"Willow."

Someone is calling my name in my sleep but the figure is dark and I can't tell who it is.

"Willow."

There's that voice again, only this time, accompanied by a sharp pain on my forehead.

"Twelve!" I force my eyes open and realize someone is right below us. I hold back a scream and instinctively grab my bow and arrow, before remembering where I am and who's in the sleeping bag with me. I'm careful not to wake up little El as I glare at my intruder, ready to fire.

"Whoah!" Hudson holds his hands up. He's standing at the base of the tree. "I come in peace."

"Will you keep your voice down," I hissed, glancing to make sure El was still asleep. I don't want to wake up scared of this stranger. "And did you have to hit me in the forehead?"

"Sorry," Hudson apologizes, tossing away the small rock he still has in his hand, making himself comfortable on the ground. "You with her now?" He nods towards El.

"She's really smart." I feel the need to defend the poor girl. Everyone seems to underestimate her.

"I didn't say anything." He looks back and forth between the two of us, his face breaking out into a soft smile. "She reminds you of your sister, huh?"

"Is it that obvious?" El whimpers next to me and I brush the hair out of her face, shushing her back to sleep.

"You know this can't end well for all of us," he says with a frown.

"I know, I just… I'm trying not to think about that right now."

"So what are you thinking about?" Hudson asks.

"Why would I tell you?" I try to keep the hostility out of my voice but I can't help it. I don't know why he's here and I don't know what he plans to do to me.

"I thought we were allies," he says back with that cheeky smile. Well, it doesn't seem like he's going to kill me and if there was anyone in this arena I would choose to trust besides El, it would be him. "If you're taking applications."

"Fine. I don't want to scare her," I tell him, hoping he'll understand I'm talking about the little girl who's sleeping next to me.

"Kids love me!" He boasts, like we're not in some life or death situation. I want to strangle him.

"Just stay out of sight for a second. I'm going to wake her and explain, okay?"

"Sure thing, Girl on Fire," he winks, going to stand behind a nearby tree as if that's any better.

I roll my eyes and move to gently shake El. It doesn't take long for her to wake and she stretches, letting out a yawn.

"Morning El," I smile and she returns it.

"Good morning, Willow." She studies my face and frowns. "What's wrong?"

"I have a friend who wants to join us," I tell her, wanting to ease her into the idea.

Fear flashes in her eyes. "A friend?"

I nod. "But only if you're okay with it. If not, I'll shoot him with my bow."

"Hey!" Hudson's voice echoes in the woods and El cracks a small smile.

"Okay," she agrees, still a little uneasy. We untie ourselves and pack up, climbing back down the tree and she moves to hide behind me.

"Alright Hudson," I give him the go ahead, and he slowly makes his way towards our tree, approaching us like I would a scared animal.

"Hello El." His voice and expression is softer than I've ever seen it. I know this is part of the real him. I'm sure the Capitol is just swooning. "I'm Hudson. Is it okay if I join you?"

"You're a career." El's voice is muffled from behind me. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" He flashes her one of his panty-dropping smiles and I'm back to wanting to slap him. But even twelve-year old El isn't immune to his charms. "Here. A peace offering."

He digs through his sack and pulls out something wrapped in paper. He unwraps it, presenting El with one of the fancy Capitol cookies. Her entire face lights up and she looks to me as if to ask if it's okay. I nod and she takes it, nibbling on the end. Hudson and I share a smile.

"Where's my peace offering?" I joke.

"I only give cookies to pretty little ladies who are nice to me." Hudson crosses his arms, winking at El to make his point and it only makes her laugh harder and us smile bigger.

"Want some?" El offers half of the cookie to me but I shake my head.

"Nope. All yours," I tell her, glad she seems okay with Hudson joining us. "Did you eat yet?" I ask and he shakes his head.

He helps me build a fire and I'm able to hunt a rabbit for us to eat, even though it takes a little bit longer with El by my side. She didn't feel comfortable alone with Hudson yet so he was stuck on fire duty while we found food.

He had a nice fire going by the time we got back and he entertains El with stories about his life in district four with Finnick while I skin the rabbit and roast it for the three of us.

"There was one time, where we went swimming, only I got in first and instead of following after me, he took my clothes and ran off! It was an awkward walk back, let me tell you, El. My neighbors still complain every time I walk past their house. As if they could complain about the view!" El is in absolute hysterics and I'm afraid her face might turn purple from forgetting to breathe. But it's great to see her laugh when there are so few opportunities here.

"Here you go," I hand Hudson the largest piece of rabbit, giving El the next biggest and keeping the smallest for myself.

"I knew you would come in handy, twelve," Hudson gives me a thankful smile, attacking the meat.

"Haven't eaten in a while?" I ask. I couldn't imagine he had a hard time getting sponsors. I mean they even sent him cookies!

"You could say that. My sponsors opt for more…hard to come by gifts than food." He phrases it in a way that lets me know they spring for extravagance but not practicality without insulting his sponsors.

While we eat, El and I explain our plan to him and he seems more excited than either of us do.

"But how will we find each other afterwards?" He asks. Our plan is to set several fires of greenery to create more smoke to distract them. Huson and El are in charge of that while I destroy their supply.

"We can use the mockingjays!" El says.

"The mockingjays?" Hudson seems to have no idea what she's talking about, but I do.

"Of course!" I sing out a simple four note melody that is immediately picked up by the mockingjays and repeated throughout the woods.

"Woah." Hudson looks around impressed. "But, uh…I can't sing."

"It's okay," El tells him. "You can just whistle. That's what we do back home to signal the end of work days or if there's been an emergency." She whistles the same four notes and the birds carry the tune. Hudson waits until the birds are silent again, and then copies her. His notes are a little off but they still pick it up.

"Well, at least you'll know it's me," he says, tossing a handful of berries in his mouth while El and I try to hold back our laughter.

"Shall we get on then?" Hudson stands and we get right to work. We stick together while we go around to different areas and gather piles of fresh leaves and fallen branches, trying to gather enough so the careers will see the smoke from their camp. Hudson and El are going to divide the piles to set off, waiting a couple minutes in between each one, while I figure out the best way to destroy their food supply.

"Ready?" I ask the other two. Hudson nods, his face turning serious and I can clearly see he's a career tribute. He takes off to the right, heading off to the next closest pile.

"Okay. If all goes according to plan, I'll see you for dinner." I turn back to El, who looks worried. I unclasp my pin and hold it out to her. "Here, you should take this. To protect you."

She smiles and shakes her head, pushing my hand back. "I like seeing it on you. It's how I knew I could trust you. Because of the mockingjay. Besides, I have this." She pulls out a woven necklace with a wooden star from under her shirt. "It's a good luck charm."

"It's worked for you so far." She tucks it back into her shirt and throws her arms around me.

"You be careful." She squeezes me so much tighter than someone of her size should be able to.

"You too," I caress her hair and memorize her optimistic little face. She's really putting a lot of trust in me and I don't want to let her down.

El sets the pile in front of us on fire and climbs up a tree to take off to the next one. I start running in the opposite direction where El told me the careers were camped out. It doesn't take me long to find, they've got themselves completely out in the open. Their supplies are piled high in the middle, but something is definitely off.

"Hey, what's that?" Herc comes around the pile, looking in the direction of the smoke from the first pile El set off. "Come on, let's get them! Keep watch," he tells the boy from three. He takes his district partner with him and they walk in a weird pattern across the field.

As soon as they're out of view, another girl, I think from five, hopes across the field, grabbing a small pack from the base of the supplies before hopping away.

What am I missing? What have they done to make them so confident to stay out here like this? It must be boobytrapped somehow.

And then it hits me, it's a minefield! They must have gotten the boy from three to figure out a way to make the explosives form our platforms active again. I've heard his district is good at those kinds of things. I feel a small surge of appreciation for him for pulling one over on the gamemakers like that.

Well then, I would have to figure something out from a distance. I didn't know enough about what they've done to navigate the area myself and I didn't have much time left. But if I somehow set off one of the explosives without sacrificing myself as a trigger, I could blow up all of their supplies at once. I just needed to knock something off the pile and that should be enough to set off the entire minefield. I had a fairly good arm, I could possibly set it off with a rock or something but I wasn't sure how accurate I would be.

In a stroke of luck, the boy from three is distracted by another one of the smoking piles and grabs his sword, heading towards what he thinks is another tribute. I nock an arrow and aim for the bag of apples, letting it fly, piercing the bag. I wait a second to see if the apples will fall but they don't. I aim another arrow, and this time, I'm able to rip an even larger hole, sending the apples tumbling down the crates below. I don't have time to celebrate when the apples land on the closest mine, triggering it. It sets off a chain reaction, resulting in a large boom and flash of light that sends me sailing back into a tree.

There's ringing in my ears and I don't think I can't hear out of my left one anymore. I had shielded my face during the explosion but there were wood splinters, and what I think is glass or metal everywhere. Everything is vibrating and I'm having a hard time seeing anything with the black spots clouding my vision. In the distance, I can hear Herc and the girl from two yelling, trying to figure out what happened, while the boy is yelling obscenities that I'm sure they'll have to censor. I'm sure they'll be looking for the boy from three now. I doubt they'll let him live after he's failed to keep their supplies safe. I have to get out here fast. They no longer had supplies there, which means there's nothing keeping them from venturing outside of the area. It would only be a matter of time before they discovered me. If I can just somehow make my way back to where we camped out last night, I would have a safe place for the night, but trying to move now would just be giving them a free kill. I can barely tell which way is up. They probably think that the intruder has a huge lead on them and they most likely wouldn't think to check right in their backyard.

I still feel nauseous and wait for everything to stop spinning as I lay low until the sun goes down. I watch the recap for the night hidden under a pile of leaves. Only the boy from three's picture shows. Once I'm confident I'll be able to move without being caught, I dig out the glasses from my bag and slip them on, surprised by how well I'm able to see in the dark with them. I still can't hear out of my left ear and there's still a ringing in my right, but I don't want to wait any longer. As I'm running through the forest, I smash into something I didn't see coming. When I steady myself enough to see what's happened, I'm staring into the shocked eyes of another tribute, the girl from five with hair so blonde it looks almost white. We stare at each other, neither of us making a move towards the other. She slowly backs away before running away from me in the opposite direction. I know the audience will be groaning, feeling like they missed out on a fight, but they can deal.

The only indicator of where we had previously stayed was the dark spot where we had a fire going, but I eventually find it. I take extra caution in climbing one of the trees, making sure I don't miss a step and fall and break something. I'm worried for El and I keep hoping she'll show up. The mockingjays would be asleep so I can't even see if she would respond.

Closing my eyes makes my pounding head feel much better though, and I'm able to drift in and out of sleep. It's only when I hear something rustling at the base of the tree that I force myself to wake up. I peer down and find Hudson sleeping against the trunk, a machete he's gotten from god knows where, hugged to his chest.

"Hudson!" I whisper out, hoping to wake him up.

"Go away," he mumbles, turning to his side. I now realize that I can't hear out of my left ear at all so it's not as easy to pick up what he's saying.

I break off a thin branch and try to poke him with it, the leaves tickling his face. He swats me away scowling. He wakes with a start, wielding the machete and swinging it around. I jump up on a higher branch to keep him from cutting me.

He spots me with wide eyes. "Are you mad, woman?"

"You're the one trying to maim me," I point to his machete.

"Like an annoying bug," he huffs with a smile. "So I see you succeeded. I wish I could have seen their faces!"

I nod. "Why didn't you climb up here?" It was much safer than sleeping on the ground.

"Oh, that." He rubs the back of his neck. "I can't climb trees. Just as I'm sure you can't swim. Circumstances of our districts, I suppose."

I let out a sound letting him know I heard him but I don't say anything. Because I could swim. My mom and dad taught me at the lake deep in the woods, but I couldn't have anyone find out about that.

"Where's El?" I do a once-over of the trees hoping to spot my tiny ally.

"Haven't seen her. But I haven't " Hudson says. "Think she's alright?"

"She's a survivor." I have all the confidence in the world that she'll find some way to stay safe. "She's probably hiding."

"Should we split up and try to find her?" Hudson suggested. There was definitely safety in numbers but my concern for El currently trumps that.

"You remember the call?"

Hudson whistles the four notes, again, not exactly right but close enough. The mockingjays pick it up and carry it all around us, but there's something else.

"Wait!" The tune starts to change slightly, the pitch becoming more accurate. She must have replied. "She's alive!"

We split up in search for El and I stay behind trees and bushes, looking up into the trees in case she's put those flying squirrel skills to good use. I've only stopped for a moment to fill myself up on some left over nuts and berries when I hear it. The sound of a bird singing our four-note melody. I turn in the direction of the first bird before the others start to pick it up. I run in the direction, and repeat the notes, hoping for a response so I know which way to turn.

But instead of hearing the birds singing in reply it's a heart-stopping sound. A child's scream. It's unmistakably El, that's for sure. It could very well be a trap set by the careers but I can't help myself. There's another high-pitched cry, and this time, it's my name. "Willow! Willow!"

"El!" I yell back, hoping she can hear me. "I'm coming, El!" I hope whatever I'm walking into, they'll be distracted by me long enough that she can get away. I'm sure I'm more of a threat to them than the small girl.

When I burst into the clearing, I can see she's entangled in the net. She has just enough time to reach her hand out towards me, screaming my name before the spear enters her body.