the games ↠ cato hadley

six

Glimmer screamed. I didn't know why until I felt it. Searing pain. All over.

"Cato! Cato! Go!" I yelled. That fucking bitch dropped tracker jackers on us. Water. Have to get to water. I ran, dragging Marvel behind me. I assumed Glimmer was up with Cato because I couldn't see her through the swarm of insects. I saw Peeta running in the opposite direction and mentally noted where he was headed. I jumped into the lake, coming to the surface to see Cato stumbling around, mumbling.

He saw me and started yelling. "Tate! Tate! Why are you here, you shouldn't be here!" He grabbed my hands.

Tracker jackers produce powerful hallucinations.

"Cato you need to lie down."

"No I don't!"

"Yes, Cato. You do." I spoke softly, trying to calm him down. Eventually, he laid down and passed out. "Where's Glimmer?" I asked Marvel.

"Um... I'm not sure, maybe she ran in a different direction?" I could feel the effects of the stings starting to get to me, so I laid down next to Cato and fell asleep.

I woke up when the Capitol Anthem started playing. I wanted nothing more than to see that damn girl's face up there. The boy from 6's face lit up the dome and I guessed that's what the canon was earlier. Cato stirred and I looked down, but he wasn't awake.

"No," Marvel muttered. I didn't get what he was talking about until I peered up into the sky.

"No." I chorused. "No." I stood up. "No!" I screamed.

Marvel buried his head in his hands, sobbing.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!!" I unsheathed a knife, unsure of what I was doing with it. "I'm gonna find you and rip you apart you evil son of a bitch!" I fell to my knees and started dry heaving. With every contraction of my stomach, the tightness in my chest got worse. I finished throwing a whole lotta nothing, then threw knives at a tree until morning. When I found her, I would not miss.

In the morning, Cato was awake and I hadn't slept. We silently trekked back to the Cornucopia. As we passed the pedestals I got an idea.

"Is the boy from 3 dead yet?" I asked.

"No," answered a small voice from inside the Cornucopia. I snapped my head towards the voice. A boy probably 14 or 15 emerged holding a sword with both hands.

"Do you know how to rewire land mines?"

...

I had figured out that she was with the little girl from 11, Rue. Marvel and I would set a few nets, wait for her to scream for Katniss, then hide until we saw her.

We walked among the trees and set 3 nets, then sat behind a tree and watched the smoke rise in the distance. Something exploded behind us, and I craned my neck to figure out what it was but I couldn't see.

"Katniss!!" I heard. Marvel's head perked up. He had said almost nothing since Glimmer died. I had a feeling they were a little more than "friends". We ran towards the screaming and watched Katniss cut her out of the net. As they started walking, Marvel threw a spear at Katniss.

She ducked, then drew her bow back and shot Marvel in the heart. I heard him take one last straggled breath and fall to the ground.

No. Not again.

I held back my tears and came out from where I had been hidden, 2 knives already drawn. She noticed Marvel wasn't alone and took off. I hurled a knife at her, but because she ran, it only gashed her cheek before she was out of range. My eyes fell to the girl and I realized that when she ducked, the spear pierced the girl. I rushed to her as she fell. I laid her head in my lap, finally letting the tears fall.

"Am I dying?" She asks.

"No, no. You're fine. You're okay," I said, sniffling.

"I know he didn't mean to hit me," She said. "Can you sing?"

I remembered the song Mom would sing me when I was little.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a soft green pillow." Her eyes fluttered shut and the canon went off. I buried my head in my hands. I lost 2 of the best friends I've ever had in a few days and a 12 year old who didn't deserve any of this just died in my arms. I covered the wound by zipping up her jacket. I searched for flowers and found a patch of white ones, so I picked them, arranging them around her body before the hovercraft came to take her. I pressed 3 kisses to her forehead. 1 for Marvel, 1 for Rue, 1 for Glimmer. I pressed 3 fingers to my lips, looked into the distance, and raised them in the air.

I went back the way I came stopping to pick up the bow that Katniss dropped when she ran. Unfortunately, there weren't any arrows, but I thought I could find some at the Cornucopia. Seconds later, a strange whistling sound was coming from a tree. I slung the bow over my shoulder and climbed up to the parachute. I grabbed the quiver of arrows, quickly strapping them to my back and jumping down.

Claudius Templesmith's voice echoed around the arena. "Attention tributes, contrary to past years, if 2 tributes originating from the same district are the last ones standing, both will be crowned victor. May the odds be ever in your favor!"

Cato.

I ran back to the Cornucopia, smashing into him. Before I could say anything, he kissed me. I wrapped my hand around the base of his neck and pulled him flush against me.

"We could go home," He whispered. I looked at his arm, covered in blood.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Peeta puts up a fight," He said. I gazed at him, silently asking the question. "He's not dead."

"Marvel is," I said, under my breath. "He aimed for her and she ducked and shot, the spear got the little girl." My voice went up at the end of the sentence, my tell that I was about to cry.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." I sobbed into his shirt.

"I almost had her. I almost had her but she ran."

"Shhhh... It's okay." He stroked my hair with one hand. I heard the same parachute sound again, and looked to the sky to see a metal canister slowly falling. Cato reached a hand up to catch it. Inside, there was a note from Brutus and Enobaria, a roll of bandages, and a bottle of antiseptic. We went underneath the cover of the Cornucopia, probably for the night. I read the note from our mentors:

Both of you are coming home

-E & B

Cato pulled me onto his lap, and I grabbed the bottle of antiseptic. I held his arm with one hand and carefully held the bottle with the other.

"This is gonna hurt," I said. He hissed as soon as I started pouring. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I unrolled some of the bandage and wrapped it around the cut. The Anthem started playing, but I didn't go to see it. I already knew what I would see. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"What's up, baby?" He asked quietly.

"I don't wanna think anymore," He ran his hands up my sides and kissed me.

"Then don't."

A/N: I thought the last chapter was too long so I split it

wc: 1244