Originally posted by Morgana:
These rats were genetically engineered to remind Clark about Becky?
Yep. The rats are muttations, genetically engineered creatures used as weapons, both physically and psychologically. In the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, a pack of wolf-life creatures are sent after the remaining tributes--creatures that have been engineered to look like the dead tributes, showing that the Capitol can genetically engineer things very quickly (some of the tributes were less than 24 hours dead at that point). Therefore, 11 days to engineer rats that resemble a tribute would be plenty of time. (This also fits in with L&C canon, where clones are made very quickly.)
Now, for the big question--is Lois really dead? The answer: I'm not telling. Clark thinks she's dead, and he thinks that he killed her. Whether he's correct in his assessment or not remains to be seen. He was stuck with two equally horrific choices--watch her bleed to death slowly and in agony, all the while knowing that the Capitol finds this very entertaining, or kill her quickly and put her out of her misery, which goes against everything he believes in. He chooses what he believes to be the lesser of two evils, while accidentally-on-purpose denying the Capitol their entertainment. So, no, Clark is not going to try to rescue Lois. There's no point in rescuing the dead.
As far as freezing her goes, he revived her in the show, but it is possible for someone with severe hypothermia to survive without deliberate intervention--possible, but rare. (This is something that my Titanic-fanfic-writing friends and I have been over many times.) The question, of course, is whether or not the tracker was fooled into communicating Lois's death. Evil person that I am, I'm just going to make you keep reading to find out the answer.
