I swayed back and forth slowly. The minute of waiting on the platform was endless. One canon went off.. A nervous tribute is now dead. I purse my lips, looking around at the other tributes. I found Rue staring at me and I smile nervousely. She smiled softly then looked down. I bit down hard on my lip. Suddenly, a ringing sound blared through the arena, sounding the beginning. My heart fluttered and I panicked. Turning around on my heel, I fled to the woods behind me. I stormed through the trees, my adrenaline pushing me further and further. Canons blasted around me, signaling the deaths of the other tributes. I leaped off the ground and reached for a branch in front of me. Grabbing it with both hands, I pulled myself up. I kept climbing farther up the tree, fearful of the others. When I could no longer see the ground below me, I figured I was high enough. I leaned my head against the thick of the tree and breathed slowly. ~ My short moment of rest was disrupted when hands grabbed me from behind. A sharp laugh rang in my ear and I screamed. The hands slips over my mouth, muffling my scream. Rue climbed around and sat on my branch, in front of me. "You're fast." She smiles. My surprise hasn't worn off yet and I look down to see if anyone had been curious enough to find out who screamed with no canon sounding afterward. Rue giggles. "Don't worry. No one is as good of climbers as us." She assures me. "Now come on, I saw Peeta chasing after you on my way over here. He's fairly slow," she says. Rue waits for me on each tree, as I slowly jump from branch to branch. If I were to go any faster, it would be a lot noisier and I'd be risking a possible attack from another tribute. When we find Peeta, he smiles and hugs me. I awkwardly hug him back, then push him away softly. "This is so scary." I whisper. Peeta nods and sticks his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Rue pulls a small backpack off of her back. "I knew we were in an alliance, so I decided to go farther than I originally planned and grabbed a backpack and a sleeping bag." My mouth parts slightly in shock. "Rue! That's so considerate. I just turned and ran.. I didn't even remember.." I say, my voice getting quieter. Rue pulls a thermos out of the pack. "We have water.. But we'll need to take trips to different lakes to refill it. That could be dangerous," She explains before pulling out a bag of dried berries and other small snacks. It also carries a dagger, sharp and good for hunting small animals. When night comes, we decide to save the water and little food that we have for when we desperately need it. And as for sleeping, we unzipped the sleeping bag and laid it out on the ground as a blanket for us all to share. We all slid under the black tarp materialized sleeping bag, using our arms as our pillows. Peeta volunteered to be first on watch, promising to wake me in an hour or two. I drifted off to sleep before letting my thoughts become explicite with visions of home. ~ Hands pushed at my shoulder softly, a mellow voice called my name. "Goodmorning Mom." I mutter, swatting the hand away. The voice gets louder and I realize it's not my mother calling out to me. I raise my head off my arm slowly, and rub at my eyes. Looking to my left, I see Peeta Mellark blinking at me. Recognition flows through me and I remember I'm in the Hunger Games. I slowly push myself into a sitting position. "It's so dark." I whisper. Peeta nods his head. "Yea. I let you sleep longer than I promised though," He smiled. I smile softly. "Thank-you." I said, resting my back against the tree that half-covered us and our sleeping bag. Peeta moved himself under the blanket, instantly falling asleep. I look at Rue, her tangled hair covers most of her face, and she snores lightly. I sigh and lean my head back against the tree, looking up at the stars above me. I had forgot about watching the faces light up in the sky, showing the tributes who had died today. But that didn't matter to me. My alliances were both with me, sleeping at my feet. ~ I'm about to wake Rue for her night shift when I hear feet shuffling through leaves. I believe it's only one person, alone and stumbling through the trees on their own, scared.. I freeze, petrified and unsure of what to do. My senses scream at me to run, but I know better than to break an alliance and end up alone with nothing in the arena. I grab the dagger that was left next to the bag, and hold it tightly. I'm poised and ready to defend myself when I remember what I had said in my interview. I have decided not to kill anyone.. The thought repeated itself in my head, taunting me. My thoughts decided to play tricks on me. I could simply just injure the person then heal them. And before they heal completely, I could leave with Peeta and Rue. But I had nothing to heal a person with. I would have to search for herbs tomorrow and pack them in the bag. If tomorrow were to come at all for me.. The person was nearing us now, but held no evidence that they knew we were hiding here. They walked slowly past us, and continued on. I watched them until they disappeared in the dark. Then I allowed myself to wake Rue, letting myself back into the world of sleep.
