I would like to acknowledge Kaitlin Todd for her invaluable help in the construction of this story. A round of applause, if you will. *Claps*
Thanks to the poll on my page, Foxface now has a name. It's still not concrete, so you can still vote if you want. I'm always interested in other people's opinions.
I have no other news, except updates may get a little sparser over the coming days and weeks- I go back to school on Tuesday and I am going to be bogged down with work all term. That and my extracurriculars guarantee me not even a free minute. So, yeah. Sorry about that, for anyone who cares.
On with the show!
Foxface
My sleep was disturbed by the snapping of branches. I sat bolt upright, looking out to the west. Smoke. Lots of it. There had obviously been some sort of out of control fire. It was settling down now- but what had caused the noise?
I heard footsteps. No, not steps. Someone was running. I slipped out of the ropes and slid to the eastern side of the tree trunk, glancing down. It was the female tribute from District 12. Katniss. She was half-running, half-limping towards the south east. Towards the river. I narrowed my focus. There was a fair amount of blood dripping down her right leg. She must have gotten caught in the fire. More so out of curiosity than anything else, I gathered my supplies, slipped down the tree and followed her, keeping myself distance and hidden, and every wary of the tracker jacker nest to my east. Katniss slowed down. I crouched behind a thick shrub, pushing aside the branches to get a better look. She was at the river. She jumped in, and a small cloud of red haloed around the wound from her burnt leg. I heard more noises. I crouched further and turned to look behind me, pulling Clove's knives from my jacket. There was nothing. I turned back to the river.
Oh.
That's what the noise was.
The Careers had found Katniss.
The Careers, and the other District 12 tribute.
Clove
"There she is, there she is!" Cato started running towards the river. I didn't even try to mask my glee. Another one was about to bite the dust. That put me one step closer.
We leaped over the rocks to the cliff before the river. Sure enough, Catface was taking a dip in the stream. She didn't look too crash hot, either. Her face was blotchy with dehydration and the water around her was ginger pink with what could only be blood. She's injured. At least that will make it easier to kill her.
She looked like a deer in headlights when she spotted us. A mix of fear, revulsion and slight confusion painted her brow and entreated her eyes. She practically leaped out of the water. There was a chase afoot, and I couldn't be more excited to be a part of it. We all waded through the shallower part of the river, each of us sprinting after the District 12 girl. She was fast, we already knew that, but she was significantly slowed down by injury. While she already had a decent head start, we were getting closer by the second. She clawed her way up a tree. I cursed myself for not anticipating that. None of us were very good climbers. By the time we had reached the foot of the tree, she was already crouched near the top. Cato and I both tried climbing, but to no avail. Glimmer shot a feebly aimed arrow from her bow. I could see the girl smirking from behind the trunk. The bow was her discipline, just as knives were mine.
"Why don't you try throwing the sword?"
Well, she was a pain to kill, but at least she had wit. Cato was well and truly royally pissed now. While the prick wanted her dead as much as I do, I still found humour in his frustration. He dropped his pack.
"We stay here until she comes down."
I groaned. If I had my good knives with me I could probably kill her now and save us the trouble. Damn District 5. If I had those knives, 12 would be gone, and 5 would follow. I dropped my pack and sat down on top of it. I wouldn't stray until the Girl on Fire had been extinguished.
