Twelve

Rue was right, the Careers had taken over the Cornucopia and whatever else was useful to them. What they needed the most was the same thing the rest craved for: food and water, since they had plenty of weapons. Crouched among the trees, Katniss watched how different everything looked. Cato and the others were sitting under some awnings that served to block the sun, their suitcases and other packages of food piled up on a stack. They had made small mounds of soil around it, which she didn't quite know what they were for until she realized why they were so relaxed away from their belongings: there had to be mines all around. It meant Katniss would have to be careful not to blown up too, although that was exactly her intention, leaving them with nothing.

Rue and her had come up with a plan in little more than a day after she'd told her about it. While Katniss waited, Rue would light a fire in the forest to catch their attention and make them leave the Cornucopia. They guessed they surely wouldn't miss the chance to take down another tribute. In the meantime, she would attack them and Rue would hide until Katniss showed up again where they had agreed to meet. If they did it right they would be helpless, almost as helpless as they were, though now Katniss had a real chance with the bow.

A thread of smoke crossed the sky quite soon, just as they had planned. One of the boys, Katniss thought it was Marvel, from District 1, immediately raised his voice with concern after seeing it too. As he and two others bolted in its direction, Katniss smiled to herself. The plan was on, Rue had done her part and now it was her turn to do too. She moved carefully, hiding among the branches of the trees, and tried to think of how to avoid the explosives buried to prevent anyone from taking their supplies. She was looking at a boy they had left watching over everything when a quick movement distracted her. A girl appeared out of nowhere, running through the minefield. Katniss slowly rose to her feet amazed at the sight of her bouncing between one mound and another, as if she knew exactly how to dodge them. She took something with her and then ran behind the tent they had set up, leaving the boy who was in control utterly confused.

Katniss could try to imitate her, stepping exactly on where she had done, but it had been too fast, she wouldn't make it, most probably. She decided to stick to what they had agreed on and rose to her feet to grab her bow. She pulled the arrow and focused on the remaining items. Most would be too difficult to take down, so she aimed at the sack of apples on top of a briefcase. She looked both ways before shooting, and since no one was close enough to distinguish her, she moved a few steps forward. The string brushed against her lips before she released the arrow. Apples rolled with her well-aimed shot, a mine exploded with force, causing her to duck, then another followed and before she could even react, she ended up hitting herself too.

The last explosion had been so strong the wave had thrown her backwards before she had time to run. As she tried to breathe again, with a few pieces of she didn't know what falling around her, she couldn't stand, only sit up. Her head was spinning, but the incessant ringing that pierced her ear was even worse. She couldn't hear anything from both sides, only from one ear. She shook her head several times and looked up. No one had seen her, the bow and arrows were fine, but she had to crawl as best as she could into the bushes to hide. It had been too risky, she had succeeded and at the same time hurt herself too. Would it be worth it?

Before she walked off again into the depths of the forest, since she had to get to their agreed meeting point as soon as possible, before they discovered the fire, she heard Cato yelling at the boy:

"What the hell have you done?!"

Katniss didn't stick around to find out what happened to him, though as she was staggering through the trees she heard the sound of a cannon being shot away from her. She stopped for a second and caught her breath. Cato would have killed him for not paying attention, most likely. She clung tightly to a tree and studied where she stood, swallowing hard. After focusing for a while she found her way back, but Rue wasn't where they'd agreed, not too close to the fire to be caught. With the strength she had left she whistled as Rue had taught her. They needed a signal to warn each other, but only the birds imitated her, no girl carefully descended from a tree as she was expecting.

"Katniss!" she heard suddenly, in a heartrending cry.

As if she had been propelled, she forgot the pain she felt and ran without hesitation to the little girl's distress call. To her horror, Rue had walked right into some kind of trap and was entangled in a net covering her whole body. As she hurriedly pulled her knife she thought angrily that she had been stupid for thinking they were the only ones who could come up with a clever plan. Of course the Careers had their ways of defending themselves, too.

She already had the knife in her hand when she heard the cracking of some branches behind her and, turning her head, she saw Marvel approaching, spear in hand. Her heart raced, but that didn't stop her from reacting on pure instinct. While he moved Katniss drew the arrow and fired, not thinking at all. The arrow hit him right in the chest, though she didn't flinch, because as she turned to help Rue she realized that the spear that had passed over her head hadn't ended up missing. It hadn't been lost at all, but stood out on the girl's chest. Katniss finished freeing her from the net at a frantic pace, unable to control her trembling hands, nor her agitated breathing as she noticed Rue's disconcerted look.

"Rue..." she called for her weakly, with Katniss trying to hold her in her arms.

The girl looked at her with moist eyes.

"Have you destroyed it?" she asked.

"All of it," Katniss assured her.

"Good," she murmured in a small voice. "You have to win."

There was no cure for her wound, there was nothing Katniss could do at all, so she settled her as best as she could and caressed her cheek until she let out her last breath. The cannon sounded and Katniss closed her eyes, set her down carefully, and sat down next to her. The hovercraft would be arriving soon, she should be leaving now, but Rue's apparent calm face infuriated her. She couldn't pretend she was asleep, that she would be fine, that this too would pass. She was only a little girl. She deserved a childhood and growing up. However, she had arrived late. She was always too late with all of them. Her hands grabbed the first thing she could find to vent: a piece of grass that she tore up, then another and another. Only then did she notice the flowers around her. She paused to forget her anger and picked up a few small bouquets to arrange around Rue's body, tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn't deserve to be loaded onto a hovercraft like a dead animal, but to rest somewhere pretty.

Getting to her feet, she caught sight of Marvel out of the corner of her eye, a few feet away from her. She had forgotten about him, forgotten even about what she had done until she saw the glowing arrow deep in his chest, next to a huge stain of blood. She wiped the tears with her sleeves and held her breath for a second: she was the only one to blame, she had killed him. She gritted her teeth and collected herself. She couldn't get carried away by any of it now, there were only five or six tributes left if she was counting right, so she couldn't give up at this point. She picked his and Rue's backpack and thought about heading back to collect her belongings as well, before other Careers showed up looking for Marvel. When she reached the tree where they had sheltered the past nights, she took stock of what she had: her belongings and Rue's. Looking inside Marvel's backpack, she wasn't even surprised at how full it was: spearheads, knives, a flashlight, a first aid kit, water, and a packet of dried fruit. He didn't even know if she wanted to keep his things. After all, he had ended a girl's live without remorse, he was a murderer. Like she was now.

That night she couldn't sleep a wink, not after seeing Rue's face light up the sky, after Marvel's, the boy from 3 and another one. Besides, her hearing wouldn't let her rest well either. The stabbing pain wasn't the worst, but not hearing anything from her left side was, because clearly make her be at a disadvantage. She had to hunt, hunt to eat, and hunt to survive. The first thing was easy for a couple of days, but the second…she didn't know if she could do it. She had killed Marvel, yes, but it had been on self-defense, right? When on the second afternoon a terrible storm broke out, she decided she would go back into hiding. However, the trees no longer served her as much shelter. She was lucky to find a cave after searching and searching, next to the river, although by the time she was able to take refuge there she was already completely soaked. She was freezing to death as well. She could not stop chattering throughout the night, even inside her sleeping bag. That wouldn't be food for her hearing, she imagined. She would stay there for now, she had planted a trap at the entrance, so if someone discovered her, she would find out soon. What could they possible do to force her out? Try to burn her alive again? At least the pain in her leg was gone… What had she done to deserve that kind of hell? What had any of them done? By the third day, she realized she really needed to get out. She had to go to the Cornucopia and see if there was anything left, any trace of any medicine she might use, or if Haymitch could send her something useful if she left the cave.

The woods were suspiciously quiet in the direction of the Cornucopia, so she climbed up a tree to keep an eye out and wait for anyone to pass by. She was already beginning to think she would be up there until the end of the Games when a voice that she did not know began to shout loudly in the distance:

"Katniss!" she heard. "Katniss!"

It sounded looked like a girl, but not like that Foxface girl, who could be dead by now, so it had to be Clove. Oh please, not her.

"Do you think you can take down one of us? We are going to end you like we did with your little girl!"

What was she even doing, that lunatic, screaming her name out there? It could only mean there were fewer left than she thought. Last night she had fallen asleep before she had even heard the Capitol anthem. Katniss stretched out to peer through the branches. The girl was too far away to try to shoot her without drawing her attention and her leaving, but at least she was alone. She must have left Cato in the Cornucopia. Katniss wondered what would they do if they were forced to face each other.

Katniss prepared the bow from her position. Clove had tried to kill her once and she hadn't hesitated, so there could be no second attempt. She aimed carefully. Her stomach turned as Clove moved closer to where she stood. Could she really do it? She closed her eyes the instant she let the arrow fly. I'm sorry, Dad, she thought to herself, though he most likely wouldn't blame her for trying her best to come home. As soon as she fired, she heard a loud scream coming from the girl, but when she opened them she noticed she had only hit her in the leg. How was it possible that she had failed?, she thought, somehow irritated and relieved. She might not be sure if she really wanted to kill her, but she wasn't such a bad shooter to miss like that. She moved to another branch trying not to make too much noise and realized they weren't alone anymore. Running from somewhere, Thresh appeared. That must have made Clove turn and the reason why she hadn't shot her right in the head. The girl limped several times when she saw him appear and then fell backwards just as the boy lunged at her.

"This is for Rue!" Katniss heard him yell.

She froze as she watched him slam her head into the ground so many times she couldn't hear her scream anymore. She didn't move, she didn't even breathe. Luckily, Thresh didn't look up searching for her. Who was left besides the two of them? Just Cato, it seemed. Katniss slumped against the tree.

Just two more, two and she would be home. But how was she going to kill two people if she couldn't even kill one?

Hello, everyone! I'm really excited for next chapter, the Games are ending now! I wanted to say thank you for your support and your great comments. Hopefully, next one won't take me as long to update. See you soon :)