A/N: thank you FiConta, Rocket Summer, and PeetaMellark'sKatniss for the reviews. And the thing you were sort of asking for (at least two of you) will come some time later. There's still food to blow up and some deaths! And RiffTrax is made of win.
Chapter 10
Peeta ran for his life. Cato had gotten a lucky slash and now the baker's son was worried about his bleeding tricep, running to a place where he could hide. The wound wasn't deep, but he could still get blood poisoning. At this point his only chance was to reunite with Katniss, some how. He continued to run before he collapsed on the riverbed.
Peeta smiled when he spotted a cave above his spot. Wrapping up his wound, he started to climb up. He would wait there for Katniss, if she comes or not.
I was happy to find out how quiet Rue could be. I was hunting for some rabbits while she kept a lookout for the remaining Careers. My eyes, trained by years of hunting, spot a rabbit flying through the underbrush. I send my arrow and it pierces right though the rabbits eye, just like at home. I hope that my increasing skill with this bow does ruin me if I get home.
Rue comes bounding up, smiling. "So is that how you got the 11?" Instead of laughing, like how I would at home, I just smile back.
"No. I shot an arrow though the apple in the Gamemaker's pig. I guess it was for their banquet after the private sessions. Scared some of them but angered the Head." The small girl is giggling, and I can't help but just see Prim in her place. And that makes me love her more. That thought sends my thinking back to what Peeta had said during his interview. When he said he loved me on national TV.
Rue, looking at my face, says a thing that scares me. "You love him, don't you?" I stare at her like slugs are coming out of her nose.
"Who?" When she starts giggling, it hits me. She means Peeta. My face goes red and her giggles turn into a real laugh.
"You do! The Gamemakers may just have to change the rules this year; I don't think anyone would want to see two lovers have to kill each other. I don't think even President Snow would." Sure, I may love her but right now I just want to strangle her. I'm not ready to come to a decision about him. As I start to prepare the rabbit, she asks me a simple question.
"When do the Careers lose?" I look up to her, thinking back on all of the Games I have watched.
"When they have no food…wait, what is District 3 again? They said something about him having an experiment."
"Electronics, I believe. What does that have to do with…oh!" Rue's face lights up with understanding. "You think that the boy from 3 has rigged the landmines from the beginning to protect their food stash, don't you." I give her a curt nod. She leads the way to the lake, just a short sprint from the Cornucopia. I slip up close enough to hear them talking while she stays back.
"The only problem with the landmines is that if someone set one off, most likely the rest would go off and destroy the food. There's a chance that wouldn't happen, but I'm not one hundred percent sure." Not recognizing the voice, I assume it's the kid from 3.
"That's nice. Does anyone else know?" I only know what they're saying, and I'm not in the mood to risk being spotted.
"Maybe the girl from 5. I believe you refer to her as Foxface." I slip away after this point and make my way back to Rue. I had heard enough for me to make some sort of plan.
"So, what's the plan…Katniss?" I can tell from the slight hesitation she wanted to call me something else. I ignore it, just like the feeling I get when I think of Peeta. That warm sensation that's foreign to me.
"You need to make some fires to lure them away. Two should be enough to get them far enough away. While they're gone I'll blow up their stash from here. From what I heard it could only take setting one of to eliminate the entire stash, along with the rest of the mines." She nods to me before disappearing back into the underbrush. Now that my only ally in these Games has left, I'm abandoned to my thoughts. And that kid who gave me bread so long ago is the only one in them.
"Peeta…" I mumble in my sleep. I was finding the current dream to be very bizarre. It involved Peeta and myself in some…well, situations I wouldn't ever actually dream of. We were standing near the Meadow back home while two kids with features similar to ours ran around.
Soon I'm startled awake by the loud yelling coming from the camp below my position. I guess Rue has set one of the fires to pull them out of the way. I wait until the Careers from 1 and 2 leave, having the boy from 3 stay behind. I move into a better position and draw out a single arrow, trying to figure out where the mines may be. As he wanders around the pile, he reaches a spot where it seems that there's one very close to him.
Pulling back, I line the arrow up with his body. I aim for his left kidney before letting it fly. It soars low and stabs him though the left side of his butt. But to my good fortune, he steps right onto one of the mines and his body explodes into a giant mess of gore. The other mines go off also, ripping apart the giant stash. I find myself get tossed back 10 feet, rolling around the undergrowth. I wait for a couple of moments until two of the Careers come crashing through.
A smile crosses my face when I see how enraged Cato is. He falls to the ground and starts to slam it as Clove looks over the carnage. I sit far away; trying to hold back a laugh when I realize one of them is missing. 'Where is District 1?' The worst thing that could think of went through my head. 'If that bastard got Rue, there will be hell to set lose!' I race though the woods, running towards the second fire. That one hadn't gotten set, so I was already assuming the worst.
Then a scream pierces the night air and I start to run faster than ever.
Peeta had been searching for food when he heard a scream. 'Katniss', he thought. He knew he'd have to thank Cato at some point for not cutting up his legs as he ran towards where the scream had come from. The back of his left arm ached from the wound, but it appeared he had avoided a major infection.
Smashing through the undergrowth, he reached the screams. Marvel was there, his spear in the body of the small girl from District 11. He charged forward, when an arrow came from the right…targeting him.
A/N: I know this chapter is a little short, but I really want to drag this out a little. Plus, I sort of wanted to make the chapter with Rue's end and the beginning of the fluff to be together. Why, because I can.
Chapter 10 edited at: 10:47 AM PST on 30 DEC 2010.