"What do you mean 'they're after us?' What did we do?" "Katniss," Cato repeated, yanking harshly on my arm. "I don't like you. I don't want to be here with you. But we need to go- NOW!" I allowed him to pull me along into his basement. It was an embarressing shrine to Clove; with pictures of her scattered about, her knives, and poetry crumpled into balls of paper on the floor. His face became red but he insisted we continue on. A hatch in the floor swung open and he pushed me roughly down. The dank, dark cellar was a musty smell of rotting eggs and I had to hold my breath to keep myself from gagging. "Why are we down here?" "Shh," he snapped, kicking me in the face with a sharp boot. I managed not to whimper but I felt my composure lessen as the hour dragged on. Soon, I heard the rustle of metal boots above our nook underground. Peacekeepers. One with a deep voice remarked, "Definately Cato's place." "How do you know?" another replied. "This is Clove- his district partner who was killed in the Games." "The rock girl?" "yeah." The peacekeepers chuckled and I could see Cato losing his composure as well; his hands were balled in tight fists, nostrils flaring, and eyes wide with rage. Only one thing was misplaced in his features. Tears gathered in his blue eyes and I watched them spill. I almost felt badly for him but after all we had been through, I could never forgive him. Once they were gone, we waited in pained silence for another hour until he motioned for us to move again. "Tell me what's going on," I demanded following after him. Cato did not respond, just cleared the tears from his eyes so that he could look menacing again. "Fire Girl-" "My name is Katniss." He glared at me and answered, "I don't care what your stupid name is. Follow me." "Not until you tell me what's happening here." He stopped in his tracks and had to fight with himself to remain calm. "Get in my car and I will tell you." Reluctantly, I followed and seated myself in his car that was camoflauged well in his backyard. "Where are we going?" I asked as we sped silently through the woods. "District 11. Now listen, Fire Girl. I'm going to tell you what's happening, but you cannot interupt or ask questions or I will not tell you. Understand?" I nodded and listened carefully. "During that last day in the arena, Peeta got off the Horn. I don't know what he was going for or what he was doing but between being mauled by dogs, I saw he was carrying this." Cato took a long blue wire out of his pocket and handed it to me. I examined it, not seeing its significance. He continued. "It was Ian's-the boy from District 3 that reactivated the mines- he planned on using it to blow Azalea up, but she died from the berries that day. Something went wrong with the circuits and when Peeta held it in his hand a strange look came into his eyes. It was as if the electricity had flowed through the air. He died from it. But I took it from his body when you hit the ground. It didn't hurt me. But when I touched it, the arena blew up into a haze of light and we were out of that piece of miniature hell." I nodded though not comprehending. "So what now?" Cato stared at me with unsure blue eyes. With more certainty, he replied, "So we are in big trouble."
