A/N-Hmmm...I was going to hold this off til' Wednesday, just to stay with what I said about the 65 reviews. But you guys were only 2 off, and I was really happy nevertheless. So...a little early, but I hope that you don't mind. I tried to meet a lot of your requests...what do you think? :)
Katniss:
I am walking through a dark tunnel. There are other figures, hammers clutched in their dusty hand, faces lined with tiredness. The sound of ringing fills my ears as I pound my own hammer into the rocky walls, alongside another dusty figure. Suddenly, there is a rumbling, and a flash of light fills the tunnel. The ceiling begins to collapse, and I only have time to turn and run before the fire consumes me. Everything goes black.
Now I am standing in the forest with Prim. A snare is beside us, a rabbit is trapped beneath the wood. I reach out to grab the rabbit, but Prim stops me.
"Katniss, don't hurt him!" She reaches through the bars of the trap and carefully pets it with one finger.
I walk to the next snare and let the rabbit inside out, sighing. I turn to check on Prim, but she is gone.
I wake up with a start, breathing hard. I'm confused for a minute, why am I not in my bed next to Prim? Then I remember, I'm a tribute in the Hunger Games.
"God, can you just freakin' sleep already? You've been thrashing around all night." Cato's voice comes from my left, and I see that he is sitting up as well. The rising sun shines through his hair, making it look gold. What annoys me is that he actually looks slightly concerned. For a second, there's an urge to tell him about my nightmare, but I quickly dismiss the thought.
"I'm fine. Why aren't you asleep?" I ask.
He rolls his eyes. "I was keeping watch while you five were sleeping." Cato looks tired, but he still manages to maintain a smug look. He must have stayed up all night while we dozed off.
"I can take a shift, you should get some sleep," I offer. It's not like I'm going back to sleep after having that dream.
Cato hesitates for a moment.
"I won't run away, if that's what you're thinking." I answer his unspoken question.
"Fine," Cato finally replies. He lies down, using his backpack as a pillow. I notice that he is still clutching his sword.
…
An hour passes, and I'm still sitting there when Clove wakes up. She narrows her eyes, and looks around at her sleeping comrades.
"I didn't murder any of them in their sleep," I say, agitated. She's never going to trust me at this rate. Nor do I want her trust.
"I know you didn't. Cato would never let that happen." She hisses. I blink, I hadn't thought of it that way before, although I'm sure that Cato would defend one of the Careers if the time came. Well maybe…he would probably defend Clove but leave Marvel to die.
"Of course not," I answer. We are both silent for a moment. "Do you really think that Cato's going to win?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Clove says. She is leaning on one elbow, her dark hair cascading downwards.
The silence returns, and we both just stare at our surroundings for a few minutes. I am looking at a squirrel climb up a nearby tree in the forest when the other Careers start to stir.
"Is there any food?" I hear Narcissa speak for the first time, her voice is low and wispy. There are pieces of grass sticking out of her auburn-colored hair.
"There were whole bagfuls when we went to sleep." Glimmer frowns, and looks around, as if the big burlap bags could have hidden themselves.
"Did someone take them?" Marvel whispers, apparently afraid to wake Cato, who is still sleeping. He stares pointedly in my direction.
"Ask Cato. He probably hid them somewhere while we were sleeping." Clove snaps. Cato turns and opens his eyes at the sound of his name.
"Ask me what?" He groans and stretches, before sitting up.
"Where are the food bags?" I repeat.
"That sycamore tree over there. In the hollow," Cato says. I get up and walk towards the tree. The trunk is hollow, and the bags have been stuffed into it. I pull one of them out and bring it back to the group.
There are apples, loaves of bread, packages of dried meat, and a small bag of assorted dried fruit. We divide the food and quietly eat.
"Who's left?" Clove asks.
"Other than us? There's Lover Boy, both from 11, the girl from 5, and the boys from 10 and 3," Cato replies. He must have seen the faces projected into the sky while we were sleeping.
I wonder where Peeta is. He probably followed Haymitch's advice and tried to find a water source.
"Where do you think that they are?" Clove stands, and we all follow suit. Cato yawns and gets up last.
"Probably in the forest somewhere. We can take our time…they're not going anywhere." I notice that Clove is one of the only ones who Cato talks to without excessive smirking and eye-rolling.
We set off at a fast walk, Cato and Clove in the lead. I trail behind Glimmer, staring at the silver bow in her hand and the sheath of arrows slung over her shoulder.
If only I had the bow in my hands…I could take them all down, one by one. But would I?
Damn. You've gotten attached to them. Idiot.
As if she's picked up on my thoughts, Clove drops back to walk with me. She's smaller than me, although not by much.
"Cato told me that I get to kill the girl from 11 and the boy from 10." She tells me, a look of glee appearing in her dark eyes.
"Good for you." I mutter sarcastically.
"I wanted the boy from 11 too, but Cato's already set on being the one to kill him."
"And why are you telling me this?"
"I don't know…maybe because he's letting me kill Lover Boy too…?" I look at her in disbelief. She grins in response.
"And let me guess, you asked for me too, but he wants to be the one to end my life." I wouldn't be surprised if I'm right.
"He didn't say anything about you," Clove replies. "But if you really want to know who going to be killing you, I can ask." I grit my teeth and continue walking.
Suddenly there is a flash of bright green to our left. It is the backpack of a tribute running, probably away from us. Cato veers towards the unlucky tribute, and we speed up to a run.
"I think that it's the boy from 10!" Clove trills as we catch up to the running figure.
Cato pulls a knife out from a pocket and prepares to throw.
"Cato! Don't you dare! He's mineeee!" Clove shrieks.
Cato rolls his eyes, but lowers his arm. "Surround him. Lover Girl and I will get the front; Glimmer and Marvel get the sides. Narcissa, get the back. And Clove…have fun."
He sprints ahead to block off the boy's escape route ahead, and I follow. I feel horrible for the District 10 boy, it must be terrifying to be hunted down like this. And I can't even imagine what Clove will do to him. She'll probably make the death slow and painful.
We get into our positions, and I can see the boy's eyes flick around, looking for an opening. He is clutching a long, serrated knife and is poised to strike.
He tries to run through an opening between Marvel and Glimmer. Marvel slams into him and pushes him back into the center. The boy seems to know that there is no escape now. He looks down at his knife, considering. In a moment of pure fear or insanity, he throws it into the air.
I watch it zoom downwards, spinning in the air, heading towards the back of our loose circle. Narcissa does not notice the knife cutting through the air, and a look of surprise appears on her face as the knife pelts her in the back. She falls, and immediately there is a cannon.
Now weaponless, the boy stares at us with huge, fear-filled eyes.
"This is going to be sooo fun. Should I kill you quickly or take my time?" Clove smiles as she advances towards the boy. "I think that I'll take my time."
The boy looks around the circle once more, and as his eyes meet mine quickly, I see what he is trying to convey. Kill me now.
My hand flashes to my belt, where the two knives are stored. Clove has her jacket open, choosing a knife from the impressive array that lines the waterproof material.
"I think that I'll use this one. It's pretty, isn't it?" The small brunette says to no one in particular. She holds out a thin, long knife with jewels encrusted on the handle.
As she reaches out to grab the boy's neck, I throw my knife. The odds must have been in my favor, because the weapon finds its mark. The boy's grateful look is forever frozen in his eyes as he dies, like he wanted, quickly.
The cannon sounds, and everyone is staring at me. I realize what a foolish thing that was to do. Clove looks murderous, her tiny fists are clenched and her face starts to go red.
Then Cato starts chuckling. It's a real chuckle, not a fake, sarcastic one.
"Shut up Cato! Shut up shut up shut up!" Clove yells. She stalks up to me and is literally shaking with anger.
Cato is actually laughing now, and the others snicker, as if they can't seem to find what the source of amusement is.
"Damn you! Why the hell did you kill him?" Clove snarls. I back away, eyeing the weapon still clutched in her hand.
"You said that you wanted to take your time, and you are. Since you'll have to wait forever to kill him now," As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them.
Now everyone is laughing, but Cato's laugh is the loudest. Clove narrows her eyes, and stares at me with hostility.
"Nice one, Lover Girl," Cato says when he stops laughing.
"I hate you." Clove growls. I'm not sure who she's more upset with, me or Cato. Judging by the look on her face, probably me.
"I get another one since she-" Clove points at me, "-killed him."
Cato smirks. He walks towards Narcissa and starts removing her backpack and the weapons in her belt before answering.
"Which one do you want?"
"The one that you want." Clove answers simply. Apparently they've been over this before. Cato's eyes darken.
"No," he frowns. Then a smug look replaces the frown. "Actually, sure. If you're still alive when I make my move."
"Deal," Clove says, although she doesn't look too happy. I have a feeling that they're either talking about Thresh or me. Hopefully the first option.
...
That night we camped in the forest, Cato insisted that we be ready to hunt down any more lone tributes.
Another nightmare racks my dreams, and I jerk awake. I lay there, eyes open.
Cato is keeping watch like last night, but another Career is also awake. Glimmer sits up and walks towards Cato, who is leaning against a tree, sword in hand.
"Hey Cato." Glimmer's voice sounds different, there's a layer of something added. In the twilight, her emerald eyes glitter.
"It's so nice that you're watching out for us," she coos softly. I see her take a step closer.
"What do you want, Glimmer?" Cato sounds annoyed, and he shifts his position.
"Oh, I was just thinking. If we've only got days left to live, why not enjoy them? If you know what I mean?" Glimmer says, moving closer to him. From my vantage point, I can only see her back, but Cato's face is in clear view.
"First of all, it's you that only has a few days to live. Second, do you really think that the children watching this would want to see that stuff?"
Glimmer leans in even closer, but Cato does not flinch. I feel a pang of…is it jealousy? No. It can't be jealousy. I refuse to believe that it is.
You do not want to be Glimmer right now. You are not jealous. Even as I think it, a tiny part of me hates her.
"You never said no…" The blonde girl says, almost purring. Cato smirks.
"Go back to sleep, and maybe it'll happen in your dreams." Cato snickers, standing up. Glimmer is pushed away, and I hear an indignant sound escape her lips.
"Maybe." She hisses.
I close my eyes.
Perhaps the remainder of the night I shared Glimmer's dream…that would be the only explanation of why Cato's piercing eyes and his smirk appear in my thoughts as I sleep.
Review if you liked it please! The more reviews, the faster I update. Oh goodness...it would be lovely to get 100 reviews on this story. As if that'll ever happen. *daydreams* But please please please review. :D