Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 47

And so for the following week I did pretty much nothing. This was for two reasons, one because I'd kinda lost the will to fight and two, Cato decided that I should remain out of sight until the careers moved on from the lake area. I spend my days looking out the window at the arena from our derelict building, slowly munching through my rations which I picked up from the golden house the other week. Cato goes out on scouting trips everyday to check on the whereabouts of Peeta and the careers. We both hope that soon he'll get bored and search the other end of the arena which will allow us to attack the spider once again. Until that happens we can do nothing, Peeta's too close to the lake and if we tried to kill the spider Peeta would most likely hear the fight, show up and try and kill me.

I still spend a lot of time thinking about Rue. Not the Mutt we buried the other day but the young girl who died in my arms in my first games. Seeing Rue the Mutt had opened old wounds, triggered old memories, and I never understood just how damaged I was by those events, not until now at least.

"I have news" says Cato, startling me as he strides into the room. He's just returned from another scouting trip.

"What's happened?"

"The cornucopia is empty. It looks like Peeta has finally gone to look for us elsewhere. Now might be the time to try and kill that spider you keep talking about" he says as he stands next to me and looks down on the arena.

"Thats good, how many tributes have joined him, did you see?"

"Only what I saw yesterday. As well as Foxface and Blight he's got Cecelia, Wolf and I think I saw Cashmere, although I can't be sure, I was some distance away"

"No sign of Thresh?"

"No, not since we buried Rue the other day. He left after we filled in the grave and I haven't seen him since"

I look out across the Arena and weigh up our options "What do you think, it's still before noon, we could attack the spider now?"

Cato shakes his head "I wouldn't, not yet anyway. I'd give it another day just to make sure he's gone, he's tricked us before don't forget and he could be doing that same thing again"

"Okay, we'll spend the rest of the afternoon planning just how we're gonna do this. Like I said before we can't just go at this blindly or we'll lose again"

That night we see a glow in the night sky of a campfire far off to the south. Only Peeta would have the arrogance to do such a thing, to broadcast his location to all in the arena knowing he'll still be safe no matter what he does. But what it does tell us is that he's definitely left the lake and the time to carry out my plan has come. The plan that'll put us into battle with the careers on our own terms.

*
It's another hot day with a crystal clear blue sky when we reach the lake the next morning. The water level has dropped since yesterday and it's clear now that the gamemakers are intentionally drying out the arena. It's the beginning of the end, once the water's all gone then nothing can survive. They're pushing the tributes to fight and win before they die of thirst, the great crescendo that ends with the death of Katniss Mellark! Well, I guess I'll have to disappoint them, hopefully....
"There, in the shallows on the far side, you see it?" says Cato pointing at the lake shore opposite.

I look across the lake and see the spider with its back to us, rummaging through the shallows for something, what it is I don't know.

"Okay, I'll throw a stone to get its attention, remember the plan, you know what you've gotta do"

I nod and take a deep breath, readying myself for the fight ahead.

Cato smiles, picks up a stone from the shore and throws it into the lake. The spider spins around to face us at the sound of the stone hitting the water. We can both see now that the tentacles that Cato cut away have started to grow back, proving that it's only purpose in the arena is to act as a food source. Once you harvest the meat it grows back ready to supply more.

It walks at speed toward us until the water becomes too deep causing it to submerge, but it continues toward us, the wake on the surface of the water giving its position away. I sling my bow over my shoulder ready. For this fight I won't need to shoot any arrows, not to begin with anyway. The huge spider climbs from the water, it's black wet legs shining in the bright sun, it's hairy body dripping with water from the lake. Cato lunges forward with the trident, swinging back and forth trying to bat the tentacles away.
I start to carry out my part of the plan and circle round to the spider's right while its occupied with Cato. Somehow I need to get onto its back just as Cato did the last time, my role is to act as a distraction while Cato tries to take the spider down. I leap in among its legs and try to climb up on its back. Cato said he used its own leg as a foothold to get on its back the other day, "where it's leg meets its body" he said. I look around while dodging its legs as they move around in its fight with Cato. And then I see it, the part where it's third leg meets its bulbous body, it's low enough to step onto but high enough to give me a foothold onto its back. I wait for a lull in the fighting, step onto its leg and pull myself up using its hair as a handhold. The spider immediately senses my presence and I duck down as a tentacle flails around behind its head, trying to find me. I stay low and climb astride its body and slowly shuffle forward toward its head. I can see Cato, still fighting valiantly below me, blood from the spider lays around the area as do a number of severed tentacles.
Somehow I've got to expose the spider's belly to Cato, it's the most vulnerable part of its body and is most likely the only way to kill it.
I slide my bow off my shoulder and take an arrow from my sheath, I don't know if this'll work but I haven't any idea of what else to do. I string the arrow and shoot it straight into a spot just behind its head. There's a deafening screech from the spider as it rears up on its hind legs. The movement catches me by surprise and with no free hand to hold on I start to slide off its back, but as I fall back I catch a glimpse of Cato, the trident held high above his head as he prepares to throw it into the spider's body. I tumble off the back of the spider's body and fall into the shallows already half expecting to be trampled to death by its legs as they stamp about in the water. But the spider seems strangely subdued. I get to my feet and rush to get clear but I needn't of worried. Cato stands on the shore with his hands empty, covered in blood from the spider which spews out from the trident which is buried deep into its under belly. It slowly backs away to deeper water.

"Cato, it's gonna get away, do something!" I scream at him, now worried that we've only wounded it and it'll retreat to the depths only to return later. But he just stands there staring at it, a determined look on his face.

The spider staggers away before it collapses to the ground, forcing the trident even deeper into its body. There's a loud groan from the spider as it slowly struggles to its feet, staggers to deeper water,  then slides under the surface and sinks from view.

"Is that it, is it dead" I ask impatiently.

"Don't worry Katniss, it's dead" he says as he slumps to the ground exhausted, staring at the rising bubbles of blood which stain the lake surface in a deep shade of Crimson.

I slump down onto the ground next to him. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Killing the spider was the biggest obstacle to getting out of the arena so far. Now the fight really begins, a fight that'll put us toe to toe with the careers.

"Right, let's get started, we've got a lot to do and not much time so we need to move" I say as I get up and pull Cato to his feet.

"What's the rush?" he says as he steps in to the shallows and starts to wash off the blood.

"Because we've gotta clear away all the tentacles that you cut off from the shore. We can keep some for ourselves but we can't leave anything behind for Peeta, I'm gonna starve him out"

"Well, we're out of rations ourselves. What happens when we've eaten the tentacle meat, we'll have nothing to eat ourselves, we could starve to death before Peeta does?"

"Don't worry, I've already thought of that. It's time for me to show you what the other food source is"