CLOVE'S POV
The morning of the feast is cold. I wake to find Cato's torso practically on me.
"Cato" I groan.
His voice groans back in the morning hour. He pulls himself up to his knees. We both know the plan. He will keep watch, while I grab our bag. In the morning air, I can see my breath for the first time. Way to go gamemakers. Cato and I stalk the cornucopia that now holds four bags. Each of them with a number, in cronological order. Ours is first.
"Twelve?" I ask.
"No. Just ours, we don't need trouble, not until my hand is stronger." He glances down to the palm of his hand that is crusted over in infection. In the flash of an eye, a ginger comes darting like a fox with her bag. She dissapears into the forest. Cato and I exchange glances. He nods. It's time. Just as I begin to creep from behind the brush, Cato grabs my upper arm. I take in his eyes.
"Give them a show." He says as a reminder.
I grin slightly and nod. He pats my shoulder. I sprint to the "feast", and take the long way. Sure, I could drive straight for the bag, or I could wait behind the tail for her.. I know she is coming. She has to be, anything to save her lover boy. There's a rustling of brush, I hear it, and it's not from the direction of Cato. It's then, I see her in the corner of my eye. When I turn the corner of the cornucopia, I know she is there. She is there, and I know exactly what I have to do. I promised a show- a show to Cato, to the Capitol. I throw a knife, and it gazes her forehead. It doesn't stick, but leaves an awfully deep gash in her temple. Dammit Clove! Throw harder. Katniss is desperately trying to load the bow, and manages too. But even the best miss. She misses twice. That's when I tackle her to the ground. I pin her shoulders to the ground. This is it Clove. This is it.
"Where's your boyfriend, District Twelve? Still hanging on?" I remember to ask, Cato's sword sunk pretty deeply into his leg the last time we saw him. Should've killed him then, but would there have been a rule change then? There's not doubt in my mind that the rule change wasn't for us, it was for them. Stupid 12.
She snarls her words right back at me; "He's out there now. Hunting Cato." She screams his name into the air. "Peeta! PEETA!" My fist meets her throat. I look from side to side quickly. No blonde male. No one to save her.
"Liar." I grin sadistically. "He's nearly dead. Cato knows where he cut him. You've probably got him strapped up in some tree while you try to keep his heart going. What's in the pretty little backpack? That medicine for Lover Boy? Too bad he'll never get it."
Dramatic. Choose your words for the show Clove.. make the Capitol love you, not her. I grab a knife from my jacket. It's one that I've used quite often in this arena. So it's dainty, and the blade is curved. Katniss is struggling beneath me, when will she learn? Don't struggle, it will only make it worse.
"Forget it, District Twelve. We're going to kill you. Just like we did your pathetic little ally . . . what was her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue? Well, first Rue, then you, and then I think we'll just let nature care of Lover Boy. How does that sound?" Where to start, where to start? I ask for her opinion.
"Now, where to start?" Do I go for the open wound? No. Too cliché. Should it be a pattern? No. I'm not into Satan. However I'm thinking it might just be lovely for her. The blood from her forehead is running towards her eye. No. No, she needs to see me. She needs to see her death knocking. Katniss bares her teeth and lunges for my hand. I pull her hair, and forcefully throw it back to the ground- where it will stay until the hovercraft picks her lifeless body up.
"I think . . . I think we'll start with your mouth." She got to kiss her boy in the arena. I didn't. I don't get to do that. God forbid the world know about Cato and Clove, the star-crossed lovers of District Two. My rage is growing, I'm getting excited. I outline her lips. Brutus always said to show them what we were made of. So I am. Right now.
"Yes, I don't think you'll have much use for your lips anymore. Want to blow Lover Boy one last kiss?" I tease. Her response is a mouth full of blood and saliva. Wrong answer.
"All right then. Let's get started." My knife tip sinks into the bottom of her lip, but I am forcefully thrown from her. I start to scream, I know Cato won't disappoint.
"CATO . . . CATO! CATO!"
District Eleven corners me. "What'd you do to that little girl? You kill her?" I scramble backwards. This certainly wasn't a part of the plan.
"It wasn't me!"
"You said her name. I heard you. You kill her?" I only respond by screaming Cato's name. It booms off the cornucopia. I heard him. I hear his voice.
"CLOVE! Clove!" He's sprinting, I can see it. Eleven has a rock dangling above my head. It's coming closer, and it's coming fast. But the rock drops and only has impact on my chest. The wind is knocked out of me. I cough hard, trying to catch air. Cato is on top on the boy from eleven. He's full of rage, and I can see it in his anyerisims. This is the Cato that belonged in the games, the one that is full of vengance, rage, hate. The Cato I hate is breathing and alive right now.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" He screams at the boy underneath him. This Cato is worse then the one that pinned Marvel. Eleven is struggling and manages to push Cato off of him, but I have caught air now. Twelve is on the brink of the clearing. She isn't the enemy right now. The boy that is a threat to the life that Cato and I deserve, is. I stumble to get up on my knees. My knives. My knives. I can aim!
Ready. Aim. The knife leaves my hand.
Fire.
I can hear the impact of it hitting flesh. Eleven is in a hunch, and Cato throws him down. The knife is deep in the back, and with that last throw, Cato has sunken that knife into his spine. The boy has blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. Cato stands over him.
"Nice try." He sputters his words.
I can hear the last words of the boy on his death bed. "Go. to. hell." and just like that he is gone. I grin, and collapse to the ground, my chest feels bruised. Really bruised. Cato is by my side in an instant.
"Clove. Look at me." I have my eyes locked on his. I know I'm not dying, but my chest hurts. Cato grabs the bag that lies just yards away.
CATO'S POV
I hear her screams. I stop in my tracks and sprint to where she is. District Eleven has a rock over her head. Not today, I've almost lost her before. No one will take her away from me today. We win together or not at all. All these thoughts run through my head as a hit the boy to the ground.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" I scream, searching for my sword. I can feel my muscles tensing, and my face as hard as stone. He has pissed me off more then I had even known was possible. He struggles and refuses to go down without a fight. Soon he has me as the victim. Shit. I tried to play superhero to Clove, and it's going to cost me my life. Not unless- I put my hands around his neck.
Bend forward and snap. The quicker the better. But I don't even get past bending his head forward, when his face changes to agony. I flip him onto his back, blood comes running from his mouth. I know I didnt- Clove sits on her knees, her head down trying to catch breath. She threw the knife that saved my life. And I just jammed it into his spine. I stand up, and wipe the corner of my mouth. I lean down and whisper;
"Nice try." His hand reaches for my face, it's a weak grasp. I hold his hand, he lifts his head an inch or two off the ground.
"Go. to. hell." are his last words. His eyes lose life, color and expression. Another life, but it wasn't Clove's. I turn around to see Clove on the ground, her hand on her chest.
"Clove. Look at me." she does as she is told. I retrieve the bag and open it- there's medicine, ontiment, bandage wraps, a bottle of pills, and a note.
It explains that the pills are for pain, and will cause no side effects, and the ontiment is for deep gashes and bruises. I unzip Clove's jacket, and pull down her shirt. Her chest is red. I put the ontiment on gently. She laughs.
"Try not to get carried away." I know what she is referring too. There are no bags to be taken. Twelve is gone, five's is too, and Eleven's. Eleven's remains unclaimed in the field, next to the lifeless body of the guy. I remember his name then-Thresh. Thresh is dead. Which means there are only five of us left.
Team Two, Team Twelve, and the girl from five.
I pick her up, and carry her back to the small camp site just off the clearing. Once back, I set her down to the only blanket we have. I lay down beside her.
"You. Saved. Me." She says slowly, as she turns her head to meet mine.
"Of course, Together or not at all. Sure, this is a shit hole, but we win together." I tell her. Clove moves ever so slowly into me, I hold her so close. I almost lost her. I almost lost the one person I've been trying to protect.
Two cannons sound in the arena, it is what wakes me from the sleep I must've fallen into. Immediately I reach for Clove, her body is still there, her chest rising and falling. Is it District Twelve? The sky is dark, and the Capitol symbol appears. The faces of the fallen. Tonight, it's District Five, and District 11. No one else.
"Almost victors." Clove's voice surprises me. I nod to her in the darkness of the night.
"Only one pair of lovers can win." I tell her. Just like old routine, I pull her into my chest, and we drift into sleep.
CATO'S POV
Clove is shaking me awake. I go to grab my sword, but she tells me no. As I wipe the groggy eye sight away, I see what she is trying to show me. Her jacket is off, her shirt pulled down to expose where the dark bruise would've been. There is nothing. I smile, she smiles back.
"It worked." I say, pointing out the obvious. Her eyes roll- unamused. Then her brown eyes widen, and she grabs my hand. Healed.
I make a fist to check, but there isn't a sliver of pain. We smile at each other. They aren't smiles of happiness, but smiles with a drop of evil. Ruthless. It's official that we are in this game. There is no doubt. Whether the crowd is cheering for the star-crossed lovers of District 12, or the unknown loves of District 2- it doesn't matter. They're going to get a show they won't ever forget.
"So, when do we finish this?" her voice has urgence.
My sword goes into the air, just as it did the night I killed the girl with the fire, I catch it. "Now."
Clove is on her feet within an instant, her head moves slowly down to up- looking into my eyes. "Today."
An orange backpack is thrown to her shoulder. I shove the small black bag into an open pocket then zip it shut.
"Ready?"
"Almost victors Clove."
"Two more kills."
"Give them a show."
"Always." on her tip toes she kisses my cheek. "Always."
