Forbearance • A Cato Hadley Story

2.29

Livia and Johanna made their way to the beach in silence. Neither one of them exactly knew what to say after the whole ordeal by the tree. It had been a very tense situation. The blonde knew that the girl from District Seven wanted to be with Finnick and Lennox, just like how she wanted to be with Cato. It was clear as day. But for some reason the dark haired girl had pushed the feelings aside rather than agreeing with the teen. It was odd. None of this made sense.

If she wanted to stay behind, why didn't she say so? Why didn't any of them say something? Then they would both get to be with who they wanted to and the whole situation could have been avoided. After a while of hiking towards the beach, Livia handed the multicolor haired girl her bow to hold as she climbed down a steep path of rocks so she would have a free hand since she was also in charge of the coil. Once she stepped off of the last rock she took her bow and waited for Johanna to climb down after her.

The two began walking again, still in silence outside of the 'thank you' the blonde had mumbled when she took her weapon back. Livia should have felt somewhat at peace with it being just Johanna and herself. It was only them. But something felt off and it wasn't just because she didn't have Cato. Internally she knew that even if he had gone with her she would still feel the same about her situation. It felt as though she was being watched. Something was watching them. Or someone.

She wanted to say something but the other tribute seemed unbothered and at peace. If something was off they both would have that feeling. So with a defiant shake of her head, she pushed the idea of being watched to the back of her mind, focusing on getting to the beach and being rid of the coil before midnight so she wouldn't be electrocuted along with anyone on the beach. Johanna, though she didn't seem alarmed in any way, looked almost scared.

She knew something about what had gone on a few minutes prior and Livia was going to find out. "Come on. I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible. Frying is not how I want to go." Johanna insisted, waving carelessly for the blonde to follow her. The teen looked at her wondrously, keeping her grip tight on the coil in her left hand. "That would be a cool way to die." the blonde joked. As she pulled the object along, she noticed the wire become harder and harder to pull.

It was almost like it had caught on something. And that's when the coil was unable to move all together. It was stuck. Hearing the clanging sound of the wire hitting the rocks, Johanna turned around to find the source of the noise. The young girl attempted to pull the object two or three times with no luck. I wasn't going to budge. Both girls shared a look of confusion as they stared at the wire where it disappeared into the hill of stone.

Suddenly, the wire seemingly snapped in half and pulled itself in the opposite direction of where the girl's were headed in. The two fell silent, waiting for any other sign of movement or another pull on the wire. Anything to indicate that they truly weren't alone. And they certainly got their answer. The sound of metal hitting the wire echoed around them just before it shot back towards the girl's, landing alarmingly close to Livia's feet.

"Shit." the blonde spoke, her voice barely audible. Hastily, the girl put the  coil down, pulled out one of her knives and held it tightly in her hand, preparing herself to fight. Unfortunately before she could get the chance, she felt a large object hit the side of her head, knocking her to the ground with a grunt of pain. A pair of hands found their way to her right forearm in seconds, a stinging feeling following just after.

Livia let out a scream as Johanna cut deep into her arm, only for the short haired girl to shush her. It sounded as if she was trying to be soothing, but it wasn't working. The blonde fought back the urge to scream once more when she felt the other girl pull out her tracker. It took everything in her, but she knew she needed to do what she was told. In her head it didn't feel right. In her heart, on the other hand, she knew it was the right thing to do. The feeling of Johanna's hot breath on her neck as she wiped blood on the blonde's neck caused her to squirm in discomfort.