I named the district four girl Miana Jade, in honor of Mockingjay. Obviously, Foxface is number three.
Chapter Ten
Madge and Rue continued along the river, not wanting to lose their only water source.
"At least all of the Careers are dead," said Rue.
"Yes, but we still don't know the two people who could kill us."
"I smell smoke." They ran in the direction of the smell.
Madge was the first to arrive. She found a small campsite, with a fire, a blanket, and something wrapped in cloth. She unwrapped the cloth and found some raw meat and a match.
"Should we eat it?" asked Madge.
"If we take, the person who owns this campsite might notice."
"I thought this was Clove's."
"It probably was, but we can't be too careful."
"Come on Rue," she said. "The Careers are dead, and there is probably only one person at this campsite. We can take them on if we need to."
They took the meat back to their campsite and lit a fire. Madge stuck the meat on a stick and grilled it over the fire. Soon they had food to eat. Madge served Rue first and then herself.
Rue started eating immediately. Madge was about to start when Rue said:
"Wait. It's poisoned." She vomited on the fire, putting it out. She passed out on the hot coals. Madge screamed.
"Rue!" she shrieked. She shook her little friend wildly, but she didn't wake up. Madge barely heard the distant canon shot.
She gathered up her sheath of arrows, Nightlock, and knife and ran through the forest. She eventually came to the destination, the campsite where they had found the meat.
A girl was sitting there, tending a fire.
"Miana," she said. "Miana Jade. District four."
"The Careers," said Madge. "I thought they were dead."
"I didn't join them," said Miana. "I'm not a group person. You've met Clove, I presume?"
"She killed Thresh."
"That's Clove. Thrower of knives, cold blooded murderer."
"And what's your weapon of choice?"
Miana beamed. "Poison."
"How do you kill people when you're attacked?"
"Is that a threat, 12 girl?"
"No, just a question."
"Dart gun. Dipped in poison."
"You're going to kill me, then?" asked Madge.
"How did you guess?" said Miana with a smile.
"Look, if you don't kill me, I've got something to trade."
"What? A sheath of arrows without a bow?"
"Nightlock."
Miana smiled. "Nice try. They didn't put any Nightlock berries in this arena."
"Not berries. Pill form. I've only got the one, but you can dissolve it in water."
"Show me."
Madge slowly took out the Nightlock. Miana looked at it, sniffed it, and turned it over in her hand.
"I'm pretty sure it's real," said Miana. "But there really is only one way to find out. If it doesn't work when that time comes, 12 girl, you're dead."
"Deal." Madge put out her hand. Miana reached out to shake it, and Madge chopped her hand clean off with her knife.
Miana howled in pain and dropped the Nightlock. Madge picked it up and put it in her plastic bag. Then she ran.
She ran quickly through the forest. When she finally stopped, Miana was nowhere in sight. The only sound was Madge's own heartbeat, but that was a sledgehammer.
Suddenly a canon sounded.
No. That wound was not fatal. It couldn't be. Either that wasn't Miana's shot, or somebody else intervened. It was unlikely that the shot wasn't Miana's. So that means…
Somebody must have been watching. Miana couldn't have died so quickly. But who?
Three were left. One was Madge. Another was Peeta. Who was the third?
Madge had no food, no water, and no warmth for cold nights. All she had were weapons, useless things! Poison with nothing to poison, arrows without a bow, and a knife. The knife was the only thing Madge could actually use!
Peeta must have supplies. Madge had to find him. They would ally, hunt down the third, and then… Would Madge really kill Peeta?
Her childhood friend?
She had thought it was horrible to kill somebody without even knowing their first name. She had thought it was horrible that after somebody died, they were nothing but a number and a gender. But Madge realized it was even worse to know. To know that the person you're killing is just like you, has a family, has things to love, and do it anyway. Madge could kill an attacker, even a potential threat, and dismiss it as self defense, but you can't murder an ally and say you had no choice. There is always a choice.
"Peeta!" screamed Madge. The third would hear her, if she weren't already watching. Madge didn't care.
The third. Die with a number on your forehead and be neatly filed away.
"Peeta!" She was in hysterics now; it was getting dark. Madge was freezing.
Name: Madge. District: 12. Gender: female. Cause of death: Hypothermia
Die with a number on your forehead…
Madge wanted to cry. Would she actually seem human that way? Not just a nameless doll with a number on her forehead?
She didn't cry. The third would kill her right then and there, if she did.
Madge lay down on the ground and slept. She didn't care if she woke up dead. At least she would be out. At least Madge would get the brass.
But she didn't wake up dead. She woke up to the smell of food. Daylight was streaming through the branches of the trees and somebody was standing over her.
"Peeta," breathed Madge.
"Hey."
"Food."
"Meat. Let me get you some."
Peeta took out a pot where some meat was cooking and placed it on the ground. Madge ate some, and so did he.
"Peeta. We need to find the third person."
"I saw her once."
"Female?"
"Yeah. Not sure what district, though. She took some of the Careers' food, before they died."
Gender: Female. District: Unknown.
"What's her name?"
"I don't you. We can ask her, when we find her."
"No, I'll just call her Three."
"All right. Should we seek her out, or wait for her to come to us?"
"No," said Madge. "This ends today." She grabbed her knife.
Long line
They came across an abandoned campsite with the smoking remains of a fire.
"She heard us coming," said Madge.
"I'll bet she's here."
"Come on out, Three!" yelled Madge. "We know you're out there! Come on out and fight us!"
A young redhead girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She pulled a knife from her belt and threw it at Peeta. Madge gasped. The sickening splat of metal on skin made her gag.
Sharp metal. Soft skin. Cuts like scissors on paper.
The canon sounded before he even hit the ground.
Madge ran to him, hoping against all odds. The canon sounded, said her brain. He's dead.
Madge turned around. Three was gone. She wasn't in this to win, or kill, she was here to survive.
Three could run, but Madge knew the Capitol would throw them together, eventually. Three must know it, too. She would be back.
"Hold your fire," said Madge. "She'll be back. You don't need to drive us together."
Madge sat down. She picked some berries, ate them, and didn't die. She took a small nap and did not wake up dead. She sat down, alert and ready. When Three came for her, it was going to be a battle to the death. A neat little death with a number on her forehead. File the body away; file the victor in some pretty little house…
Madge took out the Nightlock and looked at it. She realized that it really was from district 13. Why would the Capitol give it to her?
"The world will be watching," Madge mumbled.
"And thirteen," she said, "is included."
A silver parachute rained from the sky. Madge was about to open it. Suddenly she wondered who's it was.
It could be three's parachute, too. Madge drew nearer and inspected it without opening it. It was harmless looking, except for one thing. It was ticking.
Three leapt from the tree and ran through the forest at top speed.
The parachute wasn't from the Capitol at all! Three dropped it her!
She was here the whole time. Madge ran after her. She was disappearing out of sight. An explosion that threw Madge to her knees rocked the ground. When it had stopped, Madge continued her running. It was no use. Three was not to be found.
It was up to the Capitol to drive them together, right now. A green mist emanated from the forest. It must have come from the outside of the arena, probably going to the Cornucopia.
Madge ran. It was a poisonous gas, she knew, but the only way it would kill her was if she threw herself into it.
She ran to the Cornucopia. Three was probably already there. She was much faster than Madge, after all.
The green stopped. Madge entered the burnt area. It smelled like death.
Death stinks, thought Madge.
She burst out of the ruined forest, even though it was never really a forest at all, it was a hologram created by the Capitol.
Three was not the enemy. The Capitol was.
The Cornucopia was in sight. The circle of mist shrank to ten feet, and disappeared.
Where was Three? Madge realized Three was inside the Cornucopia.
"I know you're in there, Three."
The redhead girl emerged. She sighed, and then pulled out a large bow and a knife.
"Yours," she said, holding up the bow.
She put an arrow in the bow and pulled back the string. It hit Madge just below the knee and she stumbled.
"You don't kill," said Madge. "You run."
"I can throw knives," said Three.
"Knives?"
Three nodded. She wasn't cocky like Miana or Clove. She wasn't a super fighter; she wasn't a Career. She was a smart one, the most dangerous kind.
Madge pulled her knife out of her sheath. Three also had a knife, and she did the same.
Madge tried to leap forward and stab Three, but Three was too fast. She ducked out of the way and threw Madge to the ground. She sat on top of her.
Madge easily threw her off. She was so light.
She sat on top of her and raked her knife across Three's face. Three opened her mouth and screamed in pain. Madge made a cut along Three's throat, and it started to bleed. She thought she had won, but at the last minute, Three jammed her knife into Madge's stomach.
"If I die," said Three, spitting blood, "you die too."
Madge's vision started to get spotty. A canon sounded, but it was Three's. A victory message with her name on it came over the loudspeaker. The pain was roaring in her ears.
The Capitol would revive her. She was the victor.
Did she really want to win?
Three died with a number on her forehead. Peeta died with a number on his forehead, and Clove, and Miana… Now Madge would win with a number on her forehead.
Madge reached into her sheath and pulled out her Nightlock. Would she really live out the rest of her days alone?
No, Madge, too, would die with a number on her forehead. She heard the distant helicopter, and slipped the Nightlock into her mouth.
New pain joined her knife wound. She was too tired to scream. She closed her eyes and drifted off for the last time. She thought she heard a canon shot, but it might have been the pounding in her ears.
Madge would die with a number on her forehead. That number was 13.