The Cornucopia loomed ahead like a carcass of metal and shadow, gleaming under the forced light of an artificial sunrise. Goo stood at the edge of the jungle, motionless, watching.
The pack marked District 11 lay just twenty feet from the base—small, tightly wrapped, with a red seal.
Rue's medicine was in there.
And that meant Capitol eyes were everywhere.
"She said you'd die if you went," Rue had told him before he left. Her voice was flat. Almost clinical. No emotion.
He'd only said, "I'm not going to get the pack."
That confused her. But she didn't ask more.
She was learning.
He moved like fog—low, controlled, unannounced.
By the time Cassia saw him, he was already standing ten feet away, arms at his sides.
She had the pack for District 2 in her hand. Blood on her forearm. Brutus wasn't with her.
"...You're late," she said, raising a curved blade.
"I'm not here for supplies."
"You're here to die, then."
He smiled faintly. "Not mine."
They circled each other.
No speeches. No battle cries.
The Capitol was watching, but he wasn't performing for them.
He was hunting.
She lunged first—tight arc, clean strike—but he was faster.
Goo ducked under the blade, slipped into her blind side, and drove a knee into her ribs.
Crack.
Cassia staggered, but recovered fast. Swung again—wider now, sloppy with pain.
Goo let her blade pass within an inch of his throat, then caught her wrist and twisted.
Her fingers opened. The blade dropped.
He didn't pick it up.
Instead, he kicked her leg from beneath her and drove her face into the cold ground.
She growled, struggling. "Do it. Kill me."
Goo looked down at her.
"You'd like that," he said. "Make it quick. Make it clean. Let the Capitol feel good about it."
He leaned down.
"I don't kill for their entertainment."
Cassia spat blood. "You think you're above this?"
"No," he said. "I'm outside of it."
Then he stood, turned, and walked away.
Behind him, the girl coughed and screamed.
She didn't chase him.
She wouldn't.
Not after that.
Not after being shown her own insignificance.
He grabbed the District 11 pack on his way out.
Didn't run.
Didn't flinch.
The hovercams hovered. Waiting for him to fall. For an arrow. For drama.
He gave them none.
Just that steady, predatory walk back into the jungle.
Rue was waiting.
He tossed her the pack. She opened it, hands trembling, breath caught.
Antibiotics. Bandages. A salve for burns. Everything they needed.
She looked up.
"You fought for this?"
"No."
"Then… why bring it back?"
Goo sat down beside her. His voice was quiet.
"Because I don't fight their war. I fight mine."
That night, four faces appeared in the sky.
Brutus. The girl from 6. One of the twins from 3. A boy from 9.
Cassia was still alive.
She wouldn't stay that way for long.
Not in this game.
Not after what she saw.