AUTHOR'S NOTES: I named that clever District 3 boy Franklin (Frank) Sterling so I wouldn't have to just call him "the District 3 guy" all the time. Since he is a minor character that isn't going to win (not that anyone thought he would), I have no qualms with this. Otherwise, this is a chapter where Rue does something awesome, and pisses off Clove even more-as if she needed any more grounds against Rue.
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 14: The Counterattack

The careers spent the rest of the way watching Frank dig up and reactivate the mines, taking careful note of where he laid them so that they did not misstep and get themselves blown into thousands of pieces. Luckily for them it seemed that the District 3 boy had not been lying about his allegiance—at least for the time being. By the time Rue had woken up from her near-coma, the mines were safely in place and the careers were asleep, resting up for the morning when they would resume their prowling. Their stings and other injuries (including Clove's feet) had all since been healed, after all. Sponsorships among the career pack were a fairly common occurrence, and Clove and Cato were no exception.

It was a few hours later into this same morning when Rue woke up again. The sun was not out yet, and so the arena was still fairly dark. By this time, Prim and Peeta were still asleep, and so Rue did not bother waking them. She would be back soon, but her curiosity as to what the careers were up to was just too much for her to resist. She noticed the odd array of dirt piles around the camp and around the pedestals, but knew better than to assume that each one was a mine. However, she too knew what had happened, and knew that getting past Frank's traps would be tricky. But for the time being, Rue simply wanted to overhear what their strategy was, and so she hid in the bushes and listened. Unlike any of the careers, stealth was actually something Rue excelled at.

"All I was able to gather was that '12 and '11 are out towards the southwest somewhere," Marvel indicated, "and of course that huge '11 boy is still in the north. He's probably planning on camping it out there or something."

"We'll confront him then," Cato asserted, "three on one and he will almost certainly fall."

"And what about me?" Franklin piped up.

"You'll guard the supplies," Cato practically shoved a spear into the boy's hands, which he took. "Anyone shows up, you kill 'em. If anything happens…" he drew a line across his neck as a warning.

"Duly noted," the District 3 boy consented, and soon Marvel, Clove, and Cato had headed north, probably to confront Thresh. Everyone else was already dead except for the 11-12 alliance. Rue stuck around to get a good glance at the surrounding area, before taking back off into the wilderness with the information she needed.

Prim and Peeta were somewhat relieved to see her alive and well.

"Where'd you run off to?" the latter asked,

"I found out what the careers are doing," she explained, "they're going after Thresh right now, which means they're open—and so are their supplies. The catch is that they've got that kid from '3 on their side, and I think he's done something with the mines."
Rue did not know what, but there was only one real explanation for why anyone would dig at the pedestals. Being from the technology district, it made sense that Frank had done something with them, even if Rue had not been there to see it.

"so what's your plan? Do you know the way around them?"
"Sort of," Rue paused, her mind wandering into much more nefarious waters, "but I think that instead of trying to steal their supplies constantly, we just need to get rid of them."
"Are you suggesting…" Prim paused.

"We need to blow 'em up." Rue nodded, whipping out her slingshot. "But first… we need to stop them from ganging up on and killing Thresh…"

Clove had at least a slight understanding of how Rue felt as her bare soles dug into the forest floor with each of her heavy steps. It certainly felt nice to be able to walk again after dealing with the agonizing and humiliating injury she had suffered a few days earlier. The tracker-jacker stings did not help.

"I've been thinking," Cato broke the silence as they walked.

"What of?" Marvel raised an eyebrow, his long spear in hand,

"I think this year we might be able to actually do what we careers are supposed to do."
"Murder everyone else before we turn and murder ourselves?" Clove smirked, twirling a knife in her gloved hand, "or…?"
"Nah, you were right," Cato laughed, "if we can get rid of that '11 guy, we can easily take out baker-boy and the other two kids."

"if they'll ever come out of hiding," Clove sneered.

"We've seen them run to the southwest," Marvel shrugged, "but the trail ends there." What they didn't know was that they had actually passed by Peeta's cave multiple times. His camouflaging skills were useful for more than just painting himself to blend in.

While Clove was small and stealthy, she still had nothing on Rue, who, with the help of some of Peeta's camouflaging skills, practically disappeared into the forest-scape. Similarly, the wheat field was large and expansive, meaning that even the largest and least stealthy tributes (such as Thresh) could remain there and keep an advantageous hiding place for long periods of time. That was not enough to deter Cato and Clove, however. They were determined to flush him out.

However, after a full day of searching, all they had to show for themselves was a large amount of nuts and seeds, and Marvel swore that he had spotted Rue at least once, but despite Clove's frenzied search that followed for approximately the next hour, neither she nor Thresh turned up at all. They turned back only after it started raining rather hard, and even Rue was no longer on the move.

"Here I was expecting them to start throwing fireballs at him like they did with us, and instead they give us all water." Clove complained as they made it back to the cornucopia, where a relieved Franklin was glad to see them alright and well—or rather, glad they were not angry, knowing that if they were, they very well could take it out on him.

Marvel was fairly quiet that night, perhaps slightly forlorn at the recent loss of Glimmer by Rue's hand. Very seldom did 12-year-olds live past the bloodbath without being heavily protected by stronger tributes (such as Primrose being protected by Peeta), but Rue, despite being in that alliance, seemed not only rather independent, but also seemed to possess a perfect combination of skills and cunning to keep her alive and as a formidable opponent.

"I just don't get it," Cato shook his head, "what do we have to do to flush them out of the woods? It's certainly not our lack of effort…"

"Either that or the Gamemakers are playing favorites." Clove grunted, "although I don't see what appeal they have in a little kid…"
"We'll just have to remind them why we're the best." Cato cracked his knuckles as they began to settle in for the night, "this whole hide-and-seek shindig can only last so long."

"Rain or shine, we hunt tomorrow then," Clove insisted, and there was a consensus among the three careers that this was going to be the case.

Deciding that first they needed to go after District 12, the next morning, Cato led the others southwest to try and flush Primrose and Peeta out.

The tunes of the Mockingjays that roamed the arena were mingled with the distant noise of someone smashing through the forest—and that was Prim's sign to start running. Peeta knew that he would have to divert the careers' attention from Prim, which meant that he would need to find a vantage point and try to defend himself from there. On the other hand, three on one would be difficult, if even possible, odds to try and play. Hopefully Rue knew what she was doing.

Peeta did blend in well with the surrounding environment, and managed to catch the careers off-guard by springing up and slamming his mace into Cato's side. The larger boy flinched, but had managed to try and block the attack with his sword enough that he did not suffer his organs getting smashed in—but the injury still hurt. Of course, Cato was not about to just take that attack lying down, and so the career pack attacked. As Peeta sprinted away, Clove threw a knife with vicious force which whizzed through the air and struck Peeta's arm, slowing him down enough for Cato to catch up to him and swing his sword.

The resulting attack left a deep wound in one of Peeta's legs, and for a moment, the careers stood proudly over their fallen enemy.

"Let's see if your little friends can save you now…" Clove taunted, "we'll make it slow and painful—just like we will with little Prim and Rue…"

Right as Clove had opened her mouth to add another jeer to her brief monologue, the deafening sound of an explosion rumbled through the forest, all but shaking the entire arena. It did not take a genius to figure out that the direction of the noise had come right from the cornucopia—and the career pack's supply piles.

KILLS THIS CHAPTER:
None This Time

ALIVE:
Marvel Kain, District 1
Cato Salazar, District 2
Clove Kazera, District 2
Franklin Sterling, District 3
Thresh Dakara, District 11
Rue Keniye, District 11
Peeta Mellark, District 12
Primrose Everdeen, District 12