【饥饿游戏】54

This could be it, I think. What chance do I have against
them? All six are there, the five Careers and Peeta, and my only
consolation 1 is they’re pretty beat-up, too. Even so, look at
their weapons. Look at their faces, grinning and snarling 2 at
me, a sure kill above them. It seems pretty hopeless. But then
something else registers. They’re bigger and stronger than I
am, no doubt, but they’re also heavier. There’s a reason it’s me
and not Gale 3 who ventures up to pluck the highest fruit, or rob
the most remote bird nests. I must weigh at least fifty or sixty
pounds less than the smallest Career.
Now I smile. “How’s everything with you?” I call down
cheerfully.
This takes them aback, but I know the crowd will love it.
“Well enough,” says the boy from District 2. “Yourself?”
“It’s been a bit warm for my taste,” I say. I can almost hear
the laughter from the Capitol. “The air’s better up here. Why
don’t you come on up?”
“Think I will,” says the same boy.
“Here, take this, Cato,” says the girl from District 1, and she
offers him the silver bow and sheath of arrows. My bow! My
arrows! Just the sight of them makes me so angry I want to
scream, at myself, at that traitor 4 Peeta for distracting me from
having them. I try to make eye contact with him now, but he
seems to be intentionally 5 avoiding my gaze as he polishes his
knife with the edge of his shirt.
“No,” says Cato, pushing away the bow. “I’ll do better with
my sword.” I can see the weapon, a short, heavy blade at his
belt.
I give Cato time to hoist 6 himself into the tree before I begin
to climb again. Gale always says I remind him of a squirrel the
way I can scurry 7 up even the slenderest limb. Part of it’s my
weight, but part of it’s practice. You have to know where to
place your hands and feet. I’m another thirty feet in the air
when I hear the crack and look down to see Cato flailing 9 as he
and a branch go down. He hits the ground hard and I’m hoping
he possibly broke his neck when he gets back to his feet,
swearing like a fiend.
The girl with the arrows, Glimmer 10 I hear someone call her
— ugh, the names the people in District 1 give their children
are so ridiculous — anyway Glimmer scales the tree until the
branches begin to crack under her feet and then has the good
sense to stop. I’m at least eighty feet high now. She tries to
shoot me and it’s immediately evident that she’s incompetent 11
with a bow. One of the arrows gets lodged 12 in the tree near me
though and I’m able to seize it. I wave it teasingly above her
head, as if this was the sole purpose of retrieving 13 it, when 
actually I mean to use it if I ever get the chance. I could kill them,
everyone of them, if those silver weapons were in my hands.
The Careers regroup on the ground and I can hear them
growling 14 conspiratorially 17 among themselves, furious I have
made them look foolish. But twilight 18 has arrived and their
window of attack on me is closing. Finally, I hear Peeta say
harshly, “Oh, let her stay up there. It’s not like she’s going 
anywhere. We’ll deal with her in the morning.”
Well, he’s right about one thing. I’m going nowhere. All the
relief from the pool water has gone, leaving me to feel the full
potency 19 of my burns. I scoot down to a fork in the tree and
clumsily prepare for bed. Put on my jacket. Lay out my sleeping
bed. Belt myself in and try to keep from moaning. The heat
of the bag’s too much for my leg. I cut a slash 20 in the fabric 21 and
hang my calf 22 out in the open air. I drizzle 23 water on the wound,
my hands.
All my bravado 24 is gone. I’m weak from pain and hunger but
can’t bring myself to eat. Even if I can last the night, what will
the morning bring? I stare into the foliage 25 trying to will myself
to rest, but the burns forbid it. Birds are settling down for the
night, singing lullabies to their young. Night creatures emerge.
An owl 15 hoots 26. The faint scent 27 of a skunk 28 cuts through the
smoke. The eyes of some animal peer at me from the neighboring
tree — a possum maybe — catching 29 the firelight from
the Careers’ torches. Suddenly, I’m up on one elbow. Those
are no possum’s eyes, I know their glassy reflection too well.
In fact, those are not animal eyes at all. In the last dim rays of
light, I make her out, watching me silently from between the
branches. Rue 30.
How long has she been here? The whole time probably. Still
and unobserved as the action unfolded beneath her. Perhaps
she headed up her tree shortly before I did, hearing the pack
was so close.
For a while we hold each other’s gaze. Then, without even
rustling 31 a leaf, her little hand slides into the open and points
to something above my head.
scurry vi. 急赶；急跑
flail 8 vt. 打；用连枷打
conspiratorially adv. conspiratorial 16的变形 adj. 阴谋的；阴谋者的
skunk  n. 臭鼬；臭鼬毛皮；讨厌鬼；卑鄙的人
possum n. 负鼠