I'm in Love with a Killer

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Tracker Jackers

We had been walking for ages and found no one. It was nearing twilight when a huge wall of fire came out of nowhere and forced us to run for our lives. Glimmer was shrieking,

"This is bad for my hair. It will get overheated!"

"Is that the only thing you can think of right now idiot?" Bellowed Clove, "We are about to be burned alive and all you can think about is your hair? You're pathetic!"

I laughed. Clove was really angry, but scared. I think we all were. We had been running for a while, and then the fire slowed and stopped as we came to the river. We slowed and caught our breath. I looked around. Nearly all of us were in tatters. Soot and ash covered our faces and clothes. We reached the river with relief. We sat down and drank some water, little by little.

I stood up, only to see a person floating in the water and not just any person, Fire Girl.

"There she is!" I bellowed and everyone stood up. I didn't care if she heard me, she was dead meat anyway.

Katniss turned around, horrified to see the pack of Careers hot on her tail. We were all shouting and yelling gleefully, we knew we could get her. She led us through the forest a bit, but then came something I hadn't thought of. She climbed up a tree. It was now getting a bit harder to see now. Night was falling upon us. I gazed at the tree she climbed.

"Smart girl." I muttered. She knew that she weighed less than any of us giving her a slight advantage. She could climb higher.

"How's everything with you?" I heard her talk down to us. I was taken aback. Why would she talk to us when she knows we're going to kill her? Then it hit me, she's playing with us, just to delay time.

"Well enough," Cato replied to her call, "Yourself?"

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

"Think I will." Cato responded. She was taunting us. She knew that we were too big to climb up the tree and catch her, even Clove and I, and we were the smallest Careers by far.

"Here, take this, Cato." Glimmer tried to shove the bow and arrows into Cato's hands. I saw a flash of envy towards Glimmer. Katniss stared at the bow with longing. I think we'd better keep it away from her.

"No!" Cato scowled, pushing the bow and Glimmer away from him, "I'll do better with my sword." I began to doubt that Cato could reach Katniss as soon as he started climbing. After a good and healthy start to the climb, it soon became obvious that the branches no longer could support his weight and he came crashing down. He fell flat on his back and gazed up for a little bit. He was winded, and most likely, badly bruised. He got up furiously.

"Fucking tree!" He yelled.

"Here Cato, I'll do it." Glimmer started to scale the tree also, but she wasn't much better. She got higher than Cato, but it soon became evident that she was stuck, so she fired an arrow in Katniss' direction, only to impale the tree about two metres from Katniss' head. She grabbed the arrow and waved it teasingly above her head. Glimmer fumed and tried to climb the tree to stop Katniss making a fool out of her, which she had clearly already done.

When Katniss was around 25 metres in the air, Glimmer grabbed a faulty branch and plummeted down. Luckily, I had enough humanity to throw myself under her so she would have a soft enough landing.

"What'd you do that for bitch?" She snarled.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I'll just let you break your back next time. Sorry for saving your butt." I snapped. She looked down, and I knew that deep inside, she knew I had saved her. I wasn't expecting an apology or anything like that, but I gave her a look, letting her know she owes me.