The Hunger Games- Prim's Story

Chapter 16

I let Rue sleep longer than she was supposed to, so when I do wake her up, she playfully tries to push me off the tree, and I almost fall but she catches me by the arm, laughing softly. I cautiously lay my head on her shoulder, I don't know if she wants me to, but I see her smile and decide it must be okay. 

When I wake up, Rue's not next to me. I panic for a second, throwing the blanket off. I start to climb down frantically, ignoring my stiff legs, and calling her name. I'm on the lowest branch, prepared to jump down when I hear her. "Hey, what are you doing?" She hisses and starts climbing up.

I blush at my idiocy and start climbing behind her. Why, why, Prim? Why tether yourself to this girl when only one can win? I ask myself. And I don't have an answer. When we get back onto the branch, I ask her, "Where did you go?" 

She grins and holds out two big eggs. "Breakfast," she says. 

"What kind are those?" I ask. I'm not suspicious. At least I don't think I am. But I've never seen anything like them before.

"I'm not really sure. There's a marshy area over there, it's probably a kind of waterbird," she replies. She hands one to me and I take it.

"We have meat but we probably shouldn't start a fire. We don't know where the others are." I say bitterly. It really would be nice to cook something. I don't know how we're supposed to eat this without cooking them but I guess I'll trust Rue's judgment.

"Yeah, we shouldn't. There are only eight of us left and we're the youngest. But I found these berries," she says, digging them out of a small pouch. They're lighter blue than the nightlock but I don't take any. "They're safe, I promised. I tried them." I take one and put it in my mouth carefully. What if she's tricking me? What if I'm going to die right now? 

I swallow the berry and my throat doesn't close, my eyes don't start watering, and I don't die. She puts a little over half the berries into my hand and one of the eggs. We suck the insides out and eat the berries. It's not a bad breakfast.

"So what are we doing today?" Rue asks me. 

I ponder this for a bit. What are we going to do today? We have to stay away from the Careers and we have enough food to last a few days. 

"Today, we find Peeta," I decide. We pack our bags but when we are finally ready and stand up, I realize I have absolutely no idea what the plan is. I look to her, but it's clear she's waiting for me to take charge. "Okay, um. You go this way," I point to the right, further into the woods. "And I'll go this way," I point to the left, out of the woods and the way I know is where the Careers have their supplies. Maybe I can do a little spying while I'm looking for him. "And we can use our signal again."

Rue eyes me, as if she knows why I'm going that way, but she doesn't say anything about it. "We can't use the signal, it probably won't travel. We'll be too far away from each other." She looks nervous.

I put my hands on her shoulder and smile my new, crooked smile. "We'll be back by evening. Right here, before the anthem, with or without Peeta."

She nods and throws her arms around me. I stumble backwards at first but quickly hug her back. "Be careful Prim," she says to me.

"You too," I don't know what else to say, so I turn around and walk away. I walk until I see a small stream. I'm on the right path. I follow the stream to where I ran from the fire. I stay close to the bushes, and my senses sharpen. I'm close to the Careers, and the closer I get, the tighter I grip my knife. There's a huge copse, with big, bushy foliage, so thick I can easily hide in it. 

I see their camp and envy surges through me. They have piles and piles of supplies stacked in a pyramid. It mimics the layout of supplies in the Cornucopia. A canopy of netting covers the pile, but it only succeeds in keeping birds out. It's perplexing, and there must be another factor at play here because no one's guarding it. The Careers are all there, but they're so far away, they're on the other side of the lake. They must think it's already safe enough. I start to go around their camp, to make sure that they don't see me, but I start to hear shouting. I dive back into the bush when I see smoke from a fire. 

I wonder who it is, it could be Rue, but she wouldn't be that idiotic. The Careers are all here, so that means it must be Thresh or Peeta. Maybe it's Peeta. "Who is it?" I hear Cato shout.

"Could be those two kids," Clove says, but he quickly shuts her down.

"No, that blonde one's as good as dead."

"Then why isn't her name in the sky, genius," she points out bitterly.

"Let's just go. If it's not them, at least it'll be another kill," Marvel says, and surprisingly they start to pack their things. Forget about their supplies, what if the person that set that fire was Peeta? I climb the nearest tree, careful not to let the Career's out of my sight. But they don't care, they aren't even looking my way. They're running towards the fire-starter.

I try to travel from tree to tree, like Rue, imagining I have wings. Luckily, I get the hang of it quickly, probably from my small amount of experience in the Tribute Center during training. Soon, I'm flying from branch to branch and it's almost fun. I can see why she likes the trees. It takes about an hour before I'm finally there. I'm faster than the Careers, but when I get closer to them, I go deeper into the trees. 

There's no one at the fire, but I do see the remnants of it. The Careers start shouting when they see it. They've been tricked. I'm deeper into the branches of the trees and I let out a small, breathy laugh. Luckily, they don't hear me, they're yelling too much. Clove storms away and Cato follows close behind, his hand on her shoulder. But Marvel hesitates. He walks around the area, musing. Suddenly, he stops. I hear the sound of spear colliding with skin and Marvel just stands there. Then, he falls flat on his face, the spear sticking out of his flesh. 

I watch him for a while and when I see he hasn't moved, I creep over and take his backpack. I'm rewarded with a few small knives and the spear that pierced his body. He has some dried fruit and a first aid kit. I want to dump it out and sort through it right now, but I can't shake the feeling I'm being watched. I slowly put everything in my bag, including my knife. I have a spear now. I make my way back into the trees and keep watch for any changes. My eyes are slowly drifting away when I see something move on the ground, underneath some bushes.