I am so sorry for the wait! Long story short a member of my extended family passed away. We weren't close but I was obligated to attend the funeral. Anyway, enjoy the update.
Katniss forces down her thirst and takes only small sip as they trek further through the woods. She's not exactly sure where they're going and doubts Cato has any real plan. With the sun already descending in the sky though, she hopes he at least has an idea for tonight.
She constantly looks behind her, always half expecting a Career to be standing there. About three hours after the bloodbath when she turned around to take a look, there had been a deer that caused her to nearly jump out of her skin.
Cato pays almost no attention to her, constantly looking for where he wants to go next. At first she followed almost obediently, but now she was becoming tired of trying to put the pieces together.
She still walks behind him but decides to finally raise her voice. "Where are we going?"
He glances over his shoulder like he's half surprised to see her. "Higher ground."
"Why?"
"If we get a base camp that nobody can find then we can leave all this stuff and go from there."
Katniss looks for higher ground and sees very far in the distance a series of cliffs that are in their general direction. Now that she has a target she's able to focus on it and walk with a little more confidence. It's still exhausting, but she refuses to show any wavering in her steps.
The only time she really pauses is when a cannon goes off. Cato doesn't so much as flinch and she has to remind herself that he's been working for this his entire life.
The trees are tall and she knows she could reach some of the highest points if she were to climb one of them now. She looks at the branches and the rough bark of each tree and pushes away her longing for home.
For now, she follows Cato despite the blisters growing on her feet.
Katniss's mother refuses to look away from the TV. Some are worried that she was slipping back into the depression she once had after her husband's death, so Hazelle Hawthorne offered to stay with her and Primrose for the time being.
Most of her kids were at the house which was just fine with Prim. She liked that Posy would occasionally cry and break the silence. She liked that Rory tugged at her braids whenever she began to cry or that Vick could attempt to remind her that Katniss was the best there was.
The person Prim wanted to see the most was nowhere to be found. Gale's the only one who would tell it to her straight, tell her exactly what was going on and how sick it was.
Prim doesn't hate the boy from District 2; she's just reluctant to trust her sister with him. When he had announced that they were allies during Caesar's interviews her mother had let out a shriek and Prim had begun to shake. She also noticed, from the corner of her eye, Gale Hawthorne snarl at the TV and ball his fists up.
He didn't leave the house until Katniss's interview was over, when she confirmed her alliance and left the stage.
Prim hadn't seen Gale since. His brothers mentioned that he was in the forest all night. Now that the games had officially begun she wondered if he even knew that Katniss was alive and well with Cato.
On the screen now she watches the Careers get ready to go out for some 'hunting' in which Jason already called dibs on Cato and Clove on Katniss. Her mother whimpered and buried her face into her hands while Hazelle rubbed her back.
They briefly show the District 5 girl making a shelter at the base of a tree not far from the Cornucopia.
It shows in great detail the Careers killing- no, slaughtering - the District 8 girl.
The creaky old door opens at the front of the house and Prim whirls over to see Gale slowly stepping in. His body is covered in a fine layer of dirt. He slowly takes a seat beside his mother before cautiously looking to Prim.
"How is she?"
It floods from Prim's lips before she can even stop herself. "She's alive and with that boy." Her chin wobbles and she slowly breaks down into sobs, pulling her knees to her chest and burying her face between them.
Rory or Vick comes to sit beside her and reassure her that it's going to be okay. She doesn't lift her head until the cameras switch and Katniss is on screen once again.
The temperature in the arena drops quickly after the sun sets. The sweat on Katniss's skin begins to dry while the chilled air hits her with enough intensity that she zips her coat up to the base of her throat. The sun is gone and the sky quickly dims as they settle in a cave. She looks around her surroundings and has to applaud Cato for his choice of setting tonight. She doubts any other Tribute traveled as persistently as they had today. The point was, they probably wouldn't have to deal with another Tribute or Career for at least another day.
She slowly sets her bag down and does as Cato does, looking further into the cave for any danger.
The cave ends pretty quickly, leaving no room for escape if they were to be ambushed. Neither Katniss or Cato worries about this for the time being.
The light begins to fade from the arena and the two of them settle down for the night, unrolling their sleeping bags but not quite getting into them just yet.
They have beef jerky for a quick dinner but their manner of posture could not be more different.
While Katniss is stiff and pointed to the mouth of the cave where she watches for any movement, Cato is leaning against one of the jagged walls with his head pointed in her direction but his eyes looking at nothing in particular.
They both pause when the Panem national anthem is played, followed by pictures of the dead. Cato watches indifferently as images of people he killed show up. Katniss holds her breath until the segment ends with the District 10 girl.
"So should I take first watch or should you?" she bites out, sparing him a glance for only a moment before looking back into the arena.
"Neither. How about we just go to bed now?"
She gawks and tries to find the words to tell him what an idiot he's being. "Has it not occurred to you that we can be killed at any moment?"
"I can almost guarantee that there's nobody within a mile of this place."
She's about to argue but instead finishes her jerky and instructs him to go to bed. "I'll take first watch."
She watches the forest surrounding them very carefully, looking for any movement that could give away an animal or human.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the only problem she finds throughout the night is Cato snoring. That alone will give them away, she thinks.
The first hour after he'd gone to bed and the snoring had started she was unsure what to do. It wasn't necessarily loud but in the silence surrounding them it was deafening. She attempted to wake him up the first time, shaking his shoulder and hissing his name.
The snoring had stopped for a moment before he cracked one eye open completely alert and asking her what her problem was.
"What's my problem? Your snoring is going to attract every living creature in this place."
"I don't snore."
"Yes you do."
He rolls over on to his side so that his back is pointed to her. "Give me another hour." She huffs and takes her seat once again. It was silent for a few minutes before he started again.
"Cato."
Snore.
"Cato."
Snore.
Finally, exhausted with her paranoia and the noise, she picks up a small pebble and throws it in his direction. She's not sure where the pebble hit him with the total darkness of the cave, but it works because suddenly she is left in silence.
She takes a handful of pebbles and whenever he begins with the noise again she simply throws a tiny stone in his direction and feels satisfied when he shuts up for at least a minute.
It is only when she can barely keep her head up anymore, not even with her new activity, that she gives up on keeping guard and goes to wake him. He doesn't put up much of an argument this time, compliantly getting out of his sleeping bag to take watch for her.
She takes her boots off and crawls into her own sleeping bag. To her amusement and his confusion, when he stands up, dozens of little pebbles falls from him.