Rue's Games

Chapter 9: Foxface

It occurred to us the next morning that the fire wouldn’t have reached the inside of the cave, but decided that we probably should move around more. We had already stayed there for a couple of days, and it would be easier to find us that way.

I laugh as I realise that Thresh is the only boy left, outnumbered three to one. It’s unusual for this to happen as the boys are normally more brutal and not as wimpy. He is probably the oldest tribute ever as well. I wonder how he sees the Games, as he must have a totally different view to me about them.

He suddenly panics. Most of his insulin has gone. We look to see if anything else has disappeared, and discover that a little bit of everything has been taken. At first we suspect Clove, we know she can’t forage for food like we can, but decide that stealth isn’t her strong point. If she had tried to take anything, she would have killed us at the same time. It makes me sort of happy, knowing that Foxface is still coping, even on her own.

But I didn’t realise something.

“When I got all that insulin, I had enough to last me up to about a week. What I have now will last me about a day.” Now I, too, am panicking.

“We have to find out who took it!” my voice quivers. “Or else…”

“If I don’t get it back, the only other option is to make sure that the other two are killed by then. If a hovercraft picks us up as victors, they’ll tend to whatever injuries or health issues we have.”

We both venture back into the burnt woods to look for Foxface. She could have killed us when she took our things, probably when we were asleep, yet she didn’t. This makes me think we shouldn’t kill her.

It takes us les time than we expected to find her.

She is slumped against a tree stump, breathing heavily. Thresh’s pen is in her hand. I don’t think he even realised it was gone.

Thresh snatches it from her hand.

“Three hundred units? Do you know what this is?”

“Adrenalin?” she guesses. Her voice chokes. “Morphine? Cyanide?”

“It will kill you within an hour! Even I couldn’t survive all that in one go!”

When she said cyanide, I realise that she doesn’t care whether she survives or not.

“She knew that if she lived she wanted to be happier. If the stuff she injected into herself killed her, it would be better than what she was going through.”

She nods. I’ve gotten it loosely correct. She was ready to give up.

Her eyes flicker.

“What’s your name?” I ask. I want to know her name before she dies. Let her die as a person, not as the girl with the face like a Fox. Her hair, once so neat, is now a fire engulfing her neck.

She coughs, then falls to her left.

“She isn’t dead. She just fainted. There’s nothing we can do for her now.” Thresh tells me. He picks up his insulin pen. He takes the cap off. The tip of it has blood on it. Thresh carefully takes the needle off, and puts it into Foxface’s pocket. It will be picked up along with her by the hovercraft.

We leave so she can die in peace. I sing the notes Katniss and I used to communicate to Foxface as we leave. If I hadn’t become Thresh’s ally, I would have considered her. But instead, she died and I don’t even know her name.