Author's Note: Hey look, it's a new chapter! I wasn't actually going to post this tonight because up until about an hour ago I couldn't get past a particular point in this chapter. But my good friend RoseMaple motivated me to keep going until I finished, and so here I am.
Thank you all for you reviews, they are much appreciated. I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately, I've been stressed with exams (you wouldn't want to write either after the English exam I had!), but I'll try and keep writing for all of you readers. :) Now without further ado, enjoy Chapter Twenty!
Crowd of Two
Chapter Twenty
Grey's POV
Night falls on our first day in the arena. To put it simply, it's nothing like what I had expected. Part of me had imagined following the plan and running off with Haymitch at the gong until we could meet up with Finnick and the crew, who would be – and hopefully are – stocked with weapons. I'd also considered that maybe Cato would sweep me off my feet during the bloodbath and carry me away to safety where we could hide until the fighting had died down. Not completely surprisingly, neither of those plans had ended up succeeding because here I was stuck in the cornucopia with none other than Kaine.
"Oi, what are you thinking about?" His voice breaks the silence and I feel the blunt end of his sword prod me in the leg. Kaine found swords just as enticing as Cato, but the similarities between the two only made me miss Cato more and like Kaine less.
"Nothing," I reply curtly. In the quickly fading daylight shining into the structure where I am imprisoned, I see my captor roll his eyes.
"You can't do this one-word-answer thing forever."
"I beg to differ," I reply sardonically and Kaine moves over to me, taking my chin roughly in one of his hands.
"Don't disrespect me," He growls, staring me down. I notice that his eyes are a steely black colour, so dark that I can't differentiate the pupil from the rest of his iris. "If you're well behaved, I might even let you stay once we kill your little boyfriend."
I scoff in reply. "What makes you think I'd want to stay with you?"
If Litty hadn't entered the cornucopia at that moment I know Kaine would have slapped me, but as soon as he sees his district partner he drops his hand from my face and instantly gives her his full attention.
"I was just… getting information from the prisoner." Kaine says strongly, but the unexpected hesitation in his voice makes me stare at him. Litty gives him a strange look for a second before shrugging it off.
"Whatever, I don't care what you do to her. Target and I are going to hunt tributes. I would ask you to come, but you know." She gestures at me, basically saying don't let the girl escape before grabbing a second knife to add to the one sticking from her jacket pocket and walking away.
"Now look what you've done. I can't even go hunting because I have to babysit you." He growls, watching her go until she's out of sight, walking alongside the dark hulking form of Target.
"Not my problem, you're the one who didn't kill me instantly." I shrug.
"Don't tempt me." He harshly replies, his hand moving to his sword. I ignore the threat and don't even flinch.
We sit in silence for a long time after that. Every once and a while I hear a sound coming from the forest far away and I imagine that it's Cato hunting for food, finding something to eat before falling asleep somewhere safe.
"Now I know you're thinking about something." His voice breaks the silence and although it's now too dark to see anything – we never started a fire – I can picture him sitting and staring at me as he cleans his sword. The darkness makes me feel slightly safer and it's less likely that Kaine can read my emotions, so I reply.
"Just wondering if Cato is safe."
"He's too strong to be killed off on the first night, so stop worrying." The reply is harsh, but it almost sounded like Kaine was trying to make me feel better.
"I know," I reply, "but I don't know who to root for now. There are so many people I care about in these games. I don't want anyone to die." There's a silence after I speak, and I can picture Kaine raising an eyebrow, even though all that I can see in front of me are varying shades of darkness.
"Even me?"
"No Kaine, I don't want anyone to die, and you fall under 'anyone' don't you?"
"You make it difficult to hate you," He growls after a moment of letting the idea sink into his head, "You're too pure. Who admits in the Quell that they don't want anyone to die?"
"You mean you want to kill everyone?" I ask, not really shocked at his opinion. Kaine is a career after all, and he seems to have no redeeming features that Cato or the rest of the 74th careers had. There's the sound of shuffling as Kaine rearranges himself.
"Not exactly, if I died I would want Litty to win." I smile into the darkness, glad he can't see my face.
"You love her, don't you?"
"Careers don't love, they can't love."
"Cato loves me." My statement seems to bounce off the walls of the cornucopia, and I can feel all cameras on us now. I wonder whether they have cameras that see in the dark, or if everyone is just staring at a blank screen now as they listen.
"Then he's not a career, is he? Just… go to sleep Grey." I hear him rummage around for a sleeping bag and a few seconds later a blanket is thrown at me. I stay quiet as I prepare to sleep, Kaine sitting up in the sleeping bag the whole time, ready to guard me for as long as it's necessary.
"Love is stronger than one hundred careers."
"Shut up." Kaine orders and the twinges of doubt in his voice make me fall asleep feeling accomplished.
Cato's POV
"What are we going to do with him?"
I quietly listened in on Enobaria and Gloss' conversation as I cleaned my sword from my vantage point a few meters away. My alliance had begun to hold tactical discussions without me, but I no longer cared what they thought. If they one day decided to get rid of me, either by death or leaving me in the forest like some forgotten child, it wouldn't be a burden on any of our minds.
"I'm right here, you know." I growl, including myself in the conversation for the first time. The two whip their heads quickly around to look at me, as if they had forgotten I was there while they were talking about me. "You could just let me go rescue Grey and then I would be out of your hair."
Enobaria shakes her head violently and sneers, her gold-tipped teeth shining in the moonlight.
"That girl has brought you nothing but trouble, but I am not deserting you yet. You should be thanking me, you have the capability to win this and I'm not going to let you throw it away because you're lovesick all of a sudden." I feel a furious growl make my up my throat but I manage to restrain myself from starting a full blown argument. Kaine would have most likely sent out his henchmen tonight to kill some tributes, and I didn't wish to be the first one found because I had to have a temper tantrum.
"Whatever, you're entitled to your own opinion." I grumble, and I'm about to go and lie down by a tree, settling in for the night and hopefully dreams filled with Grey's soft voice, when we all hear a sound of leaves crunching. My hand instantly finds my sword and Enobaria and Gloss do the same, instantly alert.
"You've stumbled upon the wrong camp, tribute." Enobaria hisses, sounding more animal-like than human. She stands up with ease and begins to circle the small clearing where we have made our temporary camp. Then suddenly we hear a small squeak.
"Enobaria?"
A shaken and tired-looking Brynn steps out from the dense foliage with her hands raised in surrender, leaves sticking out of her blonde hair. If it was Grey standing there I would have pulled her into my arms in an instant, but it's not so I merely raise my eyebrows in disgust. She instantly moves towards her female district partner who clucks in a very uncareer-like fashion.
"Are you alright Brynn? I thought we had lost you at the cornucopia, where have you been?" Brynn manages to compose herself in a couple of moments and she begins winding a long tale about how she got lost and ended up by a river. I zone out very quickly, having no interest in where this girl has been, and so I lie down with my back facing them and my sword in arm's reach.
I'm nearly asleep when Brynn finishes speaking, my mind wandering in that lovely space where I can pretend I'm with Grey back in District Twelve where we pronounced our love for the first – and most likely last – time.
"What's wrong with Cato?" Brynn's voice enters my head and I struggle in vain to block it out.
"He's not feeling like himself right now." That's Enobaria replying. "Why don't you go and lie down next to him, give him some comfort." I want to scream out that she shouldn't take another step towards me, but I'm too exhausted and for a moment I even wonder if Enobaria had slipped something in the tiny portion of food we had tonight to keep me comatose.
I hear Enobaria announce that she's going to be first watch, and the lack of a reply from Gloss tells me that he's already slipped into sleep. Maybe she drugged him too so she could kill us all. The thought quickly dissipates from my head when I feel someone begin to softly stroke my hair.
"Sleep Cato, just sleep." Brynn whispers gently to me. I fall another step further into sleep without wanting to and I'm distantly aware of Brynn leaning over me and removing my sword from its place. It's moved to somewhere out of reach and before I can sit up to retrieve it I fall fully asleep, my last thought being the realisation that Brynn has come back and lain down beside me, wrapping one arm around my chest so I am pulled closer. Ironically, I dream about Grey.
Third-Person POV – District Three Tributes
"Beetee, I'm worried," Wiress says as they come to a stop in the middle of the forest, "No one has ever attempted it to this extent before." Beetee turns to look at his district partner and he suddenly grips her shoulders with his hands.
"Trust me in that I know what I'm doing. Remember Haymitch's games twenty-five years ago? He was onto something throwing that weapon into the force-field. If we could just-"
"Yes but this is a long way off throwing a weapon. This is harnessing that energy to…" Her voice lowers to a whisper that wouldn't be picked up on any microphone, "break out."
"But we could do it!" The man says excitedly, his face spreading into a grin uncommonly seen in the Hunger Games. The woman only purses her lips.
"It's a possibility, but it would risk our lives."
"Our lives are at risk anyway."
Third-Person POV – Finnick's Camp
They are awoken by someone's screaming, much too close. Titus is standing up first, prepared for possible ambushes by years of training back in District Four. But even he is brought to his knees when he realises who it is that is crying out.
Caria sits cradling her leg, whimpering with wide eyes. By this time the rest of the camp has been woken up by the sound and they are whispering between each other, not prepared for such an act of sabotage so early in the game.
"It's a snake bite." Luke is the first one to identify the wound, gently prodding the inflamed skin around Caria's bitten ankle. She cries out again and Luke is forced to look away, very aware of the girl's imminent fate.
"Watch your shoes. It could still be around." Haymitch offers his advice but it is unwanted.
"Why would the Capitol set something like this loose on the first night?" Finnick says quietly, coming up beside the District Twelve victor as the rest of the alliance hurries around looking for a medical pack. They come up with a few bandages but from the way Caria is becoming quieter they are beginning to see that it's a fatal bite. Why would anything from the Capitol be anything but?
A few minutes of panic later, Caria lies silently with Titus holding her hand, her bitten leg elevated on Katniss' knee as she softly speaks to her. The medical kits have been put away, replaced with a few torches and the rest of the alliance sits quietly nearby, giving broken smiles to the girl when she happens to look their way. Finnick purses his lips and looks out into the darkness of the forest, wondering where Grey is. He knows she will be heartbroken when she returns and learns of Caria's death, the death of a district partner is always hard, but especially so for the girl who refuses to kill anyone this time around.
The cannon shakes them all to the core because it represents the loss of one of their own, for a reason so pointless. Titus gently lifts Caria's now motionless body and he takes it out of sight of the camp so that the hovercraft can retrieve the body. Finnick whispers, "Send her back home" into the sky as it ascends again, picturing the water burial he knows the girl would have wanted. The remaining six in the group move closer together, speaking no words and moving around with emotionless actions. The torches are switched off so their faces are bathed in darkness once again, but even once everyone has lain down on the ground, no one sleeps. That's when the tears fall.