She stood in the abandoned warehouse in nothing more than her schoolgirl uniform and a pair of strap sandals.
Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail with pieces out framing her face.
She doesn't have to think about where she is.
A hand pushes her ponytail out of the way onto one shoulder.
She knows what's about to happen, but some panic alarm goes off in her head and she's whipping around.
She holds her hands out to stop it.
Crack.
Livia snapped awake as her fingers flew to her face, where the soft, faded scar was sprawled across her nose.
She lied still for a while waiting for the next onslaught of imagery, but eventually she accepted that the poison must have finally worked its way out of her system- leaving her body wracked and feeble.
She was still lying on her side, locked in the fetal position.
She moved her hand to her eyes to find them sound, untouched by ants that never existed.
Simply stretching out her limbs required an enormous effort.
So many parts of her hurt, it didn't seem worthwhile taking inventory of them.
Very, very slowly she managed to sit up.
She was in a shallow hole, not filled with the humming orange bubbles of her hallucination but with old, dead leaves.
Her clothing was damp, but she didn't know whether pond water, dew, rain, or sweat was the cause.
For a long time, all she could do was take tiny sips from her bottle and watch a beetle crawl up the side of a honeysuckle bush.
How long had she been out?
It was morning when she lost reason.
Now it was afternoon.
But the stiffness in her joints suggested more than a day had passed, even two possibly.
If so, she would have no way of knowing which tributes survived that tracker jacker attack.
Not Glimmer or Lacey.
But Marvel, Cato, Peeta- did they die from the stings?
Certainly if they lived, their last days must have been as horrid as her own.
A foul, rotten taste pervaded her mouth, and the water had little effect on it.
Livia dragged herself over to the honeysuckle bush and plucked a flower.
She gently pulled the stamen through the blossom and set the drop of nectar on her tongue.
The sweetness spread through her mouth, down her throat, warming her veins with memories of summer, and her home woods.
Livia knew she had to get some strength back in her body.
She was very dehydrated again and her water supply was dangerously low.
The little padding she was able to put on by gorging herself during prep time in the Capitol was gone, plus several more pounds as well.
Livia's hip bones and ribs were more prominent than ever and then there were her wounds to contend with- cuts and bruises from smashing into the trees, and three tracker jacker stings, which were as sore and swollen as ever.
Livia needed water first and then she could hunt along the way.
It was easy to see the direction she came from by the path of destruction her crazed body made through the foliage.
So she walked off in the other direction, hoping her enemies still lied locked in the surreal world of tracker jacker venom.
Livia couldn't move too quickly, her joints rejecting any abrupt motions.
But she established the slow hunter's tread she used when tracking game.
Within a few minutes, she spotted a rabbit and made her first of many hunting kills.
After about an hour, she found a stream, shallow but wide, and more than sufficient for her needs.
The sun was hot and severe, so while she waited for her water to purify- with the iodine from her backpack- she stripped down to her underclothes and waded into the mild current.
She was filthy from head to toe, she tried splashing myself but eventually just laid down in the water for a few minutes, letting it wash off the blood, dirt, and skin that threatened to peel.
After rinsing out her clothes and hanging them on bushes to dry, Livia sat on the bank in the sun for a bit, untangling her hair with her fingers.
Her appetite returned and she ate a cracker and a strip of beef.
With a handful of moss, Livia polished the blood from her silver weapons.
Refreshed, she pulled her hair back again and dressed in the damp clothes, knowing the sun would dry them soon enough.
Following the stream against its current seemed the smartest course of action.
Livia was traveling uphill now, which she preferred, with a source of fresh water not only for herself but possible game.
She easily took out a strange bird that must be some form of wild turkey.
Anyway, it looked plenty edible to her.
By late afternoon, she decided to build a small fire to cook the meat, betting that dusk would help conceal the smoke and she could quench the fire by nightfall.
She cleaned the game, taking extra care with the bird, but there was nothing alarming about it.
Once the feathers were plucked, it was no bigger than a chicken, but it was plump and firm.
She had just placed the first lot over the coals when she heard a twig snap.
In one motion, she turned to the sound, a disc in her grasp.
There was no one there.
No one she could see anyway.
Then she spotted the tip of a child's boot just peeking out from behind the trunk of a tree.
Livia's shoulders relaxed and she grinned.
She could move through the woods like a shadow, you had to give her that.
How else could she have followed Livia?
Rue peaked out from behind the tree and Livia sighed lowering the disc.
"You know, they're not the only ones that can form alliances." Livia started.
"You want me for an ally?" Rue asked.
"Why not? You're smart enough to stay alive. You hungry? I can spare some food. You know, if you're an ally." Livia explained.
Rue steps out in the open.
"I can fix your stings." She offered.
"Can you? How?" Livia asked, feeling the pain- especially in her shoulder.
She dug in the pack she carried and pulled out a handful of leaves.
"Where did you find those?" Livia wondered.
"Just around. We all carry them when we work in the orchards. They left a lot of nests there. There are a lot here, too." Rue explained.
"Oh yeah, you live in district eleven. Agriculture", Livia remembered, "Orchards, huh? That must be how you can fly around the trees like you got wings."
Rue smiled- Livia landing on one of the few things she would admit pride in.
It made her look so young- she saw Dominic in her.
"Well, come on, then. Are you gonna fix me up?" Livia joked.
"Where are your stings?" Rue asked.
Livia plunked down by the fire and rolled up her pant leg to reveal the sting on her knee.
To her surprise, Rue placed the handful of leaves into her mouth and began to chew them.
After a minute or so, Rue pressed a gloppy green wad of chewed leaves and spit on Livia's knee.
And It was as if the leaves were actually leaching the pain right out of the sting.
"Lucky you had the sense to pull the stingers out or you'd be a lot worse." Rue giggled.
Rue continued to treat the other stings.
Livia smiled at the girl in appreciation.
"You weren't joking about wanting me for an ally?" Rue quizzed.
"No, I mean it." Livia assured.
"Okay", She said, and held out her hand. Livia shook it, "It's a deal."
Of course, this kind of deal could only be temporary, but neither of them mentioned that.
Rue contributed a big handful of some sort of starchy root to the meal.
Roasted over the fire, they had the sharp sweet taste of a parsnip.
She recognized the bird, too, some wild thing they call a groosling in her district.
She said sometimes a flock will wander into the orchard and they get a decent lunch that day.
For a while, all conversation stopped as they filled their stomachs.
The groosling was a delicious meal- so fatty, the grease dripped down your face when you bit into it.
"Oh", Rue said with a sigh, "I've never had a whole leg to myself before."
"Take the other." Livia said.
"Really?" she asked.
"Take whatever you want. I can get more." Livia assured.
Rue still looked uncertainly at the leg.
"Oh, take it", Livia said, putting the drumstick in her hands, "It will only keep a few days anyway, and we've got the whole bird plus the rabbit."
Once she had got hold of it, her appetite won out and she took a huge mouthful.
"I would've thought that since you
live in the agriculture and farming
district you'd get tons of food to
eat." Livia explained.
Rue's eyes widened, "Oh, no. We're not allowed to eat
any of the crops. The mayor's very strict about that. But, sometimes, we get a small ration."
"Like tessera?" Livia wondered.
Rue nodded.
"What happens if you eat the crops you grow?" Livia questioned curiously.
"They whip you and make the whole town watch." Rue answered.
Livia could tell by her expression that it was not that uncommon an occurrence.
"Do you get all the steel you want?" Rue asked.
"No", Livia answered, "Just what we buy and whatever shavings we track in on our clothes."
"They feed us a bit extra during harvest, so that people can keep going longer." Rue said.
"Don't you have to be in school?" Livia wondered.
"Not during harvest. Everyone works then." Rue explained.
It was interesting, hearing about her life.
They had so little communication with anyone outside their district.
In fact, Livia wondered if the Gamemakers were blocking out their conversation, because even though the information seemed harmless, they didn't want people in different districts to know about one another.
At Rue's suggestion, they laid out all their food to plan ahead.
Rue had seen most of Livia's, but she added the last couple of crackers and beef strips to the pile.
Rue had gathered quite a collection of roots, nuts, greens, and even some berries.
Livia rolled an unfamiliar berry in her fingers, "You sure this is safe?"
"Oh, yes, we have them back home. I've been eating them for days." she said, popping a handful in her mouth.
Livia tentatively bit into one, and it was as good as blackberries.
They divided up their food supplies, so in case they were separated, they would both be set for a few days.
Apart from the food, Rue had a small water skin, a homemade slingshot, and an extra pair of socks.
She also had a sharp shard of rock she used as a knife.
"I know it's not much", she mumbled as if embarrassed, "but I had to get away from the Cornucopia fast."
"You did just right." Livia assured.
Rue was quiet and then she spoke, "I hope you win, Livia."
Livia furrowed her eyebrows, "Why do you say that?"
"Well, just look at me. I'm lucky I'm still alive." Rue explained.
"You know what I see? I see a survivor", Livia assured, "I hope you win, Rue."
Rue smiled gratefully at Livia and she smiled back.
When Livia spread out her gear, Rue gasped a little when she saw the sunglasses.
"How did you get those?" She asked.
"In my pack. They've been useless so far. They don't block the sun and they make it harder to see." Livia said with a shrug.
"These aren't for sun, they're for darkness", Rue exclaimed, "Sometimes, when we harvest through the night, they'll pass out a few pairs to those of us highest in the trees. Where the torchlight doesn't reach. One time, this boy Martin, he tried to keep his pair. Hid it in his pants. They killed him on the spot."
"They killed a boy for taking these?" Livia quizzed.
"Yes, and everyone knew he was no danger. Martin wasn't right in the head. I mean, he still acted like a three-year-old. He just wanted the glasses to play with." Rue explained.
"So what do these do?" Livia asked Rue, taking the glasses.
"They let you see in complete darkness", Rue explained, "Try them tonight when the sun goes down."
Livia gave Rue some matches and Rue made sure Livia had plenty of leaves in case her stings flared up again.
They extinguish the fire and headed upstream until it was almost nightfall.
"Where do you sleep?", Livia asked her, "In the trees?"
She nodded.
"In just your jacket?" Livia questioned.
Rue held up her extra pair of socks, "I have these for my hands."
"You can share my sleeping bag if you want. We'll both easily fit." Livia offered and Rue's face lit up.
Livia could tell it was is more than she dared hope for.
They picked a fork high in a tree and settled in for the night just as the anthem began to play.
There were no deaths today.
"Rue, I only woke up today. How many nights did I miss?" Livia asked.
The anthem should block out their words, but still Livia whispered.
"Three", she said, "The girls from Districts one, four, and twelve are dead. There's nine of us left."
Katniss.
There it was.
She must've succumbed to the tracker jackers- after all they were made to hunt down the person who disrupted the nest.
Which meant Peeta was alive.
And she couldn't explain the relief that flooded her body.
The anthem ended and the sky went dark.
"Let's try out these glasses." Livia said pulling out the glasses and slipping them on.
Rue wasn't kidding.
She could see everything from the leaves on the trees to a skunk strolling through the bushes a good fifty feet away.
"That means the rest of the Careers have the other pairs with the rest of their stash." Livia huffed.
"They've got everything down by the lake", Rue muttered, "They're so strong."
"We're strong, too", Livia offered, "Just in a different way."
"You are. You can fight", Rue huffed, "What can I do?"
"You can feed yourself. Can they?" Livia asked.
"They don't need to. They have all those supplies." Rue jeered.
"Say they didn't. Say the supplies were gone. How long would they last?", Livia said with a growing smirk, "I mean, it is the Hunger Games, right?"
"But, Livia, they're not hungry." Rue said.
"No, they're not. That's the problem", Livia agreed and for the first time, she had a plan- a plan that wasn't motivated by the need for flight and evasion- an offensive plan, "I think we're going to have to fix that, Rue."