A/N Thank you all so much for your feedback on my fanfic so far. Thanks to all the reviewers and everyone who added me to their story alerts and/or favourite story list. I love you all more than I can ever tell you! (cheesy i know, but I do!) Muchos Amo xx
Cato shakes me into consciousness. "Clove. Clove! Wake up! There's going to be a feast!" He says.
"What?" I mumble drowsily.
"There was another annoucement while you were sleeping. It said 'each of you needs something desperately' " Cato explains.
"But what do we need desperately Cato? We have plenty of water. I guess that's the most important thing." I say, gesturing in the direction of the lake.
"We could do with some food though." Cato points out. "And my wrist isn't looking too great. I need something for it, it hasn't even begun to heal."
He's right. I reach over to change the dressing. I don't tell him, but it's looking worse. Cato winces as I wipe away the dried blood. Is it still bleeding? This is bad. He's extremely weak as it is. If he loses much more blood it could be fatal.
"Stay here." I tell him firmly. "I'm only going a little way. I won't be long." I lay him down and kiss his hot forehead gently. Shit. He has a fever as well.
I get up and dart out of the tent. I don't have to go far before I find what I'm looking for. Moss. Thick, green and soft. And most importantly, absorbant.
I grab a thick wad of the stuff and head back towards the tent. Cato spent most of last night drifting in and out of restless sleep, so when I see that he's sleeping when I return, I'm relieved.
I take his wrist and press the moss into the wide slit. Cato wakes up as I'm doing this.
"What are we going to do about the feast?" He asks as soon as I'm finished.
"Well we're definately going. We won't last long with the amount of food we've got, and you need medicine." I decide. I don't mention that this is my chance to kill Katniss. I still haven't entirely worked out what parts of the tracker jacker hallucination were real or not.
"We'll both go." Cato states.
"But-"
"Don't try to argue. It'll be fine. We can watch each others backs. I'll be OK."
I'm quiet for a moment. Weighing up whether this is an arguement that I'm likely to win, or whether Cato's just going to talk me into doing what he wants anyway.
I decide on the latter.
"Alright. The feast isn't until later today, we might as well get some more rest." I say.
Cato has that glint in his eye that he always gets when he knows that he's won. I hit him playfully on the shoulder and curl up next to him, defeated.
Cato falls asleep almost at once, but a thought is eating away at me.
First I think about who's left. Me and Cato, Katniss, Thresh and Foxface. There's three people between Cato and I and District 2. The thought makes me panic. I wake Cato.
"Cato." I whisper.
"Yeah?" He mumbles sleepily.
"I don't want to go home."
"What? Why?" He's alert now, his voice laced with concern. I decide to tell him exactly what's on my mind. This is one thing Cato doesn't know about.
"My dad. Now mum's dead, there's no one to stop him. He hits me. He yells at me and forces me into training. I guess he thinks it will make me work harder. It hurts Cato. He hates me."
When I finish, Cato stares at me in shock. Then he takes me into his arms and holds me close. I realise there are tears running down my face, soaking into Cato's shirt. He doesn't seem to notice, let alone care.
I'm angry with myself for crying. Showing weakness. We're probably losing sponsers as I speak. No one wants a tribute who breaks down all the time.
Cato handles the situation perfectly though. Not talking, just holding me. Letting me cry. After a while he whispers into my hair, "I'll fix it. We'll win, we'll go back to 2 and I'll sort it. It won't happen ever again, I promise."
And I believe him. I'm not sure what he's thinking, but I trust him.
A/N Sorry it's a bit of a filler chapter, the feast scene will be next! I would love your feedback, tell me what you'd like to see happen! Thanks guys, reviews mean the world to me, I reply to them all xx