Chapter 11:

Clove went out to refill the group's water bottles by the lake. She was pretty much skipping along with a spring in her step. She realised she had been smiling since she woke up.

She laughed at the thought of it. Could you imagine Snow's face when he sees me in the arena, grinning from ear to ear? He was probably furious, I'm happier in here than I was before.

Clove stopped dead in her tracks, her smile gone. This... Can't be right.

The lake wasn't there. She swore it was yesterday though. Clove walked forward and inspected the bank, she got a handful of dirt and let it fall between her open fingers. Bone dry. Like the lake was never here in the first place.

This isn't good, it's the Gamemakers' way of drawing people together at the end of the Games. She had seen it before. There probably aren't any more lakes and such, we'll be forced to the Cornucopia if we want to stay hydrated.

Clove turned and went to inform the tributes from 12.

"What do you mean gone?" Peeta asked worriedly.

"I mean it isn't there anymore. It's dried up overnight."

"Well what are we supposed to do now?" He asked.

"The only thing we can." They both looked at Katniss. "We go to the Cornucopia and we finish this once and for all." She said.

"Funny Katniss, what hope to we have against Thresh?" Peeta asked rhetorically.

"It's better than dying of thirst." Katniss said bluntly. "Dehydration is not fun, believe me."

"But I'm not fully healed." He complained.

It was true, although the anti-venom had worked wonders. Firstly, and the thing that Katniss found the most impressive was the fact that Peeta was simply alive and walking about. He looked a lot healthier than before when he looked as if he could die any second, like a corpse that had got up and decided it was a good day for a walk.

He had regained some of his complexion now but was still a little pale, his lips were no longer chapped and were a brighter shade of red. His eyes were focused and determined. He was eating and passing food properly now, which she considered a bonus.

He was able to take shifts when Clove and Katniss went hunting or slept at night. Given a few more days and he would probably get back to full health. It was a shame he didn't have that long.

"Yes, but you're a lot better than you were a few days ago." She responded coolly.

"Besides dough boy, it's not like we have a choice. We're going to have to face them at some point because somehow, both Marvel and Thresh survived the feast."

"I... Guess so." He said, defeated.

"We should get ready to move. No doubt the others are already heading to the Cornucopia." Clove stated.

The three of them hiked through the woods. Katniss couldn't help but feel that this was for the last time. She was excited to end this but nervous. No, that was a lie, she was terrified. Going against Thresh was something she hoped she'd never have to do. She wanted Cato and the careers to take care of him before they died.

It looked as if they were going to have to live with the hand they were dealt.

Katniss looked up and saw Clove smile at her. She flashed a smile back and saw that Peeta kept his gaze pointedly away from the two of them as if to block out this display of affection.

They walked in relative silence for the duration of their excursion until again at last they saw the Cornucopia. For once it was deserted as they soon found out. There was nothing to suggest that anyone had been there since the feast.

Cato's body was gone, taken by the Capitol to prevent cannibalism. To be honest, the area was a mess. The tribute starting points were dug up to place the mines from earlier. This was made obvious by the large mounts of dirt in a circle pattern. The scattered debris of the career stockpile were in tatters all over the place.

Just like they thought however, the body of water still remained. Katniss felt a sort of relief flood her system. Great, there's still water.

"According to Rue, Thresh has been living in the corn field just over there." Katniss pointed to where the corn swayed gently in the breeze like golden thread.

"Okay. But what about-" Peeta stopped and stared at the forest.

Marvel appeared. He was sprinting with a spear in hand. The three of them braced themselves but stopped when they saw his clothes were torn in places by claws and his hair had dried leaves and twigs tangled in it, as if he had fallen and used the last of his energy to get away. His expression was one of complete fear.

He ran, but not towards them. He was running away from something. He was obviously more scared of the thing chasing him than the three tributes he sped towards. "What the hell?" Clove said.

At the tops of the vibrant green trees something stirred. There was the soft rustle of leaves that got louder as something drew closer. Panic nestled itself firmly inside Katniss' heart as they all waited in terror to see what would cause a career to turn and run with his tail between his legs.

Then came a sound that stilled Katniss' heart and turned the blood in her veins ice cold in fear. It was like a crow's squawk, but more voluminous and aggressive. It echoed through the arena, demanding all else be silent.

Then came a symphony of twisted bird calls, the wave of sound hit her eardrums and she covered them in a hopeless attempt to block out the horrific noise that resembled nails on a chalkboard.

That was when they saw it. A black cloud rose high above the forest and dived down onto the plain. There must have been hundreds of them. The horde of birds screamed at them, claws out and ready to attack. These were no normal birds, perhaps it was their aggressiveness or sheer number, but far more likely their blood red eyes.

The ravenous group descended quickly and with brute efficiency that must have been genetically engineered. Katniss looked at the horde open mouthed when she realised it was time to run, very very fast.

Marvel had disappeared into the corn field long ago and the three of them were at a major disadvantage in terms of speed. Katniss looked around frantically for a way out.

"The Lake! Into the lake!" Clove shouted. She sprinted across the space between the water and where they stood paralysed and dived head first into the water.

Katniss ran full pelt to the lake, her limbs spurred on by adrenaline. She too jumped in the water. The cold water was like shards cutting at her body, forcing the air out of her lungs. Katniss wanted to scream out, not because of pain, but pure shock. The water was ice cold (Something probably done by the Gamemakers also).

Her eyes shot open and she saw Clove swim to her, all too aware of this pain. Clove held her tightly as Katniss saw the birds shoot past them, like black darts into the water and into its surprisingly deep depths.

These birds would do anything to catch their prey it seems.

Katniss was running out of air. She needed to swim up, but the swarm of birds were still dive-bombing down into the water and luckily skimming past them.

She wriggled in Clove's hold and Clove drew back and searched Katniss' face for the source of her distress. Clove soon figured it out as Katniss was shocked to find Clove's mouth against hers. Clove was sharing her oxygen with Katniss in a deep and passionate embrace.

Although this seemed to take forever and at the same time it may have actually been a few seconds, the birds stopped their relentless assault and the waters were still again.

They both emerged gasping for air as they clawed at the bank of the lake. The birds were dead or drowning and all was quiet again.

A cannon sounded loud and clear.

"W-what?" Katniss asked Clove as she lay on her back. "Who died?"

Clove got to her feet with her clothes sticking to her like glue. "Peeta." She said softly.

"What do you mean?" Katniss rolled over and she saw it. She gasped.

Peeta's body was cast on the floor with his vacant and empty eyes looking at the lake, looking at the two of them now. His arm was outstretched towards them as if to ask desperately for help. The birds had swarmed him and his chest was an open cavity, blood splattered the floor.

His ribs hadn't offered much protection against the crows, they were broken and caved in. Peeta was disembowelled. One crow remained, pecking at some flesh in his chest, it cawed at them in warning and went back to scavenging.

"Oh my God." Katniss said as quietly as a whisper. "No. No, no!" Katniss gradually got louder, until she was wailing. "Damn you Snow! What had he ever done to you?!" Katniss pounded the ground with her fists.

"Katniss-"

"You sick bastard!" Katniss yelled at the air.

"Katniss!" Clove held Katniss' head in her hands and looked at her gently.

"I know this is terrible, I know that it hurts to have someone close to you die, but you have to control yourself. Now is not the time to get angry. You need to keep your head in the game and see this through first okay?" Clove asked.

"Do you want to go back?" Clove asked. "To take a break, think about things." She said when Katniss looked at her.

"No." Katniss got to her feet and cast a glance at Peeta. "This ends today."

Clove watched Katniss carefully since the events at the lake. The girl had been through a lot and it was showing. She had dark circles under her eyes and she moved a little lethargically. Nonetheless, she had a fierce determination that had stuck with her until the very end. She could see it in her eyes and her walk, she wasn't ever going to give up.

They had been walking through the corn field for some time and had not yet been disturbed by anyone. The only audible sounds were the wind causing the corn to swish unenthusiastically and the soft footfalls of the two of them.

Katniss had an arrow ready in her bow for anyone who tried to ambush them. She turned her head every so often, checking for any other noise. Obviously, her hearing wasn't so good since the explosion and neither was Clove's, but it was better than nothing. Thresh is a big guy anyway, I bet we'll hear him coming. Clove thought.

They waded the field that was about as tall as Katniss' shoulders and a little higher for Clove until they noticed the ground sloped gradually and they saw that there was a little shack in the distance with a patch of ground nearby that was considerably deeper to suggest there once was a pond.

Clove shared a look with Katniss and they quickened their pace. When they reached the wooden house, voices could be heard from within. They crouched down and hid in the corn near the side of the shack, hoping it would keep them out of sight. Then they listened:

"I told you no! I would never form an alliance with the careers!" Thresh's voice boomed angrily. Heavy footsteps were heading towards the entrance with it's doors drawn wide open.

"W-wait Thresh." Marvel said timidly. "If we work together, there's a chance one of us can win. There's no way I could-, I mean we could beat Fire Girl and Clove alone." He stammered quickly.

A deep throaty laugh erupted from within. "Even if I did help you, and I won't, you would just kill me when my back was turned. I should just kill you now and then it would be one less problem to take care of later."

Marvel ran out of the shack, still facing the door and a very angry looking Thresh. Thresh was remarkably healthy looking compared to Marvel, his dark skin seemed to have a natural glow to it as if well washed, he seemed well fed and armed with knuckle dusters.

"You should never have come to me, you were lucky you got away last time." Thresh hit Marvel full on with his fist, he fell on his backside sharply and attempted to crawl away, blood dripping from his mouth.

Marvel was looking around for a weapon of any kind amongst the corn (Clove guessed he had put his down when trying to talk to Thresh) and then his eyes focused on them.

He shouted: "There they are! They were going to kill you after you killed me!" He bleated like a wounded animal.

Clove saw Thresh's eyes narrow at their sudden appearance and before he had a chance to react, Clove threw a knife at his face and Katniss shot two arrows at his chest.

Thresh ducked with an almost inhuman speed to avoid contact with Clove's knife and Katniss' arrows were deflected with a dull 'clank'.

"What the-" Clove said in confusion.

"Body armour, in Cato's pack." Katniss said. Sure enough, beneath Thresh's clothes there was the hint of a shiny metal. This was now made more visible from the two holes made by the arrows.

"Smart twelve. Much better than this dimwit here." He looked at Marvel who was cowering a short space away.

"I'm sorry to do this after what you've done for Rue. Under different circumstances, I'd like to think we could've been friends."

"I'm sorry too." Katniss answered.

Thresh charged at them with the power of a tank. Clove and Katniss dived in different directions so they wouldn't be stomped into the dirt.

Clove saw Thresh recover quickly and rush to her. Clove ducked his barrage of heavy blows and was thankful that although he had strength, she had speed. They continued their almost rhythmic dance of attacking and dodging, both hoping that the other would soon tire.

Meanwhile, Katniss was busy enough with Marvel. He had knocked Katniss off her feet with a roundhouse kick, sweeping his leg under hers (he had a lot more experience in close combat than she did, she had never got into a fist fight before). This had unfortunately caused her bow to be jerked out of her hands.

Katniss had a strong upper body from archery, but Marvel had learnt to lug heavy metal spears around from presumably a young age, this was evident now as they fought for dominance over each other.

Marvel's fists connected with Katniss' face again and again, Katniss spat blood in his face and threw him off of her, she stood and kicked him in the groin. We're fighting to the death, I don't care if I have to play dirty.

He hunched over in pain after making a high-pitched squeal and Katniss kneed him in the face, he crashed down on his back. She saw him pick up one of the broken arrowheads that were the remnants of the arrows she shot at Thresh and he slashed her with it blindly.

Katniss yelped as her arm drew blood, she cradled it as Marvel got to his feet unsteadily with the tip of the arrow in hand. Katniss knew her arm was hurt badly, the wound looked deep, possibly down to the bone. There was no way she could beat him physically now.

Katniss backed up against the wall of the shed. "I guess my plan worked out better than I thought." He smiled with bloodstained teeth.

"Fuck you." Katniss coughed.

Katniss gripped Marvel's arm as he lunged at her, she grit her teeth as she gave it all she had. Katniss felt the point bite into her neck and blood oozing down her shoulders. Her strength was feigning, she was loosing.

Marvel was wrenched off his feet and the bloody arrowhead landed softly on the floor. Katniss fell back, the last of her energy spent. She held her fresh wound tightly to stop the blood loss.

Marvel screamed as Thresh snapped his neck and there was a 'boom!'. Then suddenly all was quiet. He dropped Marvel down like a rag doll and there he stayed unmoving.

"Thank you." Katniss said weakly.

"I wouldn't thank me yet Fire Girl." He stepped over Marvel's broken corpse towards Katniss. She was too badly hurt to move, all she could do was sit there and watch as he drew closer.

Clove leapt onto Thresh's back and rode him like a disobedient horse. Thresh bucked and ran sideways into the shack's wall hoping to dislodge Clove. To her credit however, she stood her ground and held on as if her life depended on it (which it did).

Thresh howled in intense agony as Clove lodged one of her knives into his neck, she stabbed him repeatedly again and again until his wild movements became slow and lazy and he fell to the floor with a loud 'thud'.

Another cannon sounded.

Clove got up and ran to Katniss who was still slumped sitting by the house. "Katniss! Please tell me you're okay!"

"I'm just peachy." Katniss smiled wanly when she saw Clove's face of total panic. She began to feel light-headed and a little queasy.

"You've lost a lot of blood Katniss, just stay still okay? I'll think of something." Clove ran into the house that used to be Thresh's home during the games.

Katniss heard items of varying weights crash to the floor. I must look pretty messed up if she's in that much of a hurry.

Clove came back with a little red bag in her hands. She knelt down in front of Katniss and ripped the bag open. "I hope he hasn't used any of this." Relief covered her face. "Thank goodness."

Clove brushed Katniss' hair out of the way of her neck. "This one doesn't look so bad, the other one's gonna take some work though." She said, eyeing her arm wound.

Clove sterilized Katniss' wounds with iodine and Katniss cried out. "I'm so sorry Katniss, it needs to be done though." Clove kissed Katniss briskly in a reassuring gesture.

"Are we done now?" Katniss pined, obviously in a considerable amount of pain.

"No, I need to close up your arm." Katniss saw a needle and thread in Clove's hands. Clove looked at Katniss apologetically.

"You can't be serious." Katniss whined.

"If that gets infected at best you'd be an amputee at worst, you'd die."

This is going to hurt... But what else can I do? "Okay. Do it."

Clove looked at Katniss with a small grin and nodded. "Okay."

Katniss grabbed a handful of dirt in response to the procedure starting, she been in a number of accidents and she hated getting stitches. Katniss tried to stifle her outbursts because she knew it wasn't encouraging for Clove.

She noticed how Clove managed to keep a steady hand and was in awe of how calm she was. She was so immersed in what she was doing, it seemed nothing could pull her away. Katniss grit her teeth as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"You're doing great Katniss, I'm almost done."

Clove finished by tying a surgeon's knot and covering the wound with a clean bandage. "Done, that's as good as I can manage with what we've got." She looked up and saw Katniss was very pale, the blood loss and pain combined had taken Katniss to the brink of consciousness, her eyes were barely open.

"Katniss?" Clove brushed her cheek lovingly.

No response came.

"Katniss stay with me! We've won! You can go home to Prim and your family. Please don't leave me!" She couldn't keep the desperation out of her voice.

"You're all I have left." Clove thought she was going to cry.

Katniss chuckled weakly. "You're so cute when you're worried, your eyebrows get all scrunched up."

"That's not funny Fire Girl. You had me scared for a moment." Katniss found the career adorable, looking at her with big eyes.

Katniss leaned forward and kissed the career on the lips. "I'm not going to leave you, I'm stubborn like that." She grinned.

"So what happens now?" Katniss asked.

Clove sat back and relaxed slightly, but Katniss knew there was something bothering her. "I'm pretty sure something should have happened by now." She responded wearily.

Clove waited for the trumpets of victory or a big announcement, but nothing stirred. "What are they waiting for?"

Claudius Templesmith's voice boomed over the arena: "Greetings survivors of the seventy fourth Hunger Games! After closely looking at the rule book, the changes made earlier have been deemed unacceptable and were revoked. There can only be one winner. So good luck and may the odds be ever in your favour!" His voice cut off again.

The two final combatants looked at each other as it dawned on them. "Honestly though, I'm not really surprised if you think about it." Katniss said calmly.

"Me neither." Clove sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. Clove threw her knives on the floor in frustration. "Fuck!"

"What the hell do we do now?" Katniss asked, suddenly lost.

"We go back to the Cornucopia."

"Why?"

"I'm thirsty and I need to take a walk." Clove responded.

They both lay next to each other on the sweet smelling grass looking up at the cloudless blue sky. "I don't regret any of it." Katniss said without blinking.

She felt Clove shift to face her. "What?"

"Volunteering, taking part in the games, even killing Foxface, because you made it worthwhile. I know it's sappy, but it's true. I wouldn't take it back." Katniss turned her head to Clove to find her smiling.

Snow was determined to make these games a misery for everyone involved, yet here they were, sharing a precious moment and still smiling. Hope. Clove thought.

"You've given me something to live for Katniss, you have given me hope. I love how you fight for what you believe in and your belief that everyone has some good in them. You're a much better person than me Katniss. You deserve better than this, better than me."

Katniss frowned. "What do you mean? You're one of a kind, there's no one else like you. You seem all tough, but you're all soft and squishy on the inside. You have a heart of gold and that's priceless. That is why I love you."

Clove sniffled and shuffled, a little embarrassed. "Are you crying?" Katniss asked.

Clove looked away. "No." Her voice trembled.

"Aww, you're such a softie." Katniss nudged Clove playfully.

Clove looked into Katniss' eyes with such honestly and compassion that it made her heart ache. "I love you Katniss."

"I love you too Clove." Clove kissed Katniss with a fiery intensity and broke away, then she snuggled into Katniss' arms. Katniss was at peace then at that moment. She started to feel sleepy and fell asleep with Clove in her arms.

Katniss awoke to find that Clove had turned away from her, it was still day so it must have only been a few hours.

Katniss sat up lazily. "Wake up sleepy head, we need to talk about-" Katniss heard that Clove's breathing was hollow and she was grunting quietly.

"Clove?" Katniss reached over and saw the hilt of a knife stick out from Clove's chest, she was bleeding profusely.

"Oh my God, Clove!"

Author's Note:

I know this chapter is really long compared to the others but I'm not sure if I'll be able to update for a little while, so I thought I'd leave you guys with a big chapter just in case. I thought it would be especially nice for me to leave it on a cliffhanger too, you're welcome.

Let me know what you guys think and thanks again for all the support you guys have given me.