The Hunger Games - Primrose Everdeen

Chapter Twenty One

OMG I am so sorry I haven't updated this story in forever! I really am so sorry!!!

We sit by the river as Rue cries out in pain while I continue to fix her wounds. Usually the moans of pain never bother me, even in much worse cases, but with her it's different. I am not sure why, I have seen much younger children be in pain. Die even. But I never had a friendship with them...

I catch myself before I can keep saying that. If I want to win, she has to die! Then again, as much as I want to win, I won't and neitheir will she. So... why can't I call her my friend? Is it because deep inside of me I think or know that I could possibly win? Or that she could maybe win? Whatever it is, it doesn't feel right to say we're friends, even aquaintences, ally's is fine, though. I wiill just stick with that then.

"Calm down, relax." I sooth a crying Rue. "I'm finished."

Her breathing is heavy and struck full of agony. Really, I don't blame her. Somehow, even though I treated it last night, the slash's found a way to get infected. I don't tell her this, though. Having an infection in the Games usually becomes the reason you die. Worrying her is useless, and anyways I should be able to find some herbs and berries to help fight the infection. 

Finally, she calms down. "We need to move. Anyone could have heard me. And the Careers, they were right there..." She trails off, not needing to say anymore. We both know that even though we moved last night, the Careers are still not far enough away. As we speak they might be trailing us right now, ready to attack, ready to kill.

I nod my head as guilt overcomes her face. It's not hard to tell that she feels terrible about possibly bringing the Careers towards us.But we needed to move anyways, and she musts know that.

As I begin to march on through the mud Rue stops me. "They'll just follow our footsteps." Her shaking hand points at the soft ground that rests beneath my feet, already imprinted with my tiny footmarks. 

"Right, of course." My brain is fuzzy and it isn't from a lack of sleep, that I'm used to, it has to be something else. The leg that was clawed is screaming in agony. If it hurts this badly for me, I can only imagine the horror Rue must be going through.

Minutes? Hours even? No, it feels like days that we trudge on for, yet I know that is false.  All of a sudden we are forced to stop when Rue collapses. Tears cut through the dirt on her face.

I don't even have to ask what the issue is. The whole time that we have been walking through this scorching heat, neither of us has taken a single sip of water. Our lips are cracked and dry, her's almost bleeding. It was just a matter of time before dehydration decended on us.

Acting only on my instincts as a "nurse", I drag her into the shade and pop open her water bottle, making her to slowly drink. Too much at once won't be healthy for her or her body. As I wait for her to finish drinking, I open up my own water and chug it down before I realize that I too have too drink slowly.

"You know, Prim." Begins Rue. "Although I am incredibly thirsty, I think the problem is my back... again." She winces in pain, trying her hardest not to cry out.

This is ubsurd! Impossible even! No way could it be her back again! Yet I am proven wrong when I unwrap the fabric on her back, revealing the worsened infection and unwrapping the nose-stinging stench. I know that I must get it cleaned immediately but isn't that the same as I did last time? "I'm going to search for the herbs I need. Get yourself into a tree and only show yourself when you see me again." I order. Without complaint, she nods and begins scaling a nearby willow tree which should offer tons of protection against predators and the sun even.

I search around desperately for the plants I need. The forest is dense with foilage, but I am yet to have found the herbs. By four hours of frantically searching, I am finally ready to give up, knowing all too well that Rue's chances of survival are tiny now, maybe even gone, vanished with the summer breeze.

As I begin to head back to Rue, I set up a couple of snares, just wasting time. Should I tell her? Do I keep it to myself? Telling her might be the right thing to do so she is prepared but I just couldn't. And telling her would also mean telling the rest or Panem, her family included. Those little kids that she told me about, her brothers and sisters that she loves oh so much, finding out that she will die, soon too. No, I can't tell her. I'll let her 'enjoy' the rest of her life. Until, of course, the pain gets too hard and unbearable. What will I do then? Will she just want to die? Will she ask me to do it? I shake my head, clearing the evil thoughts.

I inhale deeply before climbing up the willow that she rests in. The question is back, should I tell her that she is dying? Be a goner in a week, tops? Or should I just not tell her and try my hardest to make the next few days of her life.. fun? Surely, she has already gotten to know that being twelve while here, in the Games, is an automatic death sentence, everyone knows that, but she at least, like me, must want to live as long as she can. maybe even live until there's only one other tribute left. So what? What do I do?

My mind is set. I will let her laugh out the last few days of life.