The Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen Blogs

A Better Alliance Than the Careers'

I'm certain that by now everyone knows that I'm allied with Rue, the girl from District 11. How could I not want to team up with her, after all that she's done for me? When I made camp in a tree high above the Careers, it was Rue who warned me about the tracker jacker nest several feet above me. If I wasn't for her, I could be dead by now from the tracker jacker stings. The poison only takes so long to get into your system, and then the hallucinations take over. I'd seen what happened to Glimmer and the girl from District 4 after they were stung. I really didn't want to share that same fate.

Luckily, I didn't have to. Rue knew about a remedy to cure tracker jacker stings. She chewed up some herbs and plastered the juices onto my stings. That little girl is a lifesaver. She told me that back in District 11, tracker jackers made nests in the trees, so the people living there had to know how to heal themselves if they ever got stung. Even though my mother and Prim are healers, I'm not. I tend to stick to my father's interests. He's the reason why I'm so skilled and archery and why I know how to feed myself and my family. He was the one who taught me about birdsong. Prim and my mother were never interested in hunting in the woods. They chose to heal wounded people in District 12. I, on the other hand, ran away at the sight of injuries, trying to keep myself from heaving up my lunch.

My father taught me everything I know about survival. Which berries are poisonous, which part of an animal's body to shoot the arrow at, everything. I wish I could go on but thinking about him now hurts too much, even though it's been years since his death.

Anyway, Rue put her herbs on my stings and I put my burn ointment on her burns. Rue could have put poisonous herbs onto my wounds and I wouldn't have known; I hadn't recognized the herb. However, my burns were starting to feel much better, so I knew that I could trust Rue completely.

As we traveled through the forest, trying to get as far away as possible from the site of the tracker jacker nest, Rue pointed out to me that there were mockingjays in the arena. I know a lot about mockingjays; they were in the woods beyond District 12. Rue told me that they were in District 11, too. She said that she would whistle a note and the mockingjays would repeat it.

My father was the one who taught me about mockingjays. He would whistle any song, and the mockingjays could repeat it. Ever since he died, the thought of trying to sing with the mockingjays was too painful to bear. I think that's why I can't listen to music without thinking of him.

But I knew that I had to get over it. As Rue whistled songs to the mockingjays, I found myself joining in. I thought about how Rue and I were like two small mockingjays, our soft voices carrying away far into the breeze.

Despite how much I enjoyed talking with Rue, I knew that I would have to focus on our survival. If one of us wanted to win these Games, then we would have to defeat the most powerful group of people currently participating in the Hunger Games: the Careers.

We came up with a plan in which we both play a part. Rue would make fires to distract the Careers. Hopefully, they would leave their camp by the Cornucopia in order to pursue her. While that was happening, I would scout out their camp and hopefully find a way to destroy their supplies.

If this plan works, then we'll be one step closing to winning the Hunger Games. But what happens if Rue and I are the last two tributes standing? Will one of us have to kill the other? I know that Rue would never betray me, and nor would I betray her. However, two tributes cannot win at once. One of us is going to have to die eventually, for the sake of the entertainment of the citizens of the Capitol. Anger flares up within my soul, but it quickly replaces with sadness. I've only been allied with Rue for a couple of days, but I already can't bear the thought of her death.

I know that the cameras are watching me, so I can't appear weak. But the Gamemakers and everyone else in the Capitol are going to be very shocked when they see how well Rue and I will pull off our plan.