A Thousand Years. (A Clato Fan Fiction) {Editing}

Chapter 11 "Rule Change" {Edited}

Clove’s PoV

The cannon goes off once again. This time I jerk my head to the direction where Glimmer and Marvel went. I couldn’t believe it that was 3 cannons so far; they couldn’t be dead could they? I’m running, holding my tears in.

“Clove! Come back! You could be hurt!” Cato is desperate but I know I have to find them. I owe it to them to be there for their last moments. Please, please let it be Katniss and not Marvel or Glimmer.

“Marvel!” I yell, longing for his reply. “Glimmer!”

As I wait, for just one tiny call for help, the light above me subdues. Silence creeping around me, tingling into my stomach. I spin around rapidly, just to find something, anything. Then I spot something in the distance. The curl of unkempt blonde hair that is unmistakably Glimmer. Her beauty still radiating, yet dimming with the presence of her once alive soul. It seems so long ago she was laughing and reminiscing about her childhood. That time, those memories; we can’t go back. When I move closer to her, I see the lumps and pus oozing from the bumps. Her eyes are still a soft blue but lifeless. Beneath all that, she’s still the most beautiful human being. I touch the unaffected palm of her hand and hold it one last time.

“Goodbye, Glimmer.” The tears didn’t fall. I guess I’m holding onto them.

Marvel is not so far away. Even with Glimmer’s grotesque figure, I have not seen anything more horrifying. I shriek at the sight of Marvel. Blood cascading out of his neck.

“Clove?” I hear Cato again, this time with a worried tone. I fall to my knees, my chest tightening. My lungs are suffocating with fear and it feels like something is jammed in my throat. Sound breaks through, pain dispersing through me. My wailing begins and the tears finally stream down my face. I can feel everything and myself shivering from all the pain and hatred and longing! I lose it.

“Get away from me! Go away! Leave me alone! I deserve it! I’ve killed so many! So many innocent lives… Kill me! Cato! Kill me now!”

Cato has tears building up in his eyes as he watches my outburst. He grabs hold of me, tightening his grip around my body.

“You’re the strong one, you’re meant to keep us together and alive. Clove, don’t give up now. I need you now more than ever.”

Screeching, scratching, scowling, I rid myself of my insanity. Cato is whispering to me and he is prominently in trauma as well. He cradles me as I watch a tall dark-skinned man run over to another body, covered in flowers. It has to be Thresh. He sobs over the small girl’s body and whispers to her that he regretted everything and he was meant to protect her.

And he didn’t.

Cato’s PoV

With each inaudible sob escaping Clove’s quivering lips, shatters me. Her body is shaking from the trauma. My hands also trembling as I hold her close to me. A nebulous desire to stop all this agony. Clove’s nails dig into my arm when her breath shortens. But I don’t cry. Locking and concealing all my anger and pain inside of me, I abruptly stand up, supporting Clove by the waist. She doesn’t look up. I know we have to keep on going, thriving to keep her alive for as long as possible. We find a hollow tree nearby a stream, the rapid rush of the water echoing within the trees. I let Clove lie there to rest while I set up everything before night falls. After starting the fire and cooking some rabbit meat, I eat, lonely. The anthem plays and Clove awakens from the sound.