Even without the image of Shade's severed body and Cashmere's mangled one, night came about on a sour note for Haymitch. He had fooled Brutus, maybe even Cobalt for the moment, but Enobaria was in no way buying his ruse and she confronted him on it as soon as it was time to divide forces to look for water. Brutus went off on his own while Sickle and Cobalt took a diagonally upward route, leaving Haymitch to team up with his least favorite person in the arena. As soon as the two of them were out of sight and sound of the others Enobaria drew her sword on him but he stepped nimbly out of reach and went only for his knife, a much less threatening weapon to have in this situation and one that spoke of defense rather than threat.

"Alright, Abernathy, what are you playing at?" she hissed.

"I'm playing the same game you are, Enobaria, the Hunger Games."

"Oh, are you? I find that hard to believe after your little stint on the walkway and the fact that you dragged Cashmere out of the jungle out of the goodness of your heart."

"I did what any other human would do."

The slander to her morals angered her, that much was clear, but Haymitch could only imagine how difficult a time Peeta must be having trying to find sponsors for him when he was not making his intentions apparent by going against everyone. He had supposedly abandoned Katniss and the others, exposing them to the Career group, recovered Cashmere, saved Cobalt and threatened him in one go, and now he was being confronted by Enobaria.

Keep them guessing.

"Not any other human, Abernathy," said Enobaria, flicking her tongue out between her fangs. "Only those who are craven enough to use dead bodies as shields."

Knowing that he was pressing his luck against her, that she outmatched him, Haymitch still gave a curt reply of, "I wonder if it's considered more cowardly to use a dead body as a shield than to have been the one to slay the body while it lived to accomplish one's own ends?"

It was very lucky then, or perhaps not, that at that moment Brutus rejoined them, hauling a very haggard and bruised-looking Chaff by the scruff of his neck as a broken leg trailed uselessly behind him. Haymitch could not betray any emotion here, not now, not with Enobaria moments away from slaying him should he say one more unfavorable thing.

"Sneaky son of a bitch nearly had me, but there's only so much you can do with one hand," said Brutus to which Enobaria laughed appreciatively at Chaff's expense.

If he had two hands your cannon would have already fired, Brutus.

Chaff made no motion to acknowledge Haymitch, for which he was grateful, but they both knew that there was only one way this would end.

"Where are the other four?" asked Enobaria. "District 10, Blight, and Katniss, where are they?"

Chaff said nothing, just as Lorn had and fearing that he would have to watch another ally die by Career hand in one day, Haymitch started downhill at an angle, heading back to their camp.

"Haymitch, where do you think you're off to? Don't you want to see this?"

Careful now, careful.

"In all honesty, Brutus, I've personally had enough for one day, especially after that business with Cashmere and Shade. I don't quite have the stomach for this sort of thing like you two do, but I'd give him a clean death if I were you. Your sponsors may appreciate that."

His own sponsors, if they supported Chaff as well, would be withdrawing any gifts to him as he walked away from Chaff, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. Moments after he was out of sight of District 2 he heard the cannon and thanked the higher being that the Careers had heeded his advice and not played with their food before killing it. The cannon brought Haymitch to the decision that he would say a final goodbye to Chaff and not for the support of sponsors. Chaff was his last true friend, the one he had never doubted and Haymitch had let him die to save face—to save Katniss.

He doubled back, taking a rounded route so that he would not cross paths with the Careers, and waited as long as he dared before making his way back to the spot where Chaff had been slain. The hovercraft had not yet come and so Haymitch made his way over to where Chaff lay, pierced by Enobaria's sword. Of course it had been Enobaria, just to spite Haymitch. Now the Careers were two for two in killing his allies. He washed some of the mud from Chaff's face with a bit of water from a nearby puddle and covered the gaping hole in his chest with one of the giant leaves hanging from the trees overhead.

What could he say now, what could he do to let Chaff's district know that Haymitch respected and cared for their victor to the end? Nothing. He could do nothing. He grasped Chaff's clammy hand, squeezed it, and laid it across his chest to join the other.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and left without another word.

Back at camp, the others had regrouped and there was an all-knowing look in Enobaria's eyes. Cobalt was still mostly dead to the world around him as he sat hunched over with his head almost between his legs. Sickle stood watch and only briefly looked Haymitch's way when he returned. Brutus broke up a slab of some sort of hardened meat and vegetable mixture from his pack and shoved it into his mouth hungrily. Sifting though his own meager supplies, Haymitch took a small handful of dried fruit and began to nibble on bits of it.

"I thought you headed back to camp before us, yet you returned after us," said Brutus through a mouthful of the slab mixture.

"Stopped for a leak," said Haymitch dismissively.

"A long leak," said Enobaria.

"Do you want details on my bladder and bowel schedules?" he snapped back.

"No, I want you to—"

The anthem cut her off and Haymitch took the opportunity to roll over onto his side and try not to gag on his own stench since they had found no fresh water and he had been highly unwilling to bathe in the water surrounding the Cornucopia after seeing the monster below take Shade. He was still mostly covered in mud and his hair had matted together with the caked-on filth of the jungle.

The others looked skyward to watch out of habit more than necessity because they all knew who had died today. Not one cannon sounded that was not in direct relation to the Careers. Had Haymitch still been with Katniss, he would be wondering who had died and how. It was surprising how the mystery was so easily solved when one ran with the Career pack. After the sky had gone dark again, Brutus called for first watch volunteers and Haymitch put his name in immediately. As expected, Enobaria offered to stay up with him.

"Wake me up for second shift," said Sickle, stretching out for a moment before curling up with his scythe held in close like a firstborn child. Cobalt went into the fetal position on a bed of moss and stared off into space.

And so they sat, visible to each other, but still somewhat facing outward, though if any of the others approached them, Haymitch would pretend to not see them. The others. How had Chaff gotten himself captured and what made him separate from the group? Was it part of the greater plan to protect Katniss, or had he somehow realized Haymitch's intentions and tried to find him? The possibilities were endless, the questions left unanswered. He was starting to see a pattern forming here where he did not interfere in the death of his fellow tributes, but at the time, not because he was thinking of his ultimate goal. His instincts begged him to flee or to do whatever it took to stay alive when faced with a threat. Katniss had not even crossed his mind as he let Lorn, Shade, and Chaff die. It was all selfish.

Peeta would have done something else, something that would have earned him a little grey parachute by now. But besides a bit of water at the moment, I don't need anything. Maybe Peeta's having the sponsors withhold any contributions for something that he knows or suspects is coming. Maybe—

"It's raining," said Enobaria.

Haymitch tried to look as if he had not been about to doze and cast his eyes up to the welcoming rainclouds gathering overhead. First thought told him to fashion a rain catch for the water, but as he glanced around at the supplies available to him, a drop landed on his knuckle. The skin there was one of the few bits washed clean of jungle muck due to Shade's panicked splashing in the water earlier. He raised his hand to eye level with the intention of licking the water droplet off, but even in the darkness, he sensed that something was wrong. The air did not have that sweet, damp smell, that freshness of a cleanse. A heavy, metallic smell lingered thick in the humidity. He licked the droplet off of his knuckle.

Blood.

"Get them up," he told Enobaria. "It's blood, get them up!"

He didn't know why, especially since it would do absolutely nothing against the rain, but Haymitch drew his sword as he went to arouse the others and Enobaria matched blades with him.

"No, you blockhead, I'm trying to help. Get that sword away from my face!"

"What're you yelling at now?" asked Brutus, sitting up groggily and holding his head.

"The skies are dousing us in the blood of dead tributes to enhance our morality, why do you think I'm yelling? Get your asses up and run, you idiots!"

"It's just blood; it can't hurt us," said Enobaria in a would-be calm voice but even as she said it the rain began to thicken and fall harder.

"You were saying?" Haymitch spat sideways to clean his mouth out, but more blood fell onto his exposed lips.

"Yeah, that's enough for me," said Sickle, and he took off left, hauling Cobalt to his feet to accompany him. Brutus prodded Enobaria into motion with the butt of his spear and then the two of them left Haymitch, ditching him out of complete disgust for this new horror. Wondering if Enobaria would try to inconspicuously get rid of Sickle or Cobalt when Brutus was looking the other way, Haymitch took off running. He had to expose her in the act this time because there were less and less pawns between the two of them the further into the Games they got.

The rain blinded them, coating their vision in red. Haymitch breathed through his nose, inhaling the awful scent, but he had no choice unless he wanted to swallow blood by the mouthful by keeping it open. Sickle and Brutus, despite their size, were the fastest runners and easily outstripped them so that they were lost in the scarlet darkness. Haymitch realized the danger of being unable to see Enobaria at this point and kept his sword at the ready. His ankle snagged on something slippery and he hit the jungle floor on his face, tasting the hot red liquid on the tip of his tongue. Blinking rapidly, he raised his head to find that a tree with leaves large and thick enough to blot out the downpour stood above him. Not ten feet away Enobaria was swiping her sword at Cobalt who was only barely managing to dodge with that vacant look in his eyes.

At the moment, Haymitch could not say which one he wanted to triumph over the other and so he remained still, waiting. Enobaria sliced open a cut along Cobalt's leg and he cried out but blocked what would have been the mortal blow with the baton he had picked up at the Cornucopia. She swung the hilt of her sword overhead and clubbed him across the temple so that his legs gave out on him and he fell, stunned.

"Shame your whore girlfriend didn't put up the same fight," said Enobaria and stabbed. Only, Cobalt had moved. His eyes came back to life at the insult to Shade and he struck Enobaria in the knee, caving in her kneecap so that it snapped backward and she shrieked in agony. He was on her in seconds, holding her down with one hand and yanking her head back by her hair so that the blood rain poured down relentlessly on her face.

Haymitch couldn't help himself and made a face. Waterboarding in and of itself was a horrible form of torture, but add in blood to that and it was downright sick. Even with it being Enobaria who was fully deserving of her impending fate, this was no way to die.

"Scream like she did," said Cobalt, his voice loud enough to carry to Haymitch, but oddly muted. "Call to Brutus and see if he saves you!"

Enobaria was choking, her fingers scrabbling uselessly at Cobalt's collar and her feet hammering on the ground.

"She deserved better and you didn't even give her a chance, you little bitch! See if anyone mourns for you, damn you!"

Her resistance lessened as her lungs filled with blood and she began to drown in a shower of red. This time, however, Haymitch could not tear his eyes away, though he did not hold them on her. He watched Cobalt's eyes, as electric blue as the color for which he was named and knew that something inside of his former ally had snapped.

The cannon went off and Cobalt released Enobaria whose face was grotesquely painted in mud and blood, much like Haymitch's at this point. Cobalt gathered up his baton where he had dropped it and then, as if sensing him, spun around to face Haymitch who had just regained his feet. Uncertainty lay between them. Would one attack the other or would they keep their temporary, fake alliance for the sake of weeding out who they intended?

"You saw?" Cobalt asked.

Haymitch nodded.

"You'd have done the same thing if she had killed Katniss—"

"I'm not complaining, don't defend yourself. She killed one of her own and Shade. She was a bigger threat to me than Brutus. I won't thank you for killing her, but it does make things easier for me."

Cobalt hesitated at Haymitch's reaction, which could not have been what he was expecting. "She-she killed Shade," he said. "I had to—I had to."

"Let's try to find the giants," Haymitch suggested. He was willing to pretend that this had never happened providing that Cobalt dropped it right here and now.

"Yeah…right."