Little Flower-The Hunger Games from Rue's Point of View

Chapter 12

My heart is pounding like crazy. After two hours of Julia getting hair-relaxer in my eyes, I'm finally ready to "show the gamemakers what I've got", as Aurelia puts it. The fact that, as of now, I've "got" nothing but my ability to use a slingshot, isn't helping me with my nerves. Unless, of course, the gamemakers want to see me eat a bunch of wild mushrooms, but not die, seeing that I know which ones aren't poisonous. 

The girl from ten walks into the brightly lit room, and I begin to develop a nervous twitch. I'm really glad Aurelia isn't here. She'd go crazy if I begin to play with my hair. I'm not actually sure why I'm so nervous. I barely even thought about it yesterday. I'm not sure I even realized that it was coming up. But today I woke up and was notified at breakfast that I would have to exhibit charm, wit, and the ability to hit a target with a slingshot from 80 feet away by lunchtime. And then my breakfast biscuit was cruelly snatched away from me, because I needed to "Do something about that hair." 

"District Ten Male! Saxton, Marcum!" A short boy teeters into the room, and I realize that I'd better stop shaking soon, or I won't be able to hold a slingshot. That's what I'm planning to use. It's pretty much the only thing that they'll have in there that I'm half-decent at. 

I wonder why none of the other tributes showed any interest in it. It's fairly easy to use, fairly easy to learn how to use, and it seems like it could be effective. I mean, I use it on almost a daily basis to scare raccoons from trees. Or I used to use it on a daily basis. Maybe I still will. It could be useful for getting food to eat. I remember one time, the rock I used actually hit the raccoon. I didn't want to go up to it to see if it was dead, but the tree it fell from was pretty high up. Hopefully, I can use the same tactic with animals in the arena. What kind of animals will there be in the arena? I remember the year I was 7 and watched the games for the first time. Everybody was stuck in some type of desert , and the only animals there were fish. One girl tried to survive on a spiky plant, but she died after she ate one with poisonous prickers. I don't know well I'd fare there. Lizards are to tiny to kill with a slingshot.  

"District 11 Female! Seran, Rue!"  I carefully walk through the door, and wave to the Gamemakers. They don't say anything back, so I begin to wander the room in search of a slingshot, so this silence doens't become too awkward. 

I search everywhere in the room, but the closest thing I can to a slingshot is a bow and arrow. And after several sub-par shots with that, I realize that it's not doing anything for my score. I turn towards the knot table and try to look like I'm doing something impressive. In reality, I'm scheming. I need to think of something to do, and I need to do it quickly. My allotted time is only 30 minutes. 

I climb on the table, and reach up to the shelf. Maybe I can find some supplies there that can help me. With what,  I'm not sure. But right now I just need something to do. There are three boxes on the shelf. One is labeled "Poisonous plants". That not going to help me. I open the second. There are a few old tribute tokens that had been removed from dead bodies. The third box contains broken equipment. I sort through it and find a broken bow that has been bent out of form. I take it out of the box, and climb down carefully. This might be useful. Maybe I can make a slingshot out of it. 

I begin to bend the bow even further, when I realize that one of the gamemakers is looking at me oddly. I look up at the rest of them and give them a questioning look. The middle one nods, and I proceed. I break the bow in half, so that it's less curved. Then I grab a knife from the weapons area, and split the stick down the middle. I bend the two sections to the side and tie one of the thinner ropes around both ends so it stretches across the space between the sticks. I then climb back up to the shelf and get a poisonous mushroom from the "Poisonous Plants" box. 

I push it back against the rope, and begin to try to shoot things. I'm not entirely successful. I only manage to get a few bulls-eyes, and the slingshot breaks 2 minutes before I have to go. 

But, as I walk out of the room, I  can't help but notice that the gamemakers are smiling. 

Author's Note: Wow! I came reallyyyy close to being overdue on this one. But I still made it :P The next deadline is the 13th of March. I know that's really far away, but I'm going on a vacation with No Electronics allowed, so... yeah.

See you next time! :)