Chapter 15
What can I do? I can't just leave him here to die. It was a ridiculous thought that I could actually win, anyway. Holding Cato's hand, I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the pain to begin. I doubt it'll be a quick or painless death, that's a luxury people who get this far in the games rarely afford.
Cato grabs my arm, his eyes flashing open. He sees the mutt on top of the rock, preparing to leap. He scrambles up, dodging the beast as it skims past him, crashing into a tree. We both take off, just enough moonlight gives us the vision to not run into trees.
"What the fuck was that?" Cato shouts.
"I have no idea," I say, thankful that my boots don't slow me down, but help me run faster.
I risk looking over my shoulder. It's gaining on us. I take one of my two throwing knives and take aim. Its eyes remind me of Glimmer's. The same shape and same shade of bluey green, yet they look like the eyes of a hound, making it that much more terrifying. It lets out a whimper and I guess that I hit my target.
It gains on us again and I throw my second knife. It misses and doesn't slow it down at all. I throw my dagger making it howl in pain. It must have done more damage since it has a longer blade.
Every few minutes I hear the sound of splintering wood and when I turn around I see that it is running into branches and trees. My knives must have blinded it meaning it has only its nose and ears to guide it. If we start running in zigzags maybe we can get more of a lead.
Ahead of us I see a steep incline. I take Cato's hand and he looks at me uncertainly.
"Trust me," I say.
When we reach the top of the hill I jerk Cato and I to the right. We run along the incline and I listen out for the sound of the mutt behind us. When I look I see it isn't there. It must have toppled down the hill. It won't be long before it follows our scent back to us, though.
Cato doesn't have his sword and I ditched my spear when the beast first attacked. Both of us are unarmed. There's nothing we can do besides out run it. Fortunately, it won't be long until we get to the cornucopia.
I see the occasional shimmer of the lake through gaps in the dense forest. We're nearly there. I push myself forward, pulling Cato along with me. He flinches when I accidentally touch his wound but I need to make him run faster. My feet sting from how hard they smash the ground. The cold wind created as I run pinches my face. I ignore all this as we reach the open field.
I push Cato up onto the ridge in the side of the cornucopia as I see the glistening eyes of three mutts run at us from within the black forest. I give Cato another push to the top of the cornucopia, he tries not to show pain as his wounds are stretched. I manage to climb up as a mutt jumps at the side of the metal, without a second to spare.
They jump and scratch, their claws making terrible squealing noises as they scrape the metal. Cato leans against the tail of the cornucopia, breathing heavily while I look into the forest watching the blinded mutt join the group, making four of them.
Each have similar characteristics of dead tributes. One has eyes like Marvel's. One has dark brown, almost black, eyes like Clove, even its fur is the shade of brown her hair was. The fourth mutt is smaller than the others and doesn't look like it belongs. I guess that's supposed to be the district three tribute.
"Cato, your shoulder,"
From his shoulder down to his elbow are four deep scratches. His arm and left side is stained with blood. How much has he lost? Too much, definitely. It's a shame I don't have my knife any more because ripping a piece of cloth from my shirt proves more difficult than I hoped it would be. I tie the makeshift bandage around his arm, hoping it lessens the blood flow.
I inspect his forehead, a large lump has risen and another on the back of his head. There's nothing I can do to help. Besides end this thing. I can't do that until Katniss and Rue make an appearance.
From the other side of the field I see her come out from the edge of the trees. She drags Rue behind her. When they get half way here I see what's chasing them. Four mutts emerge from the trees, hot on the girls' tail. They're gaining on them fast as I see Rue struggling to keep up.
They both stop, Rue pleading with Katniss. Are they both giving up? The mutts are getting closer. Katniss plants a kiss on Rue's head. They must be giving up. Then Rue runs from Katniss to the mutts.
Her screams are blood curdling. All four crowd around her, giving Katniss time to run. But she doesn't. She shoots an arrow at one of the mutts, distracting it from Rue, making it run for Katniss. She doesn't move, instead she shoots her second arrow, her last one. As soon as she hears the cannon boom she slings her bow over her shoulder and runs again. Of course, she was trying to put Rue out of her pain.
I watch as Rue's mauled body is swallowed by the earth. A part of my mind thankful I didn't have to kill her. The mutts that were feasting on her now chase after Katniss. The black above me is painted with Rue's face, for only a few seconds. It's like she represented everything that is good and pure, and the Capitol didn't just kill her, they made Katniss do it. Another tribute paying the price for our ancestors' mistakes.
From where Rue got eaten by the ground appears another mutt. It joins the pack that is chasing Katniss. She reaches the cornucopia, climbs up to the surface and stands opposite Cato and I. As Cato and Katniss glare at each other I see the mutt with Rue's eyes. It's marginally bigger than the rest and seems more eager to reach us, or Katniss.
"Cato?" I ask, not sure what to do. Are we going to just kill her?
"We could have done it, you know, Peeta," she says, defeat in her voice.
"It's a shame he chose me then, isn't it?" Cato interjects, smugly. She stares at him, her look of anger turning into a look of betrayal. She turns to me.
"Why didn't you just stick with the plan? I thought you wanted us both to win, you don't even know him," she says.
She's right, I don't know him. I could have saved her. Here she is, so hopeless that she isn't even pleading for her life.
"Prim, I love you," she says before breaking into a run. Cato chases her and catches her before she leaps off the edge. She hangs from the mouth of the cornucopia, the mutts swiping at her feet. She pulls herself up to her elbows, then to her waist while Cato stands over her.
"Need a hand?" he asks, mockingly.
She spits at his feet. He stamps on her left hand. She screams in pain and catches herself before she slips off the edge.
"That was close," Cato says with a dark chuckle.
This is the evil side of Cato. The side that isn't any better than the bloodthirsty monsters that are trying desperately to eat us. The side of Cato that doesn't just take lives, but relishes in it. His entire life has been leading up to this and he's not going to let it pass without having fun.
"Cato," I say, "you don't have to be a monster."
He turns and looks at me, his smile fading.
"I'm sorry you have to see this, Peeta." he says, turning back.
"No," I say, firmly, "if you do you're no better than them. You've shown me what kind of person you can be. That person isn't a cold-blooded killer."
"You don't understand. This is my life. Everything I've done, it's been for this moment."
"I know. You've been made to think that killing mercilessly is everything. But it isn't. What we have, what we could have, is far better and you know it. You and me. We could end it now, no fancy show, no brutal fight. We could do what needs to be done and get it over with,"
"Oh, Peeta," he says, running to me.
I wrap my arms around him, my head burrows into his shoulder. He pulls away and faces me then gives me the sweetest kiss. I've gotten through to him. I knew he was better than that. He pulls away and stares deeply into my eyes, as I do into his.
"I love you," he says. So simple are those three words but they have the force of a desert storm.
"Cato, I-" something catches my eye. Katniss is hanging by her waist, in her hands a bow and arrow. Where did she get the arrow from? "Move!" I shout, pushing Cato to the side. There isn't an arrow in Katniss' bow any more.
"Peeta!" Cato screams.
Cato
I see the arrow protruding from Peeta's stomach. Where the fuck did she get it from? Blood gushes out and I manage to catch him as he falls. He looks up at me, gormless and confused. A maroon pool spreads on the ground.
"Don't do this to me, Peeta," I plead, watching his eyes grow more vacant. I ignore my shoulder as the weight of Peeta stretches my wounds open.
"I just need..." he says, trying to lift his hand.
"Don't move, just keep talking, come on, what do you need?" I rush, cradling him, a tear rolls down my cheek.
"I'm just a bit tired is all," he says, eyes half closed.
"No, stay with me, Peeta, stay with me. You saved me, now I'm going to save you. You made me a better person. Please, Peeta. I love you, don't do this," I cry, my tears fall to his forehead.
His eyes roll up into the sockets as I try shake him awake.
"Peeta!" I scream, trembling, kissing his forehead.
"No!" I cry after the cannon fires.
I've never cried this hard in my life. It's not fair. We were so close to winning. If I had just killed Katniss simply this wouldn't have happened.
I lay him down, still shaking and give him one last kiss. I walk to the edge of the cornucopia. Katniss is going to pay for taking him from me. She's going to rue the day she was born.
A/N: Alas, the next chapter shall be the last. Please don't hate me for what I did in this chapter. I only need four more reviews until I'm at sixty, so maybe the sixtieth reviewer gets a preview/gets to read the last chapter a week before I publish it? Needless to say, please review and thanks for reading!
sOMEBODYsTRANGE:
I don't remember much of the first few chapters either :') I agree, they are cute.
RueRajaram:
Yes, there will be a sequel. I'm hoping to make it 100000x better than this. Also, I killed Rue as quick and painless as I could (I planned for her just to get mauled to death, so Katniss mercy killing her saved her at least ten minutes of agony)
JustThrowTheSword:
You. Are. Amazing. Thank you so much, seriously, you don't even know how grateful I am. (please don't hate me because of what I did to Peeta)