Chapter 14: The New Rule
Later on that night, we watch the daily death recap play in the sky. The boy from district 3 and the boy from 10 both come up. Then we realise that the bomber survived. I know it must have been Katniss but I don't tell Cato because he will go mad. We try and ration the food that is in our backpacks, I have 3 apples, a pack of crackers and 5 bread rolls. Cato has 2 apples, 2 rolls and a pack of dried fruit.
I take first watch but I end up staying up the while night. The next morning I wake up Cato and we have a small breakfast of 1 apple each and half a bread roll. We pack up are stuff and then we hear Claudius Templesmith's voice boom into the speakers. "Congratulations to the remaining 6 tributes, there is a slight rule change so now there can be 2 victors if they both originate from the same district"
Am I hearing right? Me and Cato exchange looks then we both hug each other. "We could both go home.." I say.
Cato smiles and I run over and kiss him. I realise now how much I want to go home with Cato.
We try and work out who is left.
"There is us, girl on fire and lover boy, the girl from 5 who looks like a fox and Thresh" I say.
"Ok I think Foxface will be an easy kill, lover boy can't hold on much longer with that leg and girl on fire will have to protect both off them... so I guess Thresh is our only threat" says Cato.
"I haven't seen him since the games began" I say.
"Yeah I guess he is hiding" says Cato.
We set off to go and hunt but we find no one. After an hour Cato trips over a log and cuts his arm on a small knife that is dug into the ground. I quickly help him up and grab a bandage from the first aid kit and tie it round his arm. "Who's is this knife?" I say.
"I don't know maybe someone dropped it?" he says.
I pick up the knife and put it into my vest. We go back to the lake and swim across to the other side.
"We should be safe here, we can make camp and be out of sight" I say.
My clothes are dripping wet from swimming so I take them off and just leave my underclothes on. When I take them off I realise how dirty I am, I dive into the cool lake and begin to scrub the dirt of my body.
"Come on!" I shout at Cato, I splash water over him.
"I'm gonna get you back!" he shouts.
He takes off his clothes and leaves on his underwear and then he dives in and starts splashing water all over me.
The weather is hot and the lake is cool so we spend the rest of the afternoon playing in the lake.
We give our clothes a good scrub down , but there is nothing to clean them with. "I wish we had some soap" I say.
Just then a parachute comes down, I open and find one bar of soap. "Our first parachute!!" I exclaim. We scrub out bodies and clothes with the soap an after we smell nice and clean.
We get out of the lake and leave our clothes out to dry. Then I clean mine and Cato's weapons. After everything is cleaned up- including our clothes water bottles and weapons- I put back in my dry clothes and knife vest.
"You know what I could do with right now, some hot food" I say.
"Me too" says Cato. Just then a silver parachute floats down by my feet. We open it and find some chicken and rice. We eat half of the meal and save the rest for tomorrow.
I drink a lot of water and lay out my sleeping bag next to Cato, I dream of home and me and Cato living happily in the victors village.