Day 3: Allies

Cinnamon Ruther's POV: (F8)

I had no idea what time it was when I woke up. We were sitting together near where the waters were. I could hear the stream rushing around us. I felt around the grass, letting my senses lead me to the water. I plunged my hands in, splashing my face. I knew enough not to drink it without distilling it first.

"Darwin?" I murmured quietly. "You awake?" I heard a small groan in reply. I smiled. "You were supposed to be keeping watch!"

"Sorry!" He said, sleep heavily distorting his voice.

"What time is it?" I asked him.

"The sun hasn't even risen yet."

"Oh. Heh. Sorry." I apologized. Ever since arriving in the arena, my internal clock had been messed up. My stomach growled, rather loudly. "Do we have any food?"

"Not really." I heard my friend say. "We ate the last of the provisions last night." We hadn't been able to grab too much at the cornucopia. Mainly due to me. Darwin ran to grab my hand and lead me away from the bloodbath. But by doing so, had only been able to take a small knapsack filled with an apple, some crackers, and dried meat. But by day 3, all of that was gone.

"Maybe we could hunt or fish or something." I suggested cheerfully. "I can't really hunt, but if we can make a small fishing pole, I could probably do that."

"You probably could. Good thinking, Cinny." I could detect some false happiness in his voice. He knew that I couldn't do much. And we didn't have any supplies to make a fishing pole. By allying himself with me, he essentially cast his own death sentence. A bitter thought.

But I didn't want to think about dying. No matter how grim the situation was. "Shall we set off?" I asked, standing up, with a stretch. In the maze, for that's what Darwin told me we were in, there was no breeze. The high walls prevented any breeze from carrying itself inside. I missed the feeling of the wind in my hair. The smell of freshly baking bread, back home. The sound of the village on market day.

"Yes, we should. This way." He said, grabbing my hand. His hands were rough from work, especially compared to my smooth hands, that had never known the feel of labor. But as he held my hand, and we walked onwards, I felt perfectly at peace.

Angela Kramer's POV: (F2)

I walked up to Dink, early on the morning of our third day in the arena. We were the first two awake. I had kept the last watch, so my eyes were barely open. "Can I speak to you. In private?" I whispered, careful not to wake the others up. He shrugged, following me into the forest.

"What's your problem?" He asked, eyebrows raised. I frowned.

"Why did you kill Beam?" Dink opened his mouth in protest. "Ah- Not so fast. I know you killed her, Dink. You've got messy cleanup skills." I sighed. "You left her body near the river. Don't worry, I disposed of it, made sure no one saw it before the Gamemakers took it away. But I want to know why you did it."

"She was on to us." He said simply.

"On to us, or on to you?" He glared at me. "Ah. At you then."

"Is that all?" He asked me, unzipping his backpack and pulling out a loaf of bread. He pulled off a piece of it, handing one to me.

"I'll pass." I said, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't a matter of trust…well actually it was. Dink and I were almost alike. And that meant I couldn't trust him at all. "And not quite. We need to figure out when to make our move."

"When were you thinking?"

"Two days."

"So soon?" His voice was doubtful. He leaned against a tall tree, carefully chewing his piece of bread. I noticed a dagger strapped to his belt, and some other small weapons in his backpack. I always carried a few knives on me, but I was without my large sword. If Dink wanted, he could probably kill me right now. But he wouldn't. He knew I was too valuable to waste. But I had to bide my time, and plan. Because when it came down to it, I knew Dink would kill me in the blink of an eye. Unless, of course, I killed him first…

"It gives us time. The others are valuable. We can use them to kill some of the other tributes, then ditch them and strike out on our own later. Simple."

"Mm…" He muttered, mouth still full with bread. He swallowed, some of his black hair falling into his face. He smelled strongly of herbs and the forest. He blinked his eyes a few times, then looked directly at mine. "Kramer…" He said, seriously. "We have a deal."

Susanna Maynards' POV: (F10)

I regretted leaving the forest. But I had heard the voices of careers, and I knew it wasn't safe anymore for me to stay. At least, not for right now. My original plan was gone. Gone when my allies had died. AKA, the boys from 9, 10, and 11. I had tried, and I had failed. And so, that's why I found myself, two days ago, making an alliance with Grace. Well, not so much an alliance, as a pact of mutual survival.

And I would call on the pact later. Seeing as she was one of the only non-careers I could actually imagine surviving, it was a wise move. She seemed honorable enough, and had no other alliances. I wondered who else I could approach. I had a long sword, and had even found a bow and arrow at the cornicopia. It wasn't my best weapon, but I could manage it. Who could I make a pact with? Who was left? I made a mental list.

District 1, 2, and 4 are all out. Careers, the lot of them.

District 3, already have Grace, but the boy wouldn't work. He runs too much, seems too inexperienced.

District 6, the girl's dead, the guy I don't trust.

District 8, already allied with each other.

District 12, allied.

Was there really no one else? Wait... I had forgotten 7. The girl had died, Elysium, but the boy was still alive. He had seemed okay. Decent with the weapons. If I found him, maybe I could persuade him to be on my side! What was his name again? Well-something? It didn't matter. But the hard part would be finding him.

I walked slowly through the maze. I was stuck in the frigid arctic climate. The clothes the gamemakers had given us weren't enough to combat the cold temperatures here. It was a shame I hadn't found a blanket before. I did have a backpack filled with enough food to last me another day, a flashlight, a canteen, water purifiers, a length of rope, a knife, and a small packet of cloth for bandages. I opened the canteen, almost empty, and filled it with snow. I held it close to my body, and tied it unto my back, with the rope. Hopefully, what little body heat I had left would melt it.

And then I ran into someone. I hadn't been looking where I was going, and I ran straight into a boy, who apparently hadn't been looking around either. I quickly drew my sword, and the boy stared at my carefully. Then I realized who I was looking at. Fate had thrown the boy from district 7 in my path.

"Look, I think there's been a misunderstanding here..." He said, looking at the sword. He was unarmed. He was tall, with dirty blonde hair and strikingly blue eyes. He wore dark brown camo pants and a green shirt, with a ripped jacket over it. Small drops of blood litered it, but he seemed unarmed. Just on edge. He looked like he had been through a lot.

"Yes." I said, choosing my words carefully. "I think there has. You're Well...din. Aren't you?" The name jumped out at me suddenly.

"Yep, that's me. Who're you?" He asked.

"Someone who could kill you right now. Does that bother you?"

"Not really. I've already stared death in the face in these games, and it ran away. I'm not too worried right now. The worst you could do is kill me." I was impressed.

"You have an alliance, District 7?"

"Nope. You're not looking for one, are you?" He asked, his voice doubtful and he was still a bit jumpy looking.

"I might be."

"Why are you even offering?" I laughed.

"First, I could kill you right now. Second, you seem capable enough. And third, I like your attitude." I lowered my sword, as he stepped forward.

"Why not." He said with a reluctant smile, and we shook hands.