Your Heart Outside Your Body

The Meadow

It was late afternoon, and just a few more hours to go before they'd survived another day. It had been another very quiet day for Finn and Kurt, especially after the thrill of the crackers had worn off. They spent the day working on Kurt's idea of poison darts. They'd carved several, but they still couldn't figure out how to send the darts at people.

"I could prick them," Kurt said, "but that means I have to get close enough. And if I get in range on a Career, I'd probably end up dead before I could do anything."

"What about a slingshot or something?" Finn asked. "We could use some of the canvas that we have left."

"Not elastic enough," Kurt sighed.

They were sitting inside their little willow tree house. In here, it was easy to forget where they were. The sun was pleasantly warm overhead. They could hear birds singing, and Finn watched warily as one of those flutterby things landed on a distant branch.

"Finn? Are you listening?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Finn snapped back to attention. "What were you saying?"

Kurt sighed heavily, pushing his bangs out of his eyes with a dirty hand. "I was saying that we could take some of the ties from the bag. Maybe the drawstrings would-"

"Whoa. Did you see that?"

Kurt didn't look pleased at the interruption. "See what?"

"That squirrel jumped out and ate one of those flutterby things."

"Good. Glad something eats them." Kurt turned back to his slingshot. "If the drawstring doesn't work… wait a minute. Did you say a squirrel?"

"Yeah. It's right there." Finn pointed to it. It was golden blonde, like Quinn's hair, and sitting back on its haunches, watching them and twitching its nose. "Kind of cute, isn't it?"

"That's the first animal I've seen in the arena," Kurt said.

"Yeah." Finn frowned. "I'd think we should be worried, but it's a squirrel."

That got Kurt's attention. "You were bit by a butterfly. We've never had to worry about those before, either."

"Yeah. At least the squirrel doesn't seem to be doing anything," Finn said, shrugging. "Hey, what about if we put some more weight on these? Make them longer? You could make, like, mini-spears." But now Kurt wasn't paying attention. "Kurt?"

"Finn… is it just me, or is that squirrel watching us?"

Finn looked at it. "It is watching us," he said. "It's definitely watching us. It's kind of creeping me out, actually."

"It's definitely creeping me out," Kurt agreed. "Maybe we should move."

"Because of a squirrel?" Finn frowned. "I mean, it's not like it's another tribute."

"But they always put traps into the Games," Kurt said.

He had a point. "Okay," Finn said, grabbing his staff and getting to his feet. "I just kind of like it here."

"We can come back, Finn. Once the creepy fluffy golden squirrel is gone."

"Right. Should we take- wait."

"What?"

"Kurt, there are two fluffy golden squirrels watching us now."

Kurt turned. "Two?"

"No, now it's four." Finn's voice trembled. "I think we should back up very, very slowly."

"I think you're right." Kurt had his knife in one hand and the bottle of poison in the other. He began backing up until he was right next to Finn. They both moved slowly, eyeing the squirrels the entire time. The squirrels started creeping forward, and now there were ten. They had fangs, Finn realized, his heart in his throat and his hands starting to sweat.