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Ch. 16- Trouble in Paradise
The sun set a few hours later, dipping low beyond the thick green sprawling mass of jungle. They learned of who had died in the bloodbath as their pictures played out across the night sky. Of course none of the Career's had fallen, but that was to be expected. Finnick had caught some lizard-like squirrels which they roasted over the fire Prim helped build. Still there was no water and they were all parched from an exhaustive day. Now that the sun was down they quickly snuffed out the fire so as not to draw any Careers. Haymitch had also sent a gift during the evening. It was a small metal object, barely larger than Peeta's thumb. It was vaguely familiar. Yet nobody had a clue what the device was used for and so Peeta slipped it into his breast pocket for the time being hoping it would reveal its role to him at a later time.
Finnick offered to take first watch and let the others sleep. Cato looked exhausted from the battle earlier today and he passed out as soon as his head hit Peeta's lap. Prim snuggled against him on the other side and managed to fall asleep with just as much ease. Yet Peeta stayed awake. He knew if he closed his eyes he would only be able to see Portia's face and Snow's silver gun. And yet, as if to spite him, his body dropped off into the land of sleep almost immediately.
Peeta was back in the woods outside Twelve. A place he never thought he'd see again, let alone that he'd be there with Gale. They were training in the woods again and Peeta wanted more than anything to just reach out and touch him. To feel the warmth of his skin beneath his fingers and know they were real. That he was safe. But a troop of Peacekeepers stormed their training ground before he could touch him. Gale tried to fight them but he was overpowered. His arms were held roughly behind his back by two Peacekeepers and then Cato marched into the clearing. He loosened an unbearable look of hate at Peeta before gunning Gale down.
"Gale!" Peeta jolted awake with a shout.
Minutes or hours may have passed. He had no idea. All he knew was his heart was pounding a mile a minute and he had to get Cato off him. At some point it had started raining nearby. He could hear the pitter-patter of the rainfall, but everything was dry here. Peeta gently repositioned Cato's head so it was against the ground and then he got up. He wasn't sure what he was feeling anymore. But then when did he ever?
Standing over the charred ground of their campfire Peeta tried to shake the nerves from his body. It wasn't Cato's fault. He couldn't take it out on him. Peeta's mind was cleared of all those thoughts though when another voice spoke from the dark and spooked him.
"Who's Gale?"
Finnick was resting against a tree with thick ropes of vines scaling its trunk like veins. He was slowly twirling his trident in his hand idly while keeping watch. He was almost invisible in the darkness except for his brilliant green eyes.
"I forgot you where here," Peeta said after staring him down through the dark. He was so used to it being just Cato and he in the games that it was disarming to find they had company among them in their campsite.
"Think I was gonna run? Maybe kill you all in your sleep?" Finnick kept his voice light and taunting, but his sea green eyes remained un-amused.
"Not at all. I'm sorry, I should be thanking you for saving my life."
"That's the second time too, not that I'm counting."
A real smile quirked at the corner of his perfect cheekbones and he gave a wink. The flirty Finnick was back and Peeta relaxed a little. He took a seat across from him and began fiddling with the mockingjay pin, just to have something for his hands to do.
"It's raining?" Peeta asked, just for conversation.
"Yeah, started a bit ago. There was some lightning before that too and a bell that tolled twelve times."
"Know what it meant?" Peeta remembered in the last game how a bell would toll before Claudius made an announcement, like the feast or a new rule.
"No idea. It just preceded the bad weather."
They fell into silence. Weather was the worst topic of conversation for small talk.
"So, Gale?" Finnick prodded again.
Peeta looked up with a glare. "I don't want to talk about it."
That was not a topic for small talk by any means. Finnick held up his hands in surrender, the trident going up with them.
"Hey, I'm just sayin'. It's not too often that one wakes up with another man's name on his lips while cuddling with his fiancé."
Fuck, the camera's probably got that too then. Peeta tried to play it off. He rearranged his face into one of bored disinterest.
"It's nothing, just a bad dream. He's no one."
Finnick clucked disapprovingly.
"Denial is a tricky beast. If you're not careful you might start believing it and that's how we lose our minds." Finnick tapped his trident against the side of his head. He seemed to know what he was talking about from intimate experience.
"Not having trouble in paradise, are we?" Finnick was just continuing on in his typical vein of teasing, but Peeta was over it.
"And what do you know of love?" Peeta snarled, losing his cool.
He had finally snapped. He didn't need lecturing on relationships from a prostitute. Finnick's mouth snapped shut and just as quickly Peeta felt awful. He looked away and out past Finnick. In the distance a thick fog was building up among the trees and Peeta realized that the mysterious rain had ended while they were talking. The forest was silent once again save for the odd croak of a frog. In the distance the dense fog blanketed the earth like a cloud of cotton and slowly crept forward, throwing out tendrils like an octopus' legs. It must have been a reaction from the rain and so Peeta disregarded it.
There was a chill in the air now and not just because of the uncomfortable silence between Peeta and Finnick. He wanted to say something to make it better, but he also didn't like how easily Finnick could read him. It was disconcerting to say the least. Instead it was Finnick who went to speak first.
"Look I get it—"
"SHH!" Peeta hissed and jumped to his feet.
He reached for an arrow from the satchel on his back, but then remembered his bow was over by Cato and Prim. Shit. That was a rookie mistake.
"Don't move," He whispered to Finnick. But he ignored Peeta and stood, coming to look around the tree at what Peeta was staring at.
Peeta could tell the exact moment he spotted it because all the muscles in his back tensed and he brought his other hand to grip the trident, readying for battle. There was a man in the distance. It was too dark to make out whom he was, but he was running frantically. And definitely in their direction.
"What's he running towards?" Peeta whispered, now just behind Finnick. He hoped the man didn't see them positioned behind the tree. "Do you think he saw us?"
"I think the better question is what's he running from?"
The man was slowing, but still coming straight at them. He seemed to be limping now and before he had sprinted just fine. Suddenly he stumbled and collapsed. His right arm flailed uncontrollably. His head jerked backwards into the earth and his legs contorted. The fog that had built in the distance was now on top of him and Peeta just managed to make out a small choked off cry before he went still and then disappeared, enveloped by the fog.
"I don't know who that was," Finnick stated perplexed.
Peeta didn't either. He didn't see the problem in that. He'd rather not know him because that meant no fighting.
"Is he faking it?" Peeta asked.
He squinted, trying to see through the fog; anticipating an ambush now. But there was something else that was off too. The fog. It didn't move normally. And it was progressing forward way too fast. A sickeningly sweat odor invaded Peeta's nose and he snorted, trying to clear it of the smell, but it was overwhelming.
"Something's wrong…" Peeta pulled Finnick back. Everything inside him was screaming out in warning.
In the seconds it took Peeta to put it together the first tendrils of fog were upon them and he felt his legs started to blister.
"Run!" Peeta shouted. "Everybody RUN!"
Cato shot up with his sword pointed and ready for a fight, while Prim woke slowly. Then Cato saw the approaching bank of fog and wasted no time sheathing his sword, pulling Prim up and leading her in a sprint down the hill.
Peeta and Finnick took off right behind him, Peeta making sure to grab his bow on the way past the trunk they slept under. The fog moved too fast to be normal. It had to be another Gamemaker controlled element, like the fire from last year. It was tough going trying to run through the thick forest. It was stupidly dark and there were lots of bramble and vines to get tripped up on. His legs burned again, but not from exertion this time. It was a chemical pain. He could feel his skin blistering from whatever substance the poisonous fog contained. It prickled up his skin and the pain burrowed deep into his muscle like thousands of little ticks.
Finnick quickly out paced Cato as he was trying to help Prim not trip over the underbrush.
"Follow me to the water!" Finnick shouted.
It was the best option available to them and Peeta was yet again thankful to have Finnick on their side. At least for the time being. Even as they raced down the hill for their lives from a killer fog Peeta could never forget that at some point Finnick would turn on them. It was only natural if he wanted to live.
They never got more than a few yards ahead of the fog. It was quicker work going down the incline than when they hiked up it, but there were too many obstacles in their way and it was just too dark to trust flat out sprinting. And worse of all Peeta started to notice a new effect of the fog. His legs were beginning to twitch and spasm uncontrollably. He found himself starting to run in a zigzag due to the wild dance of his legs. This must have been the reason for that mans collapse in the fog. It worked against the nervous system.
Peeta noticed Prim was also struggling against the fog's effects. Her small body could only take so much before her legs gave out completely. Cato wasted no time scooping her up in his arms and carrying her. A flash of moonlight through the foliage revealed more disturbing sights. Prim's face was beginning to droop on one side like a soggy, wet bag.
This couldn't be it. They couldn't die due to some ridiculous Gamemaker created fog. Peeta wouldn't allow it. He put everything he had into his legs. But the poison was leeching its way into his brain and clouding everything up. His arms were beginning to spasm and his left eyelid was drooping closed.
"I—I can't see!" Peeta cried out in panic, his lifeless eyelid stalling his progress completely.
A creeper caught up around his ankle and he fell to the ground with a jarring thud. He couldn't even feel his legs anymore. When he tried to push himself back up the muscles in his arms seized and he collapsed.
"Finnick take Prim! I've got him."
Suddenly Peeta was lifted from the ground and the familiar jolting sensation of running resumed as Cato carried him. Peeta could see out his one good eye that the swirling mass of poisonous fog was just behind them, licking at their heels. It swirled and amassed behind them greedy for their pain. They were almost out of time.
"Ah, fuck!" Cato cussed as he stumbled down on one knee.
Peeta looked up into his chocolate eyes and saw the struggle playing out across his face as he tried to push himself back up. His muscles were beginning to give out too. Everything stung. The sickly sweet smell burned his nostrils.
"You can do it Cato. I believe in you."
With a forceful grunt Cato managed to get back on his feet and they stumbled through the forest. The ground began leveling out until they finally broke through the line of trees. Cato didn't see the heap of bodies in time and he tripped over Finnick and Prim, sending Peeta sprawling across the sandy beach.
Everyone groaned in pain and exhaustion. They had no energy left. The fog had sapped the life right out of them. He could feel his legs and toes twitching of their own accord, but his hand was suddenly submerged in warm water as the ocean lapped up against the beach and his sprawled out arm. It stung something fierce and he wanted to pull it free. The salt water wasn't helping his wounds, but then just as quickly it started to feel better. He looked up and saw thin wisps of smoke seeping from his pores. The water drew the poison out!
A look behind Peeta also revealed that the smoke had stopped. It was like it had run into an invisible wall and was piling up behind it thick and heavy with nowhere to go. If it were possible for fog to have an expression Peeta would have said it looked disappointed.
"It's stopped!" Peeta shouted.
Finnick's head popped up, covered in sand, and he looked behind him to witness the miracle. Either the Gamemakers had decided to give them a reprieve or it had reached the end of its area.
"Come to the water you guys, it draws out the poison."
Everyone slowly dragged their bodies the few remaining feet to the water then hissed and sighed in equal measures of pain and relief as the warm salt water drew out the chemicals. If the water healed them it seemed to completely rejuvenate Finnick. Soon he was diving in and out of the water like some sea critter, submerging so long that at points Peeta thought he might have drowned. Each time he reappeared Prim would clap and giggle like it was the best show she'd seen. Soon Cato and Peeta joined in with her. They were alive and it felt great.
The fog behind them began to rise up along its barrier and dissipate into the night air like a vacuum had suddenly turned on and sucked away all the poisonous mist. The forest returned to normal, but Peeta didn't trust it. His eyes scanned up and down along the curve of the beach until they caught movement. He saw further down to his right some type of animal hanging from the trees. He picked up his bow and arrow and moved in for a closer look.
They were monkeys. About half the size of a person with long club like arms and orange fuzzy hair. They swung from branch to branch and were congregating at the edge of the forest line. They watched Peeta's approach with a cold eye. He notched an arrow on his bow. One of those would make a great meal.
Suddenly all the monkeys began to howl menacingly. Their orange fur stood on end and they dispersed. They moved with preternatural speed and leapt unbelievable distances from tree-to-tree. They headed deeper into the forest until lost from sight. Peeta quickly unleashed a slew of arrows at the remaining monkeys, but he missed. A few embedded in the trunk of a tree.
"I think those were Mutts." Cato stated, coming to stand next to Peeta.
"Where do you think they went?" Peeta asked. He was perplexed by their behavior and why they stayed in the line of the trees, but never crossed over into the section of the forest where the fog had been. Maybe they were smart enough to know what was the fogs territory.
A bloodcurdling scream echoed from the depths of the forest along with a cacophony of ferocious howls and Peeta had his answer. The monkeys had gone to attack someone who had crossed into their terrain. By the sounds of it they were tearing her apart. Peeta cringed at the thought of being ripped apart by those monkeys' vicious limbs.
"I'm going to retrieve my arrows, cover me."
Peeta then ran forward to get the nearest arrow lodged in the trunk of a vine covered tree. The woman's screams were like nails on a chalkboard, grating at Peeta's ears and leaving a discomforting feeling in his stomach. Then just as suddenly as it began everything went quiet. There was something off about what had just happened, but Peeta quickly lost his train of thought when he pulled the arrow free of the tree trunk. It was wet to the touch.
"Peeta, I hear them in the trees! They might be coming back."
He placed the arrow in his sheath and abandoned the other two as he ran back with Cato to Prim and Finnick, who were watching them from the water's edge.
"The trees! They have water in them!" Peeta exclaimed with excitement.
"How do you know?" Prim asked.
"My arrow pierced a tree trunk and water leaked out." Peeta pulled from his breast pocket the metal object. "I knew I'd seen this before. It's a spile. It gets sap from trees, or water here I guess."
They quickly tested Peeta's theory on the nearest tree and rejoiced as water began to pour out of the small spout. They each took turns quenching their thirst. Then they decided to spend the rest of the night on the forests edge. They didn't want to head back into the jungle yet for shelter while it was still night, not trusting its safety. Peeta took first watch while the others drifted in and out of a restless sleep. Soon after the sun rose they heard a roar so loud and ferocious it set birds flying from their perches in the trees.
"What was that?" Peeta sat up and looked around for the source. "Another mutt?"
Cato was on watch now and he pointed across the beach with his sword at the opposing side of the Arena.
"Look, you see those trees shaking. Something big is over there."
"Then I say we give that place a wide berth."
Finnick sat up and wiped the sleepers from his eyes, also awoken by the wild roar of the beast.
"The jungle seems to be teaming with things waiting to kill us. We've got to figure this arena out." Cato said, using his sword to help him stand.
Everyone was still sore from the toxins last night and the lack of sleep. It was most obvious on Prim's face. She was already developing purple bags under her eyes. Peeta went to her and asked if she was doing okay.
"I'm fine."
Peeta stared at her.
"Seriously, Peeta. I'm okay. I'm not a baby."
"I never said that." Peeta ruffled her hair just to spite her and she slapped at his hand. He backed away laughing.
"I suggest we head back into the jungle now that its day light. Hike as high as we can and see if we can get a lay out of this Arena. Maybe it'll help us figure things out." Finnick offered. "Lets try the section of the forest where the monkeys were. They're gone now, but I think we could take them. I'd rather them than that damned fog again."
"At least they're something we can fight," Cato commented in agreement.
With everyone agreed Finnick caught a few fish for everyone to eat before they headed back into the jungle where they had witnessed the group of monkey muttations. It was hot and muggy within the confines of the jungle. Branches and vines reached down at all angles to impede their journey and annoying flies flitted around their heads, either drawn by the smell of their sweat or unleashed on them to annoy them to death. They never came across any of the monkey mutts during their journey, which Peeta was both thankful for and worried about.
Through out the day strange noises echoed across the Arena and at one point they heard the unmistakable sound of a rushing tidal wave. The sound of roaring water along with the booming snaps and cracks of breaking tree limbs echoed across the Arena as the wave crashed through the forest. Everyone paused and listened to the unstoppable force when—BOOM! A cannon fire quickly ensued shaking everyone out of their reverie. Another tribute was now dead.
Peeta was left with a disconcerting feeling in the back of his mind like he was missing something. It was that feeling like there was something on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't name it. Something he had thought of earlier, or been on the verge of and then forgotten. It bothered him through out the day on their hike like the swarm of flies around his head. They heard the tolling of the bells and lighting again. All the different noises were off putting to say the least. Peeta never knew what was coming next. This whole Arena was a death trap. Peeta figured the audience had to be privy to the knowledge of the workings of this Arena. They were probably screaming in frustration at their televisions for them to figure it out all ready, but the truth of it eluded them.
Finnick decided they had hiked far enough inland and began to climb a large knotted tree swamped with vines. Prim was tired and so she plopped down on a tree root nearby, working to screw the spile into the trunk for a much needed water break. Cato joined her while Peeta waited anxiously at the base for a report.
"The whole Arena is like a giant circle with the beach and Cornucopia at its Center!" Finnick called down from the treetop. "The only other landmark I can see is a giant charred tree in the distance and the spot on the beach where that tidal wave must have crashed through."
Like a slap to the face Peeta suddenly realized it. What he had forgotten early in the morning, what was off and had been bugging him. The cannons!
"Finnick, do you remember that guy last night?" Peeta called up to him.
"Yeah," Finnick grunted. He could hear Finnick beginning his climb back down to them. Bark and dead leaves rained down upon him on the ground. He shielded his eyes as he called back up to him.
"Why—" Peeta broke off when he heard more tree limbs being shaken and displaced. Leaves, twigs and chips of bark scattered down from the thick canopy all around them. They were coming from all directions. "Oh my god, get down now!"
"The mutts!" Cato roared and unsheathed his sword, spinning around and chopping a monkey in half with one fell swoop as it leapt from the tree directly behind them.
Suddenly they were everywhere—at least a dozen of the vicious beasts if not more. They were howling like deranged humans and hacking at them with razor sharp claws on their club like arms.
Prim screamed as one dove from the tree above her, straight at her head. All it's teeth were bared and it was going straight for her neck. Peeta notched a bow and loosened it in a fraction of a second, nailing it between the eyes. It fell lifeless atop her.
Finnick landed with a hard thud right in front of her, a monkey attached to his back and biting into his shoulder. Peeta aimed another arrow at that muttation and hit it in the back, right through the heart.
"Get Prim, put her in the center of us!" Peeta ordered.
Finnick didn't waist time. He ripped Prim from her spot on the ground and dashed with her over to Peeta and Cato. She was placed in the center of them and they fanned out around her in a defensive circle. Cato hacked and chopped with his sword, now covered in goopy red blood and tufts of orange fur. Peeta fired his bow left and right, aiming for hearts and eyes. But there were too many of them and they were fast as lightning. The mutts figured out they couldn't attack from the sides so they started to come down from above them.
"Look out!" Prim screamed in warning and Peeta looked up just in time to see a mutt launching straight down atop him with its claws and bloody fangs bared. He moved to turn his bow up to take it down, but there wasn't enough time. Then suddenly it howled in pain and rolled in the air to the left, landing before him dead. There was a small knife protruding from the side of its skull. Peeta whipped to look at Prim. She shrugged and then began chucking more of the knives with an expert eye.
"There's too many!" Finnick shouted.
"We can't take them—AH!" Cato cried in pain.
A mutt had launched itself atop him and was now laying into him with its claws. They shredded right through his spandex jumpsuit and tore at his flesh. With out thinking Peeta tore the knife from the dead mutts head in front of him and dove at the thing on Cato. He knocked it from atop him and they went tumbling across the jungle floor. The monkey's jaw was inches from his face, snapping violently. Its foul breath smelled of rotted flesh. Peeta was using all the strength he had to hold it back with his left arm out in a defensive position. Then he brought the knife in his right hand up into its chin, killing it instantly.
When he stood up he saw the monkeys had separated the others from each other, Cato and Prim were still relatively close together, but Finnick had been pulled off to the side and Peeta was furthest from any of them now. Suddenly three more monkey mutts flanked him from the left as he tried to rejoin the fray. He loosened more arrows at them but they were too quick, dodging them with ease.
"Run!" Finnick cried. "We can't fight them all, run!"
Peeta abandoned the fight with the approaching mutts and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He noticed a shimmer in front of him, but he could feel the breath of the mutts hot on his tale and didn't think about it.
"PEETA, STOP!"
But it was too late. What ever Finnick had been trying to warn him about was lost because Peeta had just run into what felt like a brick wall. There was sound like a lightning bolt striking a tree and the smell of burnt hair before everything went black.
"PEETA, STOP!"
The shout of warning was different then all the other cries since the mutts attacked. Finnick's voice was panicked. It struck a chord in Cato that set of a reaction he hadn't had since they were in the games last time. Peeta was in danger—more so than just now with the mutts.
Cato threw a powerful kick at the nearest on coming monkey and it yelped in pain. He felt bone crack against his foot. Then he whirled around, sword at the ready to attack whom or whatever was threatening Peeta. That's when he saw him run into something he couldn't explain. He just smashed into thin air like it was a plate of glass. Then Cato noticed a shimmer that shot up the invisible glass encasing or whatever it was and a loud crack emitted before Peeta was blown backwards.
Everything seemed to stop. Even the mutts were startled by the sound released by the barrier. Cato wasted no time. He ran straight for Peeta lopping and chopping at the monkeys within reach. He killed one more, but the rest dispersed into the trees for some reason. Almost as if they had all been called back into the wild at the same time by their master—the Gamemakers probably.
"Peeta! Peeta!"
It was a chorus of Peeta's name. Everyone was shouting it and there was no response to be had. Cato reached him first and threw himself beside Peeta, feeling him all over for a wound. Something, anything that he could find to fix and make him better. But he wasn't just unconscious, he wasn't breathing!
"He's not breathing! Fuck! FUCK! His hearts stopped!" Cato listened against his chest cavity and he heard nothing, just deafening silence.
Panic flooded him system like a morphling drip to his veins. It was all he could feel. His heart was on fire and on the verge of burning a hole through his shredded chest. Prim and Finnick gathered around Peeta and a sudden bout of guilt hit Cato in the face like an attacking mutt because he realized he'd just abandoned Prim. If anything had happened to her and Peeta found out he'd never forgive him. But right now Peeta needed to be breathing to be angry.
"Step back. Give me room!" Finnick demanded. His tone was serious and his pretty boy features were now hardened as he crowded over Peeta's lifeless body on the ground.
Prim started whimpering and Cato reached out hand, putting it on her shoulder. Her small body was trembling as Finnick suddenly leaned in to kiss Peeta.
"Woah! What the fuck?" Cato roared as he gripped Finnick by the back of his collar and ripped him off Peeta. He knew not to trust the pretty boy from Four. "I said help him, not fucking molest him!"
Finnick pushed back at Cato, right against his slashed chest, and he stumbled backwards. Finnick's chest was puffed out and his green eyes flashed in warning.
"I am trying to help him and I suggest you back off before it's too late."
Ignoring the throbbing in his chest Cato moved forward to watch Finnick closely as he went back to press his lips against Peeta's. But this time Cato noticed he wasn't kissing him, he was pushing air into his opened mouth. Then Finnick laid his hands atop the center of Peeta's chest and started doing compressions. He was counting softly under his breath before stopping and going back to pushing air in his lungs.
The seconds moved at an agonizingly slow pace. Cato had tunnel vision and all he could see was Peeta's face, pale and unmoving. It wasn't natural. His face was usually full of so much color and life. It was his favorite thing to look at. He could spend days studying Peeta's face. Learning and cataloguing all the different expressions it made. All of a sudden Peeta's body shot up with a gasp, air sucked in to refill his lungs, before he collapsed back against the dirt.
"Oh!" Prim squeaked in shock, jumping back behind Cato.
Cato collapsed to his knees in front of Peeta and gripped his hand in his. His chest was now breathing normally, rising and falling in a normal rhythm, but he remained unconscious.
"What's wrong with him?" Cato asked of Finnick, but his knitted brows and confused eyes revealed he knew just as little as Cato.
"Peeta? Peeta?" Cato began to shake Peeta, but his body just slumped and rolled with the movements like a ragdoll. If his chest weren't moving with silent breaths Cato would fear the worst again. But maybe it was something else…
"His pacemaker!" Prim exclaimed, "What—what if whatever he ran into broke it!"
His blood ran cold at that thought. They were trapped in the middle of an unforgiving jungle with no access to medical supplies. If his pacemaker truly had given out then it was only a matter of minutes before his heart gave out. He couldn't voice those thoughts though. It was unimaginable.
"No, I hear his heartbeat. It's going steady." Finnick said with one ear against Peeta's chest. Then he sat back on his haunches, hands placed on either hip as he analyzed Peeta. "It's like he's—"
"Comatose." Cato finished for him gravely.
He stood up and kicked out at the dirt. He wished those mutts where still here because he had a bloodlust building in him like a growing fire and it needed release. This couldn't be happening, not again. He was barely strong enough to make it through the last time. Peeta couldn't keep doing this to him!
"We need to find shelter. Wait it out and hopefu—" Finnick dropped off in the middle of his sentence, his head cocked to the left.
Cato's whole body tensed. He was on high alert for anything now and then he spotted it through a clearing of two trees to his right, charging them with weapons at the ready. Asasia had the lead, flanked on either side by Cashmere and Gloss. Cato raised his sword ready for the next fight when suddenly Primrose let loose a shriek in warning and Cato was tackled to the ground from behind. His sword knocked from his hands.
They fell to the ground and Cato's chin hit the earth first, disorienting him. He thought he heard Prim say something, but then Finnick ordered her to hold her ground. Something about protecting Peeta. Yes, that was all that mattered.
"You're screams lead us right to you, Ryves."
It was Enobaria's rusted voice. She spoke directly into Cato's ear, the tip of her pointed teeth just grazing along his helix. Enobaria had one hand on the back of his head, pressing it hard into the dirt, with both her thighs planted firmly on either side of his back holding him down.
"What happened to your boyfriend?" Enobaria huffed a laugh. He could see Finnick and Prim holding defensive positions in front of Peeta while the other Career's stalked in front of them in a stand off. "Did his weak heart finally give out? That's a shame, Asasia won't be happy. But at least I still get mine."
She bit down on Cato's ear and he roared in pain. Her razor teeth pierced right through the soft cartilage of his ear, mangling it. Hot blood trickled down his face and into his left eye, blurring his vision. He could see out of the peripheral of his right eye when Cashmere and Gloss finally attacked Prim and Finnick while Asasia circled, ready to go in on Peeta once he was left out in the open. The rage inside him finally boiled over and at the perfect moment. Enobaria let loose a wild scream and her grip on him loosened. Cato pushed off the ground with all his strength, swinging an elbow behind him and connecting it with Enobaria's ribs. She howled and rolled off Cato. He shot up, gave a swift kick to Enobaria's head that knocked her sprawling on her back and he noticed the small knife embedded in the side of her breast courtesy of Prim. He scrambled for his sword before diving in front of Finnick's body, bringing his sword to clash with Gloss' in a harsh screech of metal.
"Get Peeta to safety!" Cato roared at a confused Finnick. Finnick's eyes flicked about, taking in the scene before him. He realized their odds weren't pretty.
"Don't you dare fucking try to stay and help!" Cato warned, parrying backwards and hitting him with his hip as he swung the sword around and went for Gloss' exposed left arm. Finnick understood and he turned to run and grab Peeta.
"No you don't!" Asasia yelled as she finally joined the fray charging Peeta's motionless body. Luckily Finnick was faster and he'd scooped Peeta up in his arms and took off down the hill as Asasia's spiked club thudded against the dirt where Peeta had just been lying. Cato breathed a little easier and went at Gloss with renewed vigor.
To Peeta's left Prim danced in circles with Cashmere, both of them holding small sharp and deadly knives in each clenched fist. Prim's face looked nothing other than determined as she faced off with the brutal beauty from one.
"It's such a shame to take the life of someone so young and pretty," Cashmere cooed at Prim. "But that's life for you." She shrugged then ran at Prim, slashing wildly with her nimble arms.
Cato locked swords with Gloss and then shoved him backwards. He had to get to Prim. With Peeta safely out of the picture his next task was only finding safety for her too now. But Gloss wasn't stupid. He kept on Cato hard, never giving him an inch of space or a free moment to escape towards her with out inflicting serious harm to his body. Prim suddenly cried out in terrible pain and he made the mistake of turning to look at her. Gloss bashed the butt of his sword into the side of Cato's jaw, sending him spiraling. Gloss then caught him and held him hostage, sword against his throat.
"You're gonna want to watch this," Gloss gloated.
Struggling frenetically, Cato felt the blade of the sword slip against the skin of his neck and more blood trailed down to his chest, joining the old. Everything on him was bruised and sore, but he couldn't just stand and watch as Cashmere lashed at Prim. Primrose was fast but tiring. There was a cut to her arm and one across her abdomen, but she kept her feet moving fast and quick and Cashmere hadn't been able to land a killing blow. Yet.
Then Asasia came in from the right and suddenly Prim was helpless as the brutish female from Four took her captive. Cashmere giggled like some twisted schoolgirl, twirling the blade between her fingers. Cato searched for Enobaria, but she was unconscious on the ground where he'd left her thankfully.
"I think I'll cut your throat. Nice and slow. You'll really get the full experience as your life slips from your body," Cashmere gloated.
"Oh just do it already or I'll snap her fucking neck," Asasia barked.
"Please…" Prim whimpered.
"NO! No, kill me! Let her go and just kill me instead!" Cato begged.
"Shut up." Gloss warned, tightening the sword against his neck further.
Cato gasped in pain, but it was nothing compared to the anguish that lanced through his body at the thought of Prim dying right before his eyes. For a brief second he was transported back home, to District Two. When an angry mob of his enemies was descending on him and the last thing he saw before blacking out was the cold fear in his little sister's eyes.
"Prim, Prim! It's gonna be okay!" Cato shouted. He knew it wouldn't be, but if he could help her find comfort in these last few moments then maybe it would be...
"J-just close your eyes and think of home!"
Prim's olive eyes were filled with fear. She looked at Cato, at all the blood and bruises covering his body and knew all hope was lost. And so she closed her eyes, just like he said. A foul smirk slid across Asasia's face as Cashmere lifter her blade, ready to slash it across Primrose's pale, delicate neck.
"NOOO!" Cato screamed as Cashmere sliced out at Prim's exposed throat.
In the flash of an eye a body launched forth from the foliage. No two. Cato's eyes watched in stunned fascination as the two morphlings from Six dashed into the center of the fray. The girl caught Cashmere's arm just in time—stopping it mere inches from Prim's throat—and she bit into the flesh of her forearm.
Cashmere let out a piercing scream and Gloss roared in rage, completely forgetting about Cato and rushing to her aide as the male morphling took a small stick he'd whittled to a point and jabbed it through Cashmere's neck. Arterial blood sprayed everywhere from Cashmere's neck. The stick must have pierced a main artery. She'd bleed out in seconds, gurgling and choking on her blood. Gloss snarled in pain as he charged forward, like he too had been stabbed in the neck before hacking with the sword. In one powerful swing he decapitated the male morphling. BOOM! A cannon sounded.
"Cashmie! Cashmie!" Gloss chanted in numb pain.
Asasia threw Prim to the ground and lifted her club, ready to finish what Cashmere couldn't when—BOOM—the cannon sounded again. Cashmere was dead and Gloss was howling like a dog. Cato swooped in, lifting Prim into his arms and took off into the jungle before Asasia had time to figure out what had just happened.
Prim sobbed into his shoulder, her hands clawing into his back, as he raced away from the scene of the carnage. The last thing they heard was one more resounding BOOM, most likely marking the death of the female morphling, before all he could hear was the sound of his ravaged breath and his feet pounding against the earth.
So another long chapter finished. I think I'm outta breath after everything that just happened, how bout you? What are you thinking now? What do you think is to come? I'm very interested to know! Big, big, big things are in the pipeline! As always, your reviews and thoughts are always loved and encouraged!
Xoxo,
Crobb07
