CLOVE Clove darted away just for a second to grab her absolute favourite knife, and she forgot, just for a moment, and let go of Rue's mouth. The child screamed and Clove just stared at her, gobsmacked.
Rue screamed for Katniss again like her lungs were on fire and Clove was frozen, staring at her mistake. "What's wrong with you?" Cato spat, running back into the room and silencing Rue himself.
Clove was still frozen, the knife loose in her grip. She had made a mistake. She never made mistakes. Cato tried to take the knife off her and murder Rue himself, but she stepped back.
"Get back to the door," she hissed. He looked at her blankly. "They're gonna come running. Guard the fucking door, Cato!"
Cato moved back to the door and Clove slashed Rue open like wrapping paper, like she was an eager child impatient to get at her present.
PEETA
"Katniss!"
Peeta heard the scream but did not move as fast as Katniss- she was a hurricane, almost at the door before he realised what was happening. Rue's scream came again, and they didn't need to speak.
He tried to move the wardrobe from where it blocked the door while she pulled on her dress, and then she ran to his side and they both pushed, and the wooden wardrobe inched along the floorboards. They kept pushing until there was a sliver of space that they could squeeze through, and then they ran, into what was most certainly a trap, Peeta knew, but if Katniss was going, there was no way was he not following.
CATO
Cato was outside the kitchen door, missing all the fun when Katniss and Peeta finally emerged from the bedroom. He tensed, ready to kill Katniss if they tried to come into the kitchen, but Twelves did not charge at him like he thought they would.
They ran for the main door instead, and Peeta went left, Katniss right. Cato knew they were baiting him, but he also knew he wanted Twelve dead, now, and he pelted after her like a bloodhound.
PEETA
Peeta was pressed against the wall of the house when he heard Cato go thundering out the front door, and listened hard as his footsteps faded away. They had banked Peeta's life on the fact that Cato would chase Katniss and not him.
He took a long breath and then forced himself to go back inside the house, to turn around and go back to the kitchen, unarmed. He pushed himself away from the wall and walked inside, as calmly as he could.
Clove was there, drenched in blood. She did not wear an apron this time, but smiled at him all the same. Rue was dead maybe, a still lifeless thing on the floor. He looked at her once and tore his eyes away.
A red-headed figure moved in his peripheral vision, darting out from the laundry room. He ignored her, and stared Clove down.
"I'd like to take Rue and leave unharmed," he found himself saying in a casual voice. "Would you?" she asked, circling away from him.
"Yes."
There was a small smear of blood on Clove's cheek- he didn't even think that she knew it was there- and Peeta had the strangest urge to wipe it away, or just to call attention to it.
"May I?" he asked instead, moving towards Rue on the floor. The red-head moved again too, and he sensed her more than saw her. The one piece that had refused to play the game was finally going to act it seemed.
"Why should I let you?" Clove asked, without spite or malice, but with genuine curiosity. "Because of Marissa," he said, and spun around just before the red-head descended on him, a scarf in her hands. She had been going to strangle him to save Clove, he realised. As if Clove needed saving.
Peeta grabbed Marissa's neck, his back to Clove. He very deliberately winked at the red-head, and she nodded quickly. He turned around to face Clove, still holding Marissa's neck but trying not to hurt her.
"Let me leave with Rue, and I won't snap her neck." Clove scowled at him. "As if you would." "Who do you think killed Marvel, huh? Who drowned the girl in the pool?" He stepped forward, taking Marissa with him. "Clove, did you honestly think I would walk into this room unarmed unless I was pretty damn sure of myself? I will kill her."
They stared at one another some more. Clove did not say the obvious - why should I care if you kill her- and she didn't need to. If she had intended on using that approach, it was too late. Her alliance was clear. "Fine," she said. "Fine!" She kicked Rue, and sneered at him. "Get out of here, Baker Boy."
He did as she said, letting go of Marissa, and scooping Rue into his arms, leaving the kitchen without another word.
KATNISS
Katniss had run, and somehow it felt good to have her lungs burning again. They had all been stationary in that house for too long, like dolls with smiles etched on their faces.
She was out in the front garden now, and veered right. The house was surrounded by tall thick trees and she splayed out her hands for purchase and began to climb the nearest. The bark was rough against her palms, and she must have look deranged, in a dress that was only half-zipped up, barefoot, climbing up a tree. The folks at home must think this was hilarious.
She was not far up when Cato arrived, and she thought of him as a mad dog, yapping at the meat that was just out of reach. Katniss ignored him and kept climbing.
"You think that you're better than us, don't you Katniss?" he shouted up at her, even though she was still well within earshot. "You're just so maternal, minding that kid, and that makes us the monsters, doesn't it, for wanting to kill her? Get your dumb head around the fact that we're all kids in here, and that Rue is nothing special! Everyone wants to kill everyone else! It's nothing personal against the damned kid. But no, you have to protect her, don't you? Well you did a top-notch job of minding her today, didn't you? Too busy screwing the baker boy to keep a kid alive, is that how it is? And you still think that you and Peeta are better than me and Clove, isn't that right? Because your love is pure, whereas what, ours is too sexual? Too violent?"
He spat at the ground below. "Yours didn't seem to pure today, Twelve. Seems like you're a whore just like everyone else, willing to sell themselves, and the kid's life, for any advantage. How dare you act like we're beneath you. I know your type, Katniss Everdeen. You're a survivor. Don't you dare act like you wouldn't kill. Your actions killed someone today, so you're no better than any of us, Twelve, no matter who you pretend to protect."
Katniss remained silent, and Cato turned back to go back to the house. She remembered vaguely that she was meant to have baited him, forced him to stay to buy Peeta more time, but she was just so tired. She held onto the tree, all of her energy gone, and just tried to focus on holding onto the branch and not falling.
MARISSA
Peeta had gently taken Rue and left Marissa and Clove in the kitchen. "Hide before Cato comes back," Clove warned her harshly. Marissa nodded. "Thanks for not telling him where I was." Clove smiled at that. "Thanks for coming to kill Peeta I guess."
Marissa stepped forward easily and kissed Clove hard. Clove lifted her hand to touch Marissa's face, and Marissa knew that that hand was covered in blood, that she too would now be stained. It didn't seem to matter all that much.
Something pulled at her hair moments later, and she cried out for Clove to stop, that it hurt, but it was not Clove. It was Cato, his eyes feral, and he grabbed onto her neck. He did not wink like Peeta had, and this time she was honestly afraid. "Cato," Clove said calmly, but he cut across her. "What is this?" he asked, shaking Marissa. "You've got some what, lesbian thing on the side?"
PEETA
Blood pooled from Rue's thigh, and she seemed to be spilling, pouring her story onto the floor, and Peeta was horrifyingly reminded of Katniss' dress, and how it had spilled onto the ground. He had laid her out in Katniss' bedroom, the same place that had seemed so safe hours earlier.
"Katniss," Rue called out, and yet it was Peeta that was there, Peeta who had to try to save her. He moved, grabbing fistful of blankets from the nearest bed, and then more gently pressed them against Rue's leg. There were no pain-killers, no medicine in the house, no protection for Rue against pain but shock.
"Haymitch," Peeta said, "please." It was not like he expected a response from the walls, but Haymitch could have medicine delivered to the house in minutes. Tributes were promptly executed if they moved past the tree line, but there was no rule stopping goods being delivered in. Sometimes it was food, like the year someone poisoned everything in storage, and sometimes it was weapons. This time he needed bandages, disinfectants, something to stitch her up, some painkillers, anything. "Please, Haymitch," he asked again.
"You'll be okay Rue," he said, just to fill the silence after his request was ignored. "I'm cold,' Rue said in a frail, childlike voice. 'I'm cold." "It's okay," Peeta said, because he did not know what else to say. "Katniss will be back soon, I promise." "I'm cold," Rue whimpered. "I'm cold." "It's okay, it's okay." He pulled a blanket over Rue's torso, carefully not to touch the thigh. "Is that better?" he asked lamely. She stared at him listlessly and didn't respond. Peeta wished Katniss would come back. Her mother had been a healer of sorts, she'd know what to do. He felt useless, holding a dying child and unable to do anything but call for others. "Haymitch, please," he said again, but he knew that the help would not come. Rue was not from their district. Why would Haymitch act to save this little girl?
KATNISS
She detached herself from the tree when she could breathe again. Her palms were cut, and the sky was darkening, and she didn't know how long she had been here, frozen, tuned out like her mother used to. "Rue," she said, and forced herself to work her way down the tree. Cato was not waiting at the bottom to kill her. Katniss did not know what that meant.
CLOVE
Cato had Marissa by the neck and it was so goddamn predictable. What, did she have to choose which one she wanted? Why didn't anyone remember that whoever was left at the end walked out, as many as they wanted? Why did Cato feel compelled to kill everyone every goddamn time? Killing Rue was different. She was useless. But Marissa-
"Look Cato, I feel nothing for the girl," she stated. "But it's drama, it's exciting. Will my vicious district partner find my bit-on-the-side? Who will I stand by? It makes for good television."
The room was silent, both Cato and Clove equally hurt by her words. She continued undeterred. "You had your fun Cato. All those nights out back by the pool? Don't think that I didn't see you. There's no harm in Marissa. She's not a contender. She is most certainly not going to try kill us, I assure you. What really is the harm in letting me have my fun, and letting her walk out with us on the last day?"
Cato looked at her, and she saw that it wasn't going to work. The boy was jealous. She knew he had the capacity to be charming, to murder, but to be jealous? She didn't know how to react to that.
Cato lifted Marissa as his response and dashed her head against the wall, before she had time to even cry out. He let her go and Marissa's body hit the floor with a finality, the eyes unmoving, her red hair slowly soaking up the blood that weeped from the back of her head, where her brains peeped through.
"You are mine," he said, in almost a growl, jabbing a finger at Clove. He stepped forward and grabbed either side of Clove's face. She turned away but he forced her to look at him. "Mine," he repeated. She looked at this blond boy, who was clearly disturbingly obsessed with her, and she planned his death. "And you mine," she finished, and sealed it with a kiss. Cato was hers now. If anyone else tried to kill him, she would make Rue's injuries seem like a paper cut. She was looking forward to killing him after what he did today.
PEETA
Peeta was frightened and moved more swiftly. He carefully opened up Rue's pants to get a look at the damage, aware of how it looked. He slowly exposed the white hem of her underwear that was soaking up blotches of blood as though in thirst. 'I'm cold,' Rue moaned with half-closed eyes. 'I'm cold.' The edges of her mouth were turning blue. Peeta was petrified.
He took a breath, and then asked, "Rue? Did they hurt you anywhere else?" Rue looked at him with glassy eyes, and barely perceptibly, nodded. "Rue?" Peeta asked. "Rue, where?" Rue looked down, and Peeta lifted up her shirt, trying not to hurt her. The real wound was in her stomach, as large and deep as a snowball. Peeta felt his heart stop, then pound so violently he found it difficult to breathe.
He looked up again, and Katniss was there, finally, and she ran to Rue. "I'm sorry Rue, I'm so sorry," she said flatly, cradling the younger girl. Rue echoed Peeta's words back. "It's okay Katniss," she said.
Rue did not die for another two hours. She went all clammy and sweaty after another few minutes and was no longer lucid. The smell was rancid, as her stomach had been ripped apart, and all that acid and juice and food was just there, and had soaked into Peeta too from when he'd carried her. Haymitch, or Rue's mentor for that matter, never responded to their pleas for help. Peeta and Katniss were helpless to watch her die, watch her breaths weaken but not stop. In the end, Peeta just wished that she would die so that it would be over with, but the kid held on. It was so bad in the end he wished he had left her on the kitchen floor in her own blood. At least then he wouldn't have had to watch, helpless, useless. He couldn't look at Katniss, even when Rue finally did die. He wasn't sure if he could ever look at her again.