Pieces in the game. (The Hunger Games)

Chapter 12: What the hell?

Lilly's POV.
So it's true then! He spoke about wanting to die as himself and yet here he is, acting as if he's already lost himself. I heard some rustling in the trees behind me and I freeze. Act normal, it seems no one else heard it! "Go on then, Lover Boy," Cato says as he pulls me closer and I snuggle into his side. "See for yourself". Peeta nods and then heads back towards the fire. It's only then that I see he's actually injured. His face is swollen and bruised, there's a bloody bandage on his arm and he's limping. "What did you do?" I hiss to Cato. He just looks down at me and shrugs. "He played for what's mine, he payed the price for it!" he says. "But cutting him, really?". "That happened before he came to us, he just rolled his sleeves up and Brooke sorted him out". That only makes me feel slightly better and I tune out for a moment. I wonder what that rustling was? I'll investigate in a minute. I can only imagine how hated Peeta and I are now. Teaming up with the Careers, everyone must hate us. Especially after what he said earlier. I tune back in as the others begin to whisper amongst themselves. "Why don't we just kill him now and get it over with?" Marvel asks. "Let him tag along. What's the harm? And he's handy with that knife," Cato supplies. That's awfully innocent of him. "Besides, he's our best chance of finding them. And I can keep an eye on him too". I hear Clove scoff. "You think she bought into that sappy romance stuff?" she asks nodding her head at me. I look at them all, feeling someone staring at me so I've not fully heard what they said. "What? No! I was shocked that he would be so stupid that's all," I say and that relaxes them.

"Think she'll be easy to catch?" Glimmer asks. "She might be. Seemed pretty simple-minded to me. Every time I think about her spinning around in that dress, I want to puke," Cato says and I laugh. "I spun too Cato," I inform him and he stumbles for words. "Yeah, but you did it elegantly and it looked awesome," Heath steps in and everyone agrees. I give them all a disbelieving face, I can imagine the laughter in the Capitol. "Wish we knew how she got that eleven," Belle says and they all look at me again. "Please, I hardly spoke to her. Thinks she's better than me," I say. "Bet you Lover Boy knows," Cato says as he draws me closer. I wonder why and then I hear the footsteps. "Was she dead?" he asks. "No. But she is now," Peeta says, just as the cannon fires. "Ready to move on?". Everyone agrees and takes off. I take another few steps closer to the tree and laugh silently when I see Katniss hanging by her belt off it. She gives me the sign to shut up and I laugh harder as Gale hauls he back up beside him. I tell them to stay safe and keep moving, through signs of course and then I take off after the Careers. It took me a while to actually find them, one, because I fell over two or three times along the way and two, because they all have longer legs than me. Once they have all assured themselves that I'm ok they take off again, this time at a remarkably slower pace. I begin to get really thirsty when I catch sight of the Cornucopia. Picking up speed I sprint towards the barrel of water we left prepared before we began hunting. I hear the others laugh as I dig out my bottle and fill it up. We all settle down then. I lie down on the grass staring upwards when I feel someone stretch out beside me.

I had purposefully gone behind the Cornucopia to be alone. I look over and see its Peeta. "You ok?" he asks in a hushed voice. He sounds so concerned. I just nod my head. "I'm sorry about this, about all of it!" he says before he gets up and moves away. I figure I should probably get back to the rest of the group. Once I do I see that they have set up a large tent and have blankets on the ground under it. I walk over to where Cato is lounging and he pulls me down beside him. "We are going to sleep in shifts today and rest tomorrow before beginning to hunt again, OK?" he asks. I nod my head and he smiles, lying me down beside him he lets me use his arm as a pillow. It seems Clove and Peeta have first watch. I yawn as Cato pulls another blanket over us and just as I drift off to sleep, I feel Cato pressing a kiss to my forehead. Or at least I think it was Cato. When I wake up its dark again and the space beside me is cold. I was wondering what woke me when I heard hushed voices and the anthem being played. I went to sit up, but as I did I felt someone push me back down. "Just go back to sleep, trust me," Peeta says. I nodded my head and lay back down. Within minutes I was asleep again. The next time I woke I was being shaken awake and pulled to my feet. Cato handed me a bottle of water and some food. "We are going through some strategies. Thought you might want to join us Sleepy head," he laughs as I rub at my eyes and yawn. Nodding my head I move towards where the group was huddled and listened to them going on about their plans as I ate.

We won't be moving anywhere today it seems, we are going to rest and train for the day but from tomorrow morning we will be on the hunt again. After being put through my paces for three hours by Cato I decided to go and have a wash. I went down to the lake and jumped straight in. I swam around for a bit and then got out and lay in the sun. My clothes will dry off soon. It was nearly dark when I got back to the group and we set about getting everyone food and sorting out packs for tomorrow. Then we all settled down for the night. I took first watch with Heath and we stayed awake chatting for a few hours before he woke Belle and Marvel. Then I settled down beside Cato and closed my eyes. I knew immediately when I woke that something was wrong. There was smoke in the air. I pulled myself from Cato's grip and ran out of the tent to see one whole section of the forest on fire. The Careers started gathering their stuff and I ran to grab mine. The Gamemakers are chasing something, whether it's towards us or away from us it can't be good for who is running.
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Hey guys,
Sorry for the wait! Here you go!
You know the drill,

~Annacricket.