》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎
》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎
"DEVYN!" KATNISS SCREAMED from the other tree as she rushed to untie herself from her tree. Devyn shot awake and quickly noticed the blazing fire. She soon was following Katniss as she shoved everything in her backpack and climbed down the first portion of the tree, falling to the ground for the rest.
Katniss was already slightly ahead of her as they ran across the forest where a line of orange fire circled them. It was spreading immensely fast and was so tall and unexpected that they both knew it was a manufactured fire. The Gamemakers wanted them closer to the other tributes. They were sprinting past the trees when Katniss stopped making Devyn almost run into her as a fireball the size of a plum was shot at them. They both ducked down before taking off again.
Another one was set off towards Katniss as it hit a nearby tree. They were heading left when a tree collapsed, and they gasped, running past it. The smoke was getting severely worse now as they coughed wildly, and their lungs felt like sandpaper. Another fireball was launched, and Devyn just made it out of the way in time, but unfortunately, Katniss got blasted in the leg.
She screeched as she fell to the floor, a nasty red burn at least third-degree spreading across her leg. "Katniss, come on!" Devyn cried, trying not to gag on the smoke. Another one was sent at them, and Devyn quickly picked Katniss up, pushing them away but not before it hit her left arm. She screamed in pain as her entire left side seared to the point where she could barely feel it.
Both of them fell to the ground, tumbling down a hill as they did everything they could to regain their balance or not hit a rock or tree. They stumbled up, their entire world being consumed in intoxicating white smoke as their eyes watered. They started running again, Katniss stumbling a few times as they rushed to the pond they knew they were close to.
When they finally arrived there, they both lunged in the water, not caring how loud they were as their burns immediately went down. Katniss groaned as she continued shaking from such high adrenaline and pain overwhelming her. Devyn let a euphoric exhale even if the cool water caused the burn to flame up again, but it soon calmed down.
They both were lounging in the pond, not even getting a minute of relaxation before they heard the familiar booming laughter coming from the trees ahead of them. They froze as the laughter grew nearer, and soon they saw the swords and spearheads of the careers reflecting off the beating sunlight. Cato was in front, a large smile on his face with the rest behind him.
Devyn grabbed Katniss' arm with her good one and sat up swiftly. "There they are! Both of them!" Marvel yelled, pointing in their direction and everyone looked over at them. Cato's smile immediately dropped, but he ran with the other careers anyway.
Devyn and Katniss struggled to leave the water, which seemed to be keeping them down, but they got out, with Devyn helping Katniss run back into the forest.
"She's mine!" Glimmer screamed.
"Not if I get her first!" Clove teased.
They finally were on flat terrain and could try and locate a sturdy set of trees. "Fish out of the pond! And someone found them!" the careers continued to provoke them as they jumped over branches. Katniss was hissing in pain as Devyn struggled to support her, but eventually, they got to a sturdy tree for Katniss to climb up.
"Go! Katniss! Go!" Devyn shoved her up and ran to a nearby tree a few feet away. She cried out once she had to grab the bark with her left arm but pushed through it and made it up the tree in less than twenty seconds which was the time it took for the careers to reach them.
"Where you going, Girl on Fire?" Cato shouted as he ran to the base of Katniss' tree.
"We got her!"
"Miss Everdeen, I'm gonna get you!" Marvel yelled. Devyn was both pleased and sympathetic that the careers were paying all their attention to Katniss rather than her. She thought at least Clove or Glimmer would pay her attention, but she was wrong.
"That's not gonna help you up there, Katniss," Glimmer stated. And she was right despite being such a ditz. Katniss was trapped because she couldn't move from the tree now, especially with an injury like the one she got there was no way.
Cato then came up with the stupid decision to climb the tree. With his weight, there was no way it could support him. It could hold people like Katniss and Devyn because they weighed hardly a hundred pounds, while even someone like Clove, who is smaller in size but slightly larger in muscle, would break the sensitive branches. Cato truly was an idiot thinking he could climb it, especially after displaying his climbing skills.
He started off fine, grabbing onto the right places, but after his first stumble, the careers' deadly encouragements got louder. "Kill her, Cato! Just get her, Cato!" Clove yelled.
"Take her down!" Glimmer said so devil-like her voice went at least three octaves lower.
"I'm coming for you!" Cato threatened right before he grabbed one of the thinnest branches on the entire tree. He soon fell all the way back to the ground. His face of shock and slight embarrassment was priceless. Devyn couldn't hold back her laughter. Cato glanced at her from the ground and sent her a glare which she couldn't tell if it was playful or not.
"I'll do it myself," Glimmer grumbled and shot a sloppy arrow at the tree, causing it to miss and hit the bark. Cato tried and missed as well, giving Katniss yet another arrow.
"Maybe you should throw the sword!" Katniss yelled with a little ghost of a chuckle.
"Oh, I'd love to see that," Devyn commented with a giggle, and they all glanced at her.
"Let's just wait them out. They've gotta come down at some point. It's that or starve to death. We'll just kill them then," Peeta spoke up, and Cato glanced at Glimmer, who looked baffled.
"Okay. Somebody make a fire," he said, shoving the bow back in Glimmer's hands. He went the opposite way of the rest of the careers, who decided it would be best to set up camp to the right of Katniss' tree. Devyn glanced at Katniss, who was too preoccupied trying to heal her leg the best she could, stuck in a tree with no medicine.
She took this one chance she got. She got up from her branch and jumped to the next tree, following Cato as he stormed deeper into the forest and away from the other tributes. He huffed when he finally stopped, running a hand through his hair as he sat on a log. He knew his other careers were thinking he was going to hunt for more tribute while they watched Katniss but in reality, he needed to cool off. The first time he had seen Devyn in days, and she was teamed up with possibly his biggest threat while they were being chased by his group of allies.
After a minute or two, Devyn realized he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, so she lowered herself on the tree until she was dangling only ten feet above the ground, swinging her legs back and forth. "I knew you should've taken more climbing lessons," she said, and Cato looked up, immediately pulling out his sword and preparing to fight, but he relaxed once he saw Devyn.
"What are you doing here? How'd you escape?" He asked.
"Well, I wasn't under much surveillance, now was I? And you are all forgetting that I can climb from tree to tree, so there was really no containing me," Cato chuckled as Devyn hopped to the ground. The moment she straightened back up, Cato walked over and locked his lips onto hers. She was shocked but made sure not to show it, knowing every camera was on them right now, and this kiss could gain both of them more sponsors. Plus, she was quite enjoying it.
Cato broke them apart and sat back down on the log. "So you and twelve?" He teased, and Devyn rolled her eyes.
"We ran into each other the first night and agreed to become allies for survival purposes. It was right after you murdered that girl from eight. We overheard you, by the way, and I was actually right above her before your little group forced me to move."
"You know I'm not actually trying to hunt you, Devyn. They just think I am."
"But you're truly wanting to kill Katniss?"
"She's competition," he shrugged, and Devyn sighed.
"She has a very similar situation as mine, Cato. Remember that," Cato frowned at the reminder.
"I know, but —"
"Just promise me one thing. You said when we meet up, you'll add to your promises," he nodded in agreement. "Promise you won't kill her if you don't have to."
Cato sighed before nodding again.
"Thank you," Devyn said, bringing him down to touch their lips together for a second. Cato smiled and rubbed her arm, which she flinched away from immediately with a large hiss.
"What's wrong?" He asked, then looked to her left arm and noticed the two burnt through holes in her jackets. "What the hell happened?" His tone was more frantic as he examined her blistering red burn, which was still throbbing and inflamed to the point where anything gracing against it was unbearable.
"Just some fire, don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks," Devyn lied, and Cato looked at her, knowing she wasn't telling the truth.
"There's medicine back at the lake where our base is. I'll go get some," Devyn stopped Cato from walking away.
"No, I'm fine. I have a first aid kit in my backpack," she stated, setting down her backpack and grabbing her first aid kit. The only things in it were medical bandages, gauze pads, medical tape, cheap gloves, a small bottle of rubbing alcohol, and cough medicine.
"What a first aid kit this is," Cato mumbled sarcastically, and Devyn glared at him. She pulled out her small canteen of water and took off both her ruined jackets.
"Holy shit," Cato gawked as he saw the severity of the burn. A more powerful fireball, and it would've been down to the bone.
"Can you help me out?" Devyn asked, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as she hoped the cameras were on Cato's face instead of hers. He grabbed her canteen of water and hesitantly opened it. "Use all of it —"
"Devyn —"
"There's not much left anyway," Cato sighed and slowly tipped the canteen until water trickled over the burn. She gasped, bringing her fist up to bite at it to prevent her from screaming. Cato stopped immediately and took her hand in his as he poured the rest over it. Devyn took deep breaths as she squeezed the life out of Cato's hand.
Cato wrapped it up but not too tight to put immense pressure on the burn, and when he was done, he kissed Devyn's cheek to make her feel better. "You okay?" Devyn nodded stiffly while Cato rubbed her back and waited for her to move.
But surprisingly, she was the first to move when rustling came from behind Cato. Cato hadn't noticed someone throwing an ax in his direction, but Devyn was quick to throw her own and deflect it. Cato jumped up as Leighton ran from the bushes.
Cato quickly grabbed his sword, but Devyn stopped him. "No!" She shouted and looked at Leighton, who had picked up both his and Devyn's axes. "Leighton, it's okay. He's not going to hurt you."
"Still debating," Cato muttered, and Devyn slammed her elbow into his ribs.
"He's a career, Devyn! You can't trust him!" Leighton yelled, raising his ax. His cool demeanor had fallen over the past few days, and he looked nothing like the charming Finnick-Odair-boy the Capitol had grown to love. His hair was greasy and sticking up in many different directions, dirt and soot covered his skin, he had blood dried on his clothes and across his cheekbone, and his devilish brown eyes were now bloodshot and puffy from crying.
Devyn rushed forward despite Cato trying to hold her back and embraced Leighton in a hug. He stopped and almost immediately dropped his ax. He clutched onto Devyn so tightly she thought she would break. "I can't do this anymore, Devyn! I can't! I think I'm going insane! Please help me!" He sobbed, and Devyn shushed him softly.
"When was the last time you had proper food or water?" She asked.
"I've eaten a few berries when I find them, but that's it, and I steal water from the lake when the careers aren't looking," Cato scoffed from Leighton's words, but the two District seven tributes pushed him aside.
"Here. Come here," Devyn sat him down as he wiped his tears away. She dug through her backpack and handed Leighton her half of the squirrel, five elderberries, and a mint leaf.
"No, Devyn, no," he tried pushing the food away, but Devyn forced his hands open.
"Take it, I have more," Leighton accepted it slowly, nibbling on a piece of the squirrel. "Where have you been sleeping?" Leighton pointed up at the trees, and Devyn nodded.
"Do you have anything? Any supplies or weapons besides your ax?" Leighton shook his head.
"Other than the clothes on my back. I picked the ax off a deserted camp I found on the second day."
"Are you planning on staying here and eating up all of Devyn's food?" Cato cut in, and Devyn snapped her head to look at him.
"Cato!" She scolded him, and he shrugged.
"No, actually. I'm only here because I was planning on killing you because I thought you were hurting her."
"I would never lay a hand on her —"
"Oh sure, and the eagerness to track her down and kill her seemed to be all you can think about. Yeah, other people can hear you talk. Shocker, since you're so loud, right?" Leighton sassed, and Cato's face began to fade red.
"Alright, you two, stop it. This isn't helping anything," Devyn interrupted.
"You better watch your mouth, Kelly —"
"Or what? You're gonna kill me? Good. Do it then. In a situation like this, I'm looking forward to dying. You'd be granting me a wish. So thank you, angel Hadley."
"Leighton shut up," Devyn grumbled.
"I'd rather injure you and watch you bleed out until you're begging for me to kill you —"
"Are you two done yet? This is ridiculous," Devyn said, finally getting their attention. Cato growled a foul word under his breath while Leighton ate an elderberry. The three remained in silence as Leighton finished eating, now just sucking on a mint leaf.
"I better be going before Mr. Psychopants finally snaps," he said, standing up and grabbing his ax.
"Here, take this," Devyn pulled out a pack of dried fruit, and Leighton sighed, not even trying to argue as he thanked her. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"
"Of course. I'm a big tough guy. I used to win all my school fights, remember?" He joked, and Devyn ruffled his hair with a smile. They shared one last hug before Leighton did the risky thing of kissing Devyn's cheek before running off. Devyn turned back to Cato, who raised an eyebrow.
"That little shrimp has a crush on you, doesn't he?"
"Oh shut up," Devyn chuckled. "Now, I have to go and refill my water while you will go back to your little friends and yell at them for letting me escape. Okay? I'll meet up with you soon," Cato huffed but nodded. Devyn slung her backpack over her shoulders and kissed Cato's lips, already longing for his touch even if she was getting affection.
"I'll see you soon," he whispered.
"I'll see you soon," she repeated, and he kissed her on the cheek one last time before walking off. The exact same place Leighton had kissed her not minutes before.