"Danny!" I call out once I make sure it is safe for him to come out. That was the plan we discussed with Haymitch, firstly because we had no reason to believe the Careers would keep their part of the deal, and even if they didn't attack Danny I wouldn't have been able to focus if he had been in there during the bloodbath. Therefore, we decided he would run as soon as the gong went off and I would keep my own part of the deal with Cato, convincing the Careers that I was one of them. Danny was not to go too far away, just somewhere where he could safely wait for my signal.
Before calling him, I, along with the others, started stripping the fallen tributes from their jackets and weapons, we've piled everything in a neat pile to sort later, now we have to clear the zone for the hovercrafts to take away the bodies. I hope Danny didn't see me kill the girl that lays lifelessly beside the Cornucopia. But I'm pretty sure my family back home did, I shiver.
After the third time I call him I start panicking and turn around to tell Cato I'm on my way to go after him before a pair of blue eyes stare back at me from the forest, I read the eyes in front of me and sigh, wishing I could do what he wants me to, what he begs me to. He wants me to disappear into the woods with him, leaving the Careers behind. And I know that it isn't a stupid idea, now that I have a bow and arrow I could protect us both, provide for us both. Still, something inside me makes me stick to the plan.
"Come here, boss. It's all clear." I reassure him, letting him know that for the moment being we are still Careers. I can hear him sighing, yet he comes out of the shadows and walks to me to give me a hug. I hold him close and kiss his hair. "It will be over before you know it." And not even I know if I'm talking about lying to the Careers or about the Games.
I hear the hovercrafts coming to retrieve the bodies, and I keep Danny locked in my arms so he doesn't have to see them, even though I know he has seen plenty of them in previous Hunger Games. Once the last one disappears we make our way to the Cornucopia, where everyone has started calling dibs on the weapons. Danny grabs two knives before Clove, the girl from Two, does. She glares at him but Cato ruffles the kid's hair as if he was proud of him. My stomach twists and I know Danny's did too, as well as the one of our families back home. I can only imagine what they must be thinking, what they must have thought when I killed the girl to protect a tribute I am supposed to hate. I try not to think of Prim.
There are more spare arrows, and I now own a grand total of thirty of them, along with some rope I stuff in my jacket when no one is looking, according to Haymitch the Careers are not to know about our ability with snares, that way when we do leave them behind they won't know it is us if they find one of Danny's traps.
Glimmer and I start dividing the rest of the weapons from the food, once we have two separate piles Cato turns to the kid of District Three. He is just fourteen and still shaking from seeing his female partner die by the hands of Clove, but somehow he has managed to stick with the Careers until now. "You sure you can do it?" Cato asks, and we all look at the pair confused, but the other nods firmly. "It will be done before sunset."
Cato, Clove, Glimmer, Marvel and the girl from Four are fighting, the echoes of the cannons are long gone and they are already eager to go out to kill some more, but no one wants to be left behind watching over the boy from Three that is still working on the mines that are supposed to protect our food from intruders. Cato told us that as soon as the mines are set and ready we will all be able to leave the camp unattended and go off hunting together, he also plans on killing the intellectual author as soon as he is done. Until then someone has to stay over and watch the food, so Danny and I volunteer to do it.
The tributes from One seem to be reluctant to leave us alone, but Cato reminds them I've already saved his life once today and they go out to quench their thirst for blood. Danny seems to visibly relax once they are gone, but I don't. I grab five empty bottles and walk with him to the lake, we fill them with water and treat them with some chlorine that was in a backpack, we give one to the boy and ask for his name, it's Lee. Two of the bottles we hide in a bag where we sneakily put everything that would be useful for us if we decide to run away unexpectedly.
We sit against the Cornucopia watching Lee work, drinking the other two bottles of water and eating some dry fruit that was in the food pile. For a moment it could have been be easy to forget that we are here to kill or get killed. The lake and forest are beautiful and I almost feel back at home every time I fill my lungs with the pure air, it's a nice change against that dreadful thing Effie calls air conditioning.
"Are you sure about this Katniss?" Danny whispers, repeating the question I've heard a thousand times on the past twenty four hours. "I am." I repeat to him, that lie is starting to sound alarmingly true, even to me. "Right now we are as safe as can be. When they come back I'll pretend to be asleep so that I can take the first watch tonight. We'll steal some more food, wake up someone so they can take over the watch because I'm falling asleep... They'll think we trust them. They already do but that should be enough to convince them."
Danny frowns and nods, his eyes are on Lee, as if trying to make sure he isn't listening to us. Smart kid, I tell you. "And then?" His gaze now falls on me and I open my mouth to tell him I have no idea, but I know that if I do he will go on asking me to leave now. "Then tomorrow we ask them what the plan is and we decide from there." I reply, amazing even myself with the plan.
For the first time today I hope we are being filmed, I hope that whatever it is that the other tributes are doing isn't as interesting as us. If my family has already seen me murder someone today, along with laughing with the rest of the Careers, I want them to know I'm only doing it to save Danny. I want everyone to know that I am not one of them. But I know it is impossible for me to go back to who I used to be.
The sound of the cannon wakes up Danny, who has curled up against me and fallen asleep as I watch Lee continue to work relentlessly. He has first dug out every single one of the mines that surround the podiums we started the Games in, then he started working on them. I would have offered my help if I didn't fear I'd blow us all to pieces if I tried. I can see in Danny's blue eyes that he is having a hard time remembering what we are doing here, but when he remembers his first words are "That's six." And I sigh, he is too young to wake up to the indicator that someone else is dead. He is way too young to associate someone's death with his odds of going back home. "I hope it wasn't Rue." He says next and I shiver. "Me too."
"Katniss?" The next time Danny speaks he sounds older again, wiser. And I hope no one is recording us, I hope Peeta isn't listening to what the Capitol has done to his sweet little brother. "Katniss... what if we are the last two?"