Chapter 26 : After the Feast
Rue was crying before I reached the fallback point.
She'd heard the cannons—two of them during the Feast, marking Clove and whoever Thresh had avenged. She'd heard Cato's scream. She'd spent the past hour imagining worst-case scenarios.
When I emerged from the trees, bloodstained but alive, she threw herself at me hard enough to make my healing ribs protest.
"You came back," she sobbed into my chest. "You promised and you came back."
"I always keep my promises." I stroked her hair, feeling the tremors in her small frame. "It's okay. We're okay."
Katniss circled us, bow still ready, eyes scanning the forest. "We're not okay until we're far from here. Cato is hunting."
"Give us a minute."
"We don't have a minute."
But she gave us one anyway.
We opened the District 12 pack an hour later, huddled in a rocky crevice three miles from the Feast site.
The contents gleamed with Capitol technology: advanced medical supplies in sealed packets, night-vision glasses that could turn darkness into daylight, and concentrated nutrient bars designed to deliver maximum calories in minimum volume.
"They expected us to be dying," Katniss observed. "Wounded, starving, desperate."
"Drama." I examined the night-vision glasses, felt their weight. "The Gamemakers want a good finale. Can't have that if your remaining tributes are too weak to fight."
"So they heal us up just to kill us."
"Basically."
Rue picked up one of the nutrient bars, turned it over in her hands. "In District 11, people would kill for one of these. Back home, I mean. The peacekeepers control food rations so tight..." She trailed off, memories clouding her face.
"Eat it," I said. "All of you. We need the strength."
The bars tasted like nothing—designed for efficiency, not pleasure. But my healing factor sang with gratitude as the calories hit my system. The wound in my side, already closed, began to fade toward nothing.
Katniss watched the process through narrowed eyes but said nothing. We'd moved past the point of pretending I was normal.
The anthem that night showed only Clove's face.
Her official portrait was softer than the real thing—younger, almost innocent. The girl who'd laughed while cutting me, who'd promised to make my death last, who'd died with Thresh's rock crushing her skull. The Capitol made everyone look pretty for their deaths.
Two other faces appeared as well. The District 5 male I didn't recognize, and a girl from District 10. The hidden tributes who'd died during the Feast chaos.
Seven remained.
"Three of us," Katniss counted. "Thresh. Cato. And who else?"
"Foxface." I remembered the red-haired girl darting away with her pack at the Feast's start. "She grabbed her supplies and ran before anyone else reached the table. Smart."
"Is she a threat?"
"Only if she gets desperate. She's survived this long by avoiding everyone. That won't work forever."
Rue had curled up against my good side, exhausted from fear and relief. She was asleep within minutes, her breathing slow and even.
I tested the night-vision glasses while the others rested. The forest became green-tinged daylight, every shadow revealed, every movement visible. An owl drifted past, silent wings carrying it toward prey that couldn't see death coming.
Perfect predator. Silent and patient and inevitable.
I wondered if that's what I was becoming.
Dawn of Day 17 brought the Gamemakers' next move.
Trumpets blared through the arena, the sound that had preceded every major announcement. Claudius Templesmith's voice followed, cheerful and obscene.
"Congratulations to the remaining seven! You've earned a reward. A river of fresh water has been released to the eastern sector. Happy Hunger Games!"
The message repeated once, then silence.
Katniss lowered her bow. "A river."
"Bait." I was already checking our water supplies. The streams we'd relied on would be dry by tomorrow—Gamemaker control of the arena's water table. "They're herding us. Forcing everyone toward the same territory."
"So we don't go."
"We don't have a choice." I gestured at the forest around us. "Every other water source will vanish. We can last maybe three days on what I've stored, but after that..." I let the implication hang.
Rue stirred, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "What's happening?"
"The Games are ending." Katniss's voice was flat, accepting. "They're pushing everyone together for the finale."
"Then we use it." I started packing our camp, storing supplies with practiced efficiency. "We get there first, establish position, make them come to us on our terms."
"And when Cato comes?"
"Then we find out if three against one is enough."
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