Snowden's POV:
I look out at the lake and see the Cornucopia first. Some distance away, there is the pyramid of supplies. Why is it so far from the camp? I examine the camp. Rue was right, the two girls are dead. The only tributes there are the boy from One, Cato and his fellow tribute from Two, and the boy from Three. The feeling I got when Rue and I were talking about it is back. Three, what is District Three. While I'm trying to remember, Cato shouts and points into the woods. That means Rue's lit the first fire. That should get them away from here. After a brief argument, the four of them leave. Now I'm really uneasy. There is something wrong with those supplies. I'm about to leave the safety of the trees to get a closer look when another tribute creeps onto the plain. They're too big to be Rue and too small to be Gale. That only leaves one other person: the girl from Five with the fox looking face. I watch as she runs across the plain to the pyramid and then start a strange dance through the supplies littered around the pyramid. As she's making her way back, it hits me. Three is tech…and explosives. I look closer at the ground and see the plates we were raised into the arena on. I can't tell anything from here. I need to get closer, and I do. I examine the ground around the plates. I'm right, the land mines have been reactivated. I stand up straight and look towards the sight of the second fire. It's been lit. I don't have much time left. I look at the supplies again and my eyes fall on the apples.
I jog over to the Cornucopia and find several knives that were left behind. I grab two and go back to the supplies. I don't need to be that close, maybe as far as I would need to be for a bow. I throw the first knife and it slices a neat tear into the fabric. I throw the second knife at the same time an arrow flies past my ear. The weapons reach the apples at the same time and the apples fall. I don't have time to run and I'm blown backwards. The landing knocks the wind out of me and I can barely shield myself from the debris that keeps setting off the mines. I feel blood running down my face and put a hand to the ear that was closer to the explosion. It's bleeding and I can't hear anything out of it and I can barely hear out of my right. I don't know what's happened, but I need to get out of sight before the Careers get back. I stand and fall from dizziness. I pull up my hood and crawl to the undergrowth. There's no doubt that the cameras are tuned in on me right now. I just evened the playing field and no one saw it coming.
I almost don't make it back to my hiding place as minutes later Cato bursts onto the plain. I watch from my shelter as his rage explodes. I watch as the boy from Three tosses a rock into the debris field and declares it safe. While the other two tributes try to salvage supplies, Cato shouts at the boy and breaks his neck. I barely hear the resulting canon. I watch as the two calm Cato and seem to convince him that the bomber is dead in the blast. They never saw me use my knives and they don't know about Gale's accuracy with the bow. I make myself comfortable in the shelter and wait for night to come. The only two deaths are two boys, one from Ten and the other from Three. Well, now they know that the bomber survived. I watch as they prepare and head out for the hunt. I settle down for the night.
I stare at the cold camp fire. It was never lit. Rue never made it here. The thought forms a pit in my stomach. It shouldn't. For all I know, she could have ended the alliance. There are only eight of us left. But the feeling doesn't go away and I decide to go find her. I feel responsible for her for some reason. After all, I am fighting so children like her don't have to come back into this place. The Games need to be done with, for good. I turn around, somewhat unsteady, and walk back the way I had come with Rue when we had set up the fires. I'm listening for her four note whistle. She had been the one to point out the mockingjays to me. I had only seen pictures of their sires on videos: jabberjays. They were mutts created by the Capitol to spy on Thirteen. When the rebels realized this, they started sending nonsense back to the Capitol. The mutts were left to die, but they mated with the mocking birds and created the mockingjays. We had agreed to use them to relay that each other was safe.
Instead of the whistle, I hear a scream, a child's scream: Rue.
"Snowden!"
"Rue!" I begin running towards her voice, not caring that this might be a trap. They want to know how I got that twelve in training, then I'll show them how.
"Snowden!"
"I'm coming, Rue!" Laughter reaches my ears. It's only one other person. But there could be another. I burst into the clearing and see the boy from One and the fox faced girl from Five. The two of them are holding the spear. I watch as in slow motion, they push the spear through Rue. Then I explode. I drop the pack and jump at the two tributes. I don't know why they've joined up, but I don't care. I knock the boy unconscious and turn in time to catch the girl as she jumps at me. The two of us are fighting back and forth. She gets a few punches land on me. I manage to break her arm and then a leg. This isn't training I got in the Training Center. This is what Boggs taught me. It's what I've used to survive in situations like this one. The thing that sustains me is the image of Rue's bleeding body on the ground next to me. Finally, I get a hold on her and snap her neck. The canon that goes off brings me back to reality. I look around. The boy is gone. I'll hunt him later. I turn to Rue and cradle her in my arms, careful not to move the spear as I use the girl's jacket to stop the bleeding. Once I'm sure that there's no danger to internal organs, I gently take out the spear. The bleeding starts again and I pull the girl's clothes and use them as bandages. After that, I pick up Rue, my pack, and hurry away from the site. The sudden quiet tells me that the hovercraft has come.
I get us to the stream and rest her on the ground and begin cleaning her wound, using large leaves as bandages. As I'm doing this, I notice that there is no saving her. The spear hit major organs when they drove it into her stomach. I look at her other injuries. They broke her arms and legs. She is burned and not from the fire the Gamemakers set. They tortured her, thinking to lure her partner, me, to them. They didn't count on me losing it. I fight better, deadlier, when I'm angry. It's something that Boggs never told Coin, though, she knows now. It was our secret. It's my key to survival. I start singing until she drifts off and I hear the canon. I let the tears fall before settling her in the tall grass, using weed flowers to cover the spear wound. I kiss her forehead and leave. I walk until I hear the quietness the marks the hovercraft's arrival. I stop and wait until the mockingjays start singing again, Rue's whistle. I start walking again only to realize I don't have the will to keep going. I find a place and start climbing into a tree. Once I'm settled, I see a silver parachute caught in the branches of my tree. I retrieve it and find bread, it's from District Eleven. I look up at the sky.
"My thanks to the people of District Eleven." I say loud enough to be heard. I watch the sky for the deaths. Only the girl from five and Rue have died today. That's all that anyone can handle for today. I think about who is left. There are only six of us. The boy from One, Cato and his partner, Thresh, and me and Gale. The fact the Thresh is still alive makes me start to consider him as a contender. There is something that I have to do and I don't like it. I have to kill Thresh and the best way to do that is going to team up with Cato and his partner, after I kill the boy from One. He is going to be made to pay for killing Rue. I'll start hunting him tomorrow. Right now, I want to sleep.
Hope ya'll liked the change I made to Rue's death. Thanks for reading and please review.