District 4, Coralie Alderly

Coralie watched the other Careers carefully, Slater hadn't come back. She had been hoping that he had died, but there had only been on cannon shot after she murdered Coy Farley.

She grinned to herself; she kept picturing his wide green eyes in her head. How he struggled, begged for her to stop, how he screamed for his life. She didn't know why she had begun to mutilate his face, but she knew that she liked it. She like the way he had thrashed underneath her.

Coralie went to sharpening her knives on the flint stone, she wanted them to sharp the next time she drove them into somebody. Her blue-green eyes flicked to Lynette who was sitting against a wall, an expression of indifference on her face. Maybe she'd be next.

"Ugh!" Lindsey shouted, kicking a charred brick out of her way. "Where is he? He's been gone for hours."

"Is head dead?" Lynette asked, she seemed bored.

"No!" Lindsey shouted, like she refused to believe it.

Coralie paused, looking at the redhead. She knew that no matter how much Lindsey pretended to hate Slater she still liked him. "There wasn't a cannon." Coralie said quietly. When both of them looked at her she went on to say, "There was a cannon when I killed Coy. There always is a cannon. He might just be hurt…or lost."

"I thought you didn't like him." Lindsey accused, her voice dripping venom.

"I don't."

"What's your deal?" Lynette asked, rising to her feet, stretching her long tan legs. "You don't like anybody. Don't you have any friends?"

Coralie thought of Cale, his blue eyes, his seemingly unnatural black hair, his long, lanky frame. "I have a friend."

"Really? Who?"

Coralie hated the skeptical tone in the District One tribute's voice. She hated her doubtful stare, and her cocky stance. "His name is Cale." Coralie said quietly. She rose to her feet.

"His name? Was Cale your boyfriend?"

Coralie felt her face morph into its emotionless mask, a mask she had forgotten to ware during the conversation. "No. He's just a friend."

"Why are you saying it like that? There's no shame in having a boyfriend."

"I don't have a boyfriend because love does nothing but get in the way. It screws things up, makes your thoughts fuzzy and emotional." Coralie held her arm back and let a knife fly. It stabbed Lynette in her left shoulder. "Without love you can think straight."

Lynette pulled the knife out of her arm and looked at it. Her blue eyes moved to the blood dripping onto the concrete, leaving a crimson stain. She looked at Coralie, "The next chance I get, bitch, you're dead." Then, she casually tossed the knife to the ground and moved to bandage her wound.

Lindsey strode of to Coralie, the knife in hand.

Coralie tensed, waiting for her to throw it, but she never did. When Lindsey offered it to her Coralie tentatively took it.

"If you wouldn't have done it, I probably would have." Lindsey muttered. "That girl is driving me insane. I say, the next chance we get we kill her."

Coralie nodded in agreement.

District 12, Ryan Mellark

"Do you think this is going to work?" Ryan whispered to Alex.

"I'm counting on it." The blonde whispered back.

The pair was squatted in a fourth story window, listening in on the Career's conversation. The three girls were directly underneath them, arguing, talking, and arguing some more. It was another hot day, although not nearly as hot as the previous one, so sitting immobile in the building wasn't unbearable.

"Do you think all three of them are stupid enough to go for it?"

"I hope so."

Ryan and Alex had come up with a plan to chase the careers out of their base camp in the alley, then sneak down and steal as much gear and as many weapons as they could. He was hoping—for both their sakes—that it worked. The pair had been starving for the past few days, with the exception of a giant rat Alex had managed to snare in a trap, which Ryan killed and cooked.

"Try it, man." Ryan encouraged, gently shoving Alex.

"Ouch!" The smaller tribute hissed. "Sunburn, remember?"

"Sorry."

Alex loaded the homemade catapult with a broken chunk of the building, he pushed it down, aimed, then released it.

Ryan placed his hand over his eyes to prevent the sun from blocking his view. The rock sailed through the air, then bounced on the metal fire escape kitty-corner from the alley.

"Did you hear that?" Lindsey asked.

"Yeah." Lynette sniffed, she had just finished tying a bandage around her arm.

"Do you think it was another tribute?"

Ryan chuckled quietly, then loaded a hunk of brick onto the catapult. "Ready…aim…fire!" He whisper-yelled.

Alex released the catapult, sending the brick across the street once again, only this time it nailed the dumpster next to the fire escape.

"Let's go!" The three tributes took off down the street.

"Ryan, move!" Alex shouted.

Ryan took off down the empty hall, clattered down the stairs—nearly tripping himself over a moldy book—and then burst out the emergency exit, which took him straight to the alley where the careers had set up camp.

He looked right, then left and stepped into the open, scrambling to grab as much gear as he possibly could. He picked up knives, a bow and a set of arrows, two backpacks loaded with gear. He sprung to his feet and was headed back to the door when somebody yelled.

He looked back to see Lynette running at him.

Ryan swore colorfully before clumsily pulling back an arrow on his bowstring and letting it fly.

Lynette dropped to the ground, covering her head.

Ryan took advantage of that and slipped into the building, making sure the door didn't slam shut on his way in.

District 2, Slater O'Brien

Slater was worried; the blood trail had stopped about fifteen minutes ago. He was just wandering in the general direction he thought Virginia went. That worried him, because two things couldn't have happened. Either Virginia had staunched the heavy flow of blood, or she had run out of blood period. He hoped that it was the first one.

His hetero eyes scanned the surrounding buildings; he noticed that about two stories up a window was open. Slater grabbed the rungs of fire escape and began to climb. He climbed until he reached the open window. He pushed his sunglasses into his messy red hair so he could see in the dark building.

"Virginia?" He called out, shining his flashlight in the dejected room. "Virginia, are you in here?"

When there was no answer Slater sighed. He didn't climb into dark and ominous places unless he absolutely had to. He ducked down and stepped through the window, into the musty room.

"Virginia? Are you in—ack!" Slater saw stars as something solid made contact with his head. He staggered on his feet, blinking to try and get rid of the daze. He tried to blink away the dark splotches in his vision, but in his right eye everything was black. "Shit." He cussed.

To his left he spied movement, the wooden plank was coming toward his head again. Virginia looked angry and determined behind it.

Deftly, he reached out and clasped the wood in his hand, ignoring the stinging the impact inflicted on his hand. He took the wood and snapped it over his knee, throwing both pieces out of the window. "What are you doing?" He asked. His voice sounded dark and dangerous, even to his own ears.

"Why did you let them hurt me?" She demanded.

He turned his head so he could see her out his only good eye. "What are you talking about?! I led them away from you!"

"Not before they stabbed me!"

Slater sat on the moldy carpet. "If it means anything I came to see if you were okay. They're going to get mad when I get back, but I'll tell them I got lost."

"You came to see if I was okay?!" She demanded glaring at him with her blue eyes. She lifted up her t-shirt revealing a bloody bandage. "I almost bled to death!"

"Does it matter? I'm here now."

"I'm surprised I didn't knock you out."

"Well, if it counts for anything you blinded my right side." He said bitterly. "Don't worry, it'll come back eventually."

"How does that work?" Virginia asked, sitting across from him. "Did I hit you in the eye?"

Slater shook his head. "If it get hit in the head it'll go blind…temporarily, of course. It's a side-effect from…"

"From what?" Virginia was sitting forward, intrigued.

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

"That's probably a good thing." Slater admitted, rubbing his blind eye. "When I was eight, my mom remarried. My dad died in a factory fire." He shrugged. "It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but

John was two-faced. In front of my mom he was Prince Charming, but when she was working third shift at the hospital he turned into Satan himself." Slater swallowed. It was the first time he'd told the story to anybody but Lindsey. It had been years since he told it. It wasn't any easier.

"For some reason John didn't like me. I think it was because I wasn't his son, he and my mom had brought two gingery twerps of their own into the world. Anyway, after my mom would leave for her third-shift job at the hospital he'd start hitting the bottle. Once he finished off a bottle by himself he'd start to get a little angry. He'd tell me to do things, he'd boss me around. I didn't like it. I'd always fight with him." Slater laughed bitterly. "I realize now if I'd have been smart I would have just taken the beatings."

"Why would you say something like that?" Virginia asked. "Nobody deserves that."

"One night John wasn't particularly happy. It was the worst I'd ever seen him." He laughed again, then continued. His voice was full of loathing. "We got into a fight over the bathroom. I had been brushing my teeth, getting ready for bed and he wanted the bathroom. Things escalated. I broke John's nose, I was only twelve at the time. Then, he punched me in the eye. His gigantic ring caught it, damaged it. It knocked me out. I woke up in the hospital twelve hours later, my head wrapped up, blind because they covered both of my eyes." He took in a shuddering breath. "They told me there was chance I would never see out of it again, that even if I did my vision would be spotty at best."

"You really came back for me?" Virginia asked, moving closer to him.

Slater nodded, his head throbbing.

"I'm sorry I hurt you." She whispered.

"I'm sorry you got hurt because of me." Slater admitted.

"Let me fix it." She whispered, before pressing her mouth against his.