Sorry...this isn't another spoof chapter :(

This is the real chapter.

Happy reading

Jo barely slept a wink that night. Instead, she leaned up against one of the maze walls and listened to the sounds of the wild. She could hear owls hooting in the distance. There was one to the left that sounded like a horned owl. Not to mention the rats and mice that were scuttling around. Their little paws didn't bother her. It was almost as if she was home, camping outside in the woods.

But it was freezing. There was a fierce wind that she wasn't used to, and it bit at her face. She wouldn't be surprised if her lips and fingertips were blue. Oh, what she would do for a fire. With all the dried corn stalks, there was ample fuel for a fire. But it would also be a surefire way for the Careers to find her, assuming they could find their way through the maze. Jo needed to figure out how to navigate the maze without getting lost. It wouldn't be wise to get stuck in a dead end with no way to escape. She'd have to mark the paths with all the dead ends.

Just as she was trying to figure out what she could use to mark the arena, a silver parachute fell down next to her.

Since she was the daughter of a victor, Jo's mother had the money to buy presents for birthdays and special occasions. They were always wrapped with red ribbon and tied with a nice bow as a flourish. And there was always a card to accompany it. Jo usually went straight for the present, as she didn't have the patience to read the card first. Besides, the card usually had some stupid emotional sentence on it. Roma didn't convey her feelings well in person, but she loved her cards. Jo didn't.

This time she felt that she had better read the card first. Why was she getting a present so early anyway? It was only the second day of the Games. She didn't need anything yet.

"Congratulations on your two kills Joliet. As promised, here is your prize for having the most kills during the first battle. Hopefully, this will help you get many more. Good luck. Sincerely, The Gamemakers."

Jo had forgotten about that. She didn't realize that she had won, but hey, a gift was a gift. It was rather heavy and very bulky. Not that practical for having to be on the run. It was probably some junk item that she'd end up tossing anyway. She undid the silver ribbon and unwrapped the prize.

It was unlike anything she had ever held before, the type of thing only seen on television commercials. It was square in shape, black rimmed with a screen. She found the power button and the screen lit up.

"What the?" She muttered as she tried to figure out what to do with it. There was only one button, the power one. She ran her finger across the screen and it moved. There were names on the screen, some still, some moving. They were all in different colors. She found her name in brown, it was on the lower edge of the screen. It was a map! A map that showed all the twists and turns of the maze, and where all the tributes were located.

The map was worth what she had done to get it. She found the names of the Careers. Victory was in red, the purple was Zephyr's name. Yellow and green were for the Two's. Jo wasn't that shocked when she saw Hannah's name in a maroon color next to one in rainbow. Hannah had been somewhat awesome during the training. Roan's name wasn't there.

Jo didn't like the looks of the Career group. None of them had died, and there were seven of them. It was a strong group.

The other big alliance was the District Three tributes along with Lyrah from Six. Weird, Jo would have thought that Lyrah would be with either Linden or Pontus. Lyrah had been making eyes at Linden and been playing buddy-buddy with Pontus. Jo couldn't stand other girls most of the time. They were North of the cornucopia. For the most part, the tributes were all distributed evenly throughout the arena. Roan's name was closest to her, but he was moving away. Jo was safe, and now that she had the map, she was way ahead of the others.

There was no charger for it though, and she doubted that the battery would last forever. She hit the power button and stowed the map away. No one would be out tonight, so it would be okay to take a little bit of a nap. She wondered if there was a way to put the map on an alarm system so it would beep if any of the other tributes got within so many feet of her. She turned it back on and tried to play with it, but she couldn't figure it out. The only things she could do were zoom in, zoom out and move the map, as well as turn it on and off.

So Jo turned it off and closed her eyes. The sounds of the wild soothed her to sleep.

xxx

Lyrah had the morning watch. She was so glad that she had found an alliance to join with. They were very necessary in the beginning of the games. With all these tributes still in play, it was dangerous to be alone, especially since the Careers were such a big group. Although she was wary of most of them, the Careers this year didn't seem too dangerous. Not like what she has seen the past few years. A rift in the Career group was good, though. And not all of them were bad. She really did like Pontus. He was entertaining, and every girl needed a gay friend. They were the best type to have.

After the seven photos had been shown, the arena settled down for the night. Everyone was exhausted and just wanted their rest. Fiver had taken first watch while Lyrah and Cord had used the outer leaves of the corn husks as bedding. It was freezing, but luckily the high walls of corn blocked the biting wind.

It hadn't taken Lyrah long to fall asleep, though several times she was woken up by animal noises in the distance, and a few times by Cord. He kicked in his sleep. Cord woke her up around dawn, and she was able to see the sunrise for the first time in ages.

And now she was formulating her plan while the other two slept. It was entertaining being with those two, and even in their sleep they didn't stop with the antics. Every time Cord accidently kicked Fiver, she'd sleep smack. And whenever Fiver snored, Cord would kick her, and then she'd smack him, and then she'd snore. It was a never ending cycle. Like that song she liked to sing to annoy her mother back home.

"These are the chores that never end, they just go on and on my friend, some people started doing them, not knowing what they were, and they'll just keep on doing them forever just because…" She'd change the word "chores" depending on what she was doing, "These are the dishes that never end…" her favorite one was "this is the homework that never ends…" And her mother's least favorite was "this is the fart that never ends…"

Lyrah was willing to bet her life that her mother missed that song. And so Lyrah decided to sing it for her mother, complete with sounds. Oh, her mother would be so proud. Lyrah grinned and waved, she was almost certain there was a camera on her.

"What the fuc-fudge?" Fiver said sleepily, turning her curse word into a yummy food upon being kicked by Cord.

"You really need to watch your tongue. It's not lady-like."

"Who said I wanted to be a lady?" Fiver shot back. Lyrah grinned. It was just like being at home with her siblings. And the best part, there was no mom around to chastise them and put them in time-out. Well…put Lyrah in timeout. Natalie never got in trouble, and Dally was smart enough to sweet talk mom out of it.

"Good morning," Lyrah said, "how was your sleep?"

"I think I have bruises from sleeping on corn or something," Fiver complained.

"What about you Cord. Do you have any corn bruises?" Lyrah asked sweetly.

He looked down at his body and saw some black marks emerging.

"Too bad this wasn't a feather maze instead," Fiver said, pushing herself up. "So what's the plan for today? Running around naked? Influxuating the Career camp?"

"I think you mean infiltrating," Lyrah corrected.

Fiver rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's what I said."

"You know, you're not stuck up like I thought you'd be," Cord piped in, breaking off a piece of corn from the stalk. "Most smart people, like the genius ones, they're stuck up and snobby and think they walk on water."

"First off, I can walk on water. Second off, I know exactly what you mean. That's how most of the people in Six are. We have the highest percentage of geniuses. Trust me, it's not fun having to compete with everyone to get the best grade. I know a lot of big words, but at home, there's no point in using them, because someone else will just out-word me."

"Sounds exhausting," Cord said as he fumbled with the corn. "Are the corn kernels supposed to be this color?"

"Corn can be many colors. White, yellow, a mix of red, brown and orange. It's fine," Lyrah grabbed her own piece. "There's still some moisture in here. I'd suck it out if I were you. It doesn't look like there's another water source around here."

The three of them sucked on some corn cobs and ate the kernels. "It'd be much better if we had a pot and water to boil them, or a fire to roast them, and some salt and pepper to season them with."

"You seem to know a lot about food," Cord pointed out.

"Everyone needs a hobby, and cooking just happens to be mine. My dream is to open up my own restaurant and serve delicious meals."

None of them pointed out that Lyrah would probably never see her dream come true. They fell into silence as they all realized their dreams were pretty much shot to hell now.

xxx

Cat woke up suddenly, confused as to where she was. She had no idea what had happened, and she had a killer headache. Her whole body was stiff, and it seemed very bright and cold out. Where was her soft bed and feather pillows that she had worked so hard to be able to buy? In fact, she had practically stuffed them herself. They meant a lot to her, and she was upset that they weren't under her head.

"Hello Tributes. Congratulations to those of you who made it to the second day."

All of a sudden, it all came back to her. Cat was a tribute in the thirty-third games and she had to fight and kill other innocent children to go home. Just yesterday a boy had exploded and rained all over her. And now she was lying on the ground, with corn ears sticking into her back and straw littering her hair. She'd kill all the tributes for a shower.

The voice continued on, "Joliet Richemont from District 7 had the most kills yesterday with the deaths of the District Twelve tributes. She has gotten something very handy as a prize. I won't spoil it by telling you what she received, but it'll be helpful to anyone who gets their hands on it."

Cat was glad she hadn't gotten the prize. The voice in the air had just signaled Jo out, and now everyone would be after her trying to get what she had. Not Cat, though.

"And it has also been brought to attention that there is an imposter in the arena."

Cat gulped as the words pierced her ears and she was able to comprehend what they meant. She was the imposter! Oh no! She knew it had been a mistake to run up to the stage in place of her sister. And she still couldn't figure out what had compelled her to do it in the first place. And now they had found out. She was frozen in fear, anxious to find out the consequence of her actions, yet, dreading it at the same time.

"Chameleon Bangladesh is not who she says she is, instead, the girl in the arena is Chameleon's identical twin sister Cataria."

Cat could just imagine the shock on everyone's faces at that realization. They probably weren't happy that they had been tricked. Cat was screwed, completely and utterly fucked. Worse than when Roan had taken her to bed.

Roan! That reminded her, he had saved her. Why? She hated his guts, and he knew that. He had probably done that just to mess with Cat's head. He really liked playing with people's minds and confusing them. That jerk. She doubted that he'd save her again. He was more of a "once it's okay, twice it's boring," type of guy. Once he conquered something (more likely someone) then he moved on and went to his next challenge.

"So, as a remedy, the real Chameleon will be joining in on all the fun."

Cat's eyes went huge. No! That was the whole reason why she had ran up to that stage in her sister's place, to keep Cham safe. And now she was being told that all her efforts were for naught and Cham was coming into the arena anyway. Shit, shit. She repeated the word eight more times just to make it an even ten.

"Good luck Chameleon and Cataria and all the other tributes." The last part was tacked on the end at the last moment. The voice disappeared and Cat fully freaked out. Where were they going to drop Cham in? How would Cat find her twin sister? This wasn't good at all.

"CHAM!" She shouted, not caring if anyone heard it, as it would be difficult to find her in this mess of a maze anyway. "WHERE ARE YOU, CHAM?" There was no answer. Not that she had expected any, though it would have been nice. She would find her sister though, if it was the last thing she did.

Cat and Cham were twins, and sometimes it was almost as if they could read each other's minds, but that was just because they knew each other so well. They were not telepathic and couldn't communicate with each other from a distance. But when they were together, Cat could read Cham's expressions and body language. So Cat closed her eyes and tried to think like Cham. WWHSD? What would her sister do? Cham wouldn't stay still. She'd be searching for Cat. Cat hated the left, and Cham knew that. Cham would be taking right turns to find Cat. So Cat had to take left turns. Her right eye twitched at the thought.

"I have to do it," she told herself sternly. "See, this isn't so bad," she tried to reassure herself as she took the first left turn that she came too, but her heart began to beat faster and Cat's breathing quickened. No, it was impossible, she couldn't do it. Left was evil. Cham had to know that Cat wouldn't want to take any left turns, and would only take right. She had to be smart enough to know that if Cat was taking right turns, then Cham needed to take left. Cat mentally slapped herself for being so stupid. She retraced her steps and took the right turn, breathing a sigh of relief as her breathing went back to normal.

Cat suddenly stilled, cocking her head to the right and listening intently. She had heard something. That much she was almost certain of. She just didn't know what it was that she had heard. It wasn't Cham, though. That much was clear. Cham was lighter on her feet. Plus, it seemed like there were multiple people. Cat had paid attention to the alliances. She was good at picking out the smallest of details. There was only one other alliance besides the Careers, and that was between the District Three tributes. They were close, maybe only a few turns away. There was a third voice that Cat was positive belonged to the District 6 girl, Lyrah Henley. Cat wouldn't have worried if it was just one of them, but with three of them? Cat hoped that they wouldn't turn her way. Hopefully they liked left turns, even though it was an evil direction. She had to count to ten just to rid herself of the bad juju.

"I knew they weren't corn shaped bruises, Jeeze Cord, stop hitting me, I'll file for alliance divorce," the Three girl, Fiver, though Cat preferred to call her Tener, wasn't even trying to keep her voice down. Cat took another right turn, and Tener's loud voice began to fade away. Cat let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't long before she came to another fork, and there she was, an identical prison shirt on. Then she noticed the difference. Instead of dark blonde shaggy hair, there was nothing.

"Your hair," Cat breathed, running her hand over Cham's bald head. It was soft yet prickly at the same time. Cat hardly recognized her sister without the hair. "Oh Cham, what did they do to you?" And deep down, Cat was asking herself what did I do to you? Because this was all Cat's fault. And now Cham was going to die. Cat was never going to forgive herself for that. Cham was the most important person in her life.

"You're okay, right?" Cham asked, ignoring Cat's questions and sweeping her into a hug. "I missed you so much. I was so worried about you."

"Cham, you shouldn't be here. This isn't right."

"You're right, it's not. But I'm here now, and we're going to be okay. Now stop crying. Your tears are trickling down your face and making a dirt line."

Cat gave a half smile. As much as she hated seeing her sister in the arena, she was glad to have her around. Yet, at least one, possibly both, of them were going to die. And only their little sister, Mink, would miss them. Their parents were probably thrilled that the twins were in the arena and now they only had to deal with Mink.

"I love you, Cat, and this isn't your fault. Now stop beating yourself up about it. And my hair will grow back, so stop staring!" Cham laughed as she pulled Cat through the maze, making only right turns. And for just a moment, life was back to normal for the twins.

*GASP* Who saw that coming?

I know, that was a very girly chapter. Next chapter we'll focus on some of the boys. I'm thinking Zep and Linden are due for a pov. Who else do you really want to hear from? Have your thoughts about any of the tributes changed? One you hated, you now love and vice versa? Give me some feedback, let me know what you think! I really like reviews.

-Misty+++++++++