"Water," I gasp, my throat and tongue longing for just a drop.
"None!" Peeta curses. "No water anywhere. I guess we ran in the wrong direction. I think the lake was more west of the Cornucopia."
"By now, I bet the Careers are camped near there." I say.
"Doubt it," Peeta says. "The games have just begun. And they're going to have some fun."
The sun is setting and we're camped in a small cave just big enough for the two of us. We haven't come across anything threatening yet, but I know we will.
"I'll take watch," I say.
"Prim--"
"No," I interrupt him. "We're a team. For now. I already slept earlier and now it's your turn."
I think he wants to argue more, but a yawn escapes his lips.
"Go to sleep," I say gently.
He lays down and closes his eyes. I watch him sleep for maybe an hour, and he just looks so peaceful. I watch his chest fall and rise steadily before I hear the sound of a twig snapping a short distance away and out of the cave. Then a chorus of laughter.
"Peeta," I shake him. "It's the Careers. I think they're coming."
He immediately sits upright and crawls past me, peeking out of the cave.
"Yep," he mutters. "We can't risk them trapping us in here. I'll distract them while you run."
"But Peeta, I bet anyone of them could catch up with me." I protest. "Plus, I don't want to leave you."
"We don't have any other choice. Run as far as you can and find a tree. Climb it. I bet those clumsy guys won't be able to come after you."
"But what if they do?" I ask, shaking. "Please don't make me leave you."
He said he wouldn't leave me and I refused to let him. Now he's telling me to leave, and I'm still refusing.
"I promised I'd protect you. Let's go, they're getting close."
Peeta runs out across the path and into the woods. The Careers let out a whoop of glee and run after him.
They don't even hear me going and climbing a tree. It takes me a while, I keep slipping, but finally I reach a decent height.
I grasp a branch and hold onto it as I sleep. Luckily I don't fall off. I wake up to the anthem playing and see the dead tributes listed.
Both from 3, the district 4 and 5 boys, both from 6, the girl from 7, the district 8 male, and the girls from 9 and 10.
That means Elm is still alive. That makes me happy. I like his attitude. Maybe I can strike an alliance with him.
I can't sleep anymore so I climb down and search for a stream or something. After a while I find a small stream leading to a pool.
I dive forward, filling my canteen with water. I hope it's clean. I strip down into just the shift and clean myself in the pool. I'm not that dirty, but it feels refreshing. It's probably not that safe to be out in the open in the middle of the night, but I can't help it. It feels so nice.
I stand and just wait to air-dry, looking for people with my knife in my hand. I notice a figure watching me from under bush a few feet away. I gasp and prepare to throw my knife. The leaves rustle and the person steps out, hands raised.
"Don't throw it," the voice whispers. "Please."
The voice sounds desperate, and I feel a bit of pity. "Wh-who are you?" I ask shakily.
"Elm, District Seven." He says. "Please help me, I don't want to be alone. I saw the way you volunteered for your sister. I thought, maybe you'd help me."
"Like, an alliance?" I smile.
"Yeah." He nods. "An alliance."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You can't." He says. "You never know who you can trust in the arena. Even a promise isn't good enough. But I promise."
He seems genuine. I accept, put my clothes on, and we climb another tree. He looks exhausted and he sleeps while I keep watch and make sure he doesn't fall off.
When dawn is breaking I feel a hand on my shoulder and startles me. "Just me," he says. "You sleep now."
"No thanks, I'm not tired." I say. "What we need is some food. Unfortunately, I can't hunt. I get too upset by the killing."
"Me too," he looks down. "Beech always does the hunting. Nothing fazes her."
"Is she your sister?" I ask.
"One of them. I have three sisters and two brothers."
Six children? Sometimes people need to have kids to survive and help. But six? That's just losing more children to the games.
"What are their names?" I ask.
"The oldest is Pine, she's too old for the reaping. Beech is the next, she's sixteen." He says. "My younger brothers are Birch and Aspen. They're ten and five. And then there's Willow. She's eight."
"Are you all named after trees?"
"Yes. With our district being lumber and all."
"I was named for the primrose, obviously." I laugh. "And my sister Katniss was named for katniss roots."
We sit in silence for a while. "I suppose we should hunt."
"Yeah," Elm says, though he doesn't seem too thrilled about it.
An axe and a knife aren't really ideal for hunting, but it's all we've got. I manage to get a squirrel. I just throw my knife and luckily hits it in the back.
Elm's axe happens to be a throwing axe so he manages to hit a scrawny rabbit. We start a fire, cook our game, and dig in. This is the first I've eaten since the games began.
I wonder where Peeta is. Elm seems to guess because he puts his food down and looks at me.
"Are you worrying about Peeta?" He asks.
"How'd you guess?"
"I saw him run off. Then I followed you." He looks at me. "Why did he leave you? He's supposed be like your big brother."
I can tell by his voice he knows what I said was a lie. "He was trying to protect me."
"I'm sure he'll be fine."
"How do you know?" I ask. "He didn't spend one second using weapons in the Training Center. He just used the camouflage station."
Elm doesn't say anything, but bites into his rabbit leg. We sit in silence again, and I can't help but keep wondering about Peeta. Elm's probably right, but I just don't know. Why didn't he come look for me?
Was this just his way of getting rid of me?
ns 15.158.61.20da2
