Opal wakes with a start. Nightmares rattled her brain through the night. Visions of death tormented her; the deaths of her defenceless, wheelchair-bound mother, her father and her brother, her friends. But most significantly, most vividly, her own death.

The arena is still waking up. The sky is dimly lit as the sun has yet to rise. Opal stretches and yawns. She rubs her eyes and gazes about her. The platform seems as it did the previous night, no notable changes. She gets up and rummages through a backpack, pulling out an apple and biting into it, savouring the cool, juicy flavour.

Then she feels it.

Nothing.

Since the start of the Games, there had always been a breeze brushing over the arena. Whether you noticed it or not, it was there. Opal had found comfort in it because it reminded her of the ocean breeze she'd be greeted with on the beaches back in District 4, only without the familiar salty tang. But now it's gone. The air is still.

Opal walks to the edge of the platform, in hopes that the breeze will rush up to meet her.

Nothing.

"Okay, this is weird," she says to herself. She fiddles with her koi carp ring – a gift from her grandfather – whilst she figures out what to do. She could either stay here and wait until the wind decides to make an appearance, or leave the platform. There's a chance this could be a simple Gamemaker's trick, anyway.

The fair-haired girl decides upon the former.

"It's probably safer here, anyway."

She turns on the spot and starts to walk back to her possessions, but something catches her eye. It's huge, red, and intimidating. It's a sign of danger, something that could never mean good news. The massive crimson 'X' stares back at her, daring her to step forward. It dissects the platform into quarters. Opal immediately feels stupid for not noticing it sooner.

"Fuck," is all she can say. She charges for her items, weapons and all. A few unimportant food luxuries fall from a backpack, but she doesn't care. All she wants is to be of this deathtrap. Now.

Opal runs straight for the closest bridge. Something glows beneath her but she's too focused on her destination to notice. Once she's about two metres from the rickety structure, she hears the humming. But she's going too fast to stop and she knows what's coming. She's seen it happen before.

The forcefield collides with her body and she is hit with the burn. She screams as the pain courses over her skin. Then, a mere second later, she feels a rush of air. The ground jolts her as she bounces back over the platform, bruising as she goes. She pushes herself onto her hands and lets the backpacks slide from her shoulders. For a moment she's dazed, then the realisation hits her. She's trapped.

The sun peeps over the horizon and Opal covers her eyes to avoid the glare. A crackle sounds over the platform. It's faint, but Opal can hear it. She notices that the giant 'X' has disappeared. Maybe this is a signal that she's safe. Though she's made that assumption before and was wrong.

"Opal Loveguard, District 4."

She grabs the two bloodstained push daggers from her belt and prepares herself. The voice comes from nowhere in particular. But it's not the announcer.

"Don't worry, kid, I'm not going to hurt you."

It's a voice she recognises, but can't quite place.

"This is a test, which... I'm sure you'll have no trouble passing."

"What do you mean?" Opal shouts.

"If you can survive the next five minutes you will, well, be alive. That's all I can tell you. Good luck, or goodbye, that's your choice." Another crackle follows.

"Wait, I-" she stops herself and sighs. "I fucking hate this place."

"Well how d'you think I feel?"

The voice comes from behind her. Opal whips around. The sight is something she never thought she'd see. It shocks her to the core. Her face pales. The daggers slip from her hands and clatter on the stone ground. Tears fill her eyes.

Her mother stands, literally, a few yards away.

"B-b-but how?" The first tear escapes and rolls lazily down Opal's cheek.

"They healed me. Those Capitolites are angels, I'm sure of it." Her mother's smile is as warm as it always had been. Where her skin had once seemed pale, translucent even, there is now a distinct mass of colour, of life. Her blue eyes still have their familiar glow of youth.

"I th-thought I had to w-win to get that for y-y-"

"Shh, sweetie, don't cry. Be grateful that I'm all fixed up."

"I-I-I..." Opal is still in disbelief. The dreams she'd escaped from not twenty minutes ago have taken a U-turn and given her the greatest possible outcome.

"I promise you, I'm fine. Just make it out of here and come back to me."

"I will, Mom, I w-will." Opal dabs her streaming tears with her jacket sleeve.

"Now come give me a hug, I've got to go." She cocks her head to the side and raises her arms to welcome her daughter.

Opal rushes over to her, caught up in the moment. Her mother holds Opal to her chest, smiling happily. Opal nuzzles into her mother's warm embrace.

"It's time to leave."

But Opal doesn't let go. She holds even tighter.

"Baby, what're you do- let go of me!"

Opal listens and listens. But there's not a sound. Nothing beating in this chest. No warmth as she'd felt before. It was all too good to be true. Slowly, she loosens her grip and backs away.

"You aren't my mother." The happy tears stop flowing and anger consumes Opal's voice.

The impostor walks towards her cautiously, her steps heavy. Opal picks up the daggers she dropped. She glances down to her belt where the four remaining daggers hang, waiting to be used. She unclips two of them and slips them up her sleeves. Fake Mother is smiling more evilly now, getting closer with every step. She flickers every couple of seconds and there's a hint of colour behind the human veil, though her true identity is indecipherable.

Opal dashes to the left and throws a dagger. Fake Mother is expecting it though. Her reflexes are sharp, there's no doubting that. She leaps into the air, propelled by the a scaly green tail which hadn't been there a moment ago. Opal looks up, trying to avoid the glare of the sun. Even the cameras are having a difficult time focusing.

A tearing sound can be heard as the thing hovers in midair. Something flutters to the ground in front of Opal. It's a flaky shell of some sort, fleshy and smooth. Skin. The mutt lands heavily, decorating the ground with cracks beneath its feet... paws?

Opal stares at it for a moment. It's enormous – at least twice her size – green and scaly, with big darting eyes and a line of small spikes down its spine. The tail curls upwards over itself. Atop its head is an emerald crest. The mouth is enormous, opening and closing to reveal a row of teeth which are clearly not to be underestimated. It resembles something she once saw in a book. Its name was hard to pronounce, but it definitely didn't belong in a place like this.

"What the..."

The creature responds only with a growl. It seems the voice disappeared with the illusion of her mother. But it's still smirking...

Suddenly, a great pink tongue flies from its mouth, dripping with sticky saliva. It catches only air, as Opal ducks and rolls sideways. She swipes up with both daggers but misses entirely. The tongue is already back home. The mutt's eyes dart around its head as Opal charges left and right trying to avoid its vision, to no avail. She gets within striking range and lashes out with a dagger. The weapon lodges between two scales and she can't pull it back out. She leaves it and leaps backwards to avoid the tail tearing through the air in her direction. This thing is fast.

The tongue makes another appearance and latches onto on of her daggers. Opal reaches out to grab the handle as it is pulled from her grasp, but has already been swallowed. She yanks another from her belt, breaking the clip, and charges forward while the tiny plastic pieces fall to the floor. Again she gets close enough to attack, but is worried she'll lose another weapon. The eye closest to her glows fiery, evil red. She remembers the beautiful, loving eyes that had been there a mere minute before.

From the corner of her own eye, she sees movement to her left. One of the creature's legs swipes forward and claws peek through the tips of its toes. They graze Opal's shin as she jumps to avoid the attack. She winces, but continues her assault. A slash here, a cut there, but none of them even dent its skin. The chameleon sits, toying with her, enjoying her failure. She knew they'd make this difficult, but to give her virtually no chance is just unfair.

It lunges with its claw again and she narrowly avoids another cut. No matter which side she is on, the eyes stare at her. They watch everything she does. Something clicks in Opal's mind and she has to dodge another whip from its tail to think clearly.

When she charges in for another bout of attacks, she switches targets. She cuts first along the scales, still not leaving a mark, then turns to face the eye dead-on.

"I see you," she says, with a mocking smirk. The dagger pierces the mutt's fleshy eye with little effort, spouting coal-coloured blood instantly. A horrifying screech emits from deep within its chest, as it flails about.

Opal is knocked backwards in the commotion. She manages to roll and avoid the swing of multiple limbs as the creature roars and stumbles over its enormous self. The other eye comes into view and she swings for it. The dagger comes into contact with its target and impales deeper than before. Blood drenches Opal's face. This blood isn't poisoned, luckily. At least the Gamemakers made one thing easy.

The blinded mutt roars and screams as it bleeds profusely from its wounds. Opal dashes out of the way but her foot is caught by something. Saliva seeps through her trouser leg and soaks her skin. She claws at the slippery surface but can't get a grip to pull it off. The creature has an unyielding hold on her. In a second it'll pull her into its mouth and devour her whole. Opal thinks quickly. Three daggers on her belt. A mace a metre away. Entertain them.

She pulls the mace and lifts it above her head. It comes soaring down and digs into the tongue, which lets go of her leg as the creature rears its head once more. But its being pulled back in with Opal and the mace in tow.

The girl disappears inside the creature's gaping mouth. A second passes... five... ten... Nothing. The only audible sound is the screeching of the mutt.

Then a thud. And another. Then a rip, and a tear. Black blood pours from the side of the mutt's head as the maces tear through its flesh and Opal topples out onto the ground.

Opal swings and bashes the mutt around the head. It turns to face her, blinded and more terrifying than ever. Black blood gushes from its wounds. She swings again. It falls. She's alive. She stands panting over the corpse of the mutt, covered in blood, sweat and saliva.

"Congratulations, darli- Opal Loveguard."

That moment of hesitation was all she needed. The owner is revealed.

"Dad?"

"Yes, I mean, no, I mean, oh... crap."

"Dad, what're you doing here? What's going on?!"

"I can't say anything, I c-" there's a thud, and the voice goes quiet.

"Dad? Dad! DAD! DADDY!" Opal looks all around and shouts at the forcefield. The Capitol has her father, for some unknown reason. She grabs all of her belongings hastily. The hum of the forcefield dies and she tears across the closest bridge with no concern for the amount of noise she's making. She aims to finish this. Fast.

On the opposite side of the arena, Aspen is just waking up. He's running on almost no energy, having not eaten in over 12 hours now. The sun rises and the glares prevents him from seeing much at all. He shields his eyes and gathers his possessions. The forest platform is no longer a safe place to be, as he discovered yesterday.

As he crosses the bridge, the clouds beneath him part. He thinks for a moment that there will be an attack of some sort, but nothing happens. He carries on his way.

After another three platforms, he sees movement.

Krush, District 11, is approaching the same spire from the opposing bridge. Besides the shield hung across his back, he appears to be unarmed. Aspen, who doesn't see the kid as a threat, decides to run off back down his bridge and find another route. With any luck, Krush won't catch up – his intentions are unclear.

Aspen keeps running, trying to make as little noise as possible. When he's far away enough that he's unable to see Krush, he slows down.

Twig wakes when she hears a splash. She sits upright and knocks her head on the roof of their hollow. Gale isn't inside, so she presumes that he's taking a swim. His whoops confirm her thoughts. She goes back to sleep thinking about him. About his toned body, and how attractive he'd looked on the chariots, the first time she'd seen him. She does have feelings for him, but being as stubborn as she is, she's afraid to admit it – even to herself.

Gale swims without caution. He knows that the Capitol aren't interested in a couple of tributes from outlying Districts who don't really do much.

He'd been quite the ladies' man back in District 9, so he plays up to the cameras and slips off his boxers. He swims across the surface off the lake with his bottom providing enough entertainment for the masses. If they weren't paying attention to him before, they would be now. He flips over and winks in the general direction of the nearest tree, knowing there'll be a camera or two on him.

If he keeps this up, the Gamemakers won't send trouble and he'll be safe with Twig.

He may have been a ladies' man, but he never kissed anyone. It was all just harmless flirting.

But with Twig... it means something. Maybe it's just the thought of being here, in the arena, where either one of them could die at any moment and either way he'd lose her. Or maybe it is just his hormones again. But he feels more for her than he has for anyone before.

Meanwhile, Ciaran and Franklin have left their spire. They've decided to journey out and see if they can find someone on whom to test Franklin's invention. This may seem like a dark premise for leaving their platform, but really, it's the only way to win the game.

"Dude, you got anything to eat?" Ciaran asks.

"Nah, I think we ate the last of our fruit yesterday." Franklin responds.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Hopefully we'll run into someone with something to eat."

"Either that or we'll have to eat who we kill."

Franklin gives Ciaran a worried look, but the District 3 boy just laughs.

Ravena left her snares outside the rabbit holes overnight, and managed to catch a few more of the poor creatures. She's cooking up breakfast when she sees something approaching in the distance. The sun is in her eyes, so she has to squint to get a better look.

From where she's sitting, it looks like a small bird, probably a pigeon that's flown too high or something. She dismisses it and turns back to her food.

Then there's a screech. An evil, gut-wrenching sound.

Ravena stops munching and grabs the push daggers from her backpack. At least she's got the energy to fight now.

She stands up and gazes around, to find that the whatever-it-was has disappeared. She breathes a sigh of relief.

But it's still there.

The enormous whatever-it-is leaps from the side of her spire and onto the platform. It's a huge, terrible beast with three heads and a varicoloured body. One head is reptilian, with horns. The middle is golden, with a mane around its face and huge teeth. The third is a goat, quite simply, but its eyes are ruby red. The wings on its back are green and scaly, so are obviously a product of the first beast. The front legs are clawed while the back two have hooves. It's a magnificent, yet terrifying sight to behold.

Ravena stares it dead in the eye, unmoved by the terror rising within her. She knows what the Gamemakers are trying to do, and she won't be deterred from her safe haven.

The scaly head rears and Ravena only has a moment to dodge the stream of fire it spews from its mouth. She rolls sideways and charges forward, aiming for what she presumes is the weakest head: the goat. It bleats as she arrives, and a gross, purple liquid seeps from its mouth, dripping to the grass below. The grass burns on contact, and Ravena realises she can't get too close. She dodges to meet the middle face, which roars ferociously in greeting. It bares a huge, sharp grin before lunging forward. Ravena cuts upward with her push dagger and forces the blade through the neck of the golden beast. It droops and stops moving. One down.

Once again, the reptilian head throws fire from its open mouth. Ravena winces as the stream burns her forearm, but not too severely. The goat head bleats once more and spits poison at the ground. It burns right through Ravena shoe and starts to work its way through her foot.

She screams and falls to the ground as the mutt pins her with its paw. It drags its claw down across her body, tearing deep into her flesh.

Suddenly, it pulls away and roars/bleats in pain. Ravena can just about see through the tears she's wracked with, that one of the mutts wings has been torn and is bleeding heavily. It turns to face the culprit, and Ravena follows its gaze. Standing at the edge of her spire is Aspen, second hatchet poised to be thrown.

"Don't hurt me, please!"

Aspen ignores her and throws his weapon. It buries itself in the reptilian head of the mutt. Two down.

The goat turns and tries to fly away, dripping poison all over Ravena's wounds. Aspen runs across the platform, dodging burrows here and there, and leaps onto the mutt's back. He slices the working wing from its body and claws his way up to the final head. It bleats maniacally as he hacks into its skull. With one final screech, it drops to the floor and disintegrates into a pool of black blood.

Ravena pants and tries to get up. Aspen stands over her.

"Please," she begs.

Aspen says nothing, but pulls the backpack from his shoulder. He gets out a roll of bandages and a small pack of healing cream. Ravena wonders where he got the cream, since they don't usually put it in the Games, but is in too much pain to ask. He bandages her up, for the most part, but there is nothing he can do about her foot. It's so damaged that there is barely any skin, or muscle, and you can see right through to the bone.

Once he's done, Ravena thanks him, but he leaves her and runs off before she can have a second thought. In the whole time Aspen was there, he didn't utter a word.

Still rather well hidden, Audire waits for the day to pass. He's uncertain whether any more Careers will die today, though he hopes things will work in his advantage and that will happen. He's never really thought of himself as a killer, but the Games change people.

Audire's mother is part of the council in District 8, so she works for the mayor and doesn't spend much time with her son. His father, well... Audire doesn't have a clue who he is. Having been brought up in an unloving home, he didn't really adjust well to society, and so he doesn't have many friends. But maybe winning the Games will change that. Maybe people will talk to him. Maybe his mother will actually care. Maybe, just maybe, his father will come forward and claim Audire as his son.

Unlikely, Audire thinks. Besides, first he has to survive for any of that to happen.

At the Cornucopia, the remainder of the Career pack plans out their day.

"Personally, I think we need to hunt down that bitch Opal," Flic says. After being shamed yesterday, she wants to prove that she's better than the 7 she received in training.

"I agree, she deserves to suffer." Lokie also feels a need to prove herself after making the foolish decision against informing her allies of Opal's other intentions.

Alec remains silent. His thoughts are elsewhere. He knows that Opal is much stronger than she appears, having spent copious amounts of time training with her back in District 4. The two actually got along quite well at one point. He may have even been attracted to her. After all, she's quite a beautiful girl.

"Let's go then. Gather some crap and we'll leave," Golden commands. After electing himself leader of the Career pack, he realised it came with a lot more pressure than he first presumed. The loss of an ally is worse than anything, so he aims to keep his friends alive until the end.

Krush spotted Aspen around midday. He saw the boy helping Ravena fight off the mutt. He also witnessed the healing that followed, but ran back in the opposite direction because he couldn't bear facing his district partner. That should have been him, or at least he hoped so. He's currently retracing his steps along bridges he's already crossed, passing rocks he's seen before and spires and platforms he's already familiar with.

The sun is high. The heat is making him drowsy. Every so often he'll walk with his eyes closed, but always keeps his ears alert. He hears the caw of a bird, the gravelly stones shifting under his feet, the thud, thud, thud of footsteps on a bri-

"Hey, kid!"

Krush's eyes snap open. The sun crosses his vision and makes things harder to see. Across the platform, he sees two figures running towards him. Two boys. One of them has enormous hands...

"Hey!"

They get closer. Krush drops his backpack and roots around for his weapons. Underneath a bunch of apples are his two push daggers. He holds them as he was taught in training and reaches up to his shoulder to ensure his shield is still there.

As he stands up, the boys come into view. One throws something and Krush whips around just in time for the dagger to bounce off his shield with a clang. He turns and throws one of his own, but it glides in the direction of the other boy, who catches it with ease.

Ciaran and Franklin have him cornered. It's two on one, but he's putting up a fight. Franklin wears the magnetised gauntlets and already has one of Krush's weapons. Neither of them remembers his name, but does that even matter here? No one remembers the dead kids.

Franklin nods to his ally and both of them charge. Their opponent surges forward to catch them halfway. He slides across the stone floor and knocks Ciaran off his feet. But he's close enough that his second dagger slips from his hand and flies right into Franklin's waiting gauntlet. Krush gets up and runs away from the pair. Ciaran takes chase and throws a dagger at his back, only to watch it bounce off again.

"Don't be stupid, man, that didn't work before!" Franklin shouts, throwing one of his own.

It lodges in Krush's left shin, but he keeps running. The wound slows him down, and he has to yank the blade from his leg to speed himself up. With a slight limp, he reaches the bridge. He stops in his tracks and turns to meet his foes.

They're too accelerated to slow down.

He crouches and kicks to the left with his good leg whilst swinging the opposite way with his shield. His leg collides with Franklin's ankles, sending him toppling forward. He falls from the platform and disappears from sight. Ciaran is about to call for his friend, but the shield impacts his stomach and winds him. Whilst Ciaran clutches his stomach, Krush gets to his feet painfully.

"Well, you tried," he says, kicking Ciaran square in the nose. The District 3 boy falls backwards and can do nothing while Krush stands over him, shield raised, ready to come crashing down. Blood pours from his nose into his mouth, and he feels something on his tongue. He spits out a tooth. Krush swings his shield and Ciaran flies sideways, more blood gushing from his face. He skids across the stone with a nasty crunch. His ear hangs loose, threatening to fall off.

"Oh, let me finish that for you." Krush comes closer and yanks the ear from its place. More blood spouts from the side of Ciaran's head.

"Y-you fucking..." he tries to speak but he's lost too much blood and become light-headed.

"What was that?" Krush walks forward, still limping.

"I think he was gonna call you a bastard."

Krush turns on his heels as the dagger comes slicing across his eyes. The dagger comes about again and cuts across his neck twice, before impaling his chest. A huge, metallic fist pounds his gut and sends him soaring across the platform. He screams in a horrid combination of choked, winded and blinded terror as his life drains away.

"Keep your eyes open next time, kid."

The cannon booms.

Franklin helps Ciaran to his feet. He gathers all of Krush's food items into one of their own backpacks and drags his friend to safety.

The Careers stop in their tracks when they hear the cannon. They're all hoping that the cannon signified Opal's death, though they'd have liked to cause her pain rather than let some other tribute do it for them. Nonetheless, there's still tributes to be killed, whether they're Opal or not. They continue travelling throughout the day, encountering nothing but rock and bridges for quite a while.

Flic needs to get home to her brother and sisters. They no longer have parents, so it's not like she can leave her brother alone to take care of her younger siblings. That being the case, she feels obligated to take Opal down. She contemplates taking down Alec, too.

In her boulder hideout, Logane hears voices, two female and two male. She knows it's the Careers. No alliance is ever as big as theirs. She quietly gathers her things into a corner and covers herself with her sleeping bag. The dark material will give her cover in the shade of her den.

"Guys, did you hear that?" Logane recognises the voice of the girl from District 1.

"What?" Her district partner.

"It came from over there, by those boulders." She replies.

"Flic, go check it out," the boy commands.

The footsteps which approach are lighter, and faster. Logane holds her breath and tries to stop shaking. She knows any sign of movement will give her away. The slap of shoe on stone is close now. Scratching and the sound of someone scrambling through the entrance to her cave is audible. Logane listens carefully as Flic walks around, half-crouched, inside her secret place. Her hammer drags along the ground and makes a horrible grinding noise. Logane winces.

"There's nothing here guys." Flic hasn't seen her.

"Keep looking, I'm sure I heard something," the other girl calls back.

"Yes," then, whispered, "your royal fucking highness."

Logane keeps her breath held and thinks of her mother. Be brave. If Logane was anything like her mother, she'd fight, but right now she can't afford to do that. Flic is just a few feet away again, squinting in the darkness. A few more seconds and Logane will have to open her mouth to breathe. The scrape of shoes fades as Flic walks away.

"Nope, nothing here." Flic is outside. Logane takes an almost inaudible deep breath and remains silent.

"Let's keep going," the boy says.

Logane stays under her sleeping bag. Their footsteps fade into the distance. Once she's certain they're gone, she pushes the sleeping bag off. Slowly, she creeps to the hole of light leading outside. All she hears is the wind. She's safe, for now. She breathes a sigh of relief and falls against the side of the cave wall, grinning.

The day progresses and the tributes look for other safe places. Audire and Logane stay in their separate caves.

Ravena, having managed to stand and walk, has limped her way to another spire, albeit just half a mile away from her previous location. She collapses into some bushes and covers herself in leaves. Hopefully the camouflage will hide her for the night.

At around mid-afternoon, Aspen stops on a grassy platform with a small pool of water in its centre. It could pass for a pond, but the water is dirty and he has nothing to cleanse it with. Luckily he still has water from the forested platform, so he should be alright for a while. But he needs food. He has eaten nothing all day and is running out of energy fast.

He turns to leave the platform as something slithers over his foot. A large, green snake slides out of the water and makes its way past him. It seems unconcerned by Aspen's appearance at its home, and carries on its way. Aspen thinks quickly. This snake wouldn't be here if there wasn't something to eat. He follows the slippery reptile around the spire for a while in hopes that there will be mice or rats or... anything.

Then something comes to mind. He lets the creature slither away once more and pulls a hatchet from his bag. He throws it and slices the snake's head clean off. Having been forced away by poisoned animals before, he's cautious of this one. He makes his way round to the wound. The blood is regular. No black, no poison. He almost jumps and cheers before remembering where he is and stopping himself. He leaves the spire and drags the snake along in one hand, keeping the bloodied hatchet in another.

He stops at yet another grassy platform as the sun begins to set. With some leaves from the bushes here, he strikes up a small fire and cuts up his kill. He cooks some, and wraps up the rest in leaves, for later. As soon as he's finished eating, he stamps out his fire and sleeps in the bushes.

Gale and Twig have spent the day relaxing once more. They know it's stupid, that this won't last, but they're going to enjoy it while they can. Besides, there are plenty of other tributes for the Capitol to entertain themselves with.

"You think we'll have to leave tomorrow?" Gale asks.

"Either that or they'll make us leave," Twig says.

"Well, I think we ought to split up then."

"What, why?"

"I... I can't hurt you."

Twig laughs. "You what? You were willing to kill Raysha but you can't hurt a girl half your size? You're scared of me, aren't you?"

"It's not that... It's... I..."

"Whatever, I'm going to bed." Twig gets up and walks back to their hollow. Gale stands and follows her. He grabs her wrist and turns her around to face him.

"What do you w-" Twig is interrupted as Gale kisses her. Twig is shocked, but lets it happen. Gale holds the back of her head with one hand and places the other on the small of her back. If Twig was going to protest at any point, she'd have done it the moment their lips touched. But she's still there. It turns out that maybe she does like him after all.

The Careers have discovered the same platform Aspen reached the previous day. Golden suggests they stay here a while. He says it's for them to regain their energy and be ready to face Opal, but it's clear he wants to spend some time with Lokie.

His district partner sits with her shoes off, soothing her feet in the lake.

"How you feeling?" Golden says, plopping down next to her.

"Tired. Want to go home. Want to kill a bitch. Same old, same old. You?" Lokie turns and smiles at him.

"Same, really. But it's nice here. It's nice to have a break for a change and relax, you know?"

"You call this relaxing? Being hunted by a bunch of kids who hate us just for training for this and actually having to kill others is relaxing? You're crazy, Golden."

"Not that. I mean, here, in a place as beautiful as this." Golden gestures around him, admiring the scene. It really is quite dazzling.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I just wish the Capitol would cut us some slack."

The cameras tune out.

Panem's anthem signifies the reveal of what's on the tributes' minds: the identity of the mystery tribute who met their end today. His face is shown.

District 11 - Krush

Opal continues to run. She's come across no one all day. She knows the Careers are still after her, and she needs to get away. Even with this continued rush of adrenaline, she wouldn't be able to beat them.

So even after the sun goes down, she's still propelling forward at an alarming pace. She charges over the blood-stained spire where, just hours before, Krush was brutally murdered. She whizzes past the bush that Ravena is sleeping in, and another which contains a dozing Aspen. None of those people are her concern, she's focused on an entirely different enemy. She needs to find the two cleverest people in here. District 4 requires power and technology.