Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 40

"What are you thinking?" says Cato as he climbs up behind me.

"We can't reach it from here, we'll have to try and get to that next tree and reach down from there"

"Okay, but I think it'll be easier if we climb higher and jump down into the branches, that way there's more to grab hold of and stop our fall"

I nod at him and climb up the next limb that's strong enough to take our weight, Cato joins me and we both look down on the tree that we have to jump to. I remember that I've done this before back in 12 when I had to find a way over the electric fence which bordered the district. That time I fell into soft snow but still hurt myself, this time I've not got such luxury. If I slip or lose my grip on the branches I'll fall straight into the waiting brambles and certain death.

"You sure about this?" he asks.

"Definitely" I reply barely hiding my doubt about the plan. This has to happen, the first part of a plan that'll draw the career pack out on our terms, to level the odds in our favour for a change.
I leap across at the blanket of foliage below me and tumble through the leaves, crashing into the hard unforgiving hidden branches, I clutch at them but I'm falling too quickly to get a good grip, I stifle a scream as a panic runs through me, that I'm falling head long into the carpet of thorns which lays below me. I'm saved by the very last branch which I land across with my abdomen taking the full impact. I'm winded and struggle to pull myself off the thick tree limb all the time looking down at the brambles which lay just a few feet below me.

"Katniss, you okay?" asks Cato from above.

"I'm fine, just a bit bruised, jump across"

The branches above crash about and Cato appears, skilfully landing on the branch above my head. "That was easy" he says smiling.

I shake my head at him while I still try to catch my breath, my side really hurts and I'm worried that I might of done some other damage. Cato steps down onto my branch and looks down at Finnick's body.

"Let me see if I can reach down and get it" he says looking at the trident which lays on Finnick's back, a fishing net holding it in place. Cato links his feet around the branch and swings his body face down, it's clear when he reaches down that he's still not close enough to grab it.

"I.....can't....get....it" he says straining to extend his reach.

I sigh in desperation. I need the trident for Cato to kill the spider, if we can't get that then the whole plan is finished but maybe there's another way. It'll mean I'll be putting my life completely in Cato's hands but he's kept me alive all this time, and in any case, I can't see another option.

"You'll have to lower me down"

"What do you mean?" He says as he pulls himself back up.

"I'll go down, but you'll have to hold me by my legs, with the two of us we should be able to reach the trident"

"Then what, how am I gonna pull you back up?"

"I'm sure you can figure that out yourself, give me Clove's knife"

Cato hands it to me and I stuff it in the waist  band of my suit, I crawl out onto the branch and copy what Cato did just a moment ago, linking my legs around the branch and swinging myself so I'm hanging upside down in the tree. Cato grips my legs in his arms and removes them from the branch, I'm now completely at his mercy. If he decides to release me then I'll fall headlong into the brambles followed by a horrible death. I silently chuckle to myself at what we must look like, I seem to remember some clown act on TV that used to do this sort of thing. It must of been years ago even before Prim was born.

I reach out for the trident but I'm still some way short of it, I look back at Cato in a silent order to lower me further but he shakes his head.

"I don't know if I'll be strong enough to pull you back up, I don't wanna drop you"

"You have to Cato, if you truly wanna help me get out of here then we need to do this"

He nods solemnly before linking his own legs round the branch, uses one arm to grip my legs and the other to control himself as he hangs from the branch, Cato now has the weight of both of us hanging from the tree with his legs linked around the branch. I can feel his grip on my legs tighten as I reach down to Finnick's dead body, with Cato now hanging from the tree and me hanging from Cato it's an easy reach for me. I take the knife from my waist band and start to saw through the fishing net which holds the trident against Finnick's back, I cut the first link, then the second but when I start to cut through the third the trident suddenly moves, dropping slightly toward the floor. I hold my breath, hoping the trident doesn't fall straight through the carpet of thorns to the forest floor. The brambles pick up on the sudden movement and start to tighten further round Finnick's body, another one starts to wrap itself round the trident itself. I hear Cato start to grunt with the struggle of our combined weight.

"Katniss.....hurry....can't....hang on much......longer"

I grab for the trident with my left hand and give it a tug, but the vine wraps itself round the trident ever tighter, I slash at the vine with the knife but as I cut through and free the trident another grabs the blade and pulls it from my grasp. The knife is gone but the trident is free from the cut vine and I use both hands and pull it clear while the vines and thorns tighten ever further round Finnick's body.

"Pull us up" I say to Cato.

He says nothing as he uses his free hand to grab the back of my suit , releases my legs and pull me away from the brambles, where he finds his strength is a mystery but he somehow manages to lift me high enough that I can use him as a ladder to climb back up to the branch, I rest the trident across a couple of other branches and help Cato pull himself up to safety. He leans back gasping for air.

"I hope it was worth it Katniss" he say breathlessly

"It will be Cato, you'll see"