Crowd of Two
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grey's POV
Kaine's face is the most unexpected one projected onto the sky that night, though Rory's face is still the most painful. I'm the only one who feels shock and sadness when we see that the cocky boy with fiery hair has been killed – beside me Katniss merely counts him off on her fingers as she keeps track of those still left in the arena.
Since Rory's death – I had been caught up on the confrontation with Cato's group by Finnick on my return into the forest – Katniss had been unlike herself, obsessed with how many tributes remained and how we could begin killing them off. It almost seemed like Rory was her last straw, because now she spent most of her time quietly plotting at Haymitch's side.
Titus had been attached to me since I had been rescued and between him and Finnick I was never let out of their sight. Our group now had six members and so there were nearly more of us than there were remaining competitors in the arena, which served to make us feel marginally safer about our situation. Even if Enobaria appeared, only she and Gloss would be willing to fight the six of us and no career would go into a fight with those odds. And now that Litty was on her own it was more likely she would target the smaller groups before trying to get us.
For the second time that night I wondered what had caused Kaine's death. All my possibilities contained Litty in some form and for a moment I pitied the boy from District One. He would never have admitted it but I knew he felt something for his district partner, and she would have gone and broken his trust – his heart – in his last moments. It seemed to me like the cruellest death so far. I pondered for a second if the Capitol would think the same way but decided they were much too unpredictable and un-empathetic to spend too long thinking about the tribute's feelings.
"That means it is Gloss, Litty, Enobaria and Cato, those two from Three, us, and Luke's district partner." I'm shaken from my thoughts when Finnick lists those still alive.
"Peyton will stay in the shadows until it's down to the last few tributes, so we don't have to worry about her, even if we do happen to bump into her." Luke speaks out. The others nod but Titus still looks sceptical.
"I don't want to count her out, that's what she wants us to think." He folds his arms and scowls.
"The kid has a point Titus, but you aren't wrong either," Haymitch interrupts as he looks towards both boys, "We need to be wary of all tributes, but we need to focus on those who are the most threatening. If we get rid of the careers the rest will be easier to handle."
I can't hold back my gasp at Haymitch's words, as it sounded like he wasn't planning to spare Cato when killing the careers. I also notice that no one mentions what is going to happen if we end up battling against each other. Titus looks towards me and sighs.
"There are six of us here, Grey. I know you want to save Cato, but he's just another tribute to think about. I mean, he didn't even join the alliance when we-" Finnick's "ahem" interrupts my district partner but I am on Titus in an instant.
"What? When you did what?!"
There's an awkward silence when no one replies, especially not Titus who is suddenly looking sheepish. Luke is the one to speak first and he has an uncharacteristically hard expression on his face when he looks towards the boy who has blown their secret.
"When we ran into the careers I offered Cato a place in our alliance. He declined and I wanted to give you the news gently, but someone blew it." He glares at Titus before his face turns soft as he addresses me. "He wanted you to have this."
Luke searches through the pocket of his jacket with one hand before pulling out what looks at first to be a simple chain. It's not until he places it in my open palm that I recognise it.
"Cato's token…" I murmur under my breath. Through all the time I had spent with the career tribute, I had never had the opportunity to fully inspect what he had brought with him into the arena. I had seen it various times but he had tried hard to hide it from me and once he was out of the arena the first time it must have been shoved in the back of a drawer with the hope it would not be needed again.
The token is made up of a chain long enough to go around Cato's neck with a thin sheet of metal hanging from it. Looking closer I see the District Two seal is stamped on one side and on the other a long code is neatly engraved. My face must show confusion when I look up because Finnick elaborates for all of us.
"That number is a Citizen Number. Everyone registered in Panem has one but it isn't commonly used anywhere except in Two. They use it mainly in the academy. Apparently if you know how to read them they can give you lots of information about the person – age, address, how many years they have trained…"
"So basically they give you this so they can identify your body or something?" Titus interrupts, curious about how the career system works in other districts, coming from a career academy himself.
"It's unlikely it would be used like that, but it's not an uncommon opinion. People think that the district is so used to sending off tributes, they have become numbers in their heads. I think Cato's trying to denounce that fact and prove he's human." Happy with the explanation Titus nods and lies back against the ground with his hands behind his head, and surprisingly Katniss is the one who speaks up.
"Why would he give it to Grey then?" She ponders. "Let's face it, it isn't the greatest gift if it portrays that he is just a number."
"I think he's just treating it as something to give her to show he's still thinking about her." Luke says, speaking as if I'm not sitting mere meters away. "A, 'I have nothing left to give, take me as I am' sort of thing." Haymitch lets out a guffaw of laughter at the younger boy's words. As kind hearted as the District Two boy could be at times, I couldn't imagine those words ever coming out of his mouth either.
I chose not to share my own opinion of why Cato had given me his token. Try as I might to pretend that he had indeed given it as a last gift sort of thing I only had one thought in my mind, and it made it even more important to find him as soon as possible. If his token means he is just a number, by giving it to me he's telling us that he's not even a number anymore – he's worthless without it. He should be the one to die so we can live.
"We need to go and find him."
No one argues with me. I figure that the others think I have either gone crazy or I just want to find Cato so that I can profess my undying love to him. I decide to let them think what they want – telling them my theory that I think he's about to sacrifice himself for me wouldn't help their opinions of my sanity.
We start travelling in the direction that Finnick "swears" they were in when we met up with the careers last time. They no doubt would have moved from their camp by now but everyone likes to have a plan to start off with before moving. Randomly travelling in the arena was a quick way to a gruesome death. At least we knew from past years – including my own – that the gamemakers could easily move you towards another tribute if they wanted to.
Our six-man alliance had only been hiking for an hour or so when I start feeling queasy. We move in a rectangular formation made up of three rows – Titus and Luke at the front, Katniss and Haymitch in the middle, and Finnick and I at the back – so when I slow down to a stop, clutching my sides in the attempt to hold in the discomfort, I catch the attention of Finnick instantly. His eyes become large when I start retching and he quickly man-handles me into a more secluded set of trees. As soon as I lose sight of the rest of the group I start throwing up and I hear Finnick call out that I'm "just using the bathroom" in an attempt to muffle the sound.
"You're not helping, Finnick." I groan when my mentor approaches me from behind and starts rubbing my back in an attempt to stop the sickness – a technique which seems to be making me feel a whole lot worse. He doesn't reply and continues with the action, and the patter of soft footfalls a few moments later tells me that someone else has approached us.
"Oh another person," I growl, "Let's just invite all the other tributes here to watch too why-don't-we?"
"It's me," Katniss' voice wafts in my ears as I bend down with my hands bracing against my knees. "I thought I might be a better helper than Finnick here, seeing as I am a girl." Finnick abruptly stops and I can imagine his huff of irritation without seeing it.
It takes a few minutes for me to recover enough to stand up without wanting to collapse, and when I do I see Katniss giving me a sympathetic look while Finnick sits on the dusty forest floor close by with a very thoughtful expression on his face.
"Is this the first time you've felt like this, Grey?" He asks me, looking up from his hands and giving me his full attention. I shy away from his gaze and wring my hands together.
"No, I mean one day back in the Capitol the same thing happened but I'm sure it was just something in the food."
"There's never anything wrong with Capitol food, it's engineered to perfection. Did you ever – erm, you know – with Cato? Back on the victory tour or something?" Finnick looks very uncomfortable and my face breaks out in a blush. I know what he's implying and obviously so does Katniss because she's beginning to look at me with a more and more shocked expression.
"Once," I murmur almost unintelligibly. Not because I'm ashamed – though the look Katniss gives me almost portrays that I should be – but because I don't want my private life broadcasted all over Panem.
"Once," Finnick echoes.
"Surely someone in the Capitol could check, right?" Katniss says nervously after a second of silence. "I mean, your tracker gives them so much information, it can't be that hard." Finnick nods in agreement and then turns his head up to the top of the arena as if directing his words to the Capitol.
"Could you check and tell us, for Grey's sake?" He calls and we wait silently for a couple of minutes, expecting some sort of sign to appear.
"Nothing is coming." I say impatiently after a while, "But the others are going to be far away by now, we need to catch up. I'm obviously not pregnant, okay?" Katniss and Finnick instantly stare at me, we hadn't been speaking in those exact terms before, keeping it vague to try and pretend it wasn't happening. Both seem eager to get away from this awkward situation though so we run to catch up with the three men who had stopped a little away to wait when they realised we weren't behind them.
After more walking – where my stomach luckily decides to stay settled – we hear the beeping of a falling parachute. There's a large 4 on it so Titus reaches up to grab it when it's in reaching distance, but once he sees it closely he hands it to me. Inspecting it myself I realise that it's got my name printed on it. Everyone gathers around as I twist it open, getting a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I want more than anything to throw this parachute into a bush and never see its contents, but with everyone watching I feel obligated to open it.
There's a note and a bundle of cloth inside the canister but I pull out the note and read it first. The word 'Yes' is scrawled in bad handwriting, as if someone used to using screens has had to quickly write something out. I hurriedly stuff it into my jacket pocket and coincidentally it bumps against Cato's token. If the rest of my alliance were unsure of what the note meant, they certainly realise when I pull out the piece of cloth. It's a one-piece suit the size of a new-born baby and it is red and black with a small number 4 symbol on it – a tiny replica the training suit we all wore back in the Capitol. Not only is your boyfriend in the games, but so is your baby, they say far away in the Capitol. Somebody gasps.
Cato's POV
"Pass the water Cato, you don't need it. Give it to your mentor." Enobaria had been in a bad mood all day. Not having the mass amount of supplies at the cornucopia like the careers had in previous years meant that apart from a meagre amount of rations in one of the backpacks, and a quickly dwindling canister of water, we were struggling to sustain ourselves. Trying to hide my growl of irritation that seemed to be a constant right now, I shove the bottle I was about to drink from at my district partner. My dry throat nearly whines in protest when Enobaria chugs down the remains of our water supply, somehow knowing there would not be any for me for a long time.
"Enobaria," Gloss scolds, "We are an alliance and though some have been more loyal than others," He looks towards me at that comment "that is no excuse to deprive them of our supplies." Easy for you to say Gloss, you got your fill of water before Enobaria got her claws in it.
"He'll be fine, he can handle a few days of thirst, can't you Cato?" I stare furiously at the ground and clench my hands into fists to prevent myself from lashing out.
"See he's learning to control his temper now – he was always the one who couldn't control his anger – so my techniques must be working on him!" Gloss doesn't reply to the woman and after a few seconds of tense silence I growl "I'm not a test subject…"
"No, you're a career and you are making your district proud." Gloss adds, for once choosing to back up me rather than the older victor beside us. Enobaria huffs and seems as shocked as I am. The tension builds and it almost feels like we are going to fall into a fight that would make the Capitol excited for a week, when we hear the sound of a sponsor gift. I picture Brutus growling that we need to stay together until the other alliances have broken up, and I can't hold back the smirk as I imagine his look of disgust at our game playing so far.
The parachute floats down and eventually lands beside my leg, gently flashing and waiting to be looked at. It has no district label on it but I twist the cap open anyway and I am instantly washed over with the smell of freshly baked bread. Having basically lived on dried meat since I'd been in the arena, this was the most wonderful gift I could have received. Though of course it wasn't just for me – I was resistant to let Enobaria get anywhere near it but I was perfectly content sharing with Gloss. Although he had been furious with me for killing his sister in the beginning – who wouldn't be? – Enobaria's unexplainable female mood-swings had brought us tentatively back together and I trusted him a lot more than I did her.
Just as I'm about the break the bread in half, a hand pulls the loaf out of my hand and I look up to see Enobaria looking pleased with herself and already beginning to eat our gift. I gape at her, too surprised to even feel anger, and watch as she finishes off the whole thing herself.
"Men like him don't deserve gifts." She says through a full mouth, unattractively spraying both Gloss and me with flecks of bread. Gloss reaches up and wipes his cheek with the back of his hand and I see that his arm is shaking in barely controlled fury.
The two of us sit with our arms folded watching Enobaria as she relaxes against a tree with a content but evil smile on her face. Suddenly she sits up with a start, gripping her neck with both hands. The woman tries to speak but cannot do anything except gasp for breath. Seconds later she keels over and a cannon sounds, startling the two of us remaining.
"What- what just happened?" I ask quietly, unsure if what I had just seen was real.
"I don't know. She can't have choked, because she had already swallowed everything. That was too fast." Gloss was staring at the woman's body now, inspecting it for signs of something else.
"What if the bread was poisoned?" I say, "What if someone in the Capitol knew she would take anything I received for herself and used that to their advantage?"
"That's never happened before – it must be against the rules!" Gloss exclaims, looking inside the canister where the bread was held for some kind of elusive note.
"Just because it never happened doesn't mean it can't."
"I suppose you're right, Cato." Gloss says, scratching his head. We were both a bit shell shocked. Enobaria's death had showed us just how quickly you could get killed off, and now we had the opinions of the Capitol to contend with. If they didn't like you for entertainment value at the least then you didn't have a chance.
"Do you think that the victor has already been decided, and that we are just waiting until we eventually get killed off by the Capitol?" I ask quietly, hoping my voice slips under the radar of microphones. "What if this is no longer a game, what if it really is just a planned execution of all of the most dangerous victors?"
Gloss reaches over and clamps a hand over my mouth, and in a panic I thrash against him thinking that the career alliance has finally collapsed. Promptly a knife is rammed up against my throat and Gloss moves his mouth closer to my ear, and I fall still and breathe shallowly.
"Don't let them hear you say that." He hisses into my ear. "Follow along." Not understanding his train of thought I decide that my best course of action is to fight, so I jab my elbow into Gloss' ribs as hard as I can. He grunts in irritation but I'm the one who is in the vulnerable position so he takes advantage of that and thumps me in the stomach. I feel all the air rush from my lungs and I am unceremoniously dropped onto the ground with a thump.
"Finished?" Gloss loudly asks as he moves his body until his knee is pressed into my torso and prevents me from moving. I nod and wait for the impending knife in my neck, hoping that Grey won't be too angry with me for not trying harder.
"You're smarter than you look, boy." He murmurs quietly again, and suddenly I realise that he's trying to speak to me without the microphones hearing us. This battle must be a ruse to make the Capitol think we are fighting rather than talking.
"You mean they're going to kill all of us at the end of these games?"
"That's what I think. Anyone left in this arena isn't coming out."
"What do you mean anyone left in this arena?" I ask, "Are there plans to get us out of here?"
Gloss nods and raises his voice to a level that will be picked up by the Capitol.
"I'll spare your life just this once, boy, but don't take it for granted. I'm going after that District One girl and then I'll come after you, and this time I won't go easy." I growl with my teeth bared, hoping it sounds like I believe what Gloss is threatening, but inside my mind is spinning. If Gloss is going to track down the remainder of the careers, I am meant to find Grey and the others. Something in what he said is telling me that it is vitally important to get to Grey and Finnick and away from him.
Gloss releases me by standing up and he stares with a hard expression as I rise and take a step away from him. Pulling my sword off the ground and strapping it to my leg I look to the career one last time and I salute him as we did in the career academy for those a much higher rank than ourselves. As a tribute volunteer I no longer needed to salute even my trainers, but the movement felt right and Gloss instantly brings his hand up in his own salute.
Lending one final look I make sure my sword is prepared for action, and leaving him all the backpacks I jog away. I'm coming to find you Grey.