Forbearance • A Cato Hadley Story

2.22

After Cato's incident with the forcefield, the group took around thirty minutes to rest and figure out how to keep track of how close to the edge of the arena they were. The blonde boy still seemed a bit shaken up by what had happened and was still a bit weak from the impact but was definitely getting somewhat better. Mags was helpful in this aspect and wordlessly pointed out some small pebbles laying around.

She looked at Lennox and Finnick, making a few gestures to which they looked at each other and nodded cohesively. The older woman then stared at Livia, wondering if the teen understood what she had said. Of course Livia had made sense of the frantic gestures from the elder. She was simply suggesting that someone should throw the pebbles to find the forcefield. That way they wouldn't have to risk anyone else getting hurt from clashing into the barrier.

And if the blonde was being honest, she liked the idea. So once the entire group, mostly catering towards Cato, felt well enough to continue through the arena, they set off. Finnick and Livia had both collected some small pebbles to throw as they went along so they could make sure no one would hit the forcefield. As the group ventured through the forest, Livia led the way, tossing the pebbles in front of her.

All of the tributes would watch as each pebble would hit the edge of the arena and would walk along the edge. They were all hoping that if they stayed as close to the edge of the arena as possible, they could avoid the rest of the tributes and greaten their chances of going home. But Livia only cared about getting her lover home. She would do whatever it would take to make sure he made it back to, not only Chloe and Mark so he could take care of them, but his family.

Even though she hadn't met Cato's mother with the exception of a few times, she knew his mother cared about him all too much for him not to return home. After Cato and herself had made it back from the first games, his mother insisted that he keep the house in Victor's Village to himself because he put in the work and earned it. She was all too kind and all too generous to lose him. Although staying by the edge of the arena was a good idea, they needed to find fresh water.

So the group set off to find fresh water. Soon enough the pebbles being thrown in every direction were hitting nothing and Livia was certain that they were far enough from the edge to stop throwing things but she mentally told herself to be on the lookout for any signs of the forcefield. It was becoming slightly dark due to the clouds forming in the sky. "Hang on." the blonde said, causing her ally's to halt behind her.

The girl carefully climbed up a pretty large tree nearby and hauled her way to the top so she could get a good view of the arena surrounding her. Making sure her feet were grounded on a branch, she pulled an arrow out of the quiver on her back and shot an arrow into the sky. When the arrow made contact with the top part of the arena, the forcefield glitched for a moment and sent a wave of white light through the entire arena which was apparently a dome shape, revealed by the wave of light.

Quickly and efficiently, she climbed back down from the tree and hopped back onto the ground with a sigh of exhaustion. "The force field, it's a dome. We're at the edge of the arena. I couldn't find any signs of freshwater." she informed the group who was staring off into different areas of the forest. A groan came from Lennox's mouth as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. They were all tired. They were all hungry. They were all thirsty. But there was honestly nothing they could do about it besides going on through the arena and praying that they would find something.

Finnick took a moment and glared at Lennox, silently telling her to quiet down. The girl from Twelve glared back at her lover and walked away with an expression of anger and annoyance. "It's gonna get dark soon. We'll be safe if our back's protected. We should set up camp, take turns sleeping. I can take first watch." Finnick announced. Livia only scoffed with an unconvincing smirk, shaking her head at the comment as she walked over to Cato.