Song Suggestions: Lil Peep- "Save that Shit" and Lil Peep- "Star Shopping" Perfect Cato songs. Somehow cocky and vulnerable at the same time.
A/N: I'm posting this a day early because I just can't wait. I loved writing this chapter. You can reward me with some sweet, long reviews!
King of the Cornucopia
Prim drew her energy inward and stood up. Vertigo almost claimed her, the darkness nipping at her eyesight. Exhaustion had set in.
"Just let us pass through," Prim said.
Cato glared at her, tilting his head to the side.
"You won't be going anywhere, and the only place those two are going is on a Capitol hovercraft."
Prim tried to think fast, but her mind was sluggish. Ruby, without a weapon of her own and outmatched, placed herself behind Prim. She suspected there were very few people in the world that could scare Ruby, but Cato did.
As always, she had to placate the beast. She knew just what he wanted, and she would give it to him, despite leading both to danger.
"I'll stay. I won't even protest. Just let them go." She slipped the backpack off her shoulders to show she meant it. It crackled the leaves when it fell on the ground.
His eyes shuttered, but not before she saw the wounds in them.
"They have to die," Cato said.
"Not right now."
"If you don't want to see it, you should close your eyes."
"There's no point to it today. We don't even need to kill each other. The trials will do it for us. Please, Cato… just please. I'm so tired, and I just—I can't." She sounded desperate and pathetic, but it seemed to be working.
He was still for a long moment, his hard eyes stabbing her.
"I find it hard to deny you when you look at me like that," he said, the seconds still dragging. "Fine, they can go, but I won't do this a second time, no matter how you look when you beg. They need to run fast and far away from me before I change my mind. I'll give them thirty seconds."
"Just go," Prim begged them.
"I'm not leaving you," Gale said.
"Wrong answer." Cato's face tilted down and turned into the God of war. He paced forward. Gale raised the sword into position, but Cato barely acknowledged it. When he got in striking distance, Gale swiped his blade. Cato ducked and leaned back, dodging each swing.
"You're still playing by the rules. If I swing my right…" Cato threw his right arm, holding the machete to strike him. Gale tried to block it with his sword. "Expect the left." Cato's left fist slammed into Gale's face. Then he took advantage of surprise, and he smashed his right fist too, still clutching his weapon. Blood squirted from his mouth and nose, and when he grimaced, it coated his teeth. Cato did not give a reprieve and gave a swift uppercut that doubled him over and then finished by kicking him in his pelvis, causing him to tumble to the ground. Once in a vulnerable position, Cato walked over and dug his boot into Gale's chest, locking him into place.
Gale seemed confused, mind muddled by the force, but he still squirmed, leading Cato to dig in harder. But there wasn't anything he could do. Cato had the machete at his neck, and Gale no longer held the sword. It was knocked to the side, too far for him to reach.
With one prey down, the lion's attention went to Ruby who had moved as close to Prim as possible, understanding where Cato's mercy extended.
"Who is she?"
"Nobody that needs to die."
"I asked for a name."
"Ruby Rose."
Cato glanced over the girl with the rose tattoo. He sneered as if suddenly placing her.
"What have I told you about feeding and naming strays? A career will always bite the hand that feeds it, even one that's reaped. It's bred into their nature." His voice lowered, as sharp as a sword. "You need to take up my offer and scamper off to the wild, mutt, before I decide to put you down."
Ruby looked at Prim. They searched each other's eyes for a moment, as if trying to communicate many things but failing.
"Run," Prim said.
"The blood debt." Ruby shook her head.
Prim worried the girl would do something stupid like staying, so she leaned over and took off the shirt tourniquet and handed it to Ruby stiff with blood along with the knife. She would need it more than Prim.
"Place value, Ruby," Prim said. "Right now it's dipping. It's a choice between wrong and smart. You can repay me later, but you can only do that if you survive the next five minutes."
Ruby grimaced but nodded, took her shirt and the knife, and headed to the forest, slow at first and then in a sprint. It felt like losing a limb as she disintegrated beyond the trees, facing whatever trials it held alone.
Gale attempted to roll away from Cato, thinking him distracted. In response, Cato lifted his leg from his chest and kicked him in the face with a sickening crack, as if his head was a ball, and then placed his machete on his chest bone, pressing down on his throat with his boot. Gale spit a mouthful of blood on the ground and brought a hand up to his nose that looked broken, groaning in pain. He froze, seeing the machete on his chest.
"I'd thank you for looking out for my girl, slum rat," Cato said, looking Prim up and down with hard eyes, cataloging every scrape and bruise. "But you haven't done a very good job. She's sunburned and tired, hungry and thirsty. Something's wrong with her leg. It must hurt bad, because she's limping… So I'm not sure why I'm keeping you alive. You fucked up the only thing you could be good for."
"Cato." Prim tried to interrupt. She attempted to mask her emotions, knowing Cato was a violent, jealous creature. From the beginning he blamed Gale for everything hard and wrong in their relationship, and it did not change with time.
It was a miracle Cato did not kill Gale already, but it would not last. The next time he would not be so lucky. Prim understood this even if it made her heart ache.
"You promised you wouldn't kill him right now."
"I said he needed to run from me, and he didn't, so I'm not so sure I want to give mercy. Remember what I said about careers, it's not in my nature."
Prim swallowed, knowing what she had to do. She hated manipulating him this way, but Prim was unsure of how else to get him to do what she wanted.
She walked forward and gripped his hand, the hand that had both snapped a girl's neck and touched Prim's skin to distraction, capable of so much pain and love, and placed it against her cheek. She leaned against the warmth and callouses, kissing the rough skin near his wrist. He smelled like home, a mixture of pine, dirt, and salt.
"He's all I have left of my sister."
Something behind his eyes sunk. He searched her face a moment, and they softened.
"You hear that slum rat? A miracle. Use it wisely."
Gale attempted to talk but the pressure on his throat left him unable to, and it came out in a gargle.
Cato fingers grew hard, gripping Prim's head from behind her ear to her jaw and pushed his thumb roughly across her lips.
"One time. It's all I can grant you."
Prim nodded and stepped away. Gale would hate her for this, for letting Cato still touch her after everything. Something between them soured since he found her in the snow. Maybe it was his violence, his lack of mercy for the old man. Her assessment wasn't fair because Cato was a similar creature, but Gale was the one she was supposed to love, the foil to the monster. His behavior felt like betrayal.
Cato picked Gale up by the hair. Once up, Gale took a swing with his fists, but missed as Cato twisted him into a hard hold, one arm around his neck and the other locking his arms behind his back. Gale managed to kick him twice on his shins. Cato inhaled sharply, tightening his grip until Gale cried out in pain. The muscles in his arms bulged as he increased the pressure.
"The more you struggle, the more it'll hurt."
"I kissed her yesterday," Gale taunted with a pressured voice. He dug his heels into the dirt. It did not slow down Cato as he walked to the forest. "Remember that. Even if I die, I kissed Prim, and she liked it."
The lines in Cato's face hardened until they resembled stone, his lips bloodless from pressing tight. She saw the promise of death behind his icy eyes. They were at the edge of the forest now, shown by a thick band of green grass.
Gale was scared. The way he twitched around, looking for an escape gave him away. But to his credit, he did not plead.
"You should consider letting this trial kill you because next time I find you, I'll cut your stomach open, unravel your intestines, and strangle you with them." Cato gave a hard grin. "Who knows, maybe I'll even fuck her in front of you as you die, just to show you how the little bird moans my name so sweetly."
Gale started to struggle again, twisting and kicking his legs.
"Piece of shit. I'm going to destroy you."
"Your threats give me nothing but a thrill of anticipation," Cato said "You may have kissed her, but I've touched, tasted, and fucked every part of her. You can die with the certain knowledge I've already won, and there's nothing you can do to change that."
Cato shoved him forward. Gale tumbled, taking three wobbly steps past the band of grass, entering the forest. Finding balance, he twisted and met Prim's eyes, looking at her as if she was the worst type of person. She had her hand to her mouth, attempting to eat her cries before she let them escape and made everything worse. Gale did not run. He stayed and glared at her.
The gong sounded three minutes later. It rumbled under their feet, shaking the treetops in the distance. She heard a distant scream. Prim felt it under her bones. Goosebumps sprouted across her body, her body already conditioned to the sound, equating it to horror.
Gale's arms went wide, his arms outcast, and his mouth opened. And then he was sucked to the ground, as if his bones were made of jelly. He stuck to the ground in an awkward position, one arm behind his back.
"Get up," Prim said. Nothing happened yet at Cornucopia, so Prim assumed that it was a safe zone like they theorized. Only the bravest or strongest would dare to make camp at this centralized location.
"I can't… I can't move." Gale glared at her. "How can you let him? How can you just stand there? I've done everything for you!"
Prim took a step forward and then another, crunching leaves as she went. She ended up next to Cato, just a few feet from the band of grass. It would just be a simple leap. Would Cato follow? Would he finally snap and kill everything in his rage?
"Help me," Gale pleaded. Gale was not the type to beg for anything. "It's crushing me. My bones, I think they're breaking, and it hurts to breath."
It shattered everything inside Prim.
"It's his," said Prim.
"What's his?" Cato asked, eyes narrowed.
Prim ignored his tone, focusing on Gale's pale face. He gave a tempered scream through his teeth, attempting to stand.
"His fear."
He had always been afraid of not being strong enough. He couldn't save Katniss from the games, he couldn't save Prim from the lion, and now Snow stole his strength, and he couldn't save himself.
Cato raised one eyebrow, searching her face as she looked at her first love, probably searching for remnants of affection. He must have found it because his face hardened.
"This is the moment you need to pick a side, little bird. Your loyalties can't be to both. You need to choose: die with him or be with me."
Prim's thoughts were a whirlwind, centering around Gale. He had vowed to protect her as a scared little girl, and he had upheld his promise as best as he could. He entered the games, he invented a back story, and he put himself under the long knife of the Capitol, even though she wasn't fool enough to believe it had all been for her. And now Prim stared at him on the forest floor, begging for help. She couldn't leave him to his fear.
Prim launched forward, intent on saving him, but Cato was ready for her betrayal and gripped her around her stomach with one strong arm and dragged her backwards. He didn't hold her as hard as he held Gale, and she managed to wiggle out and fall. She dug her fingers in the earth as he tugged her foot back, walking back towards the Cornucopia. Her nails left tracks in the soil.
"Fucking bitch," Cato seethed. "Always running back to trash."
"Let me go," she screeched.
Cato was not one to negotiate. He reached down and plucked her from the ground again as if she weighed nothing and threw her over his shoulder like a sack. She beat at the muscles in his back as he walked to the pyramid. It did nothing but hurt her wrists.
They turned the corner, but before they did, Prim looked at Gale one last time. He stopped struggling as if suddenly prepared to meet his fate. She tried to calm her spirit.
Gale is smart, she told herself, he is a survivor. He beat the fire, he beat insects, and he beat two doppelgangers. Still her heart seized with a fury towards Cato for not letting her save someone she loved, for making her choose.
Something foolish inside her had hoped Cato would change, that her love could make him softer, less cruel, but that was an adolescent view of the world. She loved a beast, and a beast she would get in return.
When they rounded the corner and Gale disappeared, Cato flung her down hard, landing her upright, and then pushed her up against the cold metal of the pyramid, hand around her throat. He placed just enough pressure without hurting her. His fingernails bit into her skin. His teeth bared.
"Was he telling the truth? Did you kiss him?"
Prim found no reason to lie to him.
"Yes."
"Did you like it?"
Something adverse inside her wanted to hurt him right now just as much as he was hurting her.
"Yes."
The fingers clenched briefly, almost painful. She toyed with fire. Even after all this time, his jealousy was a fierce creature to contend with. He looked as if he struggled to respond, looking up at the sky, before once more meeting her eyes.
"Your actions are detrimental to his well-being. You're just increasing the number of things I'm going to cut before he dies. If it wasn't for the trial, I'd drag him back here and do it in front of you."
But she was not afraid like she was in the beginning. Prim straightened her spine and looked Cato Carthage in the eye.
"Keep up what you're doing, and you may lose me forever. I've forgiven you for murdering my sister, but I give no promises about any others."
His eyes narrowed, and he let go of her throat, but he still had her backed up against the metal pyramid. His legs pressed against her knees in a way that prevented her from getting away, and his arms caged her in on both sides. He brought his face close enough that their lips hovered inches apart. Up close, he overpowered her senses, reminding her of everything she missed.
Cato wasn't finished.
"You didn't stay put. I came back before the first gong and couldn't find you. Do you know what that did to me?" He placed his mouth close to hers without touching, eyes sparking, "Do you fucking know?" He roared in her face and she flinched. He breathed hard before continuing. "You could have died. You don't know how it felt watching as the faces flashed across the sky, fearing I'd see yours. And then, after all that worry, I find you with that damn rat and a stray career. A career, Prim. I might as well strangle you now, because you clearly have a death wish."
"Are you done?"
His nostrils flared with anger. He opened his mouth as if to respond, but Prim caught something in his speech that made her blood run cold.
"How did you know the gong was coming?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You came back before the first gong and couldn't find me. How did you know it was coming?"
His eyes narrowed into points, but he looked to the side quickly. Prim had been around him long enough to detect when he was lying. He tended to glance to the right. He may be a good liar, but he wasn't fool-proof.
He knew the gong was coming. By his expression, she'd get no answers today.
"This is my third time in the games," he said, "Something is always coming. You're trying to get me off track, but it's not going to work. If I released you right now, would you run?"
"Yes," Prim said.
"To get back to the slum rat?"
Prim sneered.
"No, because we can't be together."
"That's a weak reason. I'm beginning to believe you run away just so I can catch you again."
He gave her a look she recognized, the one a man gave when he wanted to be kissed: eyelids turned to slits, leaving only molten warmth, lips full and slightly open, eyes focused on her lips. Her whole body sprung to life.
"Cato," She warned, "We discussed this."
He gave her a smile then, a feral one that almost melted her into a puddle, full of dimples and promises of pleasure. She felt like she betrayed Gale as the familiar fire raced through her veins. It was too hard fighting against the desire. Their bodies always found each other again.
"He'll send his wolves," he said, "But not yet. And I don't like wasting time. Besides, you let the rat kiss you, and now you need to get his taste out of your mouth. It's time I remind you why you like me better."
He gripped the sides of her face as he brought her into a brutal kiss. It told her of his anger, his fear, his love. Prim did not fight it. She had given up long ago trying to fight the way she felt about Cato. She wrapped both her arms around his neck, and he moaned into her mouth. They pressed themselves as close together as they could. She poured her own fury into the kiss, biting his lips, scratching his shoulders, punishing him for being the monster he promised to be. They would both die, probably within the day, two days at most. Why again did she want to run from him? Her mind was scrambled, and with the way he was making her feel, it was hard to concentrate.
Then Cato reminded her. His right hand came up and brushed lightly against her lower belly. He separated them, looking her in the eyes with an unspoken question. Everything became heavy, the air, the clothes. It took effort to stay standing.
He didn't ask this question before the games. Everything had been too raw. But she had a choice now. Truth or lies. In the end, a lie would be less cruel. The truth would make death, either his or hers, too painful.
"No," she whispered.
His eyes searched her for a moment, trying to pull apart her mind for the truth, but he wouldn't find it. Not from her. The hand left her lower stomach, and he pulled away. Everything about him looked deflated.
"Are you disappointed?" Prim asked. She wasn't sure how much the capitol understood their conversation. She made sure to state everything in cryptic answers just in case.
"I can't pretend I'm not. I wanted you to have something." To remember me by, he left unspoken. She saw his corpse disintegrating, the maggots eating his eyes, the flesh falling off in clumps. She didn't need to imagine this anymore. It would be an image that haunted her. It played on a loop since the decaying doppelgänger.
"You're talking as if you won't make it."
"Maybe." He gave a half smile, as if he knew things she didn't. "Or maybe not. But you will. I'll make sure of it."
She couldn't stay awake. The trauma and trials were too much for her body. The safety she felt with Cato, even it was at the cost of Gale facing his fear alone, crawled on her like a false friend, allowing her eyelids to drop.
"Sleep now, little bird," he said, brushing both eyelids closed. She couldn't open them back up again. Her body started shutting down, and there was nothing she could do about it.
He scooped her up in his arms. She woke briefly as he lowered her, still cradled against him, placing her head next to his rumbling chest, his heart beating under her ear. A blanket came from somewhere, probably from one of his stashes. She didn't question the comfort and cuddled against it and him.
Six Hours Later
When Prim woke up, Cato held out some pills.
"For your leg. It's a nasty gash, all the way to the bone, and it's already showing signs of infection. These will close the wound without stitches. They actually build the skin." At first, she thought he held pain killers, but on closer inspection, she found antibiotics.
"Where did you find these?"
The sun behind his head was rolling back into the Earth. She must have been asleep for six hours at the least.
"They were a gift. From district 9 of all places. The people must love you very much, which doesn't surprise me, but I'm going to need you to tell me what happened. Start from the beginning. Start from when you climbed down the tree and ran from me."
He listened with eyebrows furrowed as she told her tale. He gave little grumbles and sighs at places, especially when talking about Ruby or Gale. He looked impressed at points, but on the whole, he kept a single, severe expression, clearly not happy with all the danger she faced without him. When she got to the old man, he stopped her.
"That explains the gift. It was expensive. Too expensive to give without a reason." He paused. "Did you cry for him? I'm sure you did, even if he tried to kill you. I'm not surprised the slum rat had it in him to slit his throat, but I'm surprised you forgave him."
Prim ignored his last few sentences not ready to talk about Gale or deal with his jealousy. She hadn't forgiven Gale, but she didn't feel like discussing it with Cato.
"I sang him Rue's lullaby after he died."
Cato gave a loud groan and placed his eyes against the palms of his hands, puffing his cheeks out and releasing the air through clenched teeth.
"God, you can be so stupid. The fucking lullaby, prim?"
He didn't have to explain. The song was still notorious in the districts, the memory of it lasting longer than the memory of Katniss. She heard it was a rallying cry for rebellion. They sang it as they killed guards and stormed buildings. Snow never outlawed the song outright, but after several years no one dared sing it for fear of retribution.
Prim knew this as she sang. It was purposeful, a message, and it just added to the brave and stupid things she did so far in the games. It was why she knew Snow would kill her by the end. Snow didn't touch her yet, though. It would be too obvious. He always played a subtler hand.
"Is that it, or have you found more ways to put yourself in danger?" Cato asked.
"Well, I found you," she said, giving a little smirk. Being with him was more dangerous than anything. All it did was broadcast to Panem that maybe Prim did care for the Lion of District 2. The Capitol went crazy for love stories, but they really wanted a tragedy.
Cato leaned in and gripped her head, bringing her in for a punishing kiss before speaking against her lips, eyes open as he chastised her.
"You were stupid to leave me in the first place. Don't do it again. Because I couldn't bear it if something happened to you. You're just going have to trust me to keep us safe."
Prim hated when he talked this way, as if they both would get out alive. She had already accepted her death. She'd fight until her last breath, but Prim already said goodbye to almost everything.
Except him.
Prim looked around the pyramid, finally asking something that had been bothering her since she walked out of the desert.
"Where are the others?"
"Others?"
"Jace and Theodora. I thought I would find one of them here instead of you. I know you are hunting Jace, but what do you plan to do with Theodora?"
He promised to keep Prim alive, but to do that Theodora had to die, someone he loved as a sister. Could Cato do it? Could he kill her?
Cato took a moment to answer. Whatever he had to say, he hated it.
"Thea and I reached an agreement before the games. We'd stay out of each other's way for as long as possible. Already we smash through the others without even trying. Pairing up would just lead us to an unhappy conclusion. The only other competition is Jace, and if we eliminated him, it would just be her and me, and I-"
"But what if she does survive until the end?"
"I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, and I don't care to think on it until it does."
"Have you seen Jace?"
"Briefly, he's a slippery bastard for a giant motherfucker."
"I was surprised he didn't claim himself king of the cornucopia."
"Hartline loves chaos too much. The pyramid is too stable for his tastes." He smirked, "Besides I've already named myself king of the cornucopia, and I'm not giving up that title without a fight. We've fought enough in practice for Hartline to know I'd win. It's why he hates me so much. If he wants to beat me, he'll have to be smart about it."
It would be cocky, if it wasn't true.
"Have you been here the whole time?"
"Mostly. I've stayed here during the trials, going out to search for you when it went back to normal."
A thought came to her then that should have come earlier.
"The doppelgangers were your trial."
He stilled but then nodded his head.
"I believe so."
"Then you were in the desert at the same time as us."
He looked uncomfortable. "I couldn't make it back to the pyramid in time."
"Who was it that you had to kill?"
Cato gave a haunted expression. For the first time in the game, he displayed his soft underbelly. He looked like the boy who begged her for forgiveness, unwilling to fight back as she beat him bloody on the floor of his study.
He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips.
"You know it was you. Who else would they give me? Even though I knew it was fake, it gutted me to chop your head off. I watched you rot. It's something I refuse to witness again."
Prim understood. The nightmares and fire were terrible, but the doppelgangers were the most insidious. To have to kill a loved one, a person who was a really a monster, and watch them disintegrate. Gruesome and effective as a punishment. She didn't know if she should congratulate Snow for living up to his brand of evil or spit in his face.
Their conversation died after that. Cato sat against the smooth expanse of the pyramid, pulling her in between her legs to rest. His hands rubbed her shoulders and arms and then her legs, every few seconds he kissed her hair, her neck, her ears. It was as if he couldn't stop touching her.
"You've always smelled like flowers," he said with his nose in her hair.
"I'm sure I smell like a wet dog by this point."
His smiled against her neck and opened his mouth and gave a little nip to the skin.
"A wet dog covered in flowers."
She gave a playful smack to his leg.
"You aren't supposed to agree."
"I was compromising. Isn't that what you taught me?"
"I'm not sure you've ever taken to that lesson very well."
"I'm slow to change, but progress is progress, right?"
She found herself smiling, despite herself, despite the situation.
"Are you hungry?"
"Always," Prim said. She doubted that she would be full for some time. Even after what she had earlier, the hunger nipped at her ribs.
Cato brought out several bags of beef jerky and a couple cans of peaches. Prim popped the metal can open and slurped them down. Cato stared at her the whole time, transfixed by the smallest movements.
"You have syrup on you," he said when she finished.
"Where?"
"Here," he said and bent over and licked it off her cheek.
"Cato," Prim complained with a little laugh, pushing his head away.
She felt like a normal couple for once. Maybe all it took to make them get along was an external enemy and certain death, knowing they'd never have another chance.
Cato kissed her again and laid her back against the dirt, catching his weight on his forearms. She wrapped herself around him, pulling him as close as possible, wishing they didn't have an audience. Desire wrapped around her body, imprinting on her cells. They kissed like innocent teenagers, long and slow. She let her fingers play along his spine and up along the muscles lining his shoulder blades. He kissed every part of face, from her eyelids to the tip of her nose, before finally resting his face against the side of her neck, just holding each other. There was no lying anymore. Panem knew that Cato was a contender for her heart. Most probably suspected he ruled it, and Prim could not deny it.
The nightly announcement interrupted them, and Prim drew back, sobered, untangling their bodies, aware that Gale and Ruby could be among the casualties. Cato's face turned hard at her sudden rejection of his affections, but he released her and let her sit up to see.
A boy with the number five hovering over him came first. Prim only had a moment of relief that Ruby's face did not flash first, when the Old Man's picture replaced the boy from 5. It shined bright before fading. His district mate, the girl from District 9, came next, and then the girl from 11. The announcements ended, and Prim released a long, deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
"So the slum rat survived. He's a determined little shit, I'll give him that." He glanced at Prim. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not backing out of my promise. He survived today, but he won't again. He should have stayed out of the games. I'm not sure why he entered them in the first place. He says it's to save you, but he doesn't seem the self-sacrificing type. I doubt he would, even for you."
"He volunteered to save his brother, not just for me."
Rory's open-mouth surprise at being reaped still haunted her. The world was so full of cruelty, it was pleasant to remember that Rory was still alive, even if he now probably hated her as much as Gale did.
Cato's brows furrowed, as if not liking being reminded of Gale's humanity.
"You don't plan on letting that little shit win, are you?"
Prim wasn't sure. She wanted to save everyone, but when it came down to it, she knew she'd have to choose, since getting herself out alive seemed a lost cause at this point.
Cato frowned when she didn't answer.
"Look, I don't know why I asked. I don't want to hear your answer," he said. "Anyway, I'm fucking tired. I need some sleep."
"Okay. I'll stand watch."
Cato was still angry, but the side of his lip jumped up, as if despite himself.
"You're like a little puppy stumbling around, unaware of how cute it is."
Her cheeks colored.
"Don't look so hurt. I was just teasing," he said. "I have sensors I found set up to go off if anyone enters the Cornucopia. Besides, I don't trust you enough to stay."
Of course, he did. It was probably how he knew they were there in the first place.
He kissed her again to soothe her before standing and walking over to where he kept a tall stash of packs and equipment. He rifled through some of them, throwing aside fire packs and blankets before finally pulling out a coiled rope, the same type in her pack.
"What are you doing?"
"Tying you up, of course."
Prim didn't fight him as he walked back and wrapped her wrists and ankles, attaching them behind her back in a way that prevented walking. The result wasn't uncomfortable, but there was no way she could get free. Prim wanted to be mad, but she didn't blame him. He was correct in the assumption she'd run, understanding he was safer without her. She was his weakness. Anyone could use her against him. If she had to die, she'd rather it happened out of his sight.
"I hope you understand, Prim. I don't like you disobeying me, so I won't give you a chance to. Besides, I promised I'd lock you in my room if you ever ran from me. Considering the last month or so, you're overdue for this. If anything, this is me letting you off easy."
Prim rolled her eyes at his behavior. He cupped her chin in his hand and gave one, long, deep kiss that seared its way to her toes and then laid down his head on a pack near her leg. He started out pressed against her, arm draped across her stomach, but as his eyelids drooped down, and he became vulnerable and limp, he rolled to the side away from her.
It was only then that Prim took the risk of moving. She edged away. He almost woke up but quickly dipped back into sleep. Prim scooted on her butt at an awkward pace, since she couldn't stand.
It wasn't until she crawled around the corner of the pyramid that she unglued her eyes from Cato. Everything ached in her body, including her heart, but her feelings couldn't be the crux of staying. She had to run. She feared Cato would do something stupid like sacrifice himself if she was in danger. Snow would kill her in the end, and she didn't want Cato standing in the way.
Prim's eyes searched the area where Cato and Gale fought and found the old man's abandoned sword. The metal glinted in the sun. She backwards crawled towards it. Her wrists started to hurt at the odd angle she had to move, but she ignored it.
It took several minutes to cut through the ropes holding her. It was a lot harder than it was in her head. She slipped once or twice giving her skin shallow nicks. Eventually, it popped through the rope around her wrist. Once free, she rubbed her hands, trying to get the feeling back into them. She didn't dally too long and loosened the ropes around her ankles.
Prim picked up her backpack, slinging it over one shoulder. Then she went and stole some supplies lining the pyramid: extra food and water, enough to last her another day or two and stuffed them down into her backpack.
She stood and walked to the edge of the forest. Both Ruby and Gale had disappeared into its depths and had not returned, so it would be her destination. She was sick of sand and cold. The forest felt familiar to her, like a friend. Though it would still be dangerous, especially since most the lethal players would no doubt be camped there.
She almost tripped the alarm that would signal that someone crossed the boundary. If she wasn't looking for it, if she didn't know it existed, she wouldn't have seen it. A small red laser ran along the boundary of the Cornucopia, almost invisible. It wrapped around the entire pyramid.
Prim just stepped right over it, her foot touching down into the spongy soil of the forest. Her other foot followed. She gripped the sword closer. She didn't think she'd use it, but it did make her feel better, a false safety net.
Prim breathed a sigh of relief that no alarms sounded. She assumed Cato still slept, unaware to her betrayal. This would hurt him, she did not deny that. It made everything inside Prim crumple, but she had to do what instinct instructed. There was no room for errors.
Prim blew a kiss towards his direction, wishing she could have given a proper goodbye. Every time she left him, it felt unfinished.
"Goodbye," she said. But the word only hurt herself.
Thirty Minutes Later
The forest smothered her with humidity. Sweat rolled down the back of her neck, and the scent from flowers became cloying to distraction. Prim wished she had Cato's machete to whack at brush. Instead, she attempted to do it with a sword, but it was big and awkward and not made for it. The thick foliage scratched her hands and tugged at her clothes, slowing her down. Prim had no specific destination in mind, just knew that she had to keep moving. If she stopped, Cato could track her. From this point on, she was moving prey.
It was the branches of a tree that saved her. Nighttime blanketed the forest, leaving a limited view of light when the tree limb tangled in her shirt, forcing her to stop and pick it off. If it wasn't for that, she would have walked right into Theodora's campsite. From the holes between leaves, Prim saw a fire crackled and a mammal that resembled a rat roasted on a homemade spit.
"You need to be quiet. I'm tired of you whining," Theodora told someone. She couldn't see her well so, despite sensing danger, she reached forward and bent down the branch to get a better look.
Her body froze. She felt her heartbeat in her fingers and face, the blood whooshing around her body.
Ruby sat next to Theodora, wrapped in a complicated knot of rope. Beside her sat the little blonde girl from District 10 wrapped up in the same manner.
The blonde still struggled against her bonds.
"You're not doing anything but exhausting yourself," Ruby said in disdain, sitting still as stone.
Prim dared not breath as Theodora Branton reached over and tugged the rat from the spit, eating carefully. Ruby gave a salivating glance.
"Not going to share?" Ruby asked.
Theodora shrugged, leaning back her tall frame, her lean muscles rippled in her arm as she brought the meat up and gave a big bite. Her dark skin looked like burnished copper in the firelight, glinting off her straight white teeth as she chewed.
"What would be the point? You'll die soon."
"Even death row inmates receive a last meal."
Theodora stopped, considering. Prim thought she would ignore the captive but surprised her by peeling off a small bite of meat, reaching over, and popping it into Ruby's mouth. Ruby chewed with a grateful look.
"Hey," the blond said, finally stopping her struggle, "What about me?"
Theodora sneered.
"You annoy me."
Prim's internal compass spun in circles with indecision. She wished to disappear into the trees again, fade into nothing, but she couldn't leave Ruby. They were bonded now. They fell asleep into death's waiting arms together. It felt like shared blood, shared pain, and Prim could never turn her back on her.
A strong pair of arms encircled her waist. A thick hand cupped her mouth before she could scream. The person's other hand reached down and ripped away her sword. Prim bucked against the body behind her, but it was brick and would not move. One thing she knew for sure: this was not Cato, which left only one person.
"Hello, Rosie," a voice from her nightmares spoke, reminding her musty blankets and cat piss, "you have no idea how much I've missed you."
Jacen Hartline touched her neck with his lips, brushing them up to her ear. "Don't worry, now we have all the time in the world to get reacquainted."
A/N: The big players have finally come out to play! I feel it's necessary to warn that the next few chapters will be very dark. Buckle up, because it's about to get intense.