A Second Chance - A Clato/HG Story

2. CATO

Clove swore the air caught in her lungs. She recognized that voice better than any in all of Panem. That one voice that could end her life and the lives of any who stood in his way.

"Yes, sir. Earlier than all the others."

"How perplexing. Prop her up, so she can look me in the eye."

In a moment, Clove's being lifted up by her shoulders, and is eye-to-eye with none other than President Snow. He's wearing a crisp white suit, hands clasped behind his back. She looks up at him from the ground, feeling like a mouse in the talons of a falcon. The President studies her, scrutinizing everything about her.

"Good morning, Miss Kentwell. How are you feeling?" He asks.

Clove swallowed. "I'm confused. Why am I here?"

"Excellent Question." Snow motioned to the guards to free her, and Clove gave a shrug of her shoulders as the weight on her was released. "You may stand."

She got to her feet cautiously, meeting eyes with the President finally. She felt fixed under his gaze.

The old man cleared his throat. "I must admit, when I first saw our batch of tributes for this year's games, I was intrigued. Such a range of characters,"he began. "What I couldn't have predicted was the popularity of the games. You are quite lucky, Miss Kentwell, that I took an interest in you and your fellow competitors."

"My...fellow competitors?" She muttered. He was speaking as if she was not alone in this hospital. As if...

"The others are alive too?" She spurted, unable to contain her shock.

The President gave a brisk nod. "Indeed they are. Some of them, just barely." He turned to look through a window into a room to the right of them. "Would you like to see?"

Clove made her way to the window, peering nervously inside. When she saw it, her heart stopped.

Cato was strapped down to a metal gurney, like she one she had woken up on. He was completely unclothed, save for a towel laid over his lower waist, allowing Clove to see the brutal extent of his injuries. Giant, thick slashes down his chest, bite marks all over his arms and legs. Flesh literally torn off his body in strips, his face covered in unimaginable amounts of wounds.

Clove stepped back, horrified by the sight, but keeping her composure for the President. "What...What happened to him?" She muttered, not able to tear her eyes away from Cato's decimated body.

"He suffered this fate at the hands of Katniss Everdeen." Snow's voice was icy. "She showed him no mercy."

Rage and Hatred were all Clove could feel. All of it, every drop, was directed at that brat from Twelve. She wanted nothing more now than to wring the life out of her,

"And she won?" Clove's voice was dangerously low, almost a snarl.

"She won," confirmed President Snow. "And not just her."

Clove's eyebrows twitched. "No, not-"

"Oh, yes. And she did all of it by thwarting the Capitol. I'll save you the specifics."

"Welcome, all." Veronica's soothing voice rang through the room, silencing what little conversation was going on. "I know that this is all quite shocking to you. I assure you all, you have been brought here for us to help you."

Clove watched intently as Veronica rose from her seat and pulled down a large white screen from the ceiling, and pressed the button to activate a projector mounted on the wall. The light comes on to display an image of who she immediately recognized as Katniss and Peeta. There are murmurs of recognition from the other seated tributes, including Glimmer, who mutters an insult under her breath.

"This is an image of Katniss and Peeta sitting down for their post-games interviews." Clove takes in the flouncy, yellow-cream colored dress, spilling out from under the brown-haired girl. It's a far cry from the provocative, flame-covered jumpsuit she had emerged in.

"How could they have won together?" Glimmer interjected incredulously, anger distorting her perfect features. "That's simply impossible."

"Not impossible," Veronica retorted. "There was a rule change, although it was never meant to be held up. These two just managed to push us into a corner."

"How?" Clove asked, burning to understand how such a thing could come to be.

"Patience, and I will reveal it." Veronica clicked a button on the projector, switching to an image of the pair from twelve with strange berries in their hands. Clove heard a small gasp from a tribute she placed to be from District eight, and everyone in the room turned to her in question.

Clove recognized the tribute her alliance had killed on the first night, the one who built the fire. The girl had auburn hair falling in curls around her shoulders, large brown eyes, and she looked absolutely paralyzed under the gaze of the seven or so tributes sitting in the room.

"Nightlock berries," She spurted, and that seemed to be all she could get out before shrinking back in fear.

"Precisely," Veronica nods to the girl. "For those of you who don't know, these are Nightlock berries, which grow on the outskirts of District Twelve and it's neighbors. They are extremely poisonous, and can kill within seconds."
"So they were going to eat them, and... what, die?" Marina muttered, mostly to herself, but Veronica seemed to catch on and nodded to her.

"Yes, you're right. The purpose was a double-suicide." Veronica's eyebrows gave away the anger she felt at this. "But of course, that would not do. Hence the two victors."

As soon as she said this, a scream rang out through the hospital. A male scream, filled with agony.

It clicked in Clove's mind instantly. Cato.