Day 10 of the 74th Hunger Games. Early morning in Panem, and the citizens begin to awake, not knowing what the head gamemaker, Seneca Crane, was about to unleash in the arena, with some.. encouragement from President Snow.

The citizens of the Capitol awoke in excitement, ready for the next day. The last two days had been a bit a treat for them, with four deaths, two each day, and quite a bit of exciting entertainment in the arena as well. It could only get better, more exciting from here, with 6 tributes left, 5 of them seemed in contention for the the victory, and very soon the gamemakers would bring them together, and the Capitol would have a new victor, a new sweetheart.

The citizens of the districts awoke in dread, most of them not looking forward to seeing their dead return from the arena soon after the game, bodies mangled, some unrecognizable. Others, with tributes left in the games, dreaded the possible death of their tribute. District 2, had some… excitement might not be the right word, to it, with two tributes left, both healthier and stronger than the others remaining, they could see one of them come home. But, no district awoke with more dread than District 11, despite the fact that they had still a tribute in the games.

The day before, their female tribute, Rue, had died. She had allied with the female tribute from 12, Katniss. Rue was killed by the Male from District 1, Marvel, who was quickly killed by Katniss. Katniss held Rue in her arms as she died… singing to her. She covered her in flowers before leaving with a salute that meant very much in District 12.

This touch the hearts of the District 11 citizens. Who gave her a sponsor of bread, originally meant for Rue, before they unfortunately, starting rioting. Eventually, it was put down. On both sides, a number of deaths. The citizens were under close watch today… not many were put to work though. An order from President Snow. He had a plan to crush their rebellious spirit. As long as his head gamemaker was willing to participate. And why wouldn't he be?

Seneca Crane walked through President Snow's rose garden. Snow had asked Seneca what he had planned in response to the uprising in District 11. Snow put it quite bluntly. He wanted Katniss dead. He wanted Thresh dead. And he wanted it done brutally. Snow made sure, on no uncertain terms, that Katniss or Thresh were not to win the games. They were to be killed at the quickest but brutalist method.

Seneca took his seat in the gamemaker's room. They had to die, Snow wanted them dead. If one of them won, Seneca's own life was on the line. Today would be best. He looked down at the projected map infront of him, debating with himself what would be the best method of following what the President wanted. Brutality in Death.

Like in Panem, in the Arena, the sun was rising, the remaining tributes awaking. There were 6 left. 5 were hot bets. The 6th, Peeta, from 12, was not. He had done well to survive this long, but it was looking bleek at this moment in time. He had buried and disguised himself quite well, but he was injured, and hadn't taken the time to do any first-aid on himself. He was slowly dying. His chances were almost zero.

Katniss, currently sleeping in a tree, the camera for the TV feed zoomed in on her face currently, had quite the following in the Capitol since her flamin entrance. It was the first time in a long time that the citizens of the Capitol were paying attention to District 12, and it was also the first time in a long time since District 12 had a chance to win.

The same could be said for District 11. Thresh was there best chance to win in years. Their other tribute had made it far into the games as well before being killed. Thresh was one of the favourites to win the game right after he was reaped, and he had lived up to expectations, and now with very few tributes left, there was a huge buzz about what he could possibly do.

The girl from District 5, Finch, was quite a surprise to everyone. She had not gotten a great training score, but here she was, in the final 6 tributes, with a chance to win. Citizens had gotten to know that she was very stealthy. She hadn't really been seen by any tributes at all throughout the game since fleeing from the bloodbath. And she was very good at living off the land, she had eaten berries and other fruits that were found in the arena as well as the career's supplies, and much to the gamemaker's annoyance, she had successfully avoided of their poisonous berries, and various other poisonous traps. The longer she survived, the more people in the Capitol believed she could possibly win.

District 2 was where the other two remaining tributes were from. The career pack had dwindled down to two from District 2. Cato, the boy, was like Thresh, quite strong. A battle between these two as the final two, or any battle between them would be a sight to behold. Many Capitolites were hoping for a showdown between the two. Like most career tributes, Cato had volunteered. He was obviously a favourite to begin with, being from District 2, and the fact that he was basically the leader of the career pack only added to his chances to win, and here he was, only him and his District partner left in the career pack.

His District partner was Clove, who also volunteered. She had a bit of a "scuffle" over the volunteering. Many people had thought she was too young to have volunteered, and many people thought that she might have volunteered when she wasn't supposed to, and that someone older was supposed to be in her place. Her age didn't really matter however, because she quickly became a favourite with her interview and training score. Her knife throwing skills in the arena only made her more popular, because her small frame would not be a factor if she never had to get in a physical encounter. District 2 was obviously the favourite to have a winner at this point in the games, two tributes left, both still generally healthy compared to the others.

Capitolites knew that the gamemakers were ready to give them a great finale, and that very soon the tributes would be brought together in some exciting way.

The tributes also knew that something was eventually going to happen. They didn't know exactly what hell would be brought upon them, but it was coming, and it was going to come fast. Soon only one of them would remain. Mixed feelings. Closer to leaving, yes. But there's still 5 others out there that could still win. They could still die. Only 1 will leave.

Seneca sat there, looking at mutt designs. He had to think, what would the Capitol like better? Would they like to see mutts rip apart the two 'sinners' that he was supposed to bring to their end? Or would they prefer it if he brought tributes together, but risk the fact that the sinner could quite possibly kill their opponent, surviving. He could bring the two of them together, and get a fight out of them, possibly wounding the other, giving them less of a chance to win, and a high probability of being killed if forced into another fight.

His life, was probably on the line here. There was no thinking too carefully here. Maybe he should rest on it a day, after all, there was two days of excitement, the Capitol could wait on the edge of their seats for another day. But Snow wouldn't want to wait. It had to happen soon. It had to happen today. If it didn't, Seneca might not wake up tomorrow.

Katniss had awoken a while ago. She had just stared blankly into the trees. The Capitolites had to wonder if she had given up. Her odds quickly dropped as this rumour buzzed around. Her eventual movements let the ones who had money on her breath again, but little did they know the future plans for them.

In the wheat fields, the camera focused on what looked like just wheat, before there was a slight movement, Thresh. He had spent his entire games in the wheat fields, hiding out, no one following him. Although he was favourite, his hiding had been quite a bore to the citizens of the Capitol. No one had gotten close to him all day.

Seneca watch this, and realized that even if he did no killing today, he'd have to make progress, at least. He had to get Thresh out of the wheat fields and into the rest of the arena. He looked at some mutt concepts, and settled on a simple one. A snake, but with a special type of venom. It wouldn't kill him directly… but it might get him killed. It would alter his mind.

Thresh continued to walk through the wheat fields, as he had done the whole games. No one dared to follow him in, knowing that they'd be at a huge disadvantage. Thresh, like Katniss, had a bit of a blank stare to him. He had seen the night before his District partner's innocent face in the sky. She had died. At the hands of who, he did not know, but he assumed it was a District 2 tribute, who at this point might still be together. It didn't matter which one had done it, he would kill both of them. When he saw the District 1 boy in the sky, he had thought possibly that Rue went down fighting, but he didn't want to think about that. His survival was now what was important.

He heard a noise. Quickly he was on alert. Looking around, ready to fight whoever had just made that noise, read to kill them. He didn't see anything, though… until he felt a bite on his leg. He looked down to see an oddly coloured snake biting him. Quickly he ripped it off, only worsening, his wound. He stepped on its head, and ran, and ran, and ran out of the wheat field, and into the open.

He had nothing to treat is wound. He didn't feel any different, the urge to kill was still there… it was there… it was all that was there. What was he thinking about before? He didn't remember. All he wanted was the bring an end to the games. He screamed and rushed off to go find whoever he could. They would die for what they had done.

Seneca chuckled to himself in relief, it had worked. The boy was now going to get himself killed. He had his mind clouded, and that would bring his end very quickly, as to win the games, you need more than just the desire to bring death to others. You must think strategically.

…

It took a long time for Katniss to get out of her sleeping bag and down out of the tree. She had to command herself. Capitolites think she's lost her marbles. She's mentally gone. That she won't last much longer. It's almost over for her.

She managed to pack everything up, she managed to get out of the tree. It was mentally exhausting. The arena was on her shoulders. But she had to keep going. For Rue. For Prim. She needed to come home for Prim. She promised. She had gotten this far. She could not stop now. For Prim. For Rue.

Panem watches as Katniss goes through her supplies, and then begins to walk, towards the stream. She finds a pack of grooslings, shoots some of them dead. Her odds on the Capitol betting lines begin to go up again as she seemingly regains mental strength. She lights a fire she had previously set up, the betting Capitiolites now split as they watch this. Clearly she's making herself a target by doing this, it be easy to see the smoke from the fire, but she's also got her weapon with her, so she could possibly be getting the upper hand by making her opponents come to her, but with her mental state unknown at this point it could be either or.

She seems in deep thought while she cooks, so deep that she overcooks some of the bird. She wraps up the food before she begins to head once again towards the stream, still seemingly in deep thought. Her thought wouldn't last much longer though, before a sound, a lot of sound in fact, alerts her to the fact that someone is coming. She loads an arrow in her bow, and quickly looks around before she sees what's going on. It's Thresh, charging at her. She fires off an arrow, which hits him in the arm, but Thresh remains undeterred, and with all his force slams into Katniss. The Capitol waits on the edge of their seats while Thresh rises up.