Making Camp (Kayla)

To my immense surprised, a girl about my age steps out of the bushes, apologizing profusely. She turns to leave, and only then do I notice how cold she looks. She's shivering, her arms covered in goosebumps. I glance at the warm, crackling fire. Lowering my quarterstaff to my side, I say, "Why don't you stay for a while? There's plenty of room around the fire." I smile at her welcomingly, hoping she says yes. I long for human company.

((sorry for the short post, I'm in a hurry ))

((Sorry for the late reply, I was busy))

"What do you mean by a scare?" I ask, poking at the fire with a stick. "I'm Icarus, by the way." I look around at the surrounding area. Nothing else moves in the trees, save some small rustles in bushes from small animals and the dancing shadows. I look back at the girl. She looks really hungry. My stomach is pretty hollow right now, too. I dig around in my backpack and come up with two squirrels. I gut them, politely hiding the entrails under a leaf at the edge of the clearing, and then skin the two dead squirrels. I tuck their pelts back into my backpack after cleaning them. They can be useful later. I proceed to lay the meat from the squirrels at the edge of the fire, cooking them. Let's hope she likes wild game, I think to myself.

((Sorry for the late post))

"You never can tell who to trust out here and who you shouldn't," I say. "I've learned that the hard way." I glance at her and realize that she's doing just that, right now: trusting some random guy out in the wilderness. "Of course, there are those that will help you and won't shove a knife in your back." I gaze back into the fire, thinking of all the people I've encountered out here. Almost all of them insane or dangerous. Usually both. I think back to my time in District Thirteen. There were those people there that seemed alright, but I left pretty quickly. I'm lonely, sure, but I don't like being overwhelmed with people. But Resa seems nice. I doubt she'll pull something like all of those people in the past.

The girl startles me by leaping forward and snatching the squirrels out of the fire. For a moment I think she'll run off with them. That would make me very angry. My stomach is pretty hollow right now, and catching animals isn't easy. But the girl just sets them down on a big leaf, saying that they're a bit overcooked. On closer inspection, I can see that they are a little burnt at the edges. "Sorry about that," I say, smiling. After they cool down a bit, I reach for a squirrel. I take the smaller one. The girl looks pretty hungry, and I somehow doubt that she'll be able to get her own food for a while. As I eat, I say, "You know, I never got your name."

I nod. "Resa? That's a pretty name." We sit in silence for a few minutes, eating our rabbits. Finally, I turn to her and ask, "Did you run away from a district, or have you been out here all your life?"

((Sorry for the short post, I'm in a hurry))

I almost ask where Max is, but the look on Resa's face tells me everything I need to know. Instead, I ask, "What was it like in District Ten? I grew up in the wild, and my parents never told me where they ran away from. The memory of them hurts, so I take another bite of my squirrel, trying not to think about it. "I never knew my mother. She died giving birth to me. And my father... His death was my fault." I get choked up and can't speak for a moment, but then continue. "He got killed by wolves. I was nine. I was in a tree and didn't help." I stare at the fire, tears welling up in my eyes. I force them back and continue to eat my squirrel. Soon it's gone, but I feel hollow inside.