A Thousand More (Sequel & Clato Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12 "Stolen"

“Be-because I saw the monster, right behind us.” Clove trembles.

I look at Clove and she looks back and mouths, “Run. Now.”

I didn’t question anything I just did it, my legs were moving by itself to wherever they were headed. I run past the girl from 11 who shoots me a confused look.

Clove’s PoV

Phew. He got away safely. The Careers don’t look very happy with me at the moment though.

“So where’s the monster?” Genevieve says while holding her knife to my neck.

“It must have been the heat, I’ve been seeing stuff lately.” I say, hoping they would buy it.

“It was an honest mistake, let her go.” Atlas says nicely.

“Thanks.” I say while patting his back. He blushes at me while we start to take off for the girl from eleven. She was unaware that we were here but we couldn’t risk losing her again.

“Kill her, Atlas.” Genevieve orders. He pulls the bowstring back and holds his breath. The arrow flies to her head and she drops on the ground, dead. The cannon fires and then we all realise it was close to the finale.

They tie me to a tree again, tighter than before. I try to wriggle myself out while they went out to hunt, using the food from the feast as bait. It was futile though; I just had to wait for Cato to come free me without dying in the process. Aidan arrives first with a pile of firewood and then Silver with flints. Atlas and Genevieve come with animals that they have hunted. Silver and Aidan cuddle each other for warmth, like Cato and I used to do while I just sit here and freeze on my own. I laugh to myself when I see Genevieve desperately trying to lean on Atlas.

“I’m cold.” Genevieve says, trying to be sweet.

“You can have my jacket.” Atlas says while handing her his jacket. She rolls her eyes but takes the jacket and falls asleep quickly after finishing her meal. Silver and Aidan were also fast asleep in each other’s arms. I miss the feeling of being in Cato’s strong muscular arms. Meanwhile, Atlas was playing with the fire and I was still trying to figure out how to get out of here.

I give up now but Atlas didn’t seem to be tired.

“Hey Atlas, could you loosen the rope please?” I beg.

“Is it hurting you?” He says nicely. It was actually digging into my skin now and blood was dripping off the rope.

“Yeah, a lot.” I answer honestly. He walks to the back of the tree and starts loosening the rope but then I realise he was taking it off.

“Why did you do that?” I say while raising my eyebrow.

“Because…” Atlas says in a more romantic tone, “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

He pulls me in and crashes his lips against mine. I look at his face, so close up, his eyes were closed but my eyes were still wide open. This kiss felt unusual, in a bad way, it didn’t have any spark or any feeling. It was just two lips against each other, nothing more. I put my hands against his chest and force him away. He looks at me disappointed, “Well, that didn’t go as good as it was meant to.” Atlas says as he gulps.

“Of course it didn’t.” Someone says behind us. Cato was towering over us like mountains, his expression furious. I turn my head so it faced him and looked up.

Cato’s PoV

My heart was sinking to the bottom of my chest and my head hurt so much it could explode any second now. I hold Atlas by his shirt and say angrily, “If you ever touch her again, I’ll cut your fingers off one by one, got it?!” 

 “Got it.” He gulps. I drop him down and take Clove by her arm; I look at her wrists, which had blood that was drying up.

“I’m just going to go now. See you at the Cornucopia tomorrow!” Clove says awkwardly to Atlas while I drag her away. She winces as my grip tightened on her arm due to my anger and sadness.

“Let go me!” She says crisply and pulls her arm away. “Why are you even angry?”

“I think you already know why!” I snap at her.

“I don’t!”

“Damn it, Clove! You kissed him!”

“You don’t understand. He kissed me.” She mumbles a lot more calmly. Clove stares at me in silence then walks slowly, her hair blowing gently in the winter breeze.

I lean against a tree and slip down quickly and cover my eyes with the palm of my hands. Tears meant nothing to me; they were like a foreign language. I refuse to cry; only when I lose someone I love. I felt ripping my hair off my head and screaming but I held it all in. The kiss that I had witnessed came back to my head but I missed a tiny detail, when she pushed him away. I couldn’t let her go again, she couldn’t leave me again. My heart ached as I ran around the forest looking for her.

“Clove!” I desperately yell out. I heard her sobs in the distance and followed the sound. She was curled up with her legs tucked in and her arms wrapped around her. “I-I’m sorry.” I stammer softly. She looks up and wipes her eyes. I kneel down next to her and gently brush through her hair with my fingers. “Please don’t leave me again.” I whisper gently.

She cracks open a half-smile and throws her arms around me. “I promise I won’t leave you ever again.”

We both lean in and lock our lips together. My arms slither around her body. She runs her fingers through my hair as we deepen the kiss. Her lips tasted salty from all the tears and my body felt warm with love.

I pull away and say, “You’re the only girl I’ve ever loved.”

“I love you Cato.” She replies while closing her eyes for another kiss.