I'm dead. I'm going to die, I'm SO dead!
I don't want to die! Not like this. I don't want to die in the hands of the capitol.
Wait a second... the careers can't climb! They would just fall. And I didn't get that 7 for nothing. I can hop from tree to tree. My mom told me I look like a little monkey.
And hop I do. Escape I... don't. I fell from the tree. I didn't break anything, but I fall in front of the careers who were apparently following me.
Clove pulls out a knife, and ties me to a tree. She teases me with the knife and I start to scream. I scream as loud as I can until Clove slaps me. She's about to make the death strike when someone bursts through the trees. But it's not Gale. The person standing before me... is Thresh. He's wielding an axe.
"Get away from her!" he barks, but neither of them make a move. Cato merely laughs at him. That was a mistake.
Clove starts to taunt him. "You can't beat us. And you can't save your little friend. We will kill her just like we'll kill you."
Clove is ready to go on, but Thresh chops her head clean off. The cannon booms.
"CLOVE!" Cato cries, but it's too late. He glances at Thresh with the axe and runs off. But he stops to say something. "This isn't over. I will kill you for this, Thresh." And then he's gone.
Thresh unties me and tells me to run. He walks off in the other direction.
Thresh just saved my life. That sentence replays in my mind over and over. I don't even realize where I'm going until I get there. I'm in the spot where Prim was killed.
Something on the ground catches my eye. It's slightly buried, but definitely there. I wipe off the dirt and quickly realize what it was. It was her district token, the mockingjay pin. Her sister, Katniss gave it to her. I cling onto it and pin it onto my shirt. Memories of Prim cause me to tear up.
I collapse against one of the trees and bury my face in my hands.
I'm interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. "Rue?"
It was Gale.
"Gale? What are you doing here?" I ask.
"Me? What are you doing here?" he replies.
I have to think about that question. "I... I don't know exactly."
Gale gives me a big hug. "Oh Rue, I thought you were dead! When I heard the cannon I just... I... Wait, if you're alive, then who died?"
"Clove. Thresh saved my life. Cato is still out there. Gale, I want the alliance back. I'm scared."
He hugs me tighter.
We make a camp in a hidden spot. It starts to get dark. I snuggle up against Gale, but I'm interrupted by the booming of a cannon.
The anthem starts and it starts with Clove's face. But the other death belongs to... Thresh. I tear up again. He saved my life.
The capitol had two deaths today, so we should be safe tomorrow. But after that is... the finally.