A Love To Die For | Clato FanFic

Chapter 5 ~ Are We Ok?

Clove POV

We all eagerly trail behind Cato, who is leading the way with bated breath. He doesn't slow down as we get closer either, not caring whether they hear us coming I suppose. As we arrive at where the smoke was coming from, we're greeted with a vulnerable, innocent, young girl lying down beside a fire. I almost laugh at the sight of her. Who was her mentor? I think. Clearly they didn't care enough to tell her the first thing about the Games. Her eyes twitch, as she begins to wake up.

As we circle around her, her eyes finally open wide and she sits up suddenly, realising her grave mistake. Cato smiles devilishly and hands his sword off to Glimmer, as the young girl desperately tries backing away from us on all fours. My eyebrows furrow, at the sight of Cato handing his sword to Glimmer. I was jealous. Why am I jealous? I ask myself. You should expect this from a guy like Cato.

The girl begins losing it as she sees the sword in Glimmer's hand. "No! Please don't!" She begins to beg, helplessly. Cato is eating every moment of this right up. Glimmer then steps forward and, all in one movement, pierces the girl's stomach. The young girl's scream echoes through the woods, scaring away any game nearby.

As Glimmer removes the sword, Marvel begins mocking the girl's begs which makes us all laugh. We stop for a small celebration, congratulating each other and sitting down for a momentary rest. "Twelve down and eleven to go!" Cato howls, which provokes a round of appreciative hoots from us all. One step closer to home, I tell myself.

Right before we leave, we snoop through the girl's supplies, to see if she has anything valuable. "Gosh this is pathetic," I say walking around the fire, surveying her camp.

"I know right," Cato replies, as he checks her pockets. This is the first thing he's said to me in hours. "Hey look what I found!" Cato pulls out a miniature pocketknife from the girl's jacket, which sends us into a roar of laughter.

"What did she think she was going to do with that?" Glimmer jokes, playfully pushing Cato's shoulder. I look over who Marvel, who is distracted by sussing out the District 12 boy, who hasn't been doing much. It's probably for the best that he doesn't see it, he's so clearly head over heels for her, but she doesn't even care enough to see it. He deserves better.

"Alright, let's head out." Marvel says responsibly, continuing in the direction we were heading just before.

Cato POV

I follow the District 12 boy and Marvel who seem to be leading the way now. Glimmer is glued to my shoulder, like she has been the whole night and Clove is walking all alone behind us. A wave of guilt falls over me as I realise I've practically ditched her the whole night.

Maybe she's pissed because of Glimmer, I suggest to myself. No, it couldn't be. Clove is smart enough to know that I'm just being friendly... or was I? My mind rapidly goes over the past few hours of events, I confuse myself even with my own actions.

Glimmer and I are just being friendly. She is just like a little reminder of home – of Anise, a bit of fun for now. Clove should know that. I convince myself.

It wasn't like Clove was all that alone anyway, Marvel seemed to be keeping her occupied enough before.

Marvel stops, looking back at where we were walking from. "Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" He questions. Ugh, he's so sceptical.

Clove walks towards him. "Yeah you're right, we should've." She says, as they turn towards me and Glimmer. What was this Marvel and Clove vs Glimmer and I now?

"Unless she isn't dead." Marvel says looking me straight in the eyes.

"She's dead, I saw Glimmer stick her myself." I say defensively, anger building up inside of me.

"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done." Clove says, avoiding eye contact with me. I can't believe she's siding with this guy!

"I said she's dead." I reply, containing any nasty words which flashed across my mind. It wasn't Clove who I was mad at, it was Marvel. He's totally brainwashed her, taken her from right beneath me while I wasn't looking. He's probably just jealous Glimmer is all over me.

The dead silence only seemed to make the tension grow more and more. I didn't take my eyes off Marvel. "We're wasting time! I'll go finish her off and then let's move on." District 12 boy says, grabbing a knife from his pocket, which I didn't know he had, and walking back.

Marvel scoffs at me. "Need him to finish off what your little girlfriend couldn't?" He says, provoking me into a fit of rage.

"Shut up Marvel! You're just mad that she couldn't give two shits about you!" I yell, balling up my fists. Marvel steps towards me and I'm sure we're about to break out into a fist fight.

"Stop!" Clove says, walking forward and placing her hand on my chest to push me back.

Immediately, I relax my fists. Her soft voice calming me as she says, "Cato we're not doing this right now, ok?"

Her touch leaves me tongue-tied. "I- I'm sorry." I say like I'm ten years old again.

"Whatever," Marvel says, still angry. He takes a deep breath. "Why don't we just kill Lover Boy now and get it over with?" He says, hushing his voice and changing the subject.

"Let him tag along. What's the harm? And he's handy with a knife." I reply, their unconvinced expressions tell me I need to say more. "Besides, he's our best chance at finding her." They seemed satisfied enough with my reasoning.

The sound of Lover Boy's footsteps silences us.

"Was she dead?" I ask.

"No, but she is now." He replies, as the cannon fires. "Ready to move on?" I nod.

Clove POV

We continue hunting around until the sun rises, unable to find any more victims. Our food and water supplies began running low, but luckily we stumbled across a river. "I think it's time we rest," I say to the group, and no one objects.

Since it was morning, most of the other tributes would be out and about by now, so one of us has to take watch. "I'll take first watch," the District 12 boy offers. We all look at each other uneasily.

"It's alright, I will." Marvel jumps in, and we all take a sigh of relief. Next to the rocky riverbank is some thick woods, which we decide to rest in. The layers of leaves and branches, concealing us. Lover boy rests on his own tree, separate from the rest of us, whilst Glimmer, Cato, and I all rest beside each other – with Cato in the middle.

I'm about to doze off when Cato turns over to face me. "Are we good?" He whispers, as if he did not want anyone else to hear. The audacity he has to ask such a thing, after ignoring me all day! Acting like I belong to him - like he can do whatever he wants, and I'll still be here waiting for him like an idiot. "Of course," I force myself to say and then I turn over, so I didn't have to see him for much longer. Maybe part of the reason is because if I do see him for much longer, I'll start to really mean it.

I knew it was a mistake letting myself fall for him. I should've never expected a player like him to change for someone like me. It's like when Glimmer talked to him he shifted right back into an emotionless machine that the girls at home loved. Just as I thought I had connected him to his softer side, right before we came into the arena, Glimmer just has to go off and turn him senseless again. It's not even about the way he treats the other tributes, it's the way he's been treating me lately.