The Hunger Games- Prim's Story

Chapter 14

When I open my eyes, everything is blury. My arms and legs feel wet and when I bring my hands to my forehead, I feel a large burn on the left. I also have a burn close to my mouth. It's hard to make any facial expressions besides a slack look with all my muscles relaxed. I slowly get up and rub my eyes. My arms and legs have leaves on them and I slowly peel them off to see the scratches I got from crashing through the woods. I also see burn marks on my legs and arms. I stretch my legs and arms and roll my neck from left to right. Besides the burns on my face, nothing hurts. I'm laying on the hard ground, surrounded by trees and bushes, completely concealed. My hand finds a tree and I slowly raise myself onto my feet. My bag's to the left, leaning against a tree a few feet away. My legs are stiff, but with small steps, I get there. My blanket and water bottle are in there, along with my knife. 

I grab out my water bottle and screw off the cap, but there's no water inside. I turn it upside down and shake it, but absolutely nothing comes out, not even a drop of water. It hurts when I cry out in frustration and then hear a voice say, "Oh, you're up now." A small figure walks over and stands in front of me. I don't recognize her at first sight, my vision is still a little fuzzy, and so is my brain. "Didn't think I was that easy to forget." 

She comes closer and I see her rolling her eyes. Dark eyes, dark hair, brown satiny skin.  "Rue?" I try. "How long have I been asleep?" It must be her, no one else in the arena is as small as her. 

"Yes, the one who's better at climbing, better at outrunning fires, and the one who just saved your life. Why in the world would you lay down in the middle of a forest fire?" I sit back down, leaning against a tree, and don't say anything. Why would she save me? If I saw someone laying down, surrounded by fire I wouldn't go out and help them. The thought concerns me, I feel like a monster. 

I don't want to think about that anymore. I look over to the side and notice my empty water bottle. "Where's my water bottle?" I demand.

She walks over and picks it up and screws the cap back on. "I poured it out," she says nonchalantly. 

"What? Why would you do that?" I say as loudly as I dare. She poured out my water. Did she throw my food into the bushes as well?

"They were poisoning you. The Careers. Why do you think it burned?" She says, as if it's common knowledge. "It's a poison, I'm not sure what kind, but if poured in water, it'll only take about a week to kill you, and three days to weaken you to the point of giving up. At home, the Peacekeepers sometimes inject it into criminals."

"They wouldn't poison me. They were protecting me!" I want to leave. I grab the tree behind me and stumble up.

"Yes, I'm sure they were very concerned about you when they left you to die in that fire," she scoffs. She puts her hands on my shoulders and sits me back down. I cross my arms and try to glare at her. How dare she take my water and talk to me as if I'm a grouchy toddler. She notices my glare and smiles. "God, I'll get you more water!" She laughs and digs a waterskin out of her bag. I can see it doesn't have much in it, but she still pours most of it into my water bottle. 

She sits down next to me and hands me the water bottle. "Are you always this disagreeable?" She asks and I go red. 

"Sorry," I mumble. I guess she was right because when I take a small sip, it doesn't burn going down. I quickly finish the bottle and lean my head against the tree, refreshed. "Thank you for helping me." 

"No problem," she says, and sticks out her hand. "Allies?" She has a kind smile on her face, but the last time I trusted a kind smile, she ended up poisoning me. I fiddle with my fingers for a second and then look up. Her eyes are the first thing I notice about her. Kind, dark eyes. They don't have an ounce of malice or bitterness in them. I shake her hand and I'm aware of her soft hands on mine.