Clove's POV
Word count 3,337
Before I know it the day is here. The day I've trained for since I was young. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Careers always get the most sponsors. But since District twelve pulled that sappy stunt I'm starting to feel on edge. I know that they'll get all the air time and it's just not fair.
I tap my foot nervously as the shuttle takes off. I watch the other tributes get their trackers implanted to pass the time. Some of them cry. I pay close attention to Everdeen as she gets her tracker. She winces but that's about it. Finally it's my turn. I feel a warm hand on the inside of my thigh as the man approaches me. I tun my head to look at Cato but he just stares forward. My stomach flutters and it's most definitely not because I'm about to be stabbed. I bite my tongue as I feel the tracker imbed itself into my flesh. I elbow Cato in the ribs a little as a hint to move his hand. I don't want people to think something is up. Cato obviously doesn't care seeing as he elbows me right back. I send him a glare. I feel his hand inch up my thigh as the tracker is injected into his own body. In a final attempt to get him to stop I slap his hand. He squeezes my thigh in response.
This better be a short flight.
Right after the shuttle lands I'm immediately escorted to the transport tubes that will take everyone to the arena. I feel as if my entire life just passed in a blur. It's as if I was at the training academy yesterday. How long has it been since I got here? We had four days to use the practice room and another day just for our scoring sessions so that makes five. It seems like a lifetime ago. I push all these thoughts away and focus on the task at hand. Evaluate the landscape, trust no one, and most importantly: fear is just a state of mind.
For the first time in forever I pay attention to my cloths. I suspect the arena will be in a woodland area because the outfit I was given is tight fitting with ventilation holes that will allow airflow. It's snug but I can tell that I will be able to move freely in it. The zipper that runs down my spine and is cold and causes gooseflesh to a erupt down my back.
Sooner than I expected I'm standing in front of the transportation tube. It's clear and gives off that 'sleek Capitol look.' It opens once I'm close enough and I step inside without a word.
It smoothly travels upward until I'm forced to shield my eyes from the bright sun. Adrenaline pumps through my veins. I knew this day would come. It feels almost unreal, like a dream.
Once my eyes adjust to the brightness I look around. I scan my competition, even though I've been watching them all week. Some tributes I don't even have to worry about and I quickly glanced away. I find Cato standing seven platforms to the left of me. Our eyes meet but he looks away so quickly I can't tell if I imagined it or not. The countdown begins and I braise myself for the gong to sound. I quickly map out a strategy to get to the cornucopia and get my hands on some knives. The countdown strikes five and I exhale with each number.
I can do this. I have to.
The gong sounds and before my feet even touch the ground Cato is dashing out towards the cornucopia. I quickly follow him in pursuit. My eyes darted around as I attempt to locate anyone who may or may not be a threat. I force myself to go faster and faster until finally, I have reached the cornucopia. My eyes meets a beautiful set of knives -better than any knives that were ever at the training center back in District two. I grabbed a hold of them and with a quick glance I throw one at a young girl with blond hair and bright blue eyes. She reminds me of Everdeen's sister. I sneer.
I then take my other knife and quickly throw it at Lovergirl in an attempt to get rid of her from the beginning but she quickly uses her backpack Shield. I growl and frustration. I promptly locate Cato. He seems to have made his way over to me slowly but not before sleighing a few in the process. Cannons boom and echo loudly. It's music to my ears. It's one step closer to home. Soon this will all be over and I'll be back in Two hopefully with Cato. If Lovergirl can try and pull it off and maybe I can too.
District eleven brutally slashes a sword against district seven's neck before grabbing a backpack and running. I scan the field and only find the others that we made alliances with. Cato is not beside me and I start to panic. I feel two large arms wrap around my neck as if there got they are going to simply tear my head off. I try to reach for what my knives that I managed to tuck into my clothes but my arms won't budge.
"Boo." I hear Cato's voice whisper in my ear.
I make a very high-pitched sound that cause my face to go red. Why did he have to make me screech like that? He made me look like a scared little girl on live television!
I continue struggle against my unbreakable bonds but he only tightens his arms.
"You know Clover," he whispers "you're going to have to stop squirming like that. You wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself."
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you all! Let go of me right now! I'll kill you! you better let go of me right now Cato Thompson! Or else!" I screeched as I continue to thrash, well attempt thrash that is.
I am subconsciously aware of the small group that has gathered to watch. I assume they are the other careers, everyone else is long gone.
Despite my continued protests Cato simply throws me over his shoulder and then proceeds to bend down to pick up several items from the cornucopia.
"Are you even listening to me? I said put. me. down! What don't you get about that?" I yell as I pound my small fist halfheartedly against his back.
"Stop blubbering." he snaps.
Without any warning he drops me on my ass. I glare at him as I get up and wipe the grass off of me.
With all the commotion that was going on I had forgotten completely that Glimmer had volunteered for District one. I thought I'd be rid of her completely when she moved away. Apparently not.
"Hey sparkles. Did you prefect your technique at all in the Capitol?"
She smiled a sickly smile.
"Oh I don't want to give anything away now. Don't want to ruin my strategy." she says while tightening he pony tail.
I role my eyes and march over to Cato. He's opening boxes and inspecting what's inside. Next to him sits a pile of knives, presumably for myself. I help myself to one of the many holsters and quickly secure it around my waist before loading it with knives.
Marvel has an impressive pile of spears beside him and Glimmer is sorting all of the backpack by color. God she's pitiful.
The faster we get what we need the faster we can get out of here. We need to find a space in the woods where we can set up camp. We'll wait until night and see how many tributes are dead, then will go hunting. I know for fact that several of the other districts will basically end up killing themselves by accident. Many of them have never studied how to survive in an unusual climate.
They all think think that they won't get chosen. They always think that somebody else will get picked, that they will live past 18 and not have to worry about the hunger games anymore. They're wrong.
Judging by the sun it's taken only about a half hour to get what we need and get out of there. Cato leads the way with his sword, slashing away the shrubs and bushes that stand in our way. I follow from behind. I'm constantly on high alert. I forced myself to listen to every twig that snaps, every leaf that rustles, every foot that stomps. I remain silent throughout the whole hike. I observe the others. I watch Glimmer and I even listen to the nonsense that spews from her mouth. I try to find her weakness, I try to pinpoint it down- exploit it. I focus on Marval next. I watch the way he walks, the way he steps over fallen branches, the way he surveys the land. He's hard to figure out. I know he has something up his sleeve and I'm definitely going to tell Cato about my suspicions.
A bead of sweat trickles down the side of my face. The canopy of leaves shelters us mostly from the sun, but it's still hot and humid. My mouth is dry and I am dying for some water. I don't want to be the first to ask for a canteen so I keep my mouth shut.
My fingers play with the fabric of the holster. I toy with the tip of the knives and watch as they reflect the sunlight. How can such beauty cause such destruction?
The first person I want to get rid of in the alliance is Glimmer.
She's useless. I don't know how much her skills have improved since she moved to District one, but I don't watch her to screw things up. Perhaps I'll offer to take the first shift for watch when night falls. Then I can slit her throat and be done with it. I'll have to drag the body some distance to make it seem like she wandered off and someone had gotten a hold of her. Then maybe I could take care of Marvel. I'm a little weary of going after him, I'm not quite sure what it's capable of yet. He obviously knows how to handle a spear and I don't fancy one going through my heart.
I'm pulled out my thinking by Glimmer's boisterous complaints about thirst and hunger.
"what do you expect? It's called the Hunger Games." Cato snorts.
I laugh for the first time today.
"Well, can we at least stop for two minutes? I'm parched." she whines.
Cato abruptly stops walking which causes Marvel to bump into him. He fishes through one of the bags until he finds what is looking for. I can't see what it is because he's holding it behind his back. He walks up to Glimmer and stares at her for a moment. For a second I think he's going to kiss her.
"Close your eyes." he says lightly in a tone she's never heard from him before.
Her eyes immediately shut. He shoves her on the ground with one hand before throwing an apple next to her. She glares at him and for the first time I wonder if the whole 'dumb blonde' thing is just an act.
"Shut the fuck up or get lost." He growls.
"You can't tell me what to do." she hisses.
Cato takes a step closer to her. "You will listen to me or I will end you. Little girls do not belong in the Games. I don't know what went on at your training center in One, nor do I care. But if you plan on living to see the sunrise you will keep you trap shut and do as I say." he barks.
I wait for her response. If she was smart she wouldn't say anything. If she was smart she would put as much distance between between herself and Cato. She huffs and crosses her arms across her chest. She sticks her nose in the air before bending down to her the apple.
"Lead the way then Mr. Hero." she says snidely.
Cato turns to look at her."Oh sweetheart, I'm definitely not a hero." he says with a humorless smile.
About half an hour later we finally find an area that we can turn into a camp site. While everyone is unpacking our things I wander off a bit to explore.
I try to admire the foliage but I can't see anything beautiful about it. It's all brown and green with spots of dead leaves everywhere. I remember reading about how people that lived hundreds of years ago would walk through the forest for fun and willingly sleep there. Humans must not have been too smart back then. I continue walking until I see some thing out of the corner of my eye.
It's a sliver of hair.
It takes less than a second for me to react. I grabbed one of my knives from my holster and immediately throw it at the hidden figure. With a dull thud a girl with dark brown hair drops to the ground. I seem to have hit her right in the throat. She's bleeding, but she still alive. I make a quick job if it. I take my knife and simply position it over her heart before pushing down. A Canon sounds a few seconds later.
My mind wanders over to Glimmer, and suddenly I have an idea. The girl doesn't weigh much, so I simply drag her body by her hands back over to the campsite. When I get there everyone seems to be in distress. By now Cato must have realized that I'm not there and he looks angry when he finally sees me.
Glimmer looks as if she could care less. She's laying on a blanket with a small white cloth over her eyes. She appears to be what the residents of the Capitol call 'Sun tanning'.
I put a finger to my lips as I approach her.
"Is the small one dead?" she asks a little too brightly upon sensing my shadow.
she makes no effort to get up or to see who was standing beside her.
She snorts annoyance.
"Whoever is standing there can you please move? You're blocking my sun and I really want to get some vitamin D for my skin. How else am I going to fight?"
Without replying I drop the dead girl's body on top of her.
Ugh! Clove? Get off m-." Her sentence stops and a scream of terror takes over instead. The wounds from the girl's neck and chest drip with blood. The blood soaks through the ventilation holes in Glimmer's body suit. Her face cringes with disgust and she makes an undignified squawking noise followed by a grunt as she pushes the dead girl off her.
Glimmer scoots back several feet. She's not even aware of the dead leaves that are clinging to her hair.
She looks up at me it makes a face of complete disgust in horror.
"You threw a dead body on top of me! What the fuck is wrong with you? Kill a person and move on! Don't drag the body everywhere!" she says while attempting to remove blood from her hair.
"I'm going to go find a river to clean up in. I thought I heard a stream on the way here." she says with a sniffle.
Glimmer stalks away from the camp with her arms crossed.
I turn my head to look at Cato and marvel. They both stared at me without saying anything.
"What?" I ask.
Cato just shake his head in response.
"Was that really necessary?" Marvel asks.
"No, it wasn't necessary, I just thought I'd lighten up the mood a bit." I say.
Cato looks at me suspiciously.
"Clove come help me set up the tent." He says. It's not a question, it's a demand.
I walk over to him as if the whole throwing-a-dead-girl-on-Glimmer incident didn't happen and help him unroll the tent.
It's a mustard yellow color and the stitching is quite thin. It looks like one of those see-through tents you see in the movies. I role my eyes. This tent was probably meant for Lovergirl and her boyfriend. The Capitol loves nothing more than a little one-on-one action served with a little murder on the side.
We don't talk as we set up the tent. It's not very big, only about 4 feet wide and 6 feet long. I guess if you really had to you could fit four people inside, but I'm not about to try.
The last thing I want is to be sharing a tent with people who want me dead. I can't really picture Glimmer and Marvel sharing a tent. I almost snort at the thought. I could care less where they sleep tonight and I force myself to stop thinking about it.
The burping heat of the fire crackles as I warm my hands. Cato places the tip of his sword in the flame before sharpening it with a piece of marble we found earlier in the day.
So I guess I've survived my first night in the hunger games. Only a little bit longer and I will be right back in district two.
my eyes catch a floating ember above the fire. I lean in as if to warm my hands more before releasing a quite breath that's strong enough to push the ember towards glimmer. It floats quietly in the soft breeze before it makes it's way to her training suit. It lands upon her knee gracefully. It take her almost a full ten seconds to notice the small flame that has erupted. She skids backward and attempts to put it out with a dry leaf. The leaf only causes the flame to grow bigger.
"Stop drop and roll." Cato says in a dull tone.
She lets out a squawk before dropping to the ground and rolling around in the dirt. The flame is extinguished but I know I won't hear the end of this. I can almost hear CAto's voice. "Did you really have to set her on fire clove?"
Meanwhile glimmer is pulling down the zipper of her training suit and stepping out of it.
Cato raises his eyebrows.
I cringe at her newly nude form. She's perfect.
"This uniform is a safety hazard." She says. I'll just find something in the pack to.. Cover up"
Cato's eyes follow her as she walks.
I glare at him.
Night begins to fall and Cato and I offer to take the first shift. At around midnight the sky illuminates with the faces of the fallen tributes. I see the girl I killed in the woods staring down at me from the sky. Her name was Stephanie and she was from District Seven. I ignore my guilt. Maybe some shut eye will put my mine to rest.
So sorry for not updating. I haven't had any time. I'm gonna keep trying to update more. let me know about any spelling mistakes! Please review!