Dangerous Affection- The Hunger Games- A Cato Love Story

Chapter 19: Escape

Chapter 19- Escape

Giant spiders. Tracker jackers. Muttations of all kinds. They're all after us, wave after wave attacking as we get closer and closer to freedom.

I let arrow after arrow fly, running at full speed. Eyes, chests, throats, abdomens, anything I can hit I do. I miss once, and curse myself. Now is not a time for mistakes.

Cato's sword is slashing through the air- and the flesh of the creatures chasing us. I would imagine his arm is killing him, but he shows no sign of letting up.

Lucas. Little Lucas. Has an ax. An ax. I know the District Seven tributes usually go for the one that is occasionally thrown into the Games, but I never saw how they managed to fling it around, killing things with ease. Every now and then he throws a knife with pretty good accuracy, but I can tell he is counting on how fast he can run more than anything else.

We can't do much about the tracker jackers. They are released as we are less than half a mile from the edge of the Arena. I am repeatedly stung, mainly in the face and hands. We swat at them and hope we can make it pass the boundaries before the venom really kicks in.

I see something running the direction we are- isn't everything?- but running... At our side. Not for us. I focus, and see a mop of brown hair.

Ryder?

I release my last arrow at a mutt a few feet away from me, pretty much last second.

I decide I will worry about Ryder later. I need to survive to even need to worry about it.

"Alex!" I look as Cato shouts my name. He throws me his sword, and I catch it, immediately slicing the throat of yet another kind of mutt. I look back to Cato, and see his other sword drawn, maiming, and killing anything that passed.

We can see the haze ahead.

"That's it!" Cato calls to us.

All of us seem to pick up more speed, if it's possible.

Ten feet.

Nine. Cato falls behind me.

Eight.

Seven. I can see only Ryder. Lucas is behind me too.

Six.

Five. Ryder breaks through the field. Four. Elias must have done it.

Three. Two. One.

I've left the Games.

I hit the ground, hard. I'm tumbling, head over heels. When I stop, my back hits the ground with a thump! And the breath- what little is left- is knocked out of me.

I hear footsteps hitting the ground and heavy breathing behind me. They're slowing, and soon stop by my head. Cato drops down on his knees, his hands bracing the ground.

"Are you okay?" He manages to get out after a minute.

I nod.

We catch our breath in silence after that, and after a few minutes, I sit up. My head starts to spin, and I finally grasp that I have a few tracker jacker stings. I pull out the thorns, knowing it's only a few moments until the venom kicks in. I wonder why it's taken so long to do so.

I look around. "Where's Lucas...?" I ask hesitantly.

Cato looks at me, pain in his eyes, and pulls out the stingers of his own bites. "Angel..." He shakes his head.

I'm left screaming and crying in denial as the hallucinations kick in.

* * * * * *

*Xavier's P.O.V*

Father, Trevor, Marco, and I are on the edge of our seats as we watch Alexandra running for her life. Marco screams a lot, and soon I am holding him again, though it is nothing new. Trevor goes to sit directly in front of the television as they start to get less than half a mile away. Father gets up and starts pacing. I make Marco turn and watch as Alexandra makes in out of the Arena.

"That's a good thing, right? Alex is okay, right? Is she going to come home now?" Marco asks, his lip quivering.

I look at him, knowing things were far from over. "I'm not sure, buddy. I hope so."

A small smile brightens his face; hope bright in his light blue eyes.