Finding water was a lot harder than I thought. Our mouths were parched and we were tired. Morris even stopped grumbling about how thirsty he was. We were just walking through the forest with no success.
I heard a small thud behind me and saw that Morris lay on the ground defeated.
"Get up Mo." I said.
"No. I just can't go further." He moaned and covered his eyes with hand to shield himself from the sun.
"But we have to." I tried to convince him but he just shook his head and stayed there.
It was no use to persuade him to stand up so I lay next to him. My legs were hurting and I had a sore throat from the cold night spent in the tree.
An interesting sound reached my ears.
"Do you hear that?" I asked.
"No. I don't hear anything." Said Morris confused. I scrunched up my eyebrows and listened harder.
"Doesn't it sound like a running water?" I asked, hope evident in my voice.
"No." Deadpanned Morris. I raised my head. I was sure that there has to be water somewhere around here.
I took the bag in my hands, stood up and went after the faint sound. Maybe that sound was just my ears playing tricks on me. I walked about hundred feet, but bushes blocked my path. I frowned and stepped in them, determined to see what hidden behind them.
My foot got stuck in mud and I yelped at its coldness.
Mud. That means there has to be water. At least it should.
I stuck my hands into the bushes and pulled myself to the other side. Branches and small thorns grazed my arms and face. I finally got on the other side and saw a stream. There was a tiny lake further up surrounded by big boulders and a wall of stone. That seemed like the source of the water.
I smiled in relief and rushed to get Morris.
He was nearly asleep when I got to him. I slightly pressed my muddy foot on his cheek leaving a footprint.
He cracked on eye open and glared at me. "What was that for?"
"Soil plus what makes mud?" I leaned over him and smudged the footprint over his nose. He looked confused for a second but then his face brightened. He jumped up, nearly making me fall backwards.
"Where?" I gestured him to follow me. When we got to the stream, he had an excited expression on his face and shot forward.
Before he had the chance to drink from it, I tackled him.
"Morris." I snapped. "It could be poisoned and polluted." I said and let him go. I pulled out the bottle and purification pills. I filled it up and put the pill in it.
I sat with Morris on a big boulder and were watching the bottle with anticipation. We agreed that we should wait about an hour and then try it.
"Is it done already?" Asked Morris. That was his tenth time to ask this since we started waiting.
"No." I said in a monotone voice.
"And will it be finished?"
"I don't know. Let's wait few more minutes and then I'll try it."
He nodded satisfied with my answer, when he realized something. "Hey! Why you?" He asked angrily.
"And why not? I will do it. I am responsible for you and I am not going to risk anything." I argued.
"That is just plain stupid and you know that." He reasoned.
"You think wrong."I snapped back.
"Give me the bottle." He said and outstretched his hand.
I looked at him and without a hesitation brought the bottle to my lips taking a large gulp, soothing my aching throat. Morris looked at me with wide eyes, his mouth open in shock.
"What did you just do?"He asked incredulously.
"What does it look like." I replied sarcastically. I sat down, paying attention to my body for any reaction. After ten minutes of silence I stated: "I think it's good for drinking."
Morris than drank the whole bottle after I said that. Right after that we noticed a hare coming out of the forest and drinking from the stream. So much for a pill.
I sent him to look for willow branches because there were a few of these trees by the bank of the stream. I went to the small lake since I saw there sweet flag and I planned to make nets for fishing.
I let Morris have the knife to cut off the branches and I grabbed a sharp rock to cut the leaves.
I was minding my own business when a rustling of bushes across the small lake captured my attention. My eyes were jumping from one bush to another looking for a possible threat.
A movement rustled the leaves again. I stood up, gripping the rock tightly in my hand.
I'll be watching you. Vale's words echoed in my brain.
He is here.
My eyes were scanning the bank looking for him. But I saw nothing.
Maybe it was just a squirrel.
I loosened my tense shoulders and squatted down to the leaves. I already had a small pile of it.
I was cutting the leaf with the rock, when a shadow fell over me. I froze, my hand holding the leaf in place.
My eyes fell on the peaceful surface of lake.
I saw an outline of a person, a tall and lanky one with orange hair.
It is him.
I didn't dare to turn around. I stayed where I was and started cutting the leaf again. I had my eyes opened and adrenaline along with fear was rushing through my veins.
"Hey there Corlie." He said. I felt a hand slowly brushing my back and shoulder blades. It made my skin crawl. I recoiled from it and leaned forward.
I stood up and turned around to face him. He hasn't changed, he is still disgusting.
"I found you." He said and tucked a stand of hair behind my ear. His hand lingered on my face, caressing my cheek.
I stepped back. "Don't touch me. And my name is Cory. Not Corlie." I hissed.
His hand stayed in the air not moving. He sighed almost disappointed and lowered his hand. He shook his head and smiled at me.
I stared at his face, looking for any signs of immediate danger. I just hope that Morris wouldn't come while he is still here.
"We belong together." He said with a small smile playing on his thin lips.
I shook my head and took another step back.
"Yes we do. You just don't see it. But I promise that you will realize this when we will be together."
"We don't belong together." I said silently. His eyes darkened upon hearing my words.
He raised his hand again and made a move to touch me again, when something whizzed pass my head and hit his hand. He turned at the impact holding his hand. When he straightened, I saw that he had his right hand pierced with a knife.
Clove.
He looked at his wound. His hand was bloody. The knife was protruding from the back of his hand, flesh ripped apart. My stomach was clenching in disgust.
He took the knife and pulled it out. It made a revolting noise of muscles tearing. When he pulled it out, he kept the knife in his hand and looked behind me searching for someone who threw the knife his hand bleeding profusely.
Another knife flew next to me, but Vale moved quickly and avoided it. It flew behind him and landed somewhere between the bushes.
He touched my face and slid his bloodied hand across my face, leaving a smudge.
"We'll see each other again." He promised in a coarse voice, turned on the spot and ran away in the forest.
I stood there numb. I dropped the stone and with my hand smeared the blood on my face. I just couldn't move at all. I mechanically turned and walked to the water. I wetted my hand and tried to remove the smudge.
Splashing caught my attention but I didn't look up. A hand grasped my arm making me face the person.
"Did he hurt you?" Clove asked frantically.
"No." I whispered and continued rubbing my cheek.
"How did he find you?"She asked and crouched next to me, knifes ready in her small hands.
"I think he kept me following since he saw me in that tree." I put my hand in the water and it immediately turned red.
"In the tree?"
"Yes. I think it was a few hours after you gave me the knife. He somehow found me."
"You don't look well. Are you sick?"She asked.
"I got a bit sick. It's probably from the night spent in the tree. It was really cold." I said and as on cue sneezed.
"Maybe I could grab something from our camp and get something for that cold."
"Where is the knife I gave you?" She asked after a while.
"I gave it to Morris to cut willow branches. I'll make nets and ropes and I'll use it to catch something." I explained and finished washing my face. "Why are you here?" I asked curiously and wiped my face in the shirt.
"Our camp is not far away from here. I went to find wood so I walked against the stream and found you. This streams runs to the big lake at the Cornucopia. It looks like this is the biggest source of water in the arena." She said and I went to cut the sweet flag leaves again.
"How are the others?"I asked.
She gave me a look and said: "I know you want to know how Cato is."
"Maybe." I suggested and sat next to the pile of the leaves and grabbed a few and started to weave the leaves in a basic net technique.
"I know you do." She rolled her eyes at me. "He is grumpy and in bad mood, wanting to kill all the time. He still thinks that you and twelve have something together."
I opened my mouth to defend myself but Clove beat me to it. "I know you don't. Nearly everyone else knows you don't. But Cato is stubborn and too proud to accept that he could have been wrong. He is just sulking."
"Why is Peeta with you?"I asked.
"He said he will take us to Katniss and you. And Cato jumped at the chance of killing the Fire bitch and finding you. So he let him stay after nearly killing him."Clove chuckled.
I scrunched up my eyebrows. That doesn't seem like Peeta.
"I should go." Clove said and stood up. "Be careful. That guy from 6 is dangerous." She went to get the knife that was in the bushes and left.
A while after she left, Morris returned with hand full of willow branches.
"I'm hungry." He complained and put the knife next to me.
"Eat the rest of the fruit and hope that we'll be able to catch something." I sighed and started making thin ropes and then interlaced them together.
After few hours, the hunger in my stomach turned into a numb feeling, but at least I had the net done already. Morris and I put it in the water and went to search for a place to hide for the night.
We went behind the lake, hoping we would find some cave. But no such luck. When we climbed on the top of the stone wall, we had a good view on the Cornucopia and the lake.
When I checked the net after we climbed down, I found there a big fish.
"Morris!"I screamed at him. He rushed to me worried that there was some tribute.
"There is a fish."I said pointed to the splashing animal caught in net.
"I thought that someone was attacking you, Cory." He said annoyed.
"Well I'm sorry."I snapped. "But fish is just as scary." I said, defending myself.
"Are you serious?" Morris asked laughing, but grabbed the net anyway and took it to the bank. We sat on the stones and were looking at it. Morris with a hungry look on his face and me with distaste.
"Who is going to do it?" He asked and scratched his chin.
"Do what?' I asked dumbly.
"Well, kill it."
"Kill it?" I asked horrified.
"I'm not going to eat it raw."He said, twirling blade of grass between his lips.
"I don't want to kill it. It's bad enough that I have to eat it."
"Okay." He agreed and added: "So you can hold it while I'll will kill it."
"I'm not going to touch it. " I said looking at the fins and scales.
"Then you have to kill it." Said Morris with a smug smile on his face. "What do you prefer, a knife or a stone?"
"How the hell I'm supposed to know? What do you think would be better?" I asked him for an advice, getting ready mentally for this task.
"Well, considering your stunning knife skills, I would suggest a rock." I slapped him on the back of his head for his remark about my skills with knife.
He stood up and took the fish in his hand. It kept flailing it's tins and jerking in every direction. Morris slapped it on the boulder we were sitting a while ago, holding the fish in place. It kept opening it's weird mouth and closing it again.
"He looks angry."I said pointing my finger at his head.
"He?" Morris looked up from the fish to me.
"It doesn't look female." I objected.
"Are we seriously having this debate now? Just kill it already, will you?"
I looked the fish in face and exhaled. I picked up the heavy stone in my hand and raised it in the air.
"I just can't kill it when he is looking at me."I grumbled and went to looked for some big leaf that would cover it's head.
I gingerly put it over it's head when once I found the leaf and patted it's head with my finger.
"Bye bye fishy." I said and raised the stone once more. I shut my eyes and smashed the stone on it's head. After I did it, I quickly let go of the stone and jumped back.
"Is it dead?" I asked Morris tentatively.
"Yes."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Could you prepare it while I'll go to fins some herbs?" I asked and walked away without hearing an answer.
I didn't found much, just a few leaves of something to basil.
When I returned, Morris was already waiting for me with a makeshift place for cooking. The fish was cooked in a while for what I was thankful because I didn't want to risk having fire longer than necessary.
After we ate, we masked the remains of fire and went to look for a tree to climb for the night. When we found one, Morris went to limb it first and then I went. He kept encouraging me and thanks to him, I was able to climb as high as he did.
This time, he insisted that we have to stay close and keep each other warm. So I leaned on the stump, with Morris sitting between my legs and resting his back on my torso. We were both on a sturdy branch, around 30 feet from the ground, so I felt a bit safer than yesterday. I tied the rope I made around our legs to make sure we won't fall.
"I'm glad that I got stuck with you." Said Morris a bit sleepily.
I smiled and stroked his hair. "You're not so bad yourself." I said but, Morris was already asleep. He may be 15 years old, but he is still a kid.
I took the jacket from my shoulders and covered him with it. I already had cold and he doesn't need to have one too.
I was awake for about an hour after he fell asleep when my eyelids started dropping.
I was thinking about today's incident with Vale. It all seemed wrong. Him thinking that I am someone else.
The only thing that I remember last after I closed my eyes was a flash of orange beneath us.
.
.
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Disclaimer: I own nothing from Hunger Games even though I forgot to post it in the previous chapter.
Thankfully, there will be finally Cato in the next chapter. I can't wait to write it down. I planned out the way this story should go and it should have about 40 chapters. Maybe less, maybe more or maybe a lot more. I don't know yet. And I am still sick. And I didn't decide to which university I want to apply to. And this looks like to be the longest chapter I ever wrote :). (I have english keyboard on and sometimes it is very confusing, so bear with me if I make stupid mistakes).
Just for additional info, VALE IS INSPIRED BY A REAL PERSON IN MY LIFE that I had the misfortune to meet. He never spoke to me, never touched me, but every time I see him I feel terrified.
SFEllie thanks for the follow and HaloDestroyer thanks for the favoriting.
Guest: Thanks for the review. I like Clove quite a lot.
germany leger: Thank you. I implied something in this chapter about what could be wrong with him. But you are right when you assume that there is something wrong with him on the mental level. It will all be explained in later chapters. And one more thing, "I can't wait to get my hands on you." doesn't always have to mean sexual attraction even though it is a bit of that as well.
Thanks for reading. Lia
Reviews would be greatly appreciated.