(Hi, expect plenty of updates because my exams are over! Yay :-)
My information was collected by Fulvia again at the dining table. She slipped it into her handbag as she thanked me for my directions. She's pretty crafty at this stuff too. She seems impressed by my efforts.
Over the next few days I actually get sometime to watch the games. It seems I missed a lot in them three days.
On the screen Rue is running through the woods at as fast as she can. There's a cloud of smoke coming from the small clump of something behind her.
"Why is she giving away their position?!" I ask Silver in shock.
"It's part of Katniss's plan. To get rid of the food." She explains to me.
The camera is on the area around the Cornucopia. A nearby camera at the edge of the trees can just about see Katniss, arrows strung up and ready to fly. The Careers are arguing amongst themselves about whether to leave the District 3 boy behind. They are clearly unaware she stands so close to them and the other figure hidden in the greenery not far away.
"Finch." I know it's her without even seeing her giveaway red-hair. I know it's her because I know it's exactly where I would be. I would be there to find any last scrounge of food.
"She's there to get food. She's seen them lay out the mines." I say.
"Do you think such a young boy could rearm them?" Silver says in wonder. I match this too but for different reasons. She marvels his intelligence whereas I marvel the fact he's used something that wasn't meant to be used as a weapon.
"I should say they are. They'd have killed him already if they weren't." I point out.
They end up coming to the agreement that they have to take the chance of finding her and go all together.
Katniss eyes the stack of supplies carefully. I'm not sure how long it will take her to figure out they're mined.
Finch knows everything. As soon as the Careers are out of sight, she skips into the clearing. She must have been watching them very carefully. She does a fascinating dance around the pile avoiding all the spots she knows the mines are in. This must have take great studying and it only boosts her intelligence. Suddenly her foot lands unevenly and Silver and I's breathing is cut short. But there's nothing. Silence.
She takes a handful of a few thinks but still not enough to be spotted then floats back to her camp. She's a very smart girl. Right there she has enough food to last her days. I commend her greatly.
The camera flies back to Katniss and she has a look of disbelief on her muddy face. "They're mined." She whispers to herself. So she's realised.
Another one of Rue's fires have set off and she knows she can't leave it much longer but throwing something small will not be enough. We all wait as the seconds tick by but suddenly her face brightens slightly and her arrow is poised.
The tip of her arrow goes shooting directly into the apples setting off a mine. She shoots again and again until there's the biggest explosion I've ever seen and the girl from 12 is thrown off her feet.
I wouldn't be surprised If she was dead. I don't blame her for trying but it was too complex. But then I see her. Her chest is heaving upwards. She's alive. Perhaps not for long but for long enough. Something's reflecting in the camera making it hard to see.
"What's that?" I ask Silver squinting my eyes.
"Her token." I Silver tells me. Then I see it. This is no ordinary token. Not to Snow anyway
This is a sign of rebellion to him. This is a reminder that one of his Mutts betrayed him and didn't work. This is a reminder that we can play him like he plays us.
"A MockingJay?" I ask in disbelief.
Silver nods and smiles none the wiser so I remain silent.
She's crawling now through the Earth because she knows she has to leave. The Careers are running back now. The boy from 2 Cato has a complete breakdown when he sees the mess they're left with. He screams every insult under the Sun at them all then turns to the one who he sees responsible.
"You!" He screams at the one from 3. "Why would it be possible for them all to go off?! Why would you destroy the food that's keeping us here!" He screams at the boy and before I even have chance to take my next breath, Cato has him in a head lock and strangles the little boy to death. The cannon fires and District 3 boy drops to the ground dead.
Katniss has got further not very far but definitely closer away. She won't get much further though. The explosion will have torn every last breath from her. What I'm more interested about right now is why they let her enter them games with that pin. Then I remember Cinna is her stylist and he seems to be just as wise as me with rebellion stuff. Could that be why?
"Silver I'll be back later." I say pulling on my slip on shoes and running out the door. It'd be a very cunning aim for Cinna if he did but who says the born and bred in the Capitol boy would even know the history of MockingJays? He answers the door though.
"You have much to do with the tribute tokens Cinna?" I ask him. His eyes fall to the floor slightly but he allows me in.
"It went past Plutarch first. He said it was ok. You see Katniss isn't rebellious. It's just a pin." He smiles but I'm shaking my head firmly.
"To him it's not just a pin." I say firmly wanting to shake this cluelessness out of his body. We discuss like that for a while until I am sent completely in tuned to his tele. I can here Katniss screeching Rue's name at the top of her lungs but it's no use. When I get a look at the TV screen, the spear is already buried in the beautiful young girls chest.
The girl who'd risked everything for that plan is now dead. I know she wouldn't get very far but she was pure. Pure and above all intelligent.
She's reached her now sending an arrow right into the killers chest. Dead. She's pretty on target with that arrow. Rue's murmuring her name now. Just hanging on but will be taken in soon.
"Sing to me." She begs tears forming down her olive brown skin. Nobody can discounter someone's dying wish.
She sings out this lullaby that has the exact meaning I longed for Jack- go to sleep and tomorrow will be safe. But then the cannon fires and the little girl is dead. Katniss to my surprise heads away grabbing fistfuls of meadow flowers and sprinkling them on her body. She even weaves them into Rue's frizzy hair. Once she's done Rue does not look pretty she looks full of life- beautiful. Then just as I see Katniss' hand going to her lips the screen is cut blank moving on to a hiking Thresh.
That there was a sign of rebellion. I saw it at her reaping. It is a sign of respect. I look up at Cinna who's eyes are full of tears and to his surprise I smile.
"Who isn't rebellious?" I ask heading out the door.
That girl there is just as much as a rebel as the rest of us because for whatever reason she doesn't blame cruelty for her terrible life back home she blames President Snow.