Chapter 17

"Clove? Can you hear me? Clove?"

My eyes fluttered open, as Cato said my name over and over again. He was leaning over me, his face inches from mine. Images of Glimmer's arms wrapped around him flooded through my head. His was gripping my hand as hard as possible and his voice was trembling with worry. I tried to push away the images and instead focus on the fact that Cato was practically crying. "I'm okay," I grumbled, trying to sit up. Pain shot through my body, every move was agonizing.

"Clove, just stay where you are," he said, his voice shaking. I closed my eyes and groaned. I could not be injured! I couldn't afford that, but there I was, unable to move.

I was definitely on the ground and I could hear the rushing of water nearby. My head was cradled in Cato's lap and he was running his fingers through my snarled hair. The sun was setting and the air was chilling, but I could feel the warmth of a fire nearby. I wondered how long I'd been there. A day?

"I thought you were going to die," Cato muttered. "You were out for almost two days."

Had it really been that long? I glanced up at Cato, his face full of relief. I didn't feel like I needed to remind him that we weren't both making it out and he shouldn't have worried. Instead I flashed him a small smile and attempted to sit up again. This time I pushed through the throbbing pain as Cato tried to persuade me to lay back down.

"I'm fine," I reassured him, as my body ached. My mind was a blur and I couldn't remember what was real and what the hallucinations were. I remembered the bee nest breaking open, being attacked, running, and then things got weird. My arms were proof that the bee stings were real. Dozens of red oozing bumps covered them. I felt another on my forehead and a few across my back and stomach as well. It was a miracle I wasn't dead. Cato had me apply some more of the medicine we received from the sponsors on my stings. He used the ointment on me while I was asleep and apparently my wounds had improved a lot, even though they still looked gruesome.

"Want some?" Marvel asked, a chunk of meat in his hand. He was sitting beside the fire, wrapped tightly in a sleeping bag. I nodded and gingerly crawled over to where he was seated. As I got closer I noticed he had several red welts across his face as well.

"Were you out as well?" I asked, as I ripped off a piece of the meat.

He nodded. "I woke up about four hours ago."

"And what about you?" I turned to Cato who had just sat down beside me.

"I was only out for a few hours," he replied. "I was only stung twice, one under my eye and on the back of my leg."

"Lucky," Marvel muttered.

Suddenly, I realized something was wrong. It was oddly quiet and almost peaceful. Where was our loud, annoying, and selfish voice? And Loverboy? Where was he? "Where's Glimmer?" I asked, already expecting the answer.

Marvel and Cato exchanged sullen glances.

"She's dead." Marvel announced, poking at the fire.

Dead.

She's dead.

I tried to recall the night, trying to remember her. Had she tripped? Did the nest land on her?

"I-I'm sorry Marvel," I stammered.

"Why would you be sorry." he asked.

"Well, she was from your District," I set down the meat, no longer hungry. Was I happy she was dead? No, that wasn't it. I wasn't sad, I knew that. I guess I just didn't feel anything at all.

"We barely knew each other."

"I saw her in the sky a few hours after." Cato murmured. "The next morning, I went back to the tree and all our stuff was still there."

"Well, that's good," I muttered, not sure of what to say.

"Almost everything was there," he continued. "The bow and arrows were gone."

"No," I gasped.

"Twelve has the weapon and it's most most likely what she used to get her eleven," Marvel growled, spitting into the fire. "If Glimmer had just run a little faster-," he stopped, putting his head in his hands.

I never missed. My knives never missed and I received a ten. I couldn't imagine what she could do with the bow.

"She has the bow and arrows all thanks to you," Marvel grumbled.

"What?"

"Loverboy led us to her and he betrayed us. It was your idea to let him join us, but he led us straight to our deaths!" Marvel shouted.

"He didn't know! Katniss is the one who should feel betrayed." I replied, defending him for some unknown reason.

Marvel rolled his eyes. "They were obviously working together! Did anyone actually see him when the nest dropped?! No, and that's because he was long gone before it happened." I glanced over at Cato, hoping he wasn't buying this. I did not need to be blamed for Glimmer's death and more importantly Katniss's new gift.

"It doesn't matter. I killed him." Cato told us, as he stared at the crackling flames.

"You what?" I gasped. "Please tell me you did not kill the only person who could led us to Katniss."

"I didn't. I killed the person who betrayed us."

"I can't believe this," I groaned.

"You killed him?" Marvel gapped, apparently it was also news to him.

Cato's eyes remained locked with the fire. "Well, no."

"So you didn't kill him?"

"He's probably dead."

"But you didn't kill him!?"

"Not exactly."

"What! Tell me what you did to him!" I cried, losing my patience.

"I cut his leg," he muttered, dragging his finger across his thigh. "It was a deep cut, and he'll probably end up bleeding to death."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Well I hope you have a better plan for finding Katniss."

"That's the thing," Cato smiled down at me. "I do."

Well, Cato's plan wasn't exactly a plan. It was full of holes and didn't quite make sense. For some reason Marvel and I decided to go with it.

"So let me get this right," I said, still trying to wrap my head around his stupid action point. "We are supposed to hunt down the boy from 3."

"When we should be going after Katniss," Marvel interrupted.

"Then he will voluntarily build us a trap?" I continued. Cato nodded, obviously very satisfied with himself.

"But we have no idea what this trap will be? The boy from 3 will just figure it out?"

"They're good with stuff like that," Cato explained. "And he'll agree to help us because we'll threaten him. You left out that part."

"Right," I groaned. "Brilliant."

We agreed to head back to the Cornucopia tomorrow morning. We needed the rest, but we didn't have enough supplies to stay out here any longer. Cato hoped we would find the boy on the way back, but it was very doubtful. The only tributes left were: us, the boy from 3, the girl from 5, the boy from 10, and both tributes from 11 and 12. The arena was massive and it would be close to impossible to run into them. I snuggled into my sleeping bag, trying to ignore the throbbing pain from the tracker jackers. I wasn't tired, but I never knew if I'd be sleeping anytime soon.

We were up and moving at dusk. It was a far walk and we had to be there before sun down. Part of me was hoping we wouldn't run into anyone. Killing them could take time, and we were nearly out of food. Our pace was quick and we rarely stopped. With Glimmer gone, there was barely any talking. I had hated her, but I wasn't sure I liked the silence. The entire walk I tried to come up with a better plan, something that would actually work. We did need a trap, like Cato suggested, but what would Katniss fall for?

"Can we stop for a break?" I asked. It had been at least three hours since our last, and my muscles were aching. I also needed time to really think this over. I shrugged off the backpack, wincing at the tracker jacker stings across my back, and collapsed on the ground. I rolled up the sleeves of my jacket and covered my arms in the medicine we had received for the red bumps. The band at my wrist was worn from the intense rubbing I had been doing throughout our hike. I glanced over at Cato's wrist where an identical bracelet poked out from under his jacket. I felt a wave of relief, knowing he still had it. I was no longer angry about Glimmer cuddling him. She was dead and there was nothing to do.

"How are you holding up?" Cato asked, peering at my arms.

"I'm fine." I rolled down the sleeves, and reached into the bag for something to eat. I pulled out a granola bar and a beef stick. Our food stash was almost out and we were running out of time. I popped the bar into my mouth and pulled myself up.

"Come on, let's get going," Marvel said, leading the way.

It was about twenty minutes later when the idea hit me. I was thinking about the attack again, trying to recall the details, when I realized Katniss was probably stung too. That meant she was in the same amount of pain as I was. She may have had a bow for all the food she needed, but how nice would some medicine be, to calm her throbbing stings. It seemed stupid at first. How would we let her know we had the medicine she needed? Well it was simple. We had to make it huge. We could put all our stuff together. The food, the crates, the bags, and the medical packs would be stacked high enough for everyone to see. The other tributes would be dying to get their hands on our stash, literally dying.

When I explained my plan to the boys they seemed a little doubtful.

"Aren't they going to know it's a trap? They aren't that stupid." Marvel said, rolling his eyes. "It's not a bad idea, but we have no way of actually attacking or being sure that everyone else is dumb enough to fall for it."

"And trying to find the boy from three and hoping he has an idea is better?" I snapped.

"Well, no." Marvel admitted, scowling.

"Bombs," Cato muttered, barely audible.

"What?"

"That's what the boy from 3 can do, cover the area with underground mines."

"And where are we going to get the mines!?" Marvel asked, his voice rising.

"Well, I was hoping the boy could figure that out." Cato muttered.

"Great! Well, now what are we going to do!?" Marvel was yelling now. "We have no plan!"

"I don't see you coming up with anything!" Cato shot back.

The trees were getting thinner and the Cornucopia was finally coming into view. I trudged through the last view steps of the forest as the boys argued behind me. I was biting my lip to keep myself from joining the argument, but I couldn't take it any longer.

"Just shut up!" I snapped. "Let's sleep tonight and then in the morning we can decide our plan!"

"Fine," Cato pushed past me and headed toward the Cornucopia. "Someone make a fire, I'm starving." I sighed and grabbed a few tree branches from under my feet, before chasing after him.

"Guys get over here, quick!" Cato called from the inside of the Cornucopia. I felt my stomach flip, expecting all of our supplies to be gone. I couldn't imagine continuing without our stuff. I sprinted to him, terrified at what I might find, but was shocked at what was in front of me. Marvel was chuckling beside me and Cato's lips were fixed in a smirk. The boy from 3 was asleep in the corner, surrounded by our stuff. I couldn't believe our luck.

"I don't believe this!" Marvel cackled, slapping Cato on the back. "Your plan is actually working." The boy was tucked in one of our sleeping bags, a small spear in his hand. I couldn't take my eyes away, afraid that he'd disappear.

Cato smiled and drew his sword.

"Wait! You're not going to kill him are you?!" I said trying to keep my voice at a whisper. I wasn't exactly sure what our plan was, but killing him was definitely not it.

"Of course not," Cato said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just threatening him."

"This is brilliant!" Marvel was still jumping up and down with excitement, having trouble keeping his voice down. "I've got it! We say we're going to kill him for stealing our stuff unless he helps us!" He clapped his hands together, beaming broadly. "He won't want to die! He'll come up with something for us!"

"Should be wake him up now?" Cato asked, sword in hand. I nodded, eager to move on.

Cato started toward the boy, carefully stepping over our supplies. He pushed a few crates to the side, trying to get closer. Finally, he was close enough to reach the boy. He was no longer sleeping, Cato had been pretty loud while moving things around. The boy had the spear gripped in his hand, his knuckles turning white.

"Hey, were you using our stuff?!" Cato growled, forcing the sword under the boy's chin.

"Y-y-yes," the boy stammered, struggling to keep his panic under control. He had a straight face, but his body was trembling. "Yes, I was."

"We're going to have to kill you for that," Cato warned the boy, as he dragged the sword across his jaw.

Three looked at Cato and shook his head. "No, please."

"Well, unless you can help us?"

"What do you need? I can help, just please don't."

"We need to build a trap," Cato announced, the sword still at the boy's throat.

"I can do that," he said. Then he stood up, lifting up his chin. "Only if you treat me like your other allies." He puffed out his chest and tried to stand up straighter, Cato was at least a head taller.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cato guffawed.

"It means that I get a share of your supplies and food. You also can't kill me when I finish with the trap." The boy raised an eyebrow, waiting for Cato's answer.

Cato laughed again. "Alright, but if you try to run away, we won't hesitate to kill you."

"Deal," Three said, "I'm Ian."

"I'm Cato," Cato said as he set down his blade. "That's Clove," he pointed at me. "And that's Marvel." We quickly discussed our plan and what he needed to do.

"Come on, let's rest." Marvel said, as he sat down on the floor of the Cornucopia. "And you better have an idea by morning," he pointed at Ian.

The boy nodded, rolling his eyes. "I've got this." He crawled into the sleeping bag we let him use and closed his eyes.

The anthem blared outside the Cornucopia, but we didn't bother to watch. No one had died today. I tried to count the days we'd been in the arena and ended up with six. I wasn't exactly sure if that was right. The last few days were blurred together. I did know that there were ten of us left and we needed to get to the others quickly. If we waited too much longer, the Capitol would get bored. When they got bored, the Game makers would bring in the mutts, extreme weather, and countless other more interesting ways to die. We certainly didn't want that.

I finished eating my package of crackers and began to unroll my sleeping bag. Cato sat up against the wall, volunteering to take the first watch. I could tell he was exhausted, his eyes kept drooping shut and he was swaying slightly to the left.

"I can take over," I offered, as I scooted toward him.

He shook his head. "I'm fine. Besides, you're the one that needs the sleep, you're injured." His fingers brushed over my bee stings.

"I got plenty of sleep," I replied. "Don't you remember? I was out for two days."

"I definitely remember."

"I'm also feeling fine," I added. "My stings don't bother me at all." That was a lie. The bumps across my body were still irritating and throbbing with a dull pain, but I had to convince Cato to take a break. "Not sleeping isn't proving that you're stronger than us. It's proving that you're stubborn." I poked him in the side and he managed a small laugh.

"Fine," he muttered, finally. "You take first watch, but wake me up if there's any trouble."

"Thank you," I said as I leaned in and kissed his cheek. I wasn't sure why I did it and my face was immediately flushed, but Cato just smiled and leaned his head on my shoulder. I exhaled and leaned back against the wall, making sure Cato didn't topple over. Within a few minutes, he was asleep, along with everyone else.

Ian's plan was brilliant. By the time we had all woken up, he had everything figured out and was already to work. He didn't tell us much and wouldn't let us help. He thought we'd mess it up and get ourselves killed. I didn't see how that was an issue for him.

Ian's plan involved yanking out the mines from under the starting platforms and using them again to surround our stuff. They were deactivated after the sixty seconds in the beginning of the game, but Three claimed he knew how to reactivate them. We were all pretty impressed with his idea and didn't protest when he told us to stay in the Cornucopia. I liked to think of him as a replacement for Glimmer, but he was doing a much better job than she ever did. Plus, he didn't talk much.

For the next few hours, Cato, Marvel, and I brought the crates, bags, and boxes to the middle of the field. It was Marvel's idea to stack it all up into a pyramid, simply because it looked "cool." It was a lot harder than I thought it would be and my arms were aching halfway through the pile. We finished just as Three finished with the bombs. Our pile was at least 25 feet tall, and Ian had a land mine from each of the 24 plates. He then began to place them around the pyramid, digging a hole for each mine and covering it back up with the dirt. The rest of us began to fill the holes under the plates, so it looked as if nothing had been taken. We finished around mid afternoon and Ian assured us that it would work. He had covered the land mines almost perfectly and it was hard to tell that we had even touched the ground. The hard part would be remembering the path to our supplies. The path we would take to avoid blowing up.

We cooked a large meal to satisfy our rumbling stomachs and to celebrate our successful booby trap. The only things that weren't in the pyramid were with us. A large canopy, four folding chairs, our weapons, sleeping bags, two small crates of food, and another crate with miscellaneous things we would need, were stacked beside our crackling fire. Finally, our plan was complete.

The next two days were painfully slow. We only went out twice, but other than that we kept watch under the canopy. We did have one kill, but it wasn't because of our booby trap. It was during one of our two outings, when we left Ian in charge. We ran into the boy from 10, the one with the bad leg. It had been a simple kill. He was so exhausted that he was practically dead when we found him, but Cato had been the one to slit his throat.The entire walk back to camp, Marvel complained about wanting an entertaining death or he might just die of boredom.

To pass the time, we shared stories from back home. Cato and I, told Marvel all about our Academy and he told us about his. Cato told Marvel and Ian about the time he accidentally plunged a sword into the wall and covered the hole with a poster. Marvel told us all about the horrid classes he had been forced to take as a child, sewing and interior design. I even managed to tell them a few stories about my mother and I, stories I'd never even told Cato. Ian even piped in and told us about how his father wanted him to work in his factory, but he wanted to work with his own explosives, go figure. We filled the time with our words and I'm embarrassed to say, we may have actually bonded.

It was the afternoon of the second day, we were lounging under the canopy and filling up on bags of trail mix. "Guys! Guys look!" Marvel shouted, jumping to his feet. He pointed to the treetops, where a funnel of smoke was rising, only about a quarter mile away. Someone was starting a fire. We grabbed our weapons, eager for some actual action.

"What about Ian?" I asked. He glanced up from the spear he was sharpening. "Is he coming?"

"Why would he come!?" Marvel shouted. "Why would we need him?"

"I'm good with my spear," Three muttered.

"Yeah, he's good with his spear," I repeated. "Come on, let's go."

"We don't need him! I'm good with the spear!"

"No one can get to our supplies," Cato said. "There's no point in keeping him here."

"Just in case!" Marvel whined. "What about Loverboy?"

"I keep telling you, forget about him. I know where I cut him. It's a miracle he hasn't bled to death." Cato groaned, losing his patience.

"I'm fine staying here," Ian announced. "I'll just keep watch."

Cato glared at the smoke, considering our options. "Okay, stay here. You guard until we get back." Three nodded and sat back down in one of the chairs, a spear in his hand. Cato broke into a sprint and Marvel and I followed closely behind. As we got closer to the fire, another started. We knew immediately it was a trick, but we needed to kill whoever was playing it. Marvel went after the second funnel of smoke and Cato and I took the first.

We ran as fast as we could, leaping over fallen logs and bushes blocking our path. It didn't take long to reach the first fire. We reached the flames, out of breathe and searching for the tribute. No one was in sight. They had moved on.

"Should we go after Marvel?" I asked, glaring at the false alarm.

Cato nodded. "Yeah, come-," he never finished the sentence. Instead, we tumbled backward and the ground rumbled beneath us.