Though they all had various weapons hidden away, there was no real bloodbath. Kill someone in front of the others, and they could all turn on you at once. Instead they kept an uneasy peace when they were in large groups, smiling.
Killings still happened once or twice a day though, to those stupid enough to fall for traps, and leave themselves alone in a room with someone else. Not traps with wires and nets obviously, but ones with words.
Rue was sitting on top of the wardrobe when she saw her first one.
She liked the top of the wardrobe. She felt safe up there. No one else could climb up it without toppling it.
The other girls had left the room, except for Glimmer and this other brown-haired nobody from eight or nine, Rue couldn't remember.
Glimmer was talking to her excitedly, tousling the girl's hair, saying how she could style it if she wanted.
Rue lay down flat on top of the wardrobe as they walked in the room and she stayed as quiet as she could. She didn't trust Glimmer very much, and didn't know the other girl at all.
The brown-haired girl was smiling. She'd probably thought that she'd made a new friend, and with an alliance with someone like Glimmer, that she had massively increased her odds.
They laughed and talked and Rue thought that maybe she was mistaken until Glimmer suddenly yanked the girl's hair back and shoved the hair straightener down her throat.
It was turned on.
The ensuing struggle, with the girl gagging on the searing, burning straightener and Glimmer holding her down in place was the most horrifying thing Rue had ever seen. She didn't mean to, she didn't, but she screamed.
Glimmer was over to her in seconds, and Rue figured out what she was going to do the moment before she did it and she curled herself around the wooden rafter above her and held on as tight as she could.
Glimmer pushed the wardrobe and it clattered to the ground, but Rue was still out of her reach.
Katniss appeared in the room then, obviously drawn in by the noise. She took the scene for a second; the dead girl on the floor, the toppled wardrobe, Rue holding on to the rafter, too afraid to swing herself around and on top of it in case she fell, Glimmer standing below her looking vicious.
For one horrible moment Rue thought Katniss was going to leave her to her fate, but the older girl stood her ground.
"Glimmer, is there a problem?", she asked.
Glimmer stared back, defiant. The straightener was never going to work again, and there was nothing within arm's reach that she could use as an improv weapon. Neither of them moved.
Rue wasn't sure who would win in hand-to-hand between the two of them, and clearly they didn't either. Both Katniss and Glimmer liked to have the advantage, and this was too clean-cut, too unpredictable. They mantained eye contact, but the moment was lost, and Glimmer stalked out of the room, obviously deciding not to risk it.
Katniss didn't quite run over to Rue but she moved fast and opened her arms.
"I have you, you can let go now."
Rue's arms were aching and maybe it wasn't the wisest thing to trust Twelve but she had just stuck up for her and Rue gave in and let go and fell into Katniss' arms. They collapsed onto a bed, laughing, and it sounded more heart-felt than the laughter between Glimmer and the dead girl moments ago.
Rue got quiet thinking about it and Katniss wasn't stupid, she caught on quick.
"Don't look at her. Don't", she urged, but in a gentle way.
"That's not going to happen to you, I promise."
Rue didn't know what Katniss saw in her, why she was being so nice, but she relaxed and forgot about Eight or Nine or whoever she was. There was plenty more of that to come, and Katniss wouldn't always be there to save her. She was going to have to toughen up.