I run as fast as my legs will let me but even that isn't enough. I can hear Cato gaining on me. I know that he's not armed, he left his sword out by the Cornucopia, but his sheer strength is weapon enough.

I should climb a tree. Scale the limbs of a willow and perch myself way up high where he can't reach me, but I know that if I stop for even a second, he and his wrath will descend upon me before I can blink.

He's roaring every foul name I know at me, even some that I haven't heard before. I want to turn around and shoot him but I'm scared that he's close enough to knock the bow from my hands. Without my bow I'm most certainly dead.

"Katniss!"

Rue's voice pierces the air and I freeze.

"Katniss!" She's frightened. She's not shouting my name because she's seen me and is glad that I'm alive. She's screaming in it the hope that I'm nearby and able to help.

"Rue!" I call back, momentarily forgetting about my pursuer. I'm about to take off in the direction of her voice when something rams into the back of me, knocking all the wind out of me. I hit the ground with a sickening thud, struggling to draw breath. Cato grabs me by the hair and forces me around to face him. He's stood over me, one leg on either side of my body.

"Katniss!" Rue screams again. I open my mouth to tell her that I'm near when Cato slams his fist into my windpipe.

"This is where your story ends, Girl on Fire." He growls. His hands close around my neck and he starts to tighten them, gradually cutting off my air supply.

A part of me wants to let him. Is telling me to close my eyes and let the life rush from my body, that way it'll all be over quickly.

The other part, the survivor, tells me to fight. My mother needs me, my sister needs me and right now Rue needs me.

I gather up as much strength as I can muster and raise the hand holding my bow and hit him around the head with it. The blow is enough to incapacitate him for a moment because his hands leave my throat and he falls backwards.

I need a few moments to regain my composure, to catch my breath, but I don't have a few moments. Cato will be up and on my trail again in no time and I need to save Rue.

"Rue!" I call out a little breathlessly but loud enough for her to hear. She shouts my name again and I follow to sound of her voice to a small clearing. She's trapped under a net. Her writhing body reminds me of the fish me and Gale used to catch in the lake. The boy from District 1 is stood over her, spear in hand.

Cato comes crashing into the clearing, blood dripping from the spot on his temple where my bow hit him. He takes one look at me and steps forward menacingly. Overcome by a sudden rush of adrenaline I clench my fist and force it as hard as I physically can into his temple. Already injured from my bow, the punch takes a little more out of him that it would have done otherwise and he collapses to the floor, unconscious.

I turn to take out the boy from District 1 just in time to see him plunge to spear down and into Rue's stomach.

He doesn't have time to bask in his triumph. My arrow sinks into his neck before the smile reaches his lips and he's dead before he hits the ground.

I rush over to Rue. I had hoped that the damage done would be slight, that I'd somehow be able to save her, but I can see that she cannot be saved. She can see it, too. She isn't crying, begging me to save her, but looking up at me. Just looking. Her wide eyes are glassy and I can see the life dripping out of them.

I free her from the net. I want to remove the spear but there's no use in causing her more pain now, not when she's so close to death.

"Did you destroy the food?" She whispers.

I nod.

She smiles. "Good."

I try to return it but I can't. Tears are threatening to spill down my cheeks. I don't want her to die. She's been my only friend in this hellhole.

"You have to win."

I nod. How can I refuse her that? I will win. For her. It would be an insult to her if I were to give up now.

The cannon fires and I know that she's gone where I cannot reach her. Anger consumes me. At the Capitol. At the Gamemakers. At the boy from District 1 and at Cato. I can't take my anger out on the Capitol or the Gamemakers. I've already killed the boy from District 1.

Slowly, I rise from my space next to Rue's body. Her blood is smeared across my hands.

I pluck an arrow from my quiver and position it on my bow. I take aim, pointing it directly at Cato. I could shoot him in the head, ending his life quickly and painlessly. But I want him to suffer, the same way he'd want me to. The same way Rue did. He's coming around now. Raising his head slightly and pressing a hand to his forehead where I'm sure a vicious headache rages after my blows.

He freezes when he sees me stood above him, my arrow pointed directly at his heart. I watch him silently as his eyes find Rue's body and then the body of the boy from District 1.

"Are you going to kill me, Katniss?" He asks me, but I don't answer. I won't answer. I won't give him the chance to talk me out of this.

I don't say a word, not one, but I keep my eyes fixed on his, staring him down. I don't look away for even a second. Not even when my arrow hits its target and his mouth opens in a silent scream of agony.