The Mentor. (Cato Hadley)

Chapter Thirteen.

As Katniss is running from the fire, I decide now is the time to get some sleep. Brutus has slept all day, as he prefers the nightlife of the Capitol more. Currently, he's sharing drinks with some Capitol citizens, laughing as he sees Katniss being hit with fireballs. I respect Brutus, as my mentor. But his love for the Capitol and the Games sickens me. I guess because he hasn't been dealt the same fate as I have, suffered the same hand that I have.

I can't deal with the burning jealousy of Cato and Glimmer. I can't look at his face without a gaping hole ripping its way through my chest. I don't do jealousy; it's never been an emotion I really had. The only time I remember ever being jealous, was growing up when I had seen my father caring more for my brothers than he had for me. And when I came out of the Games with trauma, it worsened. It made me weak to him.

I'm becoming Janelle, with Cato being Rhindan. I don't believe in love, I never have and I thought I never would. I don't even believe my parents were ever in love, because love in the districts never really seemed possible. If my mother had successfully convinced whoever it may concern to allow my father to move from District Two to the Capitol, maybe there would have been a possibility for love. There is always someone - or something - willing to tear you apart. Threaten your lives, rip up your love until the two of you hate each other beyond repair. I wouldn't subject myself to that, I couldn't subject myself to that.

Lying in my bed, now on the second floor of the Gamemakers Headquarters, sleep just won't come to me. I've never worried about something this much, I've never worried about someone this much. This is why I refuse all attempts at love. It's not like Cato would actually love me, anyway; I'm a Capitol prostitute, under every instruction of Snow.

Finally, after a bit of tossing and turning with no sleep coming to me, I turn on the only television program playing currently. The camera is still on District Twelve's Katniss Everdeen, not even showing a side screen of the others. President Snow aimed to kill her, and he wanted everyone to watch.

She leaps her way away from the fire, fireballs still being sent her way. Soon, the fire ceases, and her body begins to convulse. Snow can't be this stupid; with how she volunteered for her sister, and how she has become a Capitol favorite, she can't have any other cause of death than one by another tribute. I watch as her hand makes its way to her braid, showing the viewers that a fireball has singed off almost six inches of her hair.

I'm on edge, sitting on my bed with anticipation. Not for the future of Katniss Everdeen, Girl literally on Fire, but for the future of Cato Hadley. I honestly just might love him. Somehow, I know deep down that Cato and I will never end up together. He's trained to be a Peacekeeper; becoming a Victor doesn't change the oath you swore, or the paper you signed. After he wins the Games - if he wins the Games - he'll be sent away to some other district to do his twenty year term. No wife or kids allowed during that time, nothing to distract you from the duties you're owed to the Capitol.

I don't want to be Cato's wife, and I sure as hell never want kids, not when they're going to be brainwashed to want to play this game of life. At least, that's what I'm trying to convince myself.

The fireballs start again, this time hitting her right in the leg. Snow is making it perfectly clear that he has a plan, and I think I've figured out exactly what that plan is. He doesn't want to kill her, he knows it'll be an outrage. He's driving her to the other tributes, in hopes that they'll catch her and kill her.

I drift asleep before the 'exciting' part of the game begins, only awakening hours later to the voices on my television. The Games is still dragging along, and a visionary on Cato is telling me that he's still alive.

Soon, the visionary switches to Katniss, who is frantically climbing a tall tree. That must hurt, what with the burn on her leg. It is smart though; her starving, skinny frame is able to climb the tree. Any of the other well fed Careers wouldn't have a chance, Clove being the smallest yet still about fifty pounds heavier than Katniss. Marvel, Glimmer, Cato, Clove, and Peeta are the tributes Snow was leading Katniss to, and they now stand at the base of the tree.

The smirks are evident on the Careers faces, thinking they finally caught their main competition. All except Peeta, who has the look of a sad puppy. Regretting his decisions to join the Careers, I see. He's going to either be Brutus or Janelle this year, it's early to tell which. She's going to die, and Peeta knows it.

It doesn't look like Katniss realizes the severity of her predicament though, a smile painted on her face. "How's everything with you?" Those branches are slim, extremely nimble. There's no way the Careers are getting up there as easily as she did. Peeta could try, but with what Cato and Clove told me about training, he isn't a good climber. When I went to District Twelve on my Victory Tour, I noticed that it's split into two sections. The coal miners are the poor, they have darkened features and were all covered in black dust from the mines. Then there were the merchants, who ran shops in town. They have lighter features, like blonde hair and blue eyes. Peeta has more weight to him than Katniss, because he's from the merchant class. Both tributes from my Games were the poor people of Twelve...

"Well enough," I watch as Cato smirks, thinking that he won this challenge. "How about you, Girl on Fire?" His sword is at ease, he still believes he can get to her. His size isn't going to allow him to do that.

"It's been a bit warm for my taste," her words cause my mind to flicker back to her burn. If the Careers don't kill her, her injury will, President Snow made sure of that. "The air is better up here, why don't you come up?"

"I think I will," Cato shrugs off Glimmer as she offers him the bow and sheath of arrows. "I'll do better with my sword," he's fully aware that Katniss doesn't have a true weapon, leading him to be more confident in his own taste of weaponry. As soon as he hoists himself up on the first branch, it snaps, sending him back to the ground. Unbeknownst to Cato, he's probably the laughing stock of the Capitol. I'm going to have to fix that later.

Glimmer tries to shoot Katniss with an arrow, but misses completely. How did she even make it to the Games? I know she volunteered, but who let her? Who told her she was good enough to win?

Katniss laughs as she climbs about ten feet higher, looking down at the Careers. "Maybe you should throw the sword," she suggests after the failed shooting.

"She can't stay up there forever!" I sigh in boredom as the Careers turn back to Peeta. "I mean, why don't we wait her out? Set up camp here and just wait until she comes down?" Peeta's idea is at least buying time for the other tributes still fighting for their lives.

The Careers nod in agreement, beginning to set up camp beneath the tree. They start a fire, huddling around it for warmth. Clove throws one of her knives, killing a lizard while Cato and 'Glim' cuddle nearby. The camera moves its focus - thankfully - to the little girl from Eleven in a tree nearby, having a silent conversation with Katniss. She points upwards, both Katniss and the camera following her direction.

A tracker jacker nest.