The Day to Rue
I spent all of last night in the woods again. When I came back, I found out Katniss had finally woken up and teamed up with the little girl from 11, Rue. They apparently came up with half a plan to take out the career's food supply. By the time I'd gotten home, trying to make up for the few days I lost, I was exhausted and didn't even make it to my bed, collapsing onto the couch. When the volume on the screen suddenly turn on full blast, I nearly fall off the couch.
My eyes dart up and I breathe a sigh when I see the boy from 10, Marin, the one who went into the games injured. He's been struggling for days to find water. Clove is watching him from the bushes and it's clear that Marin doesn't have a chance. She shakes a bush just enough so he can see her and she lets out this manic laugh as he starts to run. But he's weak and limp and she's been well fed and rested since day one. She catches up to him, throwing a knife into his good leg, sending him stumbling to the ground. She swaggers over to him; I've seen some scary tributes before, but this is who Katniss is facing. And when she flips him onto his back with the knife in her hand, I see Katniss' face, not Marin's. When she digs the knife deep into his neck, just off to the side so it doesn't kill him right away, I realize I can't watch.
The cannon wakes my mom and Rory. They rush out, breathless and scared until they see that the one who just died is not Katniss. Then their shoulders sag in relief and they notice me for the first time. Rory moves beside me and sits with his head on my shoulder. I rest my head on his and see how early it is in the morning.
After the hovercraft has taken the tribute's body and Caesar's sleepless self appears again, he seems to focus on Clove for only a few minutes. Clove goes back to the other Careers and recounts her kill in gory detail, even exaggerating it a bit. Thankfully for me, Caesar is more interested in Rue and Katniss' plan.
"Katniss," Rue asks, "even if you could get to the food, how would you get rid of it?"
Katniss shrugs playfully. "Burn it. Dump it in the lake. Soak it in fuel." She pokes Rue in the stomach. I realize now what I should have seen a long time ago. Rue reminds her of Prim. I've seen her do that a hundred times. "Eat it!" They both giggle, as if their lives weren't in mortal danger, as if they can both make it out alive. "Don't worry, I'll think of something. Destroying things is much easier than making them."
"Haha!" barks Caesar. "That's our girl!"
I can't go back to sleep. I almost want to go back to the woods, but I need to get up, get ready. Katniss and Rue gather berries and talk. I can't watch her fall in step with this girl. She sees Prim, not a tribute. She sees a friend, not just an ally. She can't see someone who has to die if she's going to live, and I don't want to look at that little girl like that either.
I'm gone within minutes, no food, just a goodbye. Mom promises to get the kids to school today so I don't need to come back. I go and sit in the square again. I need to see people walking to the mines, to work, to school. I need to see that this is a normal day, like every other. This is not a life or death day. Katniss will come up with her plan and do it tomorrow. There is no reason for her to do it today.
I see Madge sitting with a book, pretending to read and really staring at the screens. Without really thinking, I get up and sit beside her. "Hey," I say. "What are you reading?"
She looks like she didn't even realize she had a book in her hand. She puts it away and her cheeks flush. "I wasn't reading," she admits.
"I didn't think you were."
"I gave her that pin, you know?" I look up at the screen and see Katniss and Rue talking about her mockingjay pin. "I wanted to make sure she knew she wasn't alone. Like that as long as she wore that, she knew we were watching. That we were with her."
She and Rue whistle a tune before hugging and splitting off from each other with half of the others things. Their plan is in place and they're ready to act on it.
"She knows."
Katniss walks through the woods in silence, the screen split between her and Rue. Katniss heads back towards the Cornucopia while Rue goes to set the distraction fires. The bell tolls in the distance and I know need to get to school. Madge stands up and grabs my arm as I go to turn.
"Wait Gale! Did you want to meet back here after school? I don't want to watch Katniss do this alone. I don't think you should be either."
I start to protest, to say that I have to watch the Games with my mom or Mrs. Everdeen, but I stop myself before I do. I nod. "Yeah. I'll bring my brothers home and then meet you here."
It took Katniss all morning to make it down to the tree with the tracker jackers, and just as school was ending, she finally made it all the way to the Cornucopia. I grab Vick and put him on my shoulders, while Rory walks a few paces in front of me. I see Madge watching me as she's about to head down the path to the square. She waves and I nod back. Of course, that makes Rory begin to ask questions.
"Is that your girlfriend?"
From my shoulders, I hear Vick, "No, Katniss is his girlfriend."
I shake my head. "No to both of you."
Rory gives Vick a disapproving glare. "Katniss is his best friend. Like Prim is mine."
I roll my eyes. I hope not. Save him the trouble later. "You'll be there for her today, right?"
"I'm always there for her."
I reach out and tousle his hair. The only other person I know like him is Prim. To the core, they're genuinely good people. "Vick, you'll watch Posy for mom, right?" He sighs in disgust. "Hey, you're her big brother. You have to be there for her and for mom. She'll need you because Mrs. Everdeen needs mom."
He pulls at my hair a bit and I try to move free, but he's having too much fun watching me squirm. "That's it!" I say as I lift him up off my shoulders. I tuck him under my arm and carry him like he's a heavy basket.
"Hey!" he screams, but it's a laughing scream. I make sure I've got him securely in my arm as he tries to wriggle his way out.
"Nope, that's what you get for thinking I'm a horse."
Rory laughs and I tighten my grip on Vick before bending down to grab Rory around the legs. I hoist him over my shoulder and watch my face as he kicks his legs around, laughing. They're both laughing. It's a good sound. Not like the silence in the house when the Games are on. In fact, for a moment, I even forget about the Games.
I see my mom standing in the doorway smiling at us. She looks years younger when she smiles, and it's so contagious. "Dirty laundry for you, Mrs. Hawthorne!" I call out.
"No!" my brothers scream as they kick and squirm even more.
My mom giggles and I gesture to Rory, who I can feel my grip loosening on anyway. She takes him from me and looks him over. "Oh yes, this one needs a good wash!"
"I've got another one for you." I hand her Vick and he yells out again, breathless with laughter.
"They're both in for quite the rinse!" She ushers them into the house and then looks back at me.
"I'm going to watch the Games in the square with one of Katniss' friends."
"Who?"
"Madge."
She nods, "Don't rush home. We'll be at the Everdeen's if you need anything." She reaches up on her tip toes and kisses my dirty cheek. "We have another piece of dirty laundry, don't we?"
"I'm an adult mom, I will wash up later."
Her smile suddenly turned down. "Yes, yes you are." She squeezed my arm and gestured in the direction of the square. "Go."
I do. And when I reach the square, I see Madge in the same place as before with that stupid book in her face. I move beside her, talking louder than normal over the volume of the screen. "Why do you keep pretending to read that book?"
She folds it away and shrugs. "It makes me look like I'm doing something, I suppose."
I check the screen. Katniss is still scouting the Career camp. The others left to follow Rue earlier and Katniss is watching her prey. She's bent, hunched over with her bow ready in front of her legs. I know this look. She does it every time we hunt. But her head snaps up and the camera zooms in on Finch navigating the mine field that Katniss doesn't seem to know about. How could she? She watches, studying the other girl's movements. Her grip on her bow tightens and I can see her thinking. Even when Finch is back in the woods with her supplies re-stocked, Katniss is mulling over a new plan in her mind.
"She's going to shoot at something, isn't she?"
I nod, watching as the camera zooms in on her darting eyes. Of course, Caesar breaks in on a screen while the other shows Rue running away from her second fire. "Katniss is running out of time. Her window of opportunity is closing. What is she going to do?"
It's then that she steps into the clearing and readies her arrow. Her hand is shaking and I already know that she's off her game. She's nervous, and who could blame her. I was nervous for her! The arrow just touches the bag that's filled with apples. It slits it open, but it's not enough. I tune out Caesar as he continues to yap. She readies a second one and takes a deep breath. This time, her hand is rock steady. She rips the bag wide open, but it's too far off to the side. The apples stay in place. She readies one more arrow. And when the arrow flies, the bag splits it wide open. Apples tumble out of the bag and onto the ground. And Katniss is thrown into the air, landing hard on her back as the mines explode all at once.
I'm stunned. All of the screens show the tributes reacting to the explosion. Cato and the Careers are not happy and begin to run back. Rue reacts to the shaking ground, but is too far to have heard more than a rumble. It's the same with Thresh. Finch runs back to see what happened. Peeta looks worse than ever, hidden in his perfect disguise. But his droopy eyes widen, despite being unable to do anything.
Then the camera is back to Katniss. She assesses herself and her things quickly before turning to the explosion and covering her face as debris rained down on her. She smiled, satisfied with her work, and she scrambles to her feet. It doesn't last long. Her legs wobble like a toddler learning to walk and her entire body crashes into a tree. She tries again and falls to her knees. I can already see what happened and I feel sick. Her shaking hand moves to her ear and comes back bloody. Her face betrays her fear, the implications of what the explosion might have done to her. She covers it quickly, but I saw.
I feel Madge grab my hand and squeeze. I realize that I too am shaking. Katniss sees a drop of blood on the ground and pulls her hood up to cover her ear. As she crawls away, I hear Caesar yell something before another mine goes off. Katniss lands straight on her face, her eyes disoriented as she continues to crawl away. Again, another piece of debris sets off another explosion and then again. Katniss is lying in the dirt, her breathing rapid, but her arms picking her up again and dragging her limp body into the bushes.
Cato bursts through the trees and runs up to the boy from 3, Atlas. The other Careers follow closely on his heels. "What the HELL happened?" he screams as he takes in the surroundings. He literally pulls his hair so hard that a large clump came out. Without giving Atlas a chance to explain, Cato screamed again and pounded his fists against the ground, coming back up with bloodied knuckles. He kicks the bucket in front of him while Clove and Marvel sift through the wreckage. "What the hell did you—" Cato begins, but Atlas turns on his heels and starts to run. Cato reaches him in two large steps and twists his neck, snapping it. The cannon goes off.
"I'm going to kill whoever did this!" he screams. The cameras have a terrible view on Katniss, she's hidden too well, but they still try to get her reaction.
"No!" yells Clove. "Whoever did this is dead! They set off the traps. We can't afford to waste our energy hunting no one now! We'll see who it was tonight, okay?"
They move away from the pile and sit near the lake and wait to see. Katniss peeks out and takes a visible breath before retreating back into her shrub.
"She's really hurt," Madge mutters.
They show the replay several times. They analyze it. They predict what will happen next. And I sit on a bench with Madge, watching it all. We don't even talk. We just wait.
It's only after the Careers realize that there were only two deaths that day, rather than their expected three, that they take up their weapons and head back into the woods with their night vision goggles.
The sun has set and I still waited with Madge. Neither of us ate. For me, it was normal, but I wondered if she was uncomfortable or if she even noticed. She seemed to be genuinely concerned for Katniss. I felt comfortable with her, oddly enough. There were plenty of girls who tried to flirt with me, just not the one girl I wanted. And Madge didn't try anything. It made me like her more, and regret some of the things I'd thought earlier about her.
Katniss finally staggers to her feet, gripping the tree for support. She lets go and takes a step, clearly pleased that she doesn't fall again. Her hands still shake as she reaches for her own night goggles that Rue lent her. Then Katniss starts to hum and then closes her eyes, defeated. Her hearing was gone, at least in that one ear. It's written all over her face. She takes out her flask of water and takes a swig before washing out the blood from her ear and off her hands.
"Madge!" calls out a male voice. I turn and see the mayor, her father. "Come on, it's time to go home." When he sees me, he squints in the darkness. "You're Gale, right?" I nod and so does he. "I'm sorry."
Madge reaches her hand out and grabs mine again. "She'll be okay."
"Her chances of surviving just dropped without her hearing. She's a hunter. She needs her ears."
"Listen to me; she will be okay."
I cringe, but nod as I watch her pile leaves and anything she can find onto herself as her breath comes out in a visible puff from her mouth. As she drifts off, it shows others like Rue also hiding and falling asleep. She's sidetracked, trying to avoid the Careers. And they're restless, on the hunt all night. The boy, Marvel, even set several traps and snares. They're not all pretty, but they might just work.
"Madge," I say as she takes a step away. "Thank you."
She smiled. "You know where I'll be," and she followed her father back home. I did the same.
It was only after school, with all of us crammed into our house, when Katniss finally woke up. Her head shoots up and she turns her head, her right ear turned toward where Finch has been laughing. Katniss scrambles to her feet and lets out a little laugh. It all happens so fast that it takes me a good minute to realize that she's got hearing in that ear.
The kids are sitting on the floor in front of the couch with Mrs. Everdeen and my mom. I sit on the arm. Anyone who looked at us would think we were sharing a nice family moment watching an old movie during the holiday, and not watching children forced to murder other children. The Capitol makes me sick, even when I try to put it out of my mind, I remember that my best friend might die, and it would be entirely their fault.
We sit like this for a while. The screen focuses mostly on the Careers and Katniss as she makes her way back to Rue, but they're in Rue's general area, making the girl afraid to move. Meanwhile, Thresh is alone on his side of the arena, but he cuts his leg on some sharper plants. He does what he can to clean it, but it needs more. Caesar and Claudius spend a fair bit of time talking about what will happen to him in the next few days.
Sometimes, they show Katniss eating and slowly trudging through the woods, using the stream to mask her footprints. The Careers split up and go three different ways. Cato is convinced that it was Katniss, while Clove thinks it could have been Thresh. Marvel doesn't seem to care, as long as there is someone they're hunting for. They agree to meet back by the end of the day. Marvel is almost entirely on Rue's trail each time she tries to break for their meeting place. Katniss wanders and tends to her wounds as she waits, but there is nothing else she can do. She decides to go looking for her.
And then my heart clenches. The little girl makes a break down a tree, seeing her opportunity while Marvel heads the other way. Then suddenly she sets off one of his traps. It's a net that covers her, trapping her against the ground. She tries to pull it off, but it doesn't move. Her hair gets caught, her eyes well up, and Marvel is back, watching her squirm from the bushes, ready to throw his spear when he stops.
"Katniss!" Rue calls desperately. "Katniss!"
Katniss is nowhere near Rue, not yet. She's headed in that direction, but she has a little way yet to go. Marvel lowers his spear and a sick smile spreads on his face. He sits back, creeping into the bushes, waiting.
Rue realizes that screaming might not be the best idea, so she starts to talk to herself. "It's okay. Just keep calm. She's coming, she knows I was late. She won't leave me here. Okay. Breathe." She tries to push the net off her in a less frantic manner, but it's completely entangled her. She has no knife to cut her way out of it.
Caesar is going on and on, making me want to mute the screen, not that I could. I can see Prim and Rory watching the young girl with terrified eyes. Prim seems to realize that this could have been her and she starts to cry.
Rue keeps talking to herself, trying to calm her nerves. "Maybe Katniss can follow the Mockingjays." Rue sings her four note tune, changing the last note as a subtle sign to Katniss. And Katniss hears the Mockingjays. She returns the song for Rue.
Rue smiles, knowing Katniss is on her way. But Marvel hears it too. He steps closer, and Rue sees him and screams. He grins as she continues to scream. "Katniss!" The terror is clear in her eyes. She doesn't seem to understand that it's a trap, that her calling Katniss means that she's leading her straight to her death. But if she doesn't call out, she's dead.
"Rue! Rue! I'm coming!" Katniss calls as she breaks into a sprint.
There are tears pouring from Rue's eyes as she stares at Marvel. Fear has taken all the sound from her.
I lean forward in my seat. Katniss will see Marvel the second she enters the clearing. He's directly in her line of sight. But when Katniss does break through, she only sees Rue and slides to her knees in front of her, already working the net.
Rue shoves her hand through and points at Marvel, shouting out Katniss' name one more time. It's like it all happened in slow motion. I felt myself on my feet, as Marvel throws the spear at Katniss.
Katniss barely has time to see it before it lodges itself in Rue's stomach. Marvel is stunned that he missed, but it doesn't last for long. Katniss shoots her arrow through his throat before he even has his hand down. He reaches up, gurgling through the blood as it spurts out, and pulls the arrow from his neck, falling dead to the ground.
Even Caesar is quiet.
I blink a few times before pushing through the door and breathing in the cold night air. I can't be in there. My hands run through my hair several times and I can't stop my feet moving. Before I know it, I'm running. I don't even know where until I end up at the square. When I get there, Katniss is rocking Rue, singing.
Here it's safe here it's warm. Here the daisies guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you.
I recognize the song as something she told me she sings to Prim sometimes. Rue's cannon fires and I feel myself release a breath I didn't even know I was holding.
Watching Katniss cry is almost harder than knowing why. Her tears stream down her face and she bites on the sleeve of her jacket to try to quiet her sobs, but they don't stop. She gets up and takes Marvel's pack and then cuts Rue's. Tears still stream down her cheeks, her eyes rarely leaving Rue's body. Then, something seems to shift inside of her. She almost instinctively looks directly into the camera and straightens her back. Then she heads off and the screen cuts off of her.
It takes me a minute to gather myself together. Madge appears as if from nowhere, or maybe I just hadn't noticed her. I slide down the wall and rest my head against my knees. She sinks down beside me.
When I look up, I know at least one tear managed to fall. "I almost watched her die again." I took a deep breath. "I don't know how many more times I can go through that."
"You're under a lot of pressure to take care of your families. I can see that. Katniss isn't the only one who's lost weight during the Games. It's all getting to you. You need to take a breath and ignore the Games for a day."
My eyes feel dead. "And if she dies and I missed it to take a mental health day? No."
"It can be hard to watch your loved ones suffer."
I scoffed. If only she knew how spot on she was. And as I looked up at her, I had the feeling she did know. She knows that I'm in love with Katniss.
"Bye, Rue," Katniss says. As the crane reaches down to take Rue away, we can all see that Katniss surrounded the body in every flower she could find. She created a martyr in Rue. This girl wasn't just any tribute to her. And something deep inside me knew that the Gamemakers would have her pay for it.
A/N: Sorry this one is a bit long. I could have made into two chapters but I had planned it better than I actually executed it and I didn't feel like splitting it by the time I was done. Anyway! Let me know what you think! If there is ever something Gale says or does that you don't think sounds like him, let me know in the comments! I've been away from this for a while now so I feel like I lost his voice a little bit, but I'm getting it back. I definitely plan on finishing this one sooner rather than later, but we'll see how that really goes! Thanks for reading!
