Three cannon shots rang out. They listened for another, but it didn't come. Alex looked at Shimmer with a raised eyebrow.

"Five others?" he asked her.

"Mhm," she nodded back, "but one of them is Drakkon."

"There are two of us, we should make quick work of him. Besides, I got him as good as he got me."

Shimmer didn't reply. She just looked at the ground. She would never tell Alex, but Drakkon terrified her. She had nightmares about him. Last night in her dreams, Shimmer found herself in a white expanse, and she had the feeling that she'd been in the sterile white purgatory for ages, centuries maybe. She was alone. She'd huddled up into a ball and wished for anybody to be there, anyone to be around, so she wouldn't be alone. And then Drakkon appeared. His laughter filled the space and it became dark. He swallowed her up.

"Something on your mind?" Alex's voice reeled her back to reality.

"Huh?" she asked, startledly, "Oh no. I was just uh... thinking about how badly I want a decent meal."

"Well there are only five things standing in our way," Alex said to her.

"Six," she corrected him without looking up.

"Right," he repeated as he tightened the bandage around his leg.

Aven awoke beneath a tree. She felt small mites crawling over her arms, but that sensation was secondary to the throbbing in her skull.

"Arrr" she moaned as she sat up. She put a hand to her head, and found a giant lump. The memory of Rye's attack came rushing back to her. Why had he spared her? And where was...

"Skye!" Aven burst out. She scrambled to her feet and ran to the tree she where Skye had been waiting for her.

"Skye!" Aven called again. Her voice rolled out across the hills and the grass and the trees, but no answer came. Aven put her hands down from her mouth. She noticed blood stain in the grass. She didn't know that the blood actually belonged to Rye, but it didn't really matter.

"Skye..." she whispered to herself. Aven knelt in the grass by the stain. She looked at it for a long time. As she realized the one friend she'd had in the arena was gone, tears noiselessly rolled down her cheeks. They clung to her skin and didn't roll into the grass. Skye was gone. And soon I'll be gone too.

After a while Aven noticed a chill. She was cold. Se realized she was only wearing the damp undershirt she'd bathed in. She sniffled and wiped her cheek before going back to the clothes she'd stripped off. She put them back on and picked a random direction to walk in. If she found Rye, she would make him pay. Although she wouldn't find him.

Drakkon didn't actually notice the cannons. For the first time since the games began, he slept. He had nightmares of his own. In his dream he battled on top of a mountain. He fought the Onyx-Platinum a girl. He began to lose. And then, like in Shimmer's dream, everything went dark and he was swallowed, by a giant version of himself. He woke up, sweating. Soon enough he fell back asleep.

Gabby Corbett hung in a tree. She deliberately breathed in and out, trying to make as little noise as possible. She watched two tributes below her.

Eli and Mercury sat around a fire.

"I still don't know about this fire," Eli mused.

"Ah it'll be fine," Mercury dismissed him, "At this point in the games we're fairly safe. Worst case scenario that man-eater from One and that pretty boy from Four show up and we make quick work of them like we did those freaking Mutts."

Gabby rolled her eyes. In the time she'd been following them, that was probably the tenth joke she'd heard about Alex Feltham's looks. After a while it just seemed like insecurity. And it made their bromance more than a little dubious to her.

"They might not even be a team anymore. Although it's been awhile since any careers have shown up in the night sky. My money would be on that psycho from two betraying them all... The one who killed my district partner." Eli told him. His voice dropped into a deep whisper when he talked about Drakkon.

"Ah... Sorry. Were you two close?" Mercury asked. He could tell Eli was getting serious. Eli had thought of little else besides exacting revenge. But he hadn't talked about it. The thought of Minnie's gruesome death still made him well up, so he focused on the only thing he could to keep from crying in front of his ally.

"We were... I want to be the one to kill the guy from Two, Drakkon, when we find him. I want to make his death slow. I want him to think about what he did to Minnie before he dies." Eli tilted his head downwards and an eerie shadow was cast over his face. This was a side of him Mercury hadn't seen before. He was a little disturbed by it. Mercury also doubted Eli's ability to take Drakkon in a one-on-one fight, but wouldn't dare tell him that.

"We'll find him. And you'll get him." Mercury said. Mercury wanted to empathize with Eli. He thought about expressing regret that he wasn't able to kill Blast, but that wasn't even close to the same. And truthfully he didn't mind not killing her. She was cruel, but not worthy of death in Mercury's opinion. He hadn't needed to kill anyone yet and was glad for it. Mercury wanted to ask about this Minnie, but didn't know if it was appropriate, so he didn't.

"I'll kill the bastard alright," Eli said again. He looked down at his axe. He thought about all the history that had fallen perfectly in line to end with him right there. And he wondered where it would take him.

A/N: Had to write that on my iPad, as may computer died again. Definitely getting better at this keyboard, but autocorrect is damn ridiculous. Yikes. Please forgive errors. ALSO THE POLL WAS REOPENED; GO VOTE BECAUSE UNLIKE THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, THIS ONE MATTERS!

Survivors:

Shimmer

Drakkon

Alex

Gabby

Eli

Aven

Mercury

Dead:

Cloud (mines)

Minnie (Drakkon)

Cherry (River)

Grave (Shimmer)

Dahlia (Shimmer)

Noble (Shimmer)

Auralee (Blast)

Malik (Ace)

Blast (Livi)

River (Press)

Cole (River)

Press (Shimmer)

Alisha (Drakkon)

Ace (Drakkon)

Cadence (hovercraft)

Track (hovercraft)

Livi (Skye)

Skye (Livi)

Rye (himself)