The Hunger Games

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Pen opened her eyes and looked at her hands. Leaves covered all of her bruises and wounds, even the tracker jacker stings.

She sat up and saw Katniss and the same little girl that motioned toward the hive eating something by a fire. She looked at the rest of her surroundings, and the three of them seemed to be alone.

Aspen got up and walked to where the little girl and Katniss were sitting, sitting down next to them.

"Oh, Pen." Katniss sighed, hugging her friend. Aspen looked over Katniss's shoulder at the little girl, confused.

"What happened?" She asked.

"You were stung by the tracker jackers and started hallucinating. Then you passed out." Katniss informed. Aspen nodded, taking everything in.

"How long was I out?"

"A couple of days. We changed your leaves twice." The little girl said.

Again, Aspen nodded.

"This is Rue. She's the one who saved you and taught me how to treat your wounds. Did the same with mine." Katniss said.

Aspen looked at Rue, who looked at her. Then, she hugged the girl, who hugged back.

"Thank you." She said. The girl nodded and handed her a bone with some meat on it, which Pen took.

"What happened when I was out?" Pen wondered.

"The girl from 1 and the boy from 10." Rue said. Aspen furrowed her eyebrows.

"Peeta and Michael?" She asked.

"They're fine." Katniss assured. She wondered why Aspen was asking about Michael like she cared about him, but decided not to ask on it.

"Where are Cato and the others?" Aspen continued. Rue looked up.

"They got all their supplies down by the lake.
It's prod up in this great big pyramid." She said.

Aspen looked down and saw all of their stuff pushed together in a pyramid like Rue said. She made eye contact with Katniss.

"Sounds tempting."

The next day, Katniss, Rue and Aspen all decided to get a few fires going. While Rue set them up, Aspen and Katniss would attack the Careers' camp.

"Now this green stuff is gonna smoke like crazy, so as soon as you light it, move on to the next fire." Katniss said, the three girls carrying leaves and branches over to a big pile. Aspen nodded.

"Light this one last. And we'll meet you back over there." She added on. The girls stopped and looked at each other, making sure everyone understood the plan.

"Right." Rue said, showing she understood.

"And then, I will destroy their stuff while their chasing us and Pen will take whatever she can get." Katniss added.

"We need a signal, in case one of us gets held up." Rue pointed out. Aspen nodded.

"Good idea. Like what?" She asked.

"Here. Watch this."

Rue sung a little tune, and the birds around them repeated.

"Mockingjays." Katniss smiled.

"That's great." Pen said.

"Back home we use the signal all the time. You try." Said Rue.

Katniss whistled, and like they had done before, the mockingjays repeated it.

"Okay so, if we hear that, it means we're okay and we'll be back real soon." Rue said.

Aspen looked at the girl. She could tell she was worried that things would go wrong.

"We're gonna be okay." She said, trying to assure her.

Rue leaned forward and hugged both Kat and Pen, making Pen smile.

"Hey. We'll see you for supper." Katniss said, pulling away. Rue looked up at the girls, nervous.

"Okay." She said.

And with that, the three girls went their seperate ways.