The sun rose up from the clouds, and the second day of the Hunger Games began. The Careers and Peeta were sitting around a campfire eating breakfast. (They weren't worried about other tributes seeing the smoke. Anyone that tried to approach could easily be taken down.)
Glimmer finished gnawing on a piece of dried apple while the other Careers finished breakfast too.
"So," Glimmer asked, "Where is Katniss anyway?"
Peeta held his chin and thought. "Well, yesterday she was hidden in one of the trees in the very center of the forest. I will lead you to her."
Everyone put on their backpacks and followed Peeta. Clove and Glimmer brought up the rear, hand-in-hand. Clove was so happy, she almost felt like singing. Not only did she get to snuggle with Glimmer the night before, but she had also come up with a plan for her and Glimmer to stay together for the whole Games. First, they'd kill all the other tributes. Then, they would permanently camp out in the arena. They could build a little house in a cave or something near a water source. Of course, the Gamemakers would try to cause disasters to kill them, but they could survive. They were trained well. And if that wasn't going to work, well, then they'd somehow leave the arena. A double suicide. Nightlock berries, maybe? They could die together in peace. Inseperable.
"Shh..." Peeta said, sticking out an arm to halt the group. "She's up in that tree over there."
It was true. Katniss Everdeen had tied herself to an extremely tall tree and was now watching the Carrers warily.
Cato was very excited. "I'll get her!" he exclaimed confidently. He put his sword back into his backpack and started the ascent up the tree. Suddenly, a branch snapped and Cato landed less-than-gracefully back on the ground. Katniss gave a small laugh from the tree.
Glimmer snorted. "Uh, no. I will get her." Glimmer tugged the bow and arrows from her bag. It took her about two minutes to string the bow. Then, she took aim. She completely missed Katniss three times. Katniss grabbed the arrows and held on to them just to taunt Glimmer.
"Guys, she has to come down sometime. Why don't we make camp here?" Clove suggested.
"Great. The mines will protect our supplies for us anyway." Marvel agreed.
Clove and Glimmer stayed put to guard their new camp while Cato and Marvel looked for other tributes to kill. Clove stretched out, deciding to take a nap. Glimmer thought a nap was a great idea, but only because she was a light sleeper and would wake up if Katniss tried to escape. Glimmer pulled the sleeping bag around the two of them and pulled Clove really close to her. Clove sighed and dreamily went to sleep.
Clove and Glimmer were still asleep the next morning. Marvel and Cato had returned from the hunt and Katniss was still up in the tree. The Careers were all surprisingly exhausted. Yes, they'd been trained, but their training wasn't near as strenuous as the real Hunger Games.
Suddenly, a huge nest dropped unexpectedly from Katniss's tree. This was not just any ordinary nest. This nest was filled with tracker jackers, genetically modified wasps that had deadly stings.
The tracker jackers buzzed with unmatched fury. There were hundreds, no, thousands of tracker jackers. The Careers were awake instantly. They screamed as they were stung over and over and over again.
"Quickly! Run to the lake!" Cato shouted, batting the tracker jackers away from his face.
Clove thought of nothing else but escaping from the tracker jackers. Already she was beginning to hallucinate.
Finally, Cato, Marvel, and Clove reached the lake and dove into the cool, refreshing water.
Suddenly, Clove noticed something was very wrong. There were only two other Careers in the lake!
"Glimmer? Glimmer?" Clove called. Glimmer was nowhere to be seen. Heart sinking, Clove dashed back to the tree.
"Clove! Get back here!" Marvel and Cato shouted. But Clove wasn't going to go back until she found Glimmer.
It didn't take long. Glimmer was curled up not too far from the tree. Her once pale and shimmery skin was now covered in red blotches from the stings. Clove gasped.
"Glimmer...oh, Glimmer..." she cried, gently holding Glimmer's hand. It was already ice cold. Clove sobbed, tears flowing like waterfalls from her soft brown eyes. "I can't believe you're already gone..." she whispered. "I loved you...so much..."
Clove stood up and brushed her bangs out of her face. She blinked away the tears. Now her eyes blazed with nothing but pure hatred.
"For you, Glimmer, I'm going to get revenge. Katniss is going to die. As painfully as it is possible."