Careers Have Feelings Too | CLATO | GLARVEL |

Chapter 12

MARVEL POV

I'm not sure what it is, but for the past couple of days, Cato and Glimmer have been happily giggling and chatting like a pair of schoolgirls. Perhaps she likes him now. I mean, I did kill Tory. She hasn't said a single word to me since I did it, and it makes me wonder if there's any going back. All I want to do is hold her tight and watch her smile at me the way she used to, when I used to make her happy. 

Clove has noticed it too, I can tell, and I'm positive it bothers her as well. Cato made it no secret that he thought Glimmer would be expendable in these Games, but look at him now, gloating at us with her. Or, perhaps I'm getting it all wrong, and he isn't. Maybe he's being friendly. 

And Clove and Cato still have this weird atmosphere between them. I'm not sure exactly what happened before the Games, but they've been off with each other from the moment we got in the arena. Cato keeps trying to take charge of what we do, and although his ideas are often not the best ones, at least he's attempting to add some kind of structure to the group. Clove enjoys nothing better than disputing everything Cato says, with a better idea that she comes up with. I want to say something, but it would make both of them flip, and I don't want to happen. 

Ember and me agree she'd be the better leader. And I think Peeta agrees too. He's still here, much to our surprise, as I half expected him to be either dead or on the run within a day. But, almost two days later, he's sticking around. Cato doesn't trust him, and at least that's one aspect of the alliance Clove can agree with him on. I don't think she'd hesitate to stab Lover Boy in the back if it came to it. 

It's been a day and a half since we found the girl who lit the fire. Cato has been keen to hunt, so we've been trudging through the woods for most of the day today, wondering when the Gamemakers will send some horrible twist in to spice up the action. 

Suddenly, we hear a rustle in the bushes, and see a flash of hair as someone races away from where we're walking. Cato's ears prick up, and immediately we all mobilise in following him. Whoever we're chasing isn't going to get far, I think, watching Clove pull out her knives. 

It's the boy from District Three. He's small, and quick, but we're quicker, and within seconds Cato has tackled him to the floor, his sword at his neck. The five of us following him stop, catching our breath, as the boy attempts to struggle against all of Cato's weight. We all know it's futile. 

"Wait! Wait!" He shouts, his voice quivering with fear. 

"I don't wait," Cato drawls, pressing the blade further into his neck. I brace myself for the blood and the cannon. 

"No, I can help you!" The boy protests. "T-the landmines. I, uh, I can restart them! You can use them, as weapons!" 

Clove rolls her eyes, turning the blade she's holding so it blinks in the sunlight. "Just kill him. We don't have room for any more." 

Here we go, I think. Watching Cato, I can see the cogs in his mind rotating as he thinks of how to disagree. 

"You have supplies, right?" The boy says, taking the silence as a rare opportunity to speak. "I can activate the landmines around your stuff, so nobody can take it." 

Cato lessens the pressure he's putting on the boy's neck, so that the sword isn't quite pinching the skin. "Do you realise, that if you make one wrong move, we'll kill you instantly?" He snarls. 

"Cato," Clove objects. "There's six of us." 

Cato huffs and turns to look at her, standing up off the boy who shakily grapples to his feet and stares at all us in terror. 

"You keep saying we have to protect the stuff. And that we can't leave it unattended, because someone will take it. So why don't we use him to do this, and then we can kill him?"