Yay! Finally had time to type and upload this chapter!

Again, I'm pretty sure the spelling and grammer stinks, so please don't kill me!

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THANKS so much! Now, chapter 3

Chapter 3

Clove

No, no, no, this can't be happing! Why isn't anyone volunteering? Is the only thing flying through my head as I make my way up onto the stage.

"Clove!" I heard a desperate voice call out behind me. I turned to see Cato pushing through the line of peacekeepers that are guarding the stage (with ease I might add).

Eventually, a team of about six of them stopped him from getting to the stage, to me.

"I volunteer!" he screamed. "As boy tribute."

"No Cato, no!" I cried, jumping off the fifteen foot stage, landing perfectly. In a way only years of training could get you to land.

I ran over to him and he pulled me into a tight hug. "It's ok Clove. We can make it through this," he whispered in my ear.

"How Cato, how?" I asked, desperation filling my voice.

"Just trust me."

"But…"

"Shhh. It's going to be ok."

"Well now, this has been different, which sure is saying a lot. Now please come up here, I believe we have some introducing to do," Maybell interrupted us.

Cato nudged me gently, and I let him take my hand and pull me back up onto the stage. Now was the time to start showing the tough side of Clove, I had trained for this. Plus, we were in a career district, which meant we trained for the games. We usually made an alliance with the tributes from 1, 4, and possibly others.

"And you are?" Maybell asked Cato.

"Cato Morase," he told her.

"I take it you two know each other," she said, eyeing our interlocked hands.

We both nodded.

"Congratulations to the tributes from district 2! I don't think I need to ask you to shake hands, so follow me."

She herded us into the Justice building, which was right behind the stage, so we could say goodbye to our family and friends.

My mother, father, and older brother Bret, came in first. My brother is twenty, so he was done with the games two years ago. He never got picked, and wasn't a good enough fighter to volunteer.

"Clove, you ok?" mother asked.

I nodded, "I need to be strong for the cameras. I can't be counted out as a contender."

She was on the verge of tears, but still managed a smiled. Sometimes, I have an odd way of making ever one in the room smile, I have no clue why.

"Good luck sis, don't ever count your self out," Bret told me.

"It's ok, you're going to do fine," my father said.

"Thanks guys," I replied, managing a smile. "I'm gonna try my hardest to make it out of there, and if possible, not alone."

The peacekeepers came back and told them there time was up. I managed one final goodbye and I love you, before they were gone. Then, my best friend, Heart, came in.

"Oh. My. Gosh Clove! What are you going to do?" she asked, hugging me.

"I'm going to come out of that arena, and hopefully not alone."

"You can hope, you can hope."

Once Heart left, the peacekeepers came back and told me it was time to go to the train station.

When we got there, I saw Cato already standing by the train with Maybell. I pushed the peacekeepers away and headed over to them. They grabbed me mid step, trying to stop me from leaving them. Not a very smart choice.

"Let me go," I snarled at them.

"We can't let you go until you're on the train," the tallest one said.

"They let Cato go!"

"That's not our problem."

I pulled out of their grasp again, and with lighting speed produced the knife I always have on me. I get a secret pocket custom made on all my shirts and dresses.

"Take one step forward and I swear you'll never see another day. Try me, I dare you," I spat at them.

They slowly backed away, being as they didn't happen to have any weapons on them.

Cato came over and gently removed the knife from my hand. "It's no use picking a fight with these guys, they can't hurt a fly compared to some people you've fought before," he told me.

I smirked, took my knife back, and put it back in the secret pocket that I guess wasn't so secret any more. I shot the peacekeepers one last look, as to say don't mess with me, and continued toward the train.

When we finally got on the train, we turned to look out the windows, to get one last look at the place we had called home from eighteen years. To a place we might never go back to.

I waved at the crowd that had gathered there. Instead of waving back, they pounded their fists twice on their chest, swiped two fingers across their hearts, and held them out to us. Like they knew what we were going through.

I did the gesture back to them, understanding. It was a common gesture for loyalty in our district. I couldn't take my eyes off the station as we sped toward the capital. I craned my neck to get one last look at the only place I had known for eighteen years before it sped out of view. I turned to see Maybell watching us, and then someone else entered.

"Well played, well played," Brutus, one of the previous victors I had trained with before, said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh Clove, you know exactly what I mean. Have you ever seen a Hunger Games where there was a pair of lovers? No, it's something fresh, something new, something capital people will just eat up."

"So I take it your one of our mentors?" Cato asked.

"Yes, he is, and so am I," Lyme, another previous victor I had trained with, said coming into the train car.

"Why you two?" I asked.

"We requested it, actually. We know you and your fighting style Clove, therefore making it easier for us to keep you alive. See the logic?" Brutus explained. I rolled my eyes; he was always one for logic. When he wasn't trying to kill me.

"It's our job to keep you two alive, is it not?" Lyme asked. We both nodded.

"Well, we plan to do it too well."

I gave them a confused stare, how was that possible? You can't do that too well.

"Like I said, the capital people will eat you two up! They're going to beg and beg and beg the gamemakers to make an exception to the rules, to let two tributes win," Brutus told us.

"Is that even possible?" I asked.

"You'll see darling, you'll see."

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KATE