Page 14 (1/2)

14

My eyes follow the line of her finger up into the foliage aboveto, but then, about fifteen feet up, I ht But of of what? Some sort of anis frohtly There&039;s so sounds of the woods, ister a low hum Then I know It&039;s a wasp nest

Fear shoots through h sense to keep still After all, I don&039;t knohat kind of wasp lives there It could be the ordinary leave-us-alone-and-we&039;ll-leave-you-alone type But these are the Hunger Games, and ordinary isn&039;t the norm More likely they will be one of the Capitol&039;s muttations, tracker jackers Like the jabberjays, these killer wasps were spawned in a lab and strategically placed, like land ular wasps, they have a distinctive solid gold body and a sting that raises a lump the size of a plum on contact Most people can&039;t tolerate s Soht on by the venom have actually driven people to , these wasps will hunt down anyone who disturbs their nest and attempt to kill them That&039;s where the tracker part of the name comes from

After the war, the Capitol destroyed all the nests surrounding their city, but the ones near the districts were left untouched Another reer Games Another reason to keep inside the fence of District 12 When Gale and I come across a tracker jacker nest, we immediately head in the opposite direction

So is that what hangs above me? I look back to Rue for help, but she&039;s uess it doesn&039;t matter what type of wasp nest it is I&039;iven me a brief reprieve, but by the time the sun rises, the Careers will have formulated a plan to kill me There&039;s no way they could do otherwise after I&039;ve made them look so stupid That nest may be the sole option I have left If I can drop it down on them, I may be able to escape But I&039;ll risk my life in the process

Of course, I&039;ll never be able to get in close enough to the actual nest to cut it free I&039;ll have to saw off the branch at the trunk and send the whole thing down The serrated portion of e that But canraise the swar and move their camp? That would defeat the whole purpose

I realize that the best chance I&039;ll have to do the saithout drawing notice will be during the anthe, in to erous since the branches are beco precariously thin even for me, but I persevere When I reach the li becomes more distinctive But it&039;s still oddly subdued if these are tracker jackers It&039;s the smoke, I think It&039;s sedated them This was the one defense the rebels found to battle the wasps

The seal of the Capitol shines above me and the anthein to saw Blisters burst onthe knife back and forth Once I&039;ve got a groove, the work requires less effort but is alrit ister that there were no deaths today That&039;s all right The audience will be sated seeing me injured and treed and the pack belowout and I&039;h the hen the oes dark, and I&039;m forced to stop

Nohat? I could probably finish off the job by sense of feel but that y, if the nest catches on its way down, if I try to escape, this could all be a deadly waste of time Better, I think, to sneak up here at dawn and send the nest into ht of the Careers&039; torches, I inch back down toonis a sift fro the anthem The pot easily fits in the palm of my hand What can it be? Not food surely I unscrew the lid and I know by the scent that it&039;s medicine Cautiously, I probe the surface of the ointertip vanishes

"Oh, Haymitch," I whisper "Thank you" He has not abandoned me Not left me to fend entirely for myself The cost of this medicine must be astronomical Probably not one but many sponsors have contributed to buy this one tiny pot To ers in the jar and gently spread the bal the pain on contact, leaving a pleasant cooling sensation behind This is no herbal concoction that h-tech medicine brewed up in the Capitol&039;s labs When my calf is treated, I rub a thin layer intothe pot in the parachute, I nestle it safely away in my pack Now that the pain has eased, it&039;s all I can do to reposition e into sleep

A bird perched just a few feet fro light, I exary red patches to a soft baby-skin pink My leg still feels inflamed, but that burn was far deeper I apply another coat of ear Whatever happens, I&039; to have to move and move fast I also make myself eat a cracker and a strip of beef and drink a few cups of water

Al stayed into feel the effects of hunger

Below round By her position, leaning up against the trunk of the tree, I&039;d guess Gliue overcame her

My eyes squint as they try to penetrate the tree next to me, but I can&039;t make out Rue Since she tipped oing to die today, it&039;s Rue I want to win Even if it means a little extra food forcrowned victor is unbearable