Dangerous Allies // Cato Hadley

Part 4: Shit.

Eve walked with her district partner towards their designated table.

Their was a buffet with enough food to feed a small army lining the black wall in front of them. The careers were first in line, picked over whatever they wanted.

Eve shuffled along with the rest of the tributes behind them, looking over the piles of food.

There were things she recognized like fish, chicken, and bread, but there were plenty of foods she had never seen before.

She steered clear of the mystery meats and grabbed a lightly breaded chicken breast. There were steaks piled high and she decided on one of them as well.

She scooped a heavy serving of potatoes onto her plate and moved on to the fruits. Being one of the last in line left her with the ones at the back.

She reached and reached, but couldn't for the life of her get to red apple that was glistening like a beacon from God himself above her.

She stopped her struggling when a large hand reached past her. Eve followed the massive hand, up the massive arm, to Cato's shit eating grin.

He took a bite, which for him was half of the apple.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He smiled, holding it out to her. "Did you want this?"

Eve's fingers dug into the plastic of her tray as she tried her hardest not to swing the whole thing at the man's head.

"No thanks." She brushed past his overbearing figure. "I think I lost my appetite."

Eve sat down with a huff at her table.

"I hate that guy." She mumbled, stabbing her fork into the potatoes on her plate.

"He's scary." Ethan mumbled from beside her.

Eve watched Cato sit at his table. He sat lazily, laughing about who knows what with the others around him.

The rest of the tributes seemed to have their muscles permanently tense as they sat and waited for their impending doom.

Eve shook her head as she watched his charming smile light up his table. "It takes a particularly cruel person to volunteer to kill a bunch of kids."

"Or brainwashed." The kid said from beside her.

He poked at the ice cream on his plate. "That's what my dad always said."

Eve didn't think it was true. Cato was a man who knew what he was doing.

But she smiled none the less while she looked down at Ethan. "He sounds like a smart man."

She ate her food without another word. Her mind was too busy running over the other tributes to talk to the small boy.

He didn't seem to mind as he went back and forth between the dessert tables.

"Why don't you get some chicken or something?" She urged. "You need something to make you strong."

His face scrunched up. "I hate that stuff."