Starla felt like she couldn't breathe until Xavier got back. Not just him, Steller, Wright, Sasha, all her allies. As the cannons fired, she realized - what if they died? What if all of them were dead, and now she was all alone, lighting a signal fire for people who would never come?

But they did come. Xavier first, through the trees, and Starla almost cried with relief, the packs spilling out of her hands and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. He was okay, he was okay, he was alive. Thank god. When she pulled away, her clothes were wet with blood.

"Are you hurt? Is it - is the blood -"

"It's not mine."

"Are the others okay?"

"They were when I left," he said, and then he looked away, hesitated a moment. "But Wright - Wright didn't make it."

He was the first face in the sky that night. Not too long after Xavier, Steller and Sasha got back, and none of them spoke a word about Wright.

Xavier was lying next to her when his face flashed by. Wright Geon, District Four. Then, Jack Hound, District Six. Xavier drew in a deep breath. He'd told Starla that he'd killed the District Seven girl, but her face didn't show. Instead, Shallow Blitz, District Eight was next. Confused, they shared a glance. Then, Youngly Cart, District Ten. Those two, Shallow and Youngly, had had an alliance closer to a suicide pact. It must have paid off. Finally, Zealya Vet's face flashed by, accompanied by Sasha's triumphant smile. When the music stopped, the silence felt deafening.

Only five tributes. It felt like so many when Starla was just listening to the cannons. Even now, seeing their faces, it felt like a lot. But she knew from previous years, that really, it wasn't. Not even close. The gamemakers would be hungry for blood. She just hoped the blood spilled wouldn't be hers.

They waited to go over their supplies until the morning. It had been a long day, and everyone was tired, and they'd already drank the water bottles that came with their packs. "We're fine on food," Steller said, combing through what they had collected. Starla knew they didn't need that many packs, that there was probably some other tribute starving somewhere, but she had to remind herself that it all ended the same way. One left standing. How they got there didn't matter. At least, that's what she tried to believe.

"We're fine on weapons, too," he continued, "but we're out of water." Steller's eyes flicked up to every member of the group, lingering a beat longer on Starla. They were in an alliance, but that could only last so long. She hadn't fought in the bloodbath with the rest of them. So when everyone started turning on each other, she didn't want a reason to be first.

"I'll go. I think I saw a river east of here when I was scouting for shelter." She stood up, grabbing a pack, just in case.

"No one goes alone. I'll come, too," Xavier said. Starla was happy to have the company, but before he could stand up, Sasha was getting to her feet.

"You stay here, I'll go with her." Then, Sasha flashed a smile to Starla. It seemed genuine enough, but Starla couldn't help but feel a little bit uncomfortable. She still didn't quite trust Sasha, but they were allies. It wasn't like she could say no.

They made the walk to the river in silence. It only took about ten minutes, and they weren't even hurrying. There was a sort of tension in the air, different than the kind that had been there since the Games started the day before. This was new, dangerous, and Starla couldn't help but feel on edge. They got to the river, and she bent down, scooping up a cup of water, keeping one eye on Sasha. She wouldn't put it past Sasha to stab her while her back was turned.

Starla filled all the water bottles in the pack, put in the drops of iodine and sat down. The whole time, Sasha was just waiting with her arms crossed, watching. Maybe Starla was wrong. It was too early in the game, what could Sasha possibly have to gain from killing her now? Starla got to her feet, feeling the sun warming her back. She knew it was fake, that none of this was real, but it still felt nice. She took a few steps towards the river, listening to the quiet sloshing sound. On her fourth step, she accidentally knocked the pack over, spilling weapons and packaged crackers everywhere, just out of her reach.

As Starla made to gather the items, she heard Sasha's nervous voice. "Don't move." Slowly, Starla wheeled around, praying she was wrong, but there was Sasha, just as she suspected, her hand outstretched, fingers clutching so tightly at the handle of the knife that her knuckles turned white. "It's nothing personal."

"Sasha -"

"Look, I just wanna go home. We all do."

"Sasha, you don't have to do this. We can just go back - I won't tell anyone, Sasha, please."

"No, no, I can't do that, I -" Her hand shook again. She had never seen Sasha so scared. She hoped that meant she had a little bit of time. It was possible that she would die right now. Likely, even. But she would go down fighting. Starla whirled around, reaching for the knife she'd just kicked over, but before she could even touch the handle, She felt Sasha's blade rip through her skin. Her arm.

Instantly, there was so much blood. The blood came before the pain. And then, the pain, roaring through her. She staggered back, wanting to go down, wanting to give her legs a break, her body a break, but she wouldn't. Falling now would mean certain death. Sasha's hands were shaking so badly now. That must have been why she missed her heart by a long shot.

But then, she saw Sasha's shaky attempt at a smile, and knew that even though she was nervous, Sasha didn't miss. She wrapped her hands around both of Starla's shoulders, and for a moment, through the dazzling pain, Starla looked into her eyes, a brief moment of connection, of hope, but then Starla felt Sasha shove her, roughly, into the water below.

The pain was so heavy that she couldn't do anything but sink, watch her blood cloud around her. The air had gone, everything had gone, and either Starla's eyes were closed or it was so dark already, down deep. She felt her thoughts narrowing, felt herself trying to scrape up the energy to pull herself out, but she was already so tired.

Sasha had turned on her, early. And she was headed back to camp now. She felt black scraping at the edges of her brain, but even with the life bleeding out of her like the blood from her arm, she tried to think. Her body wouldn't cooperate, fine. But she'd make her mind last until the end. If Sasha was headed back to camp, that meant the others were in danger. That meant Xavier was in danger, it meant he could be next.

Starla was dying, quickly, quicker than she'd like, and if she didn't get out, Xavier would, too. One of them would die by the end, of course, but Starla couldn't comprehend that right now. She could only understand survival. Even Xavier passed from her mind as she used her uninjured hand to swim up to the surface. Luckily, it was a relatively shallow river, and her lungs were crying out for air, but she still couldn't surface. It seemed so far away, the light pooling at the top, but she swam towards it anyway, toward the sun that had warmed her back only minutes before.

She pulled herself up onto the bank, coughing up water, then heaving for air. Her whole body was shaking and already she felt lightheaded. She was losing too much blood. Sasha had gone, left her with the pack and the waters. There must have been a reason to leave them, but Starla couldn't think clearly enough to figure it out yet. She stayed there a while, curled up on the riverbank, warmed by the sun, blood still spilling out of the ragged cut Sasha had make. After a while, she closed her eyes, longing to drift off. It was so warm, and quiet, and there was the sound of rushing water.

Then, she opened her eyes, and told herself that it was time to get up. She knew her body was in shock, that she was running on adrenaline. She'd pay for it later, but it would be useful now. She downed an entire water bottle, then methodically, she capped the other ones, slipping them into the pack. She threw the pack around her shoulders, nearly throwing her off balance and onto the ground again, but she steadied herself.

As she walked, feeling the blood drip down her arm, she knew the adrenaline was wearing off. But she continued on, getting colder and colder. She forgot that she was still wet. About halfway through the walk, she felt the pain return and for a moment she collapsed to her knees and screamed. Her throat was raw, and everything felt empty inside of her, like she'd screamed herself hollow. It hurt more than she thought was possible. She didn't even know pain like this could exist. How could she be in this much pain and still be alive at all? But eventually, she swallowed it down. She felt black edging her vision, but she couldn't stop now, she was so close. She had to keep moving. Get back to camp. That was all that was keeping her going. Getting back to camp, and Xavier, and help.

She was so tired, but she dragged on, finishing the walk at a near crawl. Finally, she got to the clearing she had picked out for them yesterday. Was it yesterday? It seemed so much longer ago than that. It took only a few moments for Xavier to see her, and she caught Sasha's eyes widening. She had made it, she had gotten there, and only a second after Xavier ran to go to her, eyes wild with worry, she felt herself falling.

He caught her just barely, lowering her to the ground. Everything was blurring together, trees and sky, and the sun that wasn't really the sun. Was that right? She couldn't remember. "Oh god. Starla? Oh god. I thought she was staying behind to purify the water!"

"She was fine when I left, I swear, I - I don't know what -"

"Starla?" Xavier's voice again. "Starla, what happened?" She tried to speak, but found nothing came out. She didn't even know what she would have said. She felt her eyes flutter shut, taking longer and longer to open after each slow blink. "No, no, don't close your eyes. You have to stay awake. Gauze, Steller, I need the gauze!"

She didn't want to let him down, she was trying so hard to do what he said, though she forgot now why she was supposed to stay awake when she was so, so tired. Xavier's face hovered before her, suddenly in startling clarity. He was so beautiful. The sun that had warmed her back, that had guided her to the surface of the water, that had saved her, was behind him now. It had turned him golden. She tried to move, to reach her hand up and trace the freckles dotting his cheeks. But the best she could achieve was the twitch of a finger.

She realized her face was wet, but not with the river water, with something new. Tears, she realized. Hers or his? She didn't know. She was so tired of fighting, of puzzling out questions, and she knew Xavier told her to stay awake, but Starla shut her eyes anyway. There was a big problem, she vaguely recalled, but Xavier would take care of it. Xavier would take care of everything now.

-::-::-::-::-::-::-

Across the arena, Hazel and Anchora were walking in silence, always silence. On the opposite side, Zender sat in a tree, across from Ari, who had first watch that night. "Hey, Zender," she started, "do you know how to swim?"

"No, why?"

Ari shrugged, as they both looked out over the water, thinking of someone else far away.

Somewhere else, Ree Joan was running, running, running as she had as soon as the gong rang out, no pack, no weapons and now she was running, running, running still. Feet away from where Shallow took his last breaths, Warden looked over the sleeping form of Zeek, and wished Zeek could stay dreaming. Zeek stirred a bit, whimpered, and Warden ran his finger through Zeek's hair, like he used to do for his little sister.

As night began to fall and no cannons had fired, Reel Carr huddled closer inside the cornucopia, left abandoned after the bloodbath. He could still smell the blood in the air, but there were weapons and supplies and a roof over his head, even if there wasn't anyone beside him. For now, that was enough.