I know's it has been a long while, but this month's been insane!

"How do you feel?" Chelsea stirred at the dying embers of their campfire, as Glaze stood to his feet.

"I'm great, but I don't think these pain meds are going to help Grel much longer." His gaze shifted to Grel, who was curled up, his breathing short and quick. He hadn't moved for several hours.

"I wish we could pull that dart out of him." Radiance rubbed at her eyes, "It's just so awful, and it doesn't seem fair."

Glaze brushed a hand through his hair, "I don't like being in these woods. I think we should get ready to leave and go somewhere else."

"Are we going back to base?" Chelsea leaned back on the balls of her feet, "We don't have any food here, and I for one, am famished."

Glaze sighed, "I know. But I can't see any more tributes heading back towards us, we can't just wait for them, and I bet they've scattered down from here. So we should move our base to be able to get to them faster, and without using up our energy."

The girls nodded in agreement, while Radiance whispered, "I don't think Grel's going to be around much longer, I mean, his fever's high, and he can't walk."

"At least he's not in pain." Chelsea replied, "I'm glad for that."

Radiance sent her a quick smile before asking, "You want to see if we can find that arrow I shot last night? I can help if you need me to."

Chelsea jumped to her feet, "Nope, I'm pretty sure I know where it is, I'll go get it."

While she moved away, Radiance spoke quietly to Glaze, "Even though he's not in pain, he's still suffering."

"I think he's actually unconscious. So kind of hard to suffer."

Radiance lowered her voice, "We should just, you know, I hate doing it, but, he's not going to make it."

Glaze couldn't meet her gaze, "I can't believe you're saying this. I mean that anyone I know would suggest we do that."

"He's not even," Radiance chewed her lip, "I don't mean to sound cold, or cruel." How could she explain? She needed to look tough, not killing Adam had kind of ruined her reputation, and she couldn't imagine anyone placing bets on her now. And she definitely wasn't giving up on her plans to win.

Chelsea wandered back over, picking up her bow before coming to stand beside the two of them.
"So what's the plan? Who's going to stay with Grel and what should the rest of us do?"

"I'll stay, you two girls head back and grab anything you think we need." He pulled a whistle from his pocket, "Play this of you run into trouble. It's loud and I should be able to hear it."

Radiance grabbed her sword, sticking an extra knife into her boot. She tried to make eye contact with Glaze, attempting to determine what he was going to do about Grel, but he seemed to refuse to look her way.


Philadelphia set Pixelle to the ground, swiping sweat from his forehead. "I think we've gotten away, we just need to stay here on these higher hills."

Pixelle looked back, noticing how much land had disappeared. It was only natural to realize how much closer they were to the actual mountain. She began to tremble, realizing what they had just done.

"I wish we could have gotten killed by that water, the Careers are going to kill us now!"

Delphi leaned down, patting her head, "I'm not going to let them kill you, and you are going to be alright."

She pushed away from him, "You didn't stop them from killing Teddy! They'll kill you and, and cut me up, and," It was too easy to remember the terrible things she has seen the careers do on TV.

Philadelphia tried to calm her down, but she continued to push her away, angry that he had brought her here. She dropped to the grass, burying her face in the soft feel. He placed a hand on her back, hoping to calm her hysteria.


She felt the cold touch her cheeks, and she nestled into the blanket, trying to reach her pillow. But the pillow was out of her reach, and she sat up, surprised with how sore she was.

She squinted her eyes, "Why am I outside?" Stella glanced around, noticing a guy lying a few feet away.

He stirred at the sound of her voice, rubbing his eyes as he looked at her. "Hey, are you okay?"

She frowned, "Who are you?"

"I'm Adam, from Five. I think you were attacked last night. Are you feeling alright?"

She stretched, surprised by the pain in her back and head. "What am I doing here? And you're from Five? Where's my Mom? Why am I not in my home?"

He stared at her, and Stella grew frustrated by the blank look on his face. "What are we doing lying in the middle of these," she glanced around, trying to figure out where exactly they were.

"Look, you were hurt last night, I found you just laying here."

Her cheeks turned red at his obtuse answer. "I can't just be here! What's wrong with you?" She attempted to stand up, but cried out at the pain in her foot. "What have you done to me, I'm all hurting everywhere, and I can't even walk!"

Adam attempted to figure out why she was so confused, "What do you remember last?"

She stared at him, her lips pursed, "Mom said we're going shopping today for a reaping outfit."

"So, the reaping hasn't happened yet?" Adam pressed her, while she stared at him as though he were crazy.

"Of course not, it's tomorrow. Whoever you are, I'm going to be late for it because of you."


Maureen had hoped the parachute would show up during the night. But it hadn't. Maybe Raquel had been busy, or the sponsors had been slow. Whatever it was, she needed something to ease these cuts. Her hands grew tense as she heard voices behind her. And about the time she heard whoever it was, the high whistle of a parachute.

One of the voices spoke, "Hey, I think that was a parachute."

Maureen felt her teeth grind, that was her package! She twisted her head to see a brown haired girl, a bow slung over her back. She really didn't care about that weapon, a bow couldn't help her out in hand to hand contact. And hand to hand was what she needed to get her parachute.

The other girl spoke, the one Maureen couldn't see. "Let's check it out, but I'm guessing it's not for us."

Chelsea easily found the silver parachute in the rich brown earth. She held it up, unscrewing the cap. "It's medicine," she met Radiance's eyes, "Not for us, there's another tribute around here."

Duh, yeah. Maureen thought to herself. She gripped her knife, the pain of her cuts pushing her to risk it all for that medicine.

"Well, it's ours now." Radiance fingered her sword, "Come on, and let's get out of here."

Maureen jumped out, grabbing Chelsea's ponytail. "It's mine," her raucous screams seemed to echo, as she dragged the startled Chelsea to the ground. "Give it to me!" She raked her knife across Chelsea's back, her teeth biting into her shoulder.

Radiance tried to pull her off, yelling at her to stop. She didn't want to accidently hurt Chelsea if she struck this insane attacker. She grabbed Maureen's neck, trying to choke her to stop.

Maureen kicked, trying to get this girls hands off of her, she swung with her knife stabbing Chelsea in the head, before her lack of air supply made her knees buckle. She felt herself on the ground, a knife at her throat.

Blue eyes glared into her own, "Who cut you up? Why didn't they finish the job?" The knife pressed harder.

"Go ahead and kill me." Maureen spat, trying to push against the heavier girl. It wasn't fair that this girl was so much stronger, that she hadn't had to starve in the Seam all her life.

Radiance's voice hardened, "Why should I end your suffering? You just hurt my friend, I should cut off all your toes, and then your fingers, maybe your ears." The frightened look in the girl's eyes convinced her that she actually believed her.

"Look," Maureen struggled to speak, "I was just trying to get the medicine, that girl from six cut me up."
Radiance's eyes narrowed, "Did you kill her?"

"No," Maureen attempted to shift, but Radiance's body weight continued to hold her down. "But I got her boyfriend, she went down the hill. Just a little bit from here."

A small smile touched Radiance's face, "Well, that's nice to know. You know, I never did care for that girl either." She forced herself to do what she had to do, ignoring the panicked look in the girl's eyes. "Cutting you up at least made my job easier."

It wasn't too hard to push against the girl's throat, swipe and look away when the blood gushed. She turned, slightly dazed back to Chelsea, hardly registering the cannon's sound.

Chelsea looked pretty banged up, and Radiance crouched by her side, biting back tears. "You okay?" She brushed her fingertips along Chelsea's cheeks, while Chelsea managed a weak smile.

"At least she didn't get her," But Chelsea couldn't continue, as she dissolved into a fit of coughing. She shook her head, "I'm sorry, but she got me in the back."

Radiance's eyebrows knit in slight confusion, "We can bandage you up, and you're going to be fine."

Chelsea shook her head, "No," she spoke hardly above a whisper, "It got my lung, I'm coughing up blood."

Radiance felt bile rise in her throat, her fingers shook, as she nearly tore at her hair. "No, Chelsea, I just can't believe that."

Chelsea gave her a sad smile, but couldn't speak as her body struggled for breath. Radiance clutched her, crying as the cannon sounded a short time later.


Glaze heard the two cannons, he felt himself fretting for his allies. Were they hurt? Had they killed off some of the competition? He glanced towards Grel, weighing Radiance's words. Had she really meant for him to just kill their ally. Yeah, he wasn't going to make it home. But Glaze didn't want to be the one responsible for an ally's death.

Ok, that was a hard chapter to write. But it kind of had to happen, :-(

1) What do you think of Stella's memory loss?

2) Predictions on the Careers next move?

I started a story blog, it's on my profile. I put the mentors all on there, as well as the imprtant characters from the Capitol. Hopefully that will help sort out any confusion!

You can send in a pic of your tribute for the blog. I'll post them as soon as I can. Just PM me any faceclaims.

And, I'll be uploading the form for the sequel SYOT to my profile as well. Since I'm announcing it ahead of time, I hope to get as many submissions as possible from you guys!