A/N: Another day, another chapter. This was going to be longer, but I liked the way it ended. Just a quick look at what's going on in the Career pack, and checking in with a tribute or two. I'm half writing this story by the seat of my pants, and half getting it laid out in advance, so your input definitely matters! So just R/R and I hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER 25 – BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

Julius Spillers, 17, D2

I'm on guard when the lightning strikes. I'm pacing back and forth in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia, so my back is turned when it starts. I see a flash of light and whip around. There's a lightning storm illuminating the arena, oddly contained in one section of the forest.

I stare at it for a bit, mesmerized by the beauty, before realizing that this is probably something the rest of my alliance will want to know about. I shake awake Abby, Devin, and Rosemary first, hesitating before I get to Cashmere. She's on the other side of the Cornucopia, out of sight of the rest of us. She's been mostly unresponsive since Gloss died, sitting against the Cornucopia with her sword in her lap, staring unseeing into the arena. It's spooky. She held Gloss's body for so long the hovercraft had to physically remove it from her grip. I think she's lost it, and I don't know how useful she'll be with this new development.

After a quick consultation with the rest of the Careers, we decide to leave her asleep.

Instead, without her or Gloss to lead us, we just watch the lightning, awed and uncertain how to handle it. In fact, that's more or less what's been happening since Gloss's death. We haven't gone hunting, even though the day and night following the bloodbath is the best time for it, before allies have found each other and strategies been thought up.

I wanted to get on it immediately. As soon as Gloss was dead, I knew we needed to go hunting, to start killing and put the fear of god into the hearts of the other tributes. Once they saw Our Glorious Leader's face in the sky, they'll stop being scared of us, and we can't allow that.

But nooooo, Devin and Abby wanted to be cautious, wanted to wait for Cashmere to recover before we did anything. And Devin said he was our new leader because he's the oldest. And Abby looked fawningly up at him and agreed. I bet they're screwing. Assholes. Rosemary's with me, of course, but she's just a kid and what does she know?

And now there's some sort of electrical storm, and I bet the stupid arena kills more tributes than the Career pack. Absolutely unacceptable.

So while everyone else is standing around watching, doing nothing, I decide to go wake up Cashmere and get her to make a decision. I bet she'll be on my die, and then it'll be 3-2 and we can go kill some people. And if she disagrees—I'll kill her. Simple.

But it turns out not to matter, because when I get to Cashmere's sleeping bag, it's empty. She's gone.

Cashmere Tiberius, 26, D1

I hike through the woods, trying to get my bearings and figure out a plan, but my mind keep clouding over and all I can think is Gloss is gone. It's like there's an emptiness inside. I though nothing could be worse than my first arena. I thought going in with my brother would make for the best Games ever. I thought if he didn't make it out, it would be at the end. I tried not to think about how only one of us could win. It was a problem for another day. But another day has come.

Blindly, I flail through branches and thickets. I hear a noise and stop still, my heart pounding. There's a tribute on the other side of the tree, humming to himself. I debate killing him, but decide to hold my fire to assess the threat level. I'm not the Career I once was. I skirt around, climbing a nearby tree in silence to better see this tribute. It's the boy from 11, rearranging twigs, humming and rocking to himself. I've always wondered if his apparent stupidity and insanity was an act or a reality. But I don't have time to figure it out.

Behind me, I hear a crack of lightning and I whirl to watch part of the arena catch on fire. I freeze on my branch to see if this new threat will affect me. I don't need this, and bet this means that my former allies will soon discover that I'm missing—and that I've taken a hefty portion of their supplies with me.

I seem to be safe, but the effect on the boy from 11 is instantaneous. His head comes up, his nostrils flare to catch some scent I can't detect, and he looks directly into the inferno—and right at me. But he doesn't seem to see me, his eyes wide and crackling with reflected flames.

He stands up effortlessly, going from a sitting position to a run almost seamlessly, heading directly into the lightning storm. I imagine this is the last I, or anyone, will see of him. I shrug and shimmy down the tree, continuing my circular trek around the arena.

Soon, my boot thunks against something hard, and I look down. It's a wine bottle. Why is there a bottle of wine in the arena? Slowly I realize that there are several bottles littering the ground. What's going on? I hear a high pitched giggle and look up to see a tribute perched in a tree above me, pointing something at me.

For a second my heart stops in my chest and I think that it's all over for me.

But then I realize it's the tribute from District 9, and what he's holding is a bottle of wine. He giggles again, a most unpleasant sound.

"Wanna sip?" he shrieks. "C'mon up! We can have a drink, and then if you're willing, we can have a goooood time!" He winks luridly at me and bursts into more high pitched laughter.

He's still laughing maniacally when I raise my crossbow at him. He's still laughing when I start to pull the trigger.

And then I fire, and the loon falls out of the tree, his laughter silenced. Sweet, sweet silence.