11: Rue

Katniss POV

As the sun rises I feel Gale shaking me awake. "Katniss, wake up. The Games, Cato wants you on his team for hunting." Hunting. The word reverberates in my brain for a second before I get up.

"OK, I'm up," I say, going over to the supplies to pick up a bit of bread and my bow and quiver of arrows. I strap the arrows on my back and hold the bow. "So who's on the rest of my hunting team?"

"Cato and Glimmer," Mara replies. "I'm with Gale and Marvel. Clove had the last shift, so she is sleeping and Higg is on guard."

"Fine." I go over to the other side of the clearing where Cato and Glimmer and waiting for me. Cato is holding a brutal-looking sword and has a knife at his belt and Clove has a double-sided axe on her back. I've never seen her use an axe before, but I have no doubts about her skill with it. I'm with the careers.

"We're heading to the forest side of the arena," Cato grunts. "They're heading to the grain field. Come on, we've wasted enough time, only twelve tributes are dead." I shiver at his tone and at the implication that twelve tributes dead by the first day is somehow not enough.

We head into the forest and I keep my eyes and ears open for tributes. We've travelled quite a way when Cato opens his mouth. "We'll try elsewh-"

"No," I interrupt, a movement in the branches above me coming to my sensitive ears. "In the trees. There's something there. And it doesn't sound like a bird." It sounds too quiet to be a tribute too, but if there is some dangerous mutt up there then I don't want to be ambushed by it.

"If you say so," Glimmer says. "I don't hear anything."

"I'm sure of it," I respond. I nock an arrow and point it to the source of the noise cautiously. For a moment I get tunnel vision as my eyes focus on the spot in the tree. Thick dark green leaves are covering a possible branch, it's the perfect place for a clever and quiet tribute to hide to ambush using ranged weapons.

"Shoot then," Cato commands. I pause for a moment listening to the rustles, then I let my arrow fly at the point where they are loudest. A quiet gasp is heard and quick rustling as the tribute tries to get away from us. Cato and Glimmer have caught on now and are following the rustling. I pick up my arrow, which is coated in blood and put in back in the quiver. I can't afford to waste weapons. I don't hesitate before quickly catching up to Cato and Glimmer.

I see a glimpse of black hair and wonder if this is the District 11 girl, Rue. She is dark skinned and has long black hair, so it could be. And she's District 11, that would explain how she can climb so quickly and quietly. What was it she said in the interview? If they can't catch me they can't kill me, so I have a chance in these Games, don't rule me out. Something to that effect. This probably is her. I feel a stab of guilt and disgust with myself for leading the careers to a twelve year old, but brush it of. I can't afford to give mercy.

"She's there," Cato says. "I know it. Climb up," he orders me.

I nod and grab onto the nearest branch and find a foothold in a groove in the bark and pull myself up. The first branch is always the hardest, but I'm good at climbing. Gale has always said that I'm part squirrel the way I can climb so high. He's always been more cautious, sticking to the lower branches, whereas I know instinctively where it is safe to put my weight.

I hear a strange sawing noise for a few seconds and wonder what it is. Suddenly I hear a cry of pain, probably from Rue and see a wasp like creature. I don't need to think twice to see what it is. Tracker jacker. I climb away as fast as I can, but one tracker jacker still manages to sting me on the cheek.

When I jump the last two meters to the ground I see the body of Glimmer lying still. It is disgusting: her whole body is covered with stings and it is horribly deformed. The image begins to twist slightly and I know that I have little time before the sting takes effect. I need to get out of here before the tracker jackers return to their hive.

I start running. I'm not sure which direction I'm going in, but some primal instinct is telling me that this is the right way. Bramble and twigs catch in my clothes but I keep going regardless. It seems Cato must have survived, I saw no body so I won't be blamed for this. If nobody kills me then I can go back to the careers and Gale.

Suddenly a large shape rears up in front of me. It has a large beak and claws and huge wings. "Mutt!" I screech, scrambling out of the way.

"Mutt!" it squawks back at me flapping the wings. The response triggers something in me and I realise that it isn't a mutt.

"Mockingjay," I whisper before I pass out.

When I wake up night has fallen and I see the moon shining. I stroke my cheek, feeling a slight bulge there and yank the stinger out. I should have done that yesterday, but I was too insane. I am lying near a pool of water, which I scoop into my mouth greedily. It returns my strength slightly and I sit up.

I am at the edge of the forest area. The lake should be quite close, I should be able to find my way back to the career camp from here. Suddenly, I hear leaves being crushed and voices coming towards me. I turn my head towards them and see a group of three: Gale, Marvel and Mara. "Gale!" I call.

"Catnip?" he replies in surprise.

"Over here! To your left!" I direct him.

He finds me quickly and kneels down next to me. "What happened?" he asks, prodding the bulge on my cheek. "Are you OK? Where are Cato and Glimmer?"

"Tracker jackers," I rasp. "That 11 girl, Rue dumped a hive near us. I was up a tree so I got away pretty lightly, just one sting. Glimmer died. I have no idea where Cato is."

"As long as you're OK," he whispers to me. "Then I don't care where Cato is."

"We should go back to camp," Mara interrupts our moment. "Maybe Cato is there."

"Did you kill her?" Marvel asks. "Rue?"

"No. She might be dead, I heard her get stung too."

"We'll kill her later," Mara says impatiently. "Now let's get back to the lake and find Cato."

We walk back to the lake in silence. I wonder how my family coped, how Prim was coping with seeing me be attacked by tracker jackers and falling unconscious. I was so vulnerable then, I was very lucky not to be killed in my sleep by some random tribute or even Cato if he found me. My death could easily have been blamed on tracker jacker venom.

When we reach the camp, Higg is walking around the outside carrying a spear. I see Clove tending to Cato's stings inside the circle of mines. "It's us," Mara calls to Higg. Higg looks around and sees us. He really is a rubbish guard, all four of us could have easily snuck past him.

"How's Cato?" Gale asks.

"I'm fine," he grunts. "What happened in the tree fire-girl?"

"Rue dropped a tracker jacker hive on you. Glimmer died. I got stung once. They found me," I reply.

Cato's eyes cloud with rage. "I'll kill that little bitch!" he screams. "I'll rip her intestines out and feed them to the mockingjays. That District 11 brat won't even be recognisable by the time I'm through with her."

"Shh," Clove says. "Stop squirming and let me take out those stingers. You're lucky I don't make you do it yourself. You were an idiot to get stung."

So much for Clove gently nursing Cato's stings until he gets better. I bet they know each other from career training. There are times when Cato and Clove actually seem to care about each other, like they're good friends. And then there are other were she calls him an idiot actually meaning it and being cruel and ruthless and he seems to dislike her. Maybe it's all part of career training not to get attached. I don't know.

Clove drops the stingers to the ground. "There. Done," she says. "And next time, I'm on your team. I'm killing that 11 brat with you. Everdeen, you can stay on guard or join Marvel's team. I don't care which."

"Fine," I say. "I'll join Marvel's team. Mara can be on guard last. By the way, Higg? Remember to listen when you're on guard, not just look. I could have easily got past you today."

He nods shakily. "Yes Katniss," he says, stumbling over his words. I realise that I could have got him killed with Cato in this mood. He will be killed as soon as he makes a mistake, I know. At least I'm lucky enough to have a fairly secure place in the careers. Until I betray of course.

I'll probably need an ally other than Gale to betray though. Assuming Higg gets killed before then, I'll still have to take on Cato, Clove, Marvel and Mara. And it will have to be done when I'm awake seeing as Gale and I aren't so good with close combat and we'll still have careers to kill if we slaughter some in their sleep because cannons will wake them. Rue is out because I tried to kill her. Maybe Foxface or Thresh would make good allies if I could meet and persuade them.

We eat dinner in silence and soon after I fall asleep with Gale lying next to me and Mara and Higg on guard for the night.

xXx-X-xXx

So what do you think of the attack and Rue? I'm still open to suggestion about other points of view (so far everyone wants Haymitch) so please leave a review and tell me.

-MoonOfPluto