Forgot to put the death count on the last chapter, so apologies for that. Isn't going to feel the same writing without Cora :( WHY ARE ALL THE NICE ONES DYING?

Btw. Norelle goes a bit batshit crazy in this chapter... I was thinking Clove, alright?

POVS IN THIS CHAPTER

Norelle Wilkner, District 2 Female

Katara Winslow, District 7 Female

Damascus Sleik, District 1 Male

NORELLE WILKNER, DISTRICT 2 FEMALE

The shock that I feel when we walk into the main cavern to find the Cornucopia abandoned is immense. Phlox... She's abandoned us? I step forwards to search for her- perhaps she is just out of sight? But she is nowhere to be found. There's only the slightly melodic dripping of water against the stones of the cavern, and the rushing of the moat around the Cornucopia.

I follow Damascus, Emmeline, and James as they jump over the moat onto the small island and begin to scour it for our small ally from District 3. Where the hell could she have gone? It's not like her to have run away on her own... Walking into the great golden horn, I let out a hiss of anger as I sort through our supplies. At least half of the weapons we had stashed are gone.

"She's fucking stolen our weapons!" I shout to the others, and soon they're all clustered around me, staring in outrage at our severely depleted supplies. James lets out a cry of fury and begins to rake through our remaining things. When he finds most of them to be gone, he smashes his fist into the metal wall hard, bruising his knuckles. He barely seems to notice.

"That thieving little bitch!" James snarls, and there is true madness in his milky white eyes. With another scream of rage he clasps and unclasps his fists, unsure what to do with them in his total rage. He crosses them over his stomach and stares, wide eyed at us. I feel a shiver of fear running through me.

"She's gone with Sceptor," Damascus says in a harsh tone, glancing at the pile. For a few moments he just glares at it, then his voice softens to a calming tone. So he's going to be the peace maker again, is he? Because I'm shaking with anger- when I find that stupid little bitch from District 3, I'm going to tear her head off.

"We all need to calm down," he continues, biting his lip. "We're not going to live if we go in there without a plan. They're armed to the teeth now, and I facing them without any idea of what we're going to do would be suicide."

James turns towards him with a growl and takes a step towards him, withdrawing his weapons. For a second I think that he's going to attack Damascus, before he begins to speak in a low, menacing voice. "Here's the plan. We go in there and we murder them. Okay?"

"I'm with James." I find myself saying, crossing my arms and standing beside him. It's clear there is going to be a fight if we don't do something, and I can see both Emmeline and Damascus fidgeting, unsure what to do. But I don't care; if James and I have to kill them first, then that's fine. Us verses Sceptor and Phlox? It would still be an easy damn massacre.

"Come on, Mas." says Emmeline quietly to Damascus. This seems to seal the deal for him, although he's certainly grudging about it, and we run back into the labyrinth, taking all of our remaining weapons with us. We're all tired, hungry and thirsty. But this seems to drive us into even more of a blood-craze.

Further and further down we go into the labyrinth, searching for any tributes. We've barely killed anyone since the fucking Bloodbath- it's all been those Pit Dwellers. And what have we got out of it? Nothing. This time, this time...

After about half an hour, we find somebody. The girl from 7- Katara, I think she was called? We have to chase her for a little while and for a moment I'm certain we've lost her, but then we come to a dead end and back her up against the wall. She's sweating and breathing hard, an axe held in either hand. They hang loosely by her sides- she knows she's going to die, the poor thing. I sneer at her,

"Aww, does somebody know they're going to die? Poor little stray."

She spits at me and I laugh cruelly, before taking a step backwards. James steps forwards up to her and raises his sword, but I don't want him to end it so quickly. I want to play with her, want to torture her and put on a good show for the Capitol... I catch his arm quickly and hold him back.

"Let me have this one. I haven't had a good kill for so long, and I want to torture her... The Capitol will love it. It'll be a good show, and I can take her." I'm practically wheedling- it's rather sickening, actually. However, I'd literally get on my knees and lick his boots for a chance to torture this pathetic girl... I haven't had blood for too long and I need this. This will be my signature kill in the Games, I think.

For a few moments James considers. Then, he turns to the girl and prods her with the hilt of his sword.

"What weapons have you got hidden, District 7?" he says in a quiet tone, poking her in the stomach with it. She steps backwards, before narrowing her eyes at him.

"Well, my gun fires seven different shades of shit." she snarls, and holds up her axes in the defensive position. Quickly, I jump forwards and, surprising her, manage to push her to the ground. She lets out a hiss of shock and struggles, but I straddle her and hold her down before she can do anything.

Pressing my elbows down on her own and my feet down on her ankles, I successfully pin her into place leaving my hands free... I'll certainly need them, as well as a nice sharp knife. I smirk down at her as she screams up at me, crazily furious. I've changed my mind- I don't even need to kill Phlox or Sceptor. Killing this silly little bitch will be quite enough.

James chuckles darkly. "You stay here, then. We're going to look for Sceptor and Phlox... Meet us back at the Cornucopia in about two hours... If you can string it out for that long."

I smirk. "You know me."

KATARA WINSLOW, DISTRICT 7 FEMALE

The other Careers walk off, leaving the girl from 2 and me alone... My breathing speeds up as she pins me down harder, pressing into my joints hard. There is a look of sadistic glee on her face as she does so, but I will not give her the satisfaction of crying out. However, I cannot help but shut my eyes as I do so. God... Why did I ever have to come into these Games? I just want to go home. I will go home.

In pieces.

"Where to start?" she leers, dangling the knife teasingly above my face. I struggle, heart pounding hard against my chest as she presses down harder. I need to get away from her! I don't want to die!

She laughs at my weak attempts to get free. With all of her Career training she is much heavier than me with all of her muscle... From my years of woodcutting I'm pretty muscular too, but she's had more nourishment and has a healthier body. I couldn't get free if I tried, as well as the fact the hold she has me in is excruciatingly painful when I try to struggle.

"You're Katara, right? I'm Norelle, from District 2." she says in a mocking tone. For a few seconds I frown, not realising what she's getting at. Why is she introducing herself to me? Isn't she supposed to be slicing me into pieces or something?

"Why do I need to know this?" I manage to gasp out, taking a deep breath. She has most of her weight focused on my stomach, now, and it's becoming increasingly hard to breathe. I feel a few tears of pain coming into my eyes and blink them away... but not before she notices. She chuckles.

"Poor little stray," Norelle says horribly, bringing the knife ever closer to my face. I close my eyes, unable to watch as her knife sinks into my skin, but it doesn't pierce in, not just yet. I can feel the warm metal against my cheek, though, and I dare myself to open my eyes. There is a slightly irritated look in her face.

"Aww, it's no fun if you don't scream." she says rather indifferently, tracing the knife along my cheekbone. I hiss in pain as it first penetrates into the soft skin of my cheek, and I feel a tear dribbling out of my eye. At the burst of pain I begin to struggle again, and she snarls, pushing me further into the stone floor.

"Na-a, District 7. Play nice now." she whispers, as the knife sinks back into my skin and I let out an earsplitting scream of pain. She begins to carve up my left cheek with her knife, and I continue to scream as she carves patterns into the skin there. Blood pours down my face and dribbles down onto my clothes as she drags the knife around with fierce concentration. When she's done with my cheek she sits up, looking down at me with quite some pride.

I'm feeling dizzy with light headedness as Norelle stares down at me, and I watch as she goes hazy and begins to multiply... God, what's she done to me?

"Wow, I think the blood's driven me crazy," she says, wiping her knife off on my shirt. I just watch her through dizzy eyes as she pulls a face. Her hands are covered in the red liquid that... that must be my blood. I can barely even believe that it came out of me. "God, your blood's disgusting," she says in disgust, wiping her hands on my shirt too. Although they run over my breasts I don't even make a noise. The blood is still pulsating out of my face, dribbling all over me like a river.

"You're lucky I'm not Phlox, or I'd have made you lick it off," she leers. The pain is incredible; I can feel it in all of me, taking over me. Whatever she's done to my cheek, whatever she's carved into it... I don't even want to know. But I will not die- she hasn't killed me yet. I must be strong.

I begin to struggle again- although I'm a lot weaker than I was before, I refuse to die. I will not! I continue to shake and wriggle underneath her, kicking and punching feebly, but I'm only rewarded with bursts of pain in my arms and ankles. She gives me a rather bored look.

"I thought you'd realised you're dead, District 7," she yawns, glaring at me. She holds up her knife in one hand and directs it at my throat. "I'm pretty much done... You wanna know what I carved onto your cheek? A little tree, to remind you of home. Isn't that cute?"

I just stare her out, and let the tears fall down my cheeks now. I'm going to die and I know it- I barely even care any more. It all hurts so much, I just want it to end... I want her to end it..

"P-please." I whisper, and for a second she looks a little guilty. Just a flash of guilt comes onto her face, and her eyes show pity for just a moment. She is human, I realise. Like all other District 1, 2 and 4 tributes this Career mindset has been pounded into her since she was born. She's barely even in control of her own thoughts...

Compared to the life she must have lead, I almost feel pleased with my own life. Anyway, if I'm going to die, it will happen for a reason. There's no way to stop it happening. What's the point in making myself feel worst? I'll just think of all the happy times. My mother. My father. Times I spent back home, in the freedom of the woods, inhaling the beautiful scent of pine and listening to the birds sing their sweet songs... The sound of the river splashing, the delicious smell of the cherry pie my mother used to make on birthdays. Before Tobee betrayed me so, the times that I spent with him down by the lake. The feeling of his soft lips on mine... No, I can't think of Tobee. It'll only make me feel worse.

I shut my eyes and prepare myself for the blow that I know will come and send me to oblivion. But you know what? At least I'll see my brother and sister there. I brace myself for the blinding pain and then the sweet release...

But it never comes.

"Mother of G-" there is a scream, and I feel the weight from Norelle being lifted off me. Opening my eyes, my whole body freezing up, I let out a shriek of shock. A Pit Dweller, huge, transculent and with claws and teeth sharp enough to rip through a person's bones, has her by the scruff of her jacket. It's like a mother cat carrying a kitten and, as she hangs there suspended in mid-air, terror in her face, it looks almost comedic.

The hunter is becoming the hunted.

Quickly, I snatch up my axes and make to run away... But I can hear her frenzied screaming still. I'm light headed from bloodloss and joyful about the fact that I've escaped death, but I can't help but turn round... You know that feeling when you know that you need to run but you can't help looking back? Like Orpheus and Eurydice, when the temptation becomes so great?

Well, I regret it.

The Pit Dweller has her by the neck and is chomping at her skin, ripping away flesh with each bite. She is screaming and crying, blood pouring from her neck and dribbling out of her mouth as she hangs, suspended in mid-air. The creature leans down and takes a chunk out of her back and she lets out another cry of agony as it begins to tear into her insides. I watch as it begins to eat her from the inside out, and the noises she begins to make become less like audible noises and more like the sounds of a wild animal.

Norelle is staring at me pleadingly, screaming and screaming as the Pit Dweller tears into her back again and again, ripping out the flesh and whatever else is there. With a sickening crack, I watch her spine as the creature begins to pull it out like I might de-bone a fish...

How can't she be dead? She's slumped over, eyes almost shut as she bleeds out, being slowly devoured by the horrible creature. She's staring at me, I realise, with her half open eyes... mouthing words... A single word. The word that I asked of her just before she was about to finish me off.

Please.

For a few seconds I consider walking away and letting the Pit Dweller rip her to pieces, simply because of spite and hatred for her. She carved a tree into my face, damn it! But still... she's in about ten times the pain I was in... Everything happens for a reason, but... I'm going to put her out of her misery before the Pit Dweller guts her like a fish.

Stepping forwards, I raise my axe and, before the Pit Dweller even notices me, I slice it's disgusting head off. Norelle drops to the ground with it and there is another sickening crunch as she hits the floor, breaking God knows what else. The Pit Dweller slumps beside it, as it's head rolls away down the tunnel.

Norelle is whimpering now, her body near torn to pieces. I stare down at her, considering leaving her there to bleed slowly and painfully to death... But I can't bring myself to do it. I'm not evil like some of these other people. I can't bring myself to give someone such a painful and long death... Like when I was little, and one of my friends accidentally hit a pigeon with a stone, hurting it. It wouldn't be able to fly or move, and it would just starve to death. There would be no saving it.

So I picked up the stone and squished it.

It was about that point that people started considering me weird- I was a murderer, they said. But honestly, it was kinder to do that than watch the pigeon slowly starve to death. If I was in that situation, I'd rather be put out of my misery than have to die slowly and horribly.

I kneel to the ground and, as gently as I can, stab Norelle through the heart.

Boom!

Honestly, I doubt she would have done the same for me. I look down at her corpse and know, in my heart, that if I had been the one being torn to pieces by the Pit Dweller, she would have let it devour me and skipped off to find the other Careers. But I'm not like that, I'm not cruel.

As I look down at her mutilated body, I realise one thing. It's not these tributes who are evil- they weren't born evil. It's President Snow, it's Panem, it's these fucking Hunger Games. They're all evil, and they... they all deserve to burn.

So, it's with a calculated glare that I stare right at the camera that is zoomed in on Norelle's body. And walking up to it, I draw back my fist, and smash it into pieces. The glass from the lens sinks deep into my hand, but I don't even care. Sitting down my Norelle's corpse and the Pit Dweller's headless body, I pick the glass from my fingers before stumbling off. I'm still light headed from earlier so I swerve a bit, but I know I must get away from her body as soon as possible. As soon as the Careers figure out she's missing, they'll come searching.

"Damn it." I whisper under my breath, as tears begin to trickle out of my eyes. I wish none of these... these children had died. Sinking to my knees, at least a half hour away from Norelle's corpse, I sink to my knees and begin to sob. I sob for the loss of humanity, for the loss of unity, and for all of this death surrounding me.

DAMASCUS SLEIK, DISTRICT 1 MALE

"Emmeline," I whisper under my breath. James is asleep further inside the cavern, since we abandoned the Cornucopia... We found Norelle's body earlier. It was possibly the most horrible thing I've ever seen- her spine was sticking out of her back, like somebody had yanked it straight through her skin. I feel a little ill at the thought. A headless Pit Dweller was beside her, and there was no sign of the girl from District 7. Since there was only one cannon, I can only presume that she got away.

Emmeline turns towards me, a look of nervousness on her face. She's thinking the same thing as me- there's only three of us Careers left now, and neither of us know just how much we can trust James. He hasn't spoken since we found Norelle's body, and he kept giving us both dark, furtive looks. Like he... like he was going to kill us.

I turn towards where he is asleep, just out of earshot from us. Pursing my lips, I nod at her. "It's time for us to go. Only three of us left, and neither of us stand much chance against him..."

She nods slowly, and turns towards me. She hoists her pack over her shoulder and gets to her feet, a look of slight nervousness on her face. "Now?"

Getting up, I pull my own pack on and nod at her. We both look back at James, who is fast asleep. Hopefully somebody will come along and kill him to spare us the trouble. Although I grew to rather like him, I don't think he liked me back. Anyway, there's no room for friendship in the Hunger Games. He's just too cold, too cruel, too emotionless.

It feels like betrayal to leave him and, technically, it is. However, I get the impression that he's planning our deaths soon enough. At the end of the day, neither of us are really crucial for him. We're just instruments in his little Games... it's time for us to go.

"He'll be fine," I say, glancing at Emmeline who has a slightly fearful look on her face. I can't blame her; James will be furious when he finds out we've left him. However, that's not our worry for now. We need to get away from him. "He can take care of himself."

"And we can take care of ourselves."

We smile rather sheepishly at each other, and both look back at him one last time. Then, clutching our weapons and arranging our packs more comfortably on our shoulders, we begin to walk away from our previous ally and into the labyrinth. There's Phlox and Sceptor out there, and they're our main worry, although I wouldn't put the boys from 3 and 8 and the girl from 11 out of mind either. And the girl from 7... Although she rather mystifies me.

I don't really know what she can do, apart from run very fast. But we found the Pit Dweller decapitated, and she got away from Norelle... So she's going to have talent at something then.

I grip my sword harder as we walk into the unknown.

Not too fond of this chapter, because Norelle died and I liked her a lot... Well, I've decided who's winning this, in other news. I've got it all planned :P Listened to No Reflection by Marilyn Manson, Creatures by Motionless in White, and Desert Song by My Chemical Romance whilst writing this. I've got a list of character theme tunes if anyone's interested.

13. Cora Cooper, District 6 Female

12. Norelle Wilkner, District 2 Female