They Call Me a Career-a Clove fanfic

the Games;day 9

A thought runs through my head as my stomach growls. I look in the one pack we salvaged and see we're running low on food. This may be the only time in the arena I have actually feared for my life. I haven't actually eaten in a couple days. And now we barely have enough food to survive for the next twenty-four hours.

"We need food. Despertately." I tell him.

He looks at me with a solemn expression. He knows too.

Cato and I are sitting lazily by the lake. I am suffering from kill withdrawl. I don't know how I am going to make it through the next few days if I don't get a kill. The feeling of my previous kills seethes through me. I am trying to contain myself. I want to kill something, anything. I look for a bug on the ground, but there's nothing.

I never noticed that, but it seems like there are no bugs here in the arena. I don't understand. I listen for a fly, or search the ground for an ant, but there's nothing. I get up, standing hip deep in the lake, and look around for dragonflies. I just look around in and on the water. Nothing. I see something flicker in my vision and I instantly turn toward it. I realize that to Cato, I must look like a cat following a toy. I ignore any feeling that he's watching me, even though I am pretty sure he is. I follow the flicker of light and see a small, bony fish in the water, just skimming the surface. I slowly follow it, and when I get close enough, I dive in after it.

I feel it in my grasp, but the top fin is sharp and bony. I shriek under the water and resurface immediately. I hold my wrist and see the blood pouring from my hand. The people from Four must be laughing at me right now. I walk back up to the shore and get some bandage from one of the packs we salvaged. I try to wrap it around my bleeding palm, but it's more of a two hand job. I struggle to wrap it around, when Cato comes up and helps me. He takes my hand and wraps the white bandage tightly around three times, tucks the end under, then gives my palm a pat. I wince, but small enough for him to not notice it. He then turns away to put the bandage away.

"Thank you." I tell him.

"Yep." He mutters back.

I look up at the sky for a moment. I try to think of something to make this silence less awkward. I look over at the tree with the strings, wanting to see what it's like to climb a tree.

"I'm going to do something." I tell him, leaving before he can reply.

I walk up to the tree, and examine it. I am good with obsticle courses, so maybe this is close to the same. I walk all around the base of it, looking for something to give me a start. I see a knot in the tree and decide that's a good start. I pull my foot up as high as it will go, and still barely manage to make the first knot. I get a grip on a branch above me, and pull myself up onto the knot. Then, there's another beranch that I can reach above my head, so I grab that, and place my foot on the branch I just pulled myself up on. The rest comes easily for me, and I reach the middle, where the branches are at their peak, right before they start to get smaller. There's a huge branch that I slide out on, my legs straddling the branch, and I ease my way out toward the edge. Every now and then I do a little bounce to make sure the branch isn't getting too flimsy, but it remains sturdy all the way out. I reach the strings and pull out my Marvel Knife.

I cringe. I am not going to call it that anymore. It's just my knife now.

I pull out my knife and place the blade carefully on the string all the way to my right. I take a second, then slowly saw away at it. It takes me a second because the string has a wire effect to it, but I get it loose, and the string falls loose to the ground, which I now realize is a good twenty feet down. I suck in a breath and look up at the sky. I remind myself not to look down. I then look down, but focus on the string. I slowly work away at the other strings, then wait up in the tree.