Um, hi? *Ducks* It's been a year and a half already. I'm so sorry. I don't really have much of an excuse other than lots has happened in that time, some good, and some horrible. I won't get into the details but know that I'm back with every intention of finishing the story. I don't know about the timelines though so please bear with me as I adjust back into a writing schedule.

To all the people who reviewed, or added me or the story to their favorites and alerts during my long hiatus, thank you. To all my regular reviewers, THANK YOU, I hope you're still with me. Even if I've slacked off responding to reviews (sorry), I have read every single one of them and appreciate them.

Well, on that note, here's the next chapter. It's not entirely proofread - I'm in the process of proofreading the whole thing and will be correcting chapters/removing the bulk of author's notes at some point. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Copyright on the themes and characters belong to someone other than me.

Haymitch POV

The next few days are fairly quiet for both my tributes. Katniss sticks with Rue as they explore the forest avoiding other tributes. Cato doesn't run into them again.

Peeta lays low trying to avoid detection but in so doing, he becomes weaker having only a small pack of supplies with him and no useful skills other than camouflage and strength. He's managed to find some berries which help sustain him a little but he's burning more calories trying to find them and eat them than he gets by eating them. At least he managed to find water at the beginning and has stayed near it. It's about the only thing he's got going for him at this point.

I sigh and look around the room I will reside in for the majority of the Games: the Mentors' room. This is where we can be found unless we're sleeping, rounding up sponsors, relieving ourselves, or if our tributes are dead. There's only about half of us left in here since the tributes of at least 4 districts have been wiped out; for the districts that have only one tribute left, the mentors have split the work with one in the mentors' room and the other dealing with sponsors.

I spot Finnick sitting close by. "What the hell am I going to do with him, Finn?", I say pointing to the screen displaying Peeta.

"Beats me. Does he have any sponsors?"

"Not many. Not enough to send him food and then have enough to spare if something really bad happens to him."

"Can't you go schmooze a bit and get a few more? That way you can send him something small, like bread and then you can send him a message with it; maybe saying something like he's sitting next to a pile of edible plants!"

I let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah I wonder about that boy sometimes. If he's so in love with Katniss like he's been whining about, you would think he'd realize that she's names after the Katniss plant and what it looks like..."

"Not to mention that it's food, good hearty food, and that it's growing less than 2 feet from where he's hiding."

Johanna plops down on the seat beside me and laughs. "That boy's a fool, 'Mitch!"

"Don't I know it. Hey, what the cheapest item we can send in there? Jo, scroll through the inventory will ya?"

"Why? Are you missing some key body parts to do it yourself, Haymitch?"

"Screw you, Jo! Move over then." I shove her off the couch and she lands on the floor with a soft plop cursing my name.

"Okay so the cheapest item is... a small packet of iodine pills or gauze. Gauze it is, I guess." I quickly put in the order and type in a message to accompany it: There's food all around you, numbskull! Take a look around, specifically to your left in the mud. –H

As he receives his gift, he tears the canister open and his face falls. I guess he was expecting food. He grumbles and starts rifling through it. It's only after he's taken the gauze out of the canister that he sees the note. His eyes light up and he starts looking around. On the first pass, he glances right over the katniss plant and doesn't stop.

"Really?! Is he really that stupid? I told him exactly where to find the plant! I give up on him. He's hopeless!" It takes a few minutes but on about the fifth look around, his eyes lock onto the katniss ("Finally!")

Finnick looks at me, bemused. "Why does Katniss want to help him again?"

Brutus decides to chime in, "I think only she knows the answer to that! Does she know how useless he is at surviving on his own? Even my tributes could do better and they don't really learn much of the survival stuff!"

I shake my head and we proceed with watching the tributes' progress.

The next day is when things start to heat up, literally. "I suppose the Game Makers are worried that this is getting boring..."

"Wouldn't you be bored if kids weren't killing each other fast enough?", Finnick scoffs.

A wall of fire has started making its way through the forest. It's only when I realize that it's headed straight for Katniss and Rue that I sit straight up. "Shit. Come on, Sweetheart. Wake up!"

Katniss POV

I jerk awake when I realize that the smell of smoke is not from the dream I was just having. I look around and see fire to the North. It's a big fire and it's headed straight for us.

I turn to Rue who is still sleeping peacefully. I grab her shoulder and shake her forcefully. There's no time to wake her gently. "Rue, wake up!"

She shrugs off my hand and burrows into the sleeping bad. "Just a little bit longer, Gram."

Oh God... I hurriedly start shoving our things into our backpacks. I try to keep the panic out of my voice but it is still tinged with it. "Rue, you have to wake up, NOW!"

"Why?"

"We have to go, quickly. There's a forest fire coming towards us. We need to run."

Her eyes pop open at the word fire and she blinks at me. Her eyes widen in fear when she sees the fire and she lets out a scream. "Katniss! What are we going to do?"

"Climb down the tree and then we run. We need to get to the river. It's not that far. We can make it."

At that we scramble down the tree as quickly as we can. The fire is much closer now and it will be a close call to make it to the river that's... South West of here I think. We don't have much time. We pick up our feet and sprint in the opposite direction of the fire trying to put as much distance as possible between it and us. Poor Rue is trying her hardest to keep up with me but she's losing speed quickly once we've been running for a good 10 minutes. My breath is coming in pants and there's a stitch in my side. The fire is farther from us now so I decide to let up the pace a little to catch our breath.

"Are you okay, Rue?"

"It...hurts...to...breathe..."

"I know, Little Bird, but we can't stop. We need to keep going until we're safe."

As I say this, I hear a hiss and look behind me. A fire ball the size of my head is coming straight for us.

Cato POV

I wake up that morning to the faint smell of smoke.

"What the hell is that smell?"

"Glad you're back among the living, Clove."

"Shut up, Marvel. Look over there, there's smoke." She snorts in laughter. "You think there's another stupid-head out there who thought it was a good idea to light a fire?"

Really? Look at the amount of smoke coming up and the flames which you can see. "Unless they lit a fire that became out of control then, no. Look at the amount of smoke and flames. It was obviously created by the Game Makers."

Clove casts me a sly look and says "You think they're after your girl?"

"First of all, she's not my girl. Secondly, it's possible. They probably think they're being clever by chasing the Girl on Fire with Fire. It's really just cliché." I keep my voice bored and unaffected but really the thought that they're trying to get her with her moniker has succeeded in making my heart race. I really hope she can escape those flames.

Marvel sits staring at the fire. It obvious he's trying to formulate a plan. "What do you guys say to making our way West to see if we can catch whoever is running from the fire?"

The others quickly agree, their faces ranging from maliciousness (Marvel) to unrestrained glee (Clove).

"Maybe we should wait a bit before we head off guys. The fire is still close. You guys really wanna risk your own necks?" This makes Glimmer and Marvel hesitate. "I mean think about it... Is one tribute worth that risk?" As if on cue, we hear a scream that makes even all of us wince. It is a cry of pure unadulterated pain. I hope it's not Katniss. I hope it's not Katniss. I hope it's not Katniss. "See what I mean? We should wait until the fire dies out a bit. We're safer here. And who knows maybe it set tributes running in our direction..." Enough said. The predatory look is back on everyone's faces as we get ready to scan the immediate vicinity.

Katniss POV

"Rue, DUCK!" She and I hit the ground quickly, narrowly missing the fire ball. Once it's passed, we start running in a zigzag pattern to try and avoid any others. It works for a few minutes.

It's when the river starts coming into view through the sparser tree line that it happens. Yet another fire ball is headed in our direction and I took a hard right to avoid it. Rue followed me and in so doing, put herself directly into its path.

She realizes this at the last second and plummets to the ground to avoid it but she is too slow. She lets out a strangled cry when it hits her side burning her with embers separating from the ball and falling of different parts of her body including her face. "Katniss!"

I witnessed it all, having just then hidden behind a tree and turned to check on her location. "RUE!" I look to my left to make sure there are no other fireballs whizzing through the air before running to her. The fire actually seems to be receding now that it has hit a mark. "Rue, are you okay?"

"It hurts, Katniss! Please..." Tears are streaming down her face. The burns are bad. I pick her up gingerly to avoid hurting her (I fail) and hasten towards the river.

"I need to put you in the water, Rue. It will hurt but it will be good for the burn, okay?" She nods weakly and I pick up the pace. Only I am so tired and she is heavy, though she is tiny for a twelve year old. After what seems like hours, though only minutes have passed, I finally step into the open next to the river. I don't bother shedding some layers of clothing. There's no time for that. I just get rid of the backpacks and I step right in, testing the bank to make sure I won't plummet straight into the deep. I only notice my burns once the water starts running over them. My thighs are both singed, though they're minor compared to Rue's. The middle of the river is only about as deep as my hip and I slowly lower Rue into the water to stop the burning. She screams so loudly that I'm tempted to cover my ears but I keep a tight hold on her to make sure she doesn't slip away. The pain is too much for her and she loses consciousness.

Peeta POV

I am dozing along the river trying to keep my energy for when it's need when I hear a blood curdling scream from nearby. I quickly open my eyes and spot the source of the scream. It's Katniss holding someone. "Katniss?"

She doesn't hear me the first time so I try again, this time a little louder. She barely turns her head to acknowledge my presence but calls me over.

"Can you help?" She says in a choked voice. She is crying.

"What can I do?"

"Do you know the Aloe Vera plant? There's some nearby. I need it for our burns."

"No I'm sorry I don't know it. What does it look like?"

"Nevermind! It will take you too long. We don't have much time if we're going to have any chance. She's got burns that looks like the ones my mom treats. Can you take her? I'll go look."

I nod and take her in my arms, slowly taking her to the bank. I look down at the little girl and have the urge to wretch. Angry red welts and blisters cover most of her right side and half of her face. This is not good. I lay her down on the sleeping bag that Katniss has hurriedly laid out and stand about awkwardly. She hasn't woken up yet and I don't know what to do.

Katniss comes back with a bunch of leaves in her arms. She thrusts one in my hand and tells me to get more indicating exactly where the plants are located.

Katniss POV

I set the aloe down and start extracting the gel-like juice one leaf at a time and applying it to the burns. I try not to think too much about the outcome of these types of burns back home because I will break down. Once I'm done on her, I start doing the same for my burns but I know the aloe just won't be enough.

I look to one of the cameras and plead my case. "Haymitch, I don't know how much money you've received but I want you to use it, all of it if you have to and send me something to help with the burns. I can't help her with just the plants. Please."

All I get in response is a small canister which, when opened, I find contains a small container of foul smelling ointment. Attached to the container is a note: This is all I can send you. Make the best of it. –H

I look at the camera accusingly. "This is not enough Haymitch! She'll die if I don't get more." I look around hoping to see another parachute for one minute. Two minutes. Nothing. Rue doesn't have a chance.