A/N Hello! Here's day three! I should be able to get two more chapters up before I leave for Taiwan, but we'll see.

Also, the website (www. ecclesiastesverse. weebly. com) was updated again with a few new characters, including some that have yet to appear in the story. Tell me what you think!

Aria Sierra, 17, District One Female

My brother Alex waves as the train doors close, preparing to leave District One. I wave back. Next time we meet will either be after I win or beyond the grave. The escort guides me and Imperial into the dining car, sits us down, and offers us fruit. I politely decline, but Imperial takes a clump of grapes. The escort immediately begins babbling about her job and her friends and her benefits and her popularity she'll get if one of us wins. Sure, it's fine and dandy, but it seems a bit more… selfish than the way I've always imagined the people of the Capitol.

Someone taps me on the shoulder. "Hey, wake up."

"Huh?" I sit up and open my eyes. It's still dark, but in the firelight I see Creek.

"It's your watch," he says.

"Okay. You can sleep now."

He lies down, careful to avoid hurting his wounded shoulder even more. He's a nice guy, and I love his ideas. However, he seems too nice. He's never killed before, and I don't know if he'd do it if he had to. I don't like killing either, but at least I'll do it out of duty. I can't say the same for him.

I unzip my backpack and fish around for the pack of mint gum. It was my first sponsor gift, and to everyone, it seems pointless. I get it, though. Odelia's telling me to keep that fun-loving attitude. Of course, extremely serious killing machines are also appealing to the Capitol audience, but the more positive angle comes a lot more naturally to me. I take a piece and begin to chew. They say that mint is good for your concentration. I hope it's true.

I look up at the early-morning sky, my mind wandering back to the dream. It's weird; usually, my dreams are fantasies, but it was just a memory. My face scrunches up as I remember my escort, who never said anything if it wasn't for herself. It was… shocking, really. I expected Capitolites to be nicer and generous, not selfish and superficial. Maybe it was just her. Really, Aria, that was treasonous. My parents would be ashamed of me if they knew I had those thoughts,

Imperial rolls over, and I look at him. I'm not completely sure what to think about him. He's so… not him. He's not the quiet, polite guy he used to be, but he's all I have left of home. Home.

Imperial's awake now, and he stretches and gets up. He comes over and sits beside me.

"You miss home?" he says.

"Yeah," I say, "A lot."

"Me too," he says.

There's a pause as the sun's bright light begins to flood the sky.

"Do you think it happened?" he says.

"What happened?"

"You know. Agau and the mall. My dad was supposed to talk to yours about opening the new store in the new wing of your mall."

"It probably passed," I say. "My dad's a nice guy. I don't think he would refuse. Why do you ask?"

He chuckles. "I just needed an excuse to talk about home. I miss my family so much."

"Me too. You have… two siblings, right?" I say.

"Yeah, and a nephew. He's the cutest thing." He stares wistfully at the sky. "You have three, right?"

"Yep," I say. I can't help but smile thinking about them. "I wish I was there with them."

He nods, completely understanding. Maybe some of his old self is still in there, masked by the pressure of the Games.

The sun is fully up now.

"C'mon," he says, "We should wake the others."

Diara Hulston, 16, District Nine Female

I open my eyes.

I feel asleep.

On a wide-open rock.

Shoot. What kind of an idiot falls asleep while she's out in the open? I grab my stuff and start moving. If Elysia was still alive, then we could take turns keeping watch. But she's dead. And I'm winning for her.

I hear a soft beeping, and when I turn around, I see a silver parachute, floating down. A sponsor gift? I must be doing better than I thought I did. I run over and catch the parachute, screwing open the lid.

There are only two matches. Two matches? What do I do with two matches? I have a box of matches in my backpack; I don't need more. I pick one up. It seems pretty average; there's nothing special about it. I see these all the time at ho-

At home. These are matches from District Nine. But still, what good is it? I can only make two fires…

Oh… I think I'm getting it now. At home, two lit torches during the day mean to watch out for wild predators that have somehow seemed to enter the district. It means watch out, be on your guard. Rusk is telling me to be fully alert. I give him a thumbs up to let him know I got his message, but what am I looking out for? I'm not sure I want to know.

I begin to move into a thicker section of the swamp, slashing my way through with my scythe. The trees are getting bigger, and shrubs and plants almost completely carpet the water. I'm not likely to run into anyone here.

I hear a snarl from the thicket in front of me. I had forgotten that there are more mutts in thickets. I slowly back off as two yellow eyes appear in the underbrush. A black, feline head appears. A panther, I think. That's one mutt I don't want to deal with, so I turn heel and run.

I hear splashing behind me. It's coming after me, but I know it's not trying that hard. I must not be trying to kill me, then. But what? Drive me somewhere?

I spot another pair of yellow eyes, deep in the woods to my far left. I swerve to the right. They might not be trying to kill me, but the moment I stop playing along, I'm dead. I hear more mutts behind me, joining the first two. I must keep going. I can't lose.

I crash through a stand of small trees and find myself face to face with the girl from Seven, her allies not far behind her. I begin to back off. I can't take all four of them.

She lunges at me. "Oh no, you don't," she says, "You're staying here."

I dodge her swing and ram her in the stomach, knocking her into the water. I hear splashing behind me. Of course, it's her district partner. I stumble to my feet and try to run, but my foot catches on some underwater root. I guess the Gamemakers don't want me going anywhere.

Now it's two against one. I stand back, waiting for her to make the first move. She and her partner circle me, keeping me from running. She lashes at me. I move to the side and slash back, but she drops to the water, ducking under it. I see her partner striking at me out of the corner of my eye, and I lurch forward. The girl pulls me down into the water; her ax is gone now. She holds down my hand with the scythe, and she tries to pry it from my grasp. I knee her and force her off of me before barreling into the guy's legs, tripping him into the mud. Before I can pull myself up, fire rips through my lower chest. I scream. The girl yanks her ax out of me. I try to stand, but I can't. It hurts. She shoves me, and I'm powerless to do anything as I fall into the murky water. The acidic water burns the wound, and I can't hold back my screams. I taste blood in my mouth, and I know what's really happening.

I'm dying.

I always knew that this could happen, but the shock of it all is beginning to numb everything.

The world is blurring. It doesn't hurt as much anymore.

I'm sorry, Elysia. Your sacrifice was Meaningless.

Angus Derwin, 16, District Ten Male

Arden slams her ax into the girl from Nine before yanking it out and shoving the girl into the water. She breathes heavily, trying to catch her breath. Alder is trying to dry himself off, a serious expression on his face. I don't why I just sat here and watched. I don't think I was needed; was I? I could've stepped in. Was it because I was afraid of killing? Was I a coward? Should I have stepped in?

A small voice in my head reminds me of what my dad liked to say. "It isn't about how strong or great or attractive you are. It's about what you believe in and what you do about it."

I whisper a silent thank-you to my dad. I know that unnecessary killing is wrong, and I'm not going to make the Games worse than they already are. If I win, it's going to be on my terms.

Arden washes her hands and her ax of the dead girl's blood, and she flinches when she washes off the chunks of flesh stuck to the ax. I can tell that deep down, she doesn't enjoy the killing any more than I do. We're all in the same position, really. The only thing that sets us apart is how we deal with it.

"We… should move," Arden says. She sounds nauseous. "Let them take her body away."

"Are you okay?" Star asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's … Let's just go."

We grab our bags and begin to move, Arden at the head, me in the rear. As we leave, I turn around as the hovercraft appears. The claw comes down and scoops up the girl's dead body, hauling it into the hovercraft. I look away.

We walk around for the rest of the day, following Arden. We all know that we're going nowhere, but I don't complain. She needs some time to process everything, so none of us steps in. As nightfall comes, I break the silence.

"We need to settle down," I say, "There's no use wandering around in the dark."

Arden looks back, sighs, and shrugs. She looks tired. It's agreed and we begin to unpack on an island amidst the water, covered in ferns and other plants.

The anthem plays. Arden looks away.

"I'll take first watch," I offer. No one argues. It's fine; after today, all of us need some time to cope and react. Of course, Arden killed the girl from Three in the bloodbath, but that was partially out of self-defense. I can't say the same about this. The girl was trying to run.

I start a fire and offer some food. Alder takes a strip of jerky, and they all lie down to sleep. I sit beside the fire. I'm pretty tired myself. My legs are sore from walking all day, and I'm just as worn as everybody else. But I choose to keep watch. Let everyone else get some rest first. Why?

As my dad would say, this is the role of a leader.

Razer Dian, 32, District Three Mentor

I'm in the mentors room right now. Beside me is Pike Marilin, Naia's mentor. After the snake attack yesterday, we've been on the edges of our seats, but it's been quiet today. Right now, Digit and Naia are sitting around a fire, eating a bit of their food. Maybe, if the Gamemakers are feeling nice, they won't have to deal with any mutts tonight. I stand up and rub my eyes, which are tired from watching the screen. I stretch and beckon to an Avox, who comes over. Believe me, the practice of making Avoxes is disgusting, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do something about it. I have to choose my battles, and this is not one worth fighting.

"A cup of hot chocolate," I say, "Cut down on the sugar; blend walnuts into it."

She nods and leaves to get my drink.

I sit back down as Pike curses. My full attention is immediately drawn to the screen. A pack of fish-like creatures, a few feet long, are closing in on them, hiding under the cover of darkness. They look more like huge lizards, now that I think about it, with flippers and fish heads. Their mouths are filled with razor-sharp teeth. They only have a few minutes before they're both dead. We have to warn them. Think, think, think.

"How much money do we have?" Pike says, his face lighting up.

"Umm… couple thousand."

"Whew." He navigates the sponsorship page and taps on "One bowl of shark-fin soup."

Within seconds, a capsule with a bowl of soup is floating down. C'mon Naia. This is up to you.

Digit runs to get the parachute and screws it open. "Smells fishy," he says on screen.

Naia takes a whiff and dips her finger into it. "Tastes like shark-fin soup."

"Isn't that kind of pointless?" Digit asks. I want to slam my head on the table.

"Sharks…" Naia says. Come one, come on, come on. "Sharks. Quick, grab a weapon!"

Digit runs for his knives and picks it up as the first creature attacks, jumping out of the water. Digit stabs it with his long dagger and throws it to the ground. Immediately, the rest of the creatures follow suit.

"Whew," Pike says, "They'll be okay."

"How can you tell?"

"This is just like spearfishing," he says. "Naia's used to it."

I begin to breathe. Naia spears the last one, and the two catch their breath. Naia smiles at a camera.

"Nice one," I say.

"Don't mention it," Pike replies.

I stand up as the Avox returns with my chocolate. I take a sip.

"Can you watch tonight?" I ask. I watched last night.

"Sure. Goodnight."

"Night."

I leave the room and enter one of the bedrooms on the side, placing my cup on the side table. I need to get some sleep; my eyelids are heavy with fatigue. At the rate the Games are going, Digit won't last much longer. I place my hand into my pocket, where it touches a folded piece of paper. I pull it out. It's Digit's goodbye note; he gave it to me before he left for the arena. In my hurry, I forgot to read it. I unfold it and begin to read.

Hello,

I'm not exactly used to writing notes to people, but here goes. Thanks for helping me the past few days. I'm not talking about mentoring; I'm talking about the notebook. Knowing that it's real gives me hope that one day, Beetee's plans will come true. We won't always be enslaved by the Capitol. I hope you never give up on it.

Tell my mom goodbye for me. I wasn't able to see her before I was taken.

Digit

The notebook. Before, I had always seen it as a relic, but my eyes are opening to the power it has among the people of Three. This is the stuff that gives them hope for the future. If I could decode it, I'd be able to rally up the whole district. I can't give up on it.

But first, I need some sleep.

Eulogy:

Diara Hulston, 16, District Nine Female. Placed 16th

Diara was such an amazing character. I loved her attitude and her worldview, and she was overall fun to write and fun to use. Her strength contrasted well with her inexperience with people, and if this were a standard SYOT, she could've won. Alas, I already had a story planned before the submissions came in, and she just didn't fit. I'm so sorry, pyreplanes.

Questions:

1. Aria… How is she reacting to everything? What are your thought on the Ones this year?

2. Diara… How much will you miss her? Did this match up with any of your predictions?

3. Angus… How has this encounter affected the Outer-District Trained Alliance? How will it affect their future? What do you think of Angus?

4. Razer… This isn't important now, but I promise; it'll appear sometime in the future. Predictions about this?

5. How would you react to killing someone?

6. What do you think of the website?

See y'all soon!

~Joseph