The next update will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm not really sure. I go back to school on Monday though, meaning less time to write :(. When it gets to the final 8, I will be doing interviews (thanks for asking Rubyclocks I had meant to say, oh and the answer to your question for the 10 sponsor points is at the end of the chapter).

I'm also gonna do a competition thingy (sort of). This story has reached a whopping 340 reviews! It's awesome. To celebrate I have decided that the person that leaves the 350th review can choose a hunger games pairing and I will write a short one shot about them. If you deliberately leave a tonne of reviews so that you reach the 350th one, I will not choose you it will be the next person to review because that's called cheating.

Question to earn 10 sponsor points: If you could live in any district in Panem (in a an AU where the money is spread equally between the districts so there's not such inequality between them) where would you live an why?

Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.

~The Lonely Geek

Chapter 54

Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)

Morning of day 14

I wake up later than normal, yawning slightly. I went to sleep long after the sun went down last night. I was using my night vision goggles. We're down to the final 10 which seems crazy. Two weeks ago 24 of us came into this arena, and 13 are already dead and 9 more must die before one can come out alive.

I pull my knife out. I don't have much food left so I need to go hunting. I walk through the woods, careful to avoid stepping on any twigs. I want to make as little noise as possible so that I don't scare all the prey away. Also if I make too much noise I may as well jump up and down and scream my location for all the other tributes to come and find me.

The arena must be getting pretty small now. The desert by the cornucopia must be about half the arena and that's completely uninhabitable which cuts half the arena out. Now it's day 14 the arena has decreased by 14 square miles. That makes it 36 square miles, not taking off half for desert space. So it's about 18 square miles. That's just a rough estimate of course. There will probably start to be more deaths now it's getting smaller.

Just as I am thinking this I am suddenly pushed back by some invisible force. The force is so strong that it pushes me off my feet and I land on my back. I put my hand up to it but I can't put my hand past it. I must have reached the forcefield. I grab a handful of leaves from the ground and crush them in my hand. The wind takes them forwards but then they float back towards me when they hit where I hit.

I turn back round and head in a different direction. I should have probably checked what way the wind was blowing before I started walking. No wonder I hadn't found anything. My scent was being blown towards my prey so they smelt me and ran off way before I reached them. I'll have to be more careful and check the wind direction in future.

I wonder if any other tributes have reached the forcefield yet or if it's just me. I have wandered for quite a bit, following the river along. I didn't want to lose the water source so I've had to keep close to it to make sure I didn't die of dehydration. It's not a risk I wanted to take.

Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 male)

Morning of day 14

Swinging my legs down slowly I reach a lower branch and then I unwrap my hands from the trunk and jump. I bend my knees and land the jump perfectly on my feet, not even snapping a twig. I unscrew my empty water bottle and dart out to the river, glancing either side of me to make sure there's no one about. I have to use the river as my water source now. The arena shrunk, taking my pond with it. I haven't found any other ponds so I have to use the river or die of dehydration.

Even wandering the woods I haven't found another tribute since I started looking for tributes to hunt. I just want these games to end. I'm not sure how long they usually last for because I never watched them, I vaguely remember about 3 weeks to a month of people buzzing about the games. The first week would be just the reapings, chariot rides, training and interviews. Then there was the games and after that a few days of the victor being petted and giving interviews in the Capitol before going back to their district. That probably makes the actual duration of the games last around 2 weeks so these games must be going on for longer than normal as it's day 14 and we're only down to 10 tributes so far.

I'm hoping to reduce that number so I can head home quicker. That's all I want. To go back home and be with my family. I probably only got reaped because I took so much tesserae. I don't regret it though. It really helped my family out. I'm doing fine in here as well. I may not have any kills but I got a sponsor which means that at least one person is rooting for me. One person wants me to win. Someone has faith in me. I really hope I don't let them down. I mean, if I do it means that I'm dead.

I have made it this far though. I've survived the bloodbath and two weeks of living in the wild. Who knows maybe I can make it back home and my family will be rich and we'll never have to worry about having enough money again? Maybe we won't have to leave the Capitol and my siblings can grow up and have good jobs and not worry about whether they'll go to bed with any empty stomach. I'd like that. If one good thing could come of these games, it would be that. I love my siblings, I don't want them to live like they are now for their whole lives. I want them to have a bright future. That would be the best gift I could ever get them.

Once my bottle is full I head back to the treeline. I ran out of purification tablets a few days ago. They lasted longer than I expected though because I purified water with a fire when I was cooking meat sometimes. Now I have no choice but to use a fire. It's that or risk dying of some disease in the water.

Katniss Everdeen's POV

Watching games from mentor room

"Still here Katniss?" I spin on my chair and see President Paylor standing behind me, sipping from what smells like a cup of coffee. I shrug. "Both of your tributes died and so have Peeta's, why don't you just go back to District 12 like he has?" She asks me.

After I shot Coin they locked me away in the training centre while they put me on trial and then after I was pardoned they sent me back to my house in Victor's Village in 12. I wish they had killed me for treason. It seems that everything reminds me of her. Prim. One day Peeta turned up though. He's been helping me get through it all. We're engaged.

Then the games happened. I had almost forgotten about the vote, or at least I thought the idea had died along with Coin when I shot that arrow. I still don't regret that. She deserved to die. Prim was innocent. All I ever did was try to protect her, but she still died. I keep going back, thinking through it. If only I had spotted her sooner, ran to her, saved her. But it's too late now.

"I-I want to be here." I reply quietly. "I need to be around other people. Who know what it's like." I don't expand on 'it', but I'm fairly sure she understands what I mean. She must know what it's like to lose everything. She saw the Capitol bomb a hospital killing hundreds, maybe thousands of injured people, children included. Almost everyone in this room has lost something because of the Capitol. Everyone here knows what it's like. Even if we don't talk that much, we all understand. And I need to be around that at the moment.

I'm starting to feel the guilt of voting for these games. I was just so angry at everyone when I voted. I would have killed all of Panem if it meant that Prim would come back. I voted yes for Prim, but I should have voted no for her. It's what she would have wanted. She just wanted all this violence, this hate, this killing to stop. Now 23 more teenagers will die because of my actions. 13 of them are already dead, including the two I mentored.

I'm not sure if technically I'm allowed to be here because my tributes are dead, but before Ariela Fox died, I had the excuse that my fiancé was stuck in here all day. I don't think Paylor really minds though. They all think, apart from Peeta and Annie, I'm screwed up in the head these days. I probably am. We all are. Peeta is always so gentle and caring though. After the rebellion, I thought I would get with Gale, but I grew to realise that he was full of hatred. I needed peace. I needed Peeta. It seems despite thinking that I would never choose to marry Peeta I am. I guess when I'm not being forced into it by Snow, it's not so bad. I think Peeta deserves better. I told him so but he disagreed. I still think he's wrong, but for some reason he still wants me.

I also talk to Annie a lot these days. People think that she's crazy too. She's not she's broken like me. She was always unhinged after her games and Finnick dying didn't help either. Like I will never get over Prim dying, she will never get over Finnick. I told her it was my fault. She should hate me... but she doesn't. It was my fault that the lizard mutts killed him. I lied and made up some fake mission. She told me it was what Finnick would have wanted: to go out fighting against the Capitol. I guess she's right about that.

Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)

Afternoon of day 14

I sigh in annoyance as the first spots of rain start to fall. There's no point in going out tribute hunting in this weather. They'll all be huddled up in whatever pathetic shelter they've made or found, trying not to get wet. Admittedly, I also want to stay dry too. The nights are cold here so if I get wet I'd be in for some bad nights.

I head back into the cornucopia and pick up some throwing knives and start aiming them and throwing them at the side of the cornucopia as I lean against the opposite wall. The metal of the cornucopia is too strong for the knives to pierce but it gives me something to do and it's all good practise for my next victim. I want to draw my next kill out. I've only made 3 kills, a disappointingly small number considering that there have been 13 deaths.

Jaimie's dead now too. It can't have been my poison that killed her because she would have died earlier but I'm still slightly annoyed. I wanted to kill her myself. I wanted to watch the light fade from her eyes as she begged for death. I wonder who it was who killed her. I want to congratulate them, before killing them of course.

A small bleeping noise distracts my from throwing another knife though. I look outside and see a parachute floating to the ground just outside the cornucopia. Another sponsor. I'm not surprised. Why would people want anyone but me to win? I mean the others are just plain pathetic. I dart out and grab it before coming back in.

The box containing the sponsor gift is a lot larger than the one I got containing the poison. I open it impatiently, but restrain myself from looking at the gift straight away and read the note that Beetee has sent.

Thanatos,

Keep hunting.

~B

Maybe it's a weapon of some sort. I see that my guess is correct when I look inside. There's a bow that has been made to fold down to fit in the box and a quiver made out of some sort of flimsy material and rattling around in the box are 15 sleek arrows. I grin to myself. I have every weapon that I could possibly want now. I had bows before someone set the fire in the cornucopia, but the arrows were damaged and the strings on the bows burnt so they were all useless after the fire.

A bow is good because it can travel further than a spear or throwing knife. It's harder to be seen shooting with one as well. A spear is big and hefty, making it easy to dodge. An arrow is slim and sleek, whistling through the wind with perfect grace and if shot properly, accuracy.

"Thank you." I smile. I will keep up my polite little Than act that I started when I was little for a while. The sponsors seem to like it after all. I wonder who my first victim with my bow shall be.

(The bow and arrows were sponsored by Monstax)

Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)

Evening of day 14

Like last night, it feels weird to be settling down to sleep alone. I liked having the silent company of Arabelle. I miss people. Apart from allying with Arabelle I haven't spoken to, or seen another human for 2 weeks. That's how long I've been in the arena for. It seems like an eternity. I hope these games end soon. There's only 10 of us left now.

Two of the biggest competitors are out as well. Jaimie and Ariela's faces were in the sky last night. They scored the highest and second highest training scores between them. I'm quite surprised at how many of the stronger tributes have died so far. The top three tributes are all dead, leaving me joint third on the highest tribute training score and I only got a 6. Though Kai Baron got a 2 and he's still alive so I guess training score doesn't tell you much. Maybe he did similar to Johanna Mason in her first games. She pretended to be a weakling so no one bothered her and when it got to the final few, she turned out to be a brutal killer.

I nibble on a piece of meat slowly. I didn't manage to find much to eat today so I'm still hungry when I finish, but there's nothing else I can eat. I'll spend tomorrow gathering berries and hunting for meat. Tomorrow I won't go hungry.

I wonder how Frolick and dad are getting on. They're always arguing, but I wonder if they've put that aside now. If I die in the arena, it wouldn't surprise me if Frolick moved out and went to live in one of the districts without dad. Dad'd probably just move to a different district and find work there. I think the only reason Frolick puts up with dad is because of me. He hates him because he was never there for us. It wasn't dad's fault though. He never did anything wrong. Someone framed him.

He received a full pardon from the new government now. Apparently there are a lot of avoxes like that, citizens falsely accused of crimes. There was talk of one point of new technology that connects up with the brain to allow you to think something and it comes up on a screen to be given to all avoxes so that they have a better quality of life. The technology is still expensive to make though so it'll be a few years before dad gets one. If I win though, we'll have enough money to buy it anyway so it won't matter.

Rubyclocks: What's your favourite book?

You can't ask me that. It's like asking someone to choose their favourite child. *Sweats nervously* there's so many though. Um. I love to many. I'm gonna go for 13 reasons why because it probably had the biggest impact on me. If you haven't read it I would seriously advise it and DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WATCH THE NETFLIX SERIES. It's awful. It's literally about some drama queen who commits suicide and blames everyone for it and they throw in a load of random gay characters for no reason whatsoever (not that I have an issue with homosexuality it's the fact that in the book it's not mentioned and it doesn't touch on that topic at all whereas in the TV series it just takes over and ruins one of the stories of the people Hannah blames).