Games 9

It was very hard to find warmth the next couple of nights. I found myself pressed against Rue, who slipped in and out of conscienceness, always hoping to find some level of heat. She was just clinging to life….if her burns didn't kill her, Thresh's beating on her to put out the flames would.

Her legs were badly burnt, and the bruises looked horrifying against the red, tender skin. The flames had gotten hold of everything on her arms below her elbows, so that skin had cuts against the soft pink skin tissue. Her face was constantly in pain, and I was struggling to keep her alive.

Thresh was right: The Gamemakers were going to have to keep things interesting to keep people wanting to watch the Games in the Capital. I was scared as I applied some herbs gently to her legs of another fire or a flood.

I knew I couldn't keep her alive on my own. But who did I have to help now? Most of the tributes were dead now. There was Cato, and he would kill us the second he laid his eyes on us and probably eat us for energy. Foxface I wasn't sure about, since she was obviously doing just fine on her own. My only hope could only be Peeta, and that was only because he was my tribute partner.

"Rue," I stroked her hair as comfort as she looked at me after a few days, "I have to find Peeta."

"You can't leave…." I expected her to say because she needed me, but she was still more concerned for my own well-being, "your back…."

I hadn't even checked on my own burns. It was numb but minimal, and I would just have to tolerate that pain after all she had done for me. So I shook my head, patting her head and rising on shaking legs.

"I will come back," I swore, planting a sisterly kiss on her forehead, "I'll find us some food and water."

Food. Water. Our stomachs moaned their agreement as I took off into the woods.

XXXXXXX

I was running, and I was in my element. The wind seemed to part for me as I made my way down a path a built for myself, jumping over logs and ducking under branches. All my life, this way all I was good at besides handing my mother medicine to heal people.

Running away.

It took slipping in the mud for me to realize I hadn't left any markers. Guilt and fear burnt up my chest as I realized it would be a problem to try and find Rue again. Rue, who was severely burnt and starving, dying in the woods alone. She was too much of an open target.

Then I realized something: I slipped in the mud. I smelled water, and I scrambled down the bank I'd found. A glorious little pond was right there, and I plunged in headfirst. Litterly.

It soothed my burns as I gulped it in by the gallons. I saw dried blood floating up that I hoped was for me, but at the time, I didn't care too much. Who cared about sanitary? If I died, it wouldn't really water.

Rue would surrive.

If I could relocate her.

XXXXXX

If there was ever a time to ask for directions, it was when I was ambling along the woods. I had the three water bottles I'd brought and the canteen filled up, and they seemed to weight more as I got even more lost. Why hadn't I been smart enough to make markers!

Suddenly, there was a streak of red. I fell onto the ground with a painful thud, almost spilling the precious water and sighing softly when I didn't. The sigh was only brief, though, just like the relief.

"Foxface?" I scrambled to my feet, trying to guard my heart and trembling violently. I was possibly more afraid of her than I was of Cato, simply because she was so smart.

"Hey...you're that idiot from District 12," she brushed her red curls out of her face, boosting herself to her feet and looking me over skepictally.

"Yeah, that's me," with the mess I'd just managed to get myself into, I wasn't even going to fight the fact that I was an idiot.

"Why're you here, Primrose?" her eyes were in all seriousness, and I shivered at the level of tension she just set around us. Nobody called me Primrose, for starters, and it was almost like...she didn't want to outfox me.

"I...I had to protect Katniss," I was clutching the water, like that would save me, "it was destiny to come here."

She stared a moment before slowly nodding, looking deep in thought. I was stood there like the idiot I am, frozen in place, too scared to move an inch or even think of trying to leave. If she had a plan for me, I wasn't going to be able to outfox her. If she didn't like me, I was dead for sure. She even had better chances of winning the Rue.

"Well then," she snatched a water bottle from my trembling grasp easily, taking a swig, "I ran into your friend earlier. I'll show you were she is."