Chapter 10: Where do you draw the line?
A ray of sun sneaks through the thick foliage, illuminating only the left side of her cheek, leaving the other half, her aiming side, hidden in the shadow. She doesn't know it herself, but to the audience watching her through the thousands of screens across the country, she is the enticing huntress with the face of an angel. Yet, she feels more like the devil, as she looks onto the clearing, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
A bead of sweat travels its way down her face, tracing the soft lines of her jaw and then disappears into the collar. She could taste it in her mouth, the bitter taste of nerve. She's been hiding atop of this tree since the early morning, going over the details of the plan over and over in her head. Wait for the smoke, take out the one guarding, if one of the careers chose to stay, find something inflammable within the supply pile, light them up and run. It shouldn't be hard, the tribute left behind wouldn't see the arrow coming. It would be quick too, she will end their misery with the knife hidden in her right boot as soon as she gets to them.
Katniss draws in a calming breath in an attempt to calm her nerve, but before her heart rate could find its normal pattern, it accelerated like a galloping horse again as she hears the faint shouting from the cornucopia, signaling the beginning of her mission. The careers are fast getting into action, disappearing from her view in less than a minute, but to her disappointment, an unfamiliar face was left behind. She couldn't pinpoint any name to the male tribute in the clearing, but she could tell it isn't one of the careers, which if she is being honest, would make her job ten times easier.
She scurries down the tree after waiting a couple of minutes to see if the alliance returns, knocking an arrow in place, she edges closer to the clearing, stopping short just before her body could be exposed to the sunlight. She has the boy at perfect aim when movement off from the back of the cornucopia caught her attention. A dash of red that contrasts greatly from the greenery around them, going straight to the neatly stacked mountain of supplies. She hesitated and watches the figure do an odd sort of little dance around 15 feet away from the pile, jumping and skipping and sometimes balancing on only one foot until she reaches the supplies.
She thought it was odd how the careers organize almost, if not all of their supplies into one giant stack, why waste the time on such a tedious task when they could spend the time hunting, it just didn't seem like a career thing to do. She passed it off after watching the careers all morning since nothing out of place happened and it's much easier for her to destroy everything when it is already congregated in one spot. She thought it was just for safekeeping, it's clear that the careers are taking precaution with their supply this year, leaving behind someone to guard it and all. But evidently, their efforts weren't enough to keep away the clever girl from 5, Katniss thought amusingly as she watches the girl snick a can of water and a bag of bread from the enormous pile. Not too much to be noticeable, just enough to keep her fed for another day. The girl went back the way she came in the same fashion, an odd little dance. Suddenly she stumbles in front of an inconspicuous pile of dirt, piles that seem to be scattered all around the supplies and for reasons unbeknownst to herself, Katniss's breath hitched in her chest. Katniss watches as the girl wobbled on one foot, trying to regain her balance, before finally continuing with her graceful leaps. Very odd indeed, Katniss thought to herself as the girl disappears into the forest, it was almost as if she was trying to avoid stepping on that little pile of dirt.
Then it all clicked, the boy with the unfamiliar face, the neatly stacked supplies, and the odd little dance. The boy is the district 3 male tribute and something only the district 3 tributes knows how to do is reactivating the explosives around the pedestals that prevent any tributes from stepping off ahead of times. That must be the reason he got into the alliance. Katniss turns her attention back to the supplies again. A clever trick, but the girl from 5 just shown her the catch in it, or perhaps even better, she thought as her eyes zeros on a bag of apples hanging off the side of a crate almost at the top of the entire stack.
She sidesteps the bush in front of her, the last obstacle that separates her from the clearing and aims. The boy from 3 isn't even looking, trusting the deadly trap he set up, but it is his cleverness that will end him. The arrow flew past the bag, nicking it before clattering against the sidewall of the cornucopia. Katniss dives into the shadows behind her, fearing the boy would be alerted of her presence. Luckily he chose to turn his back in her direction and walk around the cornucopia to investigate. Quickly knocking another arrow in place, she aims again. Breathe and release. She watches the bag split open, spilling its content down faster than she prepared herself for. Before her brain even gesture what is going to happen, she was thrown backward by the giant explosion. The last of her conscious thought is a prayer for both herself and Rue.
He will admit, he has not been making the best of decisions lately. Heck, he probably has not been making the best of decisions in all of his 18 years of life, but his decision-making skills have hit an all-time low the minute he laid eyes on her. A girl that radiates a fiery warmth even her cool act could not hide. Everything about her was different from him, but he spots one thing they share upon meeting her eyes at the tribute parade, hope. He sees it in her eyes, as clear as daylight, the same silver of hope he sees every time he looks at the eyes that stare back at him in the mirror, the hope to be free. He knew it isn't right, him being here, ready to take out 23 other children, but he doesn't give a damn about what's right and what's wrong anymore, doesn't give a damn that he is just a tool for the capital, doesn't give a damn that he is just part of a message. This game is his and his mother's ticket out.
So it didn't take him long to take the district 3 male tribute's offer, well more like begging actually, begging to be spared in exchange for absolute security for their supplies. He took him in, not because he believes in charity, but because he is desperate. He tries to hide the desperateness that's been gnawing away at his inside from his allies. But the fact remains that the district 2 tributes have not received a single gift since they woke from the trackerjacker incident. No medication for the stings, no warm meals to keep them well-fed and ready for action, nothing. Clove wrote it off without much thought, they have enough water and food to last them a month, maybe Brutus and Enobaria thought they need to experience the game to its fullest so when they win, they could experience the sweetest victory. Cato knows better than to share that optimism. They won't receive any help from their mentor ever again in this game, no matter how much money their mentor can gain from their sponsors, nothing will ever get to them. The supplies in the cornucopia are all they have the moment he failed to terminate fire girl when he had the chance. It is the price he must pay for his failure and so his desperate mind ignored all the potential risks in the plan and fixated itself onto the idea of absolute security for the supplies.
He saw only red when he arrived at the clearing to see the destruction in front of him. Destruction beyond repair, everything he has, burned, all his hope, gone. His swords and the meager portion of supplies in the backpacks he always carries with him the only thing he has left. He knows how to kill, but he doesn't know how to survive. The boy in front of him is saying something incoherent to his ear, he doesn't understand his words nor does he wants to. The noise is hurting his head, so he shuts it off and lets despair engulf him.
She wakes up dizzy and confused, the world spinning around her, the ground shaking beneath her wobbly legs and the noise of the forest muted in her ears. Then a faint and gurgled scream cuts through the haze and brought the world back into focus.
She stands just as the boy from district 3 falls limply to the ground, head twisted in an unnatural angle that she knows his neck must be broken, snapped by brute force. She sees Cato then, rummaging through the broken crate and burnt piece, looking for salvageable items. A frustrated cry brings her mind back into her body, an arrow snaps into place and she raises her bow to… to what she does not know. To shoot perhaps? To kill the biggest threat in the arena? To remove the biggest obstacle between her and home? And Prim? Yes, that must be what she raised her bow to do. She draws in a calming breath, steadies her stance, aims at the boy in the clearing, unaware of the huntress in the wood, despairing over his lost hope and … nothing. Nothing happened to the boy in the clearing, because before the huntress could make her shot, she hears the sound of a broken cry, carried to her by the mockingjays high up in the tress and she ran. Away from the boy drowning in despair that he may not live to see his freedom, towards the girl downing in the hope that she may be saved to see yet another sunrise.
Author's Notes
I'm actually quite happy with how this chapter turned out (much more so than the last chapter). I'm hoping to do another update soon, but that would be hard because we all know where the next chapter is headed to and I don't like it. But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review so I know what you think!