Adron.

Jolissa wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the day. She just sat there in a sad, depressed little silence, tears sometimes pouring down her cheeks in an on and off cycle.

She climbed back up into the tree, but refused to move after that. I didn't really want to be around her.

I can't believe she did that to me. I thought it was just my own mind that was out to get me and guilt trip me about the deaths I'd caused in the arena, but Jolissa going on about it in such a shocked way- after I'd saved her life, I might add- was unbearable.

She had almost broken me. I could feel it, even now how close I had come. The wall I had built up protecting me from the reality of the death, the killings I had caused had shattered for a second.

I knew that If I let killing get to me now, it would be our undoing. I had already killed, and planned to kill again, and I couldn't let her shove realities in my face.

When she mentioned his family, that's what had done it. I knew if she went on, I would think of the boy as I just killed as a person, and that meant I would have had to face the guilt of murder.

I'm not proud of what I did to Jolissa. It was necessary. I had to get her to shut up, to stop talking, and that was the only way I could have done it. So what if she hates me now and thinks I'm a heartless murderer? She's not going to be coming out of this arena.

As I sit on the branch above Jolissa, I know something. I can't camp here anymore. We'd been separated for hours, and the sun was setting.

A sliver package floated down through the tangle of branches and lands on my knee.

My first sponsor gift! I rip it open quickly, and stare at its contents. It's a meal. It was a hot meal, a meal with real, juicy meat and a delicious looking pudding- and a meal for one.

Chintz and Rayon were the ones who chose what gifts were sent. Were they trying to tell me something?

A meal for one given to me. Did Chintz want me to be on my own in this arena? He's the one who suggested our alliance in the first place. But Jolissa….I could survive without her. I had my food and weapons, and I didn't need her.

She would need me for protection, but I was never meant to protect her forever. Am I meant to keep her alive until I have to kill her? Surely Chintz doesn't want me to do that. Maybe he's right. Maybe it's best If I spilt and go on my own now, and let Jolissa die by someone else. It's not what I would have wanted, but I didn't want Jolissa to be in here in the first place. There's a lot of things that I don't want that have happened. I look at the meal.

I'll leave the first thing in the morning. Jolissa won't know where I've gone, and if she asks, I'll tell her to stay put.

I eat the meal as the sun's last rays disappear though the trees, and as the swishing and splashing of the nightly leeches make their way up to my ears, I can almost her an exasperated sigh coming from them I felt exactly the same way.

The next morning I pack my stuff, grabbing the sword and most of the food supplies. I leave the club behind, because my hand are easily mobile now, meaning I can use the sword, and besides it's a heavy thing to carry, and I left the dagger behind in case Jolissa had to defend herself. I didn't want to leave her completely without anything. I briefly think about the spear, before realizing we had left it behind when we had taken the leeches. I had completely forgotten about it, and not I guess we don't have one.

I pause before I leave and carve 'stay here' into the entrance wood, before starting my decent down the tree. I wonder if she'll see it or listen to it.

I feel bad about leaving her behind, but I've made my choice, and I feel it's the best choice I could have made under the circumstances.

I look back at the tree one last time before I start heading north-west through the woods.

I keep an eye out for color changes in the mud- they always meant danger- and as I walked I let my hand trail to the raised mark on my face from where the vine had hit me.

With the deaths of those two boys yesterday, that meant there were only ten of us left; me, Jolissa, the girl from 11, the boy from 5, 5 careers, and another person who I did not remember. The careers were still at an advantage here, since it was five of them united and no more alliances. I had to figure out a way to wither kill them all off at once of separate them. My brow furrowed as I thought of how to do this, and for a second I wondered if the odds were against me.

I shook that thought off. If I had an attitude like that, then I would not help myself at all. I have to be alert right now. I sighed and looked around, concentrating on my surroundings. I knew I would not be near the Cornucopia, and hopefully not near the careers. I wondered what they had done after we had blown their stuff up- and how much damage they had done.

The question burned in my head. To go see how well our plan had worked, if we had truly destroyed the supplies. I wanted to go and see, yet I knew that was one place that definitely had dangers. For one, it was a open clearing, easy for someone to shoot or throw across, two the careers might be waiting for their attacker to come, three the bombs might not have done enough damage to make them leave, and even then they might not have left anyway. Still, the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that unless I was completely sure that they did not have a supply of items, I could not be sure I could outlast them. I had just assumed until I thought about it that we had destroyed it, and then my mind had been on other things. I had to know whether I had destroyed their base.

I was not going to go on foot, though, and so I continued for a while before shimmying up a nearby tree- ignoring my aches and pains- and started to make a long, up and down journey to the North West.

When I reached the clearing, I could only stare. The ground was dark and burned; blackened, half melted blades of weapons were scattered in various piled amongst small heaps of ash, and the other discernible shapes were visible from my view. The clearing appeared deserted, though I did not test that by revealing myself.

The sad, mess remains of the bomb fires sat next to the mud and thin layer of water that the cornucopia was set in. Bushes and ferns, reeds and grasses poked in the sides of the clearing, and the vibrant brown tree trunks looked annoyed as their coat of vines and mosses had been singed. It was a scene of destruction in the middle of a forest, and sadness clung into the air that seemed to be directed at me. I knew I had caused this, but I shook the feeling off. I had to. There was no other choice.

The actually metal frame of the cornucopia was mainly untouched, and though it would have been a relief to have had the careers gone, even I was glad that they had not been burnt and cooked to death by the flames.

When it came to it, I would be sure to kill them as quickly and cleanly as I could. I promised them that.

Jolissa

I awoke to find Adron gone.

I wasn't worried at first, because it wasn't unusual for him to sit outside in the morning. I was a bit concerned that he hadn't woken me up for watch, but a bit secretly pleased, too. It was when I saw the words that he had scratched into the entrance that I began to worry.

Stay here. Why on earth would I do that? Just sit here, not knowing what was going on? I go outside crossly, ready to start snapping at him for ordering me about again, but he's not where he usually is, sitting outside on the branch. I look up, searching for him, and then down, but he wasn't there. I still wasn't too concerned- it wasn't like I needed to babysit him- but I knew he had ditched me for sure when I went back into the cave to find half our stuff had gone. I sat down; starting at the pile he had left me. The club was here, leaning against the wall.

I squeeze my eyes shut and open them again. Nothing's changed.

I wonder why. Why he left me. I suppose it was the easiest way for him. Maybe he didn't want to be responsible for me, and ultimately my death. This was actually the most logical conclusion, leaving an injured ally behind to die by murder or mutts. That still didn't stop it hurting like a bitch.

I sighed, and picked up the dagger on the floor. He had left if behind- on purpose it seemed. Did he think I was going to use it? I couldn't kill someone if my life depended on it- which it would, of course.

Still, I tuck the dagger away in my belt. Maybe I could use it to fend off some animals or mutts. Or maybe I just didn't want him to find it if he came back.

My hip was still damaged, and painful to move, but I packed up the stuff, accidentally knocked the club over the edge of the tree, and started my painful and slow decent down the tree.

Stay here.

Huh. I wasn't going to stay there. No-one would find me there. I would survive till the end of the games, and then Adron would have t come and kill me. Why did he even leave that? Did he want to kill me?

I didn't think so. If he had, he would have had plenty of chances.

Maybe he was just trying to be nice, but hadn't thought it through. That didn't help me either. My thoughts were disrupted when a vine I was clinging on to suddenly ripped of the tree. I clung onto it, and it dropped me a couple of meters, but thankfully it stopped with a jerk that aggravated my hip again. I closed my eyes and felt like crying. What with Adron's crazy actions over the last few days, me being abandoned and being in the hunger games, for goodness's sake, it was too much. I let one tear slide down my face before stopping myself. I had come in here to die. I knew that.

It took a long time before I unstopped myself from that vine and continued my slow decent.

When I finally reached the bottom of the tree, I didn't know where to go. I checked my water supply; thankfully it was enough that I didn't have to go back up the tree and refill it. That now seemed like an impossible task with my hip. I was even surprised I had managed to make it down the tree at all.

I started walking- well, more like hobbling- into the forest. I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing. If I was lucky, someone might find me and finish me off quickly. I wouldn't try and run.