ENTRAPMENT
Chapter One: Waiting Game
"Y-you." Katniss breathed out, her voice shaking.
However she wasn't met with an intelligible reply. No, there wasn't an angry exclamation from her callous companion, nor was there a single move to threaten her.
All Cato, Cato the killing machine did, was groan.
Katniss narrowed her eyes at him in the small light that now illuminated the...ditch?... that they had been blown into. Carefully, she made a move for the torch that sat in between them and then quickly snatched it up off the ground, still not trusting that Cato was in too much pain to harm her.
She trained the light on him and quickly assessed whether or not he was still capable of damage.
His eyes were half closed and his blond hair was dirty, sticking to his forehead with blood, grime, and sweat. She noticed that his nose was bleeding, and that some of the blood was trickling into his mouth. His arms were peppered with large, dark, purple bruises, and his leg was sticking out at an odd angle. She noticed that he was clutching it, groaning under his breath.
No, she conceded, he wouldn't be hurting her any time soon.
She felt somewhat euphoric that she was the stronger of the two- stronger than Cato! -and noticed a smile start to pull at the corners of her mouth. She was stronger than Cato! The thought shouldn't have pleased her as much as it did, but in the middle of The Hunger Games, in the middle of a battle between life and death, knowing that she was stronger than her enemy certainly warranted her permission to smile.
She allowed herself to smile for a moment before a small trickle of guilt settled in her stomach. Yes, he was Cato, but he was still in pain and in desperate need of medical attention. Feeling happy for someone else's pain was something that went completely against her upbringing- not to mention that her mother and sister were healers as well... which she supposed was another factor which allowed her to feel guilty about being happy over another person's obvious hurt.
But he was Cato.
'Does it really matter?' A voice- her conscience, she supposed- whispered in the back of her head. She very nearly laughed at herself; having a conscience in The Hunger Games! That was a first. However she listened to that voice, and agreed that it was probably right. He may have been Cato, and he may have been a beastly, carnal Career, but his leg was broken and he was covered in bruises, trapped with a girl from District Twelve who was obviously better off than he was.
It must have been positively killing him.
Speaking of which, shouldn't she be trying to murder him already?
She grimaced at the thought of murdering another person, and instead tried to think of him as nothing more than an animal, like Gale had told her to do.
Gale. She felt her heart squeeze at the thought of her friend back home. Was he looking after her mother and Prim? She tried to push the thought of them from her mind- a coping tactic that she had developed in The Games- and concentrated on thinking of Cato as nothing more than a piece of meat.
After a moment, she deemed that it wasn't working very well, because he still looked disgustingly like himself.
Another thought nagged at her. Say she did want to kill him- how would she do that? How could she do that?
Despite her obvious dislike for killing humans, she had no weapons bar the knife- which she now realised was still sitting at Cato's corner of the ditch. He hadn't made a grab for it yet, but she still crawled forward to take it from his side. She wouldn't take any chances.
The most she could do would be to sever his windpipe by slitting his throat, and then what? He'd die? It wasn't as simple as that. Obviously the hovercraft wouldn't be able to pick him up, considering the fact that they looked pretty boxed in.
She tilted her head up to inspect the ceiling. No, they were definitely covered. Not a single beam of light could penetrate their new surroundings. Speaking of which, it appeared that they were in a perfectly shaped ditch, it appeared to be square, and about three meters deep. The sides were a mixture of dirt and roots, and the ground was- surprise, surprise -dirt as well.
So if Cato died in there, his body would- more than likely -stay in there as well. Which meant that he'd start to decompose... and decomposition meant a bad smell, and not mention about twenty diseases. So if Cato died, then she would probably die also.
She groaned and pulled at her hair.
She was trapped in a place she couldn't immediately escape, and to make things worse, the Career from District Two was trapped in there with her. Of course, he was rather incapacitated, so he couldn't exactly try to kill her.
Somewhat content with the notion that she wasn't going to die immediately, she turned off the torch to avoid wasting batteries, and leaned back onto the cool dirt wall behind her.
A loud groan broke the silence some time later and Katniss quickly fumbled for the torch. Clicking the screw lid into place, she trained the light on the boy across from her.
He was still sitting up and his teeth were gritted in pain. His hands were on his broken leg, and he hissed each time it moved slightly.
Apparently noticing the artificial light from the torch through the haze of pain, he lifted his head upwards and glared at the girl sitting across from him.
Katniss tilted her head in greeting, and continued to watch the boy in front of her, who was still scowling.
"Be careful or your face will set that way." She provoked, still keeping the beam of light on his face. She could practically feel the anger vibrating from his body, and she stiffened slightly. It was like being trapped in a cage with a nest full of tracker jackers.
She watched as he opened his mouth to reply, but quickly closed it with a harsh hissing sound. The veins on his arms were visible, and they appeared to be straining with the effort of keeping his broken leg in place.
Katniss idly wondered how long he'd survive for, or whether he'd survive at all.
It was only then that it dawned on her, like a bubble growing bigger and bigger, just on the brink of bursting... he couldn't die, lest she die also.
Pop.
The metaphorical bubble burst and she was sent into a spin of broken thoughts and sarcastic snipes about her current situation.
Cato couldn't die. Well, he could, she amended, but she wasn't allowed to let that happen.
Once again, she thought of decomposing bodies and diseases, knowing all too well of the stench that a carcass let off. She certainly wasn't about to become trapped with a carcass. There was no way, absolutely no way that she'd put up with such a stench. She may have grown up in the seam, but human body odour didn't smell nearly as bad as a rotting body.
Not to mention the infections. She'd be dead in a week... if no one found them first.
Mentally sighing, she accepted the fact that the only thing she could do was to keep him alive until either someone found them, or until she figured a way out of the hole.
Brilliant.
Coming back to the present, she realised that she had to help the boy from District Two and keep him alive for as long as possible. The simple idea of going near him- even when he was in such blinding pain- sent a shiver down her spine. But she had to do it. She needed to keep her promise to Prim.
Swallowing her fear, she stood up slowly -making a face at the desperate way her muscles protested- and crouched toward the slumped over Cato.
She was so close now that she could barely breathe. His body heat radiated and prickled on her skin (or was it just his anger?) and she could practically feel the flutter of his rapid, laborious breaths.
She placed the torch down on the earth in the corner closest to his broken leg, making sure that it was in a position so that it highlighted his entire body.
Satisfied, she lowered herself so that she hovered next to him.
She couldn't properly process what she was about to do. She knew that broken bones could kill people, she knew that if she didn't put the bone back in place and set it right, then it would be prone to infection. She knew that if she left it for too long, the marrow could seep into his bloodstream and kill him almost immediately. She knew that he'd die in a matter of days if she didn't look after his injury.
She had reached a crossroads within herself; not wanting to save his life, and yet knowing she had to in order to save her own. Let Cato die and become trapped with a decomposing body, or let him live and... do what? Sit there? Be annoyed to death? Be somehow killed in her sleep?
Every sane part of her screamed at her not to save him. But she couldn't chance death- she wasn't going to kill him and hope that someone find her before she became ill.
Groaning, she knew that she would most certainly regret this.
Taking the knife from her pocket, she placed it beside her and started stripping off her jacket. She didn't want to, because it would open her up to hypothermia, but she had no other choice, and Cato was far worse off than she had ever been.
She finished taking off her jacket and with the knife, started to sever it through its middle. Once she was left with two pieces, she placed both on the ground and bit her lip, inching closer to Cato.
Even whist moaning in pain, he was still terrifying.
"Cato," She started, trying as hard as she could to keep her voice even. Survival rule one-oh-one: never show your enemy just how much you fear them. "I'm going to wrap your leg so that it stays in place." She finished, proud of the fact that her voice didn't tremble once.
She made a move for his leg and flinched when he hissed and pulled his leg away from her, groaning loudly when it moved.
"D-Don't," She heard him stutter, still in agony. "Don't t-touch me." He hissed again and clutched his leg tighter still.
Katniss barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Don't be stupid," She told the boy, no longer intimidated. She made another move toward him, but he flinched, and groaned again when his leg was moved. "Hold still! I'm not going to hurt you!" She exclaimed as she reached toward his leg again.
"Go a-away." He replied in barely a whisper.
Katniss exhaled in annoyance and folded her arms across her chest. Didn't he get it? She was trying to help him!
"I said l-leave!" He said again, his temple throbbing.
"And I said I'm not going to hurt you!" She whispered furiously at him. "Just stop-"
He moved his leg again away from her, this time managing not to groan too loudly.
"I said stop!" She repeated. "If you haven't noticed already, we're trapped. Which means that if one of us dies- which by the looks of it, will be you -then this whole place is going to reek of death and disease. Ever smelt a carcass before?" She seethed, trying to get closer to him still.
"The hover-" Groan. "hover craft-"
"I said we're trapped," She replied. "Get that through your stupid big head! We're trapped as in actually trapped. The hovercraft can't get through this damn place!" She was absolutely furious with him. Was he an idiot? Didn't he understand that he couldn't die?
It was silent for a moment in which Cato apparently debated over whether or not he should allow Katniss to treat his leg. Katniss didn't make another move toward him, and instead settled on planning out her next move. She had seen her mother and Prim treat broken bones before. A few miners who had been caught under rubble, and young children who had somehow fallen out of trees had come in, all with one or more distorted limbs, just like Cato's. But even back in District Twelve, there was at least some form of pain medication.
Cato wouldn't have access to any pain medication out here in the Arena, and even if he did, they wouldn't be able to get to it. He would just have to suck it up... as best he could.
She was pulled back to attention when she noticed that very slowly, Cato was letting go of his broken leg, hissing whenever he touched it the wrong way.
"Finally." She muttered, and moved closer to him so that she could get better access to his limb.
She reached out toward his leg and gently touched it. Cato groaned again, and attempted to hit her hands away. She beat him to it, though, and slapped his arm.
"No," She admonished him. "Don't touch it."
It was then that she realised treating his leg would be nearly impossible, especially when he kept on moaning and groaning at the slightest of touches. How could she possibly move a bone back into place when he was there trying to stop her? She knew that it was something that had to be done, but how?
Just like that, an idea formed in her mind.
Leaning back to grab the torch, she asked Cato to please move forward so that she could check the back of his head. Surprisingly, he obliged after a couple of seconds and managed to lean his body forward for her.
Taking the torch in both hands, she felt its weight and knew that it would do the job just right. Smiling to herself, she moved closer to Cato and raised the torch above her head.
Quickly she swung the torch downwards and with a hard thud, knocked Cato out cold.
Never in her life had she felt as much satisfaction as she did in that moment.
When Cato came to, he came to with another pitiful groan.
Katniss had been leaning back on the wall closest to the male Tribute's body, watching him for any signs that he was dying. He had been out for a few hours, his sleep filled with shaky breaths and whispered exclamations of pain.
She looked down at his leg and smiled grimly. Yes, she had moved the bone back into place, but there was no telling whether or not an infection had settled. So far, he appeared to be fine. Well, she conceded gloomily, fine enough.
When she heard his breathing change, she sat up straighter and watched his face intently.
She looked on as he slowly opened his eyes and peered down his body to check out his leg. He seemed to notice that it was no longer at an odd angle, and so he looked around for a short moment until his eyes landed on Katniss beside him.
Katniss stiffened and held her breath, knowing that he couldn't hurt her, but still unsure of what he would make of this situation. Not that his opinion mattered to her, of course. Only that they would be staying together for a while now, and she didn't fancy being trapped with an irate Career.
They stared at each other, Katniss chewing on the inside of her cheek and Cato apparently trying to level his breathing.
After a while, Katniss decided to break the silence.
"I put your leg back into place." The girl stated. She couldn't think of anything else to say. What could she say? 'Hi, pleasure to meet you. My name is Katniss Everdeen and we're officially trapped together. In a hole. During The Hunger Games.' No, no, no. It was all wrong. There was nothing that she could actually say to this boy. Not that she honestly wanted to, of course. She had never been one to break the silence. Usually, she was the one who initiated the silence. Not this time though, and it irked her some.
"I noticed." He replied flatly, without missing a beat. His breathing was just starting to settle down, and oddly, that comforted Katniss. It shouldn't have. She should be feeling comforted that he was so bad off he couldn't harm her. At least she knew that he wouldn't be dying any time soon. Maybe that was why Katniss was feeling comforted- she wouldn't be catching any diseases in the foreseeable future.
It was silent again in the hole, both opponents staring at each other, neither blinking, neither willing to back down. It was almost a competition of dominance- whoever moved first, whoever blinked, whoever breathed, would be the loser; and Katniss wasn't a loser.
Eventually though, Cato needed to rub the back of his head, and Katniss felt a small drip of pride seep through her system. She was still the stronger one.
She broke eye contact and tilted her head backwards onto the earthy wall behind her. The dirt was damp, and smelt heavily of the forest back at District Twelve. She was comforted by that, and breathed in deeply to enjoy the scent.
After a moment she heard Cato move, and she snapped her head back down to look at him.
He was trying to lift himself up so that he wasn't slouched. If her own aches and pains were anything to go by, then she knew that his muscles would be in absolute agony from not moving for so long... not to mention his head. She estimated that they had been in the hole for a few hours, however she wasn't one hundred percent sure, due to the fact that they had both been passed out initially. Any amount of time could have passed since the explosion, and they wouldn't have a clue.
Without looking at her, she heard him ask, "Have you got any water?" She felt her pants pocket for the canister, and nodded at him. "Can I?" He asked, eyeing her hands.
She nodded again and took the canister in her hands. She carefully crawled forward a tiny bit and handed him the water. The space was so tiny, and she was relieved that neither of them were claustrophobic.
He took the water with slightly shaky hands and proceeded to angle his head back so that he could take a swig.
"Careful." Katniss said, reaching out to take the canister back. She was annoyed when he inclined away from her, still drinking.
"That's all I have!" She exclaimed angrily, and this time snatched the water out of his hand. She shook the container and was relieved to find that it was still half full. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not magical," She started. "I can't just make water appear out of mid air. This is all we have until we figure a way out of here." She placed the water back into her pants pocket and leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms.
He glowered at her and snapped, "I know you're not bloody magical, but I have a broken leg, in case you haven't noticed."
"Of course I didn't notice," She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What with all the groaning, I thought you were having the time of your life."
"Don't speak to me like that, Twelve."
"Then don't drain the only water we have, Two."
They scowled at each other, Cato sending daggers and Katniss throwing them right back.
After a while, Cato broke the silence.
"How long have we been in here for?" He asked, actually sounding slightly arrogant despite the position he was in.
Katniss lifted an eyelid lazily and replied, breathing out slowly to keep her cool. She shouldn't get so exasperated with him- she needed to conserve as much energy as possible.
"No idea. Since I've been awake... a few hours maybe."
"Any canons gone off?"
"Not from what I've heard."
They were silent again.
Katniss closed her eyes and licked her lips. She couldn't possibly sleep with Cato so close, but she knew she had to try. He couldn't move his leg without harming her, and the knife wasn't close. Plus, as she had explained to him (Did he even remember?), if one of them died, then the other would surely catch some form of disease and die soon after. Her thoughts only comforted her mildly, yet she still didn't feel relaxed enough to sleep.
"You should rest," Katniss spoke, opening her eyes to look at her unwilling roommate again, who appeared to be wide awake. "Give yourself time to heal."
"How do I know you won't just kill me?" He prodded, and Katniss sighed, her fears confirmed. Obviously the boy didn't remember what she'd told him before, and in the mean time hadn't come to the same conclusions that she had earlier.
"Because," She started. "We're trapped. If one of us dies, the other will be trapped in a small space with a decaying body. What do you think will happen then? The body's going to smell- it's going to turn to mush- then it'll become contagious; diseased. The living person will become ill and eventually die anyway."
"The hover-"
"Look up, Einstein," She huffed. "Does it honestly look like a hovercraft can get in here?"
Cato unwillingly looked up toward the blocked ceiling, and she noticed his teeth clench again. He could obviously see her logic, and it peeved him like nothing else. Score one for Katniss.
"The Gamemakers will find us," He stated. "Either that, or one of the other Tributes will."
Katniss considered that for a while, and grudgingly came to admit that he was right. Someone would have to find them eventually.
"Maybe they think we're dead. Maybe they think we died in the explosion..."
"And not leave a body behind? I know you're not very educated- coming from Twelve- but-"
Katniss saw red. "Explosions don't always leave behind bodies, genius. If someone's close enough, and if the explosion is hot enough, there's rarely any evidence that a person died."
Silence again.
"There would be a body-"
"No, there wouldn't." Katniss glared at him. He was impossible! Didn't he realised that she obviously knew more about explosions than he did? She came from District Twelve! There were explosions there all the time in the mines! Especially that one... no body to bring home... no father to greet his children. Blown into smithereens in an instant; gone without a trace.
"And just how would you know, Girl on Fire?" He mocked, leaning toward her as best he could without disturbing his leg. "Just how would you know whether or not there would be traces of human matter in an explosion?"
Katniss's breathing hitched, and her vision blurred. She was strong, she wouldn't cry. More than anything if she did cry, it would be out of pure frustration. She was trapped in a small space with a cocky, arrogant killer. She wondered what she had done to deserve such a punishment.
"I come from District Twelve," She snapped. "What do you think?"
He opened his mouth to retaliate when the sound of a canon interrupted whatever he was about to say . The two Tributes looked at each other, shocked, and then looked upwards. Katniss scrambled for the knife which was sitting next to her and moved to the other side of the cave where the ground was slightly harder and dryer. Then, she dragged the knife through the dirt, forming a single short line to symbolise the death of another Tribute.
"Eight left." Katniss whispered. Her mind flittered to Peeta, and then to Rue, but she quickly pushed the thought of them to the back of her head. No time to think of them now. No time to block her judgement.
"How do you know that no cannons went off when we were both knocked out?" He asked her. She turned around to look at him and bit her lip.
"I don't." She replied.
A couple of beats passed.
"The finale's nearly here." He murmured, breathing out. He nearly seemed disappointed that he was missing out on another blood bath.
"We're still alive," She reminded him. "Unless the ground crushes us, we'll both be in the finale."
A feeling of heaviness settled around them, both of them thinking of the same thing, both of them knowing exactly what was going to happen; when the sixth cannon blasted, Katniss would be the only one in a position to kill. She would- more than likely -become the Victor.
"So I'm just sitting here waiting to die." Cato stated, leaning back against the wall.
"Basically." She replied dully.
The silence settled around them again like a heavy weight, and Katniss noticed Cato shift. Apparently, he didn't like the silence. Brilliant. Not only was he an arrogant bastard, he was also a talker. All to Katniss's delight.
"How're you going to kill me?" He asked after some time had passed. Katniss glanced up at him and saw that he had his head leaned back, his eyes half closed. Apparently he wasn't so scared that she was going to kill him anymore. Maybe he was accepting that death was inevitable.
"With the knife," She replied. "I'm going to slit your throat." There was no use sugar coating it. He didn't deserve it, and it was going to happen regardless.
He mulled that piece of information for a bit, and then stated, "Nice and quick. I'd expect you to draw it out a bit though; make me suffer."
"Don't tempt me." She replied flatly, mimicking his laid back demeanour by letting her head loll backwards.
"Aren't you going to look for a way out?" He asked her again. Why did he insist on talking? What was it about her that made him think she was open to any conversation? Then she got it; he was annoying her on purpose. Did he have a death wish?
She lifted her head and leisurely glanced around. she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and exhaled. "Four dirt walls and a high ceiling blocked by something heavy," She raised a brow. "Do you honestly think that there's a way out? Even if we could climb these walls without the dirt crumbling beneath our feet, what would we do when we reached the ceiling? Push that -whatever it is- away?"
He made a face at her and leaned back again.
Some more time passed and it was only after what seemed like an hour than Katniss looked up to see a small beam of light enter the ditch. It must have been night time before when she assumed that no light could enter. The beam came from the side of the blockage, which didn't mean a whole lot, only that they were still able to keep track of time.
She peered over at Cato, who she knew had come to the same conclusion as her.
The beam was just wide enough to illuminate the ditch almost completely, so Katniss reached over to the torch and turned it off to conserve its battery.
Cato appeared ghostly white in the new pale light, and Katniss knew that she would probably look the same.
"It's only been a night," Cato stated. "Thought it would've been longer than that."
Katniss agreed, "It feels like it's been days."
"Maybe it has," He started again. "Maybe we were out for a whole day."
Katniss gave him a look, "I doubt that we could've been knocked out for over twenty-four hours."
Cato made to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of Katniss's stomach, which grumbled loudly. She was absolutely starving. She placed her hands on her stomach and sighed. How would they find food? She certainly didn't have anything on her.
"Got any food?" She asked Cato, thinking that he would have something on him. Surely a big thing like him would keep some kind of snack in his pockets?
"No." He quipped.
She raised her eyebrows again, not believing him for a second, "You do-"
"And just why should I give you any?" He asked. "Surely it takes longer to die of a broken bone than it does to die of starvation."
Katniss pursed her lips and willed herself not to start shouting at him. She needed to keep her head; she couldn't give him any satisfaction. Cato would not have the upper hand. Yet she didn't have a reply to give him, because he was right. Just why should he give her any food? Because she fixed his leg? Because she blew up his supplies? Because they obviously weren't in The Hunger Games?
"I'll knock you out again and keep it all for myself." She threatened.
"I'll stop you."
"You wouldn't be able to."
She could practically hear him grinding his teeth together in annoyance.
"It's my leg that's broken not my arms, dumbass."
Katniss rolled her eyes and leaned toward him. Very lightly, she tapped his leg, which made him hiss loudly and grab it tightly.
"I doubt that you'd be able to stop me." She replied, smiling.
He growled at her -actually growled- and nursed his aching leg, "You're a bitch."
"Only in the presence of a moron." She replied.
Silence ensued, and Katniss wondered whether or not she would actually die of starvation? Would they be found? Of course they would be found eventually... but by who? How long would it take? Which of them would die first? Katniss didn't once doubt Cato's abilities, and knew without a doubt that he would be able to kill her with his bare hands if he had to. He wasn't one to go down without a fight.
There was one thing she knew for absolute certain, and it was something that gave her chills which trickled all the way down her back like icy tendrils: they were going to be trapped together for a long time... and if someone found them, they'd both be completely vulnerable, like mice trapped in a snake cage.
So all as they could do was wait.
Wonderful.