Long long long break for me. How are your guys' summers going? I'm currently doing a drama camp! Guess what? It's been over a year since I started this story! Yay...

Banter Cross (M10)

Being on my own wasn't so bad. I mean, I got a lot less sleep, but at least I didn't have to share food. And I didn't have to worry about becoming emotionally attached to my ally.

A branch cracked behind me. I turned, hoping to get some game. I'd seen deer and squirrels around so far. I raised the axe I had wrestled from the Cornucopia. I knew I looked pretty menacing, but I was the one who took a step back when the first Career broke through the trees. I turned to run and the red head from 4 stepped out, blocking my path. They were on my sides too. I was completely surrounded.

"Hey guys, look. It's the dumb cow from District 10," the girl from 1 crowed. I gripped my axe tighter. Maybe I could still take one down.

"You're probably so stupid you don't even know how to talk." I opened my mouth to disprove that, but it was too dry. I hadn't gotten any water, and at that moment fear was taking over. They all laughed when they saw me trying to speak. Finally, I managed to make a sound, but it was a strangled kind of yelp.

"Was that your impression of a cow? I hope that's not how you attract girls in your district." I knew that they were trying to get me mad, but I couldn't help it. I felt a white hot rage building inside of me. Was it not enough to kill me in front of my family, but to humiliate me as well?

I wasn't sure what happened after that. I leaped forward, swinging the axe wildly. The girl from 1, the one who was taunting me, dropped like a stone when I hit her in the head with the flat side of the axe. Still swinging, I cut the leg of the boy from 1, who stepped in front of 4's girl, then the girl herself. The last thing I remembered was the thick hands of the monster from 2.

Ronit Harrison (F1)

I sat, holding the ice pack our sponsors were kind enough to give us. The cold burned my hand, but it helped with the knot on my head. I sighed. Taunting the kid may not have been the most intelligent thing, but the opportunity was too juicy to resist. He had reacted exactly the way I wanted him to; mad, and careless. But then I forgot to get out of the way. I winced again. Varsity looked over at me from where she was dressing the cut on Annabelle's arm. It was pretty deep, but it would have been much worse if Shine hadn't deflected it. There was definitely something going on there.

I played with my pearl earring token as I looked over at Shine. Thanks to Brigg, we had some herbs that had helped ease the pain and start the healing process. Shine's leg was sliced up pretty good, and it was bleeding through the bandages.

We had set up camp, somewhat near the Cornucopia. Luckily, there were some bandages and anti-infection spray inside. We knew that we needed to rest, and some painkillers from sponsors would be nice. Besides, it seemed like the tributes were doing a good job of killing each other off. 11 dead in the first 2 days, with 3 or so dying per day. At that rate, it wouldn't even be a full week before the victor, or should I say I, triumphed.

Charlotte Perry (F10)

Kar seemed a little annoyed with me this morning, but I have no idea why. Still, we continued our trek. We had reached the mountain around noon and were now climbing it. I could see snow at the top. It would be glistening in the sunlight, except it was cloudy and cold.

The sound of a cannon firing shattered my thoughts. I flinched and Kar raised an eyebrow at me before continuing to climb. The mountain had one steep pathway that wound around and around the mountainside. When I say steep, we were practically crawling at some points. The muddy ground didn't make things any easier. Who died now? Then again, I didn't really care. My only ally was completely fine, right ahead of me, with no one following us, so we were doing great. Unless there was someone following us. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up and I swiveled around and almost slid down the path, but a strong hand grabbed my wrist.

"What the hell are you doing, Lottie?" Kar spit out through clenched teeth. Are his teeth clenched because he's holding on, or because he's really mad? Eh, I don't really care about that either. He pulled me back onto my feet. I stayed silent, but only because I had a new thing to occupy my mind. When I almost fell, I noticed that the water in the channels along the path was getting higher. The Gamemakers had dug little paths alongside the real path that resembled gutters for the water to flow down. Guess they figured the climb would be hard enough without freshly melted snow pouring down the slope. I looked back up at the top. Would all the rain be making the snow heavy? What if there was an avalanche? I didn't know what to do in an avalanche. I hoped the Gamemakers wouldn't be that cruel.

Saida Atalanta (F9)

Night had just fallen and I knew the anthem would be played and the dead would be appearing soon, so I found a safe place to make camp.

I had gotten away from the bloodbath with a switchblade and a medium sized brown backpack containing flint, a tarp that couldn't have been more than 9 square feet, some kind of dried fruit, and a length of twine about 10 yards long. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

I collected some rocks to make a fire pit; the smoke that came from a fire was not ideal, but it was the most effective way to stay warm. If I was lucky, the smoke would be camouflaged with the fog that was setting in. Under trees with thick branches it was somewhat dry, so I found wood and tinder there. I found one that was spacious enough to use as a kind of tree fort, with low hanging branches as cover and set up my supplies there. I set up a kind of fire that the instructor told me was called "log cabin" and struck the flint a few times with my knife until the fire sparked. While it was getting started, I repacked my supplies, leaving my water bottle out to collect rain water if it happened to start raining. Then I strung up the tarp over my head in case the branches weren't enough to stop the water. Strangely, the whole place had this campy, yet homey feel.

I sat in front of the fire, letting the heat soak into my bones and waiting for the anthem to begin playing. I didn't have to wait long. Just one face appeared in the sky; Banter. There was only one way he would have gone down: The Careers. I shuddered and hoped he wounded some of them, and that he hadn't been anywhere near me.

I settled in for the night, feeling the safest I had for the duration of the Games.

A moment of silence for Banter Cross.

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Thoughts? As always, please review. The prices for sponsor gifts have gone up, so be sure to check them out. Some of you won't be able to save your favorite tribute if they get in trouble, uh oh!

Tell me if you think that this is how your character would act in these situations. I love to know things like this.

I'm wondering, how many of you have read the Gone series? Amazing, right? What? You've never heard of them? Well, if you like the Hunger Games, you are going to love this. It's a normal day in Perdido Beach when everyone 15 years and older disappears. Enter complete chaos. The series is hard to read, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't at least 14. I know you read the Hunger Games and were fine, but this is definitely aimed at a more mature audience. I had issues reading some parts, and I didn't feel that at all while reading THG. So, reader descretion advised, but it is an amazing series.

Questions of the Chapter (worth 1 SP each):

1. Do you think that Charlotte is on to something with the stream rising?

2. Is Shine protecting Annabelle enough to get her to see that he loves her?