I jump violently, a gasp escaping my lips as I roughly jerk my arm back, my whole body rotating to see who lies behind me. It is only then that I realise I've drawn the knife I was holding, and I intend to use it on whoever has just been stupid enough to try and stop me.

However, everything changes when my vision focuses and I see who it is.

Rue.

The very same girl that saved my life with the tracker jackers, the girl that reminds me irrefutably of my youngest sister, the girl I always feel the instinctive need to protect.

"Wha-?" I start to hiss, before Rue puts a finger to her lips to silence me.

"Shh," she whispers, her voice being carried over to me on the gentle breeze. "Just watch or you'll miss it."

What the fuck? I want to utter, as I frown in absolute confusion at the small girl in front of me with the big, brown orbs for eyes.

"She'll be here in a second," Rue whispers to me. "Watch. And then I'll explain."

I am still beyond confused, but I don't allow myself to question any further as I turn back to the Cornucopia, and the career camp, and the supplies. I do have questions in my head, however.

What's Rue doing here? What's she talking about? Who's 'she'? What is there to explain?

I get one of those answers in the next second.

Because all of a sudden, there's a flash of movement from the trees opposite the pyramid, and before I know it I'm witnessing Foxface sprinting towards the pyramid.

My head snaps to Rue's, but she shakes her head.

"Watch."

My head snaps back, just in time to see Foxface grind to a halt.

I watch, transfixed, as she begins to hop, skip and jump her way towards the pile, in a way that is clearly cleverly calculated and cunning. I am so confused I don't even know what to think by the time she reaches the supplies, stepping carefully on the ground.

She doesn't do my job, though. No, all she does is steal a few bits of food; enough to sustain her for a day or so, and then she begins to bound back out, in the same pattern she did before.

I cast my gaze over to the lookout. The boy from Three is clearly not the brightest of the bunch, as he's been sitting, oblivious, this entire time. By the time his head is twitching round to the side, checking eagerly for someone to impale with that lovely spear of his, Foxface is gone.

"There," Rue whispers, and I suddenly remember she's there beside me. I turn to look at her, and she looks at me. "Do you understand now?"

I don't just say 'no', because I never admit defeat if I can help it. But I also can't say 'yes', because I don't understand.

So what I do is I glance back at the pyramid. Or, not the pyramid, but the ground around it.

Of course I noticed the small piles of dug up ground around it. They're pretty obvious if you're looking, but... I never stopped to think about what those dug up piles meant.

My lips move faster than my brain and soon I'm whispering, to myself as much as to Rue. "It's mined."

And I don't see her reaction, or hear it, because I'm too caught up in my own thoughtd, but I know what they'll be anyway. Because I know I'm right.

The mines around the cornucopia were disabled after the sixty seconds at the start of the games where we were required to stand on the pedestals. But some way, somehow, the careers must have found a way to reactivate them, and plant them around their supplies. No, actually, not the careers, but the boy from District Three. That explains his input, as well, and why he wasn't killed on the spot.

"Yes," Rue nods next to me. "The boy from Three reburied the mines. I-I've been watching for days, trying to remember the pattern like the girl from Five, so I can get some food-"

"Wait a second," I frown, still whispering. "Why did you approach me, then? If you didn't want to approach her?" I nod in the direction Foxface went.

Rue doesn't answer for a second, looking down slightly and clasping her hands together.

"Y-you're different," she finally admits. "I- I trust you."

I study her face for a second. She's letting her guard down, being properly open with me, and I respect that.

"Well, I didn't come here to steal the food," I tell her, taking a knife from my belt of them. "I came here to destroy it."

Rue takes me in, nodding as she glances out at the pyramid. I know that it's a waste, and I still don't yet know how exactly I'm going to destroy the supplies, but I am going to do it.

"But listen," I say, taking one of Rue's tiny hands in both of my own. "I caught a pair of squirrels the other day, and we still have some of their meat left. Once we do this you and I can go and find Cato, okay? And then I can get you fed."

Rue doesn't look relieved about the food, or even confused about why I'm being so welcoming. She just utters one word. One name.

"C-Cato?"

I nod. "He's my ally," I explain. "H-he's not as bad as he was in training, I promise. He found me after the tracker jackers and healed me."

Rue considers this, then nods, saying sheepishly. "Squirrel meat does sound pretty good."

I nod, my face relaxing into a slight smile. "And you're gonna want it even more after we blow all this food up."

She grins, her eyes full of hopefulness and such joy that I have to tear my gaze away, and shoot it back towards the pyramid.

My eyes scan it for a second, looking for something, anything, that'll help me in my endeavours to blow up the food.

I need to find something. Especially now I've made a promise to a girl I barely know that she's gonna survive this, and be able to get some squirrel that I shot after this.

A smirk settles onto my face as I spot it. It's caught on the side of the pyramid, around halfway up, and it's perfect.

It's a bag of apples. A bag of apples that should, provided I split the bag with my knife in the exact right place, set off the mines and destroy the food and all the supplies. This also means I don't have to run, which I am very happy with settling for.

"Those apples," I hiss to Rue, because she's looking at me in confusion.

And before I can seek her approval, or even check if she understands what I'm saying, I am taking a knife from my belt and into my hand.

"Get back," I whisper to Rue. I fill in the end of the sentence without speaking it. Because if this pyramid really does blow, you're not coming anywhere near it.

Slowly, I raise my hand, the motion of throwing coming easy to me because I've been doing it for years now. And even though these are Capitol knives, I can't help but feel the cool metal handle on my palm and just wish these were my father's.

The knife I release goes straight, and it does slit the bag, but right at the top, and not enough so that the apples spill. I internally curse, biting my lip hard. I have to do this in three knives, minimum. I can't afford to lose anymore than that.

Rue stands back where I placed her, clasping her hands together in the moment I risk a glance at her. She gives me an encouraging look, and I smile slightly at her.

I draw another knife with ease, and try to clear my mind as I raise it.

I breathe in... and out.

In... and out.

Come on.

I need this to work.

And I'm not one hundred percent aware of what happens next.

But it has something to do with me throwing the knife perfectly, the bag splitting, the apples tumbling down the pyramid to the ground, and hitting it hard.

All before the mines go off.

☦︎☦︎☦︎

I've never seen an explosion before.

It's interesting, really, but to admire from afar.

Not right up close.

I think my ears start to ring before I get thrown backwards, but I can't be sure. All I know is that when I hit the ground, my head hurts, my ears are muffled and my vision is going in and out of focus.

Bits of supplies lie all around, some charred, some on fire, and some just plain destroyed. If I was thinking clearly in this moment, I would've been pleased the mission was a success, but all I can register is the feel of the ground I'm lying on and how badly my head is throbbing.

My ears start to ring more violently as I sit up, my vision going blurrier than ever. I feel my head lolling to the side slightly and I don't know what to do.

"Sage!"

I don't really hear Rue as she runs towards me. I hear someone, but I don't hear her. It's just a muffled, somewhat distant noise.

"Sage, y-you need to come with me, you need to-"

Rue drags me to my feet and I stumble to the side, my vision going black at the sides and my head lolling back and forth. I don't move, which makes her almost shove me forwards into the line of trees, where I fall to the ground, my eyes finally focusing on a scene I don't want to see.

Because Marvel and Glimmer have returned, both absolutely irate, Marvel going straight to the boy from Three.

"What happened?" I hear him shout, but only because it's so loud.

"I- I don't know, I don't-"

"You were supposed to be on GUARD!"

"But I-"

My ears become clear just in time to hear a sickening CRACK.

And my vision focuses just in time to see Marvel take the boy and snap his neck like a twig.

The cannon is instantaneous.

And there it is. It's that quick. The death of the boy from Three.

And as I watch Marvel roar up at the sky, so angry and blinded by rage, something clicks in my head.

I have to get out of here or else that'll be my neck.

"Rue?" I frown, tipping my head up. It's still pounding, but I don't bother trying to stop it.

"Sage," Rue is by my side in an instant, helping me up, and giving me a crutch to lean on.

"We... have to get out..." I mutter.

"I know, I know," Rue says, helping me stand up. "Are you okay to run?"

"Y-yeah," I nod, gradually beginning to become alright. "Come on."

Running is not easy. My tailbone aches from getting thrown backwards onto the ground, and my legs are weakened considerably from it as well. My head is sore, and most places in my body are throbbing.

Nevertheless, we plough on, because we can't afford to get caught by the careers. I am slightly ahead of Rue, but her deep breaths behind me assure me she's still there.

The cave, I think, running in its direction. I need to get to there. That's our meeting spot. The cave.

It's then that we come to the fires. They're still smoking, and the wood we used in them is black and charred. I silently thank Cato for managing to set them up so well.

And then, suddenly, I remember the signal.

"Shit," I murmur, walking over to one of the fires, remembering how we had the conversation about it right here, a lifetime ago. Just an hour, really, but it feels like it.

"Wha-" Rue starts, but I cut her off not with words, but with a tune.

I whistle the four notes into the sky, the ones I whistled earlier with Cato, and listen as the mockingjays above pick up the small song. They call it out above the treetops, flying all about the arena. I cross my fingers, silently hoping that Cato is at the cave, hearing this and knowing I'm coming.

Just with someone else this time.

"Is that a signal?" Rue speaks behind me. I turn to her, nodding silently, before taking off again, her behind me.

The cave was only about a two minute walk away from where we set up the fires, and I know I can get there faster running. I just know it.

"Come on," I tell Rue, who is panting and coughing hard, her darker skin the palest I've seen. "Just a bit further, I promise, then you can get some squirrel."

I want to picture the small smile that appears on her lips at this, and look at it forever and ever to remind me there's happiness in this twisted, cruel world.

When we take off running again, I am intertwined with thoughts of squirrels, and Cato and Rue and getting chased and blowing up the supplies. Dinner tonight will be better than any meal I've had in the games, filled with laughs and sarcasm and Cato and Rue meeting and the most unlikely allied group the Hunger Games has ever see-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

And then, in a flash, all my thoughts vanish as I spin on the spot.

"Get- get off me!"

Because there's Rue, behind me, still panting and looking at me with her brown orb eyes.

Except this time, they contain fear.

Because she's trapped in the arms of Marvel, who is smirking as he watches her squirm, holding a knife to her neck.