第68章

  she asks.
  “take whatever you want. now that i’ve got a bow and ar-
  rows, i can get more. plus i’ve got snares. i can show you how
  to set them,” i say. rue still looks uncertainly at the leg. “oh,
  take it,” i say, 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’s got hold of it, her appetite wins out and
  she takes a huge mouthful.
  “i’d have thought, in district eleven, you’d have a bit more
  to eat than us. you know, since you grow the food,” i say.
  rue’s eyes widen. “oh, no, we’re not allowed to eat the
  crops.”
  “they arrest you or something?” i ask.
  “they whip you and make everyone else watch,” says rue.
  “the mayor’s very strict about it.”
  i can tell by her expression that it’s not that uncommon an
  occurrence. a public whipping’s a rare thing in district 12, al-
  though occasionally one occurs. technically, gale and i could
  be whipped on a daily basis for poaching in the woods — well,
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  technically, we could get a whole lot worse — except all the
  officials buy our meat. besides, our mayor, madge’s father,
  doesn’t seem to have much taste for such events. maybe being
  the least prestigious, poorest, most ridiculed district in the
  country has its advantages. such as, being largely ignored by
  the capitol as long as we produce our coal quotas.
  “do you get all the coal you want?” rue asks.
  “no,” i answer. “just what we buy and whatever we track in
  on our boots.”
  “they feed us a bit extra during harvest, so that people can
  keep going longer,” says rue.
  “don’t you have to be in school?” i ask.
  “not during harvest. everyone works then,” says rue.
  it’s interesting, hearing about her life. we have so little
  communication with anyone outside our district. in fact, i
  wonder if the gamemakers are blocking out our conversation,
  because even though the information seems harmless, they
  don’t want people in different districts to know about one
  another.
  at rue’s suggestion, we lay out all our food to plan ahead.
  she’s seen most of mine, but i add the last couple of crackers
  and beef strips to the pile. she’s gathered quite a collection of
  roots, nuts, greens, and even some berries.
  i roll an unfamiliar berry in my fingers. “you sure this is
  safe?”
  “oh, yes, we have them back home. i’ve been eating them
  for days,” she says, popping a handful in her mouth. i tenta-
  tively bite into one, and it’s as good as our blackberries. tak-
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  ing rue on as an ally seems a better choice all the time. we di-
  vide up our food supplies, so in case we’re separated, we’ll
  both be set for a few days. apart from the food, rue has a
  small water skin, a homemade slingshot, and an extra pair of
  socks. she also has a sharp shard of rock she uses as a knife. “i
  know it’s not much,” she says as if embarrassed, “but i had to
  get away from the cornucopia fast.”
  “you did just right,” i say. when i spread out my gear, she
  gasps a little when she sees the sunglasses.
  “how did you get those?” she asks.
  “in my pack. they’ve been useless so far. they don’t block
  the sun and they make it harder to see,” i say with a shrug.
  “these aren’t for sun, they’re for darkness,” exclaims rue.
  “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?”