By morning light the mutts are gone, but the fog has settled in. It crept over the mountains like a slow tidal wave, covering everything in a thick gray blanket. I curse under my breath as Alice slowly awakens in the tree; she is above the fog line in the open air. You can see it in her eyes, for a moment she's not quite sure where she is, or why she is in a tree, but she comes to terms with it in a moment, and she quickly hides the dread that takes place of the confusion on her face. Carefully she packs her things and lowers herself down into the fog, by the time her feet touch the ground there are already beads of water clinging to her hair.

"Great." I mumble to myself over the cup of coffee someone has placed in my hand. It is black and free of sugar, which the people of the Capitol are astonished I enjoy. I take a sip of the dark bitterness, watching as Alice turns in each direction, looking for something.

"Find water." She mutters to herself, and I suddenly remember my own first days in the arena, and the horrible blinding thirst I had encountered. I look up at the map in the corner, she won't have much to worry about, this landscape is dotted with small ponds and rivers. I hope she's smart enough to choose a river over stagnant water, but thirst can always impede on a person's judgment. With a short sigh she starts in a northern direction, and I wonder if she notices she is moving ever so slightly downhill. If she does she doesn't say anything about it.

The screen suddenly changes to find Darren crawling out of his tent; much like a bear would emerge from his cave. He doesn't seem at all fazed by the fog, but then again nothing ever seems to really faze Darren. He shoves all his things back into his packs a little less neatly than Alice had and begins walking, and as I glance at the mini map I realize he is on a collision course with another red dot, the boy from One. I sit back in my seat slightly, trying to recall the boy. He is seventeen, I believe, but only slightly smaller than Darren himself. He is quick as lightening and clever as well. I furrow my eyebrows, what is he doing out there alone? Why isn't he with the other Careers? By the look of their movements they will meet any moment now, as the boy from One started been hours before Darren had woken up.

The fog will keep them from seeing each other until they are nearly on top of each other, but I hope the boy from One doesn't hear Darren first. I try to remember his name, tapping my lip with my index finger. It had been something ridiculous, as all District One names are. Brilliance, that is his name! I come to this realization just as both Brilliance and Darren step into the same clearing, neither of them having heard the other until they were scarcely twenty feet apart. For a moment neither says a thing, and I am glad Darren decided to walk with his mace in one hand and his dagger in the other. Brilliance, however, is empty handed. It is obvious from the look on his face that he wasn't anticipating meeting anyone today, let alone Darren. A small smirk covers Brilliance's face, but Darren doesn't move.

"That was my cousin you killed yesterday." He says slowly, taking a step closer to Darren. "Carot, you snapped her neck." He squares himself off to Darren, and anyone else in the arena would be filled with fear. Darren, however, looks as if he hardly even registers Brilliance is there at all.

"Your cousin is named after a vegetable?" Darren asks with an arched brow. "Isn't that something parents in District Eleven would do?" The smirk on Brilliance's face falls as his lip twitches in irritation.

"It's the grade of a diamond." Brilliance hisses, but Darren shrugs his shoulders.

"It's an orange vegetable." Without another word Brilliance rushed towards Darren, and I can't help but wonder what in the world has gotten into that Career's head, you never rush an opponent, everyone knows that. With ease Darren side steps him and sinks his dagger into his stomach. Brilliance's mouth opens in an astonished 'O', and Darren pulls the dagger out. "Sorry about your cousin, but I've got a baby to get home to." With that he brings his mace down on the back of Brilliance's head, and the boy crumbles to the ground. The cannon fires and the phones on the other side of the room begin ringing off their hooks. Both of the tributes from District One have been killed within the first two days by the same boy, I don't believe anything like that has ever happened before.

"I've got a pledge for four thousand!" One of the phone monitors calls, typing it into the computer in front of her. The number appears in the top left corner of the screen.

"I've got ten thousand over here!" A man yells excitedly, punching it into his own computer. The number before me is edited, and I smirk. Fourteen thousand in the second day, at this rate I just might be able to get Darren his pick axe. Things continue this way for hours, people calling and calling to pledge their money to Darren. By lunch time the pot has jumped up to Fifty Thousand, and I know I will be able to get Darren some lifesaving things.

I lean forward and place my elbows on my knees, covering my mouth as I watch Darren walking through the forest. He has now killed four tributes; he is in the lead for most kills. Two days, four children, he is unstoppable and that is what I am afraid of. I imagine Seneca Crane in the Arena Room right now, planning something devious for him. They always try to take down the unstoppable ones; it makes for more interesting television. I run my hands over my face; they should be safe for now. Darren killed Brilliance, and Alice found water. The Capitol should be entertained enough, I doubt they will be flooding the Arena or setting it on fire today. So I stand, stretching my back as I look at the other in the room. "I'm going for a walk, if anything happens find me." I say to no one in particular as I make my way towards the door, stepping into the brilliant sunlight of the court yard.

I shield my eyes for a moment as I step through the door and close it behind me. I hadn't even noticed how dark it had been in there. I stretch as I walk, I won't have much time to myself so I intend on getting out all the cramps in my muscles while I can. My exercise is stopped short, however, when my eyes fall on Cinna sitting on a metal bench in the middle of the court yard with his head in his hands. I tilt my head to the side, to be showing his emotions out in public is so unlike him my stomach begins knotting. I feel dread grab me, whatever has happened must be horrible to have him in such a state. I rush towards him and drop myself onto the bench beside him; he doesn't even look at me. "Cinna?" I ask, and he cringes at the sound of my voice. "Cinna, what's wrong?" He shakes his head and I touch his shoulder.

"I just got off the phone with President Snow." Cinna whispers and my blood turns to ice in my veins. "He asked me, personally, to design your wedding gown." For a moment I don't say anything, what in the world can I say? Part of me wants to believe that Snow had picked him to be cruel, that he somehow knows about Cinna and I's relationship and is punishing him, but in all reality it is probably much simpler, much less devious. There isn't a single stylist in the Capitol better than Cinna, no one can even compete. My wedding will be the event of the century, or so people are claiming, so Snow would want me in the most stunning gown possible. Who better to create a stunning gown than the man who made me the girl on fire?

"I'm sorry." I don't know what else to say, but Cinna simply sits up and pushes his brown hair back. He turns those sea green eyes on me and I can see the wall, the mask he puts up whenever he's feeling something he doesn't want anyone, not even me, to see.

"Don't worry about it, Kat." He says with a smile as he pats me knee. "I'll be sure to make it the most amazing garment I've ever created." He grins and kisses my cheek before standing and walking away with tight ridged steps. I want him to stay, to talk to me about everything that is happening and how we will fix this. I want him to help me find a way out, I want him to hold me, I want to call out to him but I let him walk away instead. Peeta was always good with words, he could make anyone do anything, I hardly ever have the words to say anything at all. I sit there on that metal bench for at least ten minutes, just staring into nothing. I wish Snow had told me which Capitol pig had bought my life, because at the moment I would have a few choice words for him. Perhaps, once we were married, I could simply annoy him until he wanted nothing more to do with me. Then again, that would probably end horribly for my family, if not for all of District Twelve. It's not hard to imagine Snow taking his anger out on all of them should I not prove to be completely obedient.

I laugh bitterly, looking down at my hands. Obedient, like a dog. I sit when I'm told, I speak, I fetch, and when necessary I roll over. It's sickening, it is absolutely disgusting, but what else can I do? Snow keeps me on a very short leash, dangling all the things I love in front of me. It would be so easy for him to take all of it away. What little I have can easily be destroyed, and he knows it. Everyone in Panem thinks the life of a Victor is an escape from poverty, a blessed life, but in reality it is slavery. They take everything that makes you you and crushes it beneath their boots. The mold you, pulling and twisting and pushing until you come out sparkling, shining, Capitol.

"Miss Everdeen," a voice behind me says excitedly and I turn to find a young Capitol girl with bright yellow hair behind me. She must be younger than I am; I wonder how she landed such a prestigious position. Fetching me is very high up the corporate ladder, after all.

"Did something happen?" I ask, and she nods with a bright smile, a bright blue smile.

"Alice just stumbled upon the boy from Four!" I jump up and push my way past the girl, nearly knocking her off her feet. I enter the room just in time to hear Alice scream.

I snap my eyes to the screen, the boy from Four has left a long cut on her arm but she is out of his reach. "Get down from there!" He growls, but Alice shakes her head, trying to clutch the branch she is on and her bleeding arm at the same time. "I can just come up there, you know." He mocks, but Alice retreats higher into the tree.

"Then come up here." She snaps bravely but I can see the tears in her eyes that he cannot. "Aren't you supposed to be with the other Careers anyway?" She growls, and he shrugs his shoulders.

"Not much of a Career pack this year." He states, and I furrow my eyebrows, no Career pack? It is completely possible that he is trying to trick her but when I glance at the mini map I see that there really is no cluster of red dots moving through the Arena. "After that boy from your District, the big stupid one, killed Carot Brilliance took off after him and, let's face it, none of us really want to have to deal with that monster." He says as he leans against the tree, looking up at Alice with a slick smile. It almost makes me want to walk into the District Four viewing room and smack Finnick, he's obviously been giving the boy pointers.

"So where's the girl from yours, then?" Alice asks, obviously trying to keep him talking. She's trying to think of a plan, but even I can't see one that will help her escape.

"Flow and I have never really gotten along." He says with a shrug. "We split up right away. What's your name again?" I glare at the screen; he knows her name, any decent Career would be sure to know the names of his competition.

"Alice."

"Well, Alice, why don't you come down and we'll see if we can make an… arrangement." His smile is deadly, and I pray Alice isn't stupid enough to fall for his charms.

"Not likely." She replies quickly, and I grin. As long as she stays up high he won't be able to get her. He's too bulky, and she's too quick. She'll be able to move through the forest from branch to branch with no problem, but I doubt he will have the same luck. The boy, whose name I think is Rider, sighs and shakes his head.

"That's a shame." He says as he surveys the tree. "I guess I'll have to come up-"

"Hey Rider, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" A voice from behind a tree growls, and I narrow my eyes in confusion. Darren steps out, his weapons in his hands. Rider takes one look at Darren and takes off in the opposite direction. Darren doesn't even glance up Alice's tree before hauling off after him. What in the world was he doing there? Alice had been far ahead of almost all the others, and yet now they were suddenly all converging on each other? I move closer to the map and take a closer look at it, usually by now the Tributes would all be spread out over a great distance. I touch the screen and rotate the picture, causing the minimap to swivel on a fixed point. It takes me a moment, but when I notice it I hiss.

"Those bastards." I turn the map a few other directions just to make sure what I'm seeing is right. When I noticed Alice was moving downhill I failed to notice that the entire Arena was sloped downward, though the sides are at an angle like a funnel. All the tributes will naturally want to walk in the same direction towards the same fixed point. Just outside of the trees, at the bottom of the funnel, is a large open area. They want the final show down to be there, in that grassless stone area, and it is easy to see why. Jutting out in the center of the circle is a great stone pillar with large doors all the way around it. That is where the mutts are coming from, and when they all get there I can only imagine they will open the flood gates and let all the mutts into the Arena at once.

This year the blood bath at the Cornucopia wasn't enough for the game makers. They want this game to be quick and gruesome, and some vain voice in the back of my head whispers that it is because Snow wants the Capitol to spend less time on the games and more time on me. With the speed in which this game is progressing I'll be surprised if it lasts more than a week.