Lethal Lovers - Cato Hadley

chapter thirteen

As soon as it goes dark we start walking towards the tree. I check on my knives, since I'm not able to use the bow. I have ten knives in total, this should be enough. After all, I only need two knives to kill Cashmere and Gloss. We're climbing up rocks when the anthem of Panem starts playing. We all stop to look at it. The day has been so long that I forgot how many people have died today. After everything that's happend it feels like a week in here but in reality it has only been two days. Two days to get fourteen of us killed. It's only us and Cashmere and Bloss left. 
"Cato, what happens if we're the last ones in here? You know when Cashmere and Gloss are finally dead" I aks him quitely, so the others won't hear.
"I don't know," he says thruthfully. "But I'll protect you no matter what"
He kisses me shortly before we keep walking. It doesn't take long until we arrive at the tree. It's huge. 
"Have fun wrapping that" I say. 
Betee doesn't seem to mind and walks over to the tree. He immediately starts working on it and wraps every brach on it. He then starts talking about how many joules of energy a lightning contains, that doesn't really sound interesting. The only interesting thing is that we should be gone here when the lighting strikes. 
"You three girls, go together now. Take this. Unspool it carefully. Make sure the entire coil is in the water. You understand? Then head to the tree at the 2:00 sector. We'll meet you there" he says, and hands Katniss the coil
"I'm gonna go with them as a guard" Cato and Peeta say at the same time. They both look at eachother awkwardly before looking back at Betee.
"No, no, no. You're staying here to protect me. And the tree" Betee says.
"No, I need to go with her" Peeta says.
"No, there are two Careers out there and I need all the protection I can get" Betee says again.
"I have to go with her" Peeta says.
"Yeah, why can't Finnick and Johanna protect you here?" she asks.
"Katniss. It's his decision. I can throw a knife perfectly fine, Johanna can throw a fucking axe and you're good with a bow. We're perfectly fine. Same for them. Finnick is good with a trident and Cato is good with the sword," I say annoyed. "I want to stay with Cato too but if the most intelligent person in here says that we do it like that I rather do it how he says and not what you want"
They all look at me like I've just said the most outrageous thing ever.
"You all agreed to keep me safe till midnight, correct?" Betee asks, stepping closer to Katniss.
"It's his plan. We all agreed to it" Johanna says.
"Is there a problem here?" Finnick then asks.
"Excellent question" Betee says grinning and looks at Katniss.
"No. There's no problem" she says.

I let out a sigh and walk over to Cato.
"I'll see you again, I promise" I say, holding his head between my hands.
"Promise?" he asks again.
"Promise" I say.
I kiss him, feeling his warm lips on mine before we leave. I look back at him one last time, seeing him standing a few feet away from Peeta.
"I love you" he mouths.
"I love you too" I mouth back.
I then turn around to keep walking with Johanna and Katniss.

While we're walking, you're able to hear the coin unrolling. The sound annoyes me a lot. But suddenly it's gone. I look back to see that Katniss has noticed it too. It suddenly snaps back at us and we see Gloss in the distance. Johanna immeditaley knocks Katniss over before she's ready to shoot. I quickly go to take my necklace off and put it around Katniss' neck. Just incase the Capitol gets me. I don't want them to have it. Johanna then cuts out Katniss' tracker and paints her with her blood.
"Stay dead" she says, and looks at me. We both nod before we run off. She throws her axe at Cashmere and Gloss before we climb up a tiny hill. We're running as fast as we can, hearing the sibling's footsteps behind us. Seems like they're coming closer. We run back up again hoping to find somebody but we don't.
"How many knives you got?" she asks me, as we hide behind a tree.
"Ten" I say heavy breathing.
"Then let them have them" she says grinning. I grin back at her before we hear them coming again. I take a peak from behind the tree to see them only a few feet away from us.
"Where are they?" I hear Cashmere ask. I get out from behind the tree and shoot my knife at her. It lands directly where her heart is.
"No" Gloss screams in shock. 
"You killed her" he says, gritting his teeth.
"What you gonna do about it?" I ask him with a smirk.
"Kill you" he says and throws a knife at me. Thankfully I'm able to dodge it but he's on top of me before I can realize. He punches me into my jaw before I do the same and turn us around. He takes out a knife out of my jacket and stabs it into my upper leg, making me grunt in pain. I fall back and in a matter of a second he's on top of me again.
"That's going to feel good" Gloss says with a smirk on my face, aiming his knife to stab me. 
"Not with me" I hear Peeta say behind him and he throws him off of me. Quickly, Peeta's machete slits Gloss' throat open, leaving him to die. It doesn't take long before his canon sounds too.
"We have to find the others" Johanna says, and we start running after Peeta. Suddenly, we hear the lighning struck and everything blows up. I guess we weren't that far away from the tree. My vision becomes blurry, as I see the ceiling falling down. It feels like a dream until a hovercraft picks me up. I try to move but I can't. My body is stuck.

Cato's POV

I start running after Cashmere and Gloss before I can even properly think about it. I start running after them Finnick close behind me.
"Katniss" he calls out but no answer. We keep walking where we came from until we find blood on the floor. 
"What happend here?" Finnick asks me.
"I don't know but we have to find them" I say, before we run into another direction. We find ourselfs wandering around until we are at the tree again. We see Katniss standing there. She has blood all over her neck and arm. 
"Katniss" Finnick calls out. She turns around aiming her bow at him. We both raise our hands up in defence.
"Katniss" I say trying to calm her down somehow.
"Remember who the real enemy is" Finnick says. I can see her expression slowly change as she takes the bow down. She stands up straight with a confused face now. What Finnick has said must've started something in the little head of hers. That's when I notice the necklace she's wearing, the ring. 
"Where did you get that ring?" I ask her angrily. What has she done to Athena?
"I don't know. Johanna knocked me out and when I woke up I had it around my neck" she says.
"You think I believe that?" I ask her laughing angrily.
"You have to" she says. We then hear the thunder crackling. She looks up at the sky before she looks at the floor next to her. 
"Katniss get away from that tree" Finnick shouts. He's right. We shouldn't be near it right when the lightning hits. She doesn't listen though and runs over to where Beete is lying. She unwraps the wire from the spear and wraps it around an arrow.
"Katniss get away from that tree!" Finnick shouts and starts running towards her. She looks at the sky preparing her to shoot. 
"Now" I shout shortly before the lightning hits.

I feel my body flying through the air, landing on the floor harshly. I want to stand up to search for Athena but I can't. My body is not moving, no matter how much I wish too. I look up to the sky, as the arena starts falling apart. Huge parts of the ceiling fall down into the arena. I wonder how none have hit me by now. Everything seems to happen in slomotion. Even the hovercraft that picks me up. For a minute I start thinking if I'm dead or not. Maybe I am. Maybe I should. If Athena isn't with me when I wake up, then I don't want to. I would die for her, and I mean that.