The Mockingjay & The Runner ~ Katniss Everdeen X Thomas

Chapter 2: Thomas tries to gain my trust

My heart pounded in my chest. All the kids on the pedestals ran toward the cornucopia with a need to kill. Minho and Cato got into a fight and I didn't have to stick around to know there'd be blood on the floor.

Peeta ran away from all the chaos. Smart move. I remembered my plan when I saw Ivy take a backpack and run. I charged toward a bright orange backpack and snagged it off the ground.

Screaming, crying, wailing, and yelling were all in my earshot. Someone tackled me to the ground and I fell. I turned and noticed it was Ben. He had a knife in his hand.

He screamed and raised his hand in the air. He slammed it down on me but I managed to roll out of his grip and the knife plunged into the tickly green grass. I stood up and–in shock–watched Ben rise from the ground.

He suddenly fell face first into the dirt when something dug into his back. I soon realized it was Clove's knives. Clint came at me but I ran away from him and he managed to get a small knife stuck into his throat. It was Clove's of course.

I ran away to the large set of woods, leaving the chaos behind me.

Run, grab a backpack, head to the forest, then survive from there. Okay, I have three out of four of those goals accomplished. Surviving is probably going to be the hardest part. Why are we even here and why do we have to kill each other? This whole situation doesn't make any sense. What's beyond those stone walls? Do I even want to know? I'm pretty sure I don't, considering I just woke up in a battle arena with no memory of who I am and named everyone based on what was on their pedestal.

My thoughts were cut off when someone slammed into me and sent me to the ground. It was the boy whose name I hadn't yet read, the boy with brown hair and quite a handsome face. Though, I would've never admitted that to him, considering we were supposed to kill each other.

We stood up and nervously looked at each other.

"W-Wait, I-I'm not gonna hurt-" I ran away from him and deeper into the woods as fast as I possibly could. I dodged and dashed through trees with wind pushing against my face and drying my sweat.

I could hear the boy calling after me from behind. "W-Wait! Stop! Slow down! I don't wanna hurt you!"

I ran and ran and ran, away from the chaos and from the boy who was chasing me. I soon ran into one of the stone, ivy dressed walls. It was staring me in the face, as if mocking me and saying, You've got nowhere to run. Now the boy is going to catch up to you and you'll have to kill him or he'll kill you.

I heard footsteps approaching me and whipped my head around to face him. His chest was heaving and he had his hand out in front of him, as if I was some rabid animal about to pounce on him at any second.

I turned to run to another side of the forest. "Please! I'm gonna hurt you! I just wanna know why we're here and who you are. I'm not gonna kill you. You just have to trust me. Please."

I wasn't convinced. "Why should I trust you?" I snapped. "You have no reason to want my help and I have no reason to need or want yours. How should I know that you're not someone who set me up for this and is just gonna kill me?"

"Because I'm not," The boy answered. "I'm not gonna kill you if you don't kill me. I just want answers, an explanation, anything! Look, I don't wanna kill anyone; neither do you. I can tell. You would've killed me already if you did-"

"Skip to the point!"

The boy sighed and took a step closer. My feet were planted to the ground and I didn't move. A part of me was screaming to run and not to trust him, but a tiny voice inside me was whispering to let him say what he needed to say.

"I just wanna know if you know anything. Anything at all. 'Cause I've got no memory of how I got here or why I'm doing this." The boy looked around and licked his lips. I eyed him suspiciously.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I'm Thomas. What's your name?"

I didn't answer. Thomas took another step closer, this time it was bigger than the first. We stood about half a foot away from each other. "I'll help you if you help me," Thomas said, "you just have to trust me first."

His head nodded to my hand. "Give me your hand."

"What? No, I'm not giving you my hand," I replied.

"I just need you to trust me," Thomas muttered, loud enough for me to hear though. "Give me your hand."

Voices in my head were fighting against each other.

Don't take his hand. He obviously is trying to gain your trust so he can kill you.

No! He obviously wants your trust so you guys can figure out why you're here and why you're set up to kill each other. There was no rule that you couldn't make friends, right?

I reached forward and took Thomas's hand. He smiled a little. "Yeah, there we go," He breathlessly whispered. "Okay, what do we do now, Thomas?" I sassily asked, ripping my hand away from him.

"We just gotta survive, be the last ones standing. We'll be fine. Don't worry. We'll be okay." Thomas looked down the side of the woods that faced my right and noticed how dark and empty it was.

"C'mon, let's go over there."

Thomas started walking toward the dark part of the woods. I faced him but didn't move. He didn't notice. "Katniss," I called out.

Thomas turned around and looked at me, confused. "What?" He asked.

"My name is Katniss."

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