Hello! This one is a little violent, but I tried not to make it too detailed—there are some violent actions, but no gory descriptions or anything.

Aurora, District 8

The sun has barely started to rise, but I can't stay sitting in bed any longer. I slide onto the cool wooden floor, slip my shoes on, and cast a glance at my two sleeping allies. A part of me knows I shouldn't be doing this—it's my turn to be on watch while they get some sleep—but they're safe indoors. This cottage is probably a reward for someone who has explored enough of the woods to find it. Besides, I'll be back before they wake up.

I slip out the door and close it softly behind me. I take a few steps into the woods, smelling the morning air and feeling the early sun on my face. As I stop and lean against a tree, I'm reminded of the morning of the reapings. It was almost exactly the same situation: I couldn't sleep, so I went out into the woods for comfort. And although I'm in an arena where I could be killed at any moment, I can't help but feel better out here alone. Few people are likely to be awake at this early hour, and I can collect some breakfast in peace.

I spend a few hours gathering some more food for us before I decide that it's time to head back to the cottage—my allies will be waking up soon.

Phillip, District 8

I slowly wake up to the sound of a floorboard creaking. I open my eyes, and it takes me a few seconds to realize that Aurora's bed is empty. I shoot straight up to a sitting position. "Tiana," I hiss sharply.

She quickly sits up as well, her wide eyes taking in Aurora's empty bed. She was supposed to be on watch. Did she see something outside? Did something happen to her?

All thoughts of her vanish as I realize why I heard a floorboard creak. A square of wood near the door has slowly started to rise up, as if something from below is pushing up a trapdoor.

I know Tiana is seeing it too when I hear her small intake of breath. We both continue to sit frozen as the square continues to rise until it falls all the way open. Nothing is there. Just a square hole leading to some dark area below the floor.

But after a few seconds, a small head appears. I grip my knife at my belt beneath the blankets as the head is followed by a set of shoulders and a small torso. A few moments later, another head and shoulders appear next to the first.

Two dwarves now sit staring at us two humans as we stare silently back. Finally, the first one climbs out of the hole completely and starts to move towards me, then stops again. I stare into its beady little eyes. There's no doubt about it: this creature has no good intentions.

It starts to move towards me again, so I yank out my knife as raise it over my head. The instant I do, all hell breaks loose.

The dwarf near me lets out a loud snarling, hissing noise, baring a row of huge pointy teeth as it lunges for me. I luckily manage to meet it with my knife as it soars through the air towards me, stabbing it in the chest and letting it drop to the floor. By this point, Tiana has scrambled out of bed and drawn her own knife, the second dwarf has climbed out of the hole, and more are following it.

"Look out!" I yell to Tiana as one lunges for her. She slashes at it, making it stagger back as a wound appears on its stomach. Another one is close behind. I move to get this one, but I'm distracted by two others heading for me. I'm forced to leave Tiana to fend for herself as I battle these two. As they both lunge for me, I managed to slice one's head off, but the other latches onto my left arm and won't let go. I bang it with the hilt of my knife over and over until it loosens its grip before I kill it.

I whirl around to see that Tiana has killed one dwarf, leaving three more. All three of them are closing in on her. I turn to a shelf of seven mugs behind me and hurl them at the dwarves, one by one. Only a few of them meet their targets, and none of them do anything to slow them down.

I lunge over the bed and try to get to her, but there's nothing I can do as all three of them lunge onto her at once, knocking her over and blocking her from view as they continue to claw and bite. She struggles and screams. I finally make it over the second bed and stab one of the dwarves in the back. It lies still, but so does Tiana. A cannon fires a few seconds later.

I just want to grieve, but before I can, the remaining two dwarves are on me. I kick one away, and it slumps on the ground. The other one has latched onto my already injured arm, and I yell out in pain as I stab at it until it falls to the floor, dead.

I fall to my knees. I'm trying to nurse my wounded arm when the dwarf I kicked recovers, lunges forward, and bites deep into my neck.

The dwarf backs away. I'm now fading fast. I desperately use the last of my strength to plunge my knife into its heart before I fall completely to the floor.

For a minute, all I can hear are my shallow breaths, and then, from the doorway, a wordless sound of shock, fear, and horror. I force my eyes open and see the beautiful Aurora as she takes in the bloody scene before her. Her eyes meet mine, and she seems to be moving towards me as my vision finally fades away.

Mulan, District 2

I pause again, my sword held ready at the smallest sound. Once again, it's nothing, and I move on.

This is nice. It's my first time being alone since the Games started. Today, instead of going out and searching in small groups, I convinced Shang to let me go out on my own. I can take care of myself, and I need some room to breathe. My allies are alright, but they're all a little bit crazy.

I run over the list of who could be out here. Seven tributes have died, and seven more are in our alliance, which leaves ten others. Oh, wait. Only eight others. I forgot about the two cannons this morning.

I wonder who those cannons were for. It could have been anyone, really. I know it wasn't any of my allies because we were all still together when they went off, but other than that, it could really be anyone. That girl from 3 and the pairs from 5, 6, and 8 are all fairly mediocre. And who knows how Hercules' partner and the other ones are doing.

Oh well. I guess I'll find out who's still alive tonight. Or if I run into someone else before then.

Speaking of. I freeze once again, but this time I know I'm not just being paranoid. Someone's there.

Someone huge. They lurk behind a tree, but the figure's huge shoulder sticks out in plain sight.

Maybe this isn't a tribute at all.

I'm more certain of this new theory when it steps out into plain view. It's not a tribute—it's an inhuman creature. It's a monster, about seven feet tall, with shaggy brown fur, two horns on its head, and two sharp teeth that protrude from its mouth.

A beast.

I hold my sword ready as it stalks towards me, and we size each other up. It lunges at me, but I'm ready. I swipe at it with my sword and leave a huge gash on one of its "arms." It roars in pain and immediately leaps back, hunched over and trying to nurse its arm. I don't waste any more time. I shouldn't be doing this alone. I whirl around and take off for our meeting spot.

Hercules, District 7

When I arrive back at our meeting point, Mulan and Rapunzel are there, talking quickly in hushed, urgent voices. They both look up when they see me coming. "What's going on?" I ask, worried.

Mulan shakes her head. "I don't want to explain it a bunch of separate times. The others should be back soon, then I'll explain."

One by one, the rest of the Careers arrive. No one seems to have seen anyone, but Mulan clearly has something important to tell us.

"There's a beast nearby," she says.

"What?"

"What exactly do you mean by 'Beast?'" Shang says.

"Just… I don't know, a beast. It's pretty tall, and it's got brown fur and teeth and claws and horns, and it can walk on two legs."

"So it's kind of shaped like a human?" I ask.

"I guess so," she says.

"So what happened?" Ariel asks.

"It tried to attack me, but I hit it with my sword and ran away."

"So it'll recover quickly," Shang says. Mulan nods.

"Wait, I'm confused, so what exactly did it look like?" Rapunzel wants to know.

"Um… Picture a huge person covered in fur, and a little hunched over, and horns here and claws here and teeth coming out here," Mulan says, pointing.

"So… But like, it looked like an animal, not a person? Like there was fur everywhere, like even on its chest and everything?"

"I guess so… Well actually, it was wearing some ripped clothes."

"What? What kind of clothes?"

"Well… I think a dark green shirt and black pants."

"You mean like our uniforms?" Rapunzel asks in shock.

"I guess so."

"Enough of this questioning," Shang says. "We have enough to be worrying about with other tributes, we don't need some monster in the way too. It sounds like if we all gang up on it, it should be easy to get rid of, and then we can go back to focusing on everyone else." Everyone nods in agreement and immediately starts making plans to hunt and kill the beast. I seem to be the only one who notices Rapunzel's concerned expression. She sees me watching her and pulls me aside.

"What's wrong?" I ask her quietly.

"Don't you think the beast could be one of the tributes?" she says.

"You think so?"

"It seems like it to me," she says, nodding.

"But what can we do?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't seem right to just gang up on them and kill them like they're some animal, right? I mean, if it is a tribute, then they've obviously gone through something terrible… I don't know. I just don't like this."

"Me neither, but I don't really see any way around it. I mean, tribute or not, they're still dangerous."

"I guess so," she says, but she's clearly not convinced.

Aladdin, District 9

Here goes nothing.

I dive into the river and begin to swim across. It immediately starts carrying me downstream, but I keep going. My head is shoved under a few times, but eventually, I make it to the opposite bank and scramble out of the water. Good thing I didn't drown.

Like Jas—

No. No no no. I can't keep letting myself dwell over that. Obviously I'm heartbroken, but it had to happen to at least one of us eventually. And I did all that I could. I didn't betray her or leave her alone or—

Pocahontas is staring me right in the face.

I pull out my knife but warily keep it lowered, watching her cautiously. She has a spear held in her hands. We begin to circle each other. I'm not sure what her intentions are, and she's obviously not sure of mine. Honestly, I'm not even sure what my own intentions are.

She suddenly looks away from me, whipping her head to the side to look for something she must have heard. I look in that direction too, wondering if this is some kind of trick until a huge bear emerges from the shadows.

We glance at each other as we both back away from the bear and, subconsciously, towards each other. As the bear lets out a huge roar and rears up on its hind legs, it's clear that Pocahontas and I are no longer worried about fighting each other as we both try to defend ourselves from this bear.

The bear drops back to four feet and leaps forward. Pocahontas swings her spear, and it ducks out of the way. I bash it with the hilt of my knife, and it stumbles back. It leaps towards Pocahontas and pins her against a tree. I lunge after it and cut into its paw. It drops its feet back onto the ground, freeing Pocahontas. In a rage, it stumbles towards me. I try to hold my knife up in defense, but I'm no match for it as it shoves me to the ground with all its strength and pins me down.

I can't move. Hot bear breath is being blown in my face, so I can't even breathe. I'm stuck there until Pocahontas leaps forward with her spear and stabs it into the bear's shoulder. The bear yelps and leaps back, stares at both of us, and then stumbles away.

We stare at each other in silence for a moment. Then, she just nods at me and takes off, disappearing into the woods.

Belle, District 6

The last bag hits the ground with a thump as Kristoff, finally satisfied with the small fire he's built, drops his things and sits with us. We all stare at the fire in silence for a moment as the arena grows darker. "This is nice," Anna says. We nod in agreement.

"I know I said this a lot today, but thank you again for saving me," I say earnestly.

"Don't worry about it," Kristoff says.

"No, I mean it. You could have just left me there. You could have made sure I was done for and not even worried about it. And you didn't have to let me stay with you afterwards either."

"Belle, we didn't just let you stay with us. We invited you to. You didn't even have to ask us!" Anna says, smiling.

"I know. You've been so nice to me, and you didn't even need to. I mean, we didn't even talk at all during training or anything."

"Isn't that weird?" Anna says. "We didn't even notice each other before, but here we are."

"Even Anna and I weren't planning on being allies before we got here," Kristoff says.

"Yeah, I never thought I would need an alliance before. I thought it was a terrible idea. But I guess you don't realize how much it matters to you until you get in here," I say. "I don't know how I would handle it if I were still by myself."

"Me neither," Anna says. "I'm glad you guys are around."

Merida, District 7

I'm settled on a high branch for the night, waiting for the anthem to play. Then I'll see who the cannons were for this morning.

I wonder if it will be for Hercules. We never talked much, but it's weird knowing that he's either out there in this arena right now, trying just as hard to survive as I am, or he's dead. I can't help pulling for him, even though he doesn't deserve to win any more or less than anyone else, including me.

Soft footsteps draw my attention to the ground below. It's Pocahontas. I'm about to pull out a weapon and fire down at her, but I know it's a dumb move. There's no real chance I could get her from this high. I would just reveal that I'm here, and then she would have me stuck at the top of a tree.

Pocahontas walks on, out of sight. At least now I know that she's around, but I don't know who else is on this side of the river.

The sky lights up and the anthem blares across the arena. The seal disappears, and then Tiana's face is lit across the sky, followed by Phillip's. Then everything goes dark again.

I didn't really know anything about either of them, but of course I'm still sad for them. And it's unsettling to think that last night, they were the ones watching the sky, and tomorrow night, any of us could be the new faces up there.