Reprogram 8
Axel POV
We made our way to the Cornucopia. No one was there. I didn't know what to do, so I pulled out a knife. Hazel eyed it wearily and pulled out her axes. Then, out of the other side of the clearing, came the Careers. Cato, Clove, and Marvel. We let them approach us, but they stopped twenty yards away from us. I noticed Clove and Marvel standing closer than Cato was with Clove. Hazel had her eyes glued on Cato, but she didn't look scared. In fact, she looked at ease. I was worried about what that meant. Clove stepped forward and smiled.
"Hello, Axel. Hazel." I felt a thrill go through me when she said my name. "I see you never joined our team, Hazel. I was under the impression Cato would be convincing you to join us?" She looked pointedly at Cato, who didn't move his eyes from Hazel's. When he said nothing, Clove cried, "NOW, MARVEL!"
She lunged at me and held her knife to my throat. Marvel jumped at Cato, and he, horribly taken by surprise, fell to his knees as Marvel held him at spear-point. I kneed Clove in the stomach, and she went oof as the breath whooshed from her lungs. She sliced a thin line across my neck and climbed on top of me.
"Drop the knife. And don't try that again, or I'll cut your head off."
"Never!" I punched her in the face and jumped up, spinning around to face her. She lunged at me again. My knife caught her in the arm, but she kept coming at me. The hilt slipped from my hand and Clove knocked me flat on the ground.
"Don't try that again." She forced me to my knees and held me at knife-point like Marvel was doing with Cato. Hazel stood frozen in horror, watching me and Cato on our knees. When Clove spoke again, it was directed at Hazel.
"Choose now. Your best friend, or your lover. We'll slaughter the other." My heart fell past my stomach when Clove said that.
"Hazel! You- oh Lord. You and Cato-" I felt sick with my revelation. That was why she used to be so afraid of him, but wasn't anymore. That's why she kept sneaking off. That's why she hadn't taken her eyes off him since we got in the clearing. Oh, God. Hazel was in love with Cato. And I was going to die.
Hazel POV
As I look at the stalemate in front of me, I frown. One will live. One, not five. The boy I love, my best friend, the strong Careers, and me. Four will die, and I will not let things go without a fight.
I bring my axe so the blade is level with my shoulder. "No, put that down," Clove says. "You may not use your weapons, otherwise we will kill them both." I drop my axe slowly. "Choose," Clove reiterates. I don't speak, pondering decisions. I haven't spoken since yesterday, when I told Axel I wanted to sleep.
Axel. Amazing, bloodthirsty, cruel, destructive. He was always there for me. Through thick and thin, mine and Cato's trysts, when I was terrified of my stalker. Axel refused to give up on me. How can I live without him? He has a cruel exterior, but a soft and caring interior. He is such a big part of my life now, I don't know what I'd do without him.
Cato. Brutal, masochistic, loving, sweet, adorable Cato. My lover. I'm certain now, the love of my life. I can't live without him, his huge bulging muscles that protect me as well as snap the necks of meaningless tributes. The one I reprogrammed. The one who let down his steel walls to let me love him.
Oh, Lord. How do I choose? I look at Clove, who is smiling viciously. "Ten," she says. "Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One." By one, I still haven't made my decision. "All right." She turns to Axel. "Any last words? Requests?" Axel looks her square in the eyes and says,
"A kiss from you." Clove bites her lip and bends down, tenderly kissing Axel. His fist flies out and punches her backwards. She gets up angrily, wiping her mouth, but Axel has no weapons. Clove will win this fight.
"Axel!" I scream out, thinking this will buy me more time. "I choose Axel." I can't look at Cato, though I can feel his eyes on me. Clove stops trying to attack Axel and smiles.
"Fine." She picks up Axel's knife and throws it to him. He comes to stand by my side. "Kill Cato," Clove orders Marvel. He obediently raises his spear. Cato flips around and kicks Marvel's feet out from under him. He crumples to the ground and Cato jumps up, pulling a knife from his pants leg. "You didn't disarm him?!" Clove shrieks.
And Cato moves in with his knife and stabs Marvel in the chest. Marvel gives a cry of rage and pain, and, with his last act of defiance, stabs his spear through Cato's stomach. I, upon seeing this, can't stay still any longer. I slash my axe into Clove's thighs. She is preoccupied with watching them fight, and doesn't notice me. Clove stays on her feet, surprisingly, but I blow past her and run to Cato's side.
A cannon booms, and I scream, thinking Cato's dead. It's Marvel, though, and I can't help but feel relieved. I collapse by Cato and take his hands in mine. "You're going to live, Cato," I say. "You're going to live, and you're going to win." He glances at me with unfocused, gorgeous ice blue eyes.
"No," he chokes. "No, you win. I love you." It sounds like final words. My eyes are heavy with tears and they begin to spill over.
"Cato," I say, "Cato, I'm so sorry. I should never have left you. And you died protecting me."
"I...forgive you. Don't...blame yourself." He can barely speak. The tears are free-flowing down my face now, and I lean down and kiss Cato gently. His lips are bloody, and he hacks up more blood.
"I love you, too," I say. "Forever." The love of my life is dying beneath me. This fact is seeping through my entire body like a chilling rain.
"Win," he chokes out, squeezing my hands with a last burst of strength. I kiss him again, and by the time I pull back, the cannon has fired. I begin to sob heavily now, thinking that my first and only love has left the world. I am not a hysterical girl, but considering what has just happened, I think I'm allowed to sob a bit. I lean my head down on Cato's chest and continue to cry.
Axel fights Clove on the other end of the clearing, and I watch through what I'm sure are glassy eyes. Axel and Clove are evenly matched, and neither was giving up. Axel began to gain the upper hand on Clove, fighting hard and furiously. The tears leach out of my eyes. Cato is dead. I keep telling myself this, but it's not sinking in. A heavy feeling comes over me, like a thousand-pound weight on my chest. The crushing agony doesn't lift, and soon it's a chore to keep my eyes open. I just want to die.
I look over at Axel. He has Clove pinned to the ground. He kisses her gently, and she threads her fingers into his hair. The he slits her throat. Her cannon fires. Tears are cascading down my cheeks, and Axel walks towards me.
I close my eyes tightly, sobbing against the chest of the man I love. He doesn't stir, though I will him with all my heart to rise, wrap his arms around me, and kiss me. I mentally plead with him. Cato, please, get up. I love you, I love you, I love you. I'm too heartbroken to speak a word. I just hug my dead lover's body as tightly as I can, my head on his muscular chest. So little time we had together. And I wasted most of it being scared of him. Someone jars my shoulder. With difficulty, I pry my eyes open and focus on Axel.
He smiles sadly down at me. "I'm so sorry, Hazel." I don't unwrap my arms from around Cato. Axel sits beside me and asks me, "Why didn't you tell me about you and Cato?" My lip trembles at the sound of his name, and I bury my face in his shirt. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry," Axel says.
I raise my face from Cato's tearstained shirt and speak my first words since his death. "I just want to die." My voice is harsh and scratchy, and I know I look like death. I don't care, though. I want Cato. Axel looks at me with concern.
"What? No. Cato didn't want that." How he knows, I have no idea. I reluctantly let go of my lover's body and walk shakily but purposefully into the woods. I look around for what I need and find it. Nightlock. I walk back into the clearing with a handful of it. I have to say good-bye to Axel. He sees the berries in my hands and rushes forward. I snatch the berries away.
"No," he pleads, eyes wide in desperation. "Hazel, no. Your family." Coriander. I shouldn't do this to her. But I can't live without Cato. I let Axel pry the berries from my hands and walk over to Cato's body, cold and lifeless. I bend down and squeeze his hand once. I can't cry anymore. Not now. I walk to Marvel's body next and pull out of his heart the knife Cato used to kill him. I take this knife and plunge it into my own stomach. I fall to the ground, eyes fixed on Axel. He takes one look at me and eats the Nightlock. And then I black out.