What if Katniss didn't Volunteer? (Complete) (2013 Watty Award WINNER:)

Part 19

Did I really just kill that girl? Did I just take a human life, just because I had nothing better to do? She could have went with them, and carried on like the planned. She would be getting ready to sit watch for the next 3 hours, but now she is being picked up by the hovercraft. I whisper goodbye to the girl, wishing I could take my arrow back. I know all the cameras are on me now, and decide it's time to move. I slowly pack up my stuff and eat the rest of my sandwich from earlier. I put the pack on my back, load my bow, and take off. I head for the direction the careers came from. Since they just killed Rue, maybe I can find Peeta. Apparently, from what I heard, he ran off that first day with Rue, which was yesterday. I think I finally take in what I just heard. They killed Rue. Rue who looks like she is 10 years old, but is my age. Who is so sweet and teamed up with us thinking she would be safe. Maybe she would have done better on her own. We will never know. Tears start to spill, but I hold them back. I'm sure the cameras see me now, all of Panem wondering what my next move is. I start to run, until I come across the blood. I see it on the trees and the grass and the bushes and the flowers. Everything beautiful, ruined by the stain of her blood. It must be Rues. Though, I didn't see the hovercraft appear, and I didn't hear the cannon. I hear a faint moan, and look down. There, lying at me feet, is a very broken Rue. Alive, not dead, but not well.

"Rue!" I exclaim. I bend down and grab her hand. Her eyes close as I encase her hand in my own. No! She didn't just die! And I'm right. I check her pulse. Very slow, and seems to be pounding for life. I reach in my pack and grab a piece of cloth that I missed before. I put it over the wound that is bleeding the worse. I press down hard above her eyebrow. Right where mine was. Only hers goes across to the other eyebrow. And it is much deeper. I can actually see the skull. It's a good thing I helped my mother heal her patients back home, or I wouldn't know what to do. I reach back in my pack and get the pillow. I gently, ever so gently, lift her head and lay it back down. I'm just reaching for the green leaves that I have the luck of finding right close by when I hear footsteps. I raise my bow and aim it in the general direction. I see him push through the bushes with a small bucket of fruit and a spear with a couple fish.

"Peeta!"