Chapter 1: Hidden

It felt like the rain had been going on for days. It poured out from the sky and soaked everything it touched. Prim knew that the rain meant nothing. She knew that no matter what the Career tributes would always keep hunting.

She moved slightly in her burrow and rested her forehead against the cool dirt that surrounded her. The crevice was small, barely big enough for her to fit but she knew that she had to hid, hid so she could stay alive. Haymitch was useless in the Arena. It was obvious he favored Peeta. He did give her some advice in the training rooms though.

"You're small kid," he said in his gruff, brusque way. "That means you can do things that these bigger guys can't. You can get into places they can't find. All around the Arena are holes, crevices, caves places to seek refuge. If you can get away then you can stay alive."

Stay alive. It was probably the most inspirational thing he had said to her the entire time they were in the Capitol. She cried herself to sleep every night knowing that the chances of her getting back home alive were useless.

Then she heard it. A noise so loud it could only be above her. Her body locked tightly in fear. Slowly she lifted her head upwards to the small peephole she had hidden. A small pair of feet were positioned facing south. They were covered in a thick layer of mud and one shoe had noticeable scorch marks.

A fire, Prim though with panic, They're already trying to flush us out. She couldn't decide if the rain was to put out the fire or to drown out the victims. In either case she couldn't swim and the rain did no one but District 4 good anyway.

Another rustling noise and the feet were gone, moving forward south. Prim knew it had to have been a female's feet, and wondered which girl was left alive. She knew that on the first night the majority of the younger ones had been killed off, the Careers had seen to that. As far as she knew the only two girls in the game with feet small enough were the red haired girl from 5 and the dark skinned girl from 11.

Rue, her name came to her randomly. From the moment she saw her face in the television feed she had felt a kinship with her. They were both the youngest in the games, both slated to be killed off quickly, both with the strategy to hide and both still alive.

It was the fifth day in the Arena according to the nightly projections in the sky. The tributes from 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 had all been killed. That left the boy and girl from 1 and 2 and probably the girl from 4 who made up the Careers. As far as she knew Peeta had grabbed a pack in the Cornucopia and ran for the nearby mountains. She checked the sky nightly for his face but he seemed to survive. She knew that he would protect her if she found him but had no idea where to start.

The bloodbath in the beginning sent her running for the forest. She barely had time to grab a blue backpack and a weapon before the Careers started killing. She was thankful that she did. Her pack contained water and enough food for 3 days if she rationed it well. District 12 helped her with the hunger; starvation was common among their people.

Katniss had always taken care of the food though. She felt an ache when she thought of her smart and powerful sister who was probably fearfully watching her back home. When her name was draw during the reaping Katniss was quick to jump to claim her spot. Prim knew better though. When her father died she knew the most important thing was to keep her mother alive, she was the only family the two girls had left. And Prim knew that if Katniss took her place there was no way she would be able to keep her mother and herself alive.

"Take care of her, for me," Prim said quietly as she squeezed her sister's hand before taking her place next to Effie and Haymitch. Katniss nodded mutely as she moved back into the crowd. Prim knew that her mother and sister never got along but she hoped that this would help them bridge the gap that had grown between them in the years since her father's death. Prim cared deeply for her mother and couldn't see her die even if she had to go to the Games to stop that.

The rain seemed to be stopping which probably meant that night was falling. The Gamemakers liked to have the tributes watch the show at the end of each night and had given them a temporary recess from the downpour for thirty minutes the past two days.

Prim lifted her head out of the hole. She turned her face towards the sky to see if anyone had died today, the end of day 6. She positioned the dart blower in her mouth with a loaded dart ready in case she was attacked and began to watch the montage. The clouds were thick in the sky as the highlights from the match flashed but no faces or names appeared tonight. Prim closed her eyes once she had the information she wanted and sank back into her hole. Before she could she heard a small thump from a nearby tree.

Prim brought her hand quickly to steady her dart blower and pointed herself at the noise. There was a blurred dark shape that moved toward her. Prim had so far managed to not kill anyone in the Arena buts he knew that getting back into the hole would cause too much noise and she would be dead unless she acted first. Prim waited as the blurred shape came into focus before taking a deep breath in preparation of her kill.

The shape was almost upon her, almost close enough to kill. As it got more in more in focus though Prim could see it wasn't large enough to be a person. It was small, crawling on all fours slowly towards her. Prim's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She trusted no animal in this game as most were likely Capitol mutations created to destroy the tributes.

The figure was close now, nearly in range of her deadly darts. She pulled herself out of the crevice more in order to balance her other hand. Se crouched, ready to kill but before she could the shape emitted a whisper.

"Don't shoot," the shape pleaded. Prim was taken aback by the pitiful request. The voice was small, frightened and most of all sounded young; as young as her. The shape approached faster now and was becoming clearer and clearer. It was not until the shape was nearly on top of her that the features became clear. Prim found herself staring deeply into the dark face and eyes of the girl from District 11.

"Rue."