Cato and Clove. The Unknown Story.

Chapter Eighteen

We awaken to the sound of Claudius Templesmith's voice, "There had been a change in the rules, instead of the previous conception to which only one victor can win, there can no be two victors if they originate from the same district. That is all."

Clove moves from underneath my and looks into my face. "You know what that means Cat? We can go home!" She smiles and hugs me tight. I hug her small frame and smile myself. Perhaps I won't have to die? I thought.

"How long have we been in here?" I ask.

I can see Clove counting in her heading. "Ten, eleven is my guess. From the looks of the sun its past noon, but I could be wrong. This arena is playing tricks on me."

"It's playing tricks on all of us," I counter.

She nods. "Let's go see if we can find anything worth hunting, maybe we'll have a decent supper."

We hunt until its dark out, only getting two squirrels and a rabbit. We cook them on a fire and eat only enough so there's leftover's for tomorrow.

"Does it worry you that Lover Boy isn't dead yet?" Clove asks.

"Nah," I shake my head. "Even with Katniss, they won't be enough to take us down."

She looks blankly into the fire, "What about the boy from District Eleven?"

"Clo," I say taking her hand, "You don't have to worry. We'll get out of this. Together." She leans into me and I lie down, holding her. "I'll protect you no matter what," I promise.

She nods slowly, and her body relaxes, letting me know that she's asleep.

Sleep doesn't come to take me though. I find myself awake with my thoughts. I'm not so much dreading the end of the games, but looking forward to it. If we can make it, we'll both be safe, and never have to go through this again. I don't want anyone to take my Clove away from me.

Morning comes faster than I expected. As the dawn breaks, I feel Clove rustle beside me and her sleepy eyes open. "What are we going to do today?" she asks.

"Hopefully, kill someone," I say lightly.

Clove doesn't smile like she did in the beginning of the games, she looks more disappointed now. "After this," she says, "I never want to have to kill again."

I cup her cheek and look into her face. "I know," I say as I lean in and kiss her forehead. I stand up and help her to her feet, "We should go back to the river and try to find Lover Boy. If we get him taken care of, then Katniss won't have a chance."

Clove nods and we pack up some of the leftover squirrel and rabbit to eat on the go, and head towards the river.

The walk's quiet, and we listen for anything that would give away a human presence. The walk to the river is also much shorter than I expected, and we trek to the spot where we left Peeta to die. A slender oval of blood measuring about the width of a thigh stained the stone slab that jutted into the river. A few feet to the right of it, a trail of tiny circlets of blood showed where Lover Boy traveled to get away up river.

"He's not dead, so he must be that way," Clove murmurs.

"Let's go then."

We start up the river following the nice red markers left by Peeta. I don't know if killing him will give me satisfaction or not yet. I'd like to think that ensuring Clove's life will justify it.

The circlet's continue to decrease in diameter, until they stop and we reach a place where cold stone has met warm earth.

"Where is he?" I say exasperated. "Where is he!?"

"Cato, calm down," she says.

I turn to her angered, "No Clove! He should be dead! He should be here!"

I kick the grass and the mud in fury.

Why wasn't he here? Why hadn't he died yet? He needed to die in order for us to be the only two that could possibly go home. He needed to die for Clove to be safe.

Clove rests a hand on my shoulder. "Cat," she says softly, "we will find him. We will get out of this alive."

I turn to look at her. There's so much I want to say at this moment but the words get caught in my throat. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes but I blink them away quickly. The sponsors can't think I'm getting soft. We need them to get us supplies for the long haul and be better off than the others.

When this is all over, I think, I'll tell her.