"I'm hungry." I heard Glimmer grumble, scoffing when she didn't move to do anything about it.
"Didn't you bring food?" I asked, "There were tons of bags filled with the stuff at the cornucopia." I felt anger rising up in my chest when I saw that she was ignoring me completely.
"Here." I said plainly, reaching in my bag and passing her a container of dried fruit. She looked at the container lying at her feet for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not to eat it. Then, once I figured that she'd rejected the food, she picks up the container, pops the lid open, and begins to eat.
I lean back against the tree, just watching the rays of the sun barely peeking up over the horizon as it began its assent skyward.
"Come on, let's get moving." I hear Marvel say. "I'm bored." So this was fun for him? Was that how I was supposed to feel about killing? I want to be able to think as the tributes as something that they aren't. Not living, breathing, feeling beings, but something I could find easy to kill. But they didn't make it easy. They're voices, terrified and shaking, pleading for their life to be spared. Why couldn't I just be the normal career, where it's easy to kill, a tribute without fear or feeling. But that wasn't me. It wasn't me...
Cato stood, and I did too. I was reluctant though. I knew that my stomach was empty, but all of this death just made me sick. Still, I took a strip of dried meat from the bag. Breaking it in half, giving the other piece to Cato. After popping it in my mouth, I chewed slowly, just trying to get something into my stomach.
We walked for hours, finding absolutely no one. We see the sun falling back down past the tree line.
"Let's stop here, we won't find anyone today." Says Cato, and we all agree. My feet hurt, even in these boots, which were molded to fit even better than the ones that I had at home. I sat down next to Cato again.
"You've barely eaten anything all day. Come on, you've gotta keep your strength up." He says, pulling more of the dried meat out of my bag, as well as one of the water bottles that I had found.
I drink the water gratefully. My throat was so dry, but I turned up my nose at the meat. It took Cato a while to get me to eat anything, but eventually I let him.
I looked up at the sky only when the Anthem rang out over the forest. The only face we saw, was the girl from District 8. The one that Peeta had finnished off. Then nothing. Nothing new.
It was cold that night, and I shivered through most of it, even after Cato laid his jacket on top of me. He was suffering through it more than I was. I wish that I had remembered to at least grab a sleeping bag, or even a blanket. But I didn't.
After a while, I finally fell asleep, curled up next to Cato as closly as I could.
------------------------------------------
The next day was no better for Marvel. No matter how far we walked, we didn't find a single tribute.
Ian's limp seemed to be getting worse, so we doubled back, determining to make our camp at the Cornucopia to protect all of our precious supplies, and left Ian to gaurd it.
By the time that we returned to where we were originally, the sky was already dark. The anthem played, revealing no faces, and no deaths. Then the sky went dark again.
"Come on, let's keep going." Says Cato, leading the way through the thick forest.
We stop to rest near a tall oak tree, only noticing the menacing enemy behind us when we heard the crackling flames and smelled the chocking smoke of the fire.
"Run!" I yelled, grabbing my bag off of the ground, Glimmer was up first, then Peeta, then Lysin, then Marvel. I stopped though, letting them rush past me, waiting for Cato. I could have run twice as fast as I had, and my every instinct screamed at me to save myself, but Cato wasn't as fast as I was, and I couldn't leave him behind.
The smoke was blinding. It stung my eyes and filled my lungs, choking me. But I held firmly onto Cato's hand, refusing to leave him.
"Come on Cato! Come on! Please, hurry!" I coughed, choking on the thick smoke.
My legs felt shaky, and I continued to run as quickly as I could. However, my foot struck a thick tree root, and I fell forward, unable to get up again.
I heard the flames crackling loudly behind us, and still, my legs wouldn't cooperate.
"Clove! Come on! We've gotta move!" He called back to me, stumbling forward. When he realized that I couldn't stand, he scooped me up in his arms.
I pulled my face against his chest. My eyes stung and my lungs burned. I could barely breath through all of the smoke and knew that it was no better for Cato.
We continued to move through the forest unsteadily, until I felt Cato's legs give out, and we both fell. I felt myself fall from his grasp and I rolled across sharp rocks, until I landed on my back on the rocky shore of the river. The fire had stopped following us, and the air was breathable again.
I heard the rocks shift next to me and I didn't move, I still couldn't move.
"Clove?" I heard Cato's voice, but it sounded raw and scratchy.
"Clove?!" He asked, scrabbling over to my side. I felt my body shift to face him. I opened my mouth to speak, my throat was raw and it burned to try, but I did all the same.
"Yeah? Are you okay?" I asked quietly. My entire body ached from the lack of oxygen and the terrible smoke that had taken the place of the air.
"Oh thank god, yeah, I'm okay."
"There you two are! We've been looking for you everywhere!" Says Marvel, coughing as he walked over towards the two of us. The front of his shirt was covered in soot. He had obviously fallen while we were all fleeing the flames.
I rested my head against the cold stones, groaning as each breath of air brought a new terrible ache to my lungs.
