Woohoo Chapter 8! I managed to write it tonight, so here it is! Thanks for the reviews and I hope you like it xx I love you all for reading this ps xoxoxo **feel free to tell people about it** #JustSaying haha ok thanks so much!
Chapter 8
CATO
I enter the room where all the remaining competitors wait, and take a look around at my competition. Tall, skinny, short, wide, and strong are the words that come to mind. But I can take all of them. I've beaten them before in training and I can beat them again. Especially considering my new motivation: Clove. I need to enter these games to protect her and make sure that she is the one that makes it out alive. If she ever knew that I was doing this for her though, she would kill me. Which is why I'll never tell her, until the time when she needs to know.
As I wait, I see the different competitors glance at me frequently, their eyes darting towards me when they think I'm not looking. I smile to myself, enjoying the feeling of their distress. They know that they can't even compete with me. Enobaria and Brutus will see me, and then the rest of the competitors will go by in a flash. I'm the one that they want and everyone knows it. Over a speaker in the room, names start getting called. "Syd Adler" I hear, buzzing through a white speaker on the wall. A tall boy gets up, his face looking determined. I look down at his hands, and catch them twitch, giving away his nervousness. I smirk and wait for my name.
Finally, I hear: "Cato Eaton". I grin and walk from my seat. I push through the door and briskly walk through the long hallway into the gym. I enter, and see Enobaria and Brutus standing behind a glass wall; probably bulletproofed, knowing our District. Immediately, I go to the swords. Might as well start off with what I do best. I grab one, shifting its weight into my right hand. I grasp the handle in my fingers, enjoying the feel of power that the weapon gives me. The dummy advances, and I quickly spin around and spear it through the heart. A second comes forward, and the sword is quickly embedded in its head. I do more along the lines of that for a few minutes, before letting the last dummy fall to the ground and moving on to the spears.
I pick up a spear, and let it be flung from my hand into the target. It sinks into it's stomach, and I smile thinking about just how well I'm going to do in these Games…that is, until I let myself die. Spear after spear hits the dummies, and I see the mentor's faces nodding in appreciation. Finally, I move to the weights. I throw multiple weights as far as I can, until I'm dismissed. I walk out of the room grinning, knowing that I've won this already. I sit down among the people who have gone already, and I catch their eyes flicking towards me again. Some don't even hide their nervousness. I catch fingers twitching, knuckles cracking, teeth grinding and so on from multiple competitors, and smirk at them, letting them see that I'm confident that I've got this. The last competitor comes in, and Enobaria and Brutus enter the room, making it go silent.
"We've made our decision, and we have found a male tribute for the 74th annual Hunger Games." Says Enobaria, her features unreadable. "We'll be announcing the winner in the gym, which will be streamed live across the District, as well as the Capitol." The Capitol favors our District much more than the others, through giving us many more goods and materials, as well as turning a blind eye to our training before the Games. The Tribute Competition is even shown live on TV there, as it provides pre-Hunger Games entertainment for the citizens.
We all walk in silence into the gym, where I see half of the District waiting to greet us. I guess they came for the announcement. I see Clove in the crowd and catch her eye. She winks at me and gives me a hard smile, clearly silently hoping that I won't win, just as I did for her. She doesn't want to compete against me just as much as I don't against her, but I have a plan. I return her smile with a sincere one, as excitement enters my body. The mentors step up onto the stage, and applause rings through the crowd. "The male winner of this years Tribute Competition is…" The applause is gone, replaced with a silence so large you could hear a pin drop. "Cato Eaton." Roars of appreciation and recognition immediately fill the room, as I walk up to the stage, a prominent grin on my face.
"Congratulations to this years male tribute for the 74th annual Hunger Games!" Brutus yells above the noise, and I search for Clove in the crowd. I find her, her face clearly battling between emotions. She smiles, trying to look happy and proud of me, but her eyes show something else. They are hardened, sad even, as she realizes we're going to be forced to kill each other in a matter of weeks. My heart drops as it sinks in. In a few weeks, I'm going to let myself die.
CLOVE
Cato comes off of the stage, and approaches me. "Want to get out of here?" He asks, clearly reading my mind. "Yeah lets go." I respond, not knowing how much more I can take. We escape from the centre, and find ourselves walking towards the woods, where we had our picnic. We walk in silence, as our emotions battle inside of us. I have to compete against Cato. I think, not liking the raging emotion inside of me. I'm happy to compete in the Games, because now my father will finally stop abusing us, as at least there is one success in the family, and I'll win glory and fame when I win…but…that will come at the cost of Cato's life.
We reach the meadow and I fall into his open arms. "Cato, I don't want to…" I start, my eyes tearing up now that I know no one will see us. His arms wrap around me, and he strokes my hair as he speaks. "Shh Clove it's ok…we'll figure it out." "No. We won't Cato. Don't you understand? Both of us are going into the Hunger Games, and only one of us is going to come out. I…I don't want you…to…d-die." I say, my voice failing at the last part. "I know." He starts, his voice filled with sadness. "But Clover, what else are we going to do? I mean, we both need to win this…the only way that we could be together is if one of us doesn't volunteer…" "Yeah…" I start, "Maybe…maybe I could volunteer next year. I mean, considering this is the last year that you can…?" It takes me a lot to say that, and I don't even know if I mean it. I need to volunteer if I ever want my dad to stop beating us, but there's no way that I could ever hurt Cato.
"Clove, you know I could never hurt you right?" He asks, his voice sad and thick, his eyes boring into mine. "I know." I say, the tears in my eyes threatening to spill over, as I look down at my feet, unable to look at him right now. His fingers wrap around my chin as he lifts my head up to look at him again. "Don't worry Clover. If you don't enter this year, I'll come back stronger and I'll protect you. I'll never let your dad hurt you again. I promise." He says, staring deep into my eyes, his expression dejected. "You have to win ok?" I say, suddenly realizing that without him, I'd have nothing. "I will." He says, his expression hardening as he looks into my eyes.
He leans down, and his lips touch mine in a mix of passion and sadness. The kiss lingers for a few seconds, as butterflies rise in my stomach, mixing in with the emotions already filling my heart. As he pulls away, I reach up and grab his face, pulling him back down for another kiss. If I only have a few weeks before he is going into the Games, I'm going to spend as much time with him as I can. I won't volunteer this year, letting whoever is picked during the reaping enter. Cato will come back to me after his Games, and I can volunteer next year, to become a victor alongside him. There's no other way to face this situation than that, because I will never be able to hurt Cato, let alone kill him.
Ok soo I hope you guys liked it and PLEASEE review! I'll love you forever xo I'll try to update again over the weekend LOVE YOU ALL XX