Sorry for taking forever. Writer's block/Working on a oneshot for another series. I know I owe you guys 3-4 chapters, so I'll try and update twice tonight.


I lead Breia away from everything, back in a random direction. We walk in silence for hours, but my mind is busy. I keep replaying that scene in my head, trying to figure out what else I could have done.

It hurts to know I have blood on my hands.

Another normal day in the Hunger Games, just taking a stroll after murdering some kid I don't know. I shake that thought out of my head. At least I'm off screens for a while. That entire battle would have been on display for Panem, but our boring trek in silence won't be.

I wonder what my mother and sister thought of that.

Karalynn Jackson. Focus. I shake my head, muttering to myself. I was walking too loudly, not paying attention to my surroundings. Glancing back at Breia, I saw her eyes were wide and she was gripping her knife tightly. Shame floods my face. "Sorry. I don't know what got into me."

Breia smiles a little. "We both do, Kara. It's alright." I smile back at her, and we keep walking aimlessly. Somewhere, anywhere, to keep living for another day.


We've been walking for another hour or two when we find it. The sun's going down, and I almost trip over the remains of a fire. It hadn't burned out too long ago, but was hard to see in the fading light. A Tribute's campsite.

"The cannon earlier." Breia's voice is trembling, and I glance at her.

There's blood on the ground. Someone died here, in a pool of their own blood. There are splatterings of blood elsewhere, gashes in the dirt, footprints. A fight.

I kneel next to the blood on the ground, more to keep myself from falling over than to examine it. "It was bloody. Whatever happened."

Breia finds the carving in the hard, cold dirt. Someone had carved a jagged 'C' in the ground.

"Ciela?" My voice catches in my throat.

"Not her style. She's sneaky. The footprints are too big, too heavy. No... C is for Careers."

Breia's standing across from where I'm kneeling on the ground, staring at her feet. Suddenly, faster than I can react, she whips around and throws her knife at a nearby tree. It lodges, stuck fast. My ally slumps to the ground, sobbing into her hands.

I make my way beside her, putting my arm around her shoulders. "It's not fair, Kara. It's not fair! Some kid, some innocent little kid, was killed here because the rich Districts brainwash their kids to be killers. Because the Capitol enjoys seeing us suffer." She's yelling, and I'm too stunned to stop her. Somebody is going to find us.

"It's just not fair! There are twenty-four families out there each hoping their kid is going to come back. And we're going to die, because we never stand a chance. They took away your twin, turned him into a monster, just to hurt you. They make us kill each other, and it's tearing apart those of us with hearts, and all we can do it stand here and look at the blood and be afraid.

Screaming, sobbing, Breia tears herself from my grasp and turns her head up to the sky. To address the Capitol. "You enjoy this! You enjoy watching us die! It's not fair!"

I do the only think I can think of. I stand up, take one step, and grab my ally by the shoulders roughly. "Breia Watson," I hiss, "Get a grip. We're going to have the entire Capitol up in arms against us now." I lower my voice, but keep the anger. To the audience, I'm reprimanding her. Good District girl. Only she can hear the words under the anger. "I know it's not fair. But it's where we are, and we need to survive as long as we can. We want to see another day."

Tears are streaming down her face when Breia steps away from me. Retrieving her knife and pack, she turns to me again. "We should get moving. Everybody knows where we are now."


The attack I've been waiting for comes in the middle of the night.


Reviews make unexpected dramatic things happen. Then again, I'm adding those anyways. So, reviews make me post faster?