Okay! Chapter 19! I'm so, sorry it's late. I haven't gotten around to writing very often this week, so I stayed up until 2:15 writing this one. Goodness, I must like ya'll or something. This one is kind of a filler chapter, but please read and review anyway! Shout-outs are below! Look for yours! DISCLAIMER: I don't' own The Hunger Games.
Complete chaos. That's what I wake up to. All I can think of is running away from this place and out of the stinging mass of the vicious trackerjackers.
I hear the blood curdling screams of Glimmer and Ellie and I glance over to see them both struggling on the ground, unable to get up. They're covered in the golden, wasp-like bugs, so much so that I can hardly see their clothes.
I know that there's nothing that I can do, and follow Cato and Marvel away from the campsite. My vision is beginning to get blurry and I know that the hallucinations will soon set in.
I vaguely make out Peeta stumbling over to Katniss who has just landed on the ground in a thump.
He begins yelling at her to run away. She freezes and stares at him for a few seconds until it registers that he's trying to help her.
I look and see that Cato has begun to make his way over to Peeta, unsheathing his sword as he goes. I barely see his slash Peeta across the thigh and come stumbling back over.
"Right foot, left foot. Right foot, left foot." I tell myself as I run towards the lake that has just come into view and away from the swarm of trackerjackers chasing us.
I know that if I focus on anything else, I'll be done for. I fall into the cool water and go under for as long as I can hold my breath.
I come up for air after almost a minute and see that the bugs are gone. It's then that the visions start to set in.
I look and see the bank turn into sharp pieces of ice before melting into boiling lava. I pull myself up onto the back and look to see Cato and Marvel turn into giant, blood hungry bears.
I struggle to get up and get away from them, but the ground falls out from underneath me, sucking me into a large pit of bubbling purple slime.
I look up the hole to see a giant yellow bird coming in to grab me, but before he does, I'm sucked underneath the purple goo and everything goes dark.
"Clove, Clove! Wake up. Snap out of it!" I open my eyes to see Cato leaning over me, shaking my whole body. "Okay, okay. I'm awake." I mumble, squirming out of his grip.
"I'm glad you're ok." He says to me with a slight smile. "Me too" I reply sarcastically, but return his smile when he pulls me into a tight hug.
"Is Marvel awake yet?" I ask him when he lets me go. "No, but he should be coming to any moment." He answers me. "How long was I out?" I ask him. "I'm guessing three days. It's a miracle that none of us were killed in our sleep." he responds.
Just then, we hear a loud clutter and both get up to investigate. Cato has his sword ready and I have a knife in each hand.
Cato walks into the mouth of the cornucopia, ready to strike when we hear the voice of a young boy. "Before you kill me, please hear me out." He says, barely above a whisper. "And why should I?" Cato taunts as he towers over the boy.
"Because I can help you." The boy responds, taking a small step away. "Well, do tell then." Cato replies back, stepping towards him again.
He clears his throat, and then speaks. "I can help secure your supplies and possibly kill an opposing tribute." Cato lets out a billowing laugh, and I see the boy's face turn to one of fear.
"You? Kill someone? Ha! I saw you in training…you can barely handle a spear." Cato taunts again, waiting to see what the boy will do.
"That's not what I meant. I can re-wire the explosives from the tribute pedestals and place them around the supplies. They'll still work the same. Any pressure on any of them will set off a chain reaction, blowing the tribute to smithereens." The boy finishes and the waits to see if Cato's going to kill him on the spot, or give him a chance.
I have to say, this boy's got some serious guts. He came and approached us, just for a chance to re-wire some bombs. He's got to know that we'll kill him when he's fulfilled his purpose.
"Alright, you're in." Cato speaks up after thinking it over. "But, if you screw anything up, I'll snap your neck like a twig." He tells the boy in a low voice before walking out to wake Marvel.
"What's your name kid?" I ask the boy, knowing that he can't be over 14. "Melvin" he answers shyly, looking at the ground.
"I'm Clove, but you already knew that, didn't you?" I say sarcastically and smirk slight when he nods slightly with a gulp.
I leave him on that note to begin his work. I make my way over to Cato who is kneeling over Marvel, shaking him.
I grab a cup and fill it with water from the lake, and then I pour it over Marvel's face. He wakes up sputtering the water back, out of his mouth.
"Gosh, what happened?" he mumbles as he rubs his head. "Fire-Girl and trackerjackers." I tell him bluntly. "Oh, well that explains all the creepy visions." He says while rubbing his eyes.
"Wait a second" he looks around "where's Glimmer?" he asks, alarmed. "She didn't make it. The trackerjackers got both her and Ellie. Peeta tried to get away, but I got him with the sword." Cato tells him.
Marvel says nothing, but suddenly stands up and walks to the lake. He perches himself on a rock and stares out at nothing. "He took that a little tough, huh?" Cato asks me. I nod sadly in response.
As much as I hated Glimmer, I hate to see Marvel not his usual self because of her death. "I'm gonna go talk to him." I mumble as I stand up off of the ground. "It won't help." Cato yells after me, but I continue on to the rock where Marvel's at.
I silently climb up next to him and pull my legs up to my chest. I don't say a word, I just sit beside him. If he wants to talk about it, he will. For now, I'll just provide some company.
After a long time of silence, I begin to think that he won't ever speak. I'm just about to leave when he begins to talk though. "She didn't deserve to die like that." He says bluntly. "She wanted to die in a fight or not at all." He finishes.
For a moment, I forget that this is Glimmer we're talking about. The ditsy blonde, concerned about her looks more than her life. "How long did you two know each other?" I ask him quietly.
"Since we started training at 6. She was the one in training that couldn't handle any weapon. I helped her out in private after training. She and I were best friends back then."
"But, as we got older, she soon began to realize that she was quite attractive and that all of the boys and even some of the trainers wanted her. She used them as a pass to skip training on some days, and even to get her name on the board for volunteers, never intending to have to come for real." He finishes.
"Why'd she have to come?" I ask gently, knowing it's a tender topic. "There's usually a volunteer battle at the reapings, where one person volunteers, but another follows and so on. It's become so common that it's almost expected."
"Well, when Glimmer volunteered, none of the other girls would volunteer after her. None of them liked her due to her good looks and many, many boyfriends. They saw it as a way to get back at stealing all of their boyfriends." He tells me, still looking off onto the water.
"She didn't deserve any of it. She was ridiculed, day in and day out. Called so many things that I knew she wasn't, but it only fueled her fire more. Before I knew it, gone was the Glimmer I'd known and even grown to love." He finishes sadly.
I reach over and take his hand. "I'm really sorry. I was one of those girls to her. I shouldn't have been. I'm sorry she had to die like that." I tell him, genuinely sorry.
"Me too." He speaks softly "But, I have to see Fire-Girl die before I do. I have to know that she won't win. You can do this Clove, you can win." He tells me, finally looking me in the eye.
"Yes, but so can you, or Cato." I tell him, knowing that he's selling himself short. "No, I can't go home without her. It'd be too different. I don't have family that cares about me. She was my family." He says quietly.
I know then that his mind is set. Marvel is going to die in this arena, never to see the outside world again. I glance over at him and see that he's thinking the same thing.
I give his hand a reassuring, but sympathetic squeeze, and then I get up to head back to the camp.
"Hey, Clove." He stops me by grabbing my hand again. "Yeah?" I answer. "Thanks for listening." He tells me and gives me a hug and a quick kiss in the cheek.
I smile at him when he releases me, "No problem. Thanks for telling me about her and your lives." I leave him to sit and think a little longer as I go back to the cornucopia.
I'm slightly angry with myself that I allowed myself to start to become attached to Marvel in anyway. But, I know that he just needed someone to talk to. "It'll just make his death even harder." I mumble to myself as I sit on a log by the fire pit and watch as Cato and Melvin work on the re-wiring.
I get up and sit back down, only this time by the side of the cornucopia and I lean my head up against the metal wall and allow my eyes to close and my body to drift off to sleep.
Mmk, so, love it? Hate it? Let me know, please! Love ya'll! Here's the shout-outs and pay close attention to the bottom if you want a sneak peak of the next chapter!
Renchikara- Thank you for adding this story to your favorites and for following!
I'm - Thanks for following!
District4girl- Thank you so much for following the story and me!
Theotherguy12345- Thanks for following and for adding my story to your favorites!
Fizzyfurofknives- Haha, thanks for the review! And I hope you got your room all clean! ;)
Theotherguy12345- Thanks for your reviews! And I guess you'll have to stick around and see how it ends, huh bro? Haha, sorry. Couldn't help it ;)
Fanfictionlover500- Thanks for the review!
Charliesunshine- Thank you for your review! That's what I was going for, I'm hoping to get some different point of views of the games since you only read Katniss's in the books. I'm glad you liked it!
District4girl- Here you go!
Well! There's that! And now, I have a little contest. The prize? A preview of the next chapter! Ok, so maybe it's not that great of a prize, but still! It's something, right? The rules are simple, recommend a friend to read and follow this story! But, you must give me something to let me know you actually recommended it. Have your friend PM me with your username and it'll be that simple! I'll PM you the preview! Well, have a great week! Oh! Also, a reminder, The Catching Fire Trailer is being released at the comic-con today and will be available to watch on yahoo movies at around 3pm EST! See ya'll next week!