I haven't updated in a while, but last chapter was pretty . . . bad. Which would you rather have? Prompt, but unimpressive chapters or delayed but hopefully-less-unimpressive chapters? Does this sound like excuses? ...oops. I'm sorry, though! I'm sorry it took so long!

Anyway, finally, here's a chapter.

Oh, and thank you so much for your reviews. You guys are sweethearts. I hope you never get selected for child-on-child slaughter competitions.

Rue keeps whistling. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because she's trying to avoid a question that she finds pertinent, but is too shy to ask me.

"Are you okay?" she finally inquires.

She is twelve. I am sixteen, and I've done some extra maturing on the side. She should not be the one asking me that.

"Yeah. Fine."

"You're bleeding."

I glance down at my leg. A small stream of blood oozes out of it in a thin line just above my ankle.

"No big deal."

Rue tried to let the subject drop and we continue trudging forward. We've decided to seek out water and hunt game, avoid conflict for the time being. Her gaze shifts down to my leg and she brings the topic up again.

"You're limping."

"I'm fine," I say defensively.

"When it scratched you—"

"Bit! It bit me! That's worse!"

Rue flittered her gaze away, biting her lip.

"It . . ." Rue begins.

And a smile blooms onto her face when she finishes.

"It was a bunny."

"Rabbit! Rabbit!" I correct her loudly.

"…and it injured you."

"Rabbits are fearsome creautures! With teeth! Sharp teeth!"

Rue seems unable to hold back her laughter, and she claps a hand to her mouth in a terribly futile attempt to hide it. Her amusement catches up to me, and a smile plays the corners of my mouth. Seeing the beginnings of my acceptance, Rue drops her hand, and a toothy grin is displayed shamelessly across her face.

We laugh unreservedly and unashamedly.

About me being mauled by a bunny.

"Shh! Shh!" I try and suggest during my mirth. "We're scaring off game!"

"The bunnies know that you are hardly a threat to them," she laughs.

And I start up laughing again.

But really, I am bleeding. How is this funny?

Once we've recovered from our reverie, we're back into hunting mode. It's been about six hours since our confrontation with the Careers and the sun is crawling back below the horizon. Or maybe the artificial light is being calibrated to a lower brightness level. Or whatever.

We're hunting now. Or I am. Rue is from the agricultural district, and while I'm good at seeking out fruits and edible herbs, Rue is considerably better. She's already found a multitude of nuts, berries, and—

"Nightlock!"

Rue and I both exclaim the word together. She's just lifted a leaf, and a pile of nightlock, a berry that kills nearly instantly upon consumption, is stacked under a shrub in a neat pile.

I come up to Rue's side.

"So you know what it is then?" I ask.

"Of course I do. Nightlock. Deadly. It's common knowledge in 11. Is it not in twelve?"

"There aren't many berry bushes in the coal mines," I shrug.

Rue chuckles nervously.

"Someone knew what it was, though," I muse, observing the pile. "These berries were picked and stacked, like they were about to be eaten."

"Or as a trap," Rue ponders, "like they wanted someone to find it and eat it."

"A stack of shiny berries with delightful presentation," I say. "If someone didn't know what nightlock was, how could they resist?"

Rue looks up at me, her eyes big and curious. "Your district partner. Did he know?"

I start for a moment, caught off-guard by interrogation about Gale. "Huh?"

"Did he know about nightlock?"

"Yeah, we've seen it before in the woods back home," I tell her.

"So he could have set this trap?" Rue considers.

Almost like an instinct, I scan around me, a good three-sixty, as if he'd just be waiting in the underbrush for me to notice him, telling me off for taking so long to figure it out when I finally did.

"Setting traps," I say quietly. "That would be a lot like him."

"What's the deal with you two?" Rue asks.

I frown down at her. "The deal?"

"Yeah. I'm . . . I'm not really sure what you guys are towards each other."

"Really, Rue. Does that matter at a time like this?"

Rue gives a small shrug, but she's obviously still curious.

I sigh, bending over the berries. "I'm not sure."

It's almost as if I can hear Haymitch groaning. He was probably hoping I'd say something more romantic, like "he is a light within my . . . soul" or whatever lights up when you like a guy.

"I'm sorry he's here with you," Rue says with a sort of hesitant blandness, like I could choose to ignore her and she wouldn't take it personally.

"Could be worse," I reply with the mantra without looking back at her. I straighten up and brush dirt of my clothes. "So, the nightlock. We shouldn't eat that. Let's look for other stuff, shall we?"

Rue obliges, stepping in front of me.

"I think I should lead the way," I offer.

"No, it's fine," Rue assures me. "I'm following the mockingjays."

"Huh?"

"The mockingjays. I can hear them. I'm assuming that they'd congregate around food and water sources."

I look toward the treetops. "I don't see any."

"That's why you call them out."

Rue makes an "oo"-shape with her lips and lets out a four-toned whistle. It echoes back to her multiple times, coming from just ahead of us.

"See? Mockingjays. They do that. They mimic sounds."

"Yeah, there's one on my pin," I point out, tracing the edge of the token with my finger.

"It's pretty," Rue smiles, and props to any person on the planet who can resist smiling back at that girl. "Come on, I think there's something up ahead."

Rue begins to trudge ahead through particularly thick underbrush. I move to follow her. I take a moment to readjust my grip on the bow when I hear a loud mix between a scrape and a bang, like metal on metal. That sound alone, with its volume and swiftness, would've made me wince.

But not as much the shriek of pain that followed it.

I looked up at Rue, who was trudging through plants and leaves a moment before. Her back was to me, and her shoulders were tense, her fists were balled. Below her, a contraption of melted and cooled metal and wire big enough to trap a bear had been waiting under the cover of the plants and had dug its metal teeth into Rue's stomach and back, locking her in a deadly embrace.

The trap gripped her tightly, moved with her as she wobbled on her feet, and I rush to catch her as she topples backwards.