Behind Those Violet Eyes ▸ Hunger Games

Chapter Twenty-Five: Cato

I looked back up at Alexis, who nodded smugly.

“It’s all in your mind, Cato. You lost your vision, but the venom has messed you up, so as far as you know, I’m actually standing here,” she said.

“Why would you be in my hallucination?” I spat.

“You don’t really have control of it, Cato. That’s what the venom does to you.”

Alexis smirked and then faded away as the world around me began to spin and shake.

Feeling extremely lightheaded and nauseous, I laid my head against the soft grass, wishing for the hallucination to end.

“If it was that easy, Cato, you would’ve been back to normal a while ago,” a familiar voice trailed off.

I shut my eyes tightly, as the shaking and spinning grew stronger as time went on.

“No one’s gonna save you now…” the voice continued in an ear-biting hiss.

I pressed my hands against my ears, trying to block out all the sound and hoping to find some sort of balance.

The shaking continued to intensify, making my head spin with the ground beneath me.

There was some sort of ringing in my ears that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I pressed my hands against them.

“STOP!!!” I screamed, my voice cracking as I went on, “Please just make it stop!”

Suddenly feeling sick to my stomach, I crawled over to the river, leaning my head over it.

The strong smell of the blood from the water didn’t do anything to calm my nausea, as I started gagging.

I couldn’t take it any longer: the ringing, the spinning, the shaking, the blurry vision. The nausea then took over my whole body as I threw up in the river.

“Please…” I coughed, my voice barely audible.

And at that moment, everything went black.

“Cato, are you okay?” Alia’s voice rang in my head.

Although I was completely blind, I knew by the stone cold wall I was leaning against that we were back in the cave.

“Did you… hallucinate, too…?” I asked in a hoarse voice.

“Yeah, I guess. Mine wasn’t that bad, though. I knew where I was and everything, but I was dizzy and kept fading in and out of consciousness. I even managed to kill some District Seven tribute and snatch their backpack.”

“Where’d you get bit?”

“On the cheek and leg, not that bad considering how many were after us. But I haven’t felt the same since I was bit,” she replied.

“How so…?”

“Well, you know how I said ‘I don’t hate Fish Girl’ and all that?”

I nodded slowly.

“I take it all back,” she said, dragging out each syllable for emphasis.

I smirked. “She’s gonna get it all right…”

“Oh, yes. But we need to take care of ourselves before we go after Cyra,” Alia replied.

I nodded again, and then sighed. “How freaken long am I gonna be blind…?”

Alia laughed slightly as I heard the crackling of a nearby fire. “When the bites heal, your vision should go back to normal.”

I leaned my head against the cave wall. “What’s the fire for?”