LINDEN ANDERSON- Visenya Lloyd

I didn't understand why he did it. Linden was honest about being in this for himself. My best guess was that he thought we were sure goners and did the best he could with it. I missed him already. No matter how close you try to stay, people come in and out of your life. But there are some that, even after they leave, you never forget.

DONNATELLA BRASSAS-PALASSAQUA- Caio Sagres

My foot throbbed as Elissa wrapped it. I'd started treating it myself, but she was just that kind of person. It took me till near "sundown" to limp back to the Cornucopia. I could only tell because soon after I arrived the Anthem started playing. I'd told Grande and Elissa what happened, but they didn't really know. They didn't know like I did when I saw Donnatella's face on the ceiling and remembered how it had never even been a fight.

Yttria Noxus- District Three female

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready," Jezzebell said.

"Ready," Paloma said.

We stood clustered ten feet from the edge of the water. Jezzebell was shirtless. Why was Jezzebell shirtless? Because her shirt was stuffed full of rocks and whatever we could cobble together and Paloma and I were holding on to its tied-together sleeves. Jezzebell was the tallest, so she had the longest sleeves. Hence her shirt was the chosen sacrifice.

Jezzebell threw three rocks into the water, one after another. We waited a moment and then went into action. Paloma and I threw the stuffed shirt out ahead of us. We started tugging it around like a fly-fisher trying to make his bait more lively. If it hadn't been deadly serious and imminently dangerous, it would have looked pretty ridiculous.

The water roiled and we knew we'd gotten our mark. A tentacle shot out and grabbed the shirt. When it did, I almost dropped the shirt, but I regained my nerve and held on. We tugged back at the shirt as the tentacle tried to yank it in. It was like trying to hold a bull by the nose.

"Go!" we both screamed, but it was obvious. Jezzebell was already picking up the rock we'd set aside. It was the largest she could comfortably lift, and it was barely comfortable. She strained and pick up the rock. When she had it on her hip, she hobble-ran forward as far as she dared. She lifted the rock as high as she could and slammed it down onto the tentacle. Fluid spurted from the tentacle as the rock flattened and easily crushed through it. Its remaining length drew back into the water, leaving us with the three or so feet of stub and the part wrapped around the shirt.

Jezzebell shuddered as she put her slimy shirt back on. "Fits like a dream," she said of the stretched-out shirt that exposed half her bra with its loosened neck.

None of us had eaten in days. This had been the last day we felt we'd still be strong enough to try. The limp length of dark tentacle on the ground was the most delicious-looking thing I'd ever seen.

"They pay extra for this in the Capitol, don't they?" Paloma said. She picked up the floppy noodle. "For it not to be cooked."

Visenya Lloyd- District Nine female

I clutched my stomach and reeled. How long had it been since I last ate? How long had we even been in here? It didn't seem like more than a week, but I'd lost track somewhere along the way. Time didn't matter here anyway.

There was nothing to eat. Nothing. Not wildlife, not plants, not Capitol caches. The only thing I could do was go back to the Cornucopia and try to find a way to steal some from the Careers. They were probably out hunting a lot now, trying to wipe up the few of us left so they could fight it out between themselves. And in our condition they would be able to.

The sound of jingling chimes made me jump up and start crying all at once. I looked at the ceiling and a shower of dust rained onto me. A parachute appeared out of the drilled hole. I grabbed it and tore the package open.

Please be food food food food food

It was a hearing aid. A little plastic nub I only recognized from the earpieces Peacekeepers sometimes wore. I hung my head and cried for a few minutes before I brokenheartedly tried it on.

The cave came alive. The little patch of light from my flashlight paled compared to the information I could now hear. I heard water trickling and the sound of air moving through the tunnel. My own breathing sounded weirdly heavy. I would be the only one who heard the Careers before they heard us.

As I fiddled with the earpiece, my fingers came across a tiny button. I pressed it.

"Love comes when it comes," Linden's voice said.

I almost tore the earpiece out in shock. But even this far into the Games, I stopped myself and remembered to play the part. When I thought about it, something like this couldn't have come from Nine. We couldn't afford a gift of this price. Linden's family was wealthy. I guess we must have convinced them.

"Thank you," I said to the ceiling. I let them think the tears in my eyes were gratitude and love and not starvation and disappointment.

I stuck close to the wall as I crept back towards the Cornucopia. With my newly augmented hearing, I didn't have to be as afraid. I wasn't fooling myself that I could sneak up on the Careers, but now they couldn't sneak up on me. It seemed like the way to the Cornucopia, anyway. All the tunnels looked the same. I saw another corridor branching sideways off mine and stopped to look down it. A bunch of rocks were strewn at the bottom, but there was enough room to go through. It was only a short tunnel, so I took a look.

At the end of the tunnel there was a huge cavern with a lake in the middle. Far more important were the three Tributes sitting in a circle and talking. It was hard to remember all the Tributes we'd started out with, but I could recall four girls who allied. The tall one was from Seven, Paloma was from Ten, and the other girl was from either Five or Three. I always got those two mixed up. They obviously had food. If they didn't after this much time, they would be looking for it. Or lying on the ground dying.

This late in the Games, they wouldn't take one another ally. I would be at best another mouth to feed. I couldn't go up to them and ask. I would have to take. I couldn't fight all three of them. At some point, they'd go to sleep. They'd leave someone on watch. Then I'd go in and do what I had to do.