Bloody and Broken (Clato)

Chapter Eleven

    Ookayy. Ahhh I'm soo happy about how many votes I've been getting...you guys rock!! Also another thanks to one of my awesome friends for coming up with the most epical (yes, I said epical) ending ever that should be coming in about ten more chapters hehehe. It's gonna be amazing but you guys will hate me for it.

    ~^&^~

    "Vanilla, " I argue, crossing my arms defiantly.

    "No, " Cato replies irritably, "Chocolate."

    I shake my head. "No! Vanilla!"

    "Chocolate, Clover, " Cato says dismissively, then reaches for the tub of chocolate ice cream inside of the store's freezer.

    "Why can't we just get both?" I question, pursing my lips.

    "Because then we'd get all fat." He takes the tub of ice cream out of the freezer and places it in our shopping cart.

    It's been approximately a week since my dress fitting, and Cato and I have been working hard to put aside our differences, and put on a convincing show for the Capitol. Surprisingly, it's been going alright. I've learned that Cato's sarcastic, dry sense of humor is actually pretty funny sometimes.

    Oh. And I've learned he's a horrible cook. He attempted to make some spaghetti and ended up almost burning the house down. Cato snaps me out of my thoughts by waving a hand in front of my face. "Hey, " He says, "you're blocking the isle."

    "Right, sorry, " I mumble and move out of the way.

    It's kinda crazy. Not too long ago, he and I were trying to kill each other, and now, we're getting along just fine.

   About an hour later, we're unloading all of the groceries into the house. Well - Cato is. He's recently taken the liberty of trying to do everything. Cleaning, cooking, handling the occasional reporters that stop by.

   Yeah, still hanging on to that whole "bipolar" theory.

   "Clove, " Cato says suddenly after putting down the last bag of groceries.

   "Hmm?"

   "Umm...never mind. What do you want to do today?"

   Well that was weird. I thought we were done with his whole nervous-fidgety-secretive mood. However, I don't question his strange response and reply, "Whatever you want to do. I wasn't really planning on doing much today."

    He nods then tells me he's going to go upstairs to go take a shower. As he's doing that, I unpack the groceries and put them in their proper places. Next, I walk upstairs and make a quick stop by Cato's room to drop his clean laundry off.

    Something, though, catches my eye. It's an open letter on his desk. Curiosity courses through my veins and I walk over to the desk, reaching out to pick it up, then quickly snap my hand back. "No, I can't..." I mumble to myself.

    It's only a quick peek...my mind contradicts.

    In the end, curiosity gets the best of me and I pick up the letter and am getting ready to read it, when the familiar blonde fiend makes me jump. "What are you doing?" He questions.

    I turn and look at him. He's standing in the doorway with a towel wrapped around his waist, with a very irritated expression on his face. "Oh...I was just...cleaning, " I stammer. "No big deal..."

    Cato folds his arms, then crosses over to me, and yanks the letter out of my hands. "What did you read?"

    I go to grab the letter again but he holds it above his head and repeats, "What did you read?"

    "I didn't read anything!" I exclaim.

    "Clove, " He says forcefully. "Tell me the truth right now."

    "I didn't freaking read anything. Now tell me what that is, you moron...please?"

    He walks over to the corner of his room where a paper shredder sits, and stuffs the paper into the machine. He gives me a smug look before pressing the "on" button on the shredder, and the sound of paper being cut up fills my ears.

    "You evil fiend!" I spit.

    "Hey now, watch the attitude." He replies and shuts off the shredder.

    "But I wanted to read it!" I whine, pouting.

    "Well that's just too bad, " Cato says, then walks over to his closet. "Now get out, I need to change. Unless, you want to stay..."

    My eyes widen slightly. "Um, heck no!" I exclaim then run out of the room, shutting the door behind me.

    A few minutes later, Cato comes bounding down the stairs with a boyish grin on his face. "What are you up to...?" I question, cocking an eyebrow.

    "Why do you always think I'm up to something?" Cato replies, crossing his arms defensively.

    "Because you're you." I state, pursing my lips.

    It takes me a few minutes, but the truth finally comes out, and Cato tells me that he is going to take me out tonight for a little...hunting. No, not animal hunting. People hunting. Usually, a group of people from the training center will go out and find some idiots wandering around the district at night.

    On rare occasions, two different groups will run into each other and engage in a fight. Those are the most fun. I have to admit, though, that it's also pretty entertaining to kill a lonely loser. The look on their face is just priceless. Especially when they try to go for a weapon...but then they realize...it's too late, and they're going to die.

    I've only gone hunting once before. I was eleven, and it was with two older girls from the center. They were stuck up, snooty, and jealous because I could get a better score than them at knife throwing. So they decided to have me tag along. In their words so "we could get to know each other better".

    Only, I knew they were probably going to try and kill me.

    So we were out, supposedly looking for people to kill, when we stumbled across another group. We stopped, looked at each other for a second, and then started fighting the other group. My "friends" unfortunately, got seriously injured during the fight with their kills. And even I got a little scratched up. But we'd managed to kill the other group.

    I turned around and saw my two colleagues lying in their own pools of blood. They looked up at me, giving me pleading looks. But I turned and left them. I didn't even feel bad about it. If I helped them, they'd only kill me later.

    "Really?" I ask. "I haven't been hunting in years!"

    Cato gives a small laugh. "You're kidding, right?"

    I shake my head. "Not at all."

   Later that evening, Cato and I begin strapping our choice weapons to our belts, and pack bags of snacks and water in case we decide to stay out extremely late. We both agree that we each need to get at least one kill.

    It'll be easy. But it'll take time to find a suitable victim.

    A/N ANNNNDDD here it is yo!