And I'm already typing up chapter 1! Yay
Guys… THis chapter is over 7000 works long! That's twelve pages!
Thanks to Mason Oury for leaving the first review.
So this chapter is not my favorite. The original chapter started out pretty bad, but got a little better. But in the original fanfic, I didn't talk at all about the interviews, and I just skimmed over training scores. I promise, this fic WILL get better. Just hold on.
Something to take note of: Most fanfic Katniss's are extremely ooc. Most authors make them tough and deadly and brash. Katniss is all of those things, but fanfic authors take it to the extreme by making her a bit psycho. If you remember in the books, Katniss is not like that. She's tough and closed off, but Chaff literally kisses her on the lips in Catching Fire. She doesn't scream at him. She doesn't kick him where the sun don't shine. She's actually embarrassed. A bit revolted, yes, but embarrassed. Her first reaction would be to blush. Not attack him. Yes, she attacked Peeta after he said he liked her, but that only happened once, and only because she was afraid it would make her look weak. One Haymitch explained that it made her look desirable, she calmed down. Her number one priority was getting home to Prim, and she was afraid Peeta had ruined it.
So my Katniss might seem a little calmer than what you're used to. That's just because I'm afraid of going down the psycho serial killer Katniss path.
CAN WE ALSO take a moment to admire Clove's skillz? Seriously! Look at the knife she throws at Katniss in the movie. The one that Katniss uses to cut down the tracker jacker nest. That thing is NOT balanced for throwing. I don't think that was an accident. They wanted to show just how good Clove is at throwing knives. Take it from someone who's a knife thrower. That's tricky, man.
Chapter 1
Katniss Everdeen
Our little girl's alliance actually worked out very well. It was me, Lana, Cameron from District 7, and Rue from District 11. We trained together for a few days, and shared our skills with each other.
When the training scores came around, I was very excited for them. Rue scored a seven. She was excellent at climbing, and decent with a slingshot. Lana, who was a bit older than us, scored a nine. She was pretty good with a knife, and she was really fast, too. Cameron, or Cami as she liked to be called, scored another seven. A score of seven is fantastic for a twelve year old, so we were all very excited. She was amazing with an axe, which I guess is because she's from the lumber district.
And I got myself an eight. An eight is a very good score, even for older tributes. Eights are a low score for a career tribute, but very impressive for an outlying district.
The training scores aren't necessarily telling the public just how strong you are. They are meant to tell you your chance of winning the Games. No one has ever received a score higher than ten, but there's usually only one or two tens per year. The gamemakers assume those tributes will be the ones facing each other in the finale.
My interview flew by. Caesar asked me a bit about my family, and my impressive training score, and my alliance. And, of course, my memorable entrance. My flames during the tribute parade were completely adored. No one remembered Lucius for them. He wasn't very good at the whole "making friends thing." But I was. Everyone loved me.
When my pedestal rose up into the arena, the first thing I noticed was the silver bow, right in front of me. It was resting against the side of Cornucopia, trying to tempt me. To lure me into the bloodbath. I turned my head, looking for my allies. I noticed the District 1 girl, Glimmer, was next to me, her eyes trained on my bow.
Cameron was five places to my right, Rue was two more past Cameron. I couldn't see Lana, so I assumed she was on the other side.
Twenty seconds.
I made up my mind. That bow was mine. No way was a dumb blonde girl going to take my bow.
I made eye contact with Cameron, and nodded towards the bow, trying to make her understand my plan. She followed my eyes and saw the bow. Rue also noticed, and shook her head frantically. Don't. She mouthed at me, but Cameron nodded, a small smile on her face. That was all I needed.
I watched the timer count down from five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
I took off running. I knew I could make it. I was the fastest runner my age in the entire district. I won all the races at school. The only one who could beat me was Gale, and only at long distance. It didn't take me long to reach the bow. Glimmer was right behind me, but she wasn't nearly as fast.
"Katniss!" I heard Cameron shout. She was about ten yards away from me. I began to run away from the Cornucopia, but heard Cami shout again. I turned around and saw the boy from District 8 coming at me with an axe. He knocked me over and raised the weapon above his head.
And then he slouched against me. I looked up and saw Clove, from DIstrict 2, standing several feet away. I took the boy's axe, his backpack, and my bow and quiver and ran away from the scene. I had just swung my backpack onto my back when I felt the pressure of another one of Clove's throwing knives hitting me in the back. If she had thrown it just a second earlier, I would be dead.
I ran for about five more minutes after I made it out of the large central clearing. My pace had slowed considerably, and I was getting a little dizzy.
"Katniss!" I heard Cameron again and sighed with relief when I saw both her and Rue alive and well and running towards me.
"That was so dumb," Rue told me. I smiled a little at her, then handed Cameron the axe I stole off of the District 8 boy. They each had a backpack, and Rue had a slingshot.
"Nice," I said when I noticed it. "Was that close to you, or did you run for it?"
Rue smiled. "It wasn't too far away. It doesn't have much value."
I nodded. That's usually how it works. Items with more value, such as my bow or a sword or any other large weapon, will go right up against the Cornucopia, or inside of it. Items with less value are placed closer to the pedestal. For example, there was a 3 foot piece of plastic about four feet away from my pedestal, and a loaf of bread further in.
The cannon went off, signaling the end of the bloodbath. I counted twelve deaths.
"Right. First things first is to camouflage that horrendous backpack of yours." Cameron said with a smile.
We walked a little further into the woods. I open my backpack and look through its contents.
There wasn't much. Just an empty water bottle, a bottle of iodine, a sleeping bag, and some dried fruit and nuts. Rue's had some rope, a pair of socks, a half-gallon (also empty) and a little more food. Cami had some wire, a can of pork, a sleeping bag of her own, some rope and a small water bottle, which was more like a wine-skin.
We climbed a tall tree for the night, and I made room in my sleeping bag for Rue. We used the rope to tie ourselves to the tree.
It was three hours late that the Panem anthem began to play.
The first face that appeared was the girl from District 3. I sighed, irritated. That means both tributes from District 1 and District 2 survived. I was happy, however, when the District 4 boy appeared next. It was rare for a career to die in the bloodbath, and that was good for us.
I immediately felt guilty. Yes, their death meant a better chance for my survival, but he was still just a kid, like me.
Besides them, the District 5 boy, both tributes from District 6, the boy from District 7, the boy from District 8, and both tributes from District 9 and 10 were also in the sky. So was Lucius.
"Were you close?" Rue asked Cameron when her tribute partner's face appeared.
Cameron snorted. "No. He wasn't much, but he was from home." Her voice dropped at the end and I could tell she was trying to be tough.
"Were you close with Lucius, Katniss?" Cameron asked me.
I shook my head, then realized she couldn't see me in the dark. "Not really. I knew he was never… He was never going to…" My voice stopped working.
"Make it?" Cami supplied.
"Yeah," I said quietly. That ended all conversation.
I knew not all of us could win, and I knew Rue wasn't really Victor material, but it broke my heart to think of winning without either of them. Especially if winning meant they would die. I thought about the District 8 boy, when the District 2 girl's knife went through his heart. I imagined the same thing happening to Cami or Rue or Lana. My eyes filled with tears, but I refused to let them fall.
I felt Rue look at me. She must have heard my shaky breaths, but she didn't say anything. I felt her warm hand close around my cold, clammy one.
It was around midnight when I awoke to a loud snap. My first thought was the branch was breaking, but that wasn't the case. I turned my head and saw a campfire, just a few feet away from our tree. It was the District 8 girl.
I rolled my eyes. What an idiot. Did she have a death wish? I heard laughing as the Career pack approached their prey. I poked Rue, so she was awake in case they saw us.
I heard a scream, but no cannon.
"Are you sure she's dead?" the Clove asked suspiciously.
"Of course she's dead," the District 1 boy told her, irritated. I stuck her myself.
"There's no harm in going back to check," Clove argued.
"Yeah, Marvel. Just go and check." Cato, from DIstrict 2 said.
"He said he's dead, so he's dead," Glimmer said. Ugh, I thought. Even her voice is annoying. She was probably rolling her eyes and twirling her hair.
"Keep acting like that and you'll be dead," Clove muttered. I smiled to myself. She might be psychotic, but she's right on.
"Just go back and check, Marvel." I started when I heard that voice. It was Lana. I was surprised she was allowed in the Career pack. Yes, she's from a Career District and she had a good score, but she was very young.
Marvel stalked off, grumbling.
"What's that?" Clove pointed up at us. I froze. I knew we had been discovered. "I'm pretty sure trees aren't that orange."
I heard Cameron huff. She had wanted to camouflage my backpack right off, but Rue and I told her we could wait until the next morning.
"It's a backpack," Cato said. Then he yelled, We see you!"
"It's probably the Girl on Fire," Clove told him. "I saw her take an orange backpack from a boy I killed."
The cannon boomed, and a second later, Marvel reappeared.
"Was she dead?" Cato asked.
"She is now," Marvel smirked.
"Lana, you're small. Climb up the tree and tell us who's up there." Glimmer ordered her.
"I've never climbed a tree before," Lana admitted. I could almost see her blush from where I was.
"Never? You haven't climbed one tree in your whole life?"
"I live on a beach. There's no climbing trees on a beach." Lana defended herself.
Clove threw a knife, hoping to hit me. Rue yelped before she could stop herself.
"Shut up," Cameron hissed. Somehow, Cato heard them.
"There's at least two of them," He informed the rest.
"There's probably three," Marvel said, "They were planning on an alliance."
I realized that we'd been found out, so I decided to have some fun.
"Maybe you should throw the sword," I called down to them.
"Katniss Everdeen! I knew you were there. I thought you were smarter than to carry around a bright orange backpack." said Cato.
"I told her we should camouflage it, but did they listen to me? No," Cameron drew out the 'o'. "Why on earth would they listen to me?"
"How's the weather up there?" Cato asked.
"It's a bit warm for my tastes." I grabbed my bow and nocked an arrow. I fired, aiming for Glimmer, but it was hard to aim with Rue right up against me, so I hit her leg instead.
She screamed. Clove laughed a little. Marvel immediately knelt down and worked the arrow out of her leg.
"You can't just pull it out. I thought you trained in this type of stuff." Cameron rolled her eyes.
"You have to break the shaft," I explained. "Since the arrow came out the other end. You can't pull it out like that."
"Why don't you come down here and do it for me?" Marvel asked in a calm voice.
"Why would she do that?" Rue asked. "Katniss is the one who shot her."
Marvel turned away and broke the shaft. Glimmer howled in pain.
"I forgot to mention that it hurts," I said with a cheeky grin. Marvel wrapped up his District partner's leg with some bandages from Clove's backpack. He tried to throw a spear at us, too, but missed.
"Let's just wait them out." Lana reasoned. "They can't go anywhere."
"Are you crazy?" Glimmer protested. "That sadistic little brat just shot me!"
"And I'll do worse if you don't stop whining," Clove threatened. I had learned to really appreciate her attitude.
"She was aiming for your face and missed," Cato said. "She can't be that much of a threat."
Cami and I exchanged grins. They weren't at all suspicious about my eight. Cato was just jealous I had stolen his thunder in the parade.
"I've got first watch," Lana said as she began to build a fire.
We only had to wait about two more hours before the Careers from District 1 and 2 were asleep. Cato and Clove were laying close to each other, but not together. I wondered about their relationship before the were definitely close, maybe even hinting at romance. I wondered why they both chose to volunteer. Cato was eighteen, so it was either this year or never for him. But Clove was younger. Only fifteen or sixteen. She should've waited a few more years if she really cared about her District partner. They were smart, deadly, and fast. Both of them had a chance to win.
The District 1 tributes would never last. They were both attractive and skilled, but not enough. Glimmer thought she was better than she really was. She wasn't very good with long distance weapons, but she thought she was. I had watched her in the training center. She was actually pretty useful with a short sword. However, she wasn't very bright and she wasn't very fast. Marvel, on the other hand, was very good with a spear, but he was just so idiotic.
Lana climbed the tree as soon as her allies fell asleep.
"I thought you couldn't climb trees?" Cameron said.
Lana smiled. "Oh. I lied." Cameron nodded. "We need to leave before they get up."
"We should take a few out if we can," Cameron argued.
"No, we might wake them up. We would never last in a head-on-head confrontation." I disagreed.
"We could drop tracker jackers on them," Rue said.
Lana frowned. "Um, what?"
Rue pointed up and we all looked. "Tracker-Jackers."
There was, in fact, a nest of Tracker-Jackers on a branch about ten feet above us.
Lana nodded. "Okay, I'll cut it down. You go."
The three of us began to climb down the tree. I heard Lana groan in pain as my feet hit the ground. I looked around quickly. The four Careers were still asleep.
"You guys go ahead. I'm going to wait for Lana. Go look for water. We'll find you." I whispered frantically.
Rue nodded and took off running silently with Cameron. I walked a few feet outside the Career's camp, at what I thought was a safe distance. It was only two more minutes before the nest fell down. Lana was the first to scream. She jumped out of the tree right behind the branch, and I was surprised she didn't break something. The nest exploded with thousands of angry Tracker-Jackers, swarming around the Careers. I guess I wasn't standing far enough away, because I was stung twice. Once on my arm and once on my neck.
I screamed. It was some of the worst pain I had ever experienced. I ran as fast as I could in my delirious state and collapsed on the forest floor. I laid there for an hour or so until I heard a cannon boom. I made my way back to the tree and immediately felt sick. There were two bodies on the ground near the tree. The first was Glimmer. Her features, once beautiful, were badly damaged. They were swollen and covered in large boils. Lying closer to me was Lana. She was in even worse shape than Glimmer. She was the cannon I heard. I emptied the contents of my stomach into the bush next to me. I considered both of these deaths my fault. Glimmer couldn't get up and run because her leg was wounded. Lana didn't know how to properly descend a tree and must've hurt herself when she fell. I could've prevented that by taking her place.
I felt myself getting dizzy, and passed out in the grass.
When I woke up again, I was lying under a tree with some bad smelling leaves covering my stings. Rue and Cami sat a few feet off, sipping from their water bottles,
"How long was I out?" I asked as I sat up. Rue looked up.
"You're awake!"
I smiled a little at her enthusiasm.
"We didn't think you were going to ever wake up again. It's been two days."
My eyes widened "Two… days?" I couldn't believe it.
Instead of replying, Cameron handed me a bag of fruit and my water bottle, which was filled up. "There's a river about a half mile north from here," she told me. "We figured we shouldn't camp too close because other tributes will want to use it, too."
I nodded. "That's probably smart."
"There were two deaths from the bees. Glimmer from District 1 and Lana. That's all there was."
I frowned. "That won't last. The people will get bored."
Rue agreed. "That's what we were just talking about before you woke up." Her stomach rumbled ever so slightly. I threw her the bag of dried fruit.
"Eat whatever you want. I can always hunt."
She smiled gratefully and chewed on a piece.
"We were talking about how to take down the Careers. Besides the three of them, it's just the boy from District 3, the girl from District 5, the three of us and Thresh," Cameron said. "The boy from 3 and the girl from 5 wouldn't be a match for us physically, but they're smart. Thresh is stronger, but we're faster and smarter. The Careers are the only serious problem."
"We need to get rid of their supplies," I said suddenly.
"What?"
"The Careers have all the supplies from the Cornucopia. If we get rid of that, they won't have any food, first aid supplies, or extra weapons. They aren't used to starvation the way we are. They won't last."
Rue grinned as she figured it out. "They have all their supplies stacked up in a pyramid by the Cornucopia. There's some kind of trap on it."
We made a plan and put it into play the next morning. Rue started a fire to attract the Careers while Cami and I started walking towards the Cornucopia. When we got there, the Careers were already gone, leaving the boy from 3 to guard.
The Fox-faced girl appeared from no where, running and jumping her way around the pyramid, grabbing just a little bit of supplies. Not enough to be missed. At one point she stopped in the middle of her weird little dance and froze where she was, one foot in the air. After a second, she seemed to let out a breath and continued.
"You take Foxface, I'll take 3," Cami whispered. Before I could stop her, she threw her axe and it flew several yards and lodged in the boy's head. The cannon went off. It was actually very impressive.
"Cami!" I hissed. "The Careers heard that. They'll get suspicious!"
Cameron shrugged it off.
"Hey!" I shouted to Foxface. "I won't kill you if you bring supplies for me and two other tributes."
"And a new axe," Cameron whispered.
"And a new axe for Cameron," I yelled.
Foxface continued picking through the pyramid, grabbing enough supplies for the four of us. It would be enough for several days. She dumped it on the ground at our feet, wearily eyeing my nocked bow string.
"What's the trap?" I asked her as she began packing her supplies in a backpack.
"Landmines,"
I smiled. "Take what you need for the rest of the games. I'm going to blow it up."
"Thanks, Katniss. But this is all I need. I've been stealing from the District 11 boy, too. And there's a lot of berry bushes around."
We shook hands and she began to walk further into the forest, when a rock came out of nowhere and hit her in the head. The cannon went off again. Thresh saw us, but also saw our ready weapons. He knew if he killed one of us, the other would get him just as fast. So he turned and ran.
I turned my focus back to the landmines. At the top was a bag of apples.
It took me a couple of shots. My arm shook, messing with my aim, but eventually, all the apples tumbled down and triggered the mines. I didn't wait around. I grabbed Cameron and ran.
We ran for a few minutes before we heard the scream.
"Katniss!" It was Rue.
"Rue!" Cameron shouted in response.
"Cameron!"
"Rue!" I screamed.
"Help! Katniss!"
We found the third fire, unlit. We kept running until we made it to the second fire. Rue was there. She was trapped in a net.
"Cameron," She yelled. Cameron ran to her side first and used her sharp new axe to cut the net. RUe sprang free and I engulfed her in a big hug.
"Watch out!" Cami yelled. She was too late. Rue pulled away as a spear impaled her. I looked up and saw Marvel standing there, another spear in hand. But I was faster.
Boom.
The cannon went off and the District 1 boy fell, an arrow protruding from his chest.
"Rue," I sobbed as I knelt next to her.
"Did you destroy the food?" She whispered
"Every last bit of it," Cameron told her.
"Good."
Cami got up and took Marvel's jacket for extra warmth and his backpack.
"One of you has to win," Rue told us. I nodded. She relaxed a little. "Sing,"
I opened my mouth and sang for her in my young, immature soprano.
Deep in the meadow,
Under the willow;
A bed of grass,
A soft green pillow.
Lay down your head,
And close your eyes,
And when you wake,
The sun will rise.
Rue died before I finished the first chorus.
I wiped away my tears. "We need to bury her," I said.
Cameron shook her head. "The hovercraft needs to take her."
"Not with dirt, with flowers." I stood and pulled out several bright colored flower and arranged them around Rue. When Cami figured out what I was doing, she helped, too.
In the sky that night, there was Marvel first, then the boy from 3, then Foxface and Rue last.
"Attention, tributes, attention," Claudius Templesmith's voice resounded throughout the arena. "Tomorrow there will be a feast at the Cornucopia. But this is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something. Desperately."
I frowned and looked at Cameron. "We don't need anything."
"Umm… yes we do." she argued.
"What?"
"Medicine. For your arm." Oh. Since Rue died, I forgot completely about my arm. The Tracker-Jacker sting made it hard for me to aim, and if I couldn't shoot, I was just dead weight. "Rue said the leaves would help, but it would take up to two weeks for the sting to disappear completely. It's right on your elbow, so it makes it hard for your arm to move correctly. The games are coming to a close. It's just you, me, Cato, Clove, and Thresh. If one of us wants to live, we need to be at one-hundred percent."
Cameron had this tone that ended all arguments.
"We should leave now. We can be there when the medicine is dropped off and be out before they know what hit them," I told her. She agreed.
That night, as we slept in the Cornucopia, Cameron spoke about her life in DIstrict 7 for the first time.
"I have a twin, you know," She said. I looked at her. "Identical. You would like her."
"What's she like?" I asked, just to keep the conversation alive. I knew Cameron would have to die in order for me to live, but I wanted to remember every detail about her.
"Well for one thing, she looks a lot like me," Cami said sarcastically. I laughed dryly. "She's very blunt. She says whatever's on her mind, it doesn't matter if it hurts your feelings or not. She can use an axe too, you know. But despite what you might think, she's actually kind of a girl."
"That's because she is a girl," I said, raising an eyebrow.
"But she acts like one. She likes to talk about fashion and play with hair and give beauty tips. She just also likes blood and gore and beating people up."
I smiled. "She sounds like you,"
"Yeah, but I won't talk to you about fashion."
"Only because you're too shy. You aren't nearly as blunt. You aren't the type to tell me I look like trash."
"Because I don't talk fashion," we both laughed. "Jo told me if I don't win, she's going to volunteer when she's eighteen, so she can avenge me."
"If you don't win, I'll make sure she doesn't volunteer," I promised.
"What makes you so sure one of us won't win?" She challenged me.
"No way am I letting psychotic Clove or monstrous Cato beat me," I said.
Cameron laughed. "What about Thresh?"
I pondered that. "He can beat me. I wouldn't mind that." If anyone was going to beat me at the Hunger Games, it should be Thresh or Cameron. I didn't want another Career winning. They got one last year, with Finnick Odair, and the two years before that, with Gloss and Cashmere Nicholo from District 1.
The table with our bags appeared at 8 AM sharp. As soon as we saw them, we grabbed the one with my district number on it and took off running back to our camp. We almost made it, but Clove was faster than I expected. She threw a knife, which found its way into Cameron's leg. She fell down in the grass and Clove ran out of the woods.
"No!" I screamed. I ran back to help her.
"Katniss, run!" she shouted at me, but I didn't listen. I helped my friend to her feet and pulled the throwing knife out of her leg. We started running out of the clearing, and I heard Clove close behind us. Cameron's injured leg was slowing us down considerably. I laid an arrow on my string and stopped running so I could shoot at the District 2 tribute. I hit her shoulder and she screamed, but kept running after me. I briefly wondered where Cato was, but didn't stop to look around.
Clove tackled me from behind. I heard Cami scream my name, but I told her to keep running.
I rolled onto my back so I could fight her, but Clove was on top of me and our brief fight was over in seconds. She had me pinned to the ground, her feet pinning my wrists and her knife at my throat.
She smirked. "Cato said I could kill you, if I made it slow. And believe me, I'm more than willing to comply."
I strained against her, but she pressed her knife against my neck and I stopped.
"I heard all about your little alliance with other twelve year old girls. You really should be home playing dress up, instead of trying to fire a bow and arrow. You and Cameron and Lana. She betrayed us, you know."
I grunted, trying to kick my legs free. It was no use.
"There was another girl, wasn't there? What was her name again? The girl from 11?"
"Rue," I spat.
"Oh, whatever. We killed her. And now I'm going to kill you. I think I'll let nature take care of 7. I know where I hit her. She won't last three days. I just have one quick question. If you're so awful with a bow, how did you get an eight?"
I refused to answer. If I was going to die, I didn't want to think about how I could've lived if I had run away instead of waiting for Lana, who was already dead by the time I was stung.
I unconsciously glanced at my Tracker Jacker sting. Clove looked too, and saw it.
She laughed. "You actually can use a bow, can't you? Is that what's in the bag? Medicine so you can actually do something useful? That's pathetic."
I tried to kick up my legs again, but before I could, Clove was lifted off of me, like she weighed nothing.
"Did you kill her?" Thresh asked as he held her against the Cornucopia with one hand. In the other he held a rock.
"No! No!" she cried. "Cato!"
"I heard you. You said her name."
"Cato! Cato!"
Thresh wasn't going to wait for Cato to show up. He brought the rock down on her head once, twice, three times, and Clove dropped to the ground.
He turned to me.
"Make it fast, Thresh. Please."
Thresh held up his rock, but then stopped himself. "I can't kill a little girl. Just this once, 12. For Rue."
He ran away from the scene, and I ran in the opposite direction. When I got into the woods, I heard Cato scream.
"Clove!" He yelled. He ran to her and knelt next to her, begging her to stay with him. But it was too late. The cannon had already boomed, signaling her death.
Cameron was waiting for me by the river. She hugged me when she saw I was still alive.
"I thought that cannon was yours," she said. I shook my head.
"It was Clove. Thresh pulled her off of me and killed her."
Cameron looked at me, puzzled. "But he let you go?"
"He said he couldn't kill a little girl. I think it had something to do with Rue."
She was still confused, but let it go. We opened my bag and, as suspected, it was medicine for my sting. I spread it over my swollen arm. The directions said the swelling should go down in a few hours.
"I love Capitol medicine," I said. Cami agreed.
The weather turned very cold as the sun went down, and it started to rain hard. Cami and I got into our sleeping bags and put on Marvel's extra jacket and Rue's extra socks and huddled together in the corner of the cave.
In about an hour, we heard a silver parachute drop outside our cave. I stepped out and gasped. It was pretty big for a sponsor gift. I pulled it inside. Cameron opened it. Inside was a feast. There was hot soup, bread, cheese, apples, and even a pot of tea.
"The games are ending," she said. "Our mentors must've wanted to use all of our sponsor money. It's just four of us left."
"Thank you Haymitch," I said loudly. I searched for a note, and found one under the bread. "Eat up and stay warm. We're all counting on you two." I read out loud.
"Who's it from? Haymitch or Blight?" Cami asked. I handed her the note.
"It doesn't say," I told her. It was kind of odd. The note had no signature. On the second day of the games, Haymitch sent me a box of matches so we could start the fire that eventually got Rue killed, but he had signed the note with an 'H.' "Maybe it's both of them."
"Maybe," But Cami sounded unconvinced.
My arm looked almost normal by the time the Panem anthem played. We got out of the sleeping bags and sat at the entrance of the cave to watch. The only cannon that day had been Clove's, but we were hoping there would be more. Just as we thought, Clove's face appeared first. When she disappeared, I got up to go back into our shelter when Cameron's voice stopped me.
"It's Thresh," she said.
"What?" I asked, not looking up. She pointed to the sky. The anthem was still playing.
"Thresh."
Sure enough, Thresh's face was projected on the sky.
"How?" I asked her, even though she didn't know the answer. "There was no cannon."
Cameron shrugged. "Maybe we couldn't hear it because of the thunder,"
That made sense. I was grateful Thresh had died. It would be easier to fight cruel, psychotic Cato than Thresh who had saved me from Clove.
"Cato must've hunted him down," I said. Cami nodded. "We should make our way to the Cornucopia, once the rain lets up. It's just the three of us left and the Gamemakers will be in a hurry to finish this."
"Let's finish eating, first. It's going to end tonight. You and I both know that." she suggested.
We sat back down in the cave and finished up what was left of our meal.
The rain had mostly let up by the time we finished our food. It was just a light drizzle that was easy to see through. We made it about halfway to the Cornucopia when we saw Cato on my left, running towards us. I let out a small scream. I fired an arrow, but it just bounced off his skin.
"Katniss stop!" Cami yelled at me. I realized he wasn't running at us, he was running away from something. Cameron held her axe up as she saw something up ahead. "Run!" she screamed.
We turned and followed Cato to the Cornucopia. We dropped our packs somewhere along the way and passed Cato quickly. I scaled the Cornucopia first, then reached down to help Cameron. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Cato had climbed the Cornucopia and was lying in the fetal position, coughing up blood. When Cameron was safely on top, she raised her axe above her head, but Cato was more aware than we thought. He grabbed her wrist and pulled the axe away from her, tossing it off the side of the Cornucopia, where a pack of twenty-one dog mutts waited. I fired arrow after arrow at Cato, but they all bounced off harmlessly. It slowly occurred to me that he was wearing some kind of armor. I needed to hit his face.
It didn't take long for him to get Cameron in a headlock. He was much bigger and stronger and older, and Cami wasn't used to hand-to-hand combat.
I drew back my bow string and aimed for his eye, like my father taught me to do with animals in the woods. I wasn't nearly a good enough shot to hit it, but I had only been hunting on my own for a little over a year.
"Go ahead," Cato said, blood pouring from the corners of his mouth. "Take the shot. I'll fall off and take your little buddy with me."
I didn't say anything. I just held the bow steady.
"Can you even hit me?" he taunted. "You aren't that great of a shot. You missed both Glimmer and Clove."
"Do it, Katniss," Cameron yelled. "This guy's an idiot. Prove him wrong."
"Yeah, Katniss. Do it." Cato laughed. "I was never going to make it, anyway. We were always just obstacles in your games. Of course I never realized it until now."
I realized that Cato was actually crying. Blood and tears mingled together as they poured down his cheeks, wiping away dirt. This was a scared eighteen-year-old boy who actually thought he would live.
"You were born to take that title from Finnick Odair. It's what you've been training for, Katniss!" Cameron cried. Cato tightened his hold around her neck.
"Cami…" I whispered. I would kill Cato in a heartbeat. But Cameron? Not so much.
"Careers are dangerous, sure. But you know what's even more dangerous? A little girl who trained like a Career for years. Not so she could use it much later in life, wherever she's ready, but because she needed it then to survive. If only I had known that. If only Clove-" His voice broke.
"Katniss," Cameron whispered. "Look out for Johanna." She tried to pull herself and Cato off the Cornucopia, in what would've been heroic, but she failed. Cato simply hauled her back up and slammed her into the hard metal roof. She screamed in pain and blood pooled around her. I knew then that I had to kill her. Otherwise Cato would do it just like Thresh did to Clove, and I couldn't watch a death like that again. I fired my arrow. It went right through Cameron's head, and the cannon sounded immediately afterward.
Cato smirked. "So you can fire that thing."
I sent another arrow into his eye. And I hit it.
…
When I woke up from my heavy sedation, Haymitch was arguing with some other people I couldn't see from where I lay.
"Relax, Haymitch," I recognized his voice. Finnick Odair. "You know it will be years before anything like that happens. I haven't even started yet."
"When do you start?" another voice asked him. This one was a woman.
"When I'm sixteen. Some of the Capitol pedophiles are ecstatic, but some of them are disgusted, since I'm not a legal adult. A few are even quietly protesting."
The woman agreed. "You'll be the first. That's terrible."
Finnick laughed a little. "Beauty is pain, Cecelia. Beauty is pain."
Haymitch noticed I was awake. "Welcome back, Sweetheart."
The other Victors walked closer to my bed, so I could see them.
"Congratulations, Everdeen. You're a Victor." Finnick said, offering me his hand to shake.
"For what?" I snapped, sitting up. "Do you realize I just killed three kids in two weeks?"
"Well at least you're better than Finnick," a blonde woman said. It took me a second to figure out she was Cashmere Nicholo, Victor from two years ago. "He killed twelve kids in as many days."
"Shut up, Cash," he said playfully. But I could see he was actually hurt by the comment.
"You have an hour before your ceremony," Haymitch pushed Finnick out of the way so he could sit next to me. "The Capitol doctors and your prep team got you looking like a person again. Cinna will be here in a few minutes."
He cleared all the Victors out of my room, including himself. I felt a few tears escape my eyes. I didn't want to be alone.
…
The ceremony that night was dreadful. Caesar asked me questions. I had to pretend to be excited in every one. I had to act like a dumb little girl. I had to pretend that I wasn't heartbroken over losing Lana and Cami and Rue. The worst part, however, was watching the recaps. Especially the finale, when I killed Cameron and Cato.
The only good part was the fabulous dress Cinna made for me, so I looked like candlelight, and the delicious food in the ballroom.
I stood next to Haymitch, eating food and signing autographs and taking pictures with dozens of gross Capitol citizens.
Finnick approached me at the end of the night. "Would you like to dance, Katniss?"
I shrugged, but took his hand anyway.
"So you get to stay at home for six months, until the Victory Tour," he said as he twirled me around the room. "If I were you, I would meet some of the other Victors. We're your family now."
"No you aren't. I still have Prim and my mom and Gale. They're my family. You're just some nut cases who are trying to adopt me."
Finnick laughed loudly, causing a few Capitolites to look at us oddly, then swoon and comment about just how cute we were.
"Like it or not, Girl on Fire, you're a nutcase, too now. No one in District 12 will understand." As the dance ended, he pressed a piece of paper into my hand. "There's going to be a phone in your new house. Call me."
I must've looked at him weird, because he laughed again. "Or Cashmere. Or any of the other Victors. Any of us would be happy to talk to you."
I walked back to Haymitch and he laughed at the confused look on my face. "Ready to go, Sweetheart?"
I sighed in relief. "Yes please,"
This was too long to proofread. Sorry for any grammatical errors. Literally the longest chapter i've ever written