Who Dares to Love? Chapter Seven by patricia51
(The Feast)
(Clove)
Now I know why this is the Hunger Games. My stomach rumbles so loudly I fear that it can be heard all across the huge open space around the Cornucopia. And I shiver in the damp cold, the dew dripping from leaves of the bushes I am hiding in. Even Cato can't completely stop his teeth from chattering. I definitely can hear him and occasionally the bushes covering him shake.
Of course since we're both running fevers none of that is particularly surprising. We should have known that the mutt's teeth and claws would deliver infections. I'm sure they were deliberately designed for that. Just as I suspect the Game Makers found a way to detonate the mines protecting our supplies. It wasn't done by another tribute. I know I was blown to the ground when it happened and I had a perfect view of the whole area. Not even Katniss could have made a shot from somewhere I couldn't have seen her.
Katniss. Never have the hours passed as slowly as they did two days ago while I waited for the nightly broadcast of the fallen. Would she be among them? Three had died. Two lived. Which category did she fall in? Even the hours spent lurking here, my leg pulsating, my stomach empty, has not been so long or so full of dread.
I suppose in one way it's funny. That entire day I could only consider the two possibilities. If she lived that was one thing. I still had a purpose; to follow up on the promise I had made to myself. But if she was dead than what was I going to do? And what might be amusing to anyone who knew my thoughts I could only come to one conclusion. If she was dead than I could only revert to my original objective, the one I had been aiming towards for years. I would have to win the Games.
When the anthem began to play my heart stopped. I don't think it started again until all three dead tributes were shown. The sky went dark and I began to live again. Of course that won't be for very long. Perhaps.
By the next morning we were both showing the effects of the mutt attacks. Cato's shoulder was obviously swollen with infection and the bite marks on my leg were already turning a ghastly shade of green. Gangrene was setting in so fast the teeth had to have injected me with something.
No doubt something had happened to Katniss and to Thresh as well. When Claudius Templesmith's booming voice invites us all to a feast at the Cornucopia he doesn't need to repeat or cajole anyone. He knows we all desperately need something. So when darkness falls Cato and I make our way to the hiding places we have decided on and wait grimly through the cold and wet of the night.
This is it. Morning is coming. As best as I can I get ready. Springing up is out of the question. If I'm lucky I'll be able to hobble to the where we expect the feast to appear.
The first rays of the sun are spreading over the Cornucopia. Any moment now. I desperately search the surrounding forest.
Katniss where are you?
(Katniss)
The ground rumbles. It splits and a table lifts into view. Three bags sit on it; none larger than wrist bag.
No one hangs back. None of us can afford to do that. The first one to the table will be able to grab all the bags. As best as I can I stagger out, my side hurting with every step. And my three competitors lurch into view and I have to keep myself from screaming at the sight of Clove.
My God she's dying! She's fifty feet from me and I can smell the corruption that's taking over her leg. She drags it behind her as she falls. And being Clove she crawls on, determination written all over her face.
To my right Cato has come out and he looks nearly as bad as Clove. Thresh looks better although the arrow wound seems to be bleeding through the hasty bandage he put on it. But although he moves better than the rest of us he's farther away and Cato intercepts him.
I charge the table as best as I can. Ignoring the other bags I snatch up the one marked "Two". I tear it open and find the hypodermic needle marked "Clove". As quickly as I can I head for her, pulling off the protective cap and press the plunger enough to make sure the air is out.
"No Katniss NO!" she cries out. "Get your bag. Please."
Behind me I hear a scream. Someone has won. I don't have time to look over my shoulder to see who it is. I grab her arm, jam the needle into a vein like I've seen my mother do on the rare occasions she had access to medications beyond those she makes herself.
A stray thought intrudes among the chaos. I always tried to find an excuse to flee the house when my mother doctored a patient. Prim, sweet Prim who cried at everything, could manage to stay and tough hunter Katniss would run. But I had to stay occasionally and now I'm glad I did.
(Clove)
What the hell is she doing? She ignored her own bag to rummage in mine and now she's coming to me. She can't! I can see the blood leaking from her. It's dripping through whatever she has wrapped around her. I tell her to stop but she ignores me and kneels beside me to give me my shot.
I stare past her. Cato and Thresh are dueling, their weapons clanging. But then Cato drops to one knees and thrusts. Thresh is too slow and the blade sinks into him. He screams and falls. Cato turns and the look on his face as he takes us in tells me that the moment has arrived. All bets are off and he's coming for us both.
(Katniss)
I see Clove look past me. Then she looks up at me.
"Cato. He's coming."
I turn, still on my knees. He's coming indeed and the hate in his eyes is no less frightening than the blood dripping from his sword. Unable to rise I scramble on my hands and knees for my bow. He speeds up. I hear a groan from Clove and sense movement from her.
I know that this moving has pulled loose the wound in my side and I'm bleeding profusely again. The shock is making me dizzy. I load an arrow and fire but it sails harmlessly past him. The next one is on target but he bats it away with his sword and then does the same thing to a knife that spins at him from behind me. God he IS just as dangerous and deadly as he seemed back in the training hall.
Clove throws another knife. Low this time. When he shifts his sword to block it I fire again. I miss his throat but the arrow drives into his wounded shoulder. It must hurt for I never imagined that Cato would scream in pain. But he staggers on, raising his sword for a blow I can't avoid. I'll never get my bow armed again in time so I snatch my last arrow and hold it as though it was a stabbing weapon. Then he's on me.
(Clove)
Oh my God he's reached her. I fumble frantically for a knife and then realize that I am out of them. I can't believe it but I lost track. But that doesn't matter. Then I see the hilt of the one I threw to Katniss sticking out from her belt in back. I've never prayed for anything in my life but now I beg God for one last burst of strength. Ignoring the agony in my leg I lunge for the knife.
(Katniss)
Cato reels above me like he was drunk. His eyes bore into mine. The sword starts down and all I can think of is that broke my promise to Prim. Well, I tried. I won't close my eyes though. I stare at him, unable to rise from my knees.
But before the blade reaches me there's a tug at my belt and I am suddenly slammed to the ground as another body covers me. Stunned I can only lie there and watch as Clove straddles me. She screams as I actually SEE Cato s sword cut into her shoulder. But her other arm shoots out, her hand gripping the knife she threw to me, the knife she took back from me. It sinks all the way into Cato's body and he folds and falls. His eyes widen as though he can't believe what happened and then those eyes go blank. He's dead.
Somehow I manage to get back on my hands and knees and crawl to Clove. She has fallen to the ground, her face turned towards the sky. Unbelievably when she sees me she smiles.
One look is all I need. The terrible wound Cato delivered is mortal. Nothing I can do can stop her life from leaking away. I pull her into my lap.
"Clove what did you do?" I sob.
"What I promised myself I would," she replies, still smiling even as she coughs up blood. "I promised myself that you would win the games and I have kept my promise."
"Why? Why would you promise such a thing?"
Her hand lifts, trembling and bloody. I capture it and hold it to my cheek. She strokes my skin.
"Because. Because I have never loved anyone before you and no one has ever loved me. No one else ever would have given me that shot before her own. But you did." She coughs again and it's obvious she has only seconds left to live, "I love YOU."
"I love you too Clove," I tell her.
"I know. And that knowledge has made all this worthwhile. Living without you would be empty. If I had won I would have had no one but you have your sister and your mother and friends who care for you. Believe me when I tell you that for the first and only time in my life you have made me happy."
"Please don't die Clove," I beg her in the most futile action of my entire life.
"Remember me," she whispers and then she is gone. There's a smile on her face though; a smile of happiness . The cannon fires three times. I gently lay her on the grass as the voice of Claudius rings around me.
"Ladies and gentlemen I present the winner of the Seventy-fourth Annual Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen!"
They will be coming for me I know. They will doctor me and clean me and present me before the cheering crowds. But I have one more minute, a minute to look down at the girl I loved and lost and make HER a promise. A promise that somehow, someway I WILL destroy this abomination called the Hunger Games and bring this entire rotten society crashing to its knees.
"I will always remember you," I tell her.
(The End)
(I realize that this is not the ending that probably most of you, including me, were hoping for. I tried to write it differently but all I can say is this is the only way the story could end. The characters wouldn't allow anything else.)