The Hunger Games | Rilaya

A New Ally

"You have good sponsors." He says, rubbing the cream into his arm.

"Have you gotten anything yet?" I ask.

He shakes his head.

"You will, though. Watch. The closer we get to the end, the more people will realize how clever you are." I say, fairly confident.

"You weren't joking about wanting me for an ally?" Auggie asks.

"No, I meant it." I say. I could practically hear Shawn banging his head on the wall, shouting more curse words at me for teaming up with Auggie. But I wanted to ally with him. He reminded me so much of Prim. And maybe it was just because of my love-struck state, but for some reason, he resembled Riley.

"Okay." Auggie smiles, holding out his hand. We shake on it. "It's a deal."

I manage to kill a bird that was just flying around. I skin it, roast it over a small fire Auggie had built, and we eat it, as well as some roots Auggie had found.

He recognizes the bird, says it's called a groosling.

"I've never had a whole leg to myself before." Auggie says. A smile is brought on my face when I see his meat-covered face. He no longer looked like a kid affected by the woes of life, more like just a regular, innocent child.

"Take the other." I say.

"Really?" He asks.

"Take whatever you want. Now that I've got a bow and arrows, I can get more. Plus I've got snares. I can show you how to set them." Even with my words, Auggie is still hesitant.

"Oh, take it." I say, passing the drumstick to him. "It will only keep a few days anyway, and we've got the whole bird."

Eventually, my words and his hunger must win as he takes a huge bite.

"I'd have thought, in District 11, you'd have a bit more to eat than us. You know, since you grow the food." I say.

"Oh no, we've not allowed to eat the crops." Auggie shakes his head.

"Do they arrest you or something?" I ask.

"They whip you and make everyone else watch." Auggie answers. "The mayor's very strict about it." He pauses for a moment, before asking "Do you get all the coal you want?"

"No." I say. "Just what we buy and whatever we track in on our boots."

"They feed us a bit extra during harvest so that people can keep going longer." Auggie says.

"Don't you have to be in school?" I ask.

"Not during harvest. Everyone works then." Auggie says.

We decide to lay out all our food and supplies to plan ahead. Auggie has gathered a massive pile of roots, nuts, greens, and berries. We divide the food equally, just in case we were separated.

He also has a water skin, homemade slingshot, a pair of socks, and a sharp rock she uses as a knife.

"I know it's not much." Auggie sighs. "But I had to get away from the Cornucopia fast."

We extinguish out fire and set out for the day, not stopping until it is night.

"Where do you sleep?" I ask. "In the trees?"

Auggie nods.

"In just your jacket?"

"I have these for my hands." Auggie holds up his socks.

"You can share my sleeping bag if you want. We'll both easily fit." I say. We were definitely the two smallest tributes out of everyone. Auggie's face lights up and he nods. We climb a tree and settle down for the night, just as the anthem plays, showing that there weren't any deaths today.

"Auggie, I only woke up today. How many nights did I miss?" I ask.

"Two." He says. "The girls from Districts 1 and 4 are dead. There's ten of us left."

So Riley wasn't dead. I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from sighing in relief.

"Something strange happened." I say, beginning to relive the story to Auggie. "At least, I think it did. It might have been a hallucination from the tracker jacker venom."

Auggie nods, listening intently, waiting for me to continue.

I try to leave my voice as casual as possible. "You know the girl from my district? Riley?"

A grin forms on Auggie's face. "Who doesn't know her?" He says in a teasing tone. "You guys are the star-crossed lovers, Rilaya for short."

I flush, making Auggie's smile grow bigger. "It-It doesn't matter, Auggie. She was just acting."

"Oh." Auggie says. "I don't think it was an act at all. Quite obvious, actually, even before her interview. Did you not see how she was looking at you during the reaping? Or the tribute parade? Or training? Basically anytime you two were together?"

"Anyways." I say, trying to tone down my blush. "I think she saved my life back in that clearing. But she was with the Careers."

"She's not with them now." Auggie says. "I've spied on their base camp by the lake. They made it back before they collapsed from the stingers. But she's not there. Maybe she did save you and had to run."

I think back to when I last saw Riley, when Cato had bursted out from the bush. "I...I think she's hurt. By Cato." I'm hoping that I was wrong but it was pointless. I can still remember her scream, making me shudder.

"Oh." Auggie says softly, noticing my worried expression. "If she is, she's still alive, if that helps a little."

We sit in silence for a while, until Auggie says "The Careers have everything down by the lake. And they're so strong."

"We're strong too." I say. "Just in a different way."

"You are. You can shoot. What can I do?" Auggie says, his tone helpless.

"You can feed yourself. Can they?" I ask.

"They don't need to. They have all those supplies." Auggie says.

"Say they didn't. Say the supplies were gone. How long would they last? I mean, it's the Hunger Games, right?" I say, an idea starting to form.

"But Maya, they're not hungry." Auggie says.

"No, they're not." I agree. "That's the problem." For the first time since the Games started, I actually have a plan. "I think we're going to have to fix that."