The blood on these hands (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 18

As Iris woke up she felt someone's arm around her stomach and someone's head in the back of her neck. Iris smiled as she felt Cloves grip tighten around her waist as she snuggled more into her. Iris took a glance out of the cave's opening to find that it was dark outside. Iris was practically sweating from Cloves body heat so she decided to get up. Getting up was going to be no easy task. Iris tried to carefully take Cloves arm off of her but as soon as she got it about halfway off Cloves decided to move. Clove moved her arm from Iris's grip and just rested her hand on Iris's waist. Iris didn't move a muscle afraid of waking Clove up.

Iris tried a different approach she just tried to roll away hopping her hand would just fall right off. Iris put her plan into action as she slowly rolled over put her plan quickly failed as she heard Cloves mumble something in her sleep and wrap her arm around her even tighter this time and pull her closer. Iris rolled her eyes and smiled at how cute Clove was when she slept. Iris tried to think of anything else to do but everything she thought of would wake up Clove so she decided just to lay there.

Not even a few seconds later Clove casually rolled over and off of Iris. "Really you made me do all that work just for you to roll over." Iris whispered at Clove who was still asleep. Iris quietly got up and slowly made her way out of the cave. When she got to the entrance of the cave she turned around and looked at clove who was still sound asleep on the hard cave floor. Iris felt a little bad for leaving her there but she would be right back. Iris turned around and went to just walk around and get some fresh air in the woods. She found some lilies so she decided to sit there for a little bit and breathe.

Iris decided to lay down and look at the stars but the lilies were so tall she could see them out of the corner of her eyes. As she looked up at the stars she stared seeing things, like the stars were moving. They turned into a little boy that was running then ran into a tall older man the man killed the boy in cold blood with a dagger. Iris closed her eyes not wanting to look at the stars anymore but she soon started to drift off the sleep.

Iris was really close to falling asleep when she heard loud footsteps. They were kind of far away but close enough to Iris could hear them. She shot up and looked around but saw no one but she still heard the footsteps coming closer. Iris jumped up ready to fight anyone who came and tried to kill her.

Someone shoved her from behind as she hit the ground and ate a face full of dirt. She tried to jump back up on her feet but was unable to when a hard force came and hit her head. She hit the ground and passed out.

Iris woke up in the middle of the trees, it was daytime now so she could see what was going on around her. She heard a twig break behind her so she shot up and turned around but almost fell over when a pounding came to her head. She walked over in the direction of the twig snapping sound but there was no one there. So she decided to head back to the cave.

As soon as she turned her back to the snapping twig she was tackled again. But this time she wasn't going down without a fight. She shoved the person off of her and jumped up ready to fight but was met with a man. She recognized him from training, it was Thresh, he jumped at her and tried to stay her with a dagger Iris dogged and shoved him into the dirt making him lose his dagger. He got back up and took his axe from his belt and held it out towards Iris. Iris didn't have any weapons so she just held up her fist pitifully. Thresh laughed a taunting laugh as he looked at her. "This...... this is for Rue." Thresh said as he charged towards Iris. Iris took the blow and fell to the ground with him on top of her. He took his axe and tried to hit her but she moved her head just in time so he hit the ground next to her. As he tried to take his axe out of the ground Iris tried to defend herself with words. "I didn't kill rue!" Iris shouted at Thresh. "I was her ally but we got separated and she died in Katniss's arms." She told Thresh trying to get out from under him. He got his axe out of the ground and tried to hit her again. Iris moved but it wasn't quick enough as the axe clipped a part of her ear. Her ear started bleeding but not bad enough for her to die so she continued to try and defend herself. "Are you even listening to me!" Iris yelled at Thresh who had his axe up ready to kill Iris. "I-I don't believe-....... I can't believe you." Thresh said his voice shaking. "I know I wanted to kill whoever did it too bit Katniss got to him before I could." Iris said trying to calm him down with a axe over her forehead fixing to kill her. "I-Im sorry I'm just so scared and I don't want to die." Thresh said with a pained voice. "I know everything thing is going to be okay." Iris said as calm as she could. Thresh dropped the axe next to him on the ground. A small sigh of relief came from Iris. "I'm sorr-" Thresh never got to finish his sentence as he fell over on top of Iris. Iris tried saying his name and shoving him but he wouldn't get up. Then she realized that he was dead, she had a dead scared boy laying on top of her. It used all of her strength to shove him off of her but when she did she was met with worried and angry brown eyes. Clove dropped the knives in her hands and ran over next to Iris and knelt down beside her. "Are you hurt? Are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Clove was firing questions at Iris left and right. "I'm fine." Iris said pushing Cloves hand away from her face. Iris looked back at Thresh hoping maybe somehow he was alive and he was going to be okay. "You killed him." Iris said with no emotion behind her words. "Yeah because he was about to kill you." Clove said trying to defend herself. "He was just a kid like you and me, scared to die but afraid of living in this terrible nightmare that you never wake up from." Iris said still looking back at Thresh. Iris got up and took Thresh's axe and went over to him. She turned him over so she could see his face. "There so you can look at the stars at night." Iris tried to smile but tears once again filled her eyes. She didn't even know Thresh but the fact the he was like her, just a kid, made her sad. She got up from beside Thresh with his axe in her hand and went back towards the cave without a word to Clove. But Clove quickly caught up as she walked beside her. Iris felt Cloves hand brush against hers but she was too numb to even react to it. She felt Cloves hand wrap around hers and intertwine their fingers. She even felt Clove squeeze her hand but Iris didn't squeeze it back because right now she felt nothing, no emotion, no thoughts, right now it was just her trying to survive.

   (Thank you so much for 400 reads it means so much especially the people who have helped me have motivation to write. I love you all so much :)