I'm laughing as we're walking back, because I called Dredd 'sir' first time I met him. Gosh, I was such a try hard. No one notices my laughing; Jason's having another intense moment and Ayler seems lost in his own thoughts.

When I first met Ayler, I was really scared of him, now I'm scared of Jason and Ayler is one of my favourite people here. It feels like years since I left home and days since we started walking back. Time went so quickly at home because my day just consisted of getting up, going to school, and then being by myself at home. The lack of substance took hours off of my days and now all of those hours are coming back to haunt me. The longer I'm here, the higher the chances are of my death.

Death was never a possibility in District Six, now it seems like the only option.

Well, I probably have Marie Lynn, at least that gives me an advantage.

We've passed through the leafy-tree part of the forest and now our steps are camouflaged by the thick layer pine needles on the ground. There's fewer shrubs here, so it's easier to walk without stumbling over roots and knotted branches.

Ayler yawns loudly beside me and it passes around our trio.

"I guess it's you and I tonight, Everett?" Jason asks.

It startles me. "What?"

"We're the ones keeping watch."

Oh, right. "Oh, right."

There's a lot of silence until we reach where we're going. The only conversing that goes on is Ayler muttering about how much he would love all different types of food. It turns out we were only a little bit off of our path into the woods and we can already see the tents as we break from the forest. All three boys are waiting for us, digging through bags. Hopefully they're getting out food, it's hard to do anything when you're this hungry.

"Glad to see you all made it back," William says. "What happened?"

I answer first. "We ran into-"

"I killed your District partner," Jason interrupts me.

It's not clear who he's directing that too, because he's looking off into the forest, so both Dai Lao and William look up in surprise.

"You got Eileen?" William asks. "Wow, I uh, thought she would have been around longer. I mean good job and everything, but wow."

Jason frowns. "No, not yours, Dai Lao's. Sorry, I thought everyone else's was gone."

Dai Lao, who wasn't looking up before, doesn't move at all.

His voice cracks when he finally speaks. "Of course you did."

He said it very quietly and I didn't think Jason heard it until I see him grin. There is no doubt in my mind that I definitely don't want to be on his bad side.

"Well nice job, Jason," William affirms. "We were going to start eating as soon as you guys got back."

Ayler's eyes open very, very wide and he sits down less than a foot away from William. "William, have I ever told you that I love you?"

"No, I must have missed it."

"Shame, because I don't think I've ever felt this way about anybody before."

We feast lavishly on peanuts and raisins. Even though it's a petty meal, I'm still happy to have something. Not very many tributes get to eat three times a day.

It's late when we're done eating. It was late when we started, but we took longer than one would expect after Ayler discovered that it feels like you're eating twice as much food if your take twice as small bites. I mastered the art of halving peanuts with my front teeth.

When the Capitol anthem comes on, we all turn to watch. It's only Dai Lao's District partner tonight. I realise that we have been responsible for all but three of the deaths so far, that is if everyone's telling the truth.

After the death toll, Ayler runs to get Geoffrey and plays for us for a little while. When he gets tired enough that his thumb starts slipping and the songs become incoherent, everyone decides to go to bed.

It's been a day of small thoughts and personal reflection. Even William, who seems to keep himself distant from what has happened, has had moments of eye-glazed introversion. For Preston, it's been even more so than usual and Dai Lao has kept his mouth shut almost all day.

"I'll stay up first," I decide. A few years ago I figured out that my lethargy during the day didn't depend as much on the time I went to sleep, but when I woke up. Falling asleep early and waking up early made me much more tired than a 1am-10am schedule.

Jason yawns his reply, it's incoherent, but I don't think I need to hear him to know what he was trying to say.

I'm alone with my thoughts again for a few minutes, so I start to think about what will happen if Marie Lynn comes. I don't have to think long, because before I've even considered how long to wait until I wake up Jason, she's in front of me.

It's unexpected and I'm in shock until she's about to start talking. As soon as she opens her mouth, I shoot up and hold out my hands. Her face scrunches up and she steps back.

I allow my voice to shake when I talk, even though I'm much more excited than scared. "Ayler, William… anybody… you're gonna want to come out here and see this."

Her face twists from confusion to anger. She steps back even further and assumes the same stance that Dai Lao did when Jason confronted him. It would be identical if it weren't for the knife she's pulling out of her back pocket. A few tense seconds pass where she's frozen between running and attacking.

When there's no noise from the tents, I smile. "Relax, you're fine."

The fury mixes with confusion again and I can't help but laugh.

"Gosh, I was just making sure they were asleep. I'm not turning on you or anything," I smile.

She thinks about this for a second, then wipes her face to neutral. "Oh, okay."

She sheaths her knife and sits down where she is, then proceeds to braid her hair. I'm a bit offended that she didn't compliment me on my little act, I would have thought she would have appreciated it. Nevertheless, I'm glad she came and go sit down with her.

"Did you get anyone in the bloodbath?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No. I told you that I needed your help so I could stay away from it."

"Right. Where'd you get that knife, then?"

I keep expecting her to smile in her usual way, but she never does. "Sponsors."

"Oh."

"You haven't got any gifts, have you then?"

"It's only day two," I mumble.

She looks at her wrist, which is donning a watch. "Actually, it's technically day three."

"It's past twelve?"

"It's almost two."

"Oh," I pause. "I have to wake Jason up soon."

"Why so disappointed?" She purses her lips together in a mock frown. "Gonna miss me?"

"No, I just thought I was only out here for a few minutes before you came."

She shrugs. "You probably dozed off."

It's killing me to not talk about Trawl. I feel guilty for going against her and need to say something.

"We should talk about the big thing between us," I say.

She looks up, confused.

I pause before I continue. "About Trawl, I know I said our group was final before the Games and I'm sorry that I let him in, everyone was against me and I didn't know what it would mean for us if I went against them."

There. Hopefully, she'll understand that I had our interests in mind. I haven't abandoned her and there aren't words to describe how glad I am that she hasn't abandoned me.

She smiles. "I don't care Everett. As long as you haven't told the others about me, I'm fine."

"Oh- wow, okay that's great," I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised that she's so relaxed about it all.

"Who's in the lead in your little contest thing?" She asks.

"Jason."

"Anybody bugging you? We can wake them up and get rid of them if you want, the best time would be now. Lead them into the forest and meet me there?" She asks. I have to do a double take to see if she's serious. It takes me off guard that our conversation turned so gruesome so quickly.

I'm about to turn her down, but then I think about Jason. He's scary, very scary. Also, he's way in the lead for our rankings. Getting rid of him certainly wouldn't be a bad idea and I have no doubt that Marie Lynn could take him down if we surprised him like she suggested.

Something scratches at the back of my mind, though. This always happens in the Games, an alliance doesn't get along and eventually they start turning on each other. In the past, only a few of the members have gotten out alive from an in-alliance fight and I don't know if I like my chances im a breakup against the guys I'm with.

I'll wait and see if he gets worse, then take her up on her offer.

"No," I decide. "It's going well so far."

She nods, then pauses before changing the subject again. "I'm cold."

"Yeah."

"Do you have a blanket?" She looks expectantly at me.

"No, we just brought sleeping bags."

She frowns and we're quiet for a long time. "I don't really have much more to talk about; I don't want your guys to wake up."

"Yeah," I'm talking even less than Preston does, but in my defense, Marie Lynn is hard to talk to. The way she moves and speaks makes me feel like she's genuinely being nice to me, but yet judging me at the same time. I'm uncomfortable, but still happy that she did come back.

Even if it was a day late.

"Marie Lynn?"

She doesn't look at me. "What?"

"Why didn't you come last night?" I ask

"No one sleeps the first night, you know that. People would have heard me."

She's right, I do know that and I shouldn't have worried knowing it.

She turns to me now. "Miss me that much, huh?"

I blush, glad that it's dark enough that she can't see it.

I'm fumbling over something to say, when the silence is broken by that glorious beeping noise we waited for so desperately this morning. Eclipsing the moon is another parachute, silver turned to black by the backlighting. I don't even have to listen to the number of rings before my gut tells be that it's mine.

"Congratulations, Everett," Marie Lynn smiles.

When it lands, I drag it over, debating with her whether or not to open it. When I tell her about how we opened the parachutes together this morning, she responds saying that no one would blame me for opening it now.

Inside the capsule is a whole chicken, cooked to perfection. "Well it's not really perfect timing, but this is huge!"

She giggles, I can imagine that she's comparing it to what she's received in her head.

I start digging a hole in the sand and explain myself as I go. "Since we're not eating it now, the sand will keep it cold."

"Ooh, smart," she coos.

"Thanks."

Marie Lynn turns to go. "Well, while you do that, I'm going to start heading back to my camp."

"Okay," I huff. "I won't be on watch tomorrow evening, so you don't have to bother coming here."

"Alright. If you're going out on patrols, try to stay away from this direction," She points to a section of the trees. "I'm staying there and I don't want you guys to happen upon me. If there are any tributes there, I'll get them."

I stand back up straight to wave goodbye. "Got it. See you in a few days and – uh – thanks, I guess."

She doesn't say goodbye as she melts into the dark forest. In a little while, I go to wake Jason up. I tell him about the sponsor gift and he nods tiredly. I expect to fall asleep slowly after the excitement with Marie Lynn, but the sand below me makes a fantastic cradle and I drift away quite quickly.

I wanted to make a wordle (those clouds of words made from a section of text, with words used most being the biggest) of the fic but I don't have Java ;_;

How cute would that be, though

No doubt in my mind that Ayler would be the biggest word. No. Doubt.