Chapter Thirteen: It's About Time

"I've been thinking," Cato mutters to me after he wakes me up. "This whole thing, allying with Lover Boy… I think after we get Fire Girl we should kill him. He won't be useful to us anymore."

"Good," I reply. "Have you realized that there are twelve tributes left in the arena and our alliance is made up of seven of them? Think about it. If we kill off all the others it's just going to turn into another bloodbath – and as fun as that would be, that's not really how the Games are supposed to work."

He grins. "So, if we can find Fire Girl in the next couple of days and kill her, we'll get rid of Lover Boy too. Then… once the mines are set up we might as well kill the kid, since there won't be any point in keeping him around any longer. Then… then Marvel. He's the least useful out of all of us, and he gets on my nerves."

I consider this. "Sounds good to me. Who else is out there?"

"Four of them," Cato says. "Both from Eleven. The girl you thought you saw yesterday. The boy from Ten, with the bad foot."

"Good," I say. "We'll get to a couple of them, and then I think we should get rid of Shell. Maybe we should eliminate Eleven first, since Thresh is probably the biggest threat."

Cato scowls – I know he's still irritated with Thresh. "Right. After we kill Shell, we'll get the other two – Five and Ten – and then take care of Glimmer."

"And after that… it's just us," I say quietly.

He nods. "Just us." Suddenly he grins. "Should be a good fight."

I force a smile. "Definitely." I can't help hoping, though, that someone will kill Cato first, so I don't have to.

"I hope that all works out," he sighs. "I mean, it doesn't really matter what order we kill them in, but it would be really convenient if it worked out like that…"

"Yeah, it would," I agree.

"Alright," he grumbles, "help me wake the others up."

"I'll get the girls," I tell him. "You can deal with Marvel and Lover Boy." I'm surprised he doesn't complain, but it is only waking them up. Actually, I expected at least a couple of our allies to be difficult to wake up – as in, attacking whoever wakes them – but that hasn't been a problem, oddly enough.

"Are we going hunting?" Shell asks when they're all awake.

"Of course," Cato says, looking at her as though she's crazy. "We're going to stay in a group today."

He turns slightly to look at me. "What should we do with the kid?" he asks so that I'm the only one that can hear.

I shrug. "Leave him here. He won't run away. He knows we'll find him if he does, and that it won't go well for him."

Cato looks reassured. "Kid!" he barks, and the small boy jerks awake. Cato marches over to him. "We're going hunting. You're staying here. I want to see progress when we get back, do you hear?" The kid nods frantically. I don't point out that Cato wouldn't be able to tell if any progress had been made. "If you run away, I will find you, and I will kill you. Painfully. You have no idea how long I can make it last – just be aware that it will be horrible." The kid's eyes are widening in terror, and he's almost shaking. Cato turns back to us with one last threatening look, and we prepare to leave.

"You know the drill," I tell everyone. "Grab a weapon and let's go."

Cato pulls me to the side. "Here," he says, and hands me a pair of – sunglasses? "I found two pairs last night. One for me, one for you."

"But what – oh!" I exclaim. These aren't sunglasses – they let you see in the dark. I've seen pictures of these, back in District Two. "Thanks, Cato!"

"I think we'll be out pretty late tonight, we might need them," he tells me. I grin, and our alliance heads into the woods.

For the first hour, I feel great – well rested and certain that today we'll be successful. But the further into the woods we get, the more doubtful I become. There's no sign of any other tributes, even though I was so sure that today would be the day that we'd find someone…

I try to pass the time by talking to Glimmer – it worked well enough yesterday, after all. "So, what's with the new weapon?" I ask curiously. She's carrying a bow and a sheath of arrows, though she does have her axe hanging at her waist.

She shrugs. "Just felt like a change. Axes are great for close-up kills, but I figured I should have something that works for distance, too."

We talk quietly for a while, and before I know it, the sky is dark. We're all growing restless, but Cato refuses to give up.

"No!" he snarls when Lover Boy tentatively suggests heading back to camp. "We're going to kill someone before we go back. If you have a problem with that, you will be that someone."

I stifle a yawn – I'm not tired, really, or at least that's what I keep telling myself – and dig the night-vision glasses out of my bag. I put them on, and the world brightens.

"Maybe we should stop for a few minutes," Shell suggests. "It'll be easier to keep going if we do."

"We really should, Cato," I say quietly.

He huffs impatiently. "Fine. Just a few minutes!"

We all collapse on the ground – excluding Cato, of course. I close my eyes wearily, but they open again in seconds – the anthem is playing. There are no faces in the sky tonight, which is very discouraging… it's just another reminder that we're failing.

I think I doze off. I'm sure the others do too, and I guess I trust Cato not to kill me in my sleep. But after what feels like thirty seconds, he's yelling at us all.

"Get up!" he shouts hoarsely. "Get up, now! We need to move!" I blink – what's the rush?

Then I start coughing.

Smoke! And where there's smoke, there's –

"Fire!" Cato shouts. "Let's go!"

I don't wait for the others, but they catch up. We all sprint away from the huge wall of fire descending upon us, narrowly avoiding being overcome by the flames. And then – then fireballs are being launched at us, not very many, but one grazes my left arm and it hurts – and it's so hot, and the smoke is choking me.

"Oh, well done, Clove," Cato manages to spit at me as we run. "This is your fault! You just had to ask the Gamemakers for something to draw us together, when we were hunting before – and now this!"

"My fault?" I cough. "Oh please, Cato, they would've done something like this sooner or later! And you'll be thanking me if we end up catching someone!" Which I doubt we will, not with this fire. But I have to think positively.

"Shut up, both of you!" Shell screeches. "We need to keep moving!"

And we do – I'm not sure how much time passes, but we keep running, and occasionally dodging the fireballs, and I'm not thinking about catching the other tributes – only about preserving my own life. I won't die this way.

Finally – we seem to be out of range of the fireballs and the huge wall of fire. I fall onto my knees and cough like I never have before. A few yards away, Glimmer and Shell are retching. Lover Boy is shaking, and Marvel is hanging onto a tree for support. Cato grips my shoulder while I continue to cough. I don't know why, but I'm glad, because I know I'm not alone with all this. I bury my face in my hands for a long time.

Then I look up – and through a gap in the trees, I see her.

I gasp involuntarily – Fire Girl's just sitting there, a couple hundred yards away, and I can't even tell if she's awake. I nudge Cato and he narrows his eyes in her direction. "Gotcha," he whispers.

I get up silently and creep over to each of the others, pointing out the girl in the distance. One by one, their faces light up, and we begin to make our way in her direction. Quietly.

Marvel – I'm going to kill him!

He's running now, and we have no choice but to run after him, because Fire Girl has jumped up and is sprinting away from us. Cato and I quickly overtake Marvel, and we chase Fire Girl.

"Hurry up!" I call to the others. I'm surprised at how raspy my voice sounds, but I suppose smoke does that.

"Wait for us!" Shell cries out. I ignore her.

Glimmer is suddenly behind me. "We've almost got her," she coughs.

She's right – we've almost caught up with Fire Girl – except that now our target is scurrying up a tree. Damn, I think. She's up at least twenty feet by the time we catch up with her.

I lay a hand against the tree, panting. Back in District Two, I ran several miles every morning as part of training. Brutus would time me, and I was always pretty fast. But I've had to run so far today, and I'm exhausted…

"How's everything with you?" Fire Girl calls down to us. What? Did she really just say that? Just great, I want to reply. At least, it will be, after we kill you. Want to come on down and make it easier?

Cato answers her. "Well enough," he says. "Yourself?"

"It's been a bit warm for my taste," she says casually, and I'm struck with an odd desire to laugh. "The air's better up here," she adds. "Why don't you come on up?"

Cato smirks menacingly. "Think I will."

Glimmer pulls the bow and arrows off her back – and for some reason, I see Fire Girl glaring fiercely at Lover Boy. "Here, take this, Cato," Glimmer offers. But Cato refuses.

"No," he says. Thankfully, Glimmer doesn't look offended, especially when he adds, "I'll do better with my sword."

Really, Cato? A sword? It's just so… unoriginal.

I know he doesn't have a chance to reach Fire Girl. He's just too heavy. I don't know why he's even trying – well, yes, I do. Cato, for some reason, thinks he needs to do everything himself. A large part of it, I think, is that he's angry that the girl in the tree outscored him in training.

Cato only gets about fifteen feet up the tree before he steps on a flimsy branch and falls – by this point, Fire Girl is another thirty feet up. Cato hits the ground hard, but he's back up in seconds – and all of Panem is being educated in the finest swears District Two has to offer.

Glimmer tries next, but it's just a waste of time – Fire Girl is up so high that to see her, I have to crane my next so far back that it hurts, and although Glimmer makes it further up than Cato did, the branches start to crack after a few minutes and she's forced to stop. She has her arrows, though, and the bow – she tries to shoot Fire Girl. At first I'm hopeful that an arrow will hit her, but it soon becomes clear that archery is far from Glimmer's specialty. "Dammit," I hear her mutter when an arrow misses Fire Girl by just a few feet.

I do have to admit that Fire Girl has nerve. She waves the arrow above Glimmer, taunting her. "You know," Marvel says quietly to Shell, "she might've actually been a good ally…"

I smack the top of his head, and Cato glares.

When Glimmer finally climbs down, the six of us form a circle. "Okay – obviously, we need a new plan, because this isn't working," I hiss.

"Really?" Shell asks sarcastically. "I never would have guessed."

"Shut up," Cato snarls. "We need to think of a way to get her to come down! She made us look like idiots – she has to die!"

"Pretend to leave?" Glimmer suggests. I shake my head.

"No, she's up too high, she'll be able to see us. Something else…"

Marvel leans forward. "Okay… here's an idea. We could pretend to offer her a spot in the alliance. She'll come down, thinking it's safe, and then we can kill her!"

I snort. "She wouldn't fall for that."

"Oh, let her stay up there," Lover Boy says scathingly. "It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning."

Well… he has a point. There's no way she could get past us. Escape is impossible for Fire Girl at this point.

We set up camp directly under the tree. Glimmer volunteers to guard – I let her, but I don't let myself fall asleep. Not tonight. If something happens, I need to be alert right away. Especially if it has to do with Fire Girl…

The anthem plays, and the Capitol seal is shown, but just like last night, there are no faces in the sky. We have Fire Girl treed, though, and that should be enough for the audience for tonight. A few minutes after the sky goes dark again, it sounds like Fire Girl says something – but I don't hear anything after that, so I let it pass. Must've been my imagination…

After about an hour, I start to get tired. No, I think, furious with myself. Not tonight. I try to occupy my mind, thinking of ways to get Fire Girl down from the tree. I can't come up with anything, though – not because I'm an idiot or anything, but because when I'm tired my mind doesn't seem to work properly.

Eventually, I'm forced to give in – only because Glimmer's guarding, and I don't think she'll kill me in my sleep either. I let my eyes close, and lose consciousness.

For the second time in less than two days, I wake up to the sound of chaos.

"Clove! Get up!" Cato yanks me to my feet. I'm confused, but I feel a sharp sting on my wrist and I decide not to question whatever's going on. I hear Glimmer shrieking, but I just hold onto Cato and run.

"What's going on?" I cry.

"Tracker jackers," Cato says wildly. "She – there was a nest in the tree, she dropped it on us – Glimmer and Shell both got stung pretty badly, I don't know if they'll make it."

Tracker jackers – one of the deadliest Capitol muttations that were created during the war. I run faster, but three more wasps manage to sting me – my shoulder, my cheek, my ankle. This is worse than the fire.

"To the lake!" I hear someone – Marvel or Lover Boy, I assume – shout from behind us. I can hear Glimmer calling for help, too, but we don't turn around – there's no saving her at this point. Besides, this is the Hunger Games, and you just don't save people in the arena.

"Ow!" I shout as I get stung again, this time on my other wrist. Suddenly, Cato stops running.

"Go!" he tells me. "I'll meet you there!"

I don't bother telling him to come with me – I don't even watch as he turns around and sprints back to where we came from. I just keep running, and after twenty agonizing minutes – two cannons go off during this time – I reach the lake.

Nothing could ever compare to diving into the water. Immediately, the stings hurt just a little bit less, and I know none of the wasps will be able to follow me. Even the small burn on my left arm feels better.

I hear another splash as I break the surface of the lake – Marvel. Cato and Lover Boy are nowhere to be seen… and I know that Glimmer and Shell must be dead. The cannons I heard earlier were theirs.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. Shell was irritating, but Glimmer… well, I can't say she was my friend, but she was a good ally. I got along with her, never really felt like I was dying to get rid of her. But she's gone now, and in a way I'm glad that Fire Girl killed her… now I won't have to.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I shouldn't care who I kill. It's the Hunger Games. If I end up killing all my allies, what's the big deal? They're just obstacles between me and the life I've always wanted. I decide that I don't care about Glimmer's death, or Shell's – well, I don't have to convince myself about the second one.

I climb out of the lake when I see that all the tracker jackers have gone, and Marvel follows me. "Where are the others?"

"Glimmer and Shell must be dead," I sigh. "I heard two cannons. Cato… I don't know. Or Lover Boy."

He shakes his head. "Great."

Suddenly the kid breaks the surface of the lake – I didn't even know he'd jumped in. "Are they gone?" he asks wildly.

"Yes," I say dully. "You can get out."

I realize that I'm freezing – that's the last time I jump in the lake. So I walk – well, more like limp, thanks to the sting on my ankle – over to the pyramid of supplies, pausing a few yards away. "The mines aren't rigged to go off yet, are they?" I ask the kid. He shakes his head, so I grab a jacket that's lying near the bottom of the pile.

I'm a bit warmer when I hear an explosion go off near the edge of the clearing – wait, no, it's just Cato. Damn, he's loud.

"He's going to die!" he hollers. "Both of them are going to die!"

I stare at him, shocked. "Cato, what – "

"Lover Boy – he's been helping Fire Girl this whole time! I knew it!"

I don't have room to be shocked, because the pain is back. The water helped for a little while, but now my stings are throbbing like mad.

"Cato," I say weakly. "We – we need to – the venom – "

"Clove?" he says uncertainly.

My vision starts to blur, and everything turns blue, and then orange – more effects of the tracker jacker venom, I'm surprised this didn't happen earlier. Must have been because of the water… it must've held this off… but now, the venom is doing what it's supposed to.

I collapse.

Sorry for the wait, I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I didn't get a chance. This chapter was really fun to write, if a bit difficult at certain points. I hope you enjoyed it, though. :)

So, I have a new favorite word. Can you guess what it is? Six letters, two syllables, and the definition, according to Webster's Dictionary, is a critical evaluation of a book, play, etc. (in this case, a fanfiction story). I know none of you are idiots. You know as well as I do that the word is REVIEW! :D

~What the Quell