Chapter 5

"Let the 74th Hunger Games begin! May the odds be ever in your favor…."

Katniss spotted Rue quickly as she surveyed the woodsy arena around them. Thank goodness – she's not far from me, seeing the little girl only two pedestals over from her. The girls met eye contact and Katniss gave the little one a pointed nod with her head: Stay there. I'm coming to get you.

The gong sounded, and all the tributes lunged off their pedestals; Katniss waited for the girl from Six to pass before darting off hers straight for Rue. Reaching the pedestal in seconds, she scooped the little girl into her arms.

"We have to go quickly, honey! Remember what Thresh said."

Turning away from the fight even as its screams polluted the clear air, both girls ran for the tree line. Just as they reached the edge, a roar made them look back.

Near the center of the Cornucopia, Thresh had managed to seize a scythe and was fighting his way through two tributes. Interestingly, they were giving him a challenge – but what would you expect from children fighting for their lives?

Thresh's angry eyes suddenly found Katniss's fearful ones. "Go!" he roared as he ducked a swing.

"Wait! Thresh!" Rue cried.

"GO NOW!" Thresh bellowed striking a blow to one tribute.

"Rue, hurry, come along…." Katniss raced into the trees, sprinting with Rue bouncing in her arms until she couldn't sprint any more. The huntress picked a tree right at the spot where they stopped. Carrying Rue piggyback now, she began to climb. A sturdy branch was found and a nest was made for the night. Near mid-afternoon, the cannons started…. BOOM….. BOOM…..

Rue counted up to eleven and Katniss gave her a proud smile. That meant 13 left to play.

As night was beginning to fall, Katniss heard calls of her name and Rue's. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Katniss!"

"Shut it!" she snapped to the dark man immersed in moonlight. "You want to get us all killed?"

Thresh's head whipped up, and he instantly began to climb. He was barely on the branch before he was hugging the life out of them.

"I knew I'd find you!" Then he leaned back to look Katniss in the eye; she was disturbed to see his eyes blazing with rage.

"Why didn't you get the hell out of there like I told you to?"

"We did!" Katniss angrily shot back, a little hurt. "Rue was just worried about you!"

"That's no excuse, Katniss! You can't always coddle her – especially not now! Not in the arena! When I tell you to run, you run!"

"But, Threshy!"

"NO BUTS! Never freeze like that – ever!"

Katniss blinked, still weary of his anger. "I'm sorry…. Thresh," she apologized, chastened.

As the trio settled down to sleep, only then did she seethe. How dare Thresh accuse her of not following his orders! She did not think it was a good idea for them to argue like this.

The only troubling thing was that a secret part of her relished the arguing.