The Huntress

The next morning, Rue and I woke up to have slept soundly. We climbed down from the tree and started splitting our supplies. Half of the food and roots went to me and half went to Rue. I then made sure she had enough supplies to start the fires.

“Here,” I said handing her the sleeping bag, “You take it.”

“Are you sure?” she asked in shock.

“Yes,” I said.

“I know how we’re going to be able to tell if we’re safe or not,” Rue said, “There are some mockingjays around. I’ve seen one flying around. I have this four note whistle I used to do back home to let everyone know when it was time to quit. If you hear that song, that means I’m still alive.”

“Okay,” I said.

She then sang her song and we waited for the response. What we heard was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. The mockingjays took that four note song and put it in their own melody.

“You try it,” Rue said and then I whistled the song.

We heard the same thing and we smiled to each and she hugged me tightly.

“Hey,” I said looking down at her, “We’re going to be seeing each other soon. Stay positive silly goose.”

“Okay,” she said and smiled up at me.

We then went our separate ways. I went the exact way to where Rue said to go and quietly crawled into the bush that she said she sat and spied on the careers from there. When I got situated, I saw that Cato, Clove, Marvel, and the boy from District 3 sitting around the lake. Marvel was making a homemade net and spear out of wood, while Cato was pacing back and forth.

“Where the heck is she?” Cato demanded.

“She’s out there somewhere Cato,” Clove said, “She’s going to have to come out of hiding sometime.”

“That’s what you think,” Cato grumbled.

I then looked up to see that smoke was filling the air and I smiled. That meant Rue had started the first fire. They were going to go soon then.

“Hey look smoke,” Marvel said and everyone stood up.

“Is he staying?” Clove asked looking at the boy District 3.

“He’s coming,” Cato said, “We need him in the woods besides, he’s done his job. No one’s going to be messing with our supplies anytime soon.”

That’s what you think Cato, I thought to myself.

“What about lover boy?” I heard Clove’s voice and my heart stopped.

“He won’t come here,” Cato scoffed, “He’s not that stupid to come here and try to blow up our supplies.”

Once they grabbed their weapons and left I was about to crawl out of my bush when I saw Foxface from District 5 quickly pop out of the woods and rushed over to where the supplies were. She was doing this weird hopping pattern and when she landed and lost her balance. I heard her squeal. She stood still for a second and then grabbed what she needed and hopped away. That’s when it clicked. District 3 was known for the technology. They built the mines. Cato wasn’t as dumb as I thought he was. He kept the District 3 boy to reactivate the mines so no one would steal their supplies so what I needed to do was to find something heavy enough to make the mines go off. I quickly crawled out of the bush and got little closer to the Cornucopia. I looked around me and saw nothing I could use to throw until I looked up to see a sack of apples with a giant hole in it. I then thought of an idea. If I could tear the bag open hopefully enough apples would fall and a trigger reaction of the mines and they would go off. I allowed myself three arrows to let this happen. I loaded my bow with an arrow and shot at the bag of apples. It caught the bag and it tore and an apple was hanging out. I took one more arrow and then shot at the bag again and the apples tumbled to the floor.

Before I could run back to my spot, the explosion from all of the mines threw me and I landed on my back. I was in so much pain and there was a ringing in my left ear. I touched the left side of my head and felt blood where my ear was. I pulled my hood over my head and tied the strings together so I wouldn’t leave a trail of blood then I tried to stand and I felt so dizzy I fell back down to the ground.

Come on Adyrn you got to get back to the bush to hide before you die, I thought to myself.

I found out that I could crawl so I focused all my effort to crawl back into the bush and laid my head against the tree next to the bush. Two seconds later, Cato, Marvel, Clove, and the District 3 and boy ran to the camp to see that their supplies were destroyed. Cato freaked out and was pissed. He screamed at the top of his lungs and then turned to the District 3 boy.

“This is all your fault our supplies are gone!” he yelled at the boy putting him in a headlock.

“Cato! Calm down,” Clove exclaimed but it was too late, Cato snapped the neck of the boy and he lied on the ground as the cannon went off.

“Do you think she died?” Marvel asked.

“I don’t know,” Cato said.

“We probably didn’t hear the cannon go off because of the explosion,” Clove said.

“You’re probably right,” Cato said, “but we’ll find out tonight.”

I then knew I had to stay put. The sun soon set and the Anthem soon started and showed that both tributes from District 3 died and the girl tribute from District 6 died. I quickly grabbed my night glasses from my backpack and put them on. To see Cato, Marvel, and Clove, look at each other.

“Let’s go find her,” Cato said clutching sword.

They then left the camp and I let my fatigue take over and I fell asleep. The next time I woke up, it was the morning and I couldn’t hear out of my left ear. I thought it was because my hood was on my head so I took it off and realized I couldn’t hear anything out of it. That was bad. I was a hunter. I relied heavily on my hearing and if I could only hear out of one ear that was going to put me at a disadvantage for the rest of the Games. I looked over at the camp to see that everyone was gone so I quickly left and started walking back to where Rue and I said we would meet. When I got to the spot, I expected Rue to be there but she was nowhere to be seen. I then figured she might have had to camp somewhere else so the careers wouldn’t follow her. I then kept myself busy for the rest of the day hunting and gathering some mint to chew on. I spent the rest of the day in a tree waiting for night fall when I tried to form the next plan in my head. After I found Rue, our next goal would be to find Gale. Once we found Gale, I had no clue where to go from there but I knew there were only eight tributes left which meant that the camera crews were in District 12 talking to our friends and family and asking questions about us.

When night came around, the Anthem played and showed that no one died and my heart felt a little bit lighter when I saw Rue and Gale survived today. That meant tomorrow I was going to look for her. A few minutes after the Anthem, Claudius Templesmith, was shown in the sky and with his loud booming arrogant voice.

“There has been a change in the rules,” he said, “It will be allowed this year that if both tributes from one District are still alive at the end of the games they will both be the victors.”

He then disappeared from the sky and smile formed on my lips.

“Gale here I come,” I said quietly but I knew the camera had to have heard me.

The rest of the night I was on edge and didn’t get much sleep. When morning came around I ate some of the rabbit, a dried beef stick, crackers, and a piece of the dried fruit. I then quickly packed up and landed on the ground gracefully to go look for Rue. I then started searching for Rue. I went to where the second fire was started and saw that Rue made it here so I went to where the next fire was supposed to be set and saw that it wasn’t set up. I then was put on alert. I couldn’t hear out of my left ear and I was slowly circling around and looking for something when I heard Rue’s song. That meant she was alive. I continued towards the sound until I heard a scream. My hand went to my arrows and waited until I heard the sound again. I then heard the scream again.

“Adyrn!” I heard Rue’s voice as I ran towards the sound.

“Rue! Rue!” I yelled, “I’m coming Rue!”

I then saw her on the ground wrapped in a homemade net.

“Rue!” I exclaimed.

“Adyrn!” Rue cried out.

I quickly pulled the knife out of my utility belt and started cutting the net open. Once it was open, I took the net off of Rue and then I turned to see Marvel launch a spear and it landed right into her stomach.

“No!” I screeched and grabbed an arrow and loaded my bow.

Marvel turned to look at me and I released my bow and the arrow landed straight in his throat. Once Marvel hit the ground I rushed over to Rue who was whimpering. The tears started falling long before she started falling to the ground but I could see Rue looking at up at me with tears falling down her face as well.

“Did you blow up the food?” she asked in a small scared voice.

“Everything is in pieces,” I said smiling brokenly and I laid her head on my lap and I sat next to her, “They have no food now. You did a great job as a distraction Rue.”

“Adyrn, you-you-you have to win,” she said.

“I will,” I whispered now having more of a reason to win, “I’m going to win this for the both of us.”

“Don’t leave me,” she exclaimed clutching onto my hand.

“I’m not leaving you Rue,” I said, “Not now.”

“Will you sing?” she asked.

“Of course,” I said and the only song I could remember was the song that I sang to Katniss when she was sick and Katniss sang to Prim when she was sick.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes
And when again they open, the sun will rise.

As I sang the song, I kept crying. I couldn’t keep my emotions in any longer.

Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.
Deep in the meadow, hidden far away
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.

By the time I got to the last part of the song, all I could do was whisper and watch as Rue slowly closed her eyes to never wake up again.

Here it's safe and here it's warm
And here the daisies guard you from every harm
And here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered as the tears continued to fall, “I’m so sorry Rue. This is all my fault. All my fault.”

I sat there for a minute before I stood up from the ground. I took one look at Rue and remembered that Gale and I talked about how the Capitol doesn’t own us. I was so angry at the Capitol for making us to this to each other. I hated the Capitol for allowing an innocent girl like Rue to die. She didn’t deserve at all. No one did. I didn’t have much time but I walked over to where I saw a bunch of flowers. I then took my time laying the flowers around Rue’s body in an intricate design and weaved them through her hair. When I was done, I looked that camera and gave the District 12 gesture of farewell.

“You won’t be forgotten Rue,” I whispered and let the tears fall.

I then started walking away and the cannon finally went off for a second time today.