𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐒 | ᴄ. ʜᴀᴅʟᴇʏ

I Promise

I don't really know how to describe it. It looks like a lion for the most part, but it's blue, and blended with the features of a wasp. It is striped blue a black around the tail, teeth sharp as a razor, and its head is oddly round, and pointy. The main difference between the lion and the wasp, is one will do a lot more harm than the other, but they don't exactly make a fun tag team. 

Almost immediately, the beast whips its tail at Thresh's face. Thresh groans in pain, and stumbles to the ground, clutching his hand over his eye. 

Note to self: stay away from the tail.

It licks its chops, rolling its shoulders, and wastes no time before bounding over to me. I roll out of the way, grab my backpack, and bound towards the exit. Before I can make it ten feet, a paw swats at me, and I feel a claw hook around my backpack. 

"Shit," I hiss, stress crawling all over me, stalling my thoughts. My mind is clouded with panic, and I hardly realize I've been thrown to the ground before the lion/wasp rears back on its hind legs like a frightened horse, and I almost miss the glistening silver blade that impales its chest.

No blood comes out, but it releases and ear splitting roar. Collapsed before my feet is something I know was sent by Seneca Crane, the head game maker and someone who I regard with bitter thoughts. I can't resist kicking the thing hard in the head when I know it's dead. 

I look up, a thank you for Thresh on the tip of my tongue, but it's not Thresh at all. Standing there, bloodied and bruised, pale as a sheet, and hardly keeping himself upright is Cato Hadley. His fingernails are caked with dirt, and dried blood covers the gash on his leg, his pant leg rolled up to provide some sort of relief. He looks sickly, eyes not entirely focussed, and minimal colour filling his features. 

"C-Cato," I splutter, regarding him softly, shock written on my face. He grins feebly in turn, seemingly about to loose consciousness. 

"Couldn't leave you to die, now could I, gorgeous?" 

It's only in my peripheral vision that I see Thresh pick himself up off the floor, and grab a rock, eyes locked on the back of Cato's head.

"Cato, move!" I yell. Adrenaline floods my veins, and instincts do the work. I grab Cato's sword, push him out of the way, and stab Thresh in the leg. "Sorry," I mutter quickly. I dash over to Cato, grab his hand, and pull him out of the cave. We're met with a wall of water, and a broad cliff shelf trailing down a stone wall. He goes in front of me so I can make sure he stays upright, and I nudge him as quickly as I can downwards, until we break into a flat stretch of grass. 

I tug on his hand anew, and we stagger as rapidly as we can towards the distant trees. After twenty minutes, Cato begins to move even slower, and I reassure him that we're almost there more times than I can count. Almost where, I don't know. We can't go back to the cave, Thresh will know where we are, but I haven't got other ideas. We break into the trees, and all at once the air turns cooler, the atmosphere more relaxed. 

Birds hum and chirp and squabble with one another, and for a moment, for a fleeting passing of a second, I let myself believe I'm home. I let myself believe that I'm home in District 12, hunting with Cato so we can make it home with dinner for my mum and the Everdeens. If we've got extra kill, we can even stop by Gale's, his siblings are growing kids, they could use the extra meat. In this moment Cato is in my home. Cato is my family. I'm okay with that.

Then the moment is gone.

________________________________________________________________________________

It isn't a long time before Cato's knees buckle, and he falls on all fours in front of a large pine tree. I accept this is where our little quest for safety will end for now.