Chapter 28

There were only a couple of times Katniss had been so convinced of her impending death. All of them had been in the arena but even then there had been a shred of hope. She had begged the boys to stop as soon as Gale made the first blow. She couldn't believe he'd be so stupid. Cato had trained for this his whole life, he'd proved that he was able and willing to finish a fight by smashing hunger games records.

The only reason Gale held out as long as he did was because Cato seemed as surprised as she was. When that killing mode had descended over his features she'd scrambled for the sedative. Finding a moment to use it was a completely different question. She left it too late, Cato had Gale in that same headlock as Dominus had used to snap the boy from 5s neck in her games.

Desperate, she threw herself onto his back, clinging on for dear life as he bucked and twisted beneath her. She managed to manoeuvre the sedative so that is was point down and pressed down on the button. Cato roared and grabbed her arm, tearing her off him and throwing her to the ground.

She cried out as the air slammed out of her and then she heard a hiss of metal and a click. Through blurry vision she saw Cato standing over her, murder in his eyes and the golden spear pointed straight at her chest. The sedative hadn't worked, she'd done it wrong. She was going to die.

Then the spear wavered, Cato swayed, and dropped like a stone. His spear landed in the dirt a couple of feet away from her and suddenly she could breath again.

'Katniss? Katniss, are you okay?' Gale was back on his feet and he stumbled over to her. He had a black eye and blood ran from his nose.

'No.' She was not okay, she was furious. She ignored Gale and dragged her aching body over to Cato's still form. He was lying in an unnatural pile and she did her best to rearrange him into something more comfortable.

'Come on Katniss, we need to go before he wakes up.' Gale urged and she forced herself to face him.

'No Gale. I am not leaving him. If you ever want me to speak to you again you'll go and get Enobaria. Now.' She ordered in no uncertain terms. Gale gaped at her for a minute, then turned and limped off towards the fence.

She finished rearranging Cato so that he lay in the position her mother showed her – on his side with one arm straight and the other folded and tucked under his cheek. As a second thought she quickly patted him down, retrieving his knife and putting it in her own belt. The she forced herself to her feet and retrieved the spear.

Her entire body ached from the impact with the ground but she found herself gravitating to Cato's still form for comfort, despite him being the one to cause the injury. Under the influence of the sedatives he looked so different. His usual intimidating expression had relaxed into a softer, neutral face. She ran her finger along his low eyebrows and down the cleft in his chin. Then she took one of his hands into her lap, running the same finger over the hard calluses.

She wondered how long the dose she'd given him would last. Would Enobaria arrive before he woke up? Would he still be trying to kill her when he did?

Katniss didn't know how much time had passed when she heard voices through the trees. And a moment later Enobaria and Brutus were there. Brutus hurried to Cato whilst Enobaria approached Katniss.

'Are you hurt?' She asked, then ignored Katniss assurances that she was fine as she patted her down for injuries.

'I took these off him. I don't know what mood he'd be in when he came around.' Katniss said, handing the knife and spear to the mentor. Of course, if Cato was still wanting to kill her then he'd hardly need the weapons.

Then Enobaria left her and went to help Brutus heave Cato up, slinging an arm over their shoulders. They started off back in the direction of the district leaving Katniss alone with Gale.

'I hope you feel good about yourself.' She said before she hurried after them, leaving Gale to put away her bow and arrows.

Nobody said a word to her as Cato was taken up to his room and every weapon confiscated. When Enobaria finally came down she looked nothing short of furious. The woman pointed to the living room and took several long breaths as Katniss hurried to sit where she'd been told.

'I want to know what on earth you were doing.' She finally ground out. So Katniss told her. She explained how she'd supported her family since her father died and how she'd asked Cato to come with her. She told Enobaria how she'd broken down, both times, and how Cato had comforted her and finally she explained the argument today.

'Have you still got the syringe?' Enobaria finally said when she finished. Katniss nodded and held it out to her to inspect. The woman took it and her eyes widened. 'He really wasn't taking any chances.' She said. 'He'll be out cold for at least a couple of hours with a dosage like that.'

'I don't know what to say Katniss.' Enobaria finally sighed. 'We should have warned you of course. You two work miracles on each other but we became too complacent. He's still got a lot of issues to work through and I don't want to think about what could have happened if you hadn't had that medicine.'

'Will he be okay when he wakes up?' Katniss asked after a long pause.

'Maybe. You can go and see him if you want. I'll go tell Haymitch and your mother where you are.' It hadn't even occurred to her that they would be worried about her but all she wanted now was to make sure Cato was okay. She was terrified that she'd done something wrong with the sedative and he wouldn't wake up.

She slipped out of the room and upstairs. The door to Cato's room was open and Brutus was still in there. She peered in to see him tying Cato's feet together, his hands were already tied. They had changed him into clean clothes but there was still a spattering of Gale's blood across his hands and face. Brutus noticed her by the door and scowled by didn't say anything to get her to leave so she stepped in.

Cato's dirty shirt was in a heap on the floor so she picked it up and took it to the bathroom where she ran it under the hot tap. Once it was damp she took it back to Cato's room and used it to wipe his face and hands clean. Cato hated having blood on his hands.

Then she pulled the chair from the corner of the room and sat down to wait for Cato to wake up.

Same as usual, any mistakes at all (including spelling and punctuation and other silly things) please tell me so that I can fix them.

R&R