Author's Note: Shout-outs to the following people who I don't think I've thanked for adding this story to your favorites' list: harry-gale-tanith-jackson; flamehairedpixie, serena-pearl05, TheInsaneLoricWhovian, kellysarah2, Flowers6034, Ezmathet, xXxAlilordessxXx, and Lady Luna Hale. I apologize for the length of time dedicated to writing this chapter, but I hope you will enjoy.

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Chapter 20

Back home, tracker jackers were the worst result from the Dark Days. They looked like normal wasps that could sting a person with only a painful sting, but they were not. If anyone got too close to a nest, tracker jackers attacked. They built nests all over the orchards. Grown men ran if they saw even one jacker, but the small children who sometimes climbed trees did not.

One sting from a tracker jacker caused a lump the size of a plum. Sometimes, the person who got stuck would throw up, not walk well, and even have a fever. If a person got stung more than once, they usually died after seeing things that weren't really there, passing out, and having fevers. Back home, we all knew of herbs that could draw out the jackers' poison. That's how common tracker jackers attacked.

Rue's eyes were big as she pointed from the nest to Katniss, to the Careers on the ground. Did she want to knock the nest on Katniss or the Careers? I shook my head. I could not do that, and I could not let Rue do it either. As small as she was, one sting would probably kill her. And I couldn't decide if Katniss was a friend yet. Katniss was too…She was like a blood orange to me: hard to find and precious. She hadn't killed me when she had the chance, but how long would that last?

Rue pointed over and over at the jacker nest and at the Careers. If the nest was dropped, the jackers would attack the Careers. I would have to cut down the nest. Even if I didn't have a knife, I could climb up and kick the nest off the tree limb. If the Careers died from the attack, the Games would have to end.

I started climbing the tree. Rue broke off a tree branch and tapped Katniss. I shook my head no; Katniss did not need to risk her life for this. I was stronger, faster, taller. I waved my hand to tell Rue to go away and leave Katniss alone. She tapped Katniss anyway.

When Katniss' eyes opened, I ducked beneath the branch to hide from her sight. I held my breath and watched her meet Rue's eyes. There was only a little moonlight to see them by, but Katniss followed Rue's silent pointing. She nodded. When Katniss started to climb, Rue jumped from branch to branch and disappear in the thick green leaves.

I was left alone to watch Katniss work on the nest. She climbed to the branch holding the nest, wrapped her legs around it, and pulled out a knife from her pack. The tracker jackers ignored her as she started sawing. Katniss cut the branch using her left hand then her right hand. She was left handed. That was rare back home.

The Arena sky turned a deep blue while Katniss sawed at the branch. She turned toward the horizon, and I looked in the same direction. Pink, yellow, and blue filled the sky: The sun was starting to rise. Katniss worked faster. I saw sweat on her forehead.

A tracker jacker buzzed near her neck and stung her. The branch sagged from the weight of the nest. Now there were more jackers flying around their nest to protect it. Katniss swatted at another jacker.

Something about the way Katniss sat on the branch and cut, I felt…desire for her. Back home, the men talked about their desires for women very openly. It was a man's desire for a particular woman, they said, that led him to select a wife. There were strong women but most girls my age were not as strong as Katniss seemed. And Katniss might even be willing to court.

When she cut through the last part of the branch, I put the thought of courting her from my mind. This was the Arena, the Hunger Games. If she said she wanted to court me, I knew it would be a lie. She would say it to lower my guard. Then, just like the tracker jackers' nest, she would destroy me.

The nest exploded open. A swarm of tracker jackers covered the Careers' camp. I watched. And I was happy to watch.

Peeta, Cato, and Marvel were up right away. They ran from the jackers, yelling and swatting at them. I wanted them to get stung. I wanted Cato's throat to swell from their attack. I wanted Peeta to suffer for betraying his District partner, even if she was the strongest Tribute in the Hunger Games. I wanted Marvel to see the things that weren't there and wander lost aimlessly like the few back home who survived an attack. I wanted them to suffer and feel pain too.

But they ran into the bushes. I couldn't see what happened to them. Clove, Thalasseri, and Glimmer were slower. Clove just barely escaped into a thicker part of the forest. I heard her curses but no cries of pain. They didn't get her.

Glimmer and Thalasseri were slowest of all. The tracker jackers swarmed around Thalasseri's face and head. They flew into her hair, and she swung her arms and hands to get them untangled. Glimmer's shrieks filled the dawn. I saw at least three jackers land on her skin, and the lumps formed almost immediately. They ran, but it wasn't far before they fell to the ground. From where I sat in the tree, I couldn't tell if they were moving or not.

A cannon sounded. Maybe it was for Glimmer; maybe it was Thalasseri. Maybe Peeta was dead. It wasn't likely, but Cato might be dead too. Whoever was dead, I didn't care. Rue was safe in the trees. I was alive. And Katniss wasn't dead.

Then Katniss practically fell from the tree. It was a minor fall of only a few inches, but when she stood up, I could see the boils from the jackers' stings on Katniss' neck. She wasn't as confident on her feet when she stood. When Katniss walked away from the camp, she stumbled and swayed like a sapling in one of the storms that hit after the Harvest every year back home.

By now, their venom was probably causing her to have visions. I couldn't imagine what Katniss was hearing and seeing. Somehow she walked in a straight enough line to reach Glimmer's body and take the silver weapon from her hands. Then Katniss fell to the ground.

"Those stings are going to kill her." I turned and saw Rue over my shoulder, holding onto the tree trunk even though she wasn't in danger of falling. "Thresh, we have to help her."

"She's ranked higher than anyone else in these Games. If she recovers, she could kill us both without even thinking about it."

"Did you say she helped us?" Rue slapped my shoulder. She was small, but her hands could hurt. "When you didn't know about the water, she helped you. She didn't kill you. And you like her."

"That has nothing to do with it."

"If you save her life, she might be very grateful."

I wanted to ignore Rue and listen to the part of me that warned we were playing the Hunger Games. That Katniss was a threat, a skilled killer based on her score from the Gamesmasters. That one act of kindness did not make her safe for me and Rue. Based on what I had seen of Peeta, all the people from District 12 could act and think the same way.

But I listened to the part that said she was weak and near dying. That Rue knew how to treat jacker stings from watching others in the orchards suffer the same thing. I listened to the part of me that wanted Katniss to live, that wanted to go home, and that wanted to court her.

I climbed down the tree. "Rue, go find the herbs we'll need. I'll take her somewhere safe, and I'll leave a trail for you to follow." I picked Katniss up in my arms and started running through the trees. I made sure to hold her head as close to my heart as possible while I ran.