Hi everybody! I know it's been months, but here's a new chapter so you all know I didn't abandon this story completely. I've just had no inspiration. And my best friend has been bugging me. (she's knows who she is, and she'll see this when she reads this)

Also, if you like Maximum Ride, go check out my other fics please!

Merry Christmas!

Read and review!

CLOVE POV

The people were absolutely terrifying. When Maple said the Games started outside of the arena, she was right. The fear that I thought would wait a little longer to attack was here, nipping at the edges of my mind and slowly consuming me.

They were all reaching their long arms through the gaps of the guards, screaming.

My breaths were coming out in short gasps. These people looked like monsters, aliens. There was no way they could've been human at one point in their life. They probably came from space. Somewhere not on this Earth.

"Clove! Cato!" I heard our names being screamed from the crowds, they were desperate to reach us.

Cato waved back, a look of disgust masked by his need to promote his image. He was handling this a lot better than I was.

"These people are creepy," I whispered, trying to sound strong, or disgusted, like Cato. Instead, my voice came out cloaked in fear.

Being kind, Cato chose to ignore it. "Yep. Freaking me out."

"Ah, and here's the training center!" Karma's face was vibrant, practically screaming, 'I brought home these fabulous tributes! Now we can all watch them kill other children! Love me because of it!'

"Thank God." I rushed inside, wanting to escape the freaks.

"Let's go to the rooms. All you have to do is go to the elevator, and press the number for your district. So, two!" Karma demonstrated this, as if we were impossibly stupid and needed her to show us.

"Your rooms are down the hall, be back in an hour so we can prepare for the parade!"

Almost running, Cato and I made our ways to our rooms. I needed to put as much distance between those freaks and me as I could.

The room around me was like the one on the train. Simple, yet fancy. A large bed, covered in pillows and blankets, made of the softest material imaginable. I sank into the soft mattress when I sat on it, and an almost silent sigh of relief escaped my lips.

I could get used to this.

There was a closet filled to the brim with clothes. I knew there was no possible way I could wear them all in the short time I'd be here. Unless I changed once an hour. A TV was placed against the wall opposite of the bed, and next to it was an open door leading to a bathroom.

Discarding my clothes I stepped into the shower and tried to figure it out. Dozens of buttons were asking to be pushed, but the dark blue one with a shower head printed on it was the one I wanted.

As soon as I released it, water poured from the shower. The hot water soothed my tense muscles, especially when I added some fancy soap to the mix. When I stepped out I was dried and given options of clothes by my closet and towel.

Settling for some comfortable clothes, I waited for it to be time for the parade.

No nerves settled on my skin as I waited. I kept expecting them to jump out if nowhere but they didn't. I felt no anxiety towards the parade. Maybe it was the fact that it seems like nothing compared to the actual Games. Maybe it's because I expected to be paraded around like a show dog. I'm not sure why I felt so good about the show.

I'm sure the anxiety will join me later.

A sudden knock on the door shocked me from my thoughts.

"Come in!"

Expecting Karma to waltz through the doors, or Cato to lumber in, I was a little surprised when Maple joined me in my room.

"Hey, kid. You ready for the first real challenge of the games?" she asked, sitting next to me on the edge of the bed.

"Yea, I'm honestly not even that nervous," I say, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly.

With a nod, she pats me on the shoulder once. "Good. Nerves aren't good if you want to win. Which I'm guessing you do."

She almost gasped when I refused to meet her eyes. "You want to win. Right?"

Shrug. "Cato is here, too. I don't want him to die!"

She grabbed onto both of shoulders, wheeling me around to face her. Nails digging into my flesh, hot breath hitting my face, anxiety suddenly swarming at me like a ton of mosquitoes; I felt trapped. Trapped is not a good feeling when you're with a killer.

"You listen to me. Forget about the life and death. Focus on winning."

Finally, I looked her dead in the eye. "What if I don't want to?"

"You do. You just don't want to kill. Or see people be killed. Especially Cato, I'm guessing?" her tone softened at the end of her sentence.

"Yes," my voice was barely a murmur at this point, and the sheets of the bed suddenly became interesting.

"Well, then I have to tell you something." She looked out the door with a bit of longing on her face. "Titan puts on a tough guy image. Says 'I wanted to watch them think they had a chance'. But in reality, he didn't want to kill anyone. So he just let everybody else take care of it. In the end, of course, he had no choice. But if he had it his way, there wouldn't be any games."

My head was spinning with new information. Titan, a giant, killing machine, was practically a larger, tougher male walking around with the same exact thoughts as me.

"That's why he wants Cato to win so badly. So he can leave this mentoring gig and get back to Two."

Resolve hardened somewhere in me. My hatred towards the Games became a little stronger, and my need to have Cato win got a little more demanding. "Now I have two reasons to get Cato to the end of this thing. It will let him live, and release Tritan. Thanks, Maple." with that I got up and left the room, my mind set on finding Karma. I needed to get to this parade. My stylist would be seeing me beforehand, but that's okay. It will take longer until I get back to Maple's hard, questioning glances.

"Clove! Oh, Clove!" the high, tinkling voice came from behind me, and I whirled around to see Karma. "It's time to meet your stylist, sweetheart!"

A fake, giant smile took my face. "Okay!"

Suddenly, Maple joined our little group, along with Titan and Cato. We were all going together. As we walked towards the elevator, Maple slowed down, pulling me with her. "Listen. Just because you want Cato to win doesn't mean I'm giving up on you. Until the games, you do exactly as I say. You still need to come off as tough and skilled. Be strong. Powerful. That parade is your ticket to sponsors." Without a chance to respond, I was left, standing alone, surprised and scared at the same time.

And then we were going down, down, down, all the way to the ground. A man and a woman were waiting for us at the bottom, both colored wildly, with disproportionate bodies. It was like aliens had landed on Earth and decided to show themselves off as human.

"Hello, I'm Taria," the tall, scarily skinny woman introduced herself, stepping forward with a smile. Her bright green lips turned upwards in a smile, while her hair bobbed, obviously a not very well made wig. Green seemed to be her color, as it blanketed her hair, nails, dress, shoes, even her face was centered around the color. "I'll be working with Clove."

The man next to her stepped up. They looked alike, except he seemed to like orange, and his surgeon aimed for muscles when he pulled out the scalpel. "Hi, I'm Coro," his voice seemed too deep for his body, and his muscles just looked face. He looked like he was wearing a costume. "Cato will be coming with me."

Our Capitol guide obviously didn't notice these abnormalities, probably because she had quite a few herself. "Let's go!" Karma said cheerily, her purple style going nicely with Taria's green. "Clove, you'll go in that car with Taria, Cato, you'll share a ride with Coro!"

Before we were pulled away, Cato leaned over and planted a kiss on my forehead. Sweetly, quietly, and too quickly, he pulled away with one whisper. "After the parade we'll escape these lunatics."

I smiled at him, but I'm sure it was slightly broken. He didn't know how I'd be trying so desperately to keep him alive. He didn't know that in a few weeks, I'd be dead. Well, I'm sure he could have figured that out, but he wouldn't know that I died protecting him.

Then we were off, riding in the same direction, but not close to each other. All I needed right now was for him to hold me close and never let go. He probably wouldn't, to be honest, with him being a tough guy, but if he saw how much of a wreck I was, maybe he'd break, too.

I spent the ride contemplating Cato's tough exterior, and how much sadness from me it would take for him to openly show the mushy, soft guy insides.

Then, without warning, we were there. In front of a fancy building, where, no doubt, fancy events occurred. Great, that means I'll fit right in.

I really hope you got the sarcasm there.

"Clove, darling," Taria drawled, walking away from the car and closer to the building. "Come on, let's go get you," her eyes raked over me, her disgust towards my simple leggings and t-shirt showing through her smile, "fabulous!"

After my failed attempt to smile, she took my hand and dragged me towards the shiny building. Actually, everything here is shiny. If I don't put that adjective in front of something in this city, just assume it's shiny.

"This is your prep team!" Taria announced, waving forward three aliens. They all had long, long eyelashes, practically touching their foreheads, which was the first thing I noticed. Their extreme clothes didn't even phase me anymore, nor their disproportionate bodies. "Cas," An incredibly loud, fast speaking woman stepped up, and shook my hand. "Mariana," a less terrifying woman stepped up and nodded at me. She kind of interested me. Her clothes were simpler than everyone else's, just a bright green shirt and blue pants. And her body didn't seem altered. Honestly, besides the make up, she looked normal. "and lastly, Morpheo." a man stepped up and smiled. He looked like he belonged in the Capitol.

Nobody said anything else, so I took that as my turn. "Clove."

Cas spoke as soon as I introduced myself, going on and on about my name and how she would make me beautiful, and other things. I can't recall anything else the crazy woman said, but that's probably because I tuned her out after the second subject.

The rest of them spoke, too, but I didn't even try to listen. They all said the same thing, anyways.

"Well, let's get started!" Morpheo says with cheer and excitement.

We all begin to walk to an unknown destination, where I will probably have to endure Hell on Earth. I've seen what some of the people from Two do to themselves for beauty. They pluck hairs from their body, cut pieces of themselves away for the ideal figure, they even starve themselves. It's ridiculous honestly, and I don't see why I need it. Or why anybody needs it.

But for tributes, why do they even bother? We'll all be dead in a few weeks anyways.

They all run off in excitement, giggling with giddiness. I sigh and follow them, and I feel my shoulders sag and my limbs become heavy. I mentally put a gun to my head and pull the trigger.

This is going to be hell.

They force me to remove all my clothes, which I expected. They hand me a bath robe, which I expect will be useless, they'll be too busy plucking at me.

I'm forced to lie on a metal table, although it may be made out if ice because of the chills it's sending up my spine.

A groan escapes my lips. Then the tweezers come out, and I'm in hell.