Rue's Diary
Day Five
It is now the fifth day and Katniss finally found me this morning. She was stung by the Tracker Jackers pretty severely, because she was knocked out in a tree – out cold for about two days solid. The venom also causes distortion in both your thoughts and your vision, and I’m assuming she had both.
Instead of our normal chitchat, she kept asking me questions about who was with the Careers now and how many of us were left. Only ten tributes remain right now. We’re both filthy, but I can only imagine what the remaining eight tributes look like.
Katniss was actually the one to come up with the idea of a more “permanent” alliance. I can remember exactly what she first said to me:
“You know, they’re not the only ones that can form alliances,” she laughed.
“You want me for an ally?!” I questioned, caught off-guard by the suggestion. Regardless
“Why not? You saved me with those Tracker Jackers. You’re smart enough to still be alive. And I can’t seem to shake you, anyway,” she says jokingly.
I blinked a few times, but didn’t respond.
“You hungry?” she asked me. The sound of the words made my stomach scream. “Come on then,” she continues. “I’ve had two kills today.”
She gave me a whole leg from one of the birds she managed to catch with a homemade snare. I told her that with so many people in my family, I’ve never had a whole leg to myself before! She gave me a second when she realized that my stomach was practically begging for it.
A few days ago I found a type of leaves in a bush to relieve the stings from Tracker Jackers and gave them to her, and she applied some medication to the burns on my arm that I’d been suffering through, but ignoring, for days. She told me that it all was a fair trade, even though I didn’t really think so. On top of that, she wanted a firm alliance from me, which I was eager to give. We even shook on it.
Later on, she told me I reminded her of her little sister, Primrose. I remember her from when I watched the replay of the District 12 Reaping. Prim, as she calls her, was chosen for the games, but Katniss took her place. Prim is the same age as I am, and, to tell you the truth, she even looks a bit like me, minus the difference in skin tone and hair color. According to Katniss, we even have similar personalities.
“Small, quick, intelligent, and young,” Katniss said.
We chatted with each other for hours about our Districts in between eating and walking. It was interesting to learn about her heritage, because information doesn’t flow between the Districts as well as you might think it does. Everything she said surprised me.
We divided up our food supplies so, in case we’re separated, we can be set on our own for a couple of days. We headed upstream until it was almost nightfall. She let me climb into a sleeping bag that she snatched up, which was only one item inside of the backpack filled with all sorts of goodies, including matches, a knife lodged in from another tribute, and a pair of glasses that allow you to see perfectly in complete darkness. We use glasses exactly like these back home in District 11, when we’re in the trees, gathering food in the orchard, too high for the lamps to reach us.
The sleeping bag is big enough to fit us both, and we can share body heat. Katniss is already fast asleep, so I should probably do the same. I realize that I’ve been very lonely in this arena, and the presence of another human being is very comforting to me.
There is a big day ahead of us tomorrow. There are ten tributes left, and I heard her mention something earlier about taking out the Careers bright and early tomorrow morning.
Instead of our normal chitchat, she kept asking me questions about who was with the Careers now and how many of us were left. Only ten tributes remain right now. We’re both filthy, but I can only imagine what the remaining eight tributes look like.
Katniss was actually the one to come up with the idea of a more “permanent” alliance. I can remember exactly what she first said to me:
“You know, they’re not the only ones that can form alliances,” she laughed.
“You want me for an ally?!” I questioned, caught off-guard by the suggestion. Regardless
“Why not? You saved me with those Tracker Jackers. You’re smart enough to still be alive. And I can’t seem to shake you, anyway,” she says jokingly.
I blinked a few times, but didn’t respond.
“You hungry?” she asked me. The sound of the words made my stomach scream. “Come on then,” she continues. “I’ve had two kills today.”
She gave me a whole leg from one of the birds she managed to catch with a homemade snare. I told her that with so many people in my family, I’ve never had a whole leg to myself before! She gave me a second when she realized that my stomach was practically begging for it.
A few days ago I found a type of leaves in a bush to relieve the stings from Tracker Jackers and gave them to her, and she applied some medication to the burns on my arm that I’d been suffering through, but ignoring, for days. She told me that it all was a fair trade, even though I didn’t really think so. On top of that, she wanted a firm alliance from me, which I was eager to give. We even shook on it.
Later on, she told me I reminded her of her little sister, Primrose. I remember her from when I watched the replay of the District 12 Reaping. Prim, as she calls her, was chosen for the games, but Katniss took her place. Prim is the same age as I am, and, to tell you the truth, she even looks a bit like me, minus the difference in skin tone and hair color. According to Katniss, we even have similar personalities.
“Small, quick, intelligent, and young,” Katniss said.
We chatted with each other for hours about our Districts in between eating and walking. It was interesting to learn about her heritage, because information doesn’t flow between the Districts as well as you might think it does. Everything she said surprised me.
We divided up our food supplies so, in case we’re separated, we can be set on our own for a couple of days. We headed upstream until it was almost nightfall. She let me climb into a sleeping bag that she snatched up, which was only one item inside of the backpack filled with all sorts of goodies, including matches, a knife lodged in from another tribute, and a pair of glasses that allow you to see perfectly in complete darkness. We use glasses exactly like these back home in District 11, when we’re in the trees, gathering food in the orchard, too high for the lamps to reach us.
The sleeping bag is big enough to fit us both, and we can share body heat. Katniss is already fast asleep, so I should probably do the same. I realize that I’ve been very lonely in this arena, and the presence of another human being is very comforting to me.
There is a big day ahead of us tomorrow. There are ten tributes left, and I heard her mention something earlier about taking out the Careers bright and early tomorrow morning.