Chapter 11

Sleeping in shifts is not easy on the back, especially if you basically just leaned against a tree all night. Luckily we didn't have any surprise visits from any of the other tributes last night, so all of us were able to get a decent sleep in.

The four of us agree to map out the details of our plan after breakfast, so Farley and I volunteer to go out and gather some berries. As we're walking, we discuss everything that happened after we stepped off of our pedestals to now.

"Ezra and Cleo basically found me not long after the Bloodbath. They told me what they were planning and asked if I was in. Since then we had just been trying to find you to complete our alliance" Farley explains. Cleo must be the District 10 girl's name.

"I'm surprised Cleo would want to team up with either of us after her warning me to stay away from you during Training Evaluations" I comment.

"Yeah, she's a strange girl alright. I could see why Ezra encouraged her to enlist you, though. You're a strong ally to have going up against people like the Careers. Sure, I bet you could even take on Wyatt all by yourself" he boasts. Farley gives me way too much credit sometimes.

"I think you're overestimating me a bit there, Blackwell. Wyatt has at least fifty to sixty pounds on me, he could easily break me like a breadstick" I say, which gets a chuckle out of Farley.

We end up finding a little bush of winter berries and start picking. "Anyway, anything interesting happen to you before we found you? After the whole thing with Wyatt that is" he asks.

"Well, after I ate and destroyed my campfire, I started heading north. Next thing I know, I'm being chased by these giant, viscous-looking white wolves. I barely escaped them by climbing up a tree and hanging on for dear life. I then heard voices coming my way, and ran before anyone knew I was there, thats how I collided with Cleo" I tell him.

"Damn! Not even two days into the games and the Gamemakers are already going to fucking town with the obstacles!" Farley exclaims, and we both start to laugh as we gather the last of the berries.

"I take it that's where that scar on your cheek came from" he points out. I had almost forgotten about that. I nod as I reach up to stroke where the cut has now begun to scab. Farley then takes my hand down, and starts to stroke my wound with his own hand. My cheeks warm at his touch

We stand there silent for a bit before he says, "I'm really glad you're ok. It would have really sucked if those wolves had gotten you."

Before I have a chance to respond, we hear a scream in the distance. As we turn our heads to see where it came from, Farley's hand drops back down to his side.

"Should we go check it out?" he asks me. Curiosity gets the best of me once again, as I nod in response. We stuff the berries into my backpack and make our way to the scene.

It doesn't take long to follow the chorus of screams to where Wyatt is currently in a straddle ontop of the girl from District 4. She seems to be trying to fight him off, but can't help but succumb to his dominance. Farley and I hide behind a bunch of trees and watch the scene unfold.

"Please, Wyatt! You don't have to do this! Join us, and we'll be a team like the Careers past!" She pleads with him. He doesn't seem at all affected by her words.

"I don't need allies. All you little cockroaches will do is slow me down. Did you forget that only one person can win this?" he retaliates. "Plus, I wanna have a little fun with you first. Theres no reason I can't enjoy this kill any less than I enjoyed the others." Bile starts to form in my mouth. He is quite possibly the most derranged person I have ever met in my life.

"What do you mean by that?" asks the District 4 girl.

He doesn't even give her an answer before he pulls out a dagger from his coat pocket, and stabs her right in the throat. As her blood stains the snow beneath her, a cannon is heard in the distance shortly afterwards.

He then starts to rip her coat and shirt off, and I decide that I have seen enough. I signal for Farley to head back with me to share this information with the others.

As we start heading the other way, Farley accidentally steps on a tree branch. We both freeze as we hear a "who's there?" from behind us.

Seeing no other way out, I take Farley's hand and start sprinting back the other way. I can faintly hear footsteps chasing after us, but eventually hear them get fainter and fainter the closer I get to camp.

We meet Cleo and Ezra back at the fire huffing and puffing, and they both have confused looks on their faces.

"What the fuck happened to you guys?" Cleo asks as Farley and I catch our breath.

"You're going to want to sit down for this" Farley says in between breaths, and we join them at the fire to rehash what we just witnessed.

"You ran?! You could have led him right to our campsite!" Cleo exclaims, clearly upset with my decision.

"Yeah, well I didn't. I out-ran him, that's an advantage to being much lighter than he is. Plus what was I supposed to do? Stay perfectly still and let him find and kill us both?!" I retaliate. We then start looking at each other with intense glares.

"Ok, look. It doesn't matter what happened. All that matters is that Katerina and Farley made it back in one piece. Plus this just confirms our theory, Wyatt really is running solo" Ezra reasons, and Cleo shoots him a quick glare as well.

"Look guys, I know you're not happy with each other right now, but can we just focus on the plan. This is really important, so we need to plan this right" Farley intervenes, and Cleo and I look back at each other.

"What's to say little miss golden child over here won't mess this up too?" Cleo says, and I immediately go to fire back before Farley stops me.

"Hey, hey, hey. Do you think you guys can work together just until this ambush is over? After that you can go back to hating each other all you want" he says to me, and a smirk starts to form on Cleo's face.

"You should listen to your boyfriend" she mocks, and it takes everything in me not to be smart back. Instead, I extend my hand in a temporary truce. While not very happy about it, Cleo takes my hand and we shake on it.

"Good. Now to map out our plan" Ezra states as he brushes snow off a nearby rock, gesturing for us to sit down. We all take a seat on the rock to talk it out.

"Cleo and I managed to scope out their campsite. They're camping out on the highest peak of the arena, which happens to be all the way on the other side. We'll have to hike over there together before we do anything" Ezra explains.

"As far as the ambush goes, I have come up with an order in which we will attack. I've stuck Katerina and I on the two District 2 tributes. It's no secret that we are the two strongest fighters here, and being from the weapon capital of Panem they always are the most experienced fighters. Ezra and Farley will subdue the boy from District 4, and come to help us once he's taken care of. Any objections?" Cleo states before looking around to see if anyone opposes.

"What happens if Wyatt happens to show up unexpectedly?" asks Farley. "He could be anywhere, and surely we'll be making quite the racket what with all of the fighting and all."

"I'll stick Katerina on him. She's the most agile and can keep him on his toes" Cleo resolves, and I raise my eyebrows in alarm.

Cleo sees my discomfort and scowls. "What? As much as I hate to admit it, it is true. Look, if I had it my way, I would be taking on the most dangerous tasks. But now is not the time for that. I know we're not each other's biggest fans, but if we're basing this purely on skill, than you are the best match-up for Wyatt, should he show up."

I never thought there would be a day where Cleo of all people would give me a compliment. Hell, we were just at each other's throats in an argument not too long ago. Even so, her words do give me a bit of confidence.

All I manage in response is a weak "ok" before she immediately retaliates. "Look, don't be fooled. As soon as this ambush is over you're the first one I'll be going after. This is just to ensure that one of us gets the crown this year, and not them. I don't plan to lose, not to any of you."

"Any other questions, ladies?" Cleo then asks while turning to the boys. Both shake their heads, and her face breaks out into an evil smirk.

"Good. Then grab your weapons, we're leaving right now."

I sling my crossbow and quiver onto my left shoulder, and sling my backpack onto my right. Cleo withdraws her spear from the pile of snow she stuck it in as well as her backpack, while Ezra dawns a pair of nunchucks and his pack. Farley pulls out a slingshot and poison dart shooter from his bag.

"That's not all you have, is it?" I ask, and he nods his head.

"It's not so bad, I guess. They're easy to use and easy to carry around. Plus, I don't think I'd be any good at handling the bigger weapons like you guys" he says.

"Yeah, but you need something a little better considering who we're going up again-"

Just before I'm about to finish my sentence, a parachute appears in the distance. By the looks of the giant package attached to it, it's carrying something pretty bulky. It gently floats down and lands in Farley's hands.

"A parachute? F-for me?" he asks in disbelief as we all look at him with shock on our faces.

"Well don't just stand there, open it!" I exclaim, and he does what I say.

Farley pulls out a giant silver machete from the package, and we all gasp in surprise.

"Oh my god, Farley! It's incredible!" I say.

"Wow! This had to have cost a chunk!" he says. He's not lying. Mulvain told me that as far as sponsor gifts go, weapon gifts tend to be a lot more expensive than medicine, tools, food, or water. The question is; how did Hestia manage to rope in such a wealthy sponsor?

"Well there's your weapon, Farley. That should fair just fine against the Careers" Cleo states, and we all nod in agreement.

Cleo then turns to face all of us. "Ok, no more standing around! Let's get this show on the road" she commands, and all of us follow her to the other side of the arena…

Ezra and Cleo walk in front of us discussing the battle ahead while Farley and I hang back and talk amongst ourselves. Farley hasn't stopped admiring his machete since he opened it from its package.

"I just find it so hard to believe that Hestia landed such a sponsor! I thought for sure you would be getting all of the parachutes" he states, and I can't help but be skeptical as well. Farley made it perfectly clear during training that Hestia was an abismal mentor, and that she never really supported him as much as Mulvain would support me. How she ended up sending him such a big gift is beyond me.

Even so, I don't let Farley see my suspicion. "Well, you were quite popular during the interviews, and being a mayor's child definitely helps out your ability to stand out. I'm sure you have fans out there" I say, and he grins in response.

"Have you gotten any parachutes yet?" Farley asks me. When I shake my head no he looks surprised. "Really? I thought you would be getting them left and right. There's no arguing that you were the favourite to win going into the Games."

"I wouldn't say I was the favourite. Sure, my training score was pretty good, but other than that I don't see what makes me stand out" I say.

"Are you kidding? You are by far the strongest contender here. I don't care how big and bad these Careers are, they don't hold a candle to you. Why did you think Cleo named you the one to take on Wyatt if he crashes the party?" he says, and I look away in embarrassment.

Farley then takes my hands and forces me to look at him. "It's incredible how you are so oblivious to how great you are, you know that?" a blush starts to make its way onto my cheeks.

"Why do you keep hyping me up all of the time? It's not that I don't appreciate it, it's just that I'm not used to so much praise that isn't from my dad" I ask. That last part earns a chuckle from Farley in response.

Just as he is about to answer, Cleo calls back to us. "Listen, lovebirds! Before you guys start building your nest together, we have a couple Careers to fight! So if you wouldn't mind focusing that would be great!" We then drop our hands and make our way over to where both an impatient Cleo and Ezra are waiting for us.

"Anyway, we seem to already be halfway there, so we've been covering good ground. We should keep going like this until we get to the hill they're camping out on. After that, we'll split up and come onto them from different angles-"

"And why would you do that?"

As we start looking around for the person who said that, the tributes from District 2 and the boy from District 4 come out from behind the trees and make themselves known.

It looks like they are the ones who ended up ambushing us…