Chapter 13

Attack

Cato pulls himself up off the ground-obviously enraged-and dusts himself off. Katniss is at least seventy-five feet in the air when Glimmer begins to climb. She continues her pursuit of Katniss until the branches begin to snap under her weight-this is one of the few times being starved and skinny would come in handy.

Glimmer tries to shoot at Katniss with her arrows and I hold my breath, but I soon find that Glimmer-as I suspected-cannot shoot accurately. She misses Katniss, but the arrow wedges itself into the tree bark and Katniss retrieves it. She pretends to taunt the Careers, but I know that her true intention would be to utilize the arrow if she could.

The Careers take a moment to conference, and I'm too high up to catch their words. However, I do see the conflict raging on Peeta's face, thought amazingly no one else does. He debates for a moment longer then says, "Oh, let her stay up there. It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning."

I assume what he really means is that by morning he will have some kind of a plan to help Katniss. I smile at just how much he is willing to put on the line for her-his life. He must really love her.

I watch, helpless, as Katniss-who is now in extreme pain, feeling the repercussions of her narrow escape-prepares for the night. I imagine the sleeping bag was too hot for her leg, and because of this she cut a whole open to allow her burned calf to breathe.

She uses some of her precious water to try and cool the burns. I contemplate going to her and offering up my plantain leaves to give her some relief, but I decide against it. Her mentor-Haymitch-will send her something when he thinks she needs it. Besides, Katniss doesn't accept charity.

I descend a few feet down in my tree, so I am at eye level with Katniss. I turn to settle in for the night, but I freeze when my ears hear a peculiar, familiar buzzing sound. My heart thumps in terror, I know this sound: tracker jackers. Dangerous Capitol engineered creatures that sting and leave lumps the size of the plums we harvest. I've learned from my time in the orchards that someone my size can be killed by three stings, and someone Katniss's size can be killed by about five stings. Anything less than the lethal number produces powerful hallucinations that target parts of your mind where fear thrives.

I shudder at the thought of being stung-it wouldn't be the first time, I have come across a nest of two in the orchards, but I never was stung more than once. I eye Katniss's position in the tree, in relation to the nest. She's about fifteen feet under it, and her movements aren't likely to sway the nest, so she should be safe, until she runs out of water.

I rack my brain for a way to get her out of the tree. Then it hits me; Katniss can use the nest against the Careers! Peeta will have to be warned, I know this much, but Katniss can escape!

I move a few branches closer to Katniss and stand, perched in the tree, my eyes burning a hole in her head. When she finally turns to look at me I remain still, allowing her to take in the facts. I am in a tree next to hers, but I want to help her.

I stay fixed in my stance, until I see the corner of Katniss's mouth twitch up, without her conscious thought, to form a ghost of a smile. I know she sees me. I reach my hand out, slowly, silently, and point to the nest above her head.

Her eyes follow my directions and I see her attuned eyes fixate on the nest. I know she's seen it. I mold back into my tree and I lay down for the night. It's significantly cooler without my spare jacket, but nothing I can't handle.

I carefully determine what I think Katniss would be thinking. I come to the conclusion that she should try to cut it down tonight, because I assume the smoke from the fire has knocked them out-it's what we use in 11 when there's a swarm. The Peacekeepers carry smoke guns, but after every swarm there's at least two funerals.

If she were to saw through most of the branch tonight, and wait till morning to drop the nest the rest of the way, while the Careers were sleeping, she's catch them off guard. The only problem with this plan is Peeta. He will surely get stung if he stays with the Careers, and I have to warn him somehow.

Katniss follows my outline, roughly. She does saw through half the nest's branch tonight, but she does so during the anthem, to mask any noise-clever. As she saws through the branch, a silver parachute descends from the sky. It's a gift for Katniss, from her sponsors, and it lands delicately on the ground. I hope it's something for her pain, and judging by her response, "Oh, Haymitch. Thank you." It is.

She quickly dozes off to sleep. I don't. Tonight I will be staying awake; I have to wait until the other Careers drift off to sleep to warn Peeta.

Cato and the girl from 2-Clove-argue about who are taking first watch. No one trusts Peeta, so his name isn't even suggested, I'm surprised they haven't killed him yet-they have found Katniss, but I suspect they want to know what her special skill is. Unfortunately for them, he's not talking.

They finally come to a consensus and leave the boy from one, Marvel, on watch. He's instructed to watch for a few hours, and then wake Glimmer, his district partner. The other Careers quickly drift off to sleep, and Peeta pretends to be asleep facing away form Marvel, I can tell he's wide awake.

He lies there, carefully controlling his breathing so he appears to be sleeping, but from the look in his blue eyes his mind is racing. He's trying to think of a way to save Katniss. In my head I see Peeta attacking the five other Careers, and dying for Katniss. The thought makes me sad, though I know for Katniss to win he must die, and we both want her to get out.

I lie motionless in the trees waiting for Marvel to fall asleep, but he doesn't. Four hours later, at what I judge to be two o'clock, Marvel gently arouses a drowsy Glimmer. She patiently thanks him for waking her up, and takes over watch. For children in an arena being forced to kill one another Marvel was actually quite nice, and Glimmer was pretty patient.

Marvel drops off to sleep in minutes and Glimmer props herself up against a tree. She keeps watch for a solid two hours before her blinks get longer and she starts to doze off. She jerks awake a few times, before falling asleep for good. I wait a solid half hour before I wander out of my tree.

I hit the ground without a sound and make my way over to Peeta. I pull out my slingshot and aim a pebble so that when it flies the arc will cross his line of sight. He's still wide-awake, and when I fire his eyes dart in my direction.

I wave my hand a little, so he can spot me in the darkness. He looks confused for a moment, so I offer a gentle smile.

He smiles back at me, reluctantly, because I'm sure he thinks I want his help, or I want to be his ally, or I need something from him. I don't and I want to tell him so. I point at myself and back at him indicating that he should watch me. He nods, confused.

I smile reassuringly and mouth 'just watch'. He nods and I take off into the trees. I slow my pace so he can follow me with his eyes. I glance over my shoulder as I climb so I can see that he's still watching me.

I wonder how odd he thinks this situation is. He was 'woken'-he probably doesn't know that I knew he was awake-up by a twelve year old who was making him watch her climb a tree, how odd. The fact that he's still watching me, propped up on his elbow, proves how smart he must think I am.

I reach my destination quickly. I am just under Katniss, and I point at her. Peeta nods, understanding my charades game. He has 'Katniss', so I jump up a few more branches and point at the nest of tracker jackers. It takes him a minute to figure out what the blob is, but he gets it-he's intelligent-and he nods at me. So now he has 'Katniss' and 'tracker jackers'.

I take out my sharp rock and make a sawing motion, knowing that in the dark the rock shard will appear to be a knife. I silently thank the Gamemakers for the bright moonlight, so that Peeta can see me. He nods again understanding the message so far, I've added a verb, 'sawing' to our game.

Finally, it's time for the finale. I make a gesture with my hands that shows the nest crashing down, through the trees and bursting open, silently, in my other palm, the 'ground'. He chuckles silently, but nods.

I hope he has the whole message 'Katniss is going to saw the tracker jackers branch down, so you have to move,' but I can't be sure.

He mouths the words 'thank you' and I can tell he means it. He rolls away from the rest of the Careers, he's on the edges of the group now, and it's likely that the tracker jackers will overlook him. But I have to be sure. I point at him, commanding his attention again. I motion 'run' with my fingers, and point to my full water skin. My message is clear, 'you have to run for water'.

He nods and smiles at me, and says 'thank you' again silently. I smile at him and nod. It's a silent message that says 'I'm with you. I understand, and I'm with you.' It means I want to get Katniss out too, that I love her in my own way.

I disappear back into my trees knowing he won't go to sleep, and neither will I. We both have to be ready when Katniss acts.

Dawn is coming when Katniss wakes up. She moves so silently that I fear Peeta won't hear her, so I fire a stone near him, just to be sure-he'll know it's me. He'll know it's time to go.

Katniss surprises me by calling out my name, in a timid whisper.

"Rue!" I'm worried she has decided to back out of the plan.

I point to the nest. She shows me her knife, and makes a sawing motion. I breathe a sigh of relief, she's going through with it, and then I'm embarrassed. She wasn't going to back out-of course not, she's too brave for that. She was thinking of me, trying to protect me. I nod in understanding and begin hopping from tree to tree.

I put as much distance between Katniss's tree and myself as possible. I don't stray too far, however, I know I have to go back and make sure Katniss is ok. The wasps might sting her and she will have to be camouflaged at the very least if she's to be saved. I can also treat her stings if need be.

I wait for five minutes before I hear the screaming start. I feel bad for the Careers, but then again, they shouldn't have treed Katniss Everdeen. They run past me, with the wasps following closely behind. Peeta is in the lead by about twenty feet, and I know it's because I warned him, thank goodness.

Cato is behind him, and the other Careers are running as well. It doesn't look like Glimmer or the girl from 4 will make it to the lake, they have been stung too many times, and the venom overwhelms their systems. The girl from 4 collapses, and Glimmer falls not far from her.

The tracker jackers clear out when the tributes are dead and I see the bow! Katniss's bow! In my excitement I don't see Katniss herself coming toward the collapsed Glimmer, going for the bow.

There is nothing I can do to stop her, and I know the tracker jacker venom is affecting her. She rips the bow from Glimmers clutches and she turns to run. Before she can get away the person I hadn't been expecting bursts through the trees-Peeta.

When I had heard someone crashing through the trees I assumed it was Cato, out for revenge, but it turned out to be Peeta. Peeta! He's dripping wet from the lake, but instantly tries to stop Katniss.

"What are you still doing here?" He whisper screams in surprise and fear-for Katniss, not himself. "Are you mad?" He begins to poke her with the spear, unwilling to set the weapon down and leave them undefended. "Get up! Get up!" Thankfully Katniss stands, but she's in a tracker jacker venom induced haze.

Desperate to get Katniss to safety he shoves her away, deeper in the forest, away from the next person who is crashing through the trees. "Run! Run!" Katniss stays only long enough to be seen by a dripping wet Cato. He's been stung under one eye, and it's swelling shut. He's also been stung twice on the leg, it's clear he's fighting the venom as well.

Katniss runs stumbling blindly out of sight. She makes it out of my sight and I want to follow her but I can't. I have to know what happens to Peeta.

Cato wields his sword towards Peeta, but Peeta-who has not been stung-dodges it effortlessly. Cato is a powerful person though, and he doesn't give up. Instead, he fights dirty.

He looks past Peeta deliberately, as if Katniss were there. He takes a step toward the person, and when Peeta turns to defend Katniss-though she's not really there-Cato slashes the sword into his leg.

Peeta cries out in pain, and I'm frozen in horror. Thankfully, Cato collapses on the ground, his smug smile glued to his face, right after he hits Peeta.

Peeta falls to the ground and I scurry down the tree. When I hit the bottom I rush over to Peeta, who is struggling to stand up.

"Peeta-" I begin but he cuts me off.

"Katniss. Go." It's a plea, a wish.

"I will. I promise. Stop the bleeding," I say turning my attention to his fatal wound. "Go to water. Don't stay out in the open." I'm giving commands, and he's listening, but I don't know if he will have the strength to follow through with the instructions. "There's a river that way," I say recalling the river I had heard from my tree by Katniss earlier.

He nods, and glances at Cato. "I'll take care of him." I say, unsure how I plan to do so.

He can't speak anymore, he's too winded and the blood is pouring out of his leg. He limps off in search of the river, and I head off in search of Katniss.

Hello lovely readers! This chapter is one of my longest yet and I hope you all like it. Send me your reviews! I want to know what you think of Peeta and Rue being 'ally-ish'. I just made up that word now, but you know what I mean. They work together to help Katniss. What do you think of that? And did you like how I gave Peeta a little heads-up courtesy of Rue?

Please, please, please review. It's the only thing that helps me get better with my stories is your feedback. Hopefully things are more exciting now that Rue is in the arena and there's a series of things happening.

Thanks for your faithful support,

R&R