The Hunger Games: Entropy (A Clato Fanfiction: NTI Series, Book 2)

Chapter 43

CATO’S POV

Earlier today, I noticed that Brutus didn’t return to the train after our appearance.

If he decided to jump the gun and bail on us, I wouldn’t be surprised. He wasn’t really much help to begin with and he would sometimes get in my way whenever I wanted something, especially after what happened during our first few days on the move.

Additionally, I expect Clove, her mentor and Cleo to start freaking out about it. Things are probably going to get hormonal in the second half of this thing. It’s a road I don’t want to travel, but I don’t think I have a choice. I won’t be surprised if all of us start screaming and fighting with each other for no good reason after going out in public, only to stuff our faces and cry ourselves to sleep at night after a rough day.

There’s no telling what could happen, but I’m pretty sure that Brutus is out of the picture for the rest of the Tour.  

**********

I spend the morning alone. No guidance, no Cleo, no Clove, no nothing. Cleo will turn up eventually and tell me that it’s time to get ready, but until then, I get a whole table to myself. It’s probably the only sanctuary I’ll get for the next few days, especially with plenty of screaming and cat-fights that are bound to happen in the near future.

**********

Cleo arrives after a period of time and leads me to our armed escort for the day. She doesn’t even bother to offer me personal acknowledgement; she just motions her fingers towards the exit door, cueing me in the proper direction.

Something’s going on. No, there’s no coup to overthrow the most generous and honorable Capitol or something that crazy in progress. That would never happen in a million years.

I just want an explanation as to why so many things went haywire during and after the Hunger Games. In the first place, none of this ever should have happened. I don’t care what Othea tries to tell me. I still think this whole thing is a big fluke.

In the second place, things that none of us could predict made history in this year’s Victory Tour. It can’t be anything we did. None of us did anything wrong. If anything, the odds are in our favor now more than ever. We accounted for just about every step of the Games and this Tour before we left.

Nah, forget about it. It’s nothing. The most generous, noble and honorable Capitol will put a band-aid on this situation and make everyone feel better. There’s nothing they can’t fix. I don’t see why we aren’t giving them the credit they deserve. They’re the ones that made us celebrities in the first place. We should be celebrating.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Clove and her mentor have already signed their death warrants and their obituaries over this whole thing. They’re freaking out over something that isn’t even an issue to begin with.

I guess that’s just the way women are.

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Clove and I line up and begin our procession into District 6 in time with the tune of the anthem to the Capitol. Enobaria walks without anyone at her side, giving me mental confirmation that Brutus will not return for the remainder of the Tour.

The scent of brine and bile fills my nostrils as we breach the light curtain. Train tracks run for miles in the distance. I can’t see more than one or two buildings in the horizon. This place looks just as disgusting as the other districts we’ve seen so far. There’s nothing new here.

I know for a fact that there’s a special seating box reserved for the families of the fallen, but I haven’t bothered to check them out. I don’t really care about them, anyway. I have more important things to focus on.