Careers Have Feelings Too | CLATO | GLARVEL |

Chapter 15

MARVEL POV

As Cato and Clove run back into the woods, all I can do is slump down next to Glimmer. Harsh sounds keep popping in my eyes, ones out of place in this arena, ones I know aren't real. And the grass looks like it's crawling with tiny black bugs, like worms, swarming everywhere. The worms aren't real either.

I could let the hallucinations take over, but there's no way I could tune out and leave Glimmer. They got me too, but they got her a lot worse. She was so close to the tree, and I can't shake the fear I felt when I saw them all over her. She could be still laying there now, cold.

She's sick, very sick. And I don't know how to fix it. Her eyes are shut, but keep fluttering open briefly, in time to roll back into her head and close. And she keeps twitching, the lumps swelling up over her hands and neck boiling up into big red welts. I wish I'd spent more time at the medical section in training. I'm so stupid, and now she could die. 

"Glimmer," I whisper, as if I'm scared to disturb her. 

No reply. She looks like she's sleeping. Oh, God. Is this it? This could be it. Is she breathing? There's no cannon. Oh, God. 

Almost peaceful. She looks almost peaceful.

"Glimmer?"

Her eyes snap open, but she doesn't see me. 

"Glim?"

She starts screaming, a frantic, bloodcurdling scream that rings in my ears. My head whips around to look for anyone watching, but it's only District Three, pretending he hasn't noticed and acting like he's engulfed in the landmines. Glimmer keeps screaming, and I begin to panic. What's wrong with her? What do I do? 

"Glimmer," I stare into her eyes, but that just makes her look even more terrified.

"Glimmer. It's just me. You're alright."

Tears start pouring out of her eyes as she lies there and screams. The sound makes my ears feel like they're bleeding. Maybe they really are. I need to quieten her. Quickly. Anyone could hear this, and know where we are, and I'm not in the right state to be able to fight anyone. 

"Shh, Glimmer. It's ok."

She doesn't take any notice, still screaming, eyes bloodshot and voice hoarse. I stroke her hair softly, my own tears brimming. She can't see me, she doesn't know I'm here. God knows what she's hallucinating. 

"Glim. You'll get us both killed."

Just like that, she stops. I'm not sure if it was me or her mind that calmed her, but she closes her eyes. She goes back to looking like she's sleeping. 

I'm not sure what's worse, the sleeping or the screaming. Now she's like this, it feels like she's letting go. 

Cato and Clove come back, but it's like I don't see them. They're there, I can hear their voices and the thud of their feet getting closer and closer.

"What the hell is going on?" Cato grumbles. "Was it Glimmer who was screaming?"

Her eyelids are fluttering, so her eyes are moving underneath. Ok, so she isn't dead. And she's still breathing with raspy, shuddering breath, but breathing nonetheless. 

Clove sits down next to me. "Is she alright?" 

"I don't know," I whisper. I was right. These are our last few days. 

"Well, Lover Boy betrayed us," Cato says matter-of-factly. "We went to get the stuff, and he was there, helping Katniss. She ran away as we were fighting him, but he's bleeding out right now. So we got him, basically. Then we thought you guys had someone and that was what all the noise was, but turns out it's just Glimmer." 

"She woke up and started yelling," I croak. My nails are coated with dirt from the arena, and I don't want to put any of it in her hair. Her face looks ghostly. "I tried to calm her down, and now she's gone to sleep." 

I chew on my lip impatiently. "I don't know what to do." 

GLIMMER POV

"Marvel?" I call out into the woods, but he doesn't answer. I know he's here. I have to find him.

I walk.

Further and further.

There are trees everywhere, lying in wait for me to pass.

"Marvel?"

And then I see him.

He's with Clove, in the middle of the woods.The middle of our woods. They're kissing. I try to scream, but all that comes out is a strangled croak. Marvel sees me, and stands up to walk towards me, a snarl on his face. 

Am I home in District One? Are we both home? With Clove?  

"Oh, hello," he says sarcastically. I've never seen him like this before, and I'm scared. He looks ready to hurt me, or anyone. In that moment I don't want to be near him. He has a dangerous glint in his eye, reminding me that he's stronger, faster, bigger than me. If he chose to hurt me, if he came at me with that spear, I'd have no chance. 

Clove stands up as well, and wraps her skinny arms around his waist.

"Go away, Glitter Girl. Marvel needs someone like me. You're too weak for him," she snarls.

"Clove," I croak. "I... I helped you... In the fire... I carried you out..."

She laughs. "I didn't need your help. Why would anyone need someone like you?"

"Marvel?" I whisper, tears beginning to fill up my eyes.

"Piss off, Glimmer. Clove is everything you're not. You'd never win the Games, the only reason you're still alive is because you tagged along with us. You're not even a real Career. You're nothing, you're fake, you're a weak little girl and you can't play with us anymore," Marvel growls. 

I watch him turn around so he's facing Clove. They start kissing again, and it's almost like they enfold into one another. I can't tell where one of them ends and the other begins. 

The tears are streaming down my face now. I watch as Clove picks up a knife from the floor. Marvel looks at her, with a confused expression on his face, then takes one last look at me before she stabs him, again and again, telling him that she lied, she never loved him, she lied.  

I scream. I can't watch anymore.

I wake again, expecting to witness something else, something worse, but instead I see Marvel staring down at me, whispering my name. 

I wait for someone to kill him, or for him to kill me, but no attack comes.

"Glimmer!" he says, his eyes wide. "Are you awake? Do you want water? Can you hear me?" 

My head is pounding, as if I'd heard my own cannon over and over again inside my brain. Everything hurts. My limbs are filled with lead. Cato and Clove are there standing over me too, all three of them blocking out the sun. 

I thought we were back home. I could've sworn we were in our woods, the ones back in District One. But this looks like the arena. My heart sinks, realising it must have been some sort of sick dream. 

"W-what happened?" I try to say. Barely any sound comes out. 

"Do you not remember?" Marvel asks. "Fire Girl dropped a nest of Tracker Jackers on us while we were asleep. And you got stung, really badly. Ember's dead, and Peeta's gone." 

My mouth falls open slightly. Oh. Tracker Jackers, and hallucinations. So Clove didn't really kiss Marvel, and I never made it out of the arena. 

"Can you sit up?" Marvel says.

In answer, I slowly uncurl myself from the scrunched-up position I'm lying in. Marvel hugs me, whispering my name into my ear and I hold on, grateful that he's here.