Victory - Cato Hadley

chapter nineteen

I nervously shift around on the sofa. Finnick puts a hand on my back.
"He's going to be fine" he says with a comforting voice.
"I have this weird feeling. It's not good" I say, looking at the screen.
Clove died a few days ago we've been watching the whole games now, here in my room. When Clove died, I actually cried. Her ego actually way too big. She should've just killed Katniss when she had the chance for it. She should've just listened to me, when I told her to kill fast. I watched Tresh smash her head with a stone. A fucking stone. I've been waiting for Cato to kill him a long time now. I also haven't really slept in almost a week now. I sometimes nap for an hour but I can't sleep more than that. I'm afraid that something's going to happen to him if I sleep. 
He got the armour though at the feast. The one against Katniss's arrows. I hope it works though, if he finally meets her. 

"He found him" Johanna says, making me come back to reality. I watch as Cato sneak up behind Tresh slicing his achilles tendons, making him unable to walk away. He can't run anywhere now. 
"Are you sure you want to watch this?" Finnick asks.
"Of course she wants to see her bloody boyfriend killing Tresh" Johanna says rolling her eyes. Finnick shoots her an annoyed look.
"Yeah. He killed Clove. He deserves it" I say, not taking off my eyes of the screen. 

"You killed her" Cato says, with a wobbly voice. I know how much he loved Clove. He would've done everything for her in these games. He was supposed to watch out for her after all. It's not his fault though. Clove insisted on going alone and the deal was that she grabs the bag and immediately runs away with it. She didn't listen though. She wanted everything. Especially to kill the girl on fire. 
"She deserved it" Tresh says, causing Cato to cut his upper right leg. Tresh's laying at the floor now, a pool of his own blood forming around him.
"She didn't. She was just a kid" Cato shouts angry. 
"And so was Rue. She killed her!" Tresh shouts.
"No, she didn't. Marvel killed her and Katniss killed Marvel. It wasn't Clove's fault. And still you decided to smash her head with a stone" he shouts, and cuts his left hand off.
Tresh is screaming in pain now.
"I didn't know. She said she'd killed Rue. I didn't know" he shouts.
"Too late" Cato says, before stabbing his sword into Tresh's stomach. 
"I had to watch her dying. I held her dying body in my arms, screaming for her to not let go. You know how much that hurt?" Cato asks. For a second there was a tear streaming down his face but he quickly brushes it away.
"The world didn't deserve her as it is right now" he says, takes his sword out of the now dead Tresh, and walks away. 

"That was brutal" Finnick says.
"I imagined it worse"Johanna says.
"You know, we had a deal. The deal was that everyone they kill, has to get killed fast. They weren't allowed to let them suffer. If one of these other tributes kill Clove or Cato though, then they're allowed to make them suffer. To let the person who killed their district partner feel how it is, to loose their other half in there. Especially since we've all known eachother since we've been little kids" I say, burrying my head in my hands.
"I thought Cato would let him suffer more" I say.
"Why?" Finnick asks me.
"Because he saw Clove as his little sister. As a good friend in there. Not just his ally" I say.
"Maybe you have a good influence on him" 
"What do you mean?" I ask him.
"We both saw your games too obviously. You never killed someone just because they were there. You only killed them when they attacked you. And after every kill, you had this suffering, sad look on your face. You never wanted to kill anyone, I believe. Not even the one that killed your district partner, you killed him fast"
"Killing isn't really something for me" I say, and we both chuckle.
"I guessed so," Finnick says. "That's why we like you. Normally the district two tributes are idiots, who would even do it again if they could. You wouldn't though. You're different" he says, smiling at me.
"Thank you" I say, smiling back at you.

I notice the television going dark.
"What's happening?" I ask.
"Looks like they want their final fight" Johanna says.
We watch as the camera focuses on Peeta and Katniss. They're sitting at the lake, not knowing what's about to happen. Suddenly, something jumps out above them. It's Cato and he's running from something. Katniss and Peeta take on quickly and start running with him. He's a lot faster though, and Peeta has this ugly injury on his leg. 
"What are they running from?" Johanna asks.
The cameras then show some dog-wolfes. Mutts. They aren't all the same though.
"What's wrong with them?" I ask, taking a closer look at them.
"We have to wait for a little light" Finnick says.
We continue watching, as they all run towards the cornucopia. Cato is on it very fast. He pulls himself up and tries to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Katniss helps Peeta up before he gets eaten by these creatures. Now Katniss takes a closer look at them too. Her eyes widen, and so do mine.
They're the fallen tributes. There's a big, black one. He has the number "11" written on his colar. Thresh.
"That is fucked up" I say shocked. Finnick and Johanna say nothing, I guess they're just as disturbed as I am.
Another one is blonde, with the number "1" written on it. Glimmer.
She died rather early in the games. I hated how touchy she was with Cato. I also noticed how he kind of enjoyed the attention. I didn't really mind it though. These could be his last days on earth. He could've died every minute. Nothing happend though. At night, he mostly moved away from her when she wanted to cuddle with him. When she died, I wasn't sad or anything. Just a little pitty. I mean, getting stung by fucking tracker jackers is definitely not how I want to die. That sounds horrible to me.

They're all heavy breathing on the roof of the cornucopia, until Cato turns around. 
"I'm coming home to you" he whispers and sneaks up at Katniss and Peeta. They start fighting really bad. At some point Cato almost chockes Katniss, while holding her head down the cornucopia, but Peeta picks him up like it is nothing and throws him over his shoulder. The fight keeps going and going, until he holds a knife to Peeta's head. Time seems to go incredibly slow now. I look at Cato's face. He's bleeding, heavily and he looks like he's about to give up. Katniss is holding her bow, ready to shoot an arrow at him, but she knows that he'll just use Peeta as a shield if she shoots. 

"Go on. Shoot" he says, and chuckles. I feel some tears running down my face. I don't bare move. "Then we both go down and you win"
"Go on" he says again. "I'm dead anyway. I always was, right?" 
His voice is wobbly now. He knows he's about to be dead. And so do I. 
"Do you really want to keep watching this Athena?" Finnick askes me.
"Yes" I breathe out waiting for it to happen.

It feels like time moves awfully slow now. Trying to make it even more painful for me to watch him die. A sob escapes my lips, but I put my hand infront of my mouth. I have to keep watching. I need to see this. 

"I didn't know that till now" he says, painfully laughing through his tears. His teeth are stained from the blood in his mouth. I feel my hands starting to shake. 
I know I should take my eyes from the TV, but I can't. 
He looks up at the sky and shouts: "How is that? Is that what they want? Huh?"
I look at Finnick, as he looks at me. We both know who that was destined for. 
"No" Peeta says, almost unable to breathe now. 
"No,no. I can still do this. I could still do this" Cato says, without an expression on his face now. 
"One more kill. It's the only thing I know how to do," he says. "Bring pride to my district"
"Not that it matters" are his last words.

He doesn't seem to notice Peeta's handmotion though. It's too late as he finally does. Katniss shoots one of her arrows into Cato's hand. He shouts in pain, and lets go of Peeta's body. Peeta then punches him in the stomach and shoves him off the cornucopia. 
"No" I scream loudly. 
Finnick pulls me in for a hug.
"Hey, look" Johanna says, making us both look up at the television again. 
Cato has his sword in one hand, trying to defend himself from the mutts. He does very well actually. He defends them for about one hour, until the first one attacks him. He screams loudly, as the others join, eating him up. 
I'm not even sobbing anymore. I'm just watching the scene infront of me in disbelief. The amor is protecting him still, making him suffer even more. His screams fill the arena for a long time.
"Please shoot him" I say.
"She can't" Johanna says. She isn't talking with that nasty attitude of hers anymore. More like she cares. Her voice sounds soft.
They pulled him under the cornucopia, making her unable to shoot him. His screams continue for a long time, until they just stop.

That's when a voice sounds, saying that the previous rule change is not valid anymore, and that there could only be one victor. 
"Shoot me," Peeta says, as Katniss looks at him in disbelief. "Go home to your family"
"No" she says, taking something out of her pockets. 
"Katniss what are you doing?" Peeta asks angrily.
"Do you trust me?" she asks, and he nods.
"Good. Do what I do?" she says, and gives him some berries.
"What is she doing?" Johanna asks us.
"She's circumvents the system" Finnick says, a slight smile forming on his face.
"On the count of three" she says and starts counting. 
They both go to eat the berries, but the voice sounds again.

"Stop, stop. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present you the winners of the 74th annual hunger games" 

I stop breathing because I realized something. When I look at Johanna, she has the same look on her face.
"Did you hear a canon?" I ask.
"I don't think so, no" she says.
"Oh my god" I breathe out.