Thank you all for reading my story and for all the lovely comments I've received! You've all encouraged me to keep writing and I only hope that I'm keeping up the standard!
I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.
Chapter Forty-Five
The next morning the rain has cleared and Katniss and Peeta finish off what remains of their food before they set off hunting. I find a camera that is closest to Cato to see that he's asleep just on the edge of the wheat field and wearing some sort of body armour that would protect him from Katniss' arrows. It's hard to say just how bad his injuries are but it's clear that he's a lot weaker than before.
It isn't long before Katniss gets irritated, apparently Peeta is walking too loudly and scaring off game. They get in to a bit of a fight before deciding to split up, which annoys me because they're meant to be acting like they can't stand to be apart from one another. They agree on a signal and Peeta goes off in search of berries and plants for them to eat whilst Katniss hunts for meat.
As Peeta moves back and forth collecting berries he doesn't notice when the girl from 5 sneaks up and steals some of his food. I'm amazed that she's done this well without killing anyone, she's got by purely on her cunning and her wits. She disappears as quickly as she came and Peeta is none the wiser.
Katniss whistles and waits for Peeta to reply but when there is no response a look of worry spreads across her face and she immediately heads back to their meeting point.
"Peeta! Peeta!" She must hear Peeta heading back and get confused because she aims her bow at him and only changes the direction of the arrow at the last minute when he appears. "What are you doing? You're supposed to be here, not running around in the woods!"
"I found some berries down by the stream," he replies.
"I whistled. Why didn't you whistle back?"
"I didn't hear. The water's too loud, I guess."
"I thought Cato killed you!" She shouts and Peeta pulls her in to a hug, trying to reassure her. Good, I think, because it was starting to look like Katniss was just annoyed with him and not worried about his safety. Of course, Katniss being Katniss she has to ruin it all by giving him a lecture on signals.
She turns around and sees that some of their cheese and apples are missing and says, "And you ate without me!"
"What? No, I didn't," says Peeta.
"Oh, and I suppose the apples ate the cheese." Shut up, Katniss, this doesn't matter!
"I don't know what ate the cheese but it wasn't me. I've been down by the stream collecting berries. Would you care for some?"
Katniss bends down to look at the berries that Peeta has collected and I can tell that something is going through her head, although I'm not sure what, exactly. Before she can say anything a cannon booms and seconds later a hovercraft appears to collect the girl from 5. How did I miss that?! Cato is still asleep so how did she die?
"Climb," orders Peeta, "He'll be here in a second. We'll stand a better chance fighting him from above."
"No, Peeta," says Katniss, "She's your kill, not Cato's."
Peeta shares my confusion but as Katniss holds out the berries I quickly catch up. The berries are called nightlock and are extremely poisonous, according to Katniss, and because Peeta was so happy collecting them the girl must have thought they were edible.
Peeta goes to get rid of the rest of them but Katniss suggests that they keep them, coming up with a far-fetched plan of dropping them if Cato is in pursuit of them in the hope that he'll eat them. It sounds silly to me but there's no harm in her hanging on to them, I suppose.
They only have Cato to face now and they're home but he's still knocked out in the wheat field. However, they don't know that and seem keen to face the final battle so they build a huge fire but, of course, Cato doesn't show. They decide to head back to the cave, despite the long walk.
Finnick comes to join me just as Cato is waking up and I'm grateful; I don't think I can face watching this fight alone.
"He's quite far away from them," says Finnick. "It could be a while."
"Yes," I reply, "But there's no way he's going to stand around waiting. Gloss has sent him in some food so he's ready to fight."
Finnick and I take it in turns to sleep throughout the night. Cato is bounding through the arena but he has yet to stumble upon Katniss and Peeta. By late afternoon Chaff has joined us and my tributes are eating the rest of the food, preparing to face the final fight.
"You two don't have to stay if you don't want to," I say but they both ignore me.
"I think Mags is coming down, soon," says Finnick. "She wants to be here for you."
I turn back to the screens to see that Katniss and Peeta are leaving the cave to find that the stream has been drained of all its water.
"The lake," says Peeta, "That's where they want us to go." They check the other water sources in the arena to find that they too are drained and begin their trek to the lake. I can see that Cato is walking around the woods, his sword ready to go but he's still quite a distance from my tributes.
Mags joins us early evening, just as Peeta and Katniss are reaching the area surrounding the Cornucopia and we all eat a large meal of beef stew. I feel like I'm the one who's about to go in to battle, not Katniss and Peeta. My stomach is constantly twisting and turning.
The mockingjays are singing the tune that Rue taught Katniss almost a week ago, now, and it's so peaceful that I could just drift off to sleep.
"Oh, no! Look at those, they're awful!" Mags screams, a deep panic in her voice. We all look to where she's pointing to find that a large pack of wolf like creatures are chasing Cato through the woods. He's dropped his sword and he's sprinting towards the lake. He bursts through the trees with no interest in either Katniss or Peeta.
"He's got some kind of body armour!" Katniss shouts.
"Forget about that!" I shout, "You need to run!"
It's as if she hears my words because her eyes dart behind Cato and that's when she notices the pack descending upon them. She doesn't even call out for Peeta as she runs, her mind only concentrating on survival. When she does turn around Peeta is hobbling behind her, telling her to keep running.
She follows Cato towards the Cornucopia and begins to climb the horn. Once she's up there Cato is lying on his back, panting. She loads her bow with an arrow but before she can finish him off Peeta cries out. She turns to see that he's at the tail but the mutts are gaining on him.
"Climb!" She shouts and begins to send arrows towards the mutts as Peeta scrambles on top of the golden horn.
Cato is mumbling something but Katniss can't hear, her eyes are fixated on the mutts below.
"He said, 'Can they clib it?'" Says Peeta.
Katniss looks down to see that the mutts are gathering as if they are humans discussing a plan. They stretch out and begin to run at the horn in an attempt to jump on to it but they can't. Katniss lets out a chilling scream as one of her arrows lodges itself in one of the mutts' throat.
"Katniss," says Peeta, gripping her arm.
"It's her!" She screams.
"Who?" Katniss' head is snapping in every direction; she's gone completely manic. "What is it, Katniss?"
"It's them. It's all of them. The others. Rue and Foxface and…all of the other tributes."
Everyone in the Control Room takes a collective gasp as we realise what she means. All of the mutts have a district number around their necks and their eyes…their eyes seem to match one of the fallen tributes. Those sick, sick Gamemakers.
The mutts split in to two groups and attempt to jump up on either side of the horn. One manages to get its claws into Peeta but Katniss is gripping his arm and pulling him up whilst he stabs it until it dies.
It's all happening so quickly. No sooner has Peeta got back on the horn and Katniss armed her bow that Cato is on his feet and pulling Peeta in to a headlock.
"No, no, no!" I shout, jumping to my feet.
"Calm down, Haymitch, they can still do this," says Chaff.
Katniss has her arrow aimed at Cato but only his face is unprotected, the rest of his body is covered in armour.
He laughs as he says, "Shoot me and he goes down with me."
No one moves for a moment, they all know that Cato is right. Katniss could easily win but that would mean Peeta's death and, as confused as she may be about how she feels about him, I know she cares enough about him not to do that.
Peeta's lips are turning blue but his mind is still working. He raises his hand and makes an X shape on the back of Cato's hand. Cato realises just after Katniss does and the arrow flies in to his hand, releases his grip on Peeta.
Katniss lunges forward to stop Peeta from going over the edge with Cato and the two back away in the centre of the horn, falling to their knees and clutching at each other.
"They've done it," says Finnick.
"Not yet," I say, "Not until Cato is dead."
The rest of the night is terrifying and bloody; Peeta's leg is bleeding out from where the mutt attacked him and Katniss is doing her best to keep him awake until Cato dies. She's bandaged up Peeta but it's impossible to say if he's going to make it through the night.
No body leaves my side the entire night, we all take it in turns to sleep and try our best to avoid watching Cato being torn apart by the mutts. Effie saunters in at about three in the morning, eager to share this moment with us but even she, a product of the shiny Capitol, isn't thrilled at the way Cato is dying.
It's dawn before anything happens and Cato's body is dragged before the horn by the mutts. I wake everyone up, convinced that the victors will be crowned soon. Cato is mumbling something but it's difficult to say what, I think he just wants it to be over.
Katniss understands and lifts her last arrow before sending it through his skull.
I'm stunned for a moment. My tributes have won. I can take them home. They can live.
The mutts disappear in to the ground but nothing else happens. No hovercraft appears, no announcement from Templesmith so Katniss and Peeta climb down and head for the lake in the hope that they just need to be away from Cato for them to be declared winners.
"What's going on?" Asks Effie.
"I don't know," I say, "But I don't like it."
Suddenly, Templesmith's voice finally erupts in to the arena. "Greetings to the final contestants of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games. The earlier revision has been revoked. Closer examination of the rule book has disclosed that only one winner may be allowed. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour."
Everyone looks at me, expecting some sort of tantrum, I'm sure, but I'm not surprised. I had a feeling this was all too good to be true. At least one of them gets to come home. Although that isn't comforting.
When I look back to the screen Katniss is pointing her arrow at Peeta and it's clear that within that one movement all the work we've done so far has vanished. Peeta throws his knife in to the lake and she drops her bow, realising that he could never kill her. This girl will never cease to annoy me.
"No. Do it," says Peeta.
"I can't," she says, "I won't."
"Do it. Before they send those mutts back or something. I don't want to die like Cato."
I can hear Effie snivelling away next to me. I think she really did get quite attached this year.
"Then you shoot me," says Katniss. "You shoot me and go home and live with it!"
"You know I can't. Fine, I'll go first anyway." He rips off the bandage on his leg and blood immediately starts to pour from the wound.
"No, you can't kill yourself," she says, frantically, trying to put the bandage back on his leg.
"Katniss, it's what I want."
"You're not leaving me here alone."
"Listen," he says, pulling the both to their feet. "We both know they have to have a victor. It can only be one of us. Please, take it. For me. I love you so much and I'd rather die than live without you."
My heart starts to sink. He's one of the most decent and moral kids I've ever had to mentor and now he wants to kill himself so that Katniss can live. She may have more to go home for but if all this was based on who's more wholly good then Peeta should take the crown. He's right, though, the Games needs a victor. It's the only way the districts can bear to watch this hell each year.
Katniss goes to get something from her belt but Peeta pushes his hand down on hers. "No, I won't let you."
"What's she doing?" Asks Chaff but no one answers.
"Trust me," whispers Katniss and pours a handful of the nightlock in to Peeta's hand before pouring the rest in to her own. "On the count of three?"
They agree and I can feel my hear pounding against my chest. No, she needs to live! I need to take her home!
"One." Maybe this could work, though. "Two." Defying the Capitol, it will make her a martyr. "Three."
Everyone is staring at the screen in shock as Katniss and Peeta lift the berries to their mouths. This is it. All that hope and hard work is finally coming crashing down.
"Stop! Stop!" Claudius Templesmith's voice booms. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Game, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! I give you- the tributes of District Twelve!"
They both immediately spit out the berries and everyone around me seems to be cheering so loudly that I think I might go deaf. I don't move. I don't know what to do. I've never had a tribute win and now I have two.
"I need to see Plutarch," I say, "Snow won't be happy about this."
They all stop cheering as they realise the truth. Effie, however, covers her ears and hums loudly before leaving. I think she's twigged my political views over the years but she doesn't want to get involved.
"You're right," says Mags, "Go get cleaned up and I'll make sure he meets you in your room, okay?"
I nod, kiss her on the cheek and run to my room. I should feel elated, relieved, even but the Games are still not over. Katniss has dared to undermine the Capitol and I know what happens next. I guess we really are similar.