Author's Note:

Sooo, before I say thanks or ramble on about anything else, I'd like to direct everyone to cassie glitter's tumblr (snickers-xo). She's done some art for the story and they're all so lovely. :) You'll need to scroll a bit to see them all, but if you're feeling particularly lazy, I've reflagged them all on my writing tumblr (onlytolive). I always love seeing how people interpret other characters, and hers are wonderful!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially those who let me know how the chapter affected them. It means a lot to me as a writer to hear your feedback and reactions. :) Special thanks to THGfanfirl4life, pie eater 3001, nudgeriderox, HungerGamesrules, initia nova, shimmergirl109, cassie glitter, Secretsx17 (x2 since you reviewed both signed in and as a Guest XD), Clove25, Trapped in Narnia, Bubblebubblezzz, Rikachan101, Katts, Person, fishpuppy, and noname. I always get really excited when new anonymouses and other signed in reviewers leave a message. I hope you're here to stay!

Semper Fi
"Always Faithful"
a Hunger Games (© Suzanne Collins) fanfiction

Chapter Eleven
Home

Opening Song: "I Want It All/We Will Rock You Mash-Up (feat. Armageddon aka Geddy)" - Queen

At the end of the first day, one canon goes off, and the image of Ruby's smiling face flickers in the night sky. It lingers, and they swear they can hear her laughing when it finally fades into blackness.

No one sleeps soundly, if they sleep at all. Terra is probably still running, still trying to convince herself that this is all just a nightmare, and Mattheo has been forced to give up chase by Jorden, Riley, Lewis, and Lorea, who finally caught up to him. The others have taken refuge in nearby buildings, just hoping to make it through the night.

Phoenix, Catcher, Luke, and Hawk are resting in a fifth-floor office in a replica of the Justice Building. The former two are sleeping, despite their occasional mutters and murmurs, but the latter can't find the peace of mind to slip into unconsciousness. They sit side by side in silence, with their backs against the farthest wall so that they can keep an eye on the door. A chance of attack is highly unlikely, especially since everyone had run off in completely different directions, but this is not the time or situation to be anything less than alert.

Hawk can feel Luke tense next to him. "What's up?" he asks softly, carefully.

Luke is not a quiet guy. For as long as Hawk has known him - years, longer than he's known most people in his life - Luke has always been hyper and energetic and motivated. Now he's subdued, with drooped shoulders and tired eyes, and looks like nothing more than a ghost of his past self. It rattles Hawk to the core. "D'you think Altair's okay?" He's choosing his words and his questions tactfully, Hawk can tell, because the execution is slow and planned. Luke has always jumped forward without much thought.

Then again, so much has changed already. So much more than was thought is at stake.

There's a pang in his chest when he thinks of what happened earlier. "I dunno," he answers truthfully, trying to focus on something else. "Maybe he and Skyloh managed to get away or something… Or maybe they're being held as hostage, for whatever reason." He cringes at the thought, nasty images of torture and blood playing through his mind. "They're both smart, though. Maybe Altair's got a plan, you know?"

An inkling of Luke's former self surfaces with his smile. "Yeah, you're right… The man with the plan." The share a short, strained chuckle. "Man…" Luke sighs as he leans his head back against the cool plaster and closes his eyes. Hawk glances at him questioningly. "It's so much easier to say you have no regrets when death isn't right there, you know?" He's thinking of the night before, of the peace and serenity they were given before being thrown into the pit.

"Can you say it now?"

When Luke hesitates, Hawk receives his answer. "It's different now," is all he says.

It sounds so solemn and so finite, the already heavy atmosphere thickens. Another normal night between friends is out of reach now, the previous night being nothing more than a hopeful dream or a pleasant memory. Hawk gives into the oppression, too tired to fight. "Let's just try and get some rest. We need to be ready for tomorrow." Luke nods and shifts so that he can lay down on the rug-covered floor. Hawk tries to pretend that he doesn't see his shoulders shaking, even in the darkness of the room.

When he lays down, he turns onto his other side so that he's staring at another wall rather than the back of his friend. He attempts to sleep and closes his eyes - he can feel her tiny hands on him, can hear the cut of metallic through clothing and skin, can see the look of horror on Terra's face, can smell the blood, can still feel it splattering against his skin and clothes as her already dead body falls into his arms -

Hawk sits up immediately, golden eyes hard and face white as a sheet. He rubs his hands on his pants, just trying to get the feeling off. His palms are still red, not from the blood (her blood), but from all the scrubbing and rubbing he's done. He's poured water on his clothes, over his face and hair, onto his hands over and over again, but it's the feeling that lingers. He wonders, in the back of his mind, if it'll ever go away.

He slowly lowers himself back down to the floor, not wanting to alert the others. Luke's shivers have already subsided, he realizes, giving way to slow and steady breaths that come with sleep. Catcher and Phoenix have stopped moving around as well, and look the most peaceful as they have all night.

Hawk lays on the ground, his eyes on the ceiling, his ears listening to the soft breathing around him. He doesn't close his eyes.

As the sun rises in the arena, a helicopter appears over the horizon. Inside, Altair and Skyloh sit next to each other, both looking tired and strained. Banner sits across from them, one leg crossed over the other and an indifferent expression on his face. Save for the quiet hum of the engine and the spinning blades above them, they are cloaked in silence.

Once the helicopter stops moving and begins to hover, Banner removes his seatbelt and stands up, motions for the two tributes to follow in suit. "I'm sure you all saw from your rooms, but this here's the Cornucopia," he says, pointing out the window to a large metal structure. "It seems like your classmates are every bit as dull as I thought they were; the spoils have yet to be touched." They see him roll his eye. "It's likely they're all still asleep, so you'll be safe. For now." They are slowly lowered until they're at a height safe enough to jump down. "On you go then."

Altair and Skyloh exchange a look before glancing at Banner. He quirks an eyebrow and smirks. "Alright," Altair mumbles before hopping onto the solid ground, and Skyloh quickly follows. As soon as they step forward, the helicopter soars into the sky until it can no longer be seen.

Standing in the arena, finally away from safety, Altair can't help but feel as though their advantage is just a huge disadvantage. He glances over at Skyloh, who's already rummaging through the pile of goods sitting at the opening of the Cornucopia. He notices, a few feet from her, is a stained sword. Wordlessly, he walks over to it, easily identifies it, and glances around. "The body's gone," he thinks when his eyes settle on the area near the sword.

"Backpacks will be important," Skyloh says, pulling two large sacks out from the pile. He forces his thoughts away from the grisly scene that keeps replaying in his head, tries to focus on the task at hand now: survival. "Here are some water bottles, too… Empty, of course." Though she sighs, she shoves them into the backpacks anyway. "Hmm… Rope, tarp, knives… I wonder if they've got matches in here… Then again, I don't know where the hell we're gonna get wood in a place like this…"

He wanders to the other side of the pile and begins pulling out useful items. "Do you think anyone's gonna come back?"

"Probably. Once the initial shock wears off and they realize that they'll need other things to survive… Ooo, compact sleeping bags. I hate sleeping in the cold, so I'm definitely taking one." Skyloh continues to grab and mumble calmly, completely unaffected by the tense atmosphere. Altair watches her, recalling how still she grew when they were watching the first day in his room on TV, how her hands trembled when Terra grasped the sword, how all the color seeped from her face when Ruby fell. Before they boarded the helicopter, she'd told him that she hadn't slept at all, that she had a lot to think about.

"We'll need to arm ourselves, too." He's startled by her statement and looks struck when she holds up an axe. When she sees the hesitation on his face, her resolve softens, but only slightly. "We can't really expect everyone, or anyone really, to just… I know you're a good guy, Altair, but you can't expect the same from everyone else, okay?" She tucks the axe into a hoop on her pants, then begins kicking away some of the things on the ground in order to get to the middle.

Altair's eyes shift from the swords to the spears to the knives to the hammers. He handled them plenty in the training room and got a decent score working with a spear, but after seeing what one of them did… He shakes his head, tries to think logically. "Skyloh is right." He wanted to believe that his class would stick together, that ultimately everything would be alright - but that illusion shattered when they lost Ruby. Altair wants to be an idealist, but knows that he has to be realistic now, after all that has happened. "Alright," he mumbles, more to himself than to Skyloh, and picks up a spear as his weapon.

"There's some food in here, and I grabbed enough to sustain us for a while, but we definitely can't take the whole thing," she says, cutting through his thoughts once more. "It'd be too much and… Well, the others will get hungry, too." Even if she has to defend herself, Skyloh isn't inhuman, and she doesn't want anyone to suffer from starvation.

"Maybe we could just stay here?" Altair offers, his eyes on the large crates of food. "Someone told me that, in the past, there was a group who took control of the Cornucopia. The Careers would set up camp around it and protect it, to make sure that they had everything."

Skyloh frowns at the suggestion. "Yeah, that sounds ideal, but they had more than two people in their group. On top of that, they usually sent out people to kill other tributes and we…" She trails off, not wanting to say that they both know is inevitable. Skyloh is ready to fight to keep herself safe, but she knows she can't bring it in herself to attack another person. Especially not someone she's been classmates with for half a year, not others she's known for longer than that. She may not have many friends in Class 7-A, but she doesn't have enemies, either. "Maybe we should just start looking around for other people. You probably wanna find Luke and Hawk, huh?"

He thinks of his closest friends and hopes that they're alright. Both of them are strong, he knows, but anyone could crumble under these conditions. "Yeah." When he begins grabbing more supplies for them, he realizes that Skyloh had said 'we.'

He'd always liked the platinum blonde, always thought she was fun and vivacious and outgoing. They had never been particularly close despite this, and going into the Hunger Games, he didn't think an alliance would be struck up between them. Since they both won the popularity contest, though, and since they'd been dropped in together… It only seemed right. He half expected her to run off her own, having always been pretty independent, but it's nice to know they're on the same page. On top of that, having someone to watch his back is a very reassuring thought.

Skyloh slips her backpack on and rolls her shoulders, trying to get used to the weight. "Well, ready to go? We should probably get out of here before the next group shows up."

Altair turns his eyes to the horizon, searching for familiar faces. Part of him wants to see the others, to make sure that they're alright, but the other part is just afraid. He's not sure how the night's affected them. "Yeah," he agrees eventually, pulling on his own bag. "Yeah, let's get going."

Room 325. That's Kate's room number back at home, in the former Capitol. That's the room number she's sitting in now, in the building that looks exactly like the dormitory she's lived in for half of her life. The bed is soft, unlike her personal bed, and there are too many furnishings in the room. It's the small details - four pillows instead of three, pink curtains instead of red, a chestnut-colored dresser instead of a cherrywood - that remind her that this is not home, that she shouldn't get too comfortable.

Still, as she lays looking up at the ceiling, she enjoys the peace. This is how she spent many of her days off, just in her room, appreciating the solitude. Kate has always been very quiet and very reserved, to the point where people in her classes wouldn't even know she was present. People were never rude to her or particularly unkind, but she doubted they remembered her or thought of her at all outside of class. Nonetheless, Kate liked to think she was happy with her life, that everything was alright even if she wasn't the most popular or the most well known. She had her sister and she was alive and well, and that was all that really mattered.

There's always been a part of her that's wanted to fit in, that's longed to have lifelong friends and intimate connections. Sometimes she'd watch her classmates longingly, wanting to speak up but not quite having the courage to.

In the end, maybe her experience with being alone will be her greatest asset in the Hunger Games.

Kate stands up and walks over to the window. As she watches for any signs of her classmates - perhaps she should stop referring to them as that, she thinks - one hand rests on the collar wrapped securely around her neck. Her fingers feel around the cool metal, searching for dents and buttons even if she knows they aren't there; she's searched for them endlessly already. The collar is a perfect circle, fitted so perfectly that Kate wonders if it was made personally for her. There's only one thing that protrudes from the metal: a small red blip, located at the very back of her neck. When she glanced at it in the mirror earlier, she saw that it was dull but also that there is a small light within it.

"What does it mean?" she can't help but wonder as she presses her skin against the blip. It must have some kind of function; she's learned that the Capitol always does something for a reason, and she doubts it's there merely for decoration (even if the Capitol are overly fond of decoration).

Suddenly, she spots three figures walking in front of the building, back towards the Cornucopia. She shuffles away from the window, afraid of being seen, and sits herself down on the very edge of the bed. Her heart pounds heavily in her chest, reverberating through her body, through the metal that reminds her time and time again that there is a countdown to the end of her life.

Her panic is rising and she knows she has to calm down. Kate drops back, tries to enjoy the softness of the bed and its inviting warmth. Even if she pretends that she's back home and not in some God forsaken arena, it's only for now, and Kate has never been fond of visions of grandeur. She stands up, walks to the door and looks around at the nearly familiar room, then moves on.

It's a long walk to the Cornucopia. They hadn't realized how far they had walked the previous day until morning hit and they realized they had no supplies. Safety was nice while it lasted, but it wouldn't do them much good if they couldn't sustain themselves.

"Ugh, that was such a good hiding place, too," Dahlia whines as they tread past the dorm building. During their hasty retreat yesterday, they'd contemplated going in and stealing a room, but figured it would be too obvious. Sleeping on a bed sounded a lot nicer than the tile floors they'd spread out across last night, though. "We haven't run into anyone yet… Do you think they're all still asleep?" She squints at the horizon, narrowing her eyes at the rising sun. "It's still pretty early…"

"Remember, we ran off in completely different directions," Zook replies, wiping at his sleepy eyes. "I bet they're all coming back, too…"

"Right, because what we need is another big confrontation," Lana comments dryly.

He gives her a deadpan look. "I'm hungry. You're hungry. We're all hungry and we need food, and I know they have some at the Cornucopia. We also need water, which means we need water bottles. I honestly don't know how much longer I can go without eating, and I wish I had stuffed my face more at that last dinner…" At that comment, his stomach growls rambunctiously, causing him to groan and Dahlia to snicker. "Let's just pray that we came up with the idea first and that we get there first. If I had to face Cole…"

Lana winces at the mention of the dark-haired boy. "Running into him out of anyone… He's with Lila and Allegra, too. I saw them all running off together." Her response is a shared frown between Dahlia and Zook. It's definitely a deadly alliance, the three of them together; they all received high scores from their private sessions with the Gamemakers, but their prowess hadn't gone unnoticed in the training room either. "I bet he wouldn't hesitate to kill."

"You shouldn't say that," Zook protests weakly. He doesn't deny it outright, though, because he knows it would be a lie. Cole has always stuck to himself, but not in the way that Kate does. Despite his preferred silence, he was never forgotten or ignored. People remembered him so they could avoid him - not that he ever went out of his way to interact with others. His silence was cold and calculating, his sharp retorts usually one-worded but painful. He has no connections to the class, no friends or confidantes - it would be easy for him to fight solely for himself. "I'm a little surprised that he teamed up with anyone at all, let alone Lila and Allegra."

Dahlia shrugs. "I dunno. It makes sense. They're both pretty vicious, so they'll be fighting towards the same end."

"I guess."

As soon as the Cornucopia is in view, Dahlia grins and struts forward. Zook is in tow, ready to grab something to eat, but Lana's eyes narrow cautiously and she curses under her breath. "Wait!" she breathes, grabbing both of them by the wrists and pulling them behind a building. She slaps a hand over Dahlia's mouth before the platinum blonde can voice her protest. "We're not the first ones," she whispers, fear in her green eyes.

The three remain stark still as they listen to the voices carried by the wind.

"I hope we find Terra soon," murmurs Mattheo as he sits on the grass.

"I'm sure she's fine," Riley replies reassuringly. "We didn't search for too long last night, anyway, so it's not like we would have found her then. We'll keep looking around today. How big can this place be?"

Lorea snorts. "I'm sorry, I didn't know this was a recon mission."

"Lorea," her brother sighs. "Come on. She's part of our alliance." She makes a sound of distaste, but doesn't protest any further. "Anyway… It kind of looks like someone's gone through the goods already. I mean, there's plenty left, but it's been kicked into two piles… Some of the food's missing."

"Well, everyone would have realized how hungry they were by now," says Mattheo. "It was only a matter of time… Good thing they left some for us, though."

"Yeah, good thing, huh?" The atmosphere tenses considerably when the new voice speaks up. Zook, Dahlia, and Lana poke their heads out from behind the building, still having ample cover to keep themselves hidden, in order to confirm who it is. To their horror, it's exactly who they think it is: Lila, Cole, and Allegra. The fiery redhead stands with her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk hanging on her lips. "Thanks for watching over it for us."

Lewis frowns. "What, are you planning on taking all of it for yourself?"

"That's the plan," she answers cheerily. It send a shiver down Lana's spine. "So you can get lost now."

"So you are with Lila and Allegra." Jorden's looking at Cole with a mixed expression that's difficult to read. "I just… I dunno. I always thought were kinda friends." Amusement flickers across Lila's face and Allegra rolls her eyes. Cole, as usual, looks unaffected. "We don't- I mean, you don't have to do this. We don't have to fight."

Lorea glares at him crossly. "This alliance is big enough already."

"Lorea!" Lewis whispers scoldingly.

"Don't flatter yourselves," Allegra scoffs. "You're all as conspicuous as a herd of mules. We heard you walking over so we hid. There are, what, five of you? What a great way to win the Games, huh, sneaking up on people while you're stomping around?" The color drains from Mattheo's face when she pulls out an arrow from her quiver and aims at him. "Now get lost."

Mattheo shuffles back on his hands, trying to put some distance between himself and the tribute from District 13. "W-w-we don't have to do this," he says, reusing Jorden's words. "Please. We- We'll just leave. We don't -"

"Are you kidding me!" Lorea snaps, directing her glare at the dark-haired boy. "We're sitting on a pile of weapons and you're willing to give it all up just because she's pointing something at you? God, you're pathetic." With incredible speed and accuracy, she grabs one of the knives lying on the ground and throws it at Allegra, tearing through the material of her pants and creating a thin red line along the skin of her thigh. Allegra cries out, more in surprise than pain, as she drops her weapon and brings her hands to the bleeding cut. "You guys get lost," she snarls, surprising both the opposition and her own allies, including her twin.

"Lorea…" he begins.

"Shut up," she hisses, gray eyes alight with fury. She turns her attention to the trio, who look much more on edge than before. "Get lost."

"Not so fast." It's Lewis who gasps when Cole is up close against Lorea, the sharp side of a sword pressed carefully against her throat. The smaller student makes no noise, only glares up at Cole's towering figure with hate. "We're not here for an alliance, and we're not here to negotiate. We're here to take what's ours, and that's it." He sees her fingers twitch out of the corner of his eye and grabs them tightly with his free hand before they can touch another knife. "Calm down," he says, and he's smiling so terribly that she actually shrinks back.

Lewis stands up quickly, but the arrow is pointed at him now and Allegra doesn't look like she's going to back down. "No, please, stop," he pleads. "Just let her go. Please." His face betrays desperation and fear, something that they sense immediately. "Please."

The sword returns to the sheath at Cole's side as Lorea stumbles backward, the grip on her wrist released. She spits at her attacker, but Lewis quickly pulls her back and shields her from the other three, not wanting another confrontation. "We should just go," he whispers to the other three.

"We were here first," Lorea growls, despite their nods of agreement.

"He just almost killed you!" Riley hisses desperately, stealing a glance at the now impatient teen over her shoulder. "We don't stand a chance against them! We should go and come back once they've cleared out."

"If they clear out."

Lila clears her throat behind them, fed up with being ignored. "We don't have to let you walk free, you know," she states calmly, her fingers wrapped comfortably around the handles of her dual blades.

Mattheo worriedly catches Lewis's eyes. "We should go."

"No!"

Lorea is the only one protesting, but it's enough to stall the entire group. When the argument escalates and they're still standing in front of the Cornucopia, Allegra sighs irately and raises her arms. "This is getting ridiculous."

His scream bounces off the buildings when the arrow pierces into Jorden's thigh, lodging firmly into his flesh. He instantly crumples to the ground, wrought with pain, hands shaking and face white as a sheet. "Leave," Lila demands, the playful tone gone. Mattheo and Lewis hurriedly pick up Jorden by the arms and drag him off, with Riley and Lorea trailing behind them. Lorea shoots the trio a dirty look before running to catch up with her brother. When their figures disappear around the corner, Lila can still hear Jorden's whimpers.

"Well," she says afterwards, eyes settling on a basket of fruit, "that went a lot better than expected."

"We should have just gotten rid of them all while we had the change," Cole states, frowning. "That was the whole point of hiding and catching them off guard."

"No, the point was to rattle them," she retorts. "Which worked, obviously, thanks to Allegra." The mentioned girl simply shrugs and hooks her bow onto the quiver on her back. "Anyway, we can do that to whoever's stupid enough to come around next, alright? Geez." She takes a violent bite out of the red apple.

Zook, Dahlia, and Lana pull back from the corner, each wearing the same forlorn expression. "Maybe we should try later," Dahlia says finally, trying to lighten up the tension. "I mean… They can't possibly stay there all day, can they?" She sounds more hesitant than ever, but the other two nod because thinking the worst won't do them any good now. "Well, maybe we're better off looking for water or something. We'll come back at noon."

The three continue on their way, though make sure to put ample space between themselves and those guarding the Cornucopia. Zook hangs his head low as he rubs the back of his neck. He quietly murmurs, "Wouldn't hesitate to kill…"

The sun is high in the sky, a mere reminder of the amount of time that has past. The underclassmen are huddled together in one room in the replica of someone's home. Joel is fast asleep, with his head on River's lap while Drizzle and Oliver stare vacantly out the window - waiting. Thistle shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants issued to him by the Capitol and finds nothing; this only bothers him when his stomach begins rumbling uncomfortably. "We need food," he says quietly to Oralee, not wanting the others to overhear. "At this rate, we're all going to starve."

"Well, what to we do?" she replied, brow furrowed. "We can't just walk around with them in the open; it's dangerous." She looks back at them and they instantly sense her worry; the expressions they wear are evidence of that. Oralee quickly pulls on a smile, waves them away with a flick of her wrist. "We'd be like walking targets. We're the most vulnerable."

When Thistle looks at her, really looks at her, he sees that her eyes are bloodshot and the bags underneath them are dark. He doubts she got any sleep, what with how haggard she looks - and he can't blame her. He'd been ignorant enough to think that the kids would be okay, that the others would try to leave them alone, but after yesterday… A shiver races up his spine when he thinks of the fallen twelve-year-old.

"I'll go out," he says firmly, already spotting the protest on her face. "I'll be fine. I can handle it, alright? You just stay safe."

"You, too," she breathes, hands shaking. She was closer to Ruby - to all of these kids, really - than he was. She's still rattled, still recovering, but trying her best to keep a strong front for the others. "If you can't find anything in twenty minutes, come back."

He bobs his head as he prepares to exit through the door. "If you sense any trouble, get out immediately. I'll come find you. You should be fine, we're pretty far away, but all the same…" His gaze drifts over to the underclassmen, who are watching him with curious eyes. "I'll be back soon." He hesitates, but only for a moment, before stepping out and closing the door firmly behind him. He instantly winces, blinded by the light, and holds up his arm to give his eyes some shade. "Damn…"

Thistle doesn't have any idea where he's going. Part of him is telling him to go back to the Cornucopia because there is so much there, but another is warning him against it. It's late in the day and the others would have had the same thought by now, and he's not sure how he'd fair on his own against any opposition he could run into. He decides to keep safe - as safe as anyone can be in this arena, anyway.

He hopes he can find something edible, or at least some water. Even if he can't bring it back with him, it'd be nice to know a water source exists period, and if there are berries, he can just pick some and have Drizzle identify the ones that aren't poisonous. He begins to lose hope just ten minutes into his search; all he can see are buildings and billboards and street lights. It looks too much like home, he thinks grimly, eyes scanning over the skyscrapers and asphalt beneath his feet. There isn't any sign of vegetation or water anywhere, which means that his only hope still lays in the center of the city.

Thistle chews on the inside of his lip as he contemplates taking a look around the Cornucopia. Logic gets the better of curiosity, though, and he decides to head back before Oralee can start worrying about him. He turns the corner and walks straight into Mykal, knocking her over. He instinctively jumps back, hands up for defense, but then he realizes that it's Mykal and aside from the fact that she's on the ground, she's not the kind of person to deliver a sucker punch anyway.

"Sorry," she apologizes as he scrambles to her feet. "I wasn't really watching where I was going and you kinda just popped outta no where…" When she realizes who it is she's standing across from, she presses her lips together contemplatively and takes a step back. "How've you been?" she asks, though he can tell she's being very cautious. "Are you okay? Are, um, are the others okay, too?"

He nods. "Yeah. We're alright. I just came to look for food."

"Yeah, us, too."

He raises an eyebrow, quickly glances around for any signs of others. "… Who's 'us'?"

"Huh? Oh, me, Keldon, Korra, and Rea. We decided to split up and cover more ground, then get together to see if we've found anything." They're both very careful with their words, not wanting to give away too much information. Mykal knows Thistle would never seek them out to kill, and likewise for him; but these Games are dangerous, and risks can't be taken. "Well, I should probably get going in case -"

A horrifying wail tears through them, chilling them to the core. "That was Rea," Mykal gasps, already running off. Thistle watches her retreating figure and ponders following, just to make sure she's alright, but he thinks of Oliver and Drizzle and Joel and River, and he chooses who needs him most. With a fleeting glance in her direction, he returns to the house.

Rain crawls along the edge of the cliff that overlooks the city. She spent a lot of time in the small forests that surrounded the former Capitol when she was home, and wondered if they had been replicated in the arena. Sure enough, they were, and currently she is rummaging around, searching for berries and other edible foods. Nyle is still searching around the replica homes and buildings, trying to find anything that may be useful to them.

She listens carefully to the sounds around her: the leaves crunching beneath her boots, the rustling of the leaves, the low howl of the wind. She breathes slowly and carefully, and tries to control the noises she's making, so that nothing takes her by surprise. When she hears the voices, as soft as they are, she stops moving completely.

"What do we do?" Riley asks worriedly. "I, I mean… We don't have any medical supplies or anything. I don't even know how to wrap one of these…"

"We need to calm down first," Lewis says, voice even. "Hey, hey, Jorden, it's alright. We'll figure something out, okay? We can't just pull it out… Since it's still in there, it's keeping all the blood from coming out at once, and we don't have anything to stunt the bleeding… It could be infected, too."

Jorden groans. "We can't just leave it in there… Shit…"

"Hey, relax," Riley murmurs. "If you're tense it'll hurt more…"

A clear ding sounds from above them. When Rain looks up, she sees a small silver tin attached to a white parachute, slowly descending towards the group. She leans forward carefully, silently, and sees that it lands in Jorden's outstretched hands. "What's that?" Mattheo asks, peering at his curiously.

"One of those sponsor items, probably," Lorea answers, standing away from them with her arms crossed. "I guess the Capitol assholes felt bad for you."

Lewis looks at her admonishingly, but she ignores him completely. "Well, looks like we got lucky," he says to Jorden, smiling. "Maybe it's supplies or salve or something. Go on, open it."

Appearing relieved, he twists the metal container, opens it - and it explodes.

Closing Song: "Down in the Valley" - The Head and the Heart

Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways...

I decided I hate sponsor systems and they're the worst so I might just not do one? Maybe if you guys really want one, I can try, but… I kind of like using polls, as well. Ah well, we'll figure it out along the way.

I've been distracted with the Olympics and some of my other stories and Assassin's Creed, so sorry for the wait. I didn't realize how anxious some of you were, haha. Anyway, make sure to check out mine/snicker-xo's tumblr to see the sketches of the tributes! They're really great!

may the odds be ever in your favor,
der kapitan