Author's Note: Wow, Ermine's part was a lot longer than expected. There's a reason I had to split it from the last chapter. But hey, she's labelled as the main character, anyway, right?

Also, ALMOST 200 ALREADY YRFCKJLHUNILUYVCJTRCTV

Recommended Listening: Girl Can't Help It by Journey

Ermine Lutz, District 10

The adrenaline is starting to ebb, and it is not a pleasant sensation. Gah... I couldn't have gotten hit in the head that many times, but...

I take a deep breath, fighting the urge to lie down in the numbing snow and sleep. That's... not a good idea.

Instead, I turn towards my teammates. Italo, still wide-eyed, is sitting in the snow, but Riben's face-down on a sleeping bag.

"Riben!" I gimp over to him, kneeling on the head of the bag. Before I try to rouse him, he slowly pushes himself up to look at me.

"Hey," I say, feeling my heart rate go back down. "You all right? What happened?"

"I'm okay," he says quickly, dipping his head. "Sorry for worrying you." He looks to the side of my head to make sure the others are gone. "Yao hit me a bit after you, and, well... You already knew I wasn't going to fight anyone, and I didn't really want to watch, so I sort of stayed down..." He looks down at his hands.

"That's all right." If I was helpless while Careers mobbed my teammates, I wouldn't really want to watch, either. "Did he knock you out, even for a little bit?"

"I don't think so."

The same guy that bashed my side in and probably fractured a lower rib didn't manage to knock out a thirteen-year-old. "He must have been going easy on you. But that's good."

Riben is fine, then. Now, Italo—

Italo's not fine Italo's hurt Italo's dying

Feeling panicked even though I just saw him intact, I snap my gaze in his direction. He's still sitting in the snow—i-idiot—but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him. He would know to avoid the fight, anyway. I'm really surprised he's even still in the area—

he couldn't run he's hurt he's dying can't you tell he's dying

"Italo," I bark, making him sit up stiffer. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"

Italo shakes his head, smiling, as I hurry towards him. "Nope! You got everybody before they got to me." He throws his arms round his knees and chirps, "Thank you, Ermine!"

he's lying he's hurt and you hurt him he's hurt you're hurt too you're both dying

"You're welcome," I say breathlessly, spinning my watch rapidly round my wrist as I carefully look him over to make sure. But he's fine. I thought I got everyone who tried to hurt him—really, it was just Yao—and I was right. He'd be bawling his eyes out if he was hurt, anyw—

you're both dying hurt and dying and it's all your fault

He's fine! I'm banged-up but fine, too! We avoided death for now, a—

dying dying you're both dying you were both hurt in the fight and you can't even tell it was your fault and you're dying and he's dying

Turning suddenly, I race for the fullest bag of supplies and dump them all out fast as I can.

and there will be more battles and you'll die you'll all die all three of you

A can of beans, a can of peas, and a can of fruit cocktail roll onto the ground. Next to them in a pile is jerky, orange juice, the bag of coal, the flare, a water bottle still being purified, and the length of rope.

Italo's already hurt but he still has to die it will be your fault he'll be split open bleeding dying crying

I sweep at the snow until I have a flat surface to work with. Picking up the cans, I set them down carefully, in a row, embedding them in the snow just right so their labels are centred and facing up.

and it'll be your fault but you're already dying but you still have to watch him hurt before you can finally bleed and die

The peas are a little closer to the beans than the fruit, so I shift it, moving the snow until it looks fine. I go ahead and set the orange juice can to the right, though it's taller than the other cans, so I have to carefully centre it. The flare and the water bottle are the only other cylinders, so I go to them next. The flare's a little closer to being just a cylinder, so I line it up next.

and you die and you're all your father has left and he's dying too dying on the inside because you're dying

I push the flare into the snow until it's exactly halfway buried, and then I turn to the water bottle. It's not the same height as the flare, so there's more centring to do before I push it down in the snow. But it's not perfectly lined up, so I have to take it out, smooth things over, and try again. I have better luck this time and turn to the coal, jerky, and rope to see what goes where next.

and he's in pain and he'll die too because he has nothing left he'll die he'll probably hang himself with a rope like that one

I fling the length of rope out of sight and focus on the two things remaining. The jerky's a solid bag, so I end up putting it below the cylinders, in the middle. It's almost rectangular, but the edges aren't sharp. I crease the corners a bit to help that before turning to the coal.

everyone dead and it's all your fault

I dump the coal out and carefully fold the bag into a rectangle, placing it opposite the jerky bag. There are twelve pieces of coal. Three for each corner of this. I put one on each inside corner and the other two on the borders, halfway between the edges of the cylinder or bag and the invisible corner. Careful as I am, it's not entirely symmetrical, so I sigh in frustration and go over them again. Then I realise it's really the coal bag out of sync with everything, adjust it, and adjust the coal accordingly. It looks fine now.

Yeah. Fine. It's all fine now.

I look over at my teammates to find them both staring at me. Riben immediately averts his gaze, while Italo just blinks, having seen me do things like this before.

I clear my throat. "...Sorry about that."

Taking a deep breath, I get the snow off the supplies and put everything back in its container and back in the bag.

"Riben, you go ahead and take first watch tonight so your sleep won't be interrupted," I start. "Wake Italo next since he's uninjured." I nod at Italo. "If you can somehow remember, still wake me up for my third of the night after that, though, all right?"

Riben nods tentatively, and Italo says, "Yes'm!"

"All right." Too tired and aching to bother explaining my insanity to Riben for now, I just squirm inside a sleeping bag and gently set my head on its built-in pillow cushion.

Anissa Dell, District 9

Looks like we lucked out today. No tributes, no mutts, and we didn't get hurt by any lightning strikes. We're not doing too well because of the cold, but we'll do more moving tomorrow. There has to be something useful out here to attract tributes. Especially some wood. Unless the Capitol honestly wants us all to freeze to death.

Though that would probably be better than having to kill each other, it's still not a pleasant thought. But dying's never something I like thinking about, in whatever form.

Taking a deep breath, I look over towards the sun. It's in its nighttime position, underneath the clouds that haven't quite cleared up from today's storm. It hasn't moved since I started my watch, but that's to be expected.

I glance down at Liu. He's wrapped up tightly but still shivering a bit. I'm worried for him. If the injury itself wasn't bad enough, he's been having some memory and attention issues that weren't there on the train. He won't admit it, though. Doesn't want me to worry.

Well, that's a losing battle.