Love and War (A Clove and Cato FanFic)

Chapter 14: A Big Announcement and A Plan

I stood on a branch, looking over Fire-girl. She was just standing there like an idiot. Now was my chance to kill her. I grabbed my best knife and leaped from the branch. I tackled her and stabbed her in the heart. I plucked the knife from her body, knowing she was dead, but when I looked down, she smiled at me. I’m sure my facial expression was confused. Her face suddenly changed into Marvel’s, then to Rue’s, to the boy from 3, and to Glimmer. From Glimmer’s to the girl from district 8, to the boy from 9 I killed with my knife. I tried to get off of her body and the ever changing faces, but I was stuck. I saw a large wolf-ish figure in front of me a few meters away. I kept struggling to get up and that’s when I noticed that the thing had charged. It was headed straight for me. I let out a ear-piercing scream just as the wolf pounced.

I woke up panting. Cato had his arms secured around me. “Clove, are you okay?” He asked. I shook my head and let out a sigh/gasp. “It’s the worst dream I’ve had so far.” I was shaking. I wasn’t cold, just scared. I was shaking because I was scared. “Cato, um…promise me that if I don’t make it back, and you somehow see wolf mutt things, run from them. They will kill you. Maybe the Capitol knows what we dream about and alters them to things in the arena. Whatever you do, run from the wolves.”

                “Clove, there are no wolves that are going to get you. It was just a dream.” I lied back down and let out a shaky breath. Cato rubbed my back in soothing circles. I soon fell asleep.

I awoke to a loud trumpet. It was a message from the Capitol. I quickly woke Cato up and we sat and listened. Claudius Templesmith’s voice shouted out to the whole arena. “Congratulations to the remaining 6 tributes. There has been a slight rule change.” I looked over at Cato and he looked as confused as I felt. “The rule for a lone victor has been revoked. We will accept two victors that originate from the same district.” There was a slight pause, a pause for us to take in all that was just said. “Thank you that will be all.” I stared shocked at the sky. Then I looked over at Cato, who was trying to get what he said. “S-so, we can both win?” He looked over at me. “Both of us can win Clove!!” He said with more confidence. He stood up and grabbed me by my wrists. He picked me up and spun me around. “WE CAN BOTH WIN CLOVE!!!!!” And even though we were right in the center of the cornucopia, he planted his lips against mine. I smiled and he smiled to.

                “Cato, you know that probably everyone in Panem saw that?”

                “Who cares? We both can win. Now, we have to strategize. They keep us apart forever. The Feast will be coming up soon so we need to plan on what to do.”  I nodded and we began talking. We talked for a while, making sure this plan would work. Before we knew it, it was getting dark and the Capitol seal came on. There were no faces tonight. No deaths. We ran over the plan one last time and then crawled into our “bed.” As soon as I lied down, I fell into a deep sleep.

The next two days were uneventful. We went out, but didn’t find anyone. We figured that Fire-girl had heard the announcement and she is either looking for Lover-boy or she’s found him. But at the feast she would be the only one to come because he obviously can’t walk. I looked over at Cato. “So, I’m going to run out and get our pack, but if Fire-girl is there then I can have her?” I asked, making sure I was correct.

                “Yes. You will attack and kill her and I will be in the woods looking for Thresh. I think I’ve finally figured out where he’s been hiding all this time. I’m not sure if he’s going to the feast, so I’ll go after him and hopefully kill him. I’m going to go a little far out, but I make sure to try and stay close to the cornucopia. Just yell for me and I’ll come.”

                “Okay, I can do this.” I smile up at Cato and he smiled back. We built a small fire that evening. I looked at the fire and thought about the flames on the outfits of Fire-girl and Lover-boy. They actually looked mesmerizing in their outfits. I thought back to the fire in my fireplace at home. A small Pine and an even smaller Alik held me. I was only a baby. I could hear the distant cries from my mother. I’ve always wondered what she was crying about. Maybe it was my father, maybe it wasn’t. I never really had the motivation to ask when I got older. Now I wish I would have asked.

                A loud trumpet disrupted my thoughts. Claudius’s Templesmith’s voice boomed out all over, making sure whatever was out there could hear him. “Congratulations to the remaining 6 tributes. There will be a feast taking place at the cornucopia tomorrow at dawn. You all need something desperately.” He said putting emphasis on desperately. “There will be packs at the cornucopia with your district number on it. It has that one thing you need in it.” It was silent for a while. I looked over at Cato.

                “What do we need? What could possibly be in that pack?” He shrugged.

                “We don’t have a lot, but we’re surviving so I don’t know what will be in it.” I sighed and laid back on the little bed we had.

                “Cato, what happens if something goes wrong? What if she doesn’t come? What about Foxface and Thresh? What if Thresh comes to the feast? What if Fo-“ He cut me off.

                “Clove, you need to calm down.” He laughed a little to lighten the mood. “Everything is going to go according to plan. And if Fire-girl doesn’t show, just go for the pack and get your butt out of there.” I tried not the laugh, but failed. I rolled onto my side, laughing really hard. “Clove, what’s so funny?” I gasped trying to control myself and talk again, but failed. Soon Cato was laughing with me. I leaned my head against his chest that was heaving up and down from the laughter. He let out one last laugh and looked down. “Clove, we’re so close to the end. There’s only four people we need to take down. Once we do that, we can go home. Home to safety, home to our families, home to our memories. We could go home.” I smiled. It seemed so close now. Only four measly people. But when I thought of those people and who they were, I didn’t feel too good. “What’s wrong Clove?”

                “Cato, have you actually stopped and thought about who we’re going up against? Thresh who got a ten in training and is monsterly huge. Foxface who is sly and quick. Katniss who got an eleven and is fighting for what she wants. Lover-boy not so much, but we know that Katniss is protecting him. We may be good, but are we good enough to take down all of them?” A worried expression was plastered to his face. He had never thought of that. “Cato, I’m not trying to make you worry, I’m just being realistic.”

                “I know.” He sighed. “We’ll just think about it once we get there, ok?” I nodded. We climbed into bed and I asleep in an instant, not even worrying about tomorrow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry to say, Lovelies, but this story is almost over. There will only be 1 or 2 more chapters. :'(