Raised to Fight, Born to Die: The District 2 Tributes

Sorry for not updating in a while.. I don't know the next time I will be able to update; I've been super busy. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and to all the people who regularly give me feedback on all my chapters. I appreciate the all the support!

(Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or its characters.)

~*~*~X~*~*~

Chapter 9: One Death

~*~*~X~*~*~

Clove

I can't count how many times I've seen that flash of red hair in the trees ahead of me in the past five minutes.

I'm starving, and running at full speed doesn't help. My breathing is ragged, and so is Cato's. Then I stop because a huge roaring fire has suddenly appeared in front of me and I cover my mouth and nose and turn back at once.

"Clove! Where the hell are you going! She's right there!" a guy yells. It vaguely registers in my mind as Cato's familiar roar.

I turn my head back to look for Cato and I see him directly in front of the fire, so close the tongues of flames could touch him. He is pointing straight into the fire, and I vaguely wonder how he doesn't feel the fire's heat.

"No way!" I yell. "I'm not going in there! Are you crazy?!" Why would he want to go into the fire for? "Get away from there!"

"What?" Cato calls, sounding exasperated and impatient. He looks back into the fire, slams his sword into the ground, and says, "Damn it! She's gone! What the hell, Clove?"

"Who's gone?" I blubber.

He only looks at me in disbelief. "Uh, the only person we've been chasing for the past half hour?"

I dash forward and grab Cato's arm, jerking him backward. I overestimate how far I jump back, so we both end up falling over, him on top of me. All I know is that the fire is growing and advancing. In our direction.

Cato only chuckles obnoxiously. "If you want me that bad, just tell me-"

"No, you idiot, we have to get away from that damn fire!" I shove him off me and scramble up, motioning for him to cover his mouth and nose. I'm coughing, coughing, coughing, and I stumble backward and turn to run.

Cato's arm yanks me back. "What are you talking about?" he says, enunciating every word as if I don't understand English. Then realization crosses his confused face. "What do you see?"

"Uhhh," I say, my vision blurring, "Fire…" Then what little food I'd been able to hold down decides makes an appearance again.

"Fire?" Cato mutters under his breath. He looks back and his face scrunches up in confusion. "No, there's definitely no fire here, Clove. Nothing." He reaches forward and grabs my hand away from my mouth, where I was holding my shirt up to avoid smoke inhalation.

Cato says there is no smoke.

~*~*~X~*~*~

It's evening now. Almost dark. My vision is back to normal and there is no raging fire present. I'm not throwing up anymore. My temples hurt, but other than that I feel normal. Well, besides the growing issue of hunger.

"I'm hungry, Cato," I whine.

"Right," he says, trying to figure out what to do. "Maybe we can hunt. I have some of Marvel's spears, and you have your knives. We can do this," he says. "We can do this. We're Careers, after all."

"Okay," I say. We walk as quietly as we can, and soon enough, we come across a rabbit. I get one of my knives out. I close my eyes. Take a deep breath. Open them. And then I throw.

Do you think I hit it?

Duh. Of course I do. The knife hits the rabbit in the chest, and Cato lunges forward to pick the animal up. He takes out the knife, wipes it on his jacket, and hands it to me. "Nice throw," he chuckles. Hunting doesn't seem that hard.

Cato gathers some wood and starts a fire (how he knows how to start a fire, I have no idea). He cooks the rabbit on a spit made of a broken branch, and then we eat. Well, it's not Capitol food, but it'll do. For now.

"So, it's just us, Thresh, Lover Boy, Katniss, and…. Some other girl," Cato lists aloud.

"Finch, I think," I say. "The girl from Five, right?"

"Yeah, I think that's her name," he replies with an "I really don't care" tone.

"That's the first time we've seen her at all," I say. She must be smart enough to stay hidden. "She seems like the run-and-hide type. Not much of a fighter, I bet."

A huge smirk has crossed Cato's face. "Then she'll be an easy kill once we find her," he says.

~*~*~X~*~*~

We keep walking and talking. First we make fun of some of the tributes we didn't like, and then I change the subject and we start talking about our lives back home. It turns out, back when I was around seven or so, Cato and I had already met in the Tribute Training Center. How about that? He had stabbed me in the arm, so I jumped on him and bit the arm he stabbed me with. We laugh hard at that, and he tells me my older sister had said to him afterward, "That's what you get for messing with my sister." I grimace at that and I fall silent.

"What?" Cato says. "Did I say something?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong?"

I hope the cameras aren't on us. Hopefully, Lover Boy is off dying somewhere or
Thresh is doing whatever it is he does in that huge field of his or Finch is running from someone and they are being filmed instead of us.

"It's nothing. I just…" I frown when he gestures for me to continue. "My sister and I aren't exactly close. Well, we used to be."

He seems to know I won't say anything else, and he has enough sense to change the subject.

"Let's turn back," he says. "Back to the Cornucopia."

I shrug. "Okay," I say. "Maybe Thresh will decide to come out of his little hiding spot and face us like a man."

"I doubt it," Cato says. We turn and, for the rest of the day, travel back to where out supply piles used to be. "But if he does, remember I'm your backup."

I roll my eyes. Does he really think I'm that defenseless against a non-Career? "For the last time, I can take Thresh."

"Sure you can."

"Don't be an ass, Cato."

"I'm not. For the last time, he's bigger and stronger than you. Be careful."

I'm confused. He usually has confidence in me, seeing that I'm as good of an enemy as he is to the other tributes. So why is he telling me this now?

My cheeks heat in anger when I say, "I'm not useless. I'll fight Thresh on my own."

Annoyance flashes through Cato's eyes. "Fine."

"Fine."

With that, we keep walking.

~*~*~X~*~*~

Cato

We get back to the Cornucopia, and we are starving. That rabbit delayed the hunger for a few hours, but now it's worse. And we need water. Our bottles are only half full.

The sky shows us it has been an uneventful day, and I think how it is only a matter of time before the Gamemakers decide to bring us together.

My piss is turning a little brown. Not a good sign.

It is really late now. Or maybe really early. We travel south of the Cornucopia meadow for a few miles until the ground starts to get rocky, and there are less and less trees as we continue on. I move a medium-sized boulder near a small ledge in the rocks, forming a makeshift cave. We both sit inside and sip our water.

Then, all of a sudden, Clove shoves me. I fall over to the side, totally surprised. I hit my head on the boulder. Ow.

"Shit, Clove, what're you doing?"
She kicks my shin, and then she opens her jacket and reaches for her knives. She has one in each hand, and I scramble up, reaching for my sword.

"What the hell are you doing, Clove?" I say, fully awake now.

"You're going to lose, just face it," Clove says in a sadistic tone. She smirks and jabs one of her knives at me. I jerk backward. "You, against a District Two Career? Plus Thresh, wherever the hell he is?" She throws her head back, saying "Ha!" loudly. "Don't tell me you actually think you have a chance of winning."

"Um, I am a District Two Career."

She ignores me and jabs her knife again. I dodge it, and the knife misses me by two inches.

"You wanna play that way, huh?" I say. "Come and get me," I taunt.

She jumps at me, and I dodge her. I shove her to the ground, and when I move to back away, she dives and grabs my ankle, making me fall backward. She gets up quickly and then she jumps on me, holding her knife to my throat.

I laugh. "If you wanted to be on top of me that bad, all you had to do was say so," I say, throwing a flirty smile at her.

"Euch," she says. "I don't play for your team, loser. Besides, don't you have Lover Boy?" she says, eyebrows raised, her knife breaking my skin. I feel a trickle of blood drip down the side of my neck.

What? Did she just say Lover Boy? "Do I look like the Girl on Fire to you?" I say skeptically, my eyebrows narrowing doubtfully. That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. "Jeez, what's your problem?"

"Problem?" she says, smiling wickedly. "Once you die a slow, painful death…I don't think I'll have a problem." She shrugs mockingly, and her knife digs deeper into my neck, the sudden pain making me gasp.

"Speaking of Lover Boy-"

I shove her off me. It isn't really that hard, seeing as she probably weighs around a hundred pounds.

What is she doing? Apparently I have a sudden interest in Lover Boy? And she thinks Thresh has a chance at beating me? And since when does she want me to die a slow, painful death?

And what's that supposed to mean, she doesn't play for my team? Does she like...girls? That doesn't exactly sound right. She certainly seemed interested in boys back home. I vaguely remember Ronan telling me about my friend Corin's crush on her, and how she liked him back. How they would have started dating. But then we volunteered for the Hunger Games, so that'll have to wait until she gets back. If I don't kill her first.

For a split second I hate Corin. He's popular back home, like me, but the fact that he has Clove's attention just rubs me the wrong way.

Then it hits me. The tracker jacker venom. It's still in her system. She probably thought I was Katniss! Who else would she talk about Lover Boy to?

I grab Clove by the shoulders. "Clove," I say firmly, shaking her. "Katniss isn't here. It's me, Cato. It's m-"

"Shut up!" She shoves me backward into the boulder, and she raises her knife in the air and I see the knife coming toward my face, fast. I jerk my head to the side and Clove's knife stabs the stone. I move to grab her but she ducks and somersaults backward. I jump on her before she can get up and I pin her down on the ground.

"It's me, Clove! Chill a little, would you?"

"Mmmph!" she says. "Get off of me!"

I slap her. Hard. Full on across her face. I almost laugh at how utterly shocked her face looks, but I hold it in. Now's not the time for jokes.

"Now tell me, do you see Katniss Everdeen anywhere?"

"Um," she says, blinking twice. "…No?"

"Exactly," I say. I get off her and let her stand up. She brushes imaginary dirt off her pants and looks around. The sun is going to rise soon.

"Sorry," she mutters.

"Don't sweat," I say. Normally I would make fun of her, but she might not take it well in her current state.

Once she seems back to normal, I suggest going off to hunt again. Clove agrees and we travel west into the forest; that's probably where Finch and the two kids from Twelve are.

~*~*~X~*~*~

Clove

I see another rabbit in the brush. Cato, of course, just tromps along through the green like he's king of the world, and he slashes his sword around, pretending he's killing fighting someone. Idiot.

"Cato!"

Cato turns with a crooked grin and says, "Yeah? Did you wanna tell me how unbelievably hot I am? 'Cuz I'm all ears."

"Yeah, totally," I tell him sarcastically. I strain to look around his huge figure, but the rabbit is already gone. "There goes the damn rabbit, you idiot! You scared it off!"

He shrugs. "There'll be more," he says nonchalantly.

"That's the only one I've seen all day."

"There'll be more," he repeats, dismissing my words.

Then my vision starts to act up again. My temples start to throb, and suddenly the ground is rushing toward my face.

~*~*~X~*~*~

When I wake up, my head feels like it is going to split open. My eyes feel like they've been stabbed, and I throw up again and again and again until there's nothing left to throw up.

Cato studies me with worry, and he tells me I'd been asleep for a long time. It is night now, which means I've been out for hours.

He also tells me the tracker jacker venom just might kill me. Oh joy.

~*~*~X~*~*~

You know, sometimes the Gamemakers have these feasts. Sometimes they have food, other times they have the tributes gather just so they can fight. In other words, they hold feats when there're only a handful of us left to bring us together and provoke a brutal, bloody battle.

Back home, I always looked forward to watching them.

Now, I'm looking forward to fighting in one.

Why am I talking about feasts, you ask? Because Claudius Templesmith says there's going to be one, of course. Cato and I listen as trumpets sound and the man's voice booms across the arena:

"Congratulations, tributes, for surviving the Seventy-Fourth Annual Hunger Games into the final six. We will be holding a feast just for you."

Cato gives me a knowing smile, and I return it with enthusiasm.

"Now, hold on. Some of you may already be declining my invitation."

"Probably Katniss and her dying Lover Boy," I snicker. "Maybe Thresh too, seeing as he's too scared to come out of his little field."

"But this is no ordinary feast," Claudius says. "Each of you needs something desperately."

My laughter dies in my throat. We need food. Now. And , oh you know, maybe a little something for my tracker jacker venom problem wouldn't hurt, either.

"Each of you will find that something in a backpack, marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia at dawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this will be your last chance."

Cato and I are already up, gathering our supplies and getting ready to set off.

"If anything, Katniss will be there," I say. "She'll need something to fix up Lover Boy's leg."

"Yeah," Cato nods. "I'll take care of Katniss, you get Finch, and-"

"I can get Katniss. I want to kill her."

After a moment, Cato nods reluctantly. "Okay, then. As long as you make it slow." His lips curve up into a smile.

"Of course," I reassure him. I find myself looking forward to this feast more than anything now.

Maybe it'll be the grand finale.

~*~*~X~*~*~

This chapter was mainly a filler chapter, so tell me what you guys think in PM or reviews.

I'm also working on a story of some kids from District Four, and if you have any suggestions, questions, ideas or anything else, PM me.

I'm also working on a more thorough backstory for Cato and Clove, so if you guys want me to post that, I will.

Thanks for reading!