Leo and I are out by ourselves now. He's hunting, I'm scouting. We're supposed to meet up again at the cave in two hours. It's been one and a half, and I'm on my way back now. By the sun, we guessed it's about 1 pm. No one has died today. Yet. I hold my knife in my hand, ready for anything. You never know when someone is going to jump out at you. Then, in the distance, I hear a familiar bird call. It's Leo. He's asking where I am. I take a few steps in the direction of the sound and call back, saying here I am. We meet in the middle a few minutes later. When I see him, his backpack is very full. Apparently he caught a small bird and two rabbits.
"Wow, that's great." I tell him. We're about to head back to the cave when we hear a sound from above us. I look up to see a girl perched in the trees. The shadows hide her face.
"You guys have a good hunting day?" I hear her ask, and I recognize her voice. It's Emma. I remember her killing a girl in the bloodbath. She's fast. I hear her laugh and she jumps down in front of us. From what I can see, she has no weapons, but you never know. I've seen people hide them before. Neither of us says anything, until she speaks.
"Listen, I've seen you guys. You make a good team. I'd make it a better one. What do you say?" It sounded to me like she wanted to join us. It was risky, having alliances, especially ones bigger than a few people. But it also had advantages. More food, more supplies, and a bigger chance at lasting to the end. It also meant having to kill a teammate sooner or later, though. She sighed.
"Listen, do you need me to do something, or can you just say yes?" she asks.
"Well, how do we know you're not going to turn around and kill us?" I ask carefully. Emma smiles, and then takes a step forward, doing a front flip over both of us. We turn around in time to see her holding her knife in a girl's chest. The girl is from District 1, and maybe my age, 14. She has a bow lying next to her with an arrow strung. Emma turns around and we hear a cannon, signaling the girl's dead.
"Is that proof enough?" asks Emma, smirking. We hesitate for a second, and then nod together.
"Alright," says Leo, "you're in." She smiles.
The three of us walk through the forest, watching each other's backs. Emma turns out to be useful. She's very handy with that bow, and takes out a squirrel that was hiding amongst thick branches. After a while, Leo goes back to show her our camp while I stay out for another hour or two. He's going to show her our call and a few strategies as well. I walk through the woods, when I hear the sound of footsteps. I duck behind a tree to see the male tribute from District 4 walking by noisily. He obviously isn't very good at this type of thing. He has on no backpack, and looks hungry and tired. He probably hasn't eaten much since the beginning of the games. When he walks by me, I flash out behind him and slash at his back. He gasps and falls to his knees. He's not dead yet, though. I take care of that quickly and hear the cannon fire, signifying he is dead. One more down. I count the tributes over in my head. So far, ten are dead. I don't bother to figure out the District's, though. I decide it's time to go back to meet the others.
When I get back, Leo is cooking a rabbit while Emma is practicing some of her knife techniques. Leo looks up when I walk in.
"Did you hear the cannon? Someone else didn't make it." He says. I nod.
"I know, I killed him." Leo seems slightly surprised at this, like he didn't expect it. Emma just nods.
"That's one less person to deal with now." Is what she says. I smile slightly and put my pack down. Hours go by, and we hear no more cannons. We also don't leave the cave. After a while, though, I decide to go out and refill our water supply. The river is the closest, so I head there. As I walk, I think about how Emma had joined us. When I got back, our supplies were set out. She had two containers for water, some crackers, and a bunch of edible plants, as well as a sleeping bag, more matches, and a sheet of thin metal. Now each of us had a water canister, which was good, seeing as before we had only had one, which Leo had insisted I have because it was mine in the first place. I'm almost at the river when I hear someone cry out in pain. I carefully go to investigate, and find the little blonde girl from District 12 stuck under a rock. She's struggling to get out, but it's only making the rock push harder on her leg. I don't even know how she got caught like that, but I go over to her, knowing that she won't be dangerous in her current state. When she sees me, hers eyes widen and she struggles even harder, but the rock won't budge. I stop next to her and examine the situation.
"Please," she says, "please don't kill me. Help me, please!" I laugh.
"Well, I'm not going to kill you. What's your name? I'm Kady."
"Rima." She says quietly. I nod and walk closer to her. She probably thinks I'm just going to get rid of her now, but instead a help her roll the rock off. This surprises her.
"Why did you help me?" she asks.
"Because you needed help. Now, you're twelve right?" She nods.
"Well," I say, "how have you been doing these past days? Have any luck with food or weapons?" She shakes her head.
"I lost my spear yesterday and someone stole my only food. I was trying to find water but the rock fell on top of me," she explains quietly. I think things over, and then make a decision.
"Right. Come one." I quickly fill up our water, and then start walking back into the forest, towards the camp. Rima seems confused.
"What do you mean?" she asks, although she does follow.
"I mean, come with me. I'm taking you back to our camp. You can rest there, eat something, and then maybe you can stay with us." I offer her some water, which she graciously accepts.
"Me and two others made an alliance, and you're in it now." I say. She says nothing, but smiles. I remember her from training. Her physical abilities and poor, but she's practically a genius. She could be very helpful. By the time we get to the cave, she's told me the best place to find this herb used for burns, and another for bites, and another for anti-poisoning. I show her the cave and when we go in, Emma shakes her head after seeing Rima. Leo comes up to us, frowning.
"What's this?" he asks.
"She's joining us." I say in a voice that allows no arguments. Emma rolls her eyes, and Leo nods slowly.
"Ok," he agrees, putting out his hand, "I'm Leo." Rima shakes it.
"Rima."
"I'm Emma," says Emma, standing up from where she was crouched down. I get Rima some food and she sits down near the fire, not saying anything. Leo and Emma pull me aside.
"Why is she joining us?" asks Leo quietly.
"Because she's smart." I answer simply. Emma shakes her head again.
"I hope you know what you're doing," she says, and I walk over to sit next to Rima. Me too, I think, me too.