Author's Note: I hope you like this chapter, I've been thinking about school work for a few days so it took me a while to get this finished. I hope you like Clove's POV, I had to think about where I was going to come from in terms of her character. Please review and feel free to give suggestions to me, it improves my writing. Enjoy!

Chapter Nine – Prey

Clove's POV

The four of us ran through the forest of the arena, Cato leading and Marvel pulling up the rear. If I were Marvel I might have been jealous having to step back and let the other male career be dominant, but he never complained. It gave me a certain respect for him and we had gotten along reasonably well back in the Capitol. But in the arena you couldn't have friends, you could only have alliances until those alliances were broken. The tributes that went the furthest looked out only for themselves.

Tree branches whipped my hands and face as we rushed through them. Cato kept a fast pace, as if he was impatient to win and live out the rest of his life in Victor Village like some sort of trophy. But I lived for now, and I could feel a smile spreading across my face as we picked up speed.

My hand unconsciously slipped to my belt and found one of my knives. Training at least a few hours a week was compulsory in District 2, and in the beginning I remember being frightened at having to hold knives and spar with other children. But time after time my parents dragged me off, like it was some equivalent of swimming lessons. I hadn't even been allowed to do that, until I'd brought up the argument that it was possible the arena could be covered in water and I'd need the skill to win. Nowadays I get nervous whenever I'm not holding a knife, funny how life turns out like that.

I had never been on good terms with my parents. Having an older sister and a younger brother meant I was usually forgotten in the mix and it made me put more effort than anyone else into training because I had no other support. I learnt to look out for myself and not rely on my family. If I won the 74th Hunger Games I wouldn't be doing it for my parents. No, if I won the games I'd be doing it for myself.

Training for the Hunger Games might be illegal in Panem, but to not take part was to be a delinquent in District 2. Not training was a direct offence "to your friends, family, and your district." Teenagers that didn't agree to train were labelled as rebels. The district hides them away in backstreets, uprooting their families so that when the Capitol visits they only see their favourite district with a passion for blood. They'll never be reaped on Reaping Day, oh no, there's too many volunteers for that to happen, but some days I imagine that they might pick them to make a show out of it. What happens to teenagers who won't train? They die. But I can't imagine the mayor of District 2 wanting to be embarrassed in front of all the other districts when our tributes die in the bloodbath.

"Pst! Clove!" A hand yanked my arm back causing me to nearly lose my balance, and I spun round to see Marvel standing behind me. I shook my arm out of his grasp but looked at him expectantly, knowing that he would be onto something. I felt Cato and Glimmer stop and walk back to us. Cato had brute force and skill but Marvel had highly tuned senses that not even the District 2 male could ignore. He could pick up the sound of someone running at least a minute before any of us could.

"What have you got, Marv?" Glimmer asked, passing me to get closer to her district partner. He furrowed his eyebrows and put his hand to his temple, his way of concentrating. Cato came up behind me and edgily crossed his arms, but was smart enough to respect Marvel. Ever since Grey had run off, Cato had been tense, even if he wouldn't admit it. I hoped we'd at least find one other tribute, it would take his mind off Grey for at least a second and that would be good for him.

"There's someone running just east of us."

"Let's split up and surround them." Cato commanded, taking over the alliance once again.

I instantly started jogging east, hoping to come up behind the unknown tribute and catch them by surprise. Cato sprinted around me and headed to cut them off from the front, always the one to kill while looking them in the eye. My boots padded over the dirt-covered ground and the sound of my breathing breaking the silence of the arena was comforting. I didn't know where the other 3 were but we hunted like a well-oiled machine and I was fully confident that we wouldn't get in each other's way. After a couple of minutes I started hearing someone not far in front of me gasping from exhaustion and I slipped my hand into my vest to locate a knife. It was a tribute that I'd never talked to before, so I wouldn't have any bad feelings about killing them. It was a boy, quite tall and skinny like Marvel but obviously very under trained; he was acting like a rabbit caught in a trap.

He squealed and came to an abrupt halt when Cato stepped in front of him. I could see Cato's face from where I had come to a halt behind our prey and for a second there was a flash of evil in his eyes as his mouth spread into a grin.

"Hello there." He growled, weighing his sword in his hand. Cato never heard the tribute's reply, because I threw my knife and caught him in the back, sending him tumbling down like a ton of bricks. BOOM. 12 tributes left.

"Nice shot for a 15 year old." Cato laughed at me, not even caring that I took his kill. I laughed back at him, ignoring his taunt at my young age. His attention was somewhere other than Grey and he was almost his old sarcastic self again.

Grey's POV

It feels like it's been hours since I came into the arena but in reality the sun has barely moved. I always thought the other tributes would be my biggest problem, but instead it's the isolation that's begun to drive me crazy. Not knowing what time it is, being in an enormous arena with only a few other people, feeling so alone in that way. But also knowing that there's a camera around every corner waiting to see when you break down. No one ever tells you about that side of the games.

I couldn't help but miss the other careers. I had run off and found a gap in the forest where I could set up a mini camp but I didn't dare make a campfire; I couldn't afford to attract any attention from the remaining 12 tributes. I had heard the twelfth cannon not so long ago and had tried to come up with mental images of who would still be alive. But the stress of being alone in this arena made me nervous and I couldn't conjure up the faces of any other tributes except for Cato. I missed that blonde haired tribute more than I thought I would; it was beginning to get dark and cold and I wanted more than anything to have his arms around me. Not that I could ever tell him that though.

I dug into the backpack that I had grabbed from the career stash and pulled out my insulating blanket. I wouldn't admit it but I'd picked up possibly the emptiest bag ever, the only contents being the blanket, a bag of dried fruit and a rope. I had already eaten the fruit. A cold wind brushed against my neck and I shivered, pulling my knees up to my chest. Suddenly I heard footsteps around me and I tried to quickly stand up, ending up only tangling myself in the blanket even more.

"I finally found you. And now you get to pay for his actions." A dark voice muttered, and then the world went black.

Cato's POV

I couldn't keep still! I wanted to be up and running around the arena like everyone else, not sitting in the cornucopia guarding some stupid backpacks. I didn't dare voice my opinion out loud though, my mentor Brutus would instantly be on my back screaming that I wasn't grateful of our supplies and there'd be no more sponsor parachutes for me. My foot was tapping hurriedly against the cornucopia as I cleaned all my swords and then began on Clove's knives. She'd kill me if she caught me doing it, but she was off searching the surrounding areas with Marvel and would probably appreciate having the blood cleaned off of her weapons anyway.

"Cato! Stop it, I'm trying to relax!" That was Glimmer shouting at me. I tried to physically restrain myself so I wouldn't tap, but I felt like bursting out of my skin. I didn't believe anything about a sixth sense but I couldn't ignore the feeling that maybe something bad had happened.

"Cato!" Clove came bursting from the trees and ran towards me. "Something's happened!" I instantly sat up; this was uncanny. I'd just been thinking about it, and now… Clove wasn't normally this panicked. Marvel came bounding out a few seconds later, panting.

"We ran all the way…" He said, gasping every few words to get his breath back. I wanted to scream at him to get it out but I knew rushing him now wouldn't help.

"We were searching around the forest for other tributes, and we saw the bag that Grey had run off with in the middle of a clearing." Marvel continued. I didn't reply; it was like the information was taking a few extra seconds to hit my brain.

"Cato…" It was Clove talking now, "There was blood everywhere. We think someone took her."

No…The realisation is like a punch in the gut; it's Spens. I swear Spens has Grey somewhere, torturing her because of me. I'm up grabbing my blade and shouldering a pack before Clove can even reach me in preparation for me to leave and find her. She places a delicate hand on my arm but I pull away.

"Don't do anything stupid and die, okay?" Clove whispers to me. It would have relaxed me if she'd added some sarcastic smirk, but the way she says it makes me feel like I'm going to my own funeral.

I run through the trees and try to find any sign of Grey or Spens, but it's like the Gamemaker has reset the trees so that no one would ever know another tribute had travelled through them. I already regretted not asking Marvel or Clove where they saw the backpack, but I'd find it eventually on my own. I could do perfectly fine by myself. It's the only way I knew how to survive. I hold back the urge to call out for Grey, I know that if Spens has her she won't be able to answer me and I'd just give away my location.

I burst out into a clearing and I have to spend a few minutes crouching to get my breath back and collect my thoughts. Where are you Grey? I trace my finger in the dirt, and I stop at a patch of ground that looks darker than the rest. Blood. I look around quickly for any sign of a backpack, but either Spens has taken it or this is somewhere a different massacre took place.

"Didn't you hear that a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime?" A voice says behind me, and I barely have time to turn around before a knife comes flying past me and knicks my arm. Spens is standing a couple of meters away, smirking sadistically. He doesn't move to pick up the knife that he threw at me so I figure that he's got more weapons on his person.

"So you're admitting that you're a criminal now? Good for you, the first step is always recognizing your problem." I sneer. It's battle of the careers now, Cato vs Spens. It'd probably be all the Capitol was talking about right this second. Maybe they'd even make t-shirts.

Spens growled and leapt towards me, catching me off guard. I didn't have time to pull out my sword before he kicked my knees, which caused my legs fall out from under me. I pulled myself to a sitting position as he came after me and I yanked him down by his jacket. We rolled in the dirt fighting to restrain one another until I managed to get on his back and rub his face into the ground. I pulled his head back by his hair and he hissed at me, unable to get out from under me.

"If you kill me, how're you going to find your little girlfriend? I stabbed her and she's going to slowly die in agony. I hope you're happy, Cato." He spat my name like it was some swear word. I tried to stay concentrating but I couldn't get the image of Grey bleeding fatally somewhere and Spens used it to his advantage and shoved me away from him.

We both crouched on the ground facing each other, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. I had my hands flat on the ground and I was about to grab the small deadly knife that was strategically placed in my boot, when a scream pierced the silence.

"Cato! Ca-to!" Grey, she was nearby! My thoughts went into hyper drive thinking about where she was and what I'd do when I found her, so much so that I didn't notice Spens pull out a knife and stab it through my hand.

I screamed in rage, clutching the wrist of my impaled hand. I tried to keep myself from panicking, I needed to kill Spens and then get to a first aid kit. I'm sure I had seen one in our stash somewhere. But the pain was excruciating and although I wasn't writhing on the ground yet, my head was spinning and even attempting to stand was too much to handle. Spens stood over me as I pulled at my hair trying to stop the pain, laughing. He had a knife and I knew it would all be over in a second. I had failed everyone.

Suddenly there was the sound of an arrow flying and hitting flesh. I looked up to see Spens pulling an arrow out of his back, and the look of horror on Glimmer's face as he turned and began to stride towards her. With the knife still in my hand and blood pouring out the sides of the wound, I pushed myself up to a standing position, pulling my sword out of its sheath on my back. I made eye contact with Glimmer and she nodded at me before pushing into Spens' body. She screamed and for a split second I had no idea what had just happened, until the cannon burst into my hearing and I realised she'd pushed herself onto Spens' knife so he would be knocked over. She'd sacrificed herself so I could kill him. But you were supposed to do everything on your own; you have no friends in the arena, right? Using the last possible strength I had, the blood pouring out of me was taking my strength with it, I rose my sword in the air and plunged it into Spens before he could even push Glimmer's body off his own. This last action was all I could manage, and my head hit the ground as I blacked out.

I swam in and out of consciousness over the next part of an hour. I registered a few things, Marvel calling out for Glimmer. Clove shouting, "Cato, we found her! Cato?" Someone carrying me for a long time and then the sensation of force being applied to my hand. Then I pass out for good and the world went dark.