Survival of the Fittest - Clato fanfic (Alternate ending to NTI)

Chapter 1

Author's Note: An alternate ending to my book "Needing the Impossible". If you haven't read it, you should be able to follow this story, but it'll make more since if you've read my Clato fan fiction.

Disclaimer: All characters and settings are based on Suzanne Collins' book "The Hunger Games", except for a few characters of my own creation

Chapter One:

I hear the first birds chirping and look to the horizon. The grey light of morning is just beginning to appear at the farthest edge of the sky. Immediately, I turn my gaze back to Cato. “You ready?” I encourage, my expression blank.

He looks at me with those penetrating eyes. “Are you?” he replies, and he seems to really want an answer.

“Of course,” I answer bluntly. “I've been ready to take out Fire Girl since day one,” I snarl.

He frowns slightly at this. “But if I find her fir-”

“I know, I know,” I cut him off irritably. “But she's going to dart to the Cornucopia and try to get out as fast as possible.” It's her only option really. There's almost no doubt in my mind that Peeta needs more medicine – assuming he's gotten any at all. She'll have no cover and will have to get in and out of here as fast as possible. This will make her my prey, not Cato's. “I promise, it'll be a good show,” I add, seeing that he still looks unconvinced.

He smirks at this. “I don't doubt that,” he says, sounding amused. “But I still don't think it's a good idea for you to go out there alo-”

I let out a loud, exasperated sigh. “Shut up, would you? If we both go out there, Thresh and Ginger will scatter like cockroaches,” I hiss, surprising myself at the sheer number of words that spill from my mouth. I'm not a talker. “I need you to take out Thresh anyway. We've talked about this.” All night, as a matter of fact. I had thought we'd worked out all the details around the fire last night before we took a couple hours of rest, but as soon as we'd begun our journey to the Cornucopia – where we wait now – Cato had started talking strategy again. We've probably changed the plan a dozen different times.

“I know,” he growls, irritated with me for cutting him off. Again. He turns his gaze away from me and scans the open field surrounding the Cornucopia. We're on the extreme right side of the mouth of the giant statue, the lake almost behind us. To our left, the rest of the forest, and on the opposite side of the Cornucopia, Thresh's field. The basic plan is that as soon as Katniss appears, I run after her and kill her slowly and painfully. While I do that, Cato will keep an eye out for Thresh to appear from his domain. Ginger is a completely random factor. If she wanders to close to us, we'll take her out, but we have no specific plan for her. She's not enough of a threat.

Thinking about our strategy leads my thoughts down a path that quickly leads back to last night around the fire. What the hell were we doing? Sure, it's fine for Cato to relax, make jokes, and act like everything is completely in his control – it's part of his draw, what makes people what to sponsor him. But for me, a girl, it just makes me look silly and careless. Sure I enjoyed doing something other than arguing with him for once, but that needs to wait until we're out of the arena. Every camera must have been fixed on us last night and I made myself look like a silly school girl. It was so out of character! I don't even know how it happened.

I shoot a look over at Cato, annoyed with him for bringing my walls down when I needed them at their strongest. I never should have let him kiss me either, even if he said it was for the Games. It was just stupid. And now I'm paying for it, the memories of last night banging around in my head like a battering ram. It's like the worst possible hangover. Ever.