Nightmare I'm in the woods, but I have no idea how I got here. There's someone sitting on a rock up ahead of me. "Hey!" I call. "Who are you?" They turn around at the sound of my voice. "Katniss?" "Johanna?!" I gasp. "What are you doing here?" Knowing that it's her and that she won't hurt me makes me feel safe. I smile and sit next to her. We're just talking when a spear comes right through her. I scream and jump up. She falls to the ground, and I think she dies. When I'm sure, I pull the spear out, tears starting to fall. I hear a cruel laugh, look up, and see Clove. I'm just about to send the spear through her when a rock hits her head and she hits the ground. Thresh stands there, breathing hard, then he throws the rock away into the trees. Before I can thank him, a sword goes through him and out again. When he falls, I see that once again, his killer is Cato. Cato smiles evilly, obviously pleased that he has a chance to kill me again. Before he can, though, skinny tanned arms go round his neck and pull his head back. A knife comes round and slits his throat open. They let go and let him slide to the floor. I breathe out in relief. "Katniss" a small voice says. I look up at the person who killed him. "Rue?" I say, half in disbelief, half in happiness. She leaps into my arms and buries her face in my hair. "I missed you." She whispers. "I missed you too." I say. "You're the best friend I've ever had, and I love you Katniss." She tells me. "I love you too, my little Mockingjay." I smile, and tickle her like I would Prim. She giggles and squeals. Suddenly, her laughter turns into screaming. She jumps out of my arms and faces me. Her hands are tight fists, she's sweating, her eyes are afraid. "Katniss, go! Run!" She pleads, her voice desperate. "Rue, why? What's wrong?" I ask, panicking. "Just go!" She says. "Please Katniss, I don't want to hurt you!" I turn and run away from her. It takes all my willpower to not turn back, because she's in pain and I can't bear to see her like that. I keep running, then I climb up a tree and wait to see if she'll come past. There's a terrible amount of commotion, then a wolf mutt runs past. It's big, but not as big as the ones that chased me, Peeta and Cato up the Cornucopia. It stops, and sees me up the tree. It starts scratching the tree, snuffling, barking (for some reason) and howling. I cover my ears to block it out, then I realise that the howls and barks sound like "Katniss!" "Katniss!" I look down at the mutt again. Small, with dark fur. Shiny chocolate brown eyes. "Rue!" I call down. The mutts ears prick up. It starts whining and trying to get to me. I start climbing down the branches. I know it's stupid, climbing towards a mutt. Then something hits me. This isn't a mutt. This is actually Rue herself, transformed. Like something out of those freaky horror stories I used to tell to Prim on Halloween. I can't believe she didn't tell me before, but it's hard to find someone you can completely trust with that kind of secret. When Rue sees me getting closer to her, she starts digging in the dirt at the base of the tree. Then suddenly, there's a howl of pain that sounds more like a scream. I almost fall off the branch. When I've regained my grip, I see that Rue has her paw caught in a snare. And I recognise the snare. "Gale" I whisper. That means he'll be around here, with the gun he now uses to... "No!" I scream. I can't let Gale shoot Rue. I have to get there before him. I start jumping down the tree, unafraid that I'll break my neck. Gale comes out of nowhere, holding his gun. He sees Rue in the snare. He points the gun at her. "No! Gale, stop!" I yell at him. He looks up. "Catnip? What are you doing up there?" "Never mind that!" I jump down. "If you shoot her, the next bullet goes in you!" He looks surprised. "Why shouldn't I shoot her? It's a mutt, Katniss." "No, it isn't!" I insist. "It's Rue! She transformed! Look at the eyes, Gale." Gale looks. "I see it, but that's just coincidence, Catnip." He points the gun at her again. "If you do that, I will never talk to you again! I'll shut you out completely. I'll, I'll marry Peeta!" I yell. That gets his attention, but then he turns back to her. "Rue, turn back!" I say. She closes her eyes and her body starts to shake. I guess that's how she turns into a wolf and how she turns back into herself. Gale gets ready to shoot. He doesn't see that she's turned back. He pulls the trigger. Rue and I gasp in unison. She starts to fall, and I catch her. I kneel on the forest floor and hold her in my arms. Tears fall down her face. I feel them falling down mine too. "Katniss," she whispers. "Shh, shh." I stroke her hair. "It's ok." She reaches up and touches my face. "Get him back for me, ok?" I look at her little face, so innocent, eyes sparkling with tears. "I promise." I say. "Will you sing?" She asks. I smile down at her, and start to sing. "Deep in the meadow, under the willow A bed of grass A soft green pillow," Her eyes slowly close, and her breathing stops. I stop, and gently wipe her tears away. I decide I'm going to bury her here, in the woods. But not before I've fulfilled her last wish. I walk up to Gale and punch him hard in the face. "How could you!" I scream at him. "How could you kill her?" I take his gun off him and point it at his head, then his heart. "You should get as good as you gave, Gale Hawthorne. So what's it going to be? Head or heart?" He holds his hands up. "Don't be stupid, Katniss," "Don't call me stupid when you just killed Rue, even though you saw her turn back into herself!" I snarl at him. I feel my whole body shaking. My hands go into fists and I start sweating. And I know that what happened to Rue is happening to me. When it's done, I look down and see that I have paws, and fur. It's strange, but I feel powerful. I look up at Gale. He looks scared. I leap on him, and my sharp teeth start tearing... I wake up screaming, and I can't stop. Peeta comes in. "Katniss, what happened?" I tell him everything. He puts his arms round me. "It was just a dream. Try and sleep now." I put my head against his chest, but before I sleep, I feel something tickle my face. I pull it off my top and look at it. Something soft and dark brown. It's fur. The sound of a stick snapping outside the window alerts me. I see a pair of chocolate brown eyes looking at me. I look at Peeta. He's asleep. I raise my hand to the wolf. It licks the glass, like it's licking my hand. Then it passes, a dark shadow disappearing into the woods.