Forbearance • A Cato Hadley Story

2.23

Livia suddenly awoke shortly after she had drifted off to sleep. It was as if her mind was trying to tell her that something was wrong. Like someone was nearing her. Or something. When she looked down in her lap, though her vision was slightly blurry from just waking up, Cato was still there, peacefully sleeping. She looked out to where she remembered seeing Finnick lay down just before she drifted off to sleep, and saw him sound asleep, still next to Lennox.

And a matter of three or four feet away from them was Mags. Nothing was wrong. But her intuition was telling her otherwise. That was when she remembered that she hadn't looked behind her. Slowly and carefully, the blonde lifted her boyfriend's head off of her lap and moved out from under him, laying his head gently on the forest ground. The girl readied her knife and held it tightly in her hand, preparing herself for whoever she would end up facing.

But it wasn't who. It was a what. Ten yards or so behind her was a thick fog slowly rolling in, getting closer and closer to where she stood. At first she didn't understand why she had such a bad feeling about the fog. To her it was just fog. To her it was harmless. She almost considered walking away and letting it roll by so she could sleep. But this wasn't just a forest. This was the Hunger Games. Nothing here was safe. There was almost no doubt in knowing that this wasn't just regular fog.

So there was only one way to find out. By taking her chances and touching the fog. Wearily the small girl reached out her hand towards the fog, waiting for it to make contact with her snow white skin. When it did, she yelled loudly as the pain shot up her arm immediately. She could feel the blisters begin to form on her hand as soon as she touched the ground. "Run! Run! The fog is poisoned!" she screamed in agony, waking the rest of the group up.

Trying to ignore the continuous venom-like feeling, she pushed herself off of the ground with her right arm, which was thankfully unharmed as it was her throwing hand. Finnick was the first off the ground and was quick to get Mags onto his back before he started running down the hill. Lennox followed quickly and ran beside Finnick in case he couldn't carry Mags for long and they had to switch. Livia ran to Cato, who stayed behind and waited for her, and grabbed his hand.

The moment their hands touched they began running, a good ways away behind Finnick, Lennox and Mags. As they ran down the hill, the small girl took glances here and there to make sure that they were still ahead of the fog and to make sure that the other three were as well. Just as Livia looked to the trio ahead of them, she could see him awkwardly fall to the ground underneath him, taking the elder down along with him.

The brunette beside them came to a halt and wasted no time in helping the woman back onto Finnick's back and lifting Finnick off of the ground. Suddenly a searing pain shot down the girl's back and she could feel blisters forming on her back and neck. Only this time the pain was far worse than how it had felt on her hand. It felt like thousands upon thousands of Jabber-jays were ruthlessly stinging her back all at once with zero mercy.

She could hear from beside her, as she yelped in complete and utter pain, Cato screaming from beside her while the fog started to poke at his entire back side. Both teens fell to the ground for a moment, which gave the fog a chance to go for their ankles. This got the two to scream a bit louder and made both of them almost wish for the sweet release of death with how excruciating the pain was. But Livia knew that they had to keep going.

So with the little bit of strength she had left, she heaved herself off of the ground and pulled Cato up as she started running again, basically forcing him to run along with her. The screams coming from Finnick caught Livia's attention, causing her to look over and see Finnick and Mags being grazed by what the young girl would refer to as 'the ground clouds from hell'. She could see Lennox stop and turn to face her lover and parent-like figure and ran to catch Finnick before he could fall again. This, unfortunately earned her first contact with the fog.

It was now her screams that echoed through the night. But the couple that was slowly getting closer to the pair from District Two kept running. The fog now hit Livia and Cato again, barely grazing them, though it surely still hurt like a bitch. Both of them screamed in pain but didn't stop. They had already gotten this far and they both mentally agreed that they weren't giving up. Unfortunately, after getting a good way away from the edge of the monstrosity of clouds following them, the pain started to build back up, shooting up their spines once more.

The teens fell to the ground with hollers of the stinging pain in their backs. The other couple quickly ran over to them and knelt beside them as Mags got off Finnick's back so he could check on the pair. Livia only found it in her to prop herself onto her elbows so she could look over at her boyfriend. Trying to avoid any blisters from the poison, she shook him in hopes of a response. But she wasn't getting one. "Cato!" she called, shaking him a bit rougher this time. Yet still no response. Her focus switched to Lennox and Finnick with a pleading look on her face.

 She knew she couldn't carry Cato. Even if her body wasn't covered in blisters, she knew she wasn't strong enough to carry him. Not to mention she barely had any strength left herself. "I can barely even lift myself off the ground. You guys have to take him and get out of here." she told the other couple. Livia had to get Cato home. Even if that meant sacrificing herself. She would never forgive herself if he didn't make it home.

When the words of defeat left her mouth Finnick shook his head in denial. Although he and Livia weren't the biggest fans of each other, he wasn't leaving her behind. "No, We can't leave you. We can take both of you." he reassured her. She wanted to believe him. But she could feel everything giving out. She was ready to welcome death with open arms. She knew this was it. "Fin, we can't take both of them and Mags. There's only two of us." Lennox reminded him.

Though she was only half listening with the pain coming from her back taking up most of her attention, she knew the brunette was right. There was no way two of them could carry three people at once. Gently, Mags placed her hand on the boy's shoulder, gaining his attention. The woman smiled down at the confused tribute who was kneeling beside the two injured tributes. Mags leaned down, cupping Finnick's face in her hands, and placed a short kiss on his lips.

"Mags?" he whispered. She only shook her head reassuringly then grabbed Lennox's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before walking in the direction of the fog. It was like watching a movie in slow motion as Livia watched the woman become engulfed by the fog behind them. "Mags! Mags!" the boy called after his mother-like figure. But she didn't bother looking back. She just kept walking and let herself be swallowed by the cloud. It wasn't long after she had fully disappeared when a canon went off, confirming that she was gone.

And she wasn't coming back. If it had been up to Finnick, they would have stayed longer so that he could grieve the loss of the woman who practically raised him. But Lennox knew that if they didn't start going now, they would too die at the hands of the Capitol. "Finnick! Finnick, we have to go. We have to get out of here. We have to go." she told him, cupping his face for a moment. The boy sadly nodded and went over to Cato, lifting him off the ground with a groan. Lennox did the same with Livia and placed the smaller girl's arm around her shoulders.

They started continuing their path in the opposite direction of the fog, dragging the teens along with them. What they didn't realize with fog starting to roll in from all different directions was that they were on an incline. When they reached the dip on the land, all four tributes fell and started rolling down the hill aimlessly for what seemed like forever.

Moments later, Livia found herself mere feet away from a small area of water, laying on her back. By now she could feel herself losing her breath, heaving for air as she watched the fog grow closer and closer. She slowly propped herself back onto her elbows and tried to crawl backwards, away from the mist. She knew she wasn't getting far.

It felt almost unbearable to move and she could barely breathe. If the fog itself didn't kill her, she was sure that the current state she was in would. So she let her upper body fall back onto the hard ground and watched the fog continue to get closer. She was ready. She fought. She had fought hard. And she internally patted herself on her back. She was proud of herself for at least trying to fight. Even if she didn't win or get as far as she would have liked. She was still proud.