CupcakeSprinkles14- That's too bad about her laptop, but it's better that a laptop gets dropped down the stairs than a cousin! Yes, Cato is definitely not the patient type. I think Peeta is his kryptonite when it comes to making wise decisions in the arena.
Pale Is The New Tan- If camping was anything like the Hunger Games, I would have died a long time ago, haha. I barely make it out of the woods alive as it is, I couldn't imagine having to also fight off tributes. Your descriptions of my story are probably the best thing ever. You always make me laugh. You are an explosion of wonderful awesomeness too.
Rolyn- Yes, who knows what's going to happen? Hell, I don't even know yet, haha. Keep up that curiosity; it's a good thing :)
Myurra-K- Oh my goodness! Your review means a lot and I totally agree. I actually love Katniss in the original story. I think she's a strong female heroine and I certainly didn't want to put her down just because I wanted to write a Peeta/Cato fic. My story may not be about her, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to put her on the sidelines. It makes me happy you appreciate that. Thanks for the wonderful remarks.
MangoMagic- Lol! Yes, Coral is a total bitch! But karma is an even bigger bitch as you'll soon see in this chapter ;)
Abysslullaby- Thank you! I'm glad you like it. If you want some Peeta and Katniss action, this chapter should wet your appetite a bit.
The next morning, the Careers awoke to a peaceful view of the clearing before heading out to hunt down the remaining tributes. With 10 already dead from yesterday's bloodbath and six of them in the Career pack, that only left 8 tributes to take care of before it would be time for the Careers to face off. That showdown typically ended the games with a bang. As much as Cato longed to be a victor of the Hunger Games, he was hoping it took them a while to find all the tributes. He wanted to find Peeta first and have his fun before things got too intense. Part of Cato wanted to drag out the games as long as possible so he could spend as much time as he wanted with the boy. His priorities in the arena were clearly off, but he couldn't help it. Peeta was forbidden fruit. A tribute destined to die by his hands like any other tribute. But Cato couldn't help but admit that if he was anywhere else but the Hunger Games, he would claim Peeta and make him his forever. He was sheer perfection: strong, cunning, skilled, brave and looks to die for. Well, not die for. Cato was still determined to win these games at all cost. But what seemed to send him over the edge was the air of mystery surrounding district 12's star tribute. Where does a boy from district 12 learn to fight like that? Every step of the way, Peeta managed to capture the heart of Panem. Now it seemed he was trying to capture Cato's heart too. The brute refocused and collected his gear as all the Careers set off into the morning dew to hunt down their prey.
Back at the rock shelter by the river, the alliance of 11 and 12 awoke to a not-so-peaceful view. Peeta stirred in his sleeping bag to the smell of smoke. Thinking one of his alliance had started a campfire to cook breakfast, he rolled over to catch a few more minutes of precious sleep. It was Rue's screaming that ripped the boy from his semiconscious slumber.
"Get up! Everybody! Now! The forest is on fire!" the little girl shrieked.
Everyone in the rock shelter bolted up to see what Rue saw: the entire forest around them engulfed in flames. They quickly threw their supplies together and jumped into the river. As they waded through the water, a giant fireball launched at them out of nowhere. "Heads up!" Thresh bellowed. They all dove beneath the water's surface and the blast collided with the river bank. The explosion of rock rained giant pieces of rubble and woody debris on them. Their precious rock shelter had been reduced to ruins. There was no turning back now.
"We can't stay here!" Peeta shouted to the others.
"We need to get out of the forest now!" Katniss barked.
The group hurriedly sloshed through the river onto the other bank and began running for their lives. Fire literally rained down on them as their whole world burned. The flames were cooking the air, burning their throats as they panted through the chaos. Suddenly, another fireball ripped across the forest and hurdled itself in between the allies, sending them all flying. Katniss and Peeta tumbled violently down a steep hill and landed in a painful thud at the bottom. As they recovered, they noticed they were now alone.
"We lost Rue and Thresh!" Katniss cried through the roar of the flames.
"We just got separated. There weren't any cannon blasts. They'll be okay. We just need to get out of the woods to safety and we'll meet up with them later," Peeta assured her as they started running again. Little did they know they were running straight towards trouble...
As the Careers trudged through the woods, the image of huge smoke plumes rose from the distance. They walked towards the action until they found themselves at the edge of a valley.
"Whoa," Marvel stated wide-eyed as the wall of fire appeared on the other side of the valley. "Good thing we weren't camping over there. What do you think is happening?"
Cato knew exactly what was happening. A version of it happened every year. The Capitol was infamous for manipulating the arena in order to herd straggling tributes to where there was sure to be carnage. "There are tributes over there," he informed his ally with a sadistic grin. "The Capitol is literally smoking them out."
"Look!" Coral exclaimed. "Over there!" Bursting out from the tree line on the opposite end of the valley were the visibly exhausted and soot-covered pair from 12.
"Like lambs headed for the slaughter," Glimmer maliciously beamed.
Cato felt giddy as he and his pack raced towards the battered tributes who soon took notice of their enemy's advance. "Shit!" Peeta cried as he grabbed Katniss. "We've got company!"
The two immediately ran back into the blazing forest. They would take their chances with the smoldering timber rather than face the deadly group barreling down on them now. But they were severely exhausted from their previous exertion through the woods and knew the fresh-faced Careers were gaining on them.
"We have to try and pick them off!" Katniss called to her partner running beside her. She reached back to her quiver to grab an arrow and turned back to the Careers. The girl on fire drew back her bow and shot with deadly accuracy an arrow that lodged deep into Coral's throat. The district 4 female immediately collapsed, sliding her face into the dirt while her cannon burst through the arena.
"Coral!" Cast screamed as he looked back at his fallen partner. He turned back to meet face-to-face with Peeta's tomahawk spinning through the air. The squished thud it made as it embedded into his skull was sickening. The boy from four dropped only a couple feet from his dead partner before his own cannon went off.
Peeta and Katniss turned back to give every ounce of energy they had left into moving their feet towards escape. The remaining Careers were now determined more than ever to hunt down their prey as two of their own pack lay dead. Clove took out one of her throwing knives and chucked it at Katniss. The girl from 12 could hear the whoosh of the blade whirling through the air and instinctively dove to the ground to dodge the attack. Rolling her body through the leaves, Katniss' wild movements caused the strap of her quiver to detach, leaving her without her arrows. Before she could crawl back to retrieve them, Peeta had grabbed her from the ground and pulled her forward to keep running. "We can't stop for anything!" He barked. They had to keep as much distance as possible between them and their predators. But now what was Katniss supposed to use as a weapon? Luckily for the two, a tree suddenly combusted and collapsed right in between them and the Careers, buying them some extra time to increase their gap. The Career pack was left on the other side of the blazing timber, figuring which way to go to get around it.
As the pair from 12 continued to expertly maneuver their way through the blazing forest, Katniss was scanning her surroundings for aid. Sure enough, she spotted their relief high up in an untouched tree about 50 yards away. The tree was covered in vines that were crawling their way up the trunk and dangling all twisted from its branches. High above rested a nest. "Peeta! We need to scale that tree over there! There's a tracker jacker nest we can use to our advantage!" They ran over to the vine covered tree and began scaling it. Katniss was lithe as a cat as she ascended the trunk, while Peeta had to use his knives to dig into the bark and pull himself up. "Peeta, give me one of your knives so I can cut the nest off of the branch," she called to him. Peeta tossed his last free knife up to her and he soon found his grip slipping from one of the knives rooted in the tree. The boy slipped and began falling, tangling his body in the vines that were hanging from the tree. "Shit!" he grunted as he struggled in vain against the vines. He was caught in the tree vines, hanging upside down only a few feet from the ground and the more he struggled, the more he seemed to get tangled.
Blood rushed to his head as he saw the Careers had found their way around the fallen and flaming timber. They were now approaching Peeta menacingly. He felt like a bug caught in a spider web and the Careers were the black widow that had returned to engorge on its new feast. The forest had finally stopped burning; the flames strangely sucked away. The Gamemakers must have thought that the fire did its job since Peeta was now left unarmed and dangling helplessly in front of his enemy. The Career pack slowly strutted their way to the trapped boy, grinning wildly at the position he was caught in.
"Well, well, district 12. It seems you were just 'hanging' around waiting for us to kill you," Glimmer cackled. "Well here we are."
"I hope a bird shits on your face today," Peeta snarled at her. That was the best comeback he could manage with all the blood rushing to his head. It still had an effect though, as Glimmer scowled and came at him, brandishing her dagger.
"Now now, Glimmer," Clove interrupted as she stepped in between her ally and the boy tangled in the vines. "I believe Peeta belongs to Cato. He's not ours to touch."
"I don't belong to anyone!" Peeta spit back at her.
Cato's eyes glistened hungrily at the boy. Peeta was tangled upside down in the vines. Gravity had shifted his shirt down to his nipples, exposing the purple peppering of bruises Cato had given him the day before when he dug his hands into Peeta's waist at the bloodbath. Cato walked arrogantly over to the struggling blonde and sensually caressed Peeta's waist over the bruises. "I believe these bruises say differently. I marked you yesterday. You're mine."
Cato licked the soft skin of Peeta's exposed abs as the boy struggled against the vines helplessly. The other Careers sat back and enjoyed the show, clearly oblivious to Katniss' exertions high up in the tree. It wasn't long though until they got a rude awakening.
"Hey losers! How about I give you all some marks of your own!" Katniss shouted down at them from the treetops. All the Careers looked up at her, startled to see in her hands a giant tracker jacker nest. The venomous insects were lying dormant from the smoke that had filled the woods, but they were waking up now as their buzzing grew louder. The Careers instinctively started running and when they were a good distance away from her trapped partner, Katniss chucked it as far away from her and Peeta as she could towards the running Careers. The impact it made with the ground jolted the resting insects into a mad frenzy as they busted out of the nest and attacked the Career pack. They all got stung as they tried to escape, but Glimmer stumbled and fell. The swarm descended on her and stabbed her hundreds of times, injecting her with an exorbitant amount of poison. The young beauty's body swelled and bubbled as her flesh melted from the acidity of so much venom. The bitch wasn't beautiful anymore. Her cannon boomed and Katniss immediately climbed back down from the tree to try and free her partner before the insects made it back.
Peeta was holding still for Katniss to cut him loose when he heard the loud buzz of the swarm approaching. "Just give me the knife and run!" he screamed at her, still hanging upside down like an idiot. "I'll cut myself out. There's no use in both of us getting stung. Just save yourself! I'll come find you."
Katniss hesitated before handing him the knife and running for dear life. Peeta hastily sawed at the vines entwined around his limbs as he felt the first sting of a tracker jacker. He cried out in pain as he finally cut himself free. He dropped to the forest floor in a slump. One more tracker jacker stung him before he managed to escape.
As Peeta stumbled away, he felt his fingers and toes tingle. His vision blurred and he had no idea where he was going. He was fortunate enough to escape with only two stings and he still had at least enough sense left to keep moving. Suddenly, he felt strong arms from behind him as they wrapped around his torso and he was brought down to the ground. He still had his wits about him, but the venom was slowly working its way through his veins and taking control of his body. He was turned over to face Cato who was now straddling him. The brute's eyes were glazed over and he seemed to sway drunkenly, obviously stung by a couple tracker jackers himself. Peeta couldn't help but notice the world around him was spinning as his own venom was taking effect. He closed his eyes and waited for Cato to thrust his sword through his chest. Instead, he felt the older boy's hand creep up his shirt to the bruises again, tenderly rubbing the spots. Peeta opened his eyes to find Cato looking back at him remorsefully, keeping contact with the younger blonde as best he could as his own world was going in and out of focus. The older blonde's speech was slurred as he spoke to the boy beneath him.
"I d-didn't mean to grab you so hard. I hurt you and I didn't mean to."
Peeta was stunned by the sincerity in the Career's voice as he stared into his emerald eyes. "I'm fine," Peeta slurred back. "You didn't hurt me. I'm the one who slammed your head against the cornucopia." He felt his head swimming as he delighted in Cato's tender touch and the Career's fingers trailed higher up his shirt. The venom was clouding their senses. Did they forget that they were still in the arena?
"Are you going to slam my head again if I don't stop?" The older blonde stuttered out as he went to sloppily run his fingers through the younger blonde's hair.
Peeta's vision was only worsening as time was passing. His whole body was tingling now from the venom and his mind felt like slush. Staring up at the distorted vision of the boy above him, he seemed completely lost in the overpowering sensations taking over his body.
"I don't want you to stop," he whispered sheepishly and Cato reached down to lift the boy up to him. Still straddling the younger blonde, Cato supported the back of his neck as he kissed his lips, savoring the little nibbles Peeta was returning. He wrapped his other arm around the younger boy's back to pull him closer and deepen the kiss. He gained dominance over Peeta's tongue and explored the boy's mouth with heated desperation. Peeta grated his fingers down along the older teen's back, and rested his hands on his ass. Squeezing a generous handful of Cato's firm cheeks, the Career choked back a groan as he thrust down onto Peeta's pelvis. The younger blonde threw his head back with a moan and Cato dove in to run his tongue across Peeta's exposed neck before covering it with nibbles and kisses. Both the tributes were in complete ecstasy when the venom had finally fully worked into their systems and the hallucinations began.
The tingling that Peeta once felt turned into an excruciating burning in his veins and he screamed when he opened his eyes and saw what lay on top of him. It wasn't Cato. It wasn't even a man. It was a monster. He saw a dark mass drenched in blood looming over him and bearing its fangs. The arena around him was filled with red-eyed shadows now creeping towards the baker boy. He cried out in desperation as he kicked and clawed his way from the horror. He crawled out from underneath Cato and ran as the Career agonized over his own body's sudden burning. Cato's hallucinations consisted of everything melting around him. He was assaulted by the distorted image of mutated tracker jackers flying at him, their bodies now the size of the brute himself. He didn't even notice Peeta had ran and Cato was left to stumble away as the forest floor was crawling beneath him, turning to maggots.
Haha, there's always something that interrupts these two. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Hopefully it wasn't all over the place. Am I going down the right path with this or is there something else you'd like to see? Let me know!