𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔯 ℭ𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔡 - Clove and Cato/Clato

XIV

TW: Suicide

No one acknowledged Cato's nose in the morning. It was very obvious that we had gotten into a fight and would clearly fight anyone else who brought it up. I kept my distance from him. As our group hunted through the woods for tributes. We had just barely reached the river when Marvel's eyes lit up and started pointing in front of us. "There she is!" He called. I looked over and saw fire girl in the water. We all began to run after her as she quickly tried to escape.

The group started chanting and cheering as we ran after her into the woods. She began to climb a tree, to which Cato swiftly began climbing after her. He grabbed onto an old dead branch that couldn't possibly support his weight and he plummeted down.

"I'll do it myself," Glimmer scoffed, grabbing her arrows to shoot up. She missed. Cato then aggressively grabbed it and shot as well. Another miss.

"Let's just wait her out," Peeta suggested. "She has to come down eventually."

Cato looked around at the group. "Okay," he replied. "Somebody make a fire."

-

That night, I continued to keep my distance from Cato. Peeta was lying on the ground, staring up at Katniss. Part of me wondered if he truly wanted her dead or not. Cato sat in between the district four girl, Emerald, and Glimmer. Marvel sat next to me. I spotted a lizard and easily hit it with a flick of my knife.

"You're vicious," he nudged my arm playfully.

I wasn't. It was much easier to kill a lizard than to kill a human being, but I wasn't about to tell Marvel that. "I guess so," I replied, shooting another knife into the lizard.

I looked across the fire. Cato was laughing while the two girls were giggling beside him. What kind of game are they playing?

"You like him, don't you?" Marvel asked softly so that they couldn't hear.

I scoffed. "If breaking his nose indicates affection, then sure," I replied sarcastically.

He chuckled at this. "It's a shitty situation, I know."

"Then why talk about it?" I asked, annoyed. "Matter of fact, why even try talking to me if you know we are going to turn on each other by the end of this? We are not friends, Marvel. We are allies and we are all in the same boat. One, or both of us, is going to die."

He stayed silent for a moment. "You're right." He responded. "I'm sorry."

With that, he moved away from me and closer to the rest of the group. I sighed, immediately regretting telling him off. The feeling of loneliness began to kick in. But it didn't matter. This feeling was all I've ever known. Across the fire Cato glanced at me, but I swiftly looked away. I couldn't handle seeing him, and for some reason I felt an odd burning sensation deep inside seeing him sandwiched between those other tributes.

-

I shot awake at the sound of frantic screaming and loud buzzing. I jolted to my feet and began to run, following the voices of the rest of the group running ahead of me. I felt a sharp pain in my arm, then once again in my calf. I couldn't stop, though. I kept running, knowing that pain didn't matter when it came to survival.

The screams became more and more distant the further we ran. The river came into view, and I jumped in, gasping for my breath. Once I was sure the wasps were gone, I pulled myself back onto the rocky area. My head began to spin as I looked around.

"Clove?" I heard. I squinted to see who it was. "Clove are you okay?" It was Cato, and he had a swollen eye from a sting.

I looked around some more and saw Marvel gasping for air while lying down wet on the rock. Emerald was here, too. She was lying still next to Marvel. I wasn't sure if she was breathing. "Where's Peeta?" I slurred. "...Glimmer?"