The Hunger Games: Entropy (A Clato Fanfiction: NTI Series, Book 2)

Chapter 20

CLOVE'S POV

Ever since Cato and I had that talk a few days ago, my life has become more meaningful.

Things haven't exactly become more interesting because I still have to play “Nurse” with Cato for a few more days--something I wish I could’ve avoided altogether.

Given the choice between medical assisting and taking a shotgun blast to the leg, I’d take the shotgun blast without even thinking about it. It’s one thing to lift heavy objects in and out of the quarries, but lifting sick people in and out of a bed is far more undesirable than some of District 2’s dirtiest jobs.

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The Capitol has certainly demonstrated their fair share of generosity and honor toward the living victors. They give me and Father far more money than we could ever spend in a lifetime.

We have more than enough rooms, resources and space to easily offer room and board to at least sixteen other people. I wanted to move into a better place for such a long time, but this far beyond what I ever expected.

It only seems fair that I give some our excess resources away to those in need, but I doubt that the Capitol would ever allow Victors to host outsiders. Besides, most of District 2 has enough to get by.

I guess that just means more money for me.

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For the last few days, I helped Cato rest off his injuries and make an attempt at recovery.

For awhile, the guilt that came with beating him up started to eat me alive. I started to feel like a zombie waiting to die a second death.

I arrange a tray complete with a bowl of hot soup from the kitchen, a banana, an apple, and an cold pack to take up to Cato's room. He gave me permission to use the resources in his home a few days ago so I didn't have to break my back making rounds all the way from my home.

Besides, his family didn't even move in with him, so he has no other assistants besides me.

And a couple of Avoxes.

I exit the kitchen and ascend the large staircase with the tray in a delicate balance up towards his room.

Cato and I decided that we needed to move him as close as to the stairs as possible in order to reduce the risk of dropping his tray on the way up there. I don't have to carry the it as far as I used to, but I had to help him up and out of that bed the day after we talked and made amends for the time being--a burden I didn’t want to worry about in the first place.

He tried his best to make the job easier for me, but I still wore myself out just from moving him a few rooms closer to the stairs. He barely dragged his feet out of the room and almost made me do all of the work. I’d normally kick him in the shins for acting so high and mighty, but I wanted to help him out just once in order to rectify the damage done between us.

So I decide to give him amnesty--but only once. He's going to get his fair share of negative reinforcement if he does it again.

If he wants to move again, he's going to have to do it alone. I refuse to move him a second time because he's not going to go recover any faster if he does. Besides, I'm not his indentured servant for life. This is only temporary. He could hire an Avox to help him if he ever gets desperate.

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I open the door to his bedroom and approach the bandaged and damaged figure with the tray in hand. He sits up as soon as I step inside.