Night Six
Queen Theatre

Queen Theatre: Electronic Roulette. 24 players can play Queen Theater at a time. The system is designed that 8 players can sit around the wheel while the rest place wagers from the theater.

Izzy Thatcher, 12
District Seven

It was the anthem that woke her up. Izzy rolled over groggily, confused at first. Confused by the fact that she was still alive, mostly. The last thing she remembered was passing out from the smoke after Dexter—

Dexter. Dexter was dead. She had killed him. She remembered that much, although she wished she hadn't. But maybe Merric was alive. Someone had helped her get away from the fire – that much was obvious. The fire was gone, and she was definitely in a different place. She could see some sort of boat nearby, and…

And another tribute. Izzy froze, but the boy simply nodded a little. "Good. You're awake. Just in time, I guess." He gestured towards the sky as the first face appeared.

Merric. Izzy swallowed back a lump in her throat. Merric was dead. The boy from Six was next, then the boy from Nine. Then Dexter. Four tributes. Four tributes dead. She didn't remember the last two cannons, but maybe that wasn't too surprising.

Four more tributes dead. That meant seven of them were left. And the boy who was with her … He looked familiar. One of Dexter's old allies, she was pretty sure. "Wade, right?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. And … Izzy?"

"That's right." She scooted a little closer, and the boy scooted a little farther away. "I'm not going to hurt you," Izzy insisted.

Wade nodded. "Sorry. I … I guess I'm just a little jumpy."

No. No, it wasn't that. Izzy scooted a little closer, and this time, the boy didn't move away. "What happened?" she asked quietly. "There was a fire – I remember that. Did you … did you save me?"

Wade shook his head. "No. I didn't save you. Not really. I mean, I just ran. That's all I did. Ran away. I just happened to bring you with me."

"How? I mean, no offense, but I don't think you really picked me up and carried me."

Wade chuckled a little. "No. No, there was a horse."

A horse. Maybe the same one that she'd ridden away from the clowns. The same one that had thrown her off beside Dexter. Maybe the same horse, or maybe a different one. It didn't matter. Either way, the Gamemakers had led her to a tribute, and she had killed him. But Wade … he hadn't killed her. "Why save me instead of…?"

"Instead of letting you die?"

"Or just killing me," Izzy nodded. That was what she would have done. What she had done. And worse, she'd done it to an ally.

"I was going to just leave you," Wade admitted. "To be honest, I thought you were dead until…" He trailed off, looking away.

"Until what?"

"I was rummaging through your stuff – your pockets. I didn't mean anything by it, honest. I thought you were dead, and I … I was looking for water. It was hot, you know – the fire and everything. I … I'm sorry."

Izzy shook her head. "I would have done the same thing." No. No, she would have done worse. But she didn't have to tell him that. Not right now. "So what happened?"

"I wasn't watching my back," Wade muttered. "Stupid. Wasn't paying enough attention. One of the Careers was nearby – the boy from One. He attacked me. Nearly killed me." He held up his right hand, which looked oddly bent even in the dark. "Did this, too." He gestured to his nose, also bent out of shape. "He was about to kill me when … your ally. The boy from Four. He stepped in. He saved me. Told me to get out of there. That's when the horse rode up, and … well, I ran."

Izzy looked away. Merric was dead. Merric was dead because he'd been trying to save them. To save her, even after she'd killed Dexter. And to save a boy they didn't even know. Izzy took a deep breath, brushing away a few tears. "It's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done."

Wade looked away. "That's the problem. He saved us, but … well, what sort of chance do either of us really have? I didn't see any weapons when I was rummaging through your pockets, and I lost my knife when the boy from One attacked. There's water over by the ship over there." He nodded towards the shape in the distance. "But all the trees look like they got burnt in the fire, so there's probably not much in the way of food."

Izzy put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure something out."

Wade looked up hopefully. "We?"

Izzy hesitated. The word had come out before she'd even really thought about it. There were only seven tributes left, including the two of them. Was now really the best time to be making new allies?

Izzy shook the thought from her head. Why not? After all, it was the least she could do. However he might feel about running away and leaving Merric to die, Wade had saved her life. If he'd wanted to kill her, he'd certainly had the chance to do so. Even if he wasn't armed, he could easily have strangled her in her sleep. Or he could simply have left her to die in the flames, or to be killed by the boy from One after he'd finished Merric off. So Izzy nodded, finally managing to smile a little. "Yes," she agreed. "We."

Wade Larthey, 12
District Five

What was he thinking? Now wasn't the time to be making allies. There were only a handful of tributes left in the arena. But it was too late now. He'd asked, and she'd agreed. And maybe it was for the best. It wasn't as if he was going to win many fights on his own with his hands in the shape they were in. His right one had been badly crushed by the boy from One's mace. Better his hand than his head – that had been his logic at the time – but it hurt like hell. And his left was burnt from clinging onto the fiery horse's mane while they were riding. Until that healed, he could certainly use the help.

Right. Until the bones in his hand magically knit themselves back together. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon. In fact, it wasn't going to happen at all unless he made it back to the Capitol. And that would only happen if he won. But in order to win, he would have to kill. And in order to kill, he would have to fight. But how was he supposed to fight like this?

One thing at a time. First, they needed to find food and water. Staying alive was a higher priority right now than figuring out how to fight and kill the other tributes. Maybe they could survive a while longer just by outlasting the others. He could worry about the fighting part later.

Later. Later, when his hands didn't hurt so much. Later, after they found food. Slowly, Wade got to his feet. "Where are you going?" Izzy asked.

Wade nodded towards the ship in the distance. "Water. You can come, if you like."

Izzy quickly scrambled to her feet and followed him. "Do you have anything to put it in, or…?"

Wade shook his head. "No. I did, but the boy from Nine stole my supplies a while ago. Well, last night. Seems like longer." It did. Everything seemed to be lasting longer in the arena. Until now, he'd considered that a good thing. But now, it only meant the pain would last longer.

"He's dead now," Izzy pointed out. "Maybe he left your supplies somewhere."

Wade shook his head. "If he did, they're probably burned up by now. There wasn't much, anyway. A couple water bottles. A blanket."

"Where'd you get a blanket?"

"Killed someone for it," Wade blurted out before he had a chance to think twice about what she might think of that. "The first night in the arena, when it was raining. I was cold and wet, and I just wanted…" He shook his head. "I just wanted somewhere safe and dry and warm." He chuckled a little. "Warm. Dry. Guess I got my wish eventually, huh?"

To his surprise, Izzy chuckled along with him. "Guess so."

"How about you. Have you…?"

"Killed anyone?" Izzy finished.

"Yeah."

Izzy nodded. "The girl from Two."

Wade's eyes grew wide. "Really? How'd you manage that?"

Izzy shook her head. "It wasn't an epic fight or anything. She had another tribute cornered, and I … I stabbed her in the back. Just like that. Saved my ally. But then…"

"Then what?"

There were tears in Izzy's eyes as she answered. "We were at the cornucopia – the three of us. Merric, Dexter, and me. We'd started a fire, and … Dexter, he put something in the fire. Something that made it … I don't know. Explode, sort of. But it didn't hurt anyone. Just scared me. I ran away – right into some clown mutts."

Wade winced sympathetically. "Ouch. How'd you get away?"

"They were chasing the girl from Ten, and I … I pretended to be one of them."

"One of the mutts?"

"Yeah."

"Clever."

Izzy shook her head. "That's what I thought. I thought it was so clever. But then they started tying the girl to the railroad tracks, and I … I went along with it. I left here. I just left her there to die."

"She must have gotten away, then," Wade pointed out. "We didn't see her face earlier, after all."

"Yeah, but—"

"But nothing. You both survived. You both got away. Win-win."

"But I didn't know that when I left her," Izzy insisted. "I thought … I thought she was going to die! And I was okay with that."

"Of course you were. That's how the Games work." He stopped for a moment, turning to Izzy. "Look, I met her – Alexia – our second day in the arena. I was sitting around by a pond, moping, beating myself up for having killed a kid the night before over a stupid blanket. She found me. Could've killed me. Instead, she … she told me to get off my ass and try to keep myself alive. And that's what I've been doing."

Izzy nodded a little. "Seems like it's worked so far."

Wade nodded. "Yeah. It's been working for you, too. So you almost killed somebody, because that's what you had to do in order to get away from the mutts." He shook his head as they reached the water. "You did what you had to do. So did I. End of story."

It wasn't, though – not quite. It wasn't the end of the story until somebody won. Wade bit back a cry of pain as he dipped his hands in the water. "Damn horse," he muttered, letting his burned left hand soak in the water for a while before cupping it and drinking as much as he could. Izzy did the same, chuckling a little. "What's so funny?" Wade asked.

"It … It's not funny. Not really. I just … I just wish I could've been awake for that – escaping through the smoke on a fiery horse."

Wade shook his head. "It wasn't as cool as it sounds. I'm sure I didn't look like the headless horseman or anything."

"The what?"

"The headless–– you've never heard of the headless horseman?"

Izzy shook her head. "No."

Wade stuck his hands back in the water. "Well, then sit back. Have I got a story for you."

Alexia Wright, 17
District Ten

"Do you think it's safe to leave?" Alexia asked. There were still smaller fires burning in the distance – mostly in the direction of the cornfield – but the worst of it seemed to have passed with the rain that had soaked the arena before the anthem.

"Leave and go where?" Cosima asked.

"I don't know," Alexia admitted. "But we can't stay here forever. We've got water, but no food. It looks like the fire got to the trees – and probably the corn field, too. Unless you've got some supplies hidden somewhere…"

Cosima shook her head. "My bag caught fire as I was running, so I took it off. If I'd been thinking, I might've just tried to put the fire out."

"With what?"

"I don't know. Didn't have much with me, anyway. I was planning on filling my bag with corn on the way out of the field, but…"

Alexia nodded. "So much for that plan, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think there would still be supplies at the cornucopia?" Alexia asked.

Cosima shrugged. "Only one way to know for sure, I suppose. Do you think it's safe?"

"Safe?" Alexia chuckled. "No. No, I don't think anywhere's going to be safe. But as far as whether or not there'll be any Careers there … I don't know. The girl from One was headed in that direction when I saw her, but there's no way to know whether she stayed there or just kept going. She had a big backpack full of supplies, though, so…"

"So she may not have stopped," Cosima finished.

"Exactly. Or even if she did, she might not have stayed there for long – not with the fire right on her tail."

"Was it? Right on her tail, I mean?"

Alexia shrugged. "Pretty close. That's why I decided to head back this way. The fire seemed to be moving in the other direction. Of course, that was quite a while ago. She could be anywhere by now. Any of them could. Well, the other five who are left, anyway."

The other five. Only seven of them left in the arena. Her, Cosima, and the girl from One, for starters. The boy from One, as well. Who else?

Not Dexter. His face had been one of the ones in the sky earlier. Cosima's district partner was already gone. Both the tributes from Two and Four were gone, too, leaving only the pair from One as far as Careers went. "Who else is left?" she wondered out loud.

"Mostly younger ones, aside from the Careers," Cosima answered. "The boy from Five. The girls from Six and Seven. And the pair from One. And … well, that's it."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Just … not really what I expected. Aside from the Careers, we're probably the strongest group in the running right now. Not really the position I expected to be in."

Cosima chuckled a little. "Me, either."

Alexia raised an eyebrow. "But you volunteered, didn't you?"

Cosima nodded. "Yeah. So?"

"So why would you volunteer if you didn't expect to win?"

Cosima looked away. "You'll think it's stupid."

Alexia shrugged. "Look, as far as I'm concerned, any reason for volunteering for the Games is stupid. So what've you got?"

"My parents. They … they would never let me do anything. Well, anything interesting. There were always so many rules, so many things they were always telling me to be careful of. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life like that."

Alexia raised an eyebrow. "So you decided you'd rather spend it running from clown mutts and wildfires?"

"I didn't know it was going to be like that!" Cosima answered defensively.

Alexia shook her head. "What did you think it was going to be like?"

"I don't know. I … I guess I wasn't really thinking. About the Games, anyway. I was thinking about how great it would be after I won. If I won. If I win, I mean." She shook her head. "What about you? You can't tell me your life in Ten was perfect, that you never dreamed of doing something better."

Alexia shrugged. "Well, sure. I mean, of course I did. I just…"

"What?"

"Well, I just never thought of killing other kids as something that would be better."

For a moment, there was silence. Alexia said nothing, worried that she'd struck a nerve. But then Cosima simply shrugged. "I think you're right about heading back to the cornucopia. Even if one of the Careers is there, it's probably just one of them. One of them, two of us, right?"

Alexia nodded. "Right." Two of us. But it could only be 'us' for so long. Everyone else she'd teamed up with was either dead or gone. But maybe that was the better scenario. Troy was already dead. Isabella was already dead. But that meant that she wouldn't have to kill them. She just hoped she wouldn't have to kill Cosima, either.

Cosima Byte, 18
District Three

They would just have to hope that there were still some supplies at the cornucopia – that they hadn't all burned up in the fire. If not, there was no knowing where there might be food left in the arena. Maybe just with the other tributes. Alexia had said the girl from One had a backpack of supplies. If those were the only supplies left…

No. No, that couldn't be the case. If everything else really had burned up, surely the sponsors would have sent her food instead of water. Lois had that much sense, at least. So that meant there was still food available somewhere. They would just have to find it.

They. It was strange, really, how easy it was to get used to working with someone. Maybe Alexia wasn't the first person she would have picked, but out of the options that were left … Well, she was probably the best choice, even if she'd had a say in the matter. The others were either Careers or quite a bit younger. Not exactly great ally material. Except…

Except for the fact that all of them were still alive. Clemence was still alive, even after running away from her and Wade. Hell, Wade was still alive. How he'd managed that, Cosima wasn't sure. But the fact that they were still alive at all meant that she couldn't write them off. She couldn't just worry about the Careers and assume that everyone else wouldn't be a threat. Anyone who was still alive was dangerous, in their own way.

Even Alexia. She had an injured shoulder, yes, but other than that, she seemed to be doing pretty well. Of course, she was probably thinking the same thing about Cosima. They would make a good pair for now, but…

But nothing. More likely than not, they wouldn't get to the point where they had to kill each other. And even if they did, it wouldn't be any different than having to kill Clemence or Wade. And she'd already killed once…

Cosima shook her head as the pair of them headed for the cornucopia. That was what was bothering her, really. "I didn't volunteer because I wanted to kill other kids, you know," she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Alexia turned. "What?"

"What you said before, about never thinking killing kids was something that would be better. I didn't volunteer because I wanted to kill poeple."

Alexia shrugged. "I never said you did. But if you volunteered, that means that you at least accepted that you would have to kill, whether you wanted to or not."

Cosima shook her head. "You don't understand."

"Maybe not," Alexia admitted. "Have you? Killed anyone, I mean?"

Cosima nodded. "One."

"Who was it?"

"The girl from Eight. The one with the broken leg. She fell into a trap that we'd set. But she … I mean, she wouldn't have lasted long, anyway. With her leg and all."

"Isabella."

"What?"

"Her name was Isabella. We were allies for a while. Fished together, cooked them around a fire. It was the … third night of the Games, I think. We were roasting our fish around the fire when the girl from One found us. Before she could attack us, though, the Gamemakers sent some owls after all of us. We split up, and I didn't see Isabella after that. So … she fell into your trap?"

Cosima nodded. "Would've died from the water filling the trap, anyway. So I threw my spear, and … well, you know the rest." It didn't sound so bad, when she put it like that. It sounded like what she had done was a merciful thing. But there had been nothing merciful about pinning the girl to the side of the pit, watching it fill with water. No wonder Clemence had run after that. No wonder she and Wade had gotten so drunk. "You're right," Cosima admitted quietly.

"About what?"

"It's not better – killing other kids. I mean, that's not really the part that I thought was going to be better. I just wanted what would come after the Games. The freedom to do what I want, when I want to do it. And I thought … I still think that would be better than what I would've had in District Three without the Games, but…"

But there were still seven of them left. Six other tributes who would have to die in order to make that a reality. Cosima looked away. If she wanted to make it back to that life – the life that she'd wanted so badly – then they would all have to die. Alexia would have to die. She would probably have to kill some of them. The last time she'd killed someone, she'd barely been able to handle it. Would she really have the stomach to do it again?

Cosima took a deep breath as they drew closer to the cornucopia. She didn't have a choice. None of them did. If it came down to a choice between her life and the life of another tribute, she knew which one she would pick. Which one any of them would pick. None of the allies she'd had would have sacrificed themselves to save her, and she wouldn't have expected them to. That wasn't what anyone did in the Games.

Well, it wasn't what anyone with any sense did in the Games, anyway. Cosima slowed down a little as the cornucopia finally came into view. Alexia shook her head. "It doesn't look like anyone's home."

It didn't – at least not from a distance. But they couldn't count on that for long. Carefully, the two of them crept closer to the mouth of the cornucopia. "Damn," Alexia muttered, and it didn't take Cosima long to realize why. Inside the cornucopia, there was nothing but a pile of charred supplies and a lot of ashes.

Cosima shook her head. "Well, so much for that idea. What's plan B?"

Alexia thought for a moment. "Maybe we should just stay here until morning. There are still plenty of weapons here, even if there isn't any food."

That was true, at least. Anything wooden – clubs, spears, bows, and such – was probably gone, but the metal weapons were intact. Cosima stuffed a few knives in her pockets, then chose a couple daggers from the pile. Alexia did the same. That was something, at least. But weapons wouldn't help them for long unless they could find food.

Clemence Aldrin, 14
District Six

Clemence rolled over again, trying to find a more comfortable position, but she already knew it was pointless. The ground was soaking wet from the rain, but that wasn't really the problem. In fact, she was used to it by now. But the idea of falling asleep now – now that there were so few of them left – was more frightening than before.

She knew, of course, that worrying about it was pointless. If the Gamemakers wanted to send something after her, it probably wouldn't matter much whether she was asleep or awake. If someone found her now, she wasn't in much of a position to fight back. Sure, she had a sickle, but—

But nothing. She had a weapon. That was probably more than some of the other tributes could say. Maybe it wasn't much, but it was something. She was still alive. She was still alive, when seventeen other tributes were dead.

Maybe it was time to stop thinking of herself as an underdog.

Clemence sat up a little, not quite sure whether she liked that thought or not. She'd spent most of the Games assuming that the Capitolites thought of her as a long shot, at best. She was one of the younger tributes. She wasn't a Career. She didn't have any particular skills, and aside from getting a strangely high training score, she hadn't made much of a splash in the Capitol. But she was alive. That was something. And it was more than most of the others could say now.

Clemence took a deep breath. Okay. Okay, then. She was still alive. If she wanted to stay that way, she was going to need a plan. And if she wasn't going to be able to sleep, anyway, then she might as well keep moving.

Slowly, she got to her feet and gathered up the supplies she'd taken, along with Carlisle's sickle. No. Her sickle now. Carlisle was dead. She wasn't. It didn't seem fair, but that was they way it had turned out. And it wouldn't do her any good to keep wondering why she had gotten lucky when he…

Except it hadn't been about luck. The Gamemakers had sent the mutt that had injured him. Twice. Three times, if the clown mutts that had been watching when he'd tied her to the railroad tracks counted. Maybe he'd been right from the start about the Gamemakers having it in for him because he'd volunteered for Bertie's son. Maybe he'd never really had a chance at all. Maybe she was the one they'd wanted to see survive, after all.

She wasn't sure whether that made it better or worse.

Maybe it didn't matter, in the end. Whether or not this was how the Gamemakers had meant for things to turn out, this was how it was. She was alive. There were only seven of them left. Maybe she had a chance, after all…

Suddenly, Clemence saw something out of the corner of her eye. Or, at least, she was pretty sure it was real, and not just her imagination. It certainly looked like something was moving in the dark, off in the distance. And it looked like more than one something. More than one tribute, or more than one mutt, she couldn't be sure. Either way, the safest thing to do was probably to head in the other direction. She had a weapon, yes, and that might be enough to take on one of the other tributes. Maybe even two, if she got lucky. Very lucky. But not three.

And there did seem to be at least three distinct shapes. Clemence took a step backwards. That meant they probably weren't tributes at all. The chances of a group that large being left were slim. There were only two Careers left, after all, and they'd been the biggest group by far. Cosima, Wade, and the girls from Seven and Ten. Maybe Cosima and Wade were still together, but why would any of the others be with them?

Which meant it was probably a group of mutts. Not that that was any better. Slowly, as quietly as she could, Clemence crept in the other direction, hoping the mutts wouldn't see her. Which, of course, would only happen if the Gamemakers didn't want them to see her. If they figured there had already been enough bloodshed for one day.

Suddenly, the mutts turned. Clemence immediately sprinted away as quickly as she could, but the clowns were already gaining ground. Clemence gasped for breath as she ran. Maybe the Gamemakers were just trying to drive her in a certain direction, away from the edge of the arena. Maybe they were trying to herd her towards another tribute.

Or maybe they simply wanted her dead. Clemence gripped her sickle tightly as the noise grew closer and closer behind her. They were going to catch her eventually. If she was going to die, maybe it was better to die fighting.

But she didn't want to die at all.

Clemence turned, swinging the sickle, which sliced through a clown's arm. The clown didn't even hesitate. It swung its other arm, striking her shoulder. Clemence ducked beneath the next one's arm, but there were too many of them. There were too many…

Boom!

Clemence jumped. A cannon. But it hadn't been hers. The noise echoed through the arena, and the clowns immediately came to a halt, dropping to the ground as if their batteries had all gone dead at the same time. What was going on?

Before she had much of a chance to wonder, however, a voice came booming through the arena. "Attention, tributes!"

Confidence Best, 16
District One

"There you are!"

Thalia looked up from where she was sitting by the duck pond as Confidence approached. "Where'd you think I was going to go? Water seemed like a sensible place to run when there was fire in the arena."

Confidence smirked. "Maybe. But how many kills did you get today?"

"None," Thalia admitted grudgingly. "You killed Merric, then?"

"How'd you know?"

"He's dead, and I didn't do it," Thalia reasoned. "I figured none of the other tributes who are left would've been able to take him out. He may have been soft, but he still had training. So unless the fire got him, I figured it was probably you."

Confidence nodded. "And you've just been sitting here the whole time, haven't you?"

"I found dinner," Thalia offered. "I still had enough supplies from the cornucopia to last a while, but I found a bush full of berries that didn't burn up, either. And since food didn't seem to be the first thing on your mind, I'm glad I thought of it."

Confidence could feel his face growing red. Irritating as she was, she was right. He hadn't been thinking about food. He'd been so focused on his fight with Merric, he hadn't gone back to his hiding place in the tunnel to retrieve the supplies, and then it had collapsed. So he was pretty hungry. Confidence settled down beside her at the pond. "Save any for me?"

Thalia shrugged. "Sure. There's plenty. I doubt we'll run out of food for a few days, and considering there are only seven of us left…"

"The Games probably won't last much longer than that," Confidence finished.

No sooner had he spoken than a soft beeping sound filled the air, and a parachute came floating down, landing at Thalia's feet. Thalia rolled her eyes. "Thanks, I guess? Not like we really need anything."

Confidence shrugged. "Didn't really need anything last time, but that explosive worked like a charm. Maybe it's another."

"Or just another signal to keep working together for a while," Thalia agreed. "Maybe that means another group survived."

Confidence shook his head. "I saw the boy from Five with the girl from Seven. They were with Merric, but they got away while I took him down."

Thalia scoffed. "They're both twelve. And the only others left are the girls from Three, Six, and Ten." She opened the package, revealing a coil of rope. "Okay, then. That's something I didn't think to grab. Maybe there's a reason we'll need it."

"Good enough for me," Confidence agreed, reaching for some of the berries Thalia offered him, along with some of the dried meat and one of the rolls she'd packed from the cornucopia's supplies. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"I guess we will," Thalia agreed as Confidence stuffed a few of the berries in his mouth. They were sweet – almost too sweet. Like the cotton candy or the candy apples they'd found before. Why was everything in the arena so sweet?

Oh.

Almost too sweet.

Confidence stopped himself before shoving a second handful of berries into his mouth, but he could already feel his limbs starting to tingle. Immediately, he turned to Thalia. "What did you do?"

But he already had a fairly good idea. Thalia took a step back as Confidence reached for his mace, but his hands were shaking too much to even grab it. "Why?" he demanded, his voice raspy.

Thalia's voice was cold as she replied. "Why not? Like you said, the Games probably won't last much longer. There are only seven of us left. Soon, it'll be six. Five tributes besides me, and only two of them are working together, and they're twelve. Face it, you were the biggest threat left."

"I didn't try to kill you."

"Well, then that was your mistake," Thalia answered coolly. "What did you think was going to happen when it came down to only a few tributes?"

I thought I was going to win. But the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. That was all he had thought. All he had ever thought. He had assumed, from the start, that he would be the one coming out of the Games on top. That was what had to happen. It was his…

His what? His dream? His destiny? Everything was growing fuzzy as he collapsed on the ground, staring up at the stars. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. He was supposed to win. He was supposed to…

Thalia Gold, 17
District One

Boom.

Thalia nodded, satisfied, as the sound of the cannon faded. "Guess I got a kill today, after all," she remarked, smirking at Confidence's dead body. He couldn't hear her now, of course, but the audience would love it. One more tribute down. And she was the only remaining Career. The strongest threat left in the arena. It was only a matter of time before she found the other tributes.

"Attention, tributes!" the voice of their host, Casca, broke her train of thought. Thalia leapt to her feet. She knew what this meant. "Attention, tributes!" the voice repeated. "Congratulations on reaching the final six! As a reward for your … persistence, there will be a feast held at dawn. The location of this feast, however, will remain a secret until twenty minutes before the feast is prepared. Rest well, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

Thalia sank back into her seat by the duck pond as the voice faded into the night. She'd been ready to charge headlong into a fight, maybe wipe out a significant portion of the competition. Maybe even all of them. There were only six of them left, after all. If she could manage to kill two or three, they might even decide to start the finale, and that would be it. The end of the Games.

But now … The location was a secret. And it would stay a secret until twenty minutes before dawn. What were the Gamemakers thinking? Unless enough of the tributes were already in the same area, it would take them more than twenty minutes to reach whatever location the Gamemakers decided to use for the feast. The tributes closer to it would have an obvious advantage.

Thalia tossed a rock into the pond. Rest up, they had said. But it would probably be a better use of her time to start making her way towards wherever the feast was likely to be. The pond she was at was near the southeastern corner of the arena. So unless they purposely chose somewhere near her, heading north and west would be a safe bet.

Unless they did choose a location near her. Unless they were trying to give her some sort of advantage. She didn't really need another advantage, but she certainly wouldn't refuse one if it were offered. Thalia turned the rope the sponsors had sent over in her hands. What if they were trying to give her a clue?

But what kind of clue? What would she need to use a rope for? For setting a trap? For climbing something? But a trap could be set anywhere. That wasn't much of a hint. And there wasn't much left to climb, now that the fire had scorched most of the trees. One of the Ferris wheels was still standing, but that would be easy enough to scramble up even without a rope.

Think. What else could a rope be used for? If she had enough of it, maybe she could make a net. She was near a pond, after all. But it wasn't as if she needed more food. She just had to be careful not to eat the poison berries she had given Confidence…

Thalia glanced over at the body. Had she acted too quickly? Maybe if Confidence was still alive, he would be able to help her figure out the riddle. They had figured out together, after all, what to do with the explosives the sponsors had sent, and that had turned out pretty well. Now…

No. No, she couldn't start second-guessing herself now. Confidence was dead. And it was probably his death that had prompted the Gamemakers' decision to hold a feast now. So the rope probably had nothing to do with it. Chances were, it was exactly what it had appeared to be at first – a gift showing the sponsors' approval and offering something that she'd forgotten to pack when she'd left the cornucopia. If it came in handy, all the better.

If not, there was nothing lost. She already had plenty of supplies. Even if she didn't make it to the feast in time to wipe out most of the competition, she was still in a good position. She had four kills – and one of them had been her only real remaining competition. A pair of twelve-year-olds, a fourteen-year-old, and the girls from Three and Ten – that was all the competition she had left. Maybe she could afford to do exactly what the Gamemakers had suggested – rest up and wait until morning to figure out her next move.

Welcome to the final six, everybody! And the feast is coming up next chapter. Keeping in the spirit of the rest of the Games, the location of the feast will be randomly decided. What I'm going to do is take the map of the arena, assign each of the landmarks a number, and then randomly generate a number. Simple enough.

24th - Owen Askoya, D8. Killed by Troy Arrowhead with an explosive baseball.

23rd - Martha Cabott, D9. Decapitated by Thalia Gold.

22nd - Ichabod Garjan, D7. Stabbed through the chest by Thalia Gold.

21st - Deimos Martel, D2. Stabbed through the back by Garth Kain.

20th - Emerson Watt, D5. Stabbed (accidentally) by Garth Kain.

19th - Stanley Newton, D3. Stabbed with a katana by Thalia Gold.

18th - Cherry Thatch, D11. Stabbed with a spear by Decima Clear.

17th - Garth Kain, D11. Stomach and throat sliced by Carlisle Talbot.

16th - Emilia Rey Fumero, D12. Stabbed in the back by Wade Larthey.

15th - Decima Clear, D2. Stabbed in the back by Izzy Thatcher.

14th - Isabella Thatcher, D8. Drowned in a pit trap after being speared by Cosima Byte.

13th - Troy Arrowhead, D12. Speared by Shasta Evans.

12th - Freya Clearwater, D4. Head bashed in by Confidence Best.

11th - Shasta Evans, D9. Stabbed and beaten by clown mutts.

10th - Dexter Guernsey, D10. Strangled by Izzy Thatcher.

9th - Carlisle Talbot, D6. Throat slit by Clemence Aldrin

8th - Merric Belgrave, D4. Clubbed with a mace by Confidence Best.

7th - Confidence Best, D1. Poisoned by Thalia Gold.

And with that, there are no district pairs remaining.

District Placements:

12th - District 11 - Best Placement: 17th

11th - District 2 - Best Placement: 15th

10th - District 8 - Best Placement: 14th

9th - District 12 - Best Placement: 13th

8th - District 9 - Best Placement: 11th

7th - District 4 - Best Placement: 8th