Olivier Fowler POV

I thought it couldn't get any worse than watching Logan die. It was worse. We were completely surrounded by dozens of the same monsters that snatched him away, and we couldn't even run. That was the very thing that would get us killed. Tariq huddled next to me, shuddering.

I need to keep my head, I thought. But it was impossible. We'd have to use magic to get out of this. But I'm good at magic.

"Stay still," I said to Tariq. I crouched down and started to unwind one of my shoelaces. Magic was all about making people think you're somewhere when really, you're somewhere else. I was about to put on the show of my life.

I carefully rummaged through our supplies, looking for the heaviest item. I settled on a hammer and tied it to the end of the shoelace. I swung it back and threw it by one of the spider pit, holding on to the other end of the string. A spider lunged from the hole and scrabbled at the ground. When it didn't see any prey, it vanished back underground. As I'd hoped, it didn't take the hammer. I gently pulled it back to me.

"What are you doing?" Tariq asked.

"Next time I throw it, we jump on the other side of the spider," I said. "We have to time it just right, so we land when the spider's already out. After that, whatever you do, don't trip until I throw the hammer again." Tariq nodded, but I could see the terror in his eyes.

"Ready?" I asked. I threw the hammer. "Now!" We both jumped and landed a step apart, at the very moment the spider attacked two feet away from us. We felt the ground shudder as another nearby spider stirred, but stayed hidden.

It worked, I thought with some amazement. Still, it had been utterly terrifying, and one mistake would kill us both. I quailed inside when I saw how far we still had to go. But the show must go on.

Olivine Martinez POV

Chicken is so good. Hot, juicy chicken. The juices running everywhere. It's so pink. Know what else is good? Potatoes. Mashed potatoes. Fried potatoes. French fries. Pizza, sandwiches, hamburgers, ice cream, spaghetti. It's all so good.

I couldn't understand why the sponsors weren't sending more. Luxen was gone, so all of One's money should have been coming to me. Were they mad I'd only killed one Tribute? It wasn't my fault the Arena was so crappy. It was impossible to find anyone in this place. None of us Careers had killed many Tributes.

I took my handful of clean-picked bones from my bag and licked them. There wasn't a scrap of meat left on any of them. I'd had maybe a thousand calories since the Games began, and it had been a week. I nibbled at the raw surface of the bones and pretended I could taste them.

A bone is part of an animal, right? People eat animals. That must mean we can eat bones, I thought. I took a drumstick and crunched into its end. The bone splintered and something delicious and meaty fell into my mouth. There's more meat inside?! I thought with delight. It was soft and foamy, like weird meat mousse. I looked at the broken end of the bone and saw it was filled with something brown. It looked like it went all the way down. There were splinters of hard bone in my mouth too, but I chewed them into slivers and swallowed them with the meat. I gnawed on the bone until it was entirely gone. It was strangely fulfilling, like I was proud I'd eaten the whole thing. I should have saved Red's feathers, too. Maybe I could have eaten those.

Troy Cahill POV

It was very nice of my sponsors to send me food. I didn't know why they sent chicken, though. It was yummy and all, but I just ate chicken. Not that I was complaining. There was mashed potatoes, a roll, and coleslaw, too, and I ate them all with relish.

This sucks, I thought after I finished. I couldn't find any of the Tributes in the tall grass. The trails overlapped and led nowhere. We'd be here for weeks at this rate, and it would be a terrible show. The people were probably restless already. They'd grow bored and stop sending food. I needed to do something big.

If there wasn't all this stupid grass! I slashed pettishly at some of the grass around the Cornucopia. Maybe it's time to get rid of it.

As soon as I had the idea I knew it was great. It could potentially end the Games in one day and give me a body count that would put me down in history. Best of all, the Games would be over and I could do whatever the heck I wanted, which wasn't the Games.

I checked to see if I had the supplies. There was plenty of water in the Cornucopia, but I hadn't wanted to take any chances, so I'd been storing more in whatever container I could find whenever it rained. I had gallons of the stuff. I also had a blanket, which I was going to need.

The area around the Cornucopia was stomped flat from the Bloodbath and from when we were all camped on it. I doused the ground it water and pulled up the thin layer of leftover grass. Then I soaked the blanket and hung it over the Cornucopia opening. I poured on more and more water until I had only one bottle left. If my plan worked, I wouldn't need any more. By the end, there was practically a moat around the Cornucopia. I only needed one more thing. I walked to the edge of the grass and lit a match.

Eve Sable POV

I just ran right into her. Neither of us heard the other one coming until we were right on top of each other. The other girl was carrying a bow, but I was too close for her to shoot. Instead she grabbed my hair and yanked me toward the ground. I kicked her shin on the way down, hard enough to scrape off the skin. She tried to kick me and I stabbed her foot as I yanked at the other one. Then we were rolling on the ground, both going for the kill. She bit my knife arm and I scratched at her eyes. She clamped on harder and I I started to bleed. I swapped my knife to the other hand and tried to stab her face. She turned and I ripped a gash in her cheek.

We were both sweating and panting for breath. My lungs burned as we fought. I rolled on top of her and she grabbed my knife arm with both of hers. She tried to flip me over and I almost lost my balance. I looked up to reestablish it and saw fire. My lungs were burning because they were full of singed air. The grass behind us was an endless inferno and it was coming toward us as fast as I could run. I jumped off the girl and ran off diagonally away from her. I needn't have worried. She ran off in a different direction. What was behind us was unimaginably worse than each other.