A.N- In this chapter, both the characters are thoroughly affected by the course of the Games. There's quite a lot of death scenes. Toward the end, both the characters are barely holding n to their sanity. Tell me what you think of it, folks! Enjoy reading!

Chapter 10-

Sam and I continued trekking until we were a decent distance away from the cornucopia. We both opened our bags to look at our haul. It consisted of two first aid kits, two sleeping bags, the four canteens we'd found earlier, a few packs of crackers and salted beef jerkies, two packs of dried fruit, a wire, a box of matches, a bar of soap and a couple of knives. We divided it equally between the bags and continued walking until it turned dark.

We climbed up a tree which provided decent coverage. Sam could only climb about 20 feet above the ground as the branches could no longer support his weight. I scaled another 5 feet and laid down my sleeping bag. I then pulled out a pack of crackers and climbed down to Sam's branch. We ate a couple of crackers for dinner when we heard the anthem begin.

I looked up at the sky and saw the photograph of the girl from District 3 projected on the night sky. So both the tributes from District 1 and 2 had survived then. I had hoped that Cato somehow might have died which was futile. The guy was a freaking tank of muscle mass! I wanted to cry when the photograph of the boy from District 8 was projected on the screen. I was the reason he was dead. If I hadn't buried that arrow in the flesh of his leg, he might have survived. Fighting back my tears, I looked up at the night sky to see the girl from District 10 being projected.

The anthem ended and the sky grew dark yet again. Thresh, Rue, Peeta and Katniss had all survived the bloodbath. I was happy that they hadn't died but knew that this increased the possibility of us having to meet them in the Arena. I didn't know if I'd be able to kill little Rue or kind-hearted Peeta. Shaking such thoughts away, I snapped back to reality. The temperature had dropped quite a lot.

Bidding Sam goodnight, I climbed back to my branch and snuggled into my sleeping bag. I closed my eyes and welcomed the foggy realms of sleep.

The next day was equally as tiring as the day before. Sam would not let me rest for long as he wanted to get to the edge of the Arena without confronting any other tributes. By evenfall, we found a stream. We followed the direction of the stream and found a waterfall. I felt quite dirty and sticky.

"Hey Sam! Let's take a bath." I said removing my jacket.

"So unguarded? No way in hell!" He said seething.

"Well Mr Overprotective, I feel dirty and it just happens that we have a bar of soap. We've been trekking almost non-stop since yesterday. Please?" I asked him making my irresistible puppy dog face.

"Fine!" He said and began removing his clothes as well.

We swam to the edge of the waterfall and began scrubbing our body of the dirt that had accumulated over the days. When I looked up, I saw a hole in the wall of the cliff. I hesitantly climbed up to it and saw that it was a cave. It was quite deep and dry. It looked like the perfect spot to camp in tonight. I showed Sam my discovery and he seemed quite impressed.

We wore our clothes again and I set up a few traps around the waterfall for food. We then climbed up to the cave with our bags on our backs. We made a meal out of sandwiching the dried fruit, beef jerky and the crackers together. I have to admit, it tasted pretty good! Finally, since every muscle of my body was screaming for rest, I fell asleep.

The next morning, we both decided to go check up on the traps we had set earlier. We were both walking through the forest quietly when I heard the snap of a twig. I instantly turned towards the direction of the sound to see the boy from District 10 throw his machete at me. I threw a knife at him within a split second and found myself being pushed towards the ground.

Once I got up from the ground, I saw that my knife had struck District 10 right between the eyes. I then turned to tell Sam of this when I saw him lying on the ground with the machete sticking out of his stomach. I had never felt so empty in my entire life. I had vowed to bring him back home and I had failed. I instantly rushed to his side.

"Sam! Please don't die on me! I'll stitch up your wound, I'll kill everybody else! I'll do anything! Please!" I sobbed.

"Hey! Don't cry! I vowed to protect you and I did." He removed his wooden bracelet from his left arm. "Wear this for me. Win the games for both of us. I love you, sister. Forever and always." He said cupping my face with his right hand.

"I love you too, brother." I said with tears streaming down my face.

He smiled and closed those forest green eyes I had become so familiar with over the past few days. I felt his chest stop rising and heard his canon go off. He was gone. My Sam was gone. He died for me. It should have been me, not him. I brought my face to his chest and began crying. It was entirely my fault.

I felt a hand on my shoulder comforting me. I lifted my head from Sam's chest to see Rue standing over me with tears in her eyes. She hugged me and let me cry into her shoulder.

"We should let the hovercraft pick up their bodies." Rue said gently.

I knew that I'd have to leave him. I removed my ruby ring and put it on his finger. Now, Sam would always have a piece of me with him and I would have a piece of him with me. I slipped his wooden bracelet onto my right wrist and gently kissed Sam's forehead.

With one last look at Sam, I walked away and let Rue's hand guide me. I felt so cold and empty. Rue led me into a hollow tree and held me tightly as I continued crying on her shoulder.

"It's my fault Sam's dead. It should have been me, not him." I sobbed.

"Gwen, I've known Sam only for a short while but I know he would do anything to protect you. He died peacefully because he knew he had just saved your life." Rue said gently.

I knew she was right. I gently nodded and began falling asleep.

Cato's P.O.V-

That night, we decided to go hunting. When I say hunting, I don't mean hunting game, I mean hunting other tributes. Glimmer kept boasting about how she tortured the boy from District 4 at the bloodbath. I remembered the boy; he was only 12 and had curly red hair. I pitied the fact that his life had ended before it had barely begun. I could tell Shelly wanted to rip Glimmer's head off but kept herself in control. I knew that at any minute she would snap and we'd be down by one member, maybe even two. So I changed the topic by enquiring about the hours left until sunrise. Clove then started recounting her experience in killing the boy from District 9. Hearing her excitement on how she tortured him threatened to bring my dinner up. But I knew I would look immensely weak if I did so. So I let my mind remember my childhood memories.

I remembered the time when Randall took me to a surprise picnic for my 6th birthday. He had blindfolded me and had led me to the valley where Mom and Lila were waiting for us. I slowly smiled at the memory and kept walking. Soon, we saw smoke rising not far from the place we were at. We quietly stalked into the direction of the fire and saw a small girl huddled near the fire. She had deep cuts on her right upper arm and her thigh. Her lips were blue and she was shivering violently due to the cold.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" I said with as much cruelty as I could muster.

The girl fearfully looked back and saw us. Her face paled as we drew near and formed a circle around her. She fell on her knees and began begging for mercy. It was a pitiful sight. I didn't want to take away her life, but I had no choice. I had to win this for my mother and Lila.

Glimmer, Clove and Marvel slowly tortured her by cutting her intestines out and had begun to cut her eye out too. Her screams were heart wrenching. I had turned my humanity off but I still wasn't as cold-hearted as them. Unable to stand any more torment, I shoved my broadsword deep into her stomach and pulled it out.

The rest of the pack rummaged through her pack but found nothing worthwhile.

"Better clear out before the body starts stinking!" Marvel shouted with a grin on his face. How could he speak of the girl's lifeless body as if it were a disgusting thing? She was a living being like us who ate, slept and breathed as the rest of us. I regretted my choice of volunteering. If I hadn't volunteered, maybe the kids I'd killed at the bloodbath would still be alive. If it weren't for my damn father!

Upon not hearing the canon, Lover Boy went over to check up on the body. I decided to go with him. We saw that she was still bleeding. She was suffering all this pain and agony due to me. I closed my eyes shamefully as Lover Boy cut her neck with a knife. This time, I knew she was dead.

"I saw what you did there." Lover boy said cautiously.

"I don't know what you mean." I said looking into his eyes. I answered his question through my eyes on whether I stabbed her with my sword due to mercy or not. He looked at me as though he suddenly began respecting me. He nodded at me with a smile and we began walking again.

We walked back to camp just in time for daylight. I crept into the tent I shared with Lover Boy and fell asleep only to be haunted by the desperate pleas of the dying girl from District 8.

The next day was basically spent sorting through the supplies and Bob, the boy from District 3 working on the explosives. Clove and Glimmer were glaring daggers at each other due to their advances at me. I spent most of the reminiscing my childhood memories. Is this how Randall felt during his games? Did he spend most of his time in the Arena viewing old memories in his mind to keep him sane? Did he miss us as much as I miss everybody? Smiling softly at the memory of holding Lila in my arms for the first time, I fell into dreamless, peaceful sleep.

We went hunting again the next day. We knew that if there was any more absence of deaths, the Game makers would set mutts upon us. Mutts are mutated animals made by the Capitol which are lethal and deadly. We began walking through the forest when I heard the soft footfall of steps. I signalled the pack to remain quiet while Marvel and I quietly stalked towards the direction of the footsteps. I saw the boy from District 6, the one I had argued with at the training centre, walking away from us with a machete in his right hand. He was yet to notice us.

"He's mine." Marvel said with a mad glint in his eyes. I knew that he would torture this boy until he would beg for death. He softly walked towards the boy until he held a knife to his throat. The boy surrendered as he had no choice and dropped his machete to the ground. Marvel tied his to a tree and began flaying him alive. He screamed and writhed in agony. The rest of the pack joined us and began cheering Marvel with exited expressions on their faces. Lover boy's face mirrored mine. After Marvel flayed most of the skin off of the boy's face, he cut his throat and the boy's cannon finally sounded.

Due to Marvel's torturing show, we hadn't noticed that it was pitch black. We huddled in a circle and made a fire. The anthem began playing and I looked up at the sky to see the boy from district 6 and Gwen's district partner being projected onto the sky. I wonder how Gwen's holding up, is she even alive? She had to be, her face wasn't projected on the night sky. Is she injured? I wonder how she's taking the news of her district partner's death; they seemed to be pretty close.

Setting Glimmer up for the first watch, I fell asleep only to be haunted by the blood curdling screams of the boy from District 6 and the girl from District 8.

I was woken up by being roughly shaken awake by Clove.

"Cato, wake up! There's a fire!"