Chapter 18- A Plan to Change Us All
We take turns taking watch that night. I don't expect anything to happen, but we can't be too careful. I volunteer to take first watch. We are a sight to see- Cato is leaned against a tree, my head against his chest, his arm around me, head slightly resting on top of mine. Lucas has his head lying in my lap, and I stroke his hair, watching as his tensed muscles relax as he drifts off to sleep. I have a lot of time to think, but nothing pleasant to think about. I start thinking about our escape, not really about the how, but the after. I have no idea what we are to do if- when, I tell myself, think positive- we get out of this awful place. Nowhere in Panem would be safe.
My mind goes to home, and how the chances of seeing my brothers and Father again were slim to nothing. Not if I wanted to keep them safe. No doubt, they will question them, and check in often to see if any word of me has come up. I don't want to give them anything to have to lie about. It will be safer if they know nothing.
I twist Xavier's ring around my finger, and continue to keep watch, my mind filled with Cato, home, and escape.
I end up keeping watch longer than planned, and only when I feel my eyes getting heavy, and don't want to change it, do I gently shake Cato awake, and flinch when his eyes flicker open, instantly alert. He nods, telling me I can go to sleep now, and I start to wonder if he had always been that alert when waking up, if it was something he had trained for before entering the Arena, or if it was something else the Games had done to him.
* * * * * *
I wake up to what looks like Cato trying to move without waking me up. I lean up and off him quickly, letting him escape.
"I didn't want to wake you. Sorry," Cato says.
"I'm a light sleeper. Don't blame yourself." I tell him.
Cato looks around. "I don't think things are going to be the same after today, Angel."
I don't want to say I agree. "How do you figure?"
He shakes his head. "Can you not... Feel it?"
I sigh, and reluctantly nod. "Something is going to happen... I won't be surprised if there is more than one death today."
Determination shines in Cato's eyes. "Let's make sure it isn't one of us, hmm?"
I smile a little. "That would be nice."
Cato gives a hard laugh. "Nice? In the Games? Don't be silly love."
I bite my lip. "Cato..."
He tilts his head. "Yes?"
I shake my head. "What... Is this?"
He catches on quickly. "I... Am not sure yet. That is up to you." He holds out his hand. "Should we go catch some breakfast?"
I look at his hand, and down to Lucas asleep in my lap. I gently lift his head off and lie it down on the sleeping bag he is curled up in. "We? You mean me?"
Cato looks taken aback. "I can hunt, thank you very much!"
I scoff. "Prove it!"
"First one with two kills wins." Cato challenges.
"Too easy." I accept.
I grab his hand, and snatch up my bow and quiver of arrows. I head off in one direction while Cato stalks off in another.
"Don't stray too far," Cato calls to me.
"Worry about yourself," I tell him. I can practically hear him smiling.
Needless to say, I caught my kills easy, bringing back a decent looking squirrel, and a plump rabbit. I'm skinning them as Cato comes into our little clearing, carrying with him a pretty good squirrel.
Cato looks at me, and laughs- a real, carefree laugh that I'm not sure has ever been heard in the Games before. "I swear, this was pure luck, and nothing else."
I smile, and laugh a little myself. "I was going to give you some credit there for a moment."
He shakes his head. "I didn't really know how hard it was, but I will say I didn't have high hopes in the beginning anyway."
I study him for a moment, as he walks over and sits down next to me. "I didn't imagine you... Like this."
He scoffs. "What? Not enough of the full of it guy you were expecting?" He shakes his head. "Don't worry, he's there. For some reason... I'm just this completely different person around you."
"Bad boy gone nice?" I joke.
He actually nods slowly. "Yeah. That's a way to put it... But only for you, Princess."
I look down, not knowing how to respond.
We finish cooking the food, and Lucas joins us while we eat. As we are almost done, we all snap to attention as we hear someone crashing through the woods.
A girl comes stumbling into our clearing, and was met with an arrow notched and aimed at her face; a sword drawn, ready to strike; and two knives, prepared to throw.
The girl- Elias- has a wild look in her eyes, and she takes a few steps back, her hands held up in surrender. "Don't kill me... Please," she whimpers.
Cato lowers his sword, and I look at him in shock. Cato? Lowered his sword?
I hesitate, but I lower my bow. As soon as the arrow is pointed at the ground, Lucas slides his knives away.
Elias still looks worried, as she should be. She doesn't speak.
"Cato?" I ask.
"Yes, love?"
Elias blinks, probably questioning what she had just heard. Don't blame her.
"What... Are you doing?"
"Bringing my plan to action. Elias here-" he looks to her. "That is your name, correct?"
She nods.
"Yes, Elias, we need her help."
I must look so confused, because I really was. "Um... Go on then?"
"Don't worry. It's going to work," Cato smiles, and steps closer to Elias.
He leans close to her, and whispers something in her ear. She keeps nodding, and Lucas and I look at each other in question. He shrugs his shoulders in question, and I do the same.
Cato steps back. "I... I can try." Elias speaks softly.
"It is the only way I can think of." Cato tells her.
"I understand... And I suppose I have nothing to lose." Elias gives a humorless, shaky laugh.
Cato doesn't contradict her. "Head that way," he points north, to the side of us. "You should come across it in a mile or two."
She nods. It's quiet for a moment, and I hear her stomach rumble. I turn around, and grab a leg of rabbit meat. I walk over to her, putting it in her hand.
"Th- Thank you..." Elias looks surprised.
I give a sort of half smile, and Elias heads in the direction Cato had pointed out. "Hope to see you in a bit!" Elias calls over her shoulder.
Cato gives a small wave, and then turns to us. "I don't expect we'll ever see her again."
My eyebrows draw together. "What?"
He sighs. "Care to hear my plan, you two?"
We huddle close together, and you could hear the birds cry in the silence as we waited for Cato to explain.
"Do you know... Exactly... Where we are? In the arena?" Cato whispers.
Lucas and I shake our heads.
"We're less than a mile from the very edge." Cato tells us.
I am still confused, and can see it in Lucas's face as well. "Isn't it like... Electric though? So no one escapes?" Lucas asks.
Cato nods.
"Then... I don't see what you're getting at here," I say.
I can tell he wants us to keep guessing, that he is having fun with this. "Elias is from District Five." He tells us.
"So?" Lucas asks.
Cato sighs quietly, as we are all still barely talking. "What do they do there?"
"Power." I mutter, a light going on in my head. Cato can tell. "But... How? There's somewhere to turn it off- in the Arena?" I ask.
Cato nods. "I don't really know why, but there is one. I just hope she's paid attention when they were teaching them all their future jobs... I'm not sure if it will work. They could kill her as soon as she gets close. But I have this feeling that they'll let her shut it down."
"Why would they do that?" Lucas asks.
"To get a better show." I answer, knowing it's the truth as soon as I say it.
Cato nods. "I hope you can both run fast."
Lucas laughs. "We don't have much of a choice, do we?"
Cato smiles. "Nope. Not at all. This is life or death, man. And it isn't going to be easy outside of this Arena either. I hope you're ready for it."
"We'll have to be." I sigh.
Cato nods. "Now, pack everything up. We're going to head parallel to the closest force field- the thing keeping us all in the Arena. We can't head straight towards it until the powers down. Otherwise things could get tricky... More than they already are and will be."
Lucas and I nod, understanding, and we break out of our little huddle.
We pack up, shoving what we can in the two bags we have and leaving the rest behind. Afterwards, Lucas and I start heading the way Cato leads. We're walking slowly, with Lucas running ahead every now and then- I'm sure he's excited he finally has something to look forward to.
Sooner than I would have expected, we all hear a loud buzzing kind of noise, and Cato grabs my hand, pulling me along with him as he starts to run towards the boundary. I grab Lucas's wrist, dragging him along.
We all let go of each other as the Gamemakers begin to show us their tricks.