Pieces in the game. (The Hunger Games)

Chapter 14: Tracker Jackers.

Lilly's POV.
I quickly tear my eyes away from Rue. I don't need to attract attention to her. Not now, it's far too dangerous with her in close vicinity to these people. I look over to see Cato and the others huddled around the other side of the fire. My eyes catch Peeta's for a second, but I'm sure in that split second he saw the unbridled fear in my eyes when Cato looked at me. I look back to Rue's tree quickly, I can't see her anymore. I silently let out the breath I held. I look back then to Katniss and I get really confused when I see her start to climb higher into the tree. Gale moves to a larger branch, slightly lower down and on the other side of the tree. Odd! Suddenly, the Capitol seal shines in the sky and the anthem blares out. There have been no deaths today. The anthem finishes and I see Katniss higher in the tree. She leans back and puts her knife back in her belt. What is she doing? As she moves back down to where Gale is I see he's holding a parachute. Oh Haymitch! I see her lie back in relief as Gale applied whatever it was to her leg. She must have been really hurt! She looks down at me and I smile. She signals back that she's ok... Now! I nod my head and quickly turn my head away. I heard someone move closer to me, I look up and see Cato towering over me. Oh no! I try to drag myself further away but he had my leg in his hand. I bite my lip trying to keep in the scream of pain. He unwraps it and gets his water canteen. Then he pours about half the contents onto my leg.

It hurts like hell but I guess he's just trying to clean it. Belle comes over with the first aid kit and applies some sort of spray, then rewraps my leg. "There, that should stop it from getting infected," she says. Then she stands and moves away. Cato sighs and lies out on the ground. He turns on his side to watch me. "I'm going to untie you. You're not to move from beside me though," he says in a low voice. Once my hands are untied I start to rub at the angry red marks that ring my wrists. Cato soon falls asleep, tonight he has decided not to keep me anchored to his side so every so often I inch a slight bit further away, closer to the tree, and unknowingly closer to Peeta. I fell asleep midway between Peeta and Cato, guess I was exhausted. I woke to a weird rocking sensation. When I opened my eyes all I could see was Peeta. We come out of the woods into the clearing and he places me down gently. "What are you doing?" I say as he turns to go back into the forest. He stops and turns back to me. "Katniss was hacking at a branch with a nest on it last night. I had to get you out safe," he says as he reaches over and runs his hand down my face. I rest my head onto his hand and our eyes connect. The moment is broken though by a high pitched scream and Peeta takes off into the woods. "No Peeta," I yell after him. But he doesn't stop. A few seconds later Marvel, Brooke, Cato, Clove, Heath and Belle come back out of the woods. They all dive straight into the pond to get away from Tracker Jackers, once they realise that their prey aren't going to come out of the water they fly off. Just as two cannons sounded. I pull myself painfully to my feet, though the pain is much less than yesterday, and I start to hobble towards the forest. Just as I get to the tree line Peeta comes back out and catches me. "It's not them. It's not them! They're safe, they've cleared out," he whispered to me as he holds me back.

Hearing that I calmed and relaxed into him. That is until Cato pulled us apart with an almighty roar. He flings me backwards and Marvel catches me. But why doesn't he let me go? I freeze as I see Cato and Peeta fighting. "Cato, don't do it!" I yell at him. This continued on for a few minutes but I can see Peeta tiring. Then something horrible happened that has probably made me reveal my true feelings. "PEETA! NO CATO LEAVE HIM ALONE," I scream. Cato freezes and turns to face me. He comes over to me slowly. I can see Peeta get slowly to his feet. He looks over at me, shock on his face. "What? Leave him alone?" he says as he grabs my chin roughly and squeezes. "It's him isn't it. You prefer him?" he asks. I can feel tears run down my face as he waits for my answer. "He's familiar, he's from my district Cato. You need to understand, I can't watch him die. It's you I want," I say as I choke on a sob. More like choke on my lies but he's going to believe me. His eyes soften slightly and then he lets go of my face. I move my jaw around to dull the pain and he leans down and gently kisses the marks his fingers left on my face. The he turns back around and stalks back to Peeta. Cato draws his arm back and two seconds later Peeta screams in pain as Cato drives his sword into his thigh. Peeta pulled back and punched Cato, knocking him over. Peeta took one last look at me, who was silently crying for him and then he takes off into the forest. Cato stands to watch him go and then he comes over to me, pulling me close.

I can't believe he did that. "You said you couldn't watch him die. This way, you don't have to," he says as he picks me up and carried me back over to the camp. But he freezes when he sees someone milling around. He puts me down on a blanket and comes back two minutes later with the boy from 3. He's begging for his life while the careers talk about what to do with him. He can't even leave because the remaining six careers have put him in the middle of the circle. They've surrounded him. It's only then that I have figured out that the two canons must have been Glimmer and Cobalt. I'm not sorry, really, but I just hope Katniss got that damn bow! Eventually the Careers have come up with a use for the boy. He's going to dig up all the mines around the podiums and bury them around the supplies, which they are going to pile up, and activate them. So anyone coming for supplies will be blown sky high. I have to admit that they are imaginative. The boy immediately gets to work. He's happy as he's been told if he does his job well enough he can join the careers. What he failed to ask was how long he would be one. Knowing Cato, at the first sign of weakness the boy shows he'll be dead. I draw my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms are und myself. The Careers have begun piling the supplies so I get up to help. Carrying only the light stuff as decreed by Cato. Once that was finished I curled up on a rock in the sun. The Careers have all decided to go asleep as it seems the stings they got off the a Tracker Jackers are causing them some issues. I stare out towards the forest knowing that Katniss and Gale are out there somewhere and wherever they are they are a lot safer than either me or Peeta. I jump as a cannon booms out. I draw my knees closer to my chest and bury my face against them and cry. That could have been Peeta, I won't know until tonight. I'm sorry Peeta, sorry you had to go through this alone.

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~Annacricket