Are The Odds In Our Favor? ~Cato~

17. Day Seven

I didn't sleep well. Maybe just two or three hours. I woke up in the middle of the night and I haven't closed my eyes since. There would be no point, I thought. The feast will start soon, so I should go.

My feet hit the wet soggy leaves as I jump down from the tree. The forest is very silent, even the birds are still asleep. The leaves muffle my footsteps, which adds to the eerie silence an even more horrifying touch.

It takes me about 45 minutes to hit the edge of the forest. I see the cornucopia in the distance and in front of it a table carrying five small bags on its surface. Each of the bags have something written on them, but I'm too far away to distinguish what it says. I crouch down behind a tree, deciding when I should go.

A girl with vibrant red hair suddenly runs out of the cornucopia, grabs one of the bags and sprints away into the forest.

"That was smart," I whisper to myself.

A minute passes and no one appears. I guess it's my time to shine then. I only take one step forward when the girl I met a few days ago comes running out of the forest, not that far away from me. I slide back behind the tree quickly.

Just as she's reaching for her bag, a knife flies at her head. She falls backwards, revealing Clove, a knife clasped in her hand. I'm close enough to see the malicious smirk on her face.

The girl scrambles to her feet, reaching for her bow, but Clove leaps at her and wrestles her to the ground. The girl rolls around, trying to push her off, but fails. Clove manages to stay on top of her, pinning down her arms with her knees.

With one hand she holds a knife to the girls throat. Clove starts talking, but I don't hear a word she's saying. I lean forward a bit. The girl squirms, but doesn't move an inch.

I feel so sorry for her, but I wouldn't exactly risk my life for her. I wipe of the beads of sweat starting to form on my forehead.

I suddenly notice a figure sprinting out of the forest. I squint my eyes, but I don't recognize the person. He reaches the two girls on the ground and grabs Clove by the neck.

I hear his raised voice yelling something and her yelps and cries for help.

"Cato!?" she screams, "Cato!?"

I look around quickly to see if he's around, but there's no sign of him anywhere.

The guy starts banging her head against the side of the cornucopia. I cover my open mouth in shock. It only takes a few hits until she drops to the ground with the sound of her cannon.

The guy then turns around to the girl, says something to her, grabs his bag from the table and runs away.

The girl stays still for a bit, then jumps up to her feet and sprints into the forest, leaving her bag behind on the ground next to the table. Should I run after her? No, I would just scare her away.

With no one here, I take my chance and run towards the bags. I pick up my bag and just as I'm reaching for the girl's bag on the ground, I hear a voice.

"Clove?!"

Shit.

As I hear the footsteps getting closer, I jump inside the cornucopia.

"Oh fuck," I hear the shock in his voice. "Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck."

Suddenly he walks over to the table. Maybe he won't look up. But it was too late.

"Jeneah?"

A mix of anger and fear makes my whole body go stiff. I slowly look up into his eyes and at the sight of tears sadness fills my heart. My muscles relax and I let out a breath. I open my mouth in hope of words or even a sound to come out, but I'm speechless.

Cato sighs and shakes his head a little.
"Look," he starts, "I know you hate me. I hate myself too for what I've done. For what I've put you through. But I really don't want to fight anymore. I know there's no way I can make up for it. You never have to see me again." A tear rolls down his cheek. He doesn't even bother to wipe it off and continues.

"Just know that I want you to win, and I will do anything for that to happen. I don't care about winning these stupid games anymore."

"But I don't want you to die," I say, surprising myself as much as him. His expression goes from sad to confused.

"What?"

"I want to spend the rest of my time with you, even if it ends with one of us dying, or both," I say.

I step out from the shadows of the cornucopia to stand if front of him.
I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my head on his chest.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, placing his chin on top of my head.

"I know," I reply in nearly a whisper, my voice muffled by his chest.

* * *

"So, where did you go after the whole explosion thing?"

We're walking away from the cornucopia, carrying the remaining bags from the table on our shoulders.

"Well, we decided there's no point in staying near the cornucopia, since everything we had was destroyed, so we went into the forest. There's this kind of cave thing we found near a river, so we settled there. There's a lot of berry bushes around, like the ones we picked when we were still together. I was just picking some of the berries when... you know."

"Oh," I say.

"Did you see Marvel when you ran away?" he asks. "I wonder where he is."

"Umm yeah," I pause. "Didn't you see? In the sky?"

He slows down. "No..."

"I saw the arrow in his throat," I continue, not really knowing why. "He killed that poor little girl."

I feel the tears pooling up in my eyes.

"Jeneah," he grips my hand tightly, "don't think about it, okay? If you'd think about every person here dying, you'd go crazy."

"I know," I sigh, looking up into his eyes, which are filled with sadness.

On our way to the cave that Cato mentioned we hunt down some rabbits. I notice that the amount of berry bushes around us is slowly growing, which must mean were getting closer.

We arrive at the cave. I notice remnants of a fire and leaves and grass forming makeshift beds.

Cato makes a fire while I skin the rabbits. Even though it feels like I've only been awake for a few hours, the sky is already turning dark. We eat a bit of the rabbit and store some for later.

I realize that I haven't opened my package from the feast yet. I pick it up and untie the string that keeps it closed. I spill the contents into my lap.

It's a small metal box. I open it and see a thick paste inside. It must be something for my wrist! I spread it evenly on my wrist and let it absorb into my skin. It's very cooling.

Cato opens his little bag and takes out a small flask. He lifts up his shirt to reveal a huge gash on the side of his stomach.

"Oh my god, what happened?" I ask as he drops some of the liquid from the flask on the wound.

"I fell into a trap," he answers. "Not my proudest moment. But it's not that bad now."

"You sure? It looks quite bad," I point out the blueish color of his skin around the wound.

"It's fine, really."

He pulls his shirt back down and screws the flask tightly. We settle down on our beds and fall asleep quickly.

I'm sorry for not writing, I just didn't have much time or inspiration, and I was also working on other stuff. I would just like to ask how are you enjoying the story so far? Feedback will always help me improve my writing, so don't hesitate to write something in the comments. Also, thank you so much for 500 reads! It means the world to me. Anyways, I love you guys, happy reading!

(I've also started a new fanfic about Newt, so if you like TMR, be sure to check that out if you want to.)