Chapter 6
The next day, the trio decided to stay in their safe tree. Rue got inventive with finding food as she crept carefully from tree branch to tree branch, gathering nuts and even catching a few burrowing squirrels unawares. Katniss always felt herself relax easier when Rue returned to their home branch. If she fell….
Thresh, meanwhile, kept watch from a branch just above. Around noon, he poked his head down.
"There's a fire! 8:00, not half a mile from here!"
"Damn it!" Katniss swore as she threw down the squirrel she was skinning. "What idiot would start a fire in broad daylight?"
"I guess we'll find out," Thresh told her grimly.
Indeed, it did not take long for whooping and hollering to be heard. Katniss recognized Cato's voice. Whatever poor soul or souls had started that fire was not so lucky, and wrenching screams confirmed at least two deaths. Katniss huddled Rue close to her side as the cannons sounded amongst victorious laughter.
"13 down and 11 to go!" the boy from District 1 – Marvel - crowed. Katniss burrowed back into the tree trunk when she heard the voices and footsteps pass right around them.
The Career pack did not notice the silence in the threes. "What about your partner, Lover Boy? She's top on my list!" Cato barked.
Katniss and Thresh nearly fell out of the tree when they heard the answer: "Yeah. I think she went that way!"
It was Peeta.
The Career pack took off in a run at Peeta's signal, their footsteps dying away. One long moment of relief later, Katniss got an idea.
"I can track their footprints. Let's follow them!"
Thresh agreed. "In these Games, spying never hurts."
"Let's go!" Rue ruled in favor a little too enthusiastically, which Thresh could tell concerned Katniss greatly. He could only smile. If nothing else, he was glad to know Lover Boy's sob story had only been one over-exaggerated act.