7

Conan's POV

I haven't regained the use of my leg yet, and my outlook doesn't look too good.

Having stayed unnoticed in the bushes for the whole day, I have been able to watch the Careers' bloodthirsty prowl. Inferno's leg is virtually healed because of medicine from a sponsor that came right away. The bush that I took refuge under is full of sweet berries that I determined to be edible, but a gradual side effect of the juice is a headache that has kept me in a blurry daze the most of this morning. But I have been able to work out the arena.

In one 'section' there are a bunch of rocks with pools of water in between them, safe in the morning, but deadly at night. At the second it hits nightfall a poisonous fog rises from the pools of water and engulfs the air in thick smog, something else lovingly crafted by the Capitol to kill us off. I can't help but think about Cambria, the thought that that cannon I heard could have been her doesn't bother me as much as I imagined it would.

Cambria's POV

"They're after me now," Kodiak says from the branch below me, "And they want blood."

"So does the Capitol, and they're not going to stop without it." I respond. "The death toll is lower than other Hunger Games, only six died on the first day."

"Then let's let them find us." Saffra groans from her perch above me.

I know she is in a lot of pain from the accident she had on our way here. She got tangled up on in a leftover snare, leaving gashes in her arms and legs. I'm fine as it is, with only a few scrapes from the thorn bushes we went through in order to get her safely, and that means away from the Careers.

"The Gamemakers are going to push us together at some point." I continue, "With god knows what, but they won't stop until we're face to face with the Careers, or another tribute."

"Yeah, there hasn't been enough fighting that I have seen." Kodiak replies.

"Sixteen of us left, I watched the sky last night." Saffra says, followed by a cry of pain.

I shoot my glance down to the floor below and a boy is tossing tiny, razor sharp objects at us. One hits me and lodges in my shoulder blade, I let out a cry as my hand slips from the branch and I plummet down to the floor below. A wail breaks out when I land, not from me, but from the boy that lays broken under my weight, my first kill, but it wasn't really me. Pain claims my back as I roll off of the small boy from ten. A cannon blast follows and I drag myself behind the tree, away from the hovercraft. Everything is silent following that until a quiet shout emerges from the tree.

"Make that fifteen." Saffra calls quietly from the tree.

I watch as she twists her body painfully down from the trunk, clinging to the rough bark. Kodiak attempts to follow her but his weight takes over and he falls onto the mossy ground in my footsteps. I feel around my back for the strange object that inflicted so much pain, but when I find it there is a fresh layer of skin keeping where it hit.

"How did he get ahold of those?" Kodiak asks from the ground.

"What are they?" I ask hesitantly.

"Capitol designed microchips that act as ticks, and imbed into your skin, causing intense pain until you get them out." he replies.

I keep forgetting he is from District Two and knows about every type of weapon that has ever been used. This thing is going to be in my back until I can take it out… with what? Well, until then we are going to need food, so I decide to check my snares that I set last night before climbing into the tree.

"I'm going to check the snares." I call behind me.

"I'll come with." Saffra calls back. "I'm going to see if I can find some water to wash these cuts in."

I don't respond to this, but I nod as I take off deeper into the woods to the place where I set the snares.

When I get there I find an odd looking rabbit that would make an ok breakfast for the three of us. Saffra is nowhere to be found so I suspect she found a stream to wash her wounds in. This really has been the quietest stretch of days in the history of the Hunger Games. No Careers, no Capitol attacks, and not much blood to speak of, it's just too quiet to be normal.

Conan's POV

My luck runs out by sunset. The Careers are angry, and I am in no state to fight with my leg only partially useable, but that doesn't stop the Gamemakers. My being so close to the Careers' camp has been worrying me, and preventing my escape for two days now. I have become immune to the effect of the berries, since they are the only thing I have to eat because of my bad state.

I fell a searing on my arm and I look up at the sky, only to see a cloud of the deadly fog curling over my head. It was the fog from the rocks that I spotted before, and it was set out to push us together, the ones that are left.