Everyone, please note that the rating for this story has been changed from "T" to "M".
THANK YOU FOR READING AND REVIEWING!
Chapter 14: "For them"
"No one knows what it's like to be hated,
To be fated to telling only lies.
But my dreams; they aren't as empty,
As my conscience seems to be.
I have hours, only lonely.
My love is vengeance,
That's never free."
~ Limp Bizkit: 'Behind Blue Eyes'
"Let's go inside then."
Truth be told, neither of them liked the idea of going inside that building. Not even Clove. But they did, as they had planned. They did not chicken out. Thresh was the first one to walk inside and Clove followed him, knife at ready, making sure she'd be able to fight back if she had to. She knew that due to recovering from sepsis, she wasn't in her best shape. And she hated that feeling. It made her feel weak and vulnerable. It made her feel exposed. Like everyone could tell she wasn't as lethal she had been before.
There was nothing special inside. It was just yet another deserted building; windows were broken, dust covered the floor. Nothing special.
"Let's go upstairs, come on." Thresh told her and Clove almost stopped when she realized that he was the one in charge and that she didn't even mind following him. What happened to you, Clove?
It took them maybe two minutes to run up the stairs before they made it to the door that they presumed would open the access to the roof. Thresh lifted his sword as a precaution, then kicked the door open. Nothing jumped them. Nobody tried shooting them. They took it as a green light and went outside.
At once, they noticed a body, lying still on the ground. There was a professional sniper rifle on top of a gun stand next to him. Thresh and Clove slowly began making their way to whoever had tried to kill them ten minutes before. Clove heard a quiet splash underneath her foot and so she looked down.
Blood.
Thresh sent her a questioning look, as if to ask her whether she was good to keep going. She just frowned at that. Of course she was. She went ahead of him and was the first one to reach the body. She hurriedly kneeled in front of the man. His eyes were wide open and that was the only part of his face she could see. He had a mask on. Thresh knelt down next to Clove and without any hesitation, he removed the man's mask with one swift pull.
Clove felt her heart in her throat:
"Oh no fucking way."
"Okay, put down your weapons, training's over!"
With a pleased smirk, Cato stared down at his latest opponent without any intention of helping him up. That was one of the unwritten rules at the Academy and in the arena. You don't help. Anyone. Ever. You may only cooperate with your allies. But never help.
"Need some medical assistance?" Cato teased the guy whose name he didn't care to ask for. The redheaded 17 year old just glared at him in response, getting himself off the floor. Then he threw his sword away and stormed off. Cato laughed to himself under his breath, put away his own sword and having completed his goal for the day, which was defeating every single person he fought, he walked out of the training room.
Thinking of his every day late training session with Clove after supper only made his mood even better. Which was weird, because he rarely was in anything close to a good mood. But that day just went so ridiculously smoothly that he knew nothing could ruin it. And spending time with Clove at the end of it was going to make it a pretty damn great day. He hadn't had a good one in a long time. For at least a couple months now. Ever since the last Hunger Games, he'd only feel alive when he was with her.
"Yo, Cato!" a voice called his name and Cato didn't recognize it at first. He stopped and turned around and as soon as he did, he just knew that his day was about to get even better .
Amos was walking toward him, arm cast and all after Cato had broken it a few weeks ago. He glanced to it and smirked. He did a beautiful job.
"What's up?" Cato asked him, trying not to laugh at how pathetic Amos looked. "How's your arm?"
Immediately Cato could tell something was not right. He expected the guy to get angry. To try to hit him with that arm cast of his or at least send him a glare. But none of those things happened. Amos was smiling. But it wasn't a good kind of smile. It was an evil one. It was a smile that told Cato his fellow Career was about to say something he knew he wouldn't like.
"Getting my arm ripped out of the socket turned out to be worth it." Amos told him and he sounded so Goddamn amused, that Cato's good mood had completely evaporated before he was even done with that sentence. "Who would have thought I'd discover the big, bad, famous Cato's biggest secret?"
He tried to help it. He did. But he wasn't able to stop that feeling that had filled up his stomach like iced water. "The hell are you talking about?"
Amos smirked even wider and suddenly Cato was the one that felt pathetic. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Hawks." The guy said, his eyes full of satisfaction. "Don't pretend like you don't."
Cato narrowed his glaring eyes at Amos and was about to get in his face, but something in him made him scratch that idea. He wasn't even half a percent interested to find out what Amos had in mind.
"I don't have time for your bullshit." Cato told him, using a tone that should have let Amos know he was done with their conversation. But the other guy didn't get the clue. He wasn't about to let him walk away either. In fact, little did he know he was about to do something incredibly stupid.
"Next time I fight Clove, I'll make sure I'll choke her longer than that last time—"
It happened so fast that not even Cato himself knew how he ended up getting in Amos' face quicker than the thought of doing it even came up. He had him pinned against the wall with one of his hand on the guy's neck. All he could see now was red. His arms longed to hurt him in a million ways. His hand squeezed Amos' throat hard enough to make his face start turning blue. It was amazing what true, justified rage could do. If Cato didn't know that he'd get kicked out of the Academy for killing the guy, he'd not hesitate to go through with every step of the gruesome plan his mind was creating in that moment.
"If you so much as think of touching her again," Cato hissed through gritted teeth, looking even crazier than he felt. "I swear I will squeeze the life out of you."
To his great satisfaction, he saw fear show on Amos' face, killing his confidence completely. Cato took another ten long seconds before he finally released him from his deadly grip, pushing him off the wall and to the floor. Amos collapsed on his broken arm and a yelp of pain escaped his mouth, as he choked for air. Cato stared at him with hatred, waiting for the guy to look him in the eye before he was ready to leave him be. And so when Amos looked up, his eyes teary and bloodshot, Cato turned around to walk away but it turned out that Amos apparently had more guts that Cato gave him credit for.
"I wasn't sure," He choked out in a raspy voice, placing his hand on his neck. "About you and her. But now I am."
Cato stopped abruptly and clenched his fists so hard that his nails broke the skin on the insides of his palms and drew some blood. He'd provoked him. He only mentioned hurting Clove to get this reaction out of him. Cato, you dumb ass.
But he couldn't help it. There was no way to avoid that. As soon as Clove's name had been mentioned, something happened to him. His monster came to life.
Cato looked at Amos over his shoulder and only a maniac wouldn't be afraid of the look his face held. Amos was on his feet by then, but he was not even trying to act like a badass. He swallowed hard, staring back at the guy who looked about ready to cut him all up. Suddenly, the idea of teasing him about Clove didn't seem so great anymore. He should have known he was playing with the devil.
"Tell whoever you want." Cato hissed dangerously low. "I know I will enjoy breaking every single bone in your body. Will you?"
Cato didn't need the ability to read minds to know what was going through Amos' head. He was for sure cussing himself out. And he knew that it was not a threat. It was a promise.
"Take my advice," Cato added quietly. "stay away from her."
And he left Amos alone in the hallway, who could only hope that one day there would come a day for his vengeance.
Thresh furrowed his eyebrows down at the guy who looked like he could have been around 18 years old. Clove was still gaping at him with shocked eyes, the skin on her face seemed to have turned even more pale. A long, black arrow was sticking out of his throat. Thin streams of blood had come out of his mouth and marked one of his cheeks.
"You know him?" Thresh questioned her in disbelief, because he already knew the answer. But how was that possible? How could it be that they had let someone from the outside get involved in this year's Games? Rules were different, yes, but this? No one had notified them at any point in the Games that they would be shot at by some kid that was not one of the tributes. "Who is he?"
Clove stayed quiet for another minute, her eyes roamed over his face and body, noticing how well prepared he was. "His name was Amos." She finally answered, looking up at Thresh, feeling numb.
Amos. The same Amos who had once brutally choked her and beat her in a fight. The very same Amos that had gotten his arm broken by Cato right afterwards. "He was a Career from my district. We went to the same Academy." She explained, reaching behind the guy's belt and taking out a grenade. Her eyes shined dangerously. "I guess explosives are allowed in the Games now, too."
"Yeah, but those weren't meant for us." Thresh mumbled, checking Amos' pockets for anything useful. "How the hell did he get in here?"
"I don't know." Clove sighed , wiping a hand across her forehead. "But he paid the price."
"Yeah.."
"There's one thing I'm actually concerned about, though."
"Which is?"
She bit her lip, feeling uneasy, then glanced up at Thresh. "How many guys like him did they let inside the arena?"
Thresh stared at her with wide eyes and she could tell he was just as frightened about the possibility. Because what if she was right? What if there was a bunch of Careers out there in the arena and that was how all or some of the fallen tributes had died?
"Clove, I thought you said he was an amateur. " Thresh said suddenly, getting up from the ground and walking away to check on the gun. "If he was a Career from your district, how is that possible?"
"He was an amateur." Clove confirmed, getting out a small silver knife from Amos' belt. "They don't teach us how to shoot guns at the Academy since such weapons aren't allowed in the Games. At least they didn't use to be."
"Well, apparently, they did teach him at least how to pull the trigger."
"Yeah and he managed to do that just fine." Clove said. "He was still an amateur."
Thresh nodded in understanding then went back to his previous task. It quickly turned out that it wasn't going to be an easy one. "Shit, this thing is all bolted down. I can't take this off."
Clove quickly got on her feet and approached Thresh, checking out the gun curiously. "You need to unscrew those. Here." She said, handing him Amos' knife she'd just found. Thresh took it from her and began working on the screws as fast as he could. Yet still not fast enough.
For the first time in the Games they heard the one thing they didn't think they were going to hear anymore.
"Dammit," Clove cussed, looking around. "It's a hovercraft."
"Screw it, let's go!" Thresh yelled, grabbing her arm and pulling her along with him toward the stairs. They ran so fast down the steps it was almost amazing that neither of them had tripped. In a matter of seconds they were already out the door and sprinting in the direction where they had left Katniss and Rue.
They were halfway there when a huge explosion sent them flying a couple of feet forward. Clove hit the ground with a thud, gasping as all the air left her lungs at the impact. She rolled onto her side, breathless, as pain filled her entire body like hot water. She couldn't open her eyes and she felt like she was falling down extremely fast into the darkness.
"Clove!"
She flinched as she heard Thresh yell her name at the top of his lungs. He put his hand on her shoulder and rolled her onto her back gently.
"Are you okay!?" she heard him gasp before she opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry and her head was pounding. Despite that, she nodded, coughing. "Come on, we gotta go!" Thresh said, lifting up her aching body. She went limp in his arms so he tightened his grip on her instantly. He didn't ask her what was wrong. He knew the impact of the fall had hurt her so he quickly picked her up.
"We're gettin' out of here!" he yelled and it was a matter of few seconds before Katniss and Rue came running. "Clove, stay awake!" Thresh yelled, shaking her as all three of them began sprinting towards the woods.
Clove felt a huge relief wash over her as soon as they got out of that Goddamned city. She couldn't stand being there anymore. It was where she last saw and spoke with Cato. It was where Peeta got killed. It was where she killed Amos. And she felt like she was going crazy, because she could almost hear the voices of all those dead guys in her head; they whispered things that she couldn't understand. Things she didn't want to understand. She needed them to stop.
Time flew more quickly than Clove wanted it to. Before they realized it, it was getting dark. As they were walking along the stream they knew oh-too-well, Rue noticed a small cave at the top of the hill. They silently decided to spend the night there.
It was getting so cold. Clove hugged her arms to her chest as she sat down on the ground, watching Thresh trying to hide a grimace of pain as he did the same. She frowned, wondering what was that about. Had he gotten hurt somehow? If he had, how did she miss it? She seemed unable to look away from him, worried that as soon as she did, he'd just die on her. Just like Cato did. Like that boy from district 4 did. Like Peeta did.
Rue walked over to Thresh with glistening eyes and he smiled at her like everything was just fine. She sat by him and he pulled her to his side so she could rest her head on his chest. Clove pressed her lips together, pretending that the scene before her wasn't affecting her in any way.
"I'll keep watch first." Katniss said, sitting outside of the cave, her back turned on them.
Hours passed by, Katniss and Rue had gone to sleep, Clove's watch was over and now it was Thresh's turn to make sure they would make it through another night. Clove lied down on her side, putting a hand underneath her cheek and closed her eyes. She tried to sleep. She did. She really wanted to. But how was she supposed to sleep, when all she could hear was Thresh's heavy breathing and occasional groans. She knew he was in pain. And she couldn't just ignore it anymore.
She opened her eyes and found his dark figure resting against the wall of the cave. She watched him for a couple of minutes, seeing his chest move slowly, as he tried breathing normally. Clove pulled herself up and got on her feet, making Thresh turn his head to glance at her. "What's wrong?" he rasped, but she didn't say anything. She walked over to him and sat down right beside him, her arm brushing his. "Can't sleep?"
"No." she whispered, staring at the ground in front of her. "What's the matter?"
"What do you mean?" he frowned, glancing at her.
"I'm quite observant, you know. As much as you're trying to hide it, something is bothering you." she told him, returning his look. "No need to pretend."
Thresh gaped at her for a little while before his frown broke into a small smile. "I'm fine, Clove."
"Like hell you are." she glared at him angrily. "Tell me the truth."
He let out a heavy breath and shook his head tiredly. "It ain't a big deal, alright? We both were sent flying up in the air then slammed down on the ground like rag dolls after they'd dropped that bomb. I'm not exactly in my best shape."
"Is that right?"
"Yes," he said firmly, now returning her glare. "But I'm fine."
"Whatever, Mr Tough Guy." she said, rolling her eyes and turning away from him. "Just don't go dying on me."
Thresh raised his eyebrows, pleasantly surprised with that semi-threat of hers. He felt the urge to ask her did she actually care but decided not to push it. "I'll try my best." he vowed, locking eyes with her.
They stared at each other for another minute or so and then Clove did something that he never would have seen coming. She rested her head against his arm and just sat there with him. As if she did that all the time. Like it wasn't something she had never done before. Thresh glanced down at her, a small smile slowly formed itself on his lips before he asked, "You okay?"
"No." she whispered, done with choking back the truth. She was not okay. Their lives were hanging by a thread. They were hurt and exhausted. They didn't know what to expect the next time they wake up. So many tributes have died. They were all gone.
Cato was gone.
"What's wrong?" he asked even though he knew the answer. He guessed he just wanted to see if she would be able to tell him herself. He was curious to see how much she'd changed since that first day in the arena. He couldn't say he knew her well. But he damn sure knew her well enough to be able to see that she was mourning the loss of her district partner. She simply missed Cato.
She said nothing, though. He waited another minute before he turned his gaze away from her, thinking their conversation was over. She still didn't respond. Not with words, anyway. She reached her small, pale hand and placed it on his arm, just below her chin. Thresh glanced down to her again and stared at her profile. Her pretty, dark eyes were wide open as she stared at the darkness before them. "Clove?"
"What?"
Thresh almost smiled at the cold tone of her voice. How bad she wanted to try and sound like she didn't care still. All tough and heartless. As if she wasn't snuggling to his side at the same time. As if she didn't need this close contact. Like she didn't need to be comforted.
"Nothing." he whispered, burying his nose in her hair and placing his big, strong hand on her knee. And he thought he must have been dreaming because she still said nothing. He half-expected her to take out a knife and cut his hand off. But she didn't do a thing. "Hey, Clove."
"What?" she asked again, almost annoyed, making him smile again.
"I need you to promise me something."
At this point, she let out a heavy sigh and glanced up at him. He looked so weak in the eyes; as if life was slowly draining from him. She hated it. She smothered the feeling of fear inside of her, though. She couldn't afford being scared.
"What is it?" she asked him and he gave her the warmest smile she'd ever received from anyone in her entire life.
"Whatever happens... don't let them define who you are. Not again."
DAY 7
Something woke Clove up. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but she knew she did not wake up on her own. It was still quite dark outside, so she assumed it was still very early. It took her half a minute or so to realize that she was snuggled into Thresh's chest, her cheek was pressed to it and she had her hand placed on his side. She frowned but not because she didn't know how that happened. She knew how. She must have done that in her sleep. She was confused as to why it didn't scare the crap out of her. Why did it not bother her?
Clove slowly pulled herself up, using the back of her hand to rub her eyes sleepily. And then she felt it.
The presence of someone or something that was definitely not welcome. She found herself frozen, slowly lowering her hand as she turned her head right only to realize that there was a pair of big, hungrily shining eyes staring right back at her from the outside of the cave. She felt a lump quickly growing in her throat, as her heart began pumping in her chest.
"Thresh," she choked out and when he didn't react, she used her hand to firmly shake him out of his sleep. He groaned quietly, then opened his eyes.
"What..?" he murmured sleepily, glancing at her. But as soon as he noticed the look on her face, he followed her stare to the giant beast standing a few feet away from them, looking as if it was admiring his prey. "Oh shit."
Trying to move as little as possible, Clove shot a glance at still sleeping Rue and Katniss. Her body went cold with the sound of spine-chilling howling that echoed around the arena, waking the other two up. Rue was the first to realize what was going on and she gasped loudly, unable to help herself.
"Don't move!" Clove whisper-yelled at them as quietly and calmly as she could. But what was there to be calm about?
"Can you reach the sword?" Thresh asked her, looking at the silver weapon that was on the ground in front of them. So close, and yet so far.
"Not without moving." she whispered an answer, her eyes still on the wild animal. It was a wolf-like creature with eyes that didn't look anything like animal eyes. The more she stared at the beast, the more clear it was becoming that it had actual, human eyes. It was a wolf muttation.
Clove slowly leaned forward, trying to reach the sword. She finally was able to wrap her shaking fingers around the handle and as she pulled it back, the blade dragged against the ground and the rocks, making just enough sound for the wolf mutt to decide it was time to attack.
Clove picked up the sword as fast as possible and just as the mutt was seconds from tackling them, she drove it into the beast's stomach. With both hands on the handle, she used all her strenght to swing the sword, throwing the mutt against the wall of the cave to their right.
"Let's go!" Thresh yelled at Katniss and Rue, who immediately got on their feet and ran for the exit. As soon as they were out, Thresh turned to Clove, who stood there with sword at ready. "Go, go!"
Clove didn't think twice. She quickly followed the girls and as soon as she made it out of the cave, something huge and strong hit her and tackled her to the ground. She dropped the sword, feeling white-hot burning pain of another beast's razor-sharp claws digging into her shoulder blades. She screamed in pain and in that moment, the wolf mutt's smelly breath she could feel on her face felt like a kiss of death.
It all happened so quick. Someone screamed her name right before the mutt was about to dive its huge teeth in her throat. Clove squeezed her eyes shut, awaiting her end that never came. Because suddenly the beast was thrown off of her. She could feel hot blood making its way out of her wounds, but then she heard something that hurt her more than any physical pain ever could;
"Thresh!" Rue screamed in pained voice and Clove quickly realized it was her voice that had called her name before, as well. Ignoring the fatigue and all the pain, Clove jumped to her feet, sword already in her hand.
A terrible scream of pain cut through her heart like a knife. She saw Thresh on the ground with the beast on top of him, its teeth deep in his neck, as he still tried to struggle.
"NO!" Clove cried out, lunging forward. She didn't remember swinging the sword. She didn't register exactly how she got the mutt off of profusely bleeding Thresh. All she knew was that she was screaming and stabbing the already dead animal repeteadly everywhere she could. Blood had splittered on her clothes and her hands. Eventually, she stopped, panting terribly, unable to catch her breath. She slowly dragged her trembling hand across her mouth, painting the skin on her face red.
She turned her head, facing traumatized Rue who was crying quietly, muffling the noises with a hand over her mouth. At the same time Katniss ran out of the cave with the bow, ready to shoot. She would soon realize it was too already too late.
Clove grit her teeth and crawled toward her unconcious ally. When she made her way to him, she placed her hands on his cheeks gently and lightly shook him. "Thresh," she gasped, shuddering. "Thresh.."
Her eyes roamed over his body, noticing the claw marks on his arms and chest, blood was heavily sipping out of the wounds. She looked at the deep gash on his neck and choked back a sob. She put both of her hands on the wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Don't you dare." she cried out with tears of anger and pain quickly filling her eyes. "Don't you dare die on me."
She expected him to open his eyes. Or mumble something. Give her any kind of sign that he was not bleeding out right in front of her.
But no matter what her brain wanted her to believe, the fingers she had placed on his bloody neck could feel his pulse slowing down.
"Please, Thresh." she whispered, feeling hot tears mark her cheeks, burning her skin on their way. "Goddamn it, please!"
If it only was up to him... if it only was up to any of them. But it wasn't.
The sound of his cannon felt like a punch to the heart. Rue burst into tears, as sobbing Katniss pulled her into a tight, comforting hug. Clove just sat there and stared at his face. She slowly moved her hands away from his neck and looked down at them. All covered in blood and shaking uncontrollably.
Was that what she had originally signed up for? Was that what she had trained for? Had she spent her entire life preparing to soak her hands in someone's blood and laugh while doing it? Was that the entire purpose of the Academy? Was that what she would have done with great pleasure had the rules not changed?
In the time she stared at Thresh's dead body, the pained look on his face and all the blood... hate had completely consumed her.
"Damn you," she whispered, allowing a few more tears to escape her swollen eyes. And then she got up and looked up at the sky, clenching her blood-covered fists before crying out: "God DAMN you!"
Katniss flinched at the tone of Clove's loud and wounded voice echoing throughout the woods. No one had to question who she was shouting at. No one had a doubt. Clove let out one more scream full of pain and rage, then fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands.
And then there was silence.
The knock on the door of her train cabin startled her. It was late at night and they were only a couple of hours away from the Capitol. She really did not want to be bothered by anyone in that moment.
Still, she did get up and went to open the door, revealing Cato with a sort of sheepish look on his face standing in the hall. "Hey."
Clove narrowed her eyes at him, puzzled. "Hi?" she said, awaiting an explanation as to why he was walking around the train at this time.
"I, uh," he paused then showed her a videotape that was in his hand. "I was just wondering if maybe you'd want to watch the reapings again. See if we can decide on who we should ally with in the arena?"
Clove raised her eyebrows and sent him a funny look to which he just shrugged, looking away from her burning gaze. "Sure.." she drawled, making him look up and at her again. "Come on in." she told him, ignoring the smirk on his face and closing the door behind him.
And so there they were, just sitting on her bed and watching the reapings, one by one. If they felt like a tribute was worth discussing, they'd engage in a short dialogue, debating about their possible skills and flaws. If the tribute looked like the boy from 4, they'd just fast forward.
When the red-haired girl from 5 came up on the stage, Cato furrowed his eyebrows quizzically. "She looks clever."
"Why do you say that?" Clove asked, uninterested.
"Look at her face." Cato said, pointing at the screen. "She looks quite fearless. Contained."
Clove didn't give her a second look, though and so Cato decided to stop overanalyzing.
The next few districts didn't catch their attention. Clove found herself getting drowsy, when the reaping in district 11 shook her awake. She watched the tall, visibly strong and handsome boy step up on the stage, taking place next to the little girl whose name she'd already forgotten.
"He'd do fine." Clove said, casting a look at Cato who looked like he was finally faced with a potential threat.
"Yeah, he'd come in handy." he agreed with a nod of his head. "You think he has it in him?"
"Has what?"
"What it takes to kill." Cato murmured darkly, closely examining the boy's features; the way he spoke, the way he moved and his facial expressions.
"Everyone does," Clove said. "whether it's for the wrong or for the right reasons."
"Yeah, that's my point. You never know which group he might belong to."
"I think he looks like he'd kill to save a life."
"A life?" Cato asked, frowning. "Or his own life?"
Clove glanced over at him and the two locked eyes for a few seconds before she looked back at the TV.
The dark-skinned boy still stood his ground up on that stage, a dangerous and hateful glare in his eyes. A look of despise and disgust on his face. She could almost hear his silent words of resentment toward the Capitol, as the people before him clapped their hands like a bunch of souless robots.
The little girl next to him turned her head and desperately tried to catch her fellow tribute's attention. Probably just to see who she'd have to deal with. Or whether she could count on him in the arena of death.
He never looked at her.
A minute or two had passed and the three of them were looking down on Thresh, standing side by side next to each other. Tears pooled in Clove's eyes and she tried choking them back, but it didn't stop one, lonely tear from rolling down her cheek. Rue was silently sobbing right next to her so, again, she did the last thing that anyone would have expected her to do. Without taking her eyes off of Thresh, she put her arm around the little girl and pulled her closer. Rue wrapped her arm around Clove's stomach and held onto her tight. And right in that moment Clove realized that she was responsible for Rue from now on. She would do that for Thresh. And for Rue. And just to effin' piss off the hell out of President Snow.
It seemed like Katniss had the same idea; Clove showing the human side of her while crying for Thresh and hugging Rue had probably made her even angrier with the Capitol and the entire system they lived in. Desperate to show how disgusted she was with the Games and how much she wanted people to finally stand up to it, Katniss raised her arm up in the air and held up three fingers as a sign of loyalty to Thresh, to her district, to all the people that had been suffering and fighting to survive all over Panem. To show President Snow that although he had the power to take their lives with absolute impunity, he would never completely own them. Their pride. Their internal freedom. They were still the same people. They were not the monsters the whole Capitol wanted them to become in the arena.
Rue was the next to follow Katniss, putting her fingers up in the air, tears marking her soft cheeks, as she did. A 12-year-old girl. So innocent. And so hurt and broken. Clove stared at them both for a few seconds before her eyes landed on Thresh's unmoving body again.
The amount of feelings that went through her in that moment was unthinkable to her. She had never lost anything or anyone. But this? This felt like every potential loss and hurt she might have encountered had she led more of a normal life. And it felt more horrible than any of the physical pain she'd ever experienced. All that pain didn't even come close to this.
She didn't have to think twice. She didn't have to think at all. She raised her hand and held up three fingers just like the other two. Just like her allies. The two people she had left. The people she decided she was going to try her best to protect for as long as she could. Not only long enough for the Capitol to have a good show. Not as long as the rules were valid. No. She was going to do as she pleased. She didn't give one damn about their rules anymore.
They stood there, all three with their arms up in the air, honoring Thresh's life the way he deserved. He deserved a proper farewell.
And what they were doing was not only for Thresh. It was also for Peeta. As it was for Lily and the little kid from district 4. For every innocent life that had been taken away so young and so cruelly. For all of them.
For Cato.
It would soon turn out that the Capitol was not going to allow them these few moments of silence and grief. Not even that. Clove and her team had already paid the price twice for their acts of rebellion before. It was Clove herself that had shouted out how the rules had been changed to mock them. Which led to that deadly fire which then led to the death of the boy from 4. The second time around, Thresh's rebellious words he had written on the ground had led to the earthquake that got them seperated.
A simple hand gesture that they were now presenting was like a spark that could easily cause an uprising in the districts. Clove knew that. And so did President Snow and the Game Makers. Which is why it came as no surprise when more of the ominous barking rang out everywhere around them and it was very clear to them that they were being hunted.
"Let's go." Clove choked out, throwing one last painful glance at Thresh, before they ran back into the woods.
At first, Clove could see the faint shadow of Rue in front of her, and she could also hear Katniss' heavy breaths close to her right. But it was dark and the sounds of approaching beasts everywhere around terrified and confused them. And before long Clove realized that she no longer could see or hear anyone.
As stupid as the idea might have been, she began slowing down while looking around. But there was no Rue in front of her. There was no Katniss next to her. For the second time since the Games had started, she found herself completely alone. What she did next was most probably the dumbest thing she had ever done; but it was out of her control. And so.. she stopped. And she panicked.
"Katniss!" Clove whisper-yelled, looking around and trying to see something in the darkness. But she could only see outlines of the trees and nothing more. She'd lost them. "Shit." She cussed and bit her lip, as her chest moved rapidly. "Rue!" she risked a small scream.
Nobody responded. She heard no sounds that'd lead her to her allies. No human sounds, anyway.
Instead, Clove heard rustling of the leaves and panting of an approaching beast. And for the first time in her life her instinct had failed her. She was frozen to the ground and her legs refused to run. She couldn't move. She knew a great danger was coming and yet she couldn't freaking move.
The wolf mutt emerged from between the trees in front of her. His eyes shined hungrily in the darkness and Clove felt her heart in her throat. That moment seemed to last forever. She wished she could just die on the spot. She didn't want to go so terribly. The thought of Cato being ripped apart by the wolves, like in the dream she'd had, made her blood boil with impossible rage. Cato's, as well as Thresh's screams of pain echoed in her head, screams that nobody else could hear. And she sobered up from the fear. She reached for one of her knives in a blink of an eye and threw herself forward toward the beast. The mutt did not hesitate to meet her halfway and before she could stab him anywhere, he had her pinned to the ground, splattering his smelly saliva all over her face as he barked. Clove could really see the beast now. She saw the brown fur around his nasty mug. She looked right into his eyes and God how she wished she hadn't.
"Oh my God." She gasped, as the beast continued to try to get to her neck. Clove screamed and used all the power she had left inside of her to push it away. But she knew it was futile. Sooner or later, it was going to kill her. He was going to kill her.
And then everything stopped. The mutt squealed terribly and was no longer pushing on her. Clove gasped in surprise and threw him off of her quickly, then pulled herself up on the elbows, feeling relief wash her over like cool water on a hot day. She expected to see Katniss standing a few feet away with her bow still pointed in her direction. But the person that was hovering above her could not be Katniss. Because it was definitely not a girl figure. That person was tall and big, a sword in one of his strong hands. Thresh! A subconscious voice screamed in her mind.
But Thresh was dead. She watched him die. She cried for him. How could he have possibly saved her life again? How could he—
The man leaned forward, breathing heavily. Clove narrowed her eyes in order to be able to notice his features in the darkness. And she sure did.
Her heart stopped.
A/N: :) Hope you liked it and that you'll leave me a little review! I'm so very sorry it took me so long to update. I actually had this chapter ready a long time ago but I really didn't like it much so I rewrote some of it a couple of times.
And please, don't hate me for killing off Thresh... See, this is the main reason why it took me like, three months to update. I wasn't satisfied with half of the things I'd write so I ended up re-writing them all over because it was just so hard to write him off. I absolutely love his character and his interaction with Clove, but well, it is the Hunger Games. He sadly had to go..
FYI, I think there's 2 or maybe 3 more chapters left for this story.
Also, I just wanted to let you know that I had started another Clove/Cato story called "The Sixth Sense". It is an AU fiction and takes place in the modern world. I hope you guys will want to check it out!
Again, THANK YOU for reading and reviewing!