Author's Note: I've decided to switch back and forth between Katniss and Peeta's Point of View, at least for this part of the story, to make it clearer when something happens in the Games. Enjoy :)
** Some mature language in the chapter. **

Peeta Mellark

How did I end up here? This whole place smells artificial, too sweet, as though they're trying to mask the smell of death and decay. It's easy to push all the blame on Katniss, because odds are I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her, but how could I do that, when all she's ever done is offer me love? She never wanted this to happen, never saw this coming, and all I can do now is try to reciprocate what she did for me two years ago. I'll try my best to make it back to her, no matter what it takes.

The initial plan Haymitch and I worked out didn't involve me having a group of five other people to look after, but I guess something is better than nothing. It also didn't involve me saving my District partner from certain death, but when it comes down to it, how could I just sit back and let her die?

After wandering through the woods for awhile, we eventually come across her alliance. The group is motley at best, most of them being scrawny and malnourished, and as we come into view I'm not quite sure what to do. Introduce myself and hope they don't stab me?

I hardly have time to speak before Orchid addresses them. She places her hand between my shoulder blades in what I assume is supposed to be a comforting or confidence inspiring gesture, but all it does is make my skin scrawl. "This is Peeta. He's from my District. He saved my life back there, so I invited him to join us. He's strong, so he'll have no trouble pulling his own weight."

I expect there to be some sort of outburst, vote, or at least mild dissent, but to my surprise everyone seems to just nod in acceptance. In the distance, cannons are still going off. I wonder how many of us will even survive the bloodbath, much less the first day. So far I've counted ten.

There's a tug on my shirtsleeve and I look down to find a small little girl with brown, shoulder length hair looking up at me. She's got a whimsical, innocent quality to her, and if I didn't know better I'd say her size put her at about ten years of age. How is it possible for someone this small, this innocent, to end up here? "I'm Kia Eunice. Welcome." She's the first to speak with me, but once she does it the rest seem to follow in her wake.

Over the course of the next hour or so, as we set up some shelter, put ourselves a good distance away from the Cornucopia, and take inventory of supplies, I learn about my new alliance. They met during training, each boasting a separate set of skills. They only had one thing in common- none of them would have any hope of surviving the games on their own. It only made sense that they would band together to support each other during the first stretch.

The more I learn about them, the more I start to doubt my ability to kill them when the time came. And if I can't kill them, how will I ever have any hope of seeing Katniss again? This whole thing is a mess, and I desperately want to regret saving Orchid and getting tied up in this, but I just can't. If I had let her die, I wouldn't have been any better than the person trying to kill her. Whether or not I survive, I refuse to change for the sake of entertainment.

The alliance is pretty well rounded, with a good mix of brains and brawn. Kia Eunice is fourteen, from District Six. Years of malnourishment and factory work on parts for cars, trains, and other forms of transportation have left her in dull form. Her brown hair falls flat against her head, her skin is pale white, even yellowish, and her brown eyes seem empty and dull. But despite that she has a charming, pixie like perception of the world. She's the youngest of the group.

Willow Sterling is seventeen, from District Seven. We talk as we take inventory, and I find that she's almost the exact opposite of Kia. She stands as tall as I do, and moves gracefully among the trees, as though she were one herself. There's a quiet, yet assertive power to her, and she commands respect with everything she says and does. She has long dirty blonde hair falling modestly in a ponytail down her back, and piercing green eyes that I find it hard to look away from. Her quiet sense of humor and unassumingly smart way of speaking make her a pleasant person to work with. It doesn't take long for me to decide that Katniss would like her.

Eventually, Orchid sends me off with the boy from District Ten to scavenge parts for a makeshift shelter. He doesn't speak much, but what he does say has a twang, and I find his accent says more about him than anything else. Eventually I learn that his name is Stetson Grady, and he comes from a farming family. It explains his easy nature and muscular stature. He keeps his hair short and above his eyes, and I can tell he looks at the world in a simple, easily defined way. It's easy to be jealous of the carefree, black and white way he sees things, especially in a world where everything is so complicated. He's bigger than me, and eighteen years old, making him the largest and one of the oldest. As hard as I try, I can't see myself winning a fight with him, if it ever came down to it.

Lastly, I meet the boy from District Four. He's not very tall, which is probably why he wasn't admitted into the Career Pack, but he makes up for it in brains and muscle. He greets me with a smile and a handshake. "Alejandro Marine, pleasure to meet you." It's startling, almost scary, to meet someone with the same explosive charisma as me, but I don't find him unpleasant. He's sure to be a Capitol favorite, with sun kissed black hair falling in ringlets to his chin, striking blue eyes, and an unparalleled sense of survival. "Peeta Mellark." He accepts me right away, immediately getting to work. For sixteen, he's fairly small, but he's not weak by any means. The Careers made a mistake.

We start a small fire before sunset and roast the bits of meat each of us managed to escape the bloodbath with. It's not much, but Stetson promises to set traps before dark, and for the first time all day I take comfort in knowing I won't be alone.

Darkness falls, and suddenly the sky is alight with Capitol anthem and the faces of the dead. The first face is one of the Careers, my kill. It's rare for someone like him to die on the first day. "You killed Reaper?" Alejandro looks at me with surprise. "Freakin' awesome." He laughs a little.

Both the tributes from Three are dead, as well as the girl from District Five. The boy from District Six is next, and everyone glances almost nervously at Kia. Did she know him? "Avion was nice." She murmurs once she notices the looks, "I didn't know him well. We worked in different factories."

Next up are both the tributes from District Eight. Willow seems to be both relieved and disappointed, and it's then that I remember the boy from District Seven. He's twelve, the youngest tribute in here. It's a miracle he survived the Bloodbath, and Willow must know this.

The girls from District Nine and Ten show up next. Stetson is silent. Lastly, the Boy from District Eleven appears, before the sky goes dark once more. "Only ten?" Willow mutters to herself.

I understand her confusion. Usually over half the tributes are claimed the first day. How could it be that only ten were lost to the bloodbath, not to mention the fact that over half of them drowned. The Careers aren't the danger they usually are, at least not this year.

Slowly, almost one by one, everyone falls asleep. Kia curls up in a ball at my side. Stetson wanders into the shelter, and Willow follows sometime later. Even Orchid manages to drift against a tree. "This whole thing is fucked." Alejandro whispers quietly from a foot away.

"You got that right." He looks briefly at the small little girl curled between us. She sleeps soundly, and I find it hard to believe she's only a year younger than Katniss was when she won her games. Kia hardly seems capable of taking care of herself, much less fighting her way through a death competition.

Alejandro shakes his head in the moonlight. "I mean, how long can someone like her really survive? And if she does, what's going to happen when the alliance breaks off?" He's right. What's going to happen to any of them when the alliance breaks off?

"I don't know. She kind of reminds me of my girlfriend's younger sister. So small. It's the protective instinct. But you're right. That kind of thing only lasts so long in the games."

Alejandro seems to think for a minute, fiddling with a stick in his hands. "I remember Katniss Everdeen's Games. I remember them going to District Twelve to film friends and family. And I guess I kept thinking, there's no way she' going to win. I guess I felt bad for you. You never think that it's going to be you in that situation… and then it is, and what do you do? I guess I feel like… I'm sixteen. I've barely lived. I'm healthy. I shouldn't have to come to terms with my death. Everyone is rooting for you, man. But how are any of us really going to do this?"

I don't have much of a reply to give him. I had allowed myself to believe I would have Katniss for the rest of my life. Was the rest of my life really only until my eighteenth birthday? Alejandro's words are dangerous. The Capitol doesn't like it when people question the games. Odds are it won't get aired, and I take comfort in that. He falls asleep soon after, and I'm left to my own thoughts, however grim they may be.

Eventually, I manage to drift off to sleep.

Sometime later, though it's unclear how long, a cannon goes off. I look around, counting the sleeping bodies I see, to find that none of them are harmed. Most of the group has been startled awake, and it's then that we hear loud, trampling footsteps off in the distance.

"Did you see that! Poor little kid, setting fires at night. Ha! I think he peed himself..." My whole body tenses up. Those are Careers. I know it. There's a hand on my shoulder, and I find Orchid looking as though she's about to scream. I can feel Kia trembling beside me. Do they have flashlights? Torches?

"Fuck, I can't see!" A loud, male voice bellows, but I can't relax. It wouldn't be too hard for them to stumble upon all six of us, and then what? Orchid begins to breathe loudly through her nose, as though it's taking everything in her not to make sound. If she screams, we're all dead. The footsteps grow louder as they crunch on branches, and with every step she seems to grow louder and louder.

"Hey watch it with the sword, Suede!" An irritated female voice, not far from where we are, begins to gripe. I can practically feel the rising hysteria radiating off of Orchid, and I do the only thing I can think to do. I pull her back against my chest where we sit, reaching one arm around her torso to hold her still and raising the other hand to cover her mouth before I start to rock gently back and forth.

"Shhhhh." She begins to relax against me, and slowly, the voices start to fade off in another direction. Once we're positive they're gone, Stetson and Willow offer to stay awake on watch. I'm too exhausted to protest, and slowly, we fall back asleep.

As I drift off, all I can think of is Katniss, and how I'd rather be in bed with her than with my back against a tree, and another shaking girl in my arms. Orchid doesn't move for the rest of the night, but I don't complain, because her trembling takes another half hour to subside. After it does, I don't have the energy to protest. I'll deal with all of it when I wake up in the morning.

Author's Note: Hello! I hope you enjoyed! Any feedback on the characters in the alliance would be great! What did you think of them, who are your favorite's etc. Any thoughts on Orchid? Thank you!

-Knifethrower