Fall Into the River

by Oisin55

"Oh, no, not Cecelia," gasped Effie Trinket as the woman from District 8 walked up to the stage after her children were torn from her. This is the woman that even Effie felt for. This is the soft-spoken, shy young girl who became one of the deadliest tributes in Hunger Games history. This is Cecelia Rheys. This is the Fifty-Seventh Annual Hunger Games.

14. Chapter 14

Cecelia:

I'm already awake when Rowenna kicks me. It's not dawn yet, but the sky to the east is turning a deep velvet blue and the stars above the eastern horizon are beginning to twinkle out. Above me, the moon is nothing more than a sliver.

The same moon is shining above District 8 right now. Men and women are slouching down the muddy streets to the factories as the night shift returns home. Da is among them. I wonder if he stops in the town square to watch the massive screens set up there that play the Games at all hours, hoping for a glimpse of his angel. Very few people in District 8 hold to any sort of deity, and those who do are very private about it, but I find myself breathing a prayer to Rowenna's gods that the cameras are focused on me right now. If Da is watching me, he'll know I'm thinking of him. He has to.

I stretch out the kinks in my back as Rowenna stalks off to wake up Lil. For a moment I consider going with her to make sure that she doesn't cut Lil's throat while she sleeps, then I think better of it. Rowenna isn't stupid, despite our disagreement from last night. The girl from 12 is our food source. If, of course, her snares work. I certain they do. I know very little about setting snares myself. I could build one from memory based off of training and my memory of previous Games, but my fumbling attempts during training taught me that instinct is needed as much as skill. Watching Lil's fingers fly yesterday made me suspect she has both.

"Good, you're up," says Rowenna as she comes back over, Lil stumbling behind as she rubs her eyes. "We need to get moving. We shouldn't stay in one place for very long. Besides, we need to check the snares."

She shoots a look at Lil, but the younger girl is too sleepy to notice.

"We should bathe before we go," I say with a pointed look at the river. "Can't hurt to give the audience what they're looking for."

Rowenna crosses her arms, and bites her lip in impatience. "Five minutes each," she snaps. "The other two stand watch. Then we leave."

"Then we leave," I say in agreement, and Rowenna seems placated.

I strip down and slide into the river first. The water seems much colder in the early morning without a desperate flight to precede it. I don't even take five minutes. I scrub my skin and hair furiously and leap out, my body covered in goosebumps. Lil goes next, and then Rowenna. The two of us on guard strike camp and pack our few belongings, taking care to clear the area of any sign of our presence. The girl from 7 is climbing out of the river when the three parachutes fall at our feet, right on cue.

"Right again, Cecelia," says Rowenna with a wry smile. "I suppose it wouldn't kill me to trust your judgment one of these days."

"One of these days, that might be exactly what gets you killed," I say. Rowenna just grunts.

I've heard the Hunger Games can bring out a strange sense of humor in people, but I never suspected I'd be one of them.

"Maybe we should try climbing the big hill," says Lil. "We could see the whole arena from there. Maybe we'll see a sign of the Careers and figure out where they are."

"Oh yes, let's subject ourselves to an exhausting climb to reach an area with no shelter in the height of summer in order to present a clear target to anyone in the vicinity. That's a brilliant plan," says Rowenna, sarcasm dripping off her voice. "And after that, why don't you dress up in Caesar Flickerman's sparkling suit, sit inside the Cornucopia, and serve tea to the other tributes? Or why don't you stop hoping that we'll forget about the snares and get your coal-covered arse moving and pray to whatever gods your district holds dear that there's something meaty and delicious wriggling in one?"

"Let's just open our parcels first and then pack up camp," I say before Lil starts crying or Rowenna grabs her hatchet. "Maybe there's a roast ham in one of them and we don't need to worry about it either way."

No one gets a roast ham, but Rowenna receives a package of beef jerky. Not very much, but enough to get her through a couple of days. The message is clear. The alliance isn't going to last much longer. It may not even last till the end of the day. Rowenna barely looks at the package before stuffing it into her bag.

I receive a lighter, and my heart gives a little swell. Light, and fire. Two things that can mean hope in the arena. It's a valuable gift, even this early in the Games, and evidence that I still have support in the Capitol.

Lil opens up a small cloth pouch filled with some sort of berry. "Blackberries," she says in a small voice. "I told Haymitch they're my favorite." She offers me one, but I refuse. I know I should accept food where I can get it but the thought of taking a berry from a girl whose mentor seems to be preparing her for the inevitable makes my stomach turn.

"Let's go," says Rowenna. "After you, District Twelve."

Lil tucks the pouch into her belt and starts climbing over the rocks that line this section of riverbank. I follow her for a few minutes before falling back and walking beside Rowenna.

"Lil's idea about climbing the hill had merit." I mutter to her. "Maybe not now before the heat of the day, but this evening when it's cooler. It will be a lot easier to guard a high point anyway."

"Maybe," says Rowenna slowly, "But I still don't like the idea of hanging around a landmark. That hill, the forest, and the Cornucopia mesa are the three biggest features of this arena. People are going to be drawn to them."

"I think you just like being disagreeable," I say. "Maybe you've been hanging around Mr. Gavin too long."

"Oh shut your hole, Distrist Eight. You think I can't see Cora Shutter hovering right behind you, whispering in your pretty ear?"

I stop up short, anger and confusion pounding in my temples. "What are you talking about? I'm nothing like Miss Shutter! I'm…I'm too-"

"Too what? Pure? Innocent? Delicate?" Rowenna spits on the ground. "So was she. Cora was Panem's little sweetheart until she stepped off the plate in the Quarter Quell and started killing. And let me remind you who has a three-name kill list on the second day of the Games, Miss Rheys."

"You don't know anything about Cora," I say, remembering the words she whispered to me as I sat in front of the mirror before the interviews. "And you don't know anything about me. So keep your tongue to yourself and keep your hatchet close, District Seven."

Rowenna picks up her pace and leaves me to climb through the rocks in the pink morning dawn alone.

The first snare is empty. The second is as well, and the third. I can see the desperation on Lil's face as we move up the riverbank back towards the wide sandy plain where the three of us met up. Rowenna doesn't show any sign of displeasure or aggression, but her fingers constantly twitch towards her hatchet. The fourth snare, however, has a wriggling brown rabbit. Lil is nearly crying with relief as she picks the rabbit up by its overlarge ears and twists its back until it breaks. A silver parachute comes sailing down to land at Lil's feet with a small burlap pack that she stuffs the rabbit in for later skinning, as well as the blanket she's been carrying with her. The girl resets the trap and continues down the river, a small spring in her step.

It goes without speaking that one rabbit won't go far among three hungry teenage girls, but there's another rabbit waiting about half a mile up the river. It too goes in Lil's pack. Rowenna's frown gets deeper, but I'm sure her stomach is growling as loud as mine.

The final snare is a couple of hundred yards from the riverbank, set up against a cliff wall. Lil claims she saw a family of some sort of fowl pass nearby and sure enough there's a small feathery mass dangling from the bit of twine that strangled it. It's been pulled too high for Lil to reach, so Rowenna climbs up onto some of the loose rock at the bottom and reaches for the bird. Lil is happily chatting away about how her brother can strip a groosling and have it cooking in twenty minutes when there's a mighty crack and a scream. I pull my rapier from the sheath as Rowenna tumbles to the ground, the bird in her hand. Rocks as big as her torso are tumbling around her, each capable of crushing her into pudding.

It's either sheer luck, or her gods are watching. They all miss, and Rowenna is left sprawled on the ground, coughing and clutching the bird but unharmed.

Lil and I rush towards her, but she's already on her feet, stalking towards us with murder on her face.

"Rowenna," I say, "Calm down."

"I will not calm down!" she shouts as she pulls out her hatchet. "She did this! That little coal rat! The snare was rigged to bring down half the cliff!"

"I…I…no I didn't!" stammers the girl from 12. "I never-"

"Don't lie, you! You tried to kill me!"

"You don't know that," I say. "The stones could have just been loose."

"Shut up, Eight. I know a trap when I see one!" Rowenna aims her hatchet and I step between her and Lil. The girl from Twelve is whimpering behind me. It's incredible that my hand is still steady as I point my rapier at my ally."

"I said, calm down."

"So," says Rowenna. "You're taking her side? This is how it ends, right here?"

"Where was the twine rigged to the cliff? Show me."

Rowenna gestures behind her without looking away from me. "About half way up the cliff face. It was deliberately rigged to pull down the rocks when I released the bird."

"Then it wasn't Lil," I say. "She would have had to climb halfway up that cliff wall to rig it. We watched her do it, remember? She doesn't have the height nor did she have the time."

Rowenna stares at me for a long moment before lowering the hatchet. "Oh. Well. Why didn't Lil just say so?"

I sigh and sheath my blade. "I don't think you gave her the time, District Seven."

"Oh. Well, I almost died! You can't expect me to think rationally right after that."

I sigh. "Apparently I can't trust you to think at all. Are you alright, Lil?" I look behind me where the girl has remained completely silent except to retch onto the stones.

She nods and gives me a small smile. I turn back to Rowenna.

"Let's check out this snare."

A short inspection reveals that Rowenna was partially right. The snare was rigged to bring down a large number of stones that had been deliberately loosened. What was once a snare is now a complex series of counterweights and elastic cord cunningly crafted to keep the integrity of the original snare while creating a death trap. Rowenna is lucky to be alive.

"There's only one person who would have the technical knowledge to do this," says Rowenna. "The girl from Three. Her district partner is dead, so it has to be her."

"Or the girl from Eleven," I say. "She got an eight in training, we have no idea what for, and she spent time at the knot tying station."

"You…you don't think….the Careers?" stammers Lil.

I shake my head. "Not their style. If the Careers were here they'd be leaping down on us with war whoops."

Rowenna's eyes dart around the high cliff. "Whoever rigged this is probably watching. They'll know it didn't work and they'll try again. And the falling rocks probably could have been heard through half the arena. We should leave. Now."

For once, no one argues. Rowenna hands the bird to Lil and leads us back down the river bank. I end up suggesting we cross it at a point where the water seems shallow and gentle. I hold my pack and my rapier above my head as we cross, although the water at no point crests over my waist. The other side of the river seems identical to the first. Sand, rocks, low shrubs, and cliffs. The big hill looms to the north of us, a silent watcher as present as the cameras.

The sun is climbing high in the sky as we cross, and the heat is beginning to build again. After some scouting, we find a place where two cliffs face each other to make a tiny canyon. The cliff walls nearly touch above us. It's not the perfect place, but it's shady and cooler, and all of us are tired and hungry. Rowenna suggests cooking the rabbits and saving the bird for later. Lil eagerly takes one of the carcasses out and begins skinning it with my knife. Rowenna ducks out of the cannon with her hatchet and returns with an armful of dry, scraggly branches. I'm left to stand watch. The canyon is an excellent place to hide, but a bad one to be caught in.

Fortunately, the heat haze disguises the smoke from our little fire, and it's almost disappeared by the time it reaches the open air, where the breeze quickly blows it into nothingness. The rabbits cook slowly, but we finally are able to stuff the meat in our mouths in wanton eagerness. At this moment it's more delicious than anything I had in the Capitol.

The afternoon drags on as the sun slides across the sky. Lil takes a nap and even Rowenna dozes a bit. I stay alert, my rapier in my hand even as I lean against the warm red rock and sip water.

It's beginning to cool down when Rowenna sits beside me.

"You know," she says as she pushes her copper hair out of her sweaty face. "Maybe the rocks weren't from a tribute at all. Maybe it was a Gamemaker thing."

I shake my head. "Not subtle enough. And too small. If the Gamemakers want to bury you in a rockslide, you'll know. Besides, it's too early for that. They're probably still playing replays of the bloodbath from yesterday in the Capitol. That always holds them over for a few days."

Rowenna shakes her head. "You seem to know quite a bit about how the Gamemakers seem to think."

"I see patterns," I say. "And I remember them for a long time. I remember eleven different Hunger Games, I've seen replays of more, and the Gamemakers have never sprung a trap on the second or third day of the Games."

"Well, maybe you should watch your back more carefully now that you've admitted on camera that you've been lulled into a false sense of security."

I can't help but laugh. "I think the Gamemakers know that I have a lot to worry about as it is. The Careers. Starving to death. You."

Rowenna smirks a bit but doesn't respond. Instead she turns to Lil.

"Hey Twelve, you might be almost useless but maybe you weren't wrong about that hill. The sun should be setting soon. Let's check it out while we still have light."

I roll my eyes but follow Rowenna's lead as she picks her pack up and starts walking out. Lil gives me a frightened look, but I just motion for her to follow. I think she's afraid to speak, thinking it may prompt Rowenna into another deadly rage, but I won't say that I'm not grateful for the silence. I also agree that climbing the hill is a good plan. It can only help to see the whole arena, and it's much more defensible than this canyon, even though we won't be able to cook there.

We make it to the base of the hill as the sun begins to set. The sides are steep but long years of erosion have built up enough broken stones for us to get a good start. About fifty feet up we come across a path worn away by some sort of animal and the climb becomes much easier. The track is treacherous, and disappears altogether at some points, but it's better than climbing straight up. It zigzags around the hill, sometimes leading halfway around before doubling back and going the opposite direction but a hundred feet higher. At one point we're pressed between the hill's face on one side and massive columns of stone perched delicately on their eroded bases on the other.

The sun is sinking beneath the horizon when we reach the top. Despite Rowenna's misgivings about the hill being a landmark for other tributes, we are completely alone. The summit must be nearly a thousand feet above the rest of the arena. It's practically a razor edge, as if a giant sliced through it like a massive hunk of butter, but there is an area of flat ground large enough for all three of use to curl up on.

In the last rays of the sun, we look out over the arena. The mesa is to the northeast and I can just see the Cornucopia glinting on top. The river flows below us from the northwest of the arena. The forest, what little of it there is, is behind the mesa and farther north. Everything else is rocks, boulders, canyons and cliffs. Mountains surround us on the horizon in every direction, but who knows if they're even real or just an illusion created by the Capitol to trick us into thinking we are actually in the wilderness.

"Not much to it, is there?" asks Rowenna. I shake my head in agreement.

We've pulled out our sleeping bags and I'm just putting my head down when the anthem plays in the sky. The only face in the sky is the boy from 9, who must have died last night when the cannon goes off.

"What do you think? Careers?" asks Lil.

"Has to be," said Rowenna. "Or his own stupidity. Maybe he tripped over his bootlaces and fell off a cliff. That actually happened once, years ago."

It's pointless to speculate about what's going on elsewhere in the arena but I can't help but say, "This certainly seems to be a year for the girls. All the boys are dead except for the Careers. And Loomer."

"Thirteen left," says Rowenna, but I don't reply. I'm already half asleep.

The next day reveals a little known fact about the Hunger Games that aren't evident in any of the television specials and the mentors fail to mention. The Hunger Games are boring. Between stretches of terror and tension, there are long periods of sitting around doing nothing that are cut out of the recaps shown during mandatory viewing. I get the last watch of the night and I wake up my allies before the sky begins to lighten. We strike camp without speaking and head down the narrow path as dawn breaks.

We don't dare check any of the snares in the morning in case the mysterious booby-trapper is still hanging around. Instead we retreat to the canyon near the base of the hill and set up our day camp. The morning is spent sitting around not talking. I sneak out towards the river to refill our canteens. We wait half an hour for the iodine to take effect and then drink deeply.

There's a bit of discussion on whether or not to cook the fowl, but we settle for agreeing to check the snares tomorrow and save some of the bird just in case we don't catch anything. We cook the bird in the heat of the day again. I stand guard, listening for the sound of anyone approaching, but the scant smoke doesn't give away our position. We eat, and I find myself regretting the decision to save food till tomorrow. The skies remain empty of silver parachutes.

Lil attempts to engage us in conversation about our families and respective districts, but neither Rowenna nor I comply to speak. I find myself thinking about Carl and Kerry as the afternoon wears on. I hope Kerry hasn't had to watch too much of the Games. Viewing is mandatory, but people usually find a way to keep the younger children from seeing the worst of it. Even though Kerry will be eligible for the reaping itself in just a few years.

The anthem plays just after the sun sets. No faces appear in the sky. I exchange a significant glance with Rowenna as the seal of Panem fades from the sky. There's only been one death since the bloodbath. The audience must be getting restless. I consider arguing for climbing the hill again, but decide against it. Rowenna and Lil won't listen. They want to be near the snares so we can get an early start tomorrow. I agree, but I wish we were camping anywhere other than this little canyon. It gives me a bad feeling.

I offer to take first watch. It's been nearly sixteen hours since I've slept, but I find I'm not even tired. Lil and Rowenna stretch out to sleep and I pace restlessly as the canyon walls seem to close over me in the darkness like a tomb.

Rowenna has to nearly kick me half to death in the morning to wake me up. I jolt up with a yell and scramble to draw my blade before I see the older girl's look of thinly veiled contempt.

"Still jumpy, District Eight? If you were a bit faster you might have been able to stab that rock before it attacked."

I don't respond but silently curse myself for sleeping so deeply in the arena. Lil is already up. She's glancing furtively at Rowenna more often than usual. Her eyes keep darting to her, then back at the ground. I'd bet money her nightmares last night involved Rowenna and a hatchet.

We cross the river and start checking the snares in the dawn light. It takes longer this time as we all examine each snare before touching it. The results are rather pathetic. One stringy rabbit and some sort of desert lizard.

"Well, guess we'll be going hungry today," says Rowenna. "Some of us at least. I wish Vera and Cora would send us some food. It's only going to get more expensive, and I can't imagine that there's that much money left in the alliance fund anyway with everything they sent us in the beginning."

I privately agree but don't say much. It's very much in my interest to keep the alliance together because I doubt I could beat Rowenna in a fair fight. Even with Lil on my side, the odds wouldn't be in my favor.

"Maybe we should all take another bath," says Rowenna as she pulls out her package of jerky. "Or perhaps our mentors will send us some pillows and we can have a sexy pillow fight like they do on those Capitol programmes. Those are always popular in Seven. Maybe it'll earn us a decent meal. Or else we could – hey! Hey!"

She's staring at her package of jerky, fingers flicking though the strips.

"I'm missing food. I ate one strip last night during watch. There are two missing. Someone took my food."

She looks at me for a moment then glares at Lil.

"It was you! You stole my food! My jerky!"

Lil raises her hands. "I…I didn't! I swear! I didn't take anything!"

"Don't lie to me! I know you took it!"

"Maybe you just counted wrong, Rowenna," I say. "Don't jump to conclusions."

She glares at me, then points to my pack. "Check the bird. Do it now."

The half-eaten fowl is in my pack. I open it and examine what's left. Sure enough, there's a leg and a wing missing.

I don't have to say anything. The look on my face must be enough. Rowenna draws her hatchet.

"That's it. She dies."

"Lil," I say, the fear tinging my voice.

"I swear to the gods, District Eight, if you tell her to run, I'll finish you off first then track her down."

I say nothing but draw my rapier. Lil darts behind me with a whimper and I wish she wouldn't. I'd much rather have Rowenna as an ally then Lil, but the girl from 7 is baring her teeth at both of us.

"So this is how it is, Eight? You two against me? We're ending it now?"

"Not now, if it were my choice. The Careers are still out there. We're stronger together."

"Then stand aside and let me finish this."

"I'm not going to do that," I say, wishing desperately that Lil would stop being an idiot and make a run for it. "Let her go. She stole food, she's on her own now, but we don't need to cut her down here. Let the arena take care of her."

"You're too soft, Eight, I thought it from the beginning but I didn't listen to my instincts." Rowenna's voice rises in volume until it cracks. "Let me make this clear. I am going home. Over both of your bodies. Hers now. It's your choice whether you're going to live a little longer or go down with her. So step aside or let's start this!"

"Rowenna," I say, pushing the hair away from my ear. "Shut up."

"Don't be a coward, Eight. Are we finishing this or not?"

"Rowenna. Shut up!"

Something in my voice must alert her, because her hatchet lowers a fraction of an inch as she freezes. The only sound is the river. Lil sniffles from somewhere behind me.

A rock falls among the cliffs behind us. The sound matches the frantic beating of my heart.

"Run," I say.

Rowenna and I both choose speed over silence, splashing into the river together. I manage to hold my pack and blade above the water without falling, but it's a close thing. Rowenna falls twice, and the second time I think she's been swept away. There's no sign of Lil. She must have darted off on her own, knowing the alliance wouldn't help her anymore. I climb out on the opposite back just as Rowenna reappears fifty feet downstream. Water streams down her body as she stumbles up the bank, still clutching her hatchet.

She bolts towards me and we run together, all thoughts of breaking the alliance forgotten.

"Where?..." Rowenna gasps. "Where?"

I point at the big hill with my rapier. Rowenna nods. Hopefully we can lose whoever was among the cliffs. We also have the advantage of knowing about the path.

We reach the base of the hill and begin the ascent. A hundred feet up, my lungs are burning and my side aches but I order my feet to keep moving and for once they comply. At the top of the first rise, we stop and look out over the river.

"Did we…lose them?" gasps Rowenna.

It only takes a few minutes to see the dark shadows moving on the far bank. I recognize the dark hair of the girl from 4 as she splashes into the river.

"Maybe they don't know where we went," I whisper, not really believing it, when even that faint hope is dashed.

"Wait! Wait for me!"

A thin, soaking figure with bobbed hair is desperately following us up the path.

"Oh shit," says Rowenna.

"No time," say. "Go."

We climb again, as fast as our bodies allow. We can hear the whoops of the Career pack by now, occasionally drowned by Lil's shrill screams as she follows us up the path.

"Why…didn't…you let…me kill her?" Rowenna gasps. I don't respond. I don't have the air.

We reach the point where the columns of rock separate us from the edge of the cliff when I stumble. I try to get up, but I can't move.

"Get up!" Rowenna kicks me. "Get up! I can't take them alone!"

"The stones," I whisper, as I gesture at the tall columns. "Topple them. Block the path. Buy us time."

The path we climbed is maybe seventy feet below us. Rowenna realizes what I'm trying to say and starts pushing at one of the columns of stone. It doesn't budge. Lil's screams continue below us, and I find myself waiting for them to be cut off even as I pull myself to my feet and try to help Rowenna push.

"They're coming! They're coming!"

Lil stumble towards us as we strain and push. My muscles scream in protest and the stone still doesn't budge.

"It…won't…move," groans Rowenna. "Have to…run…"

Lil reaches us, crying and wailing and clutching at me. I shove her off as Rowenna points to the sky and gives out a yell.

"Look!"

A silver parachute lands at our feet. Tied to it is a thin metal pole.

"What is it for?" asks Rowenna "What the bloody hell is that for!"

"We're going to die!" wails Lil. "They're going to kill us all!"

"Leverage," I say. "Leverage."

I pull the pole out and jam it into the base of the column. It takes a few precious seconds for it to grip, but I start rocking my body weight on it, trying to build up momentum. Rowenna sees what I'm doing and joins me.

The column begins to wobble.

"Keep going," says Rowenna. We need to time it right."

She moves to the edge of the cliff and peers down at the path below us. I can hear voices below us, calling and cheering.

"They're mine, Zin! Victor's first blood!"

"You want them, you have to beat me to them, cuz!"

"They don't know we're above them," whispers Rowenna. "Keep quiet."

"We're going to die!" screams Lil. "Do something, we're going to die!"

"Shut her up, District Eight," Rowenna hisses.

I continue to rock the column of stone even as I desperately look at the girl from 12.

"Lil, shut up, please shut up, we're trying to do something. Come help me with this."

"I don't want to die! Don't let them kill me!"

"Cecelia!" Rowenna's eyes are desperate and wild, her hair flying. "Shut her up!"

I don't even think about it. It seems like the easiest thing in the word to pull out my rapier and arc it in a slow, deliberate slash. Lil doesn't even seem to notice the blade slash across her throat. She gives a small sigh and topples even as her blood sprays onto the red rocks beneath our feet.

The cannon fires.

Rowenna doesn't spare her a glance. "They're almost below us. You ready?"

My blade is back in its sheath and I'm pressing on the metal bar again. The column is wobbling, ready to tip.

"I'm ready, I say."

"Wait…wait…wait…" Rowenna clenches her fist. "NOW!"

With a scream and a mighty shove I press all my weight down on the bar. The column teeters, rocks, and for one awful moment I'm afraid it isn't enough, and then gravity takes over and the huge stone topples over the brink towards the path below us.

There are two seconds of silence and then an almighty crash. There are screams and cries of pain below us, rising like prayers to the two death gods above.

"Got them!" screams Rowenna. "One of the girls at least!"

"Not all of them," I say. "Keep running."

Two cannons ring out as we sprint up the path. For a moment I think there's a third, and then Rowenna screams as a rock crashes down right in front of her.

I look up. More stones are tumbling down towards us. There's an almighty groan as the ground beneath our feet begins to shift.

"They're going to bring down the whole effing mountain!" screams Rowenna.

If the Gamemakers want to bury you in a rockslide, you'll know. I have the bizarre urge to laugh as the path beneath me dissolves.

I register that I'm tumbling towards the Careers, but I focus on trying to dodge the massive stones falling around me, some many times my size. Rowenna is yelling something, I hear a male voice beneath me, but soon there is nothing but tumbling rock and dirt. I lose my balance and fall. It's only a half a second but it feels like an eternity. There's a terrible pain in my chest as I land, and I dimly wonder if I've broken ribs. Stones strike my back, my legs. One strikes my temple and sends me flying further down the hillside.

A chasm opens right in front of me, as if the stone were paper being torn by some giant hand. I try to climb back up, but the shifting earth pulls me down towards the black nothingness. My pack of supplies slips from my back as I slide. I reach for it, fingers snatching, but it tumbles down, lost forever.

There's a scream to my right and a copper haired figure tumbles down the ledge into the abyss. For a moment I'm sure I must hear a cannon firing, but then two hands appear, desperately clinging to the stones. I don't have time to think about it. I reach out and take hold her fingers. She grabs at me, I pull, and soon Rowenna appears, filthy and bleeding, but alive.

The stones stop falling. Silence rings through the arena. Dust dances like girls in wisps of linen.

Rowenna and I stare at each other. She sniffs. I groan. And then we start laughing. Hysterically, My sides cry out in protest, I think I moan in pain, but still the demented giggles persist. I clutch my rapier, amazed that it's still in its sheath, as Rowenna helps me to my feet.

The ground beneath me gives way.

I'm screaming, shouting, clinging to the edge of the rift exactly how Rowenna was a minute before.

"Rowenna!" I scream. "Rowenna, help me!"

She looks down at me, her eyes blank. For a moment she reaches out a hand. Then she raises a foot. Finally, she shakes her head and gives me a long look.

"I'm sorry, Cecelia. But I want to go home. It's better this way. I don't have to kill you. I just don't have to save you."

"Rowenna," I say. "Please."

"Good-bye, District Eight," she says, and disappears.

I don't know how long I cling to that ledge. I force the tears back with sheer will and look down into the emptiness beneath me. There's a ledge to my left, about ten feet down. I swing myself over, close my eyes, and let go.

The jolt sends a shooting pain through my ankle as it twists under me. I topple off the ledge but end up on an outcropping just below that. I lay still for long minutes, groaning. Finally I turn over and stare down below me. There's enough light to see the various outcroppings and slopes But there's a way down to the very bottom. If I don't lose my head and fall to my death.

It must take an hour or more of pain and lacerations as I crawl down the chasm. The rocks are still loose and I take a couple more nasty falls, each sending lances of pain through my chest. Finally, I reach a downward slope and stumble down. I must be deep under the hill, in a sort of cave created by the rift. There's no way for me to climb back up, so I have to stumble forward on my bad ankle, hoping there's a way out.

Light shines ahead. The mouth of the cave gleams, a faint point in the distance. I give a cry of joy and practically crawl forward. All I can think of is the glimmering river that I know is waiting, waiting for me to drink and wash and rest.

I'm thirty feet from the opening when boulders begin falling. The light sputters, shrinks, until there's only one ray left, slanting through the cave. I cry out in desperation, in anger, and crawl towards it.

One final stone falls and the light gutters out. And my cave becomes my tomb.

---

As you can imagine, Cora won't take very kindly to her tribute being buried alive. Next update from the Capitol will come soon.

Thanks as always to my reviewers, Anla'shok, mintjellyfish, Charlieal12, Mecoorio, and Ibbonray, You're reviews are still appreciated and welcome. If you've been reading this far and haven't left a review, you should. Because I say so.

And if you're eager for more Games and more Victors, be sure to check out my latest ongoing work, "The Victor's Project," a series of oneshots about each Victor in my fanon.