Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 38

I'm woken by rustling coming from below me but when I look down through the branches I see nothing. Is it Peeta and his allies trying to hunt me down, or is it someone else?

"Katniss?" I hear someone whisper from below.

I look again toward the sound of their voice, and creeping through the undergrowth I see Cato, his head turning from side to side trying to find me. What do I do, do I stay quiet and remain hidden or do I take another chance on him? If I was being honest I probably would of been dead by now if it weren't for Cato the Mutt, he knows much about the arena and that knowledge has definitely come in handy so far. I pull an acorn from one of the branches and drop It down to the forest floor.
He spots it's fall and looks up Into the tree to see me looking back at him, he smiles and starts his climb toward me. I just hope I've made the right decision and he's not had a change of heart in trying to help me get out of here. I watch as he makes steady progress toward me.

"I thought I'd find you in a tree somewhere" he says as he sits himself down on a branch across from me.

"What happened with the others, I didn't hear any cannon?" I ask

"That's because no one died, I did stab Finnick in the side so he might die later, I guess we'll find out"

My heart sinks slightly at the thought of Finnick being hurt in the arena, but I must keep reminding myself that these tributes are actually copies, Finnick was killed by a pack of lizard mutts years ago, I mustn't forget that.

"Here, I got you these" Cato says as he hands me three arrows.

"Where did you get them from, are there any more?"

"Peeta has all the arrows I think, I took these as I got away, one arrow I pulled from Clove's body, the other two I found in the forest when Peeta shot at you. I don't think he's quite as good a shot as you"

"Thanks" I say as I take the arrows and place them in my sheath.

"I'm sorry about Clove" I say awkwardly, not really knowing if he actually feels sorrow for his 'friend'

He chuckles "it's okay, believe me when I tell you she's in a much better place. Clove had nothing to live for remember, all she wanted was to kill and it was me who convinced her to help you"

I nod and look away

"You must understand Katniss that we have no meaning in life. From the moment we're grown you have no say in how we're gonna live or what we're gonna do. We're owned by the gamemakers, we belong in this arena" he says waving his hand around. "Clove is no longer part of that, what life she had is gone and the questions that every mutt asks themselves have been answered for her"

"What questions, what do you mean?"

"From the beginning the questions start, but you don't really understand what's going on because everything is so new. It's later when you try to figure out what your life means, who am I? Why am I here and what is my purpose? Only when we start our teaching do we learn what it is we have to do, and that's to kill each other. Pretty dark stuff huh?"

I nod then remember seeing Peeta earlier.
"I saw him, Peeta. You're right he does look different"

"Yeah, more bad news. He's built a group of allies around him that's gonna make it difficult to kill him. Did you notice that he waited behind while the others carried out the ambush?"

"Yeah I saw that"

"That's because he's the alpha leader of the group and if he's in charge then that means he's stronger, much stronger than the others"