Just a Game

Chapter Eight

I'm running from something. I'm not sure what, but I knew that if I didn't run, I'd be killed. Then, somehow, I was in District 2. I'm back at school where we did most of our training in case we ever got chosen for the Games. In the distance, I see Comyna and my parents running at me with weapons in hand. I grasped for my sword to find it no longer there. I turn back around but come face to face with Clove. She was holding two knives.

"Where are you going, Cato?" Her menacing smile turns into a scowl. Her teeth are bared, and there's blood dripping from the side of her mouth.

I scramble away, but I'm not fast enough. Clove throws a knife at my stomach. I double over, gasping, the pain uncannily real. The next knife finds it's mark in my chest, piercing my heart. There's a moment of blackness, then I can see a bright light shining through my closed eyes.

I finally wake up, my head hitting the tree I had been leaning on. Clove, mercifully is asleep, so she wouldn't see me sweating like a pig; a 'dream- slaughtered' pig, at least. I shake her awake and we pack up our little supply of food. We go back to the lake where we fill up our water bottles and wash off some of the sweat and dirt off of our faces.

"Do you think that they're happy?" Clove says suddenly.

I look at her, confused. "Who? The Gamemakers?"

"No. I meant Marvel, Glimmer and Ariel, actually."

"Um...well, they are all dead." I wasn't sure where this conversation was going. So I just look at her expectantly for an explanation.

Clove sighs and shakes her head. "Never mind. It's just stupid thinking."

Before I can ask her, she runs off ahead of me, pinning a squirrel to the ground with a knife. Geez, she must be hungry. Quickly, we make a small fire and roast the poor creature. We devour the food and we find a shady, grassy area where we decide to stay for the day. I then realize that neither of us had gotten any sponsor gifts so far. I would've thought that our mentor would've tried to help us a little bit. I guess that we were well supplied enough prior to the explosion.

That evening, we're hunting for more tributes. We hear the voice of Claudius Templesmith booming throughout the arena. He says something at first, the words not making any sense to me. Then he repeats himself. This time, I realize that he's saying that two tributes from the same district can win. Both of them can win. Both of us can win

Clove's mouth drops open. She's obviously as shocked as me. I am sure that this is a trick. Something is going to happen in the end. They're going to make it hard that this rule doesn't make a difference.

**********

"Are you positive that that is what he said?" I repeat for about the fiftieth time.

Clove huffs out a response. "Yes, Cato. He said that in order for one of us to get a parachute, we have to be in 'grave danger'."

She means Brutus, our mentor. I brought it up that I hadn't recieved a gift so far. Clove smirks and shakes her head. "And you thought that you were popular."

I am thinking of asking whether or not she got a gift yet, when there's a rustle, crack, and a cry of pain. I wheel back around and see Clove sprawled on the ground, clutching her ankle. She's breathing heavily, and she doesn't bother to try ans get up. All that I hear, is a stream of curses issuing from Clove.

"What happened?" I say, bending down, prying her hands away from her leg.

"Tripped. Damn. Root." Each word is punctuated by a gasp.

Her foot is twisted at an unnatural angle. I try to remember what they taught us back in school about broken bones. I only vaguely remember something about setting something back. I finally decide to try to set her ankle back into place, not thinking about what to do afterwards.

"I'm going to set your foot back," I say to Clove. "It's going to hurt."

She nods, setting her jaw. I give her my hand. She takes it carefully, so that her skin's barely touching mine. I slowly take off her boot, and for a moment, her hand tightens on mine. I roll her pant leg up, as cautiously as possible.Clove doesn't say a word. She closes her eyes, dropping that tough-girl look that she's been trying to hold during these Games. I take her foot in both hands, releasing hers.

"Okay, I'll count down," I say. "5... 4... 3..."

At three, I snap her foot back into place. Clove, not quite prepared, jerked, her arms flying. Her hand, which was in a fist, socked me in the eye. My hand clamps over my eye as I stumble backwards, hitting my head on a tree trunk.

"Why'd you do that?" Clove says accusingly. She is still sitting on the ground when she crawled over to me.

"At least I didn't just punch you in the eye!" My eye is still throbbing, and was watering from the pain.

She put her hands on her hips. "Oh, you're fine, you big baby."

"B-baby?" I reply indigniantly. "I wasn't the one who just punched your 'doctor' in the face."

I push myself up, still feeling a bit dizzy from hitting my head. I take a few steps to the left, almost plowing into Clove. She gets up, but collapses after putting a bit of pressure on her newly placed ankle. I hold my hand out to her and pull her up. Once we were both steady, I let her use me as support.

With one arm around her waist, she clung onto my shoulder. We walk like this until we found a good place to rest for the night. I make a fire, not caring who sees, because I would probably be able to fight them. I also doubted that anyone would be in perfect condition at this time anyway. I roast a rabbit, which I had freshly caught, and we both eat a bit.

"My eye still hurts," I state, breaking the long silence.

Clove rolls her eyes skyward and turns away from me, lying down on the cold grass. I offered her my jacket earlier, but she just wrinkled her nose. I didn't think that I smelled that bad. Maybe it had too many holes...

**********

This is the first time ever, in the entire Games, that I have felt bored. Clove was out hunting, and didn't want me to come along. I was lying down under the cover of a big, leafy tree. I was resting my head on my empty backpack and jacket. It was getting pretty hot, even in the shade. I wonder what everybody in the arena was doing.

Lover Boy and that District 12 girl were probably making-out or something. Or maybe he was dying. I swear that he was dead after I had cut him; but the no-faces-in-the-sky, begs to differ. That huge guy, who is, by the way, only an inch taller than me, was still left, and someone else as well, but I couldn't remember who. There were only six of us left in the Games, and only two pairs from the same district were left.

"I caught a squirrel and found some berries." Clove's voice came, along with the slight rustling of the leaves under her feet. She was pretty light on her feet, considering that she wasn't the smallest girl. Also, her ankle hadn't healed properly yet, so she was limping slightly.

She held out the berries, which were the darkest shade of blue I've ever seen. They look a bit like some berries that we had back in District 2. But then again, a lot of things in these Games are deadly. Before I let Clove put one in her mouth, hoping that she didn't already eat one, I examine them closely. She looks at me like I was crazy.

"What are you doing? Trying to inhale the berries?" she asks. "I didn't poison them, you know."

"Of course you didn't," I say.

I continue to stare at them, as if they'd give me the answer to whether or not they were edible. I guess that I should've taken a bit of time to check out the section on plants in the training centre. Suddenly, an image formed in my head. I picture of these berries were in a textbook (which I only looked through once). I remembered that they could kill you so fast, that you wouldn't even realize what had happened.

"It's nightlock." I dump the berries on the ground, and stomp on them, the juice staining my already dirty boots.

"Nightlock?"

"They're poisonous, so I hope that you didn't eat one."

She rolls her eyes. "Do you think that I would still be walking around if I had?"

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but I had a ton of homework and stuff. If you haven't fanned yet, please do!  5 more votes for the next chapter? :)