If Crane Never Made The Call

Kill Her Cato

  We hike through the woods for a day and then rest up for the next one. The next morning we all wake up early and start walking. For a few hours we walk with Cato asking me every 10 minutes if I'm going the right way. After 4 hours we run out of water.

  "Theres a rock clearing by the stream just a head." Marvel says. We walk about 20 metres until I see the clearing he was talking about, but I also see Katniss sitting in a small pond about 20 feet away her face cringed in pain. I hope no one notices her, but if they do I have to chase her as well. "Hey there she is!" Marvel yells pointing to Katniss.

  "Alright!"

  "Get her!"

  "Move!" They all scream as they chase after her. My leg is much better and I can run without the stick so I keep up with them pretty good. I watch Katniss begin climbing a tree as Cato chases her up it.

  "Thats not gonna help you!" Glimmer says to Katniss.

  "Kill her Cato!" Clove screams

Katniss keeps climbing and doesn't stop. Cato puts hand after foot after hand on branch's and knots chasing her. The others cheer him on and I stay back in silence praying he'll fall. My prayers were heard by the gods of the games because Mr. Rogers tugs on a wimpy branch and is tossed backwards, landing with a thump at my feet.

  "I'll do it myself." Glimmer says grabbing her bow. I relax because Glimmer is a terrible shooter. She shoots and the arrow flies past Miss. Everdeen missing completely. Katniss stops and leans against the tree.

  "Give me that." Cato snatches the bow and an arrow from her and shoots, following the same arrow path as Glimmer. Katniss catches her breath and looks thankful.

  "Maybe you should throw the sword." She says taking advantage of her tree climbing skills. Clove takes a step forwards and is about to toss her knife when I intercept.

  "Let's just wait her out." I suggest. "We've got her stalled up there." I say keeping them for killing her. They still want to kill her now so I push harder. "She has to come down at some point, we'll just kill her then." They nod their heads and turn around.

  "Someone make a fire." Cato says annoyed. I look up to see Katniss propping her leg on a branch, it's red, bubbly, and looks like she put it in a fireplace. As I look around the camp they've set up at the base of the tree I see Clove throwing knives at lizards, Cato sharpening his sword, Glimmer watching Cato with dreamy eyes, and Marvel making the fire. Clove collects her lizards and tosses them to me.

  "Cook them." She tells me. I find a skinny branch and start shaving the bark off. I finish shaving and make one end pointed like a spear. In training they taught us that you don't skin lizards till they're cooked so I follow those instructions. I hesitate when jabbing the stick into the reptile, but do it because it's already dead. Marvel made a stand for the twig using two Y shaped tree limbs and the ground.

  I place the critter kabob above the flame and they start to cook. It gets dark fast and I watch the fake stars in the sky and think about home. I imagine my mom watching the games and silently cheering for me, my father pulling bread out of the oven with his muscular arms, and my brothers fighting over who will get my part of the room we share.

  I'm deep in thought when I see a parachute soaring in from the sky, heading to my district partner. I watch as she slowly makes her way up to the curve in the tree where the package landed. She opens it and pulls out a small tin, Katniss removes the lid and rubs the contents over what looks like a burn. The capital anthem starts playing and I see that no one died today. I remember watching the girl from district eight have her face displayed in the sky and me feeling guilty. I still feel guilty but know that if I hadn't finished her off she would have bled out and probably gone through lots of pain.