Cato waits in the Launch Room. He examines the clothes his stylist left for him and decides that the arena must be woodland. The uniform he wears now is similar to the ones used in forests, anyway. He glances at the tube that will take him up to the arena and the impending bloodbath. His fingers twitch in excitement and he can't help but wish he didn't have to leave so quickly after the gong rang.
The robotic voice comes over and announces that it's almost time to start. His stylist is filing his nails in the corner and nods to the tube, "You better get going boy."
Cato rolls his eyes and decides that after he's won he'll have his stylist fired. He steps onto the plate and waits for the rise.
The walls close around him and he's lifted through the tunnels through the dark until he's blinded by the sudden explosion of light in his vision. He blinks a few times and focuses on the ground until he can see again. He quickly does an assessment of his surroundings, pleased to see that he was right when he guessed that this year's arena would have forest in it.
He spots Katniss about five Tributes to his left. She's still blinking against the harsh light.
He makes sure he remembers where she's at as he continues to look at the others. Jason's almost right across from him.
Glimmer is to his right and the girl from 7 on his left. He looks to the Cornucopia and spots a bow with a set of arrows just outside the mouth. He looks from this to Katniss and sees her eyes on him. He nods towards the bow and she slowly looks to it. He knows her focus is on it and if she can just get it and get out quickly enough, they might just make it to tomorrow.
He knows what he wants is going to be inside the Cornucopia. He leans forward and gets ready to run; the clock must be draining of time.
He feels his heart begin to run wild, ready for the bloodshed to come. He fights the smile down and instead shows nothing but determination.
Finally, when he thinks he will stay on the pedestal for another thirty minutes the gong goes off. By the time several of the other Tributes realize what's happening, he's already halfway to the Cornucopia.
He's the first one inside and smiles when he sees the sword on the wall. He grabs it and turns just in time to see the boy from District 4, whose name he never learned, just arriving. The boy realizes his mistake just as Cato swings the sword and cuts from the junction between his neck and shoulder down to the center of his chest. He collapses in a pile of his own blood and gurgles for a few seconds.
He grabs the case for the sword and begins to grab other things he might want like a few heavy backpacks that, because they're in the Cornucopia, must hold many useful things. He slings them over his shoulder and heads out into the chaos.
The boy from District 11 runs right past him and Cato's half tempted to go after him. He doesn't though, realizing he probably has to find Katniss now. He raises an eyebrow when the boy from District 9 comes charging at him with a mace.
He deflects it easily and shoves the sword through his stomach.
This isn't like all the training scenarios they did back at the Academy. He knew that coming out here would be much different but he's surprised just how big a difference there is. The blood on his hands is real, the screaming ringing in the air is real. He pauses to try and figure out where everybody is. Mostly he wants to find Jason and kill him now. He also knows that this would displease the Capitol who was probably looking forward to some big finale. If Cato was anything, it was a servant to the Capitol.
He pauses when he spots the District 3 girl lying dead beside the bow and arrows. The violence is becoming much more wild and while he sure he can handle it, he's not so sure about Katniss. He tries to find her but to know avail. He even looks at the bodies on the ground but sees no brown braid.
The only moment that he feels any fear is when a knife flies past him, embedding itself into the throat of the District 10 girl. He follows the path the knife took and spots Clove with a full arrangement of blades. She would never miss a target and this is one of the few truths he knows. Luckily for him she is not looking in his direction but rather the beginning of the forest. He follows her next target and spots Katniss running with only an orange backpack.
Before he can even think to do anything the knife is out of Clove's hand and heading straight for Katniss.
There's a moment of terror that he really will have to go through the games alone, that after this it's him constantly looking over shoulder and waiting for the Careers to kill and humiliate him. But then the Girl on Fire lifts her backpack up and the knife embeds itself into the bright material.
Cato snaps himself out of his trance, though it lasted only a few seconds, at least two more people have died around him.
With his quick speed he manages to get to the bow and arrow before anyone else can think of it. He slings them over his shoulder but with the backpacks already there along with his sword case it's a tough balance.
He still manages it though and begins running in the direction Katniss took off into.
He nearly loses one of her arrows but readjusts the quiver on his shoulder so that it does not bounce as much.
In all the years he trained and aspired to be in the games, this part had never really come to mind. That is, running from the bloodbath. It was assumed that he would make the initial fight as gory and bloody as possible, then secure the Cornucopia before hunting down the rest of the Tributes. He did not feel fear as he ran down the hill into the deeper woods, just moments of anxiety as he glanced to either side of him and saw similar figures running. He wondered if they knew what he could do to them, that they would stay alive for now simply because he had to find this one girl.
After a while it didn't matter. Eventually it was just him running. Five maybe ten minutes went by before he wondered if he was going in the right direction or if she changed her course at all.
He wasn't winded or tired but began to slow down in hopes of seeing any clue of her.
He searches the ground for footprints and does see hints of recent activity. Branches snapped and dirt kicked up. No way of telling if it was her, another Tribute, or an animal. He follows the light tracks, head down and searching for any clues but ears still tuned in to any disturbances.
It must be two miles away from the Cornucopia when the canons finally go off. He pauses to listen to them and counts with each shot.
Ten dead, two by him.
He hears that modest sound of boots falling to the ground. He grips his sword behind his shoulder and is ready to pull it out. He immediately let's go and drops his arms to his side when he spots Katniss.
She looks slightly nervous between two trees, watching him curiously as though this was the first time they were meeting.
"Well you ran off pretty quick, didn't you?" he asks her, not upset, merely stating the facts.
She holds his gaze but snaps to her immediate right when she must hear some sort of noise. Eyes still gazing over the forest, she answers only halfheartedly, "I got distracted at the last second."
"What do you mean he got distracted?" he asked incredulously, how distracted could she be at a moment like that?
"Does it matter?"
If it gets you killed than it does. He almost blurts out but managing to catch it at the last second. It sounds too friendly for somebody he may just end up killing.
"I guess not."
Her eyes are still trained to the direction of the Cornucopia. "We should really keep moving."
Cato collapses onto the log closest to her. "We'll be fine here for at least an hour."
She looks at him disbelievingly, "You want us to just wait here for them to find us?"
He takes the bow and arrow off and sets them beside him where she can come and get them. Next he takes the two backpacks off and finally understands just how much they weighed on his shoulders.
"And who's going to find us so quickly? Outlying Districts we can kill. Jason and the others will secure the Cornucopia before they come hunting."
She still looks nervous as she comes to stand beside him, picking up the bow and shouldering the quiver. She slowly sets her orange backpack beside the two camouflaged ones he brought with him.
"They might be identical." He says, setting one of the bags on his lap and opening it to see what contents were inside. She follows his examples and takes up the other bag. She's surprised just how much they have, having never seen a Tribute in the Hunger Games have both a sleeping bag and an inflatable sleeping mat.
Cato's right to say that both bags are identical; they both contain the same items. They end up splitting what they can from her orange backpack, which doesn't offer much. She stuffs the bag under the log she now sits on beside him, it being completely useless in its color and the tear from the knife. She keeps the knife for herself. He puts up no argument why he should have it. They take a minute after they finish organizing to just sit there. Katniss relaxes in the woods and is almost able to pretend she's back home. Cato settles down, knowing full well that he's in the Hunger Games arena and finding comfort in this. He hopes for either an honorable death or a full on victory.
They finally let go of their fantasies and prepare to go further into the woods.