Sorry guys, for the wait. What's this? 605 views and only 10 reviews? We'll have to fix that somehow…Anyways, here's the new chapter! ;) Rae=Asterae's abbreviation…DUH.

I feel so calm. The sun is going down and the air smells good. I nibble on my liquorice and stare at Rae. She's making me a crown! She hums my song for me. I close my eyes and listen intently. I hear her scream and I scream too. I feel her shake and twitch, I do too. She's wet with something warm and gooey. I can't open my eyes, they're so heavy.

"Asterae!"

"You are going to have to walk home, Chicory."

I hear a howl, a wolf. I feel the chill of the moonlight and the fear of the night. Wake up.

I slide off the edge of my bed, my head hitting the floor with a sickening thud.

"Ouch!" I curse and wrap my arms around my head, rocking gently.

Alfee whines and I sit up on my knees and let him lick my face. Calm down Chicory, it's just a bad dream.

I stretch as far as I can and sigh in relief. Then I'm hit by reality; I'm entering the arena today. My heart sinks to my feet and I go cold. I breathe rapidly, then, trying to calm down, take deep soothing breaths. In, out.

I slide one foot off the bed and touch the floor. It's cold and I shiver. I slide my other foot and get up slowly. I'm not exactly in the mood for hurrying up, especially with what awaits me outside my door. The Shower girl walks out of my bathroom carrying towels and smiles lightly at me. For a moment, I feel like she wants me to know something but she simply puts down her load and closes the door behind her.

In the dining area, I stuff myself until my belly is round and I don't want to get up anymore. I give Alfee as much as he wants, too. Deanen looks better for worse, what with his hair being so messy from sleep, his eyes half open, and…slightly pink? Oh no. He can't have cried, he's…older. Stronger. I guess he has reason to, considering he has a wife and baby back home, whom he might not see again. But me, what do I have back home? A broken mother, two good friends, the bits and pieces of my shattered childhood and the memories of my very dead sister and father, starvation, cold. Dying might actually sound kinda good right now.

I shake my head. No. I shouldn't think like that.

"Come along now dearies! Flint and I will escort you to the Hovercraft that will bring you to the Launch Room," Leefa exclaims excitedly. As usual.

She hops out of the room to go get something I think, all the while speaking to herself about how adorable our arena clothes might be. They'll probably get dyed red after the Bloodbath anyway so why make a fuss?

Flint turns to us before with exit the apartment.

"Listen up; when the signal goes off, run like hell. Grab stuff if you can but RUN. You hear me? Run. Try to get on higher grounds and find a reliable source of water," he spills all this out at the last minute, though he's told us before, repeatedly. It's like he thinks we forgot to study for a test and he's spewing all the answers in a jumble. Still I'm grateful; it means he cares, even if not much. It also means he'll try to keep us alive in the arena.

"I know this sounds cheesy, but I know you can make it. Good luck to the both of you," he finishes.

Deanen and I nod solemnly. Maybe Flint wasn't the bad guy I'd made him out to be.

"Leefa," I whisper as we approach the elevator, "How are we getting Alfee to the Launch Room?"

"Don't you fret dearie. All has been planned. Alfee will be traveling in the same Hovercraft as your prep team, Nano, Flint and I will be traveling in. I'll personally make sure he gets to you for the launching." She smiles widely. "I can't wait to see how everyone will react!"

I relax. Alfee will be with me.

In the elevator, I avoid the other tributes eyes. They seem to glare at me but I can't tell for sure. Anyway, they don't talk to me so I don't talk to them.

I briefly see Abbye, down in the lobby, before Leefa hurries me along to the runway area. She looks queasy and nervous, just like I am. I wave at her and she waves back, with a small smile. I mouth 'meet you later' and she gives me a thumbs up.

The seats of the Hovercraft have many belts to keep me in place during the ride. We are seated in our district's order. Abbye looks a little green. I don't think she's getting used to the transportation in the Capitol. A woman gently grabs my arm. I see she's holding some kind of gun and my heart goes faster.

"What is that?" I swallow.

"Your Tracker." She says emotionlessly and sticks the gun in the inside of my forearm. It shoots a tracker right under my skin; it stings and I feel a bulge.

Oh. Obviously.

My prep team braids my hair for me, tucking every strand of hair tightly and neatly. It looks a little funny, because it's a braid made of three smaller braids. Odd but efficient since it makes my hair much shorter than it is. They send me to Nano, whose been examining my uniform- to deduce as much as he can about the arena, and hug me in turn.

Nano holds up the clothes to me. An undershirt and underpants made of a thin material, a dark shirt and dark trousers, a jacket, woollen socks and leather boots that lace up to my knees. Alfee jumps at me. He's probably been anxious during the entire ride here. I absentmindedly stroke his fur.

"It reflects body heat, though they usually always do. You've got a waterproof jacket and good boots for running, that's as much as I can say," he says, almost apologetically. I look at him straight in the eyes.

"Thank you, Nano." He smiles meekly at me and he turns away as his eyes go shinny with tears.

"I know you'll be great out there, and as kind as your sister. I hope I see you again, Chicory." He sniffs as a female monotone voice rings in the room.

"Attention all tributes. Please enter the Launchers."

I swallow and enter without looking back. Before the glass window slides close, I whisper;

"Bye Nano. Thanks for the pretty dresses."

Like the elevator, the Launcher slowly lifts me and Alfee up. It's pouring above ground and I can hear the distant grumbling of a storm. I look up to a dark- almost black- sky. I close my eyes and I can smell the sweet air. Trees, wet ground, rain. It calms me. I'm afraid of thunder and I hope I don't get one of my panic attacks while running to safety. My eyes try to see everything at the same time, so much that my head registers it all in a jumble; a few backpacks lay in the wet grass. We, the tributes, are placed in a semi-circle, with the Cornucopia in the middle. I see some of their stares. I see all the weapons; knives, swords, spears, maces and…A bow! My bow. I see thick trees, old and huge. I see blue mountains on the horizon. I hear rapids, I think. But it could just be the rain pouring. Alfee squirms but I hold him tightly in place on the pod. If he steps off before the countdown is over, the mines buried in the ground will detonate and blow up.

60…

59…

58…

57…

My heart pounds as thunder roars with chilling might. I bite my lip so I don't scream.

51…

A flash of blue light splits the shadowy sky. A lightning bolt.

44…

43…

42…

Abbye looks at me and nods. I nod back. As soon as we hear 0, she'll bolts for supplies and I'll cover for her. I hope we get the bow. I'm reminded of Nate, his last words to me before they took me to the train. If you can, try to get your hands on a bow. Find water and shelter but really try to get a bow because you know how to use it. I hope I see you again Nate.

26…

More thunder, more lightning. The rain pours over me. Luckily, my waterproof jacket keep me very dry.

15…

14…

13…

Thunder roars suddenly in my ears. No, not thunder. A tribute, the boy from District nine, I think. He's slipped off his pod. Chunks of earth and flesh fly in the air. Something lands near my own pod. I glance at it and gag. It's the boy's hand still clutching his District's token, a pin shaped like flower, no, a sun. I look away so I don't vomit. My own tokens hang on my body, my sister's necklace and my earring. Alfee howls loud and long.

5…

4…

I shift my feet, getting into position to run.

3…

2…

1…

This is it.

0…

I leap off my pod. The air chills my wet skin. I run as fast as I can towards Abbye. I grab a pack while running and sling one strap over my shoulder. Abbye's at the Cornucopia. I'm just a few feet away. Nobody seems to be trying to stop us, probably because they're in shock about the explosion or just surprised about Alfee. Abbye has a backpack and is stuffing a sheet of plastic with knives and a small hatchet as well as the food in arm's reach. I grab the bow.

"Let's go!" I say as loud as I dare above the roaring sky. We turn to the woods and bolt as fast as our legs can carry us. Alfee leads the way. "Follow Alfee!" I yell. Another roar of thunder stops me in my tracks. It's so close. I've got splashes of mud on my trousers. I hear Penny's father yell.

"Stay in that filth where you belong!"

"Chicory!" Abbye yells.

I stare at the lightning bolt, though it only last for a split second, that falls on a tribute running into the woods, to Abbye's right. The tribute is on the ground, still but spasms run through her body. I smell singed hair…and flesh.

"Chicory!" There's a sharp pain in my hand. I snap out of it; Alfee's biting my right hand. He barks at me and I jolt back into running. I hear something fly near my left ear and swing me head to the right. A feathered dart sticks out of the muddy earth. I take my chances and glance over my shoulder. The girl from District 2 glares at me in frustration loading a tube with another dart.

I keep running, zigzagging slightly in case she tries to fire at me again.

We're in the woods, east of the Cornucopia. Abbye stops abruptly in front of me and I bump into her.

"What?"

I look down and see a river. It must be at least twenty feet long, and very deep. The currant is far too strong for us to cross it. I look around for a bridge of sorts and notice a fallen tree. I point it out to Abbye and we go to it as quickly as we can. Alfee goes first, treading carefully and hops onto the other side of the river. The tree looks sturdy enough but it creeks a little under my feet. As I make it to the other side I see a boy, the one from 7 I think, charging through the brush. He maybe fifty feet away at most.

"Come on, Abbye!"

While she moves as fast as she can without slipping and falling to her death he's getting closer. I see a glint near his hand; he's wielding an axe. My right hand, which has stopped bleeding, is gripping my bow. I quickly fumble to get an arrow from my quiver and string it. I breathe in deeply and think of it as if I'm back in the woods with Nate and we've spotted a deer.

I pull back the arrow. Aim. And Let Go.

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