CATO POV

I was running. I always seemed to be running… Running from something… This time I was running from mutts. They looked like monkeys. They tore Blight limb from limb, as well as someone from one of the other districts who'd managed to survive.

It felt like I was in the first Games again. When Glimmer and I were chased by the mutts. I had thought that we'd die for sure, but we made it… And we became the four victors. We made Panem history. It had been all over the news. Everyone had been going insane.

But President Snow, on the other hand, was out to get us… Out to make us suffer… Out to kill us like he did our parents, and our friends. But, of course, he'd kill us slowly… Make us die a harsh, painful, and agonizing death. He thought that we made a fool of him.

He is a fool. He doesn't know what love is. He doesn't know how it feels to love someone and to be willing to die for that person, just so that they'd have a chance to live. He didn't know what that was like. And he never will, I thought. Not as long as I'm breathing. I wanted to kill him myself… I wanted to wrap my hands around his neck, watch his face grow pale, and have him beg for mercy. I would show him no mercy. He didn't deserve it, not after he'd threatened me and my friends… And the woman I loved.

I just wanted to get back to her as soon as I could. When I did, I'd marry her right away. I yearned to hold her and touch her, telling her how much I loved her.

Peeta and Katniss ran at both sides of me, with Enobaria and Finnick running directly behind. The others were attempting to help blow up the Arena, either that, or they'd been shredded to pieces by the mutts. The wind whipped through my short blonde hair as I zoomed toward the sea. "Let's get to the Cornucopia," said Katniss loud enough for me to hear. "Maybe the mutts can't cross the water!"

"To the Cornucopia!" I shouted behind me. I jumped into the water with a splash, treading water as fast as I could. The freezing water sent chills through my whole body. I was tired about halfway there, but this was a matter of life or death. I turned to find that the mutts were in the water, attempting to swim. They were slow, but the fact of the matter was that they would be coming for us sooner or later. Hurry and blow this place up, I thought wildly, hoping that my thought would somehow reach Beetee's mind.

Instantly, as if on my command, I heard a deafening explosion. It scared the crap out of me, making me flinch. I silently thanked Beetee and continued to swim toward shore. The waves were starting to get more difficult to swim through. Finnick, who had already gotten to the island before anyone else, helped me out of the water. His eyes widened. "There's a tidal wave coming. We gotta get to the top of the Cornucopia," he said urgently. "Hopefully they'll come get us before it's too late."

"They will," I said confidently, as we pulled Katniss, Enobaria, and Peeta onto the small island. We climbed up the sides of the Cornucopia as the water rose higher and higher. I stood on the top and saw someone swimming in the opposite direction of the mutts, who could no longer swim. They appeared to be drowning. I guess mutts couldn't withstand the immense power of tidal waves.

She was struggling to swim. It was Johanna, the girl that seemed to hate me. I'm not sure why, but I jumped in after her. The waves were fierce and suddenly I regret jumped in. "Cato!" cried Finnick from the top. I heard him splash in after me. I struggled as I swam to Johanna, who had just gotten knocked under by a huge wave, which pushed me back to where Finnick was swimming. "You idiot! Taking on tidal waves? I'm supposed to protect you! How am I supposed to do that if you risk your life?"

But I wasn't listening. I started swimming toward Johanna again, despite the water in my eyes that blurred my vision. "Johanna!" I yelled, as she went under again. This time she didn't come back up. My heart dropped. I took a deep breath and dove under, with Finnick trying to catch up to me. "Cato! Come back!"

I saw her motionless body falling under the dark water. I swam to her and grabbed her body, then brought us both to the surface. Finnick looked at me wild eyed. I gasped for air and all of us got knocked over by a wave, that threatened to bring us all under. Finnick grabbed me by the arm, while I had Johanna by hers. Together, well not Johanna obviously, we managed to get back to the Cornucopia. The others helped us up onto our feet.

I felt Johanna's pulse. I didn't feel anything. Finnick gave her mouth to mouth, but it didn't work. I hadn't gotten to her in time. It was my fault that she was dead. All my fault, I thought. Then she squirmed and choked, coughing up salt water.

"Johanna?" I called, hovering over her. She blinked and looked up at me for a few seconds. Then she narrowed her eyes at me, ignoring Finnick's question completely.

"Why did you come for me?" she asked coldly.

"I couldn't let you stand here to watch you drown. I knew that you couldn't handle it," I said.

"You shouldn't have come for me. You should've just let me die," she said.

"Why?"

"Because you have someone to go back home to," she said, her expression softening. "There's no one left that I love." I heard the humming of a hovercraft coming toward us. We boarded, with Finnick and I carrying Johanna.

I took a seat next to Peeta, while Katniss and Johanna went into some unknown room in the hovercraft. "That was really cool," he said, "what you did for Johanna."

"Thanks. It's just… the whole thing with Clove. I didn't want to sit back and watch anyone else die. It's different when it comes to the other tributes because I don't know them personally. But I know Johanna, at least a little bit," I said.

He nodded in agreement. "You're right," he said. Then he smiled. "I told Katniss that I love her. And she said it back." I smiled. It's about time, I thought.

"Do you think it's true?"

"I know it is."

I spotted Haymitch come out of a room in the back. "Where's Glimmer?" I asked, eager to see her.

"She's back in District 13. But we weren't able to rescue the others," he explained. "And Johanna wants to see you, Cato."

"Okay," I said and got up to follow him into a room, where Johanna was lying in a bed. She was pale and her brown eyes looked dull. Haymitch shut the door. "Why do you hate me?" I asked.

"I don't hate you," she said, sounding a bit bored. "It's just that I'm jealous of you."

"Jealous of me?"

"You have someone that loves you. No one loves me. I don't have any friends or family. Snow's killed them all."

My eyes widened. "I had no idea," I said lamely. "He killed my parents too, and Glimmer's and Peeta's. He's trying to kill us. And there's no doubt that he'll kill us now. First, we undermined the Games, then we blew up the Arena… What's next?" That got a laugh out of Johanna. I had no idea that I'd see the day that Johanna Mason laughed in a non sarcastic way. She wasn't so bad after all. At least, not when you got to know her better.

"I'm sorry for being so cruel to you… and the others."

"It's okay."

Emotional chapter! Yay!