, and seemingly just as sharp.

A cheetah and scorpion mutation.

I gulp and force my body out of a fear-locked paralysis. I move just in time before the tail comes down, splitting a small rock straight down the middle.

My eyes widen in horror.

Somehow I think that if I get hit, I won't be able to hear Peeta's explanation.

I swing the branch at the mutation's head with as much force as I can conjure. The branch on contact makes a sickening crack as it snaps in half.

For a brief moment I think it's dead. The creature falls to the ground. Only to get up a few seconds later. I curse under my breath.

Without much thought I turn and run. Faster and faster. I make use of the few second head start. I don't dare look back. I have this horrid feeling that when I do it will be right there. Its face basically pressed up against mine as its tail speeds down at me, splitting me in half. The imagery is enough to make me shiver.

The feel of knives digging into my skin hits my back. Claws. I can't help but let out a scream. How am I meant to lose something this fast? In a desperate attempt I take a few sharp turns, hoping agains hope that it will do something, anything to create more of a distance. Only it doesn't. I feel its claws tearing through my side, pushing me back to a straight path. I need to climb a tree. It's my only hope.

Only, if I slowed down to climb one I wouldn't have a chance. I press on, my feet a blur amongst the leaf litter, each step a massive wave crashing against a cliff face and about just as graceful.

A fine layer of sweat covers me and my not-yet-fully-recovered legs start to ache like hell.

I can't keep running. It's not logical, and it's beyond painful. Come on Clove. Think. I sidestep to avoid a tree, just in time.

Think…

I scream again. The claws get me on my other side. They dig in, deep. I glance down quickly.

Blood. Lots of it. Vermillion running down my hips, drenching my clothes, intermixing with sweat.

THINK!

My breaths are beginning to hurt; they are becoming shallow and shallower. The thought hits me for the second time in this life. I am going to die.

I am going to die without getting my reason from Peeta.

I am going to die without releasing my anger.

I am going to die without even saying goodbye.

The last one hurts the most. I know I'm angry at him, but it doesn't mean I don't like him. At least, he is still a friend. One of the best I've ever had.

Up ahead the forest thickens; trees bundle together. The perfect spot for concealment. With one final effort, I push harder, barely missing a claw swipe.

I scream in pain as my breaths write with agony and my muscles exert in torture. I take a quick glance back, the creature is surprised by the sudden speed boost, but it is slowly speeding up to catch up with me.

I reach the thicker area and take a sharp left followed by a right. There I take refuge against a tree, my back pressed against it, like there's no tomorrow. I do not breathe. I do not move at all.

I can hear it coming. Each footstep it takes stretches into eons. I am afraid that it will hear my heart pounding against my chest. But it doesn't. It runs past. I take a very small breath, very aware that there is the possible chance it can hear me if I'm too loud and turn back.

"You bitch!" My head snaps in the direction of the shouting. Glimmer stands tall, anger written on her face. Instinctively I reach for my knives, only to remember they're gone. My eyes widen in alarm and I bring my finger to my mouth signalling her to be quiet. She doesn't listen. "You're already sleeping with him!"

"Glimmer. Shush." I pant, each syllable taking every bit of energy I have left. My body slides down against the tree, lacking the energy required to hold it up.

"We break up and two days later you're fucking him!" She screams. I shake my head.

"No. It. Was. For. Warmth." I try to explain, but she keeps yelling.

"Skip the crap Clove!" My hands move to my side where a pool of blood is forming. Her eyes follow. "You're hurt?" I nod my head weakly. "Well this will make this so much easier!" She shouts, pulling out a knife. One of my knives. "That's right. I took them from you. When you were asleep. I could have easily finished you then, but it would have taken the fun out. Now I get to see the fear in your eyes. The helplessness." She grins. "I never wanted it to turn out this way. I really thought you were my friend Clove. But then you go and sleep with him! After you slept with Cato! It wasn't enough for you to take one of them away from me, you had to take him as well! Some friend you are."

I open my mouth finding the energy to speak somehow. "I never took him from you! He left you because you're crazy!" I shout. Her eyebrows furrow. There was that gut-wrenching anger. The one that had been on Cato before he killed District Three. Only this time I'm Three. Her fingers clench around the knife's handle before stabbing it through my hand.

A blood-curdling yelp leaves my lips.

"Be careful what you say." She says as she rips the knife upward, causing just as much pain to my hand.

"Why you're going to kill me anyway." I grunt through gritted teeth.

"Yes, but would you like to die quickly, or slowly? I'll leave that choice up to you." I glare at her. "Well which one?"

My lips quiver.

She kicks me, in the side. I wince. "Answer!" She shouts. She is about to kick me again.

"Quickly." I say, feeling utterly defeated. Probably because I am.

"Well, all it takes is an apology."

"For what?" I ask in annoyance.

"For taking them both away from me!" She shouts, restless.

"But I didn't!" Her eyes glow hatred and her knife digs into my arm. Another tortured scream leaves me. I'm going to have to lie. Reality hits me hard. The last thing I'm going to ever say is going to be a lie. Her arm goes up, ready to slash again. The bloody utensil in her hand a traitor to me. "OKAY! I'm sorry for taking Cato and Peeta away from you! I'm sorry!" I shout.

"See that wasn't too hard?" She pauses as if actually expecting an answer. "Goodbye Clove." The knife comes down fast, hitting me. There is no time for last thoughts. It all happens to quick.

BANG!

OOC: Firstly I really want to thank everyone for sticking with me after 25 long chapters in which I haven't been the fastest uploader for. Secondly I want to thank my friend Amelia, for helping me with the mutation idea! Now, we are finally down to the final three. The finale will be coming up very soon now, and I have a great plan set out for it. Let's just say it will be very full-on. I hope you guys aren't too angry at me for taking so long. I try to be quick, but school is horrible at the moment. The next chapter will be a bit of a delay due to school end yearly exams around the bend, but once they pass I'll try to get back on it and give you guys a finished story!
Drowningme909- Aw thanks so much! I really appreciate it when people take the time to review, please don't give up on the story now! I know it seems like a horrible twist, but stick with me a little longer my friend!
Jar- Thanks a lot! :D
Hufflepufficus - You are awesome, thanks for the brilliant words :D I'm sorry I scared you though XD Chances are that I might be scaring you soon again... knowing me writing haha.