The blood on these hands (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 12

   Iris didn't move when she noticed that the careers were gone because what if they were hiding waiting for her to wake up. After a few minutes of stupidly laying there and checking her surroundings she decided to get up. She grabbed her spear and started walking, she didn't know which way she was going so she just kept walking. Surprised she hadn't come across anything interesting Iris decided to switch her direction and went to her left. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a twig snap from above her. She gripped her spear and looked up hoping it was just a bird because she really didn't have the strength to fight anyone right now. As she looked up she saw a person trying to climb quietly but was clearly unsuccessful when she made that twig snap. But as Iris looked closer, she recognized that face it was the so called "girl on fire" the only other one who scored as high as Iris. Iris thought for a second about weather she should keep moving and leave her be or to try and keep her as an ally. She decided to talk to her to see where she stands with the whole having allies thing. "Hey do you need some help." Iris said trying to sound not threatening at all. "No" was all the girl climbing the tree said. "I am not going to hurt you I promise." "Yeah well I have had too many people break promises for me to trust you." "Here, look I'll drop the spear and put my hands up." Iris did as she said she dropped the spear and stepped away as she put her hands up. The girl looked at her for a second hesitating to jump down. "Look I will back further away from the spear I am not going to hurt you." Iris said once again trying to convince her that they could be allies. The girl finally jumped off the tree landing next to the spear. She was about the same height as Iris and had a black braid going down her shoulder. She picked up the spear and started walking away. "Hey wait that's mine." "Exactly." The girl said as she kept walking. "You don't really know how this whole alliance thing works do you." "I'm not very good at making friends." "Well that's because you haven't even tried. You have spoken two sentences to me and from what I am hearing you don't sound half bad." "Your a threat you should move on." "Both of us are threats towards the careers they said their plan is to find us first then kill us." "And how do you know that?" "Yeah that's kind of a long story but I ended up sleeping behind a bush which happened to be right next to them and I overheard their plan. So we gotta stick together." "Fine but I will stab you in the back if you try anything." "You have my word I will not do anything to hurt or kill you." Iris put her hand in front of the girl making her stop. "What are-" "shutup" Iris whispered as she pushed them both behind a tree. "Stay quiet." "Why there is no one here we are miles away from anyone." "Just shutup." Iris said once again but this time putting her hand over the girls mouth. Iris heard footsteps in the distance. She grabbed her spear from the girl ready to attack whoever was there. The footsteps got closer until they were right next to the tree but they stopped as soon as they got there. Iris gripped her spear then went to lunge at the person on the other side of the tree but stopped herself when she saw a small helpless little girl. The girl looked at her frightened and Iris dropped the spear looking at the girl. "I'm not going to hurt you I-I just thought you were someone else." Iris said trying not to think about what would've happened if she didn't stop herself. The girl still looked frightened as Iris held out her hand to her. The girl took it almost instantly relieved to have someone. "Iris" "Rue" "it's nice to meet you Rue this is......." "Katniss" the girl said as she stepped out from behind the tree. "We Better get moving we have already been in one place to long." Katniss said after a second of analyzing Rue. They all started heading a direction. Iris's mind started wondering and she didn't realize how thirsty she was until she started thinking about it. "Have any of y'all found water since you have been here." "Yeah, it's that way." Katniss said as she pointed to their left. "Can we go there because I haven't gotten a drink since we have been here." "Hmm no wonder you are so pale, I just thought you were sick." Katniss said as they continued walking.

Once they got to the pond Iris bent down and drank as much as she could. Rue also knelt down beside her and started drinking. Katniss pulled out a metal water bottle and filled it up with water. Iris and Rue both just looked at her. "What might need it later." "Um yeah but do you have anymore or just one for you." Rue said as she stared at the water bottle "Well jeez I don't know I only grabbed one backpack because I was about to die from a girl throwing a knife." Katniss said sarcastically. "Wait guys shhh do you hear that." Iris said as she shushed both of them. They both turned and looked at her as she looked into the trees. There were birds singing almost like they were copying them. Rue then sang a little tune which all the birds repeated. "Mockingbirds" Iris mumbled to herself. Then she heard laughing in the distance. Iris turned to both of them with wide eyes. "Climb" they both sprinted to the nearest tree and climbed it. Iris stayed near a pond tree and hid behind it. The careers came stomping through the woods like they owned the place. As they were making their way through Psycho saw Iris. Iris got up sprinting away as she heard them all screaming and laughing behind her. Glimmer got out her bow and Iris was about to put her plan that she came up with last night to work until. "No she's mine." Psycho said still running behind Iris. Iris was pretty quick so she could outrun Cato but she didn't know if she could outrun some of the other careers. Iris was running out of breath very quickly so she did the first thing that came to mind, she turned around and threw the spear. The spear went soaring through the air as it went and hit Cato in the calf making him trip and fall. The rest of the careers stopped to make sure he was alright, that gave Iris the chance to run away. Even though she was out of breath she kept running until she was satisfied with how far away she was. As she came to a stop she almost fell because she couldn't feel her legs, she looked around but this time she was really lost.

    Iris sat down trying to catch her breath, she rested her head on the tree and closed her eyes but as soon as she did that she felt cold metal against her neck. "Hmm looks like someone lost a bet." Iris instantly recognized the voice as she relaxed, well as relaxed as she could get with a knife to her throat. "Okay okay you got me, now what do I have to do." "Hmmm I don't know I haven't gotten that far yet." "Okay how about I bribe you not to kill me." "Okay sounds reasonable." Clove came around the tree into Iris's view but she still held the knife towards her.  "Okay what do I have to do so you won't kill me." "How about you tell me why you would barely look at me on the hovercraft." Cove said as she crouched down next to Iris. "Tha-that's kinda a long story." Iris said flustered. "That's okay I got all day." Clove said that last part into Iris's ear making her shiver. "Well you can blame Porter, my mentor he may of told me that you are just using me because I got a high score and I might of believed him." Clove just stared at Iris blankly not knowing what to say. "I should just kill you right now." Clove said putting the knife back on Iris's throat. "Okay I have a question why are you here and not with the rest of the careers?"  Clove pressed the knife tighter to Iris's through almost drawing blood. That's when Iris thought this was it, she looked at Clove but didn't really see Clove she almost saw Cato in her. Iris reached up and put her hand on Cloves cheek and started stroking it with her thumb. "Hey come back to me, this isn't you." Iris said calmly. Clove released her grip on the knife making it fall on the ground. "I'm so sorry I don't know what came over me." Clove said as she hugged Iris. They both melted into the hug just happy to be holding each other again. "I really thought you were going to kill me." "I didn't even know what I was doing I was just focused on staying alive." Clove said as she pulled away from the hug and looked at Iris once again their faces inches apart. "CLOVE!" A voice shouted in the distance. "Crap it's Cato." Clove said as she was just about to leave but then came back and kissed Iris on the cheek before running away to go find Cato. Iris touched her cheek like she still felt Cloves lips there. They were so soft and gentle, a feeling almost like a warm blanket came over Iris. She got up and her legs were a little wobbly but she was able to walk. Iris then set off to go try and find Rue and Katniss.

(Ok a little bit of a corny ending but that's okay right? I hope y'all are enjoying the story!)