Hello again! I'm really glad I got this chapter to you guys so quickly. Enjoy!

After the interviews, we go back to our rooms. This is the last night before the arena. I try to sleep, but can't. There are too many nightmares about Ginger killing me, Mason killing Alabaster, the careers killing Trysten. I get up and go to Alabaster's room. I listen at the door for snoring, but when I don't hear anything I knock.

"Who is it?" Alabaster whispers.

"It's me."

I hear footsteps, then the door opens. "You couldn't sleep either?" "No."

He lets me in and we sit on his bed, holding each other and reminiscing over childhood memories. Khaki and Sulla come to get us in the morning. We get on the hovercraft. Some lady puts a tracker in my arm.

When we get close, the windows darken. The hovercraft lands. Alabaster hugs me once before we go to our launch rooms. There are piles of food and bottles of fancy drinks. I manage to eat a grape and a couple sips of water before the nerves set in.

Suddenly, the tube slides open. I guess it's time. Sulla walks me to the tube. "Remember, the material is thin, so it will be hot, but whatever you do, don't get rid of your clothes. You'll need them if the game makers decide to make it a little more fun for the audience. Stick with your alliance. Don't backtalk the capital, Angel's out getting sponsors and sponsors don't like tributes who hate the capital. Good luck." "Thanks Sulla." As I thought about it, I realized I'd miss him. Yet another relationship the capital slaughtered.

I slowly started to get taller. I looked down, confused. The platform was rising. May the Games begin.

Sulla smiled at me. His hand was pressed against the tube where mine was. I mouthed a good bye. He mouthed one back. Only as I was being lifted did I see a tear running down his face.

The sun reflected off the cornucopia, blinding me. I wondered if this was the special fun the capital had planned. Send a bunch of blind tributes into the arena and watch them try to survive. Again, my imagination was running away with me. My sight returned in a few moments. I looked around. All the pedestals were equal distance from the giant horn, but I was directly in front of the mouth. Two mountains raised their peaks above us. In the mountain valley, there was nothing but us. Clear and grassy until the gap between the mountains. Nothing but forest after that. I wondered what was behind me and if the forests led to anything. I wondered if I would every find out.

Alabaster was three pedestals to my left. Oakley must have been on the other side of the horn, because I couldn't see her. I couldn't see Ginger either. That worried me. I hoped she would step off her pedestal before the end of the sixty seconds. She was obviously a big threat to anyone alone. Shimmer was on the pedestal directly to my right. She was something of a leader to the careers. Beautiful, magnificent, could deliver my death blow.

There were ten seconds left. My alliance's plan was to run in, grab supplies, then run to whatever was behind the cornucopia. We would meet at the nearest safe point with any weapons and supplies we had gotten, then split them according to our strengths. (We would give Oakley an ax if possible etc.) Anyone who died would die. We'd mourn and move on. The careers wouldn't win this year.

The gong rang out. I sprinted in. There was a tiny box of crackers at my feet, but I didn't get it. It would kill time and prevent me from getting something important. When I get closer, there's a small wrist size backpack. I snatch it up and the apple next to it. Why not? It was right there. There's a small knife next. I hesitate then delve deeper. I'm rewarded with a sleeping bag, a sack of who knows what, a coil of wire, and a mace. A mace? Who would use that? Oh well, at least the careers or Ginger won't kill us with it. I see Oakley and Mason fighting over an ax. I throw my knife at him, but only skim his arm. My lousy aim! It still startles him. Oakley smiles at me, grabs the ax during his second of faltering and dashes to our meeting place. I manage to pick up a loaf of bread, then run to meet up with Oakley. I haven't seen Alabaster since the gong. I hope he made it through the bloodbath.

I run towards the forest and hide in the thin trees. "Oakley?" I whispered. "Over here," she whispered back, "Liza, Dawn, and Rico are here too." I crawl towards her voice in a huge patch of shrubbery. We hide there as more and more of our pack show up. No Alabaster.

The cannon blasts start. We count six. That's weird. We're still missing eight of us. "Oh no! They must have moved on without us!" I knew that voice! "Nick! Over here!" Dawn whispered excitedly. Nick crawled in to meet us followed by "Alabaster!" I gasped. I hugged him. "You made it!" "Yeah, you too, Delany!" We then all sorted through our things and figured out who survived. Coily(3), Alabaster and me, Liza(6), Oakley, Nick(8), Rico(9), Blossom(11), and Dawn and Stewart(12). Not bad for the bloodbath, but all the careers survived, and Ginger is on the loose. I don't mind Mason, but Ginger?

I know not many people died for the bloodbath, but I have to keep the alliances strong for it to work out the way it's supposed to. Please review! I need some feedback. -Theuglyducking492