Chapter 10
Bloodbath, Part 2

From every holoprojector

The main holo-scene being shown of the Hunger Games was three Careers—Marvel, Cato, and Marina—fighting and killing at the mouth of the Cornucopia. (As for Glimmer, she was flitting around outside the Cornucopia, trying to shoot arrows at tributes; once she hit her tribute-target, but the rest of the time she missed. Glimmer's actual kills? None.)

Then a window opened up in the main holo-scene, in the upper-right corner. This new window showed the face-off between Clove Fuhrman of Two and Primrose Everdeen of Twelve.

But this new window was only a small window, for two reasons. This would not be Clove's first kill; and Clove killing Twelve's twelve-year-old goody-two-shoes was a foregone conclusion. Thus to a Capitol audience, the Clove-Primrose "battle" lacked drama.

By the tail of the Cornucopia

Clove said scornfully, "Put the knife down, child. Don't stick yourself before you die."

Prim thought, "Child"? When you're only fifteen yourself, Clove?

Aloud, Prim said, "You seem very—"

Being in danger gave Prim a moment of brilliance: She can't throw her knife if I'm right up against her. So Prim rushed forward one-and-a-half meters, surprising Clove.

"—sure that I'd—"

Prim's body bumped into Clove's. Prim held a small hope that she would knock Clove down, then Prim could run away zigzagging without growing a knife in her back.

"—stab myself—"

Success! Clove's knife now was pressed flat between the two girls' bodies, no danger to Prim at all.

Then Prim felt resistance against her left hand, at the same moment that Clove gasped in pain.

Prim realized that all of her attention had been on Clove's knife, and so Prim had forgotten the knife that she herself held. The same knife that had just made a shallow stab in Clove's right leg.

Accidentally.

What would Katniss do? Prim wondered.

What Prim did next was no accident. With grisly inspiration, Prim pulled her knife out, and sidestepped to the right as she raised the knife several centimeters. Prim deeply stabbed Clove in the middle of her hips, just above Clove's mons pubis; Prim slashed to the left, then diagonally up and to the left, letting Clove's right inguinal ligament guide her blade. One second later, Clove's right external iliac artery and her right external iliac vein both were severed.

Prim pulled her knife free of Clove's body, sidestepped to the right again, and watched as Clove dropped to the grass.

Blood spurted from the slash-wound for about three or four seconds. Clove did not scream, but she whined—quietly enough that nobody at the mouth of the Cornucopia could hear her. Then the spurting stopped and the whining silenced, except for one last exhalation; Clove was dead.

In death, Clove shit her underwear. Prim the healer was used to the smell of feces—but not so strong.

No spurting arterial blood marred Prim's clothing—her sidestepping had avoided this—but some blood-spray speckled the yellow backpack. Prim decided she could live with this.

Prim was surprised to discover that her legs now felt rubbery.

In Mentor Central

Enobaria leaped up and spun to glare at Haymitch. "What the fuck, Haymitch? Your girl has had illegal combat training!"

"Language!" Effie squeaked fearfully.

Haymitch paused for several seconds, letting the other twenty-one mentors note the irony of a Career mentor complaining about combat training. Then Haymitch drawled, "The only combat training Primrose has ever had, sweetheart, is what the Training Center gave her. Your girl died because Primrose is smart, and Clove was cocky."

Haymitch raised a glass of whiskey to Enobaria in a sarcastic salute.

Effie squeezed Haymitch's shoulder as she murmured in his ear, "I love how you told off Enobaria."

Meanwhile
By the tail of the Cornucopia

Peeta limped up to Prim. "Are you okay?"

Prim turned to face him. She was healthy and she had no blood on her—which was amazing, because the grass around Clove's corpse was red. But while Prim's body and clothes were in excellent shape, her face looked about to cry. "I killed her, Peeta. Clove—I killed Clove."

"I see that. But Prim, we need to go."

"I know," Prim said. "But hold on a little."

Prim turned to face dead Clove. Prim brought her left hand, still holding the bloody-bladed knife, down to her side. Her posture stiffened. She brought her right hand up to her eyebrow, giving a salute like Peeta had seen Peacekeepers on holo give to President Snow. Prim said, "Rest in peace, Clove. You were a worthy opponent."

Prim broke the salute, turned, moved to the left of the backpack, and grabbed one strap of the backpack in her right hand. Peeta grabbed the other strap in his left hand. "Let's go," Prim said, sniffling.

Girl, boy, and backpack moved toward the woods as fast as still-pained Peeta could move.

Windmilla, who had watched the whole event from the forest, now murmured, "Whoa."

Minutes later
Near the woods

Prim asked Peeta, "Why are you limping? You're in pain!"

Peeta smiled crookedly. "Seconds after the Gong, just as I was about to run past the Cornucopia, Cato charged me. But instead of him killing me, I put him on the ground. My arm could have crushed his throat, we both realized it, but I didn't. He didn't hurt me at all."

"Then who—?"

"The girl from Seven surprised me. She kicked me in the balls, then started punching me."

Peeta looked up at the sky. "Thank you, Johanna Mason, for training your tribute to be like you."

Prim smiled, then her smile disappeared. "Peeta, I killed someone! What do you think my mother and sister will say when they find out?"

Peeta thought about it. "Your mother will understand, I'm sure. I think she'll be glad you're still alive."

"I hope so," Prim said sadly. "Healers aren't supposed to kill."

Peeta said, "As for Katniss, she probably already knows. Mr. Berg, who is our high-school principal, I'm sure he's already gone on the public-address system and told the whole school about us."

Peeta looked up at the sky then, as he and Prim hurried toward the trees. Peeta grinned, waved, and said, "Hey, Mr. Berg, assure Katniss her sister is doing fine now. In fact, Prim is better off than me at the moment!"

Then Peeta dropped the clown act. "Prim, when Katniss finds out about Clove, I think she'll understand you better than everybody else in in Twelve will. What was your word for her, practical? Katniss is very practical."

Prim said, "I hope Katniss understands. I hate the idea of disappointing my big sister."

By then, Twelve's tributes and Prim's spoils-of-war yellow backpack had reached the edge of the Cornucopia clearing; they entered the forest.

"Now let's go find water," Peeta said.

Meanwhile
At the mouth of the Cornucopia

Cato was frustrated: the District Ten girl whom he was trying to stab with his sword kept dancing back out of reach. Cato growled, "You are a worm, girl. A sheep. Good only for killing. Sooner—"

The cannonbait girl laughed at Cato. In her distinctive Ten accent, she drawled, "One of us worms killed Clove, don't you know?" She pointed behind the Cornucopia. "You Careers aren't so scary now, you're just more of Snow's rose-lickers."

Marvel maybe put a spear into Ten-Girl's chest then, but Cato didn't look back to confirm. He was running full speed toward the dead District Two girl on the grass.

"CLOVE!" Cato screamed.

Fifteen minutes later
Back in the mouth of the Cornucopia

The scrawny District Three boy was talking to Marina for some reason. Cato did not know why, or care.

Other than Three-Boy, all the tributes who were not Careers had either run off or died. The Bloodbath was over.

ALMOST over, Cato corrected in his thoughts. I still have a score to settle.

Cato and Marvel dragged the corpses of Marlin from Four, and the District Eight boy who had killed him, out of the Cornucopia so that the hovercrafts could recover their bodies.

With that done, Cato counted corpses. Including Clove—The bitch who killed Clove will soon wish she hadn't!—and Marlin, twelve tributes had died. This was the good news. The bad news was, two of the dead were Careers.

Cato walked over to Glimmer, who was separating Cornucopia goodies into piles: food, water, sleeping bags and blankets, tents, fire-starters, night-vision glasses—and of course weapons.

When Glimmer saw Cato, she said, "I'm sorry about Clove."

"Yeah," Cato said. After a few seconds of mutual silence, he said, "Can I see your knife? The one you took from Clove?"

With no hesitation, Glimmer handed over the knife. Its blade looked shiny and clean.

Cato growled, "I see you wiped it clean."

"What?" Glimmer said. She looked confused, but now she also looked wary. She had been kneeling; now she stood.

"Glimmer, cut the act. I know you've always been jealous—"

Glimmer knew better than to turn and run; turning your back on a Career was always stupid. Instead, Glimmer tried to back away from Cato. That was a fine plan—until she tripped over a rolled-up sleeping bag.

One second later, Glimmer lay on her back, on the floor of the Cornucopia. Her left shoulder was lying on some boy's blood.

Two seconds after that, Glimmer's own blood was pooling underneath her.

After stabbing Glimmer, Cato stood up. "You killed Clove, slut, so it's only fair that you die by Clove's knife."

Glimmer's last words were: "But I didn't..."

"I believe you, Glimmer," Marina said in an angry voice. Marina was looking at Cato with anger, but was not making a threatening gesture with a weapon.

Marvel said to Cato, "I should kill you right now," even as Marvel rotated his spear to parade-position.

Three-Boy did not say anything; he just trembled, and he had a wet spot in the front of his pants.

Marvel said to Marina, "Will you help me carry Glimmer outside?" Then he said to Cato, "You, stand aside. If you touch her with even one finger, we go to melee right now, got me?"

"Whatever," Cato said, annoyed at being disrespected.

Cato was still holding the bloody knife. He walked over to Glimmer's bow; Cato cut the bowstring. Cato dropped the knife, then grabbed the quiver. Six times, Cato yanked an arrow out of the quiver and broke the arrow in half.

Meanwhile, Marina and Marvel were carrying Glimmer's corpse out of the Cornucopia. Three-Boy said, "Um, Marina? That offer I made? I've changed my mind."

Three-Boy backed out of the Cornucopia, his eyes on Cato the entire time. When Three-Boy was thirty meters away from Cato, only then did the scrawny boy turn to run away.

Meanwhile, in District Twelve

Head Peacekeeper Cray was in the Hob, eating a bowl of soup that he had "persuaded" Greasy Sae to give him for free. Purnia ran up to Cray then, looking panicked.

Purnia panted out, "Head, Snow called, wanting to talk to you. He said he'd call back in ten minutes, and this was three minutes ago!"

Why is Snow calling me back? Cray wondered.

As Cray and Purnia ran off, Greasy Sae yelled, "Next time, pay for the soup, you hear?"

Seven minutes later
Cray's office

The telephone rang on Cray's desk.

Taking a shaky breath, Cray picked up the receiver. Instead of his usual Yeah, it's Cray, the Head Peacekeeper said formally, "This is Peacekeeper Captain Cray, District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks."

Snow's first words were: "Captain Cray, I maybe have a problem with you."

Cray gulped.

Then he asked, "What kind of problem, Mr. President?"

"Last night, you assured me that the Reaping of Miss Primrose Everdeen was not rigged by you or any other Peacekeeper there, that her Reaping was done properly."

"Yes, sir, I told you that."

"Do you wish to amend your statement now?" President Snow asked calmly.

"No, Mr. President, I stand behind what I said." Though it might bring me an Avoxing—or worse.

Snow calmly said, "Rioting has broken out in District Eight, Captain Cray. My best intelligence says the reason for the riot is that the Eights are convinced that the District Eight male tribute, Spool Paylor, who died in the Bloodbath, was punitively Reaped."

"Mr. President, I did not rig the Reaping against Primrose Everdeen!"

"Victor Abernathy and Mayor Undersee both tell me you did."

"Abernathy the drunk? I wouldn't believe him if he told me the sun is yellow. As for Mayor Undersee, he is way too loyal to his district."

"And Mayor Undersee's daughter sometimes has spoken sentences of questionable loyalty. I am aware of these men's faults."

"Great, so—"

"But here are facts: Miss Katniss Everdeen missed the Reaping due to alleged fatal illness, Dr. Picardo examined her at your insistence, you stated before witnesses that you thought Miss Everdeen was 'faking' illness with the aid of her mother, and Dr. Picardo did not issue his diagnosis of Miss Katniss Everdeen until Miss Primrose Everdeen had been Reaped."

"Mister President, I was sure he was going to take five minutes there in the shack, then give Everdeen back to me with 'She's faking the whole thing.' Worst case, I figured he'd examine her there in the shack, then say, 'She's really dying.' I never expected Picardo to haul her off to his clinic and spend all afternoon and all night with her!" Cray's voice shifted to a leer: "There's something funny about that, but I can't prove it."

Snow sounded annoyed now: "Stop, Captain Cray. I have thoroughly investigated Dr. Picardo's part in this. He gave Miss Everdeen a complete examination, then he gave her an expensive cure, which was needlessly generous of him. But I have heard not even a whisper that he takes sexual advantage of women for whom he is responsible." Unlike you was unstated but was clearly implied.

Cray gulped again. If Snow knew about Cray whoremongering with desperate District Twelve girls, what else did the president know?

Snow continued, "I am putting you on notice, Captain Cray. If rioting breaks out in District Twelve, I will hold you directly responsible. You are encouraged to prevent this. If this means that you apologize to Miss Katniss Everdeen, do it. If this means you let Miss Everdeen kick you in the shin, do it. Certainly this means that you stop abusing your position. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Mr. President, very clear."

"One last thing. Do you have pen and paper on your desk?"

"Yes, Mister President."

"Miss Katniss Everdeen—I want you to gather up her last three identification photographs, and her complete DNA profile. Email them to the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane."

"To the Head Gamemaker, did you say?"

"Here's the email address to use: scrane .pnm. I told him to expect an email from you soon."

"I'll get right on it, Mr. President."

"See that you do," Snow said. Click.

As sweaty-hands Cray hung up the telephone receiver, his first thought was, This is totally fucked up. As much shit as I've pulled in this dusty, stinky district, I could be Avoxed, or even shot in the back of the head, for something I didn't do? Primrose Everdeen was Reaped because of bad luck, not because of me! Dammit, it's unfair that nobody will believe me!

Cray's second thought was, I wonder why the Head Gamemaker wants Katniss Everdeen's pictures and DNA?