The Boy from One

Chapter Fifteen: Katniss Everdeen

Cato laughs with disbelief and we all start walking towards her, weapons raised. She catches sight of us and scrambles out of the lake. She throws her backpack onto her back and sprints towards the cover of the woods. 

We all break into a run, with Cato and Clove leading. 

"I'm coming for you Fire Girl,"I hear him say, through gritted teeth. And I see Glimmer throw me a triumphant glance-just like Gloss advised, she has made him hate Katniss with a passion. 

I almost feel sorry for the girl, but then I quickly dismiss the thought. Not only will her death will bring me one step closer to winning the Games, but it will also get more sponsors. 

And once Katniss is dead, Cato will probably kill Peeta too. 

We race into the woods, and I feel adrenaline pumping through me as my fingers tighten with excitement on my spear, when Cato suddenly draws to a halt. 

He's looking up a tree and my eyes follow him to see Katniss climbing up. Wow, she's quick. For a moment I wonder if it was her tree-climbing skills that got her her 11 but I quickly banish the thought. They wouldn't give her an 11 for that, would they? 

She looks down at us, "How's everything with you?" she asks casually. 

I'm stunned. This contradicts everything I've been taught. She's supposed to be scared when we hunt her. That's the whole point of it. 

Cato glances at us, then says, just as casually "Well enough, yourself?" 

"It's been a bit warm for my taste," she grins, "The air's better up here. Why don't you come up?"

Cato, with a voice that is dangerously soft, says, "Think I will." And with that he grabs hold of the tree, assessing how to climb.  

Glimmer moves up to him "Here, take this Cato, " she says, almost seductively, offering her bow and arrows. I can hear the triumphant tone in her voice. This is it; her plan to get Cato to kill Katniss and Thresh is in motion. 

"No, " says Cato, giving the arrows a look of revulsion and pushing them away, "I'll do better with my sword." And he begins to climb. 

Glimmer looks hurt by this but says loudly, "Come on Cato, you can do it!"

Clove shoots her a look and quickly yells, "Bring her down!"

Cato manages to heave himself onto the first branch and is about to go for another one when the branch cracks and he falls heavily to the ground. 

There's a sharp intake a breath from all of us but Cato scrambles to his feet, unhurt. 

He stares angrily Katniss, whose now somehow managed to climb even higher. He pushes Glimmer towards the tree, "You go Glimmer, " he half snarls, "you're the lightest."

Glimmer looks scared but obediently climbs the tree. She gets further than Cato but the branches begin to crack beneath her so she tries to shoot Katniss with her bow and arrow. 

Naturally, she misses. 

Katniss grabs one of the arrows and waves it tauntingly at her. Glimmer glares and carefully scales back down the tree. 

"What do we do now?" hisses Clove. 

"We could cut down the tree, "offers Glimmer. 

"We haven't got an axe, " says Marina, "What if we burned it down?"

Glimmer shivers, "I've had enough of fire for one day."

"We could try shooting her again," I suggest, "Could any of you hit her from this distance? At the angle I'm at, I doubt my spear would make it."

Clove and Marina shake their heads. Katniss has climbed even higher. Cato, who has been listening to all this, stamps his foot on the ground with rage and curses. 

"Oh, let her stay up there," Peeta says harshly, surprisingly so for someone who's meant to be in love with the girl, "It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning."

We look at Cato, who in turn looks at Peeta, assessing him. 

"Alright," he says, "someone make a fire."

Marina and I collect the wood, whilst Glimmer and Peeta stand guard near Katniss's tree in case she tries to escape. 

"I wonder why Cato didn't want to collect the wood," she murmurs to me as we carry it back to the others, "He's stronger than us both."

I'm about to agree, but then Marina suddenly gasps, hits her arm into mine and nudges her head to the left. Cato and Clove are kissing passionately. 

I almost drop my wood in surprise and try to move as quickly and noiselessly as I can back to Katniss's tree. 

Marina, though, doesn't follow me. She just stands there, with a soft smile on her face, as if she's reminiscing on the times she's kissed her girlfriend, Ariel. 

"Marina!" I hiss impatiently, preferring to get away without Cato killing me. 

She rolls her eyes at me, but follows me anyway. I jump when she snaps a tree branch, but it appears to have gone unnoticed by Cato and Clove, because they don't follow. 

They join us after several minutes, after we've lit the fire. The others don't ask where they've been, though Glimmer has a notable scowl on her face. 

Marina drifts off pretty quickly and falls to sleep next to me. I watch the fire, staring at the colours-red, orange, purple...And then I remember the Fire Girl who's above us and I frown. 

Getting her will be harder than we originally thought. But at least she's distracting Cato from hunting Thresh. 

I go to sleep on the hard forest floor, finding it really uncomfortable after sleeping in a tent, holding my spear close to my side. Dimly, I hear Cato, Clove and Glimmer agreeing to take shifts, and then sleep envelopes me.