"Happiness comes when everything numbs."
-Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy, "Heathers"

Brian Spencer (18) POV

District 6 male

Each day in the arena has been worse than the last. Edison is still sleeping since he took the first watch last night, and I have to fight the urge to wake him up to search for water. He let me have my full five hours of sleep, it's only fair for me to give him the same.

I'm honestly regretting teaming up with Edison. I picked him because he seemed smart, and intelligence can definitely come in handy in the Hunger Games. But other than teaching me to climb a tree to find water, he hasn't done much to help me. We've been arguing constantly, and everything he does gets on my nerves. Not to mention how condescending and full of himself he is. Meanwhile, who protected him at the bloodbath? Who covered for him so he could run in and grab a backpack? Who hauled him out of the Cornucopia before he could meet the same end as Cyno? Me, me, and me.

As much as I wish I hadn't made him my ally, it's too late now. I suppose I could kill him, but I'm trying to maintain at least some sense of morals in the Games despite everything, and killing someone who trusts me while he sleeps just wouldn't be right.

Even if almost half of the other tributes are already dead.

Besides it being morally wrong, killing my only ally would ruin my chances at sponsors. The Capitol seems like it when the strong Career tributes kill each other, but I get the feeling that the nerdy guy from District 6 killing the even nerdier child from District 7 in cold blood wouldn't be as well received.

Although, it's seeming less and less likely that we have sponsors at all. If there was anyone looking out for us, would they let us dehydrate like this?

I knew yesterday was going to be rough, but I honestly thought that we would find water. Well, we did find water. It was just really far away. I want to climb another three to try to guess how close we are, but I'm afraid to be above ground given hw dehydrated I am, especially since Edison isn't awake to spot me. I'll do it once he wakes up.

After what seems like an eternity, the sun is at a position in the sky that I estimate to be about 7:00 am, so I wake Edison up.

"I'm gonna climb that tree," I tell him. "Can you spot me?"

"Yes," he says. "Don't climb too high. You'll only get dizzier the higher up in elevation you get, and falling out of trees is not fun."

"Noted."

I climb up as high as I feel I safely can, and carefully make my way out the branch away from the thickest clump of leaves. The water is close! By my estimate, we'll be there in less than a half hour. It makes me wish we had just kept going last night, but we both agreed that using our flashlight at night was a risk that wasn't worth taking, so we made camp as soon as the sun went completely down around 9:00.

I climb down the tree carefully, almost losing my footing several times, but ultimately, I make it to the ground safely. I hoist my bag onto my shoulders, and it feels infinitely heavier than it did last night.

"Come on," I say, already walking. "It's barely a mile away."

We take the mile slowly, since we're weak and thirsty, but we get there within a half hour. I've never been happier to see anything than I am to see the small stream that sits before us. Edison immediately drops his bag on the ground and runs for the water, cupping it in his hands and raising it to his mouth.

"Stop!" I shout, before I remember that loud voices attract Career tributes. I continue quieter. "We need to purify it. You could get dysentery or cholera."

Edison looks at me with pain in his eyes before sighing and letting the water drip out of his hands. I pull the water bottle and iodine out of my bag, fill up the bottle, and add in the iodine.

"We just have to wait thirty minutes," I say, trying to keep calm for both my sake and his. "Thirty minutes, and then we can drink. We already waited three days, we can wait another half hour."

I swear if there was any water in Edison's system, his eyes would be filling with tears. Instead, he just weakly nods and sits with his elbows on his knees. Some time passes, and he looks at me.

"Has it been a half hour?" he asks, his voice smaller than I've ever heard him. It makes me remember that no matter what I think of him, and no matter what's going on right now, he's just a kid. He's a scared twelve year old kid who's fighting for his life.

"Let's risk it," I say, unscrewing the bottle. "Drink half, then give the rest to me. We'll purify more right after."

Clio Paxton (17) POV

District 5 female

Things have been too quiet for me so far. Since watching Alayne die, I ate less than half of my bread and cheese before finding a tree full of hazelnuts. I remember from training that hazelnuts don't have to be cooked before eating, so I ate until I was full and stuffed my pockets. Later that day, I found a stream of water, so I took the cheese out of its box and wrapped it up in the plastic with the bread, filled the empty box with water, and purified it. I also found a long, slim, and sturdy branch from a tree on the ground that I've been using intermittently as a walking stick.

I'm grateful for the food, water, and peace, but things have been way too quiet. When tributes go a long time without seeing other tributes, the viewers in the Capitol get bored, and that's when the Gamemakers intervene. If something exciting doesn't happen to me soon, there's almost definitely a natural disaster in my future. Although, if the Gamemakers create it, is it really considered natural?

In the meantime, I'm feeling hollow in my stomach. I'm definitely lucky to have the bread, cheese, and nuts, but I need more satiating food if I want to last. I know that what I really need is meat, but how can I catch an animal if my only weapon is a knife? Feeling somewhat defeated, I sit propped up against a tree trunk and twirl my one knife in my hands. This knife is my lifeline. In a hand to hand fight with a tribute, a dagger like this would be a blessing. But I'm never going to get close enough to a wild animal to kill it by stabbing it, and my aim isn't good enough to kill an animal by throwing a knife.

I take in my surroundings, and my walking stick catches my eye. I have a quick vision of trying to beat a squirrel to death with a stick, and the thought is so absurd that it almost makes me laugh.

Wait.

The idea overtaking me, I take my knife to the end of my walking stick, sharpening the end until it comes to a fine point. It's definitely not a good spear, or even a spear at all. In truth, it really is just a pointy stick. It still wouldn't do any good against a squirrel, because I wouldn't be able to get close enough to it, or aim accurately enough. But maybe a different species of animal would be more trusting. More willing to get close to me.

I take off my shoes and stockings, shoving the stockings into my backpack, and wade into the water with bare feet. I stand with the stick raised over the water, waiting for a fish big enough for me to eat. Finally, I see one coming, and with surface tension and refraction in mind, I forcefully bring the stick down and pierce it through the middle. I bring it up, and yes! I have meat! As much as fish is better when cooked, I don't want to light a fire, so I suck it up and eat it raw after cleaning and gutting it as best as I can.

Now that I've had meat, things are definitely going too well for me. With an impending sense of doom, I put my shoes back on and continue walking through the arena, not wanting to stay in one place for too long.

Calico Jones (16) POV

District 8 female

I'm officially horrible at planning.

I've already eaten not only all of my strawberries, but all six granola bars, too, and I haven't left my cave, not even for water. The strawberries have kept me from getting too dehydrated, but at this point, I'm feeling pretty thirsty, and my stomach is growling. I need to find food today, not because I'm particularly interested in winning this thing, but because dying of starvation or dehydration doesn't really mesh well with my plan to die peacefully.

So, for the first time since landing in my little corner of the arena, I pack up my bag and set out to look for some plants. I'm grateful that I was able to score a bag from the bloodbath, but I feel so exposed without having a knife or something to protect myself. Regardless, I know I need food. If my wandering around the trees doesn't give me away to other tributes eventually, my loud growling stomach definitely will.

After a couple minutes of walking around, I realize I have no idea what I'm looking for. I did spend a bit of time at the edible plants station at training, but truth be told, I didn't pay too much attention. I do remember, though, that a lot of berries are poisonous, and since District 8 isn't exactly known for its plantlife, I decide to just avoid berries all together. There's other plants that aren't berries that are edible, right? Fruits on trees, or root vegetables or something?

Or mushrooms! I spot a clump of bright red mushrooms with white spots at the base of a tree and go right for them. They look like something right out of a children's book, so they've got to be safe. Why would they illustrate poison mushrooms into a children's book? They wouldn't. I dig up as many of the mushrooms as I can, lean against the tree, and start eating. Almost immediately, my stomach starts to feel full, and I'm grateful.

I let the food settle for a couple of minutes, and when no adverse reaction presents itself, I begin my walk back to my cave with a new spring in my step. I make it back in about fifteen minutes, spread out my blanket exactly the way it was, and lay down for a nap.

"Calico?"

My eyes open immediately and I look around the cave. Who said that?

"Calico, come and find me!"

I need to find her. Who is that? I don't know who that is, but she needs me. She needs me to help her. I need to help her. I get up and dart out of my cave, leaving all of my supplies behind. Supplies aren't important.

"Where are you?" I ask, running through the woods. "Who are you?"

The voice distorts into something metallic and masculine. The sound of it immediately sends chills running down my entire body. My mouth goes dry.

"Turn around."

Out of nowhere, I throw up everything in my stomach. I take several deep, shuddering breaths, placing my hands on my knees to steady myself.

"You're going to die, Calico."

"It was always going to happen like this, Calico."

"Did you ever really think you were going to live?"

My vision goes cloudy, and my eyes fill with hot tears. Before I know it, I'm somehow up in a tree, staring down at myself. Every movement of my head sends the ground spinning beneath me.

"Go away!" I shout. "Leave me alone!"

"Run."

I obey. I shut my eyes to keep my distorted vision from messing with my movement and run as fast as I can. Truth be told, I'm not sure I'm actually running. I don't know what's real and what's not. I just know that I need to keep moving. Some primal instinct deep within me is telling me to keep going. I need water.

I trip and hit my head. I don't know what I tripped over or what I hit my head on, but when I touch my fingers to my forehead, it's sunken in and slick with blood. I inhale sharply and my heart skips a beat. I risk opening my eyes and my vision fills with blood. I start hyperventilating, and try to steady myself by leaning against a tree trunk, but it's no use. The tears that had been welling up in my eyes finally spill down my cheeks.

"That's it, Calico," the voice says, soothing and gentle this time. "Just let go."

I feel a faint smile cross my lips as I close my eyes and allow my consciousness to dissolve into nothing.

Rowan Griffey (16) POV

District 10 male

A cannon sounds, and I realize immediately that Tessa and I are in the final twelve. Half of the tributes that we came in with are dead. Less people still have to die than have already died.

Half of the reason I became allies with Tessa in the first place was because I thought she would bring in sponsors, but we haven't gotten anything yet. It's not a huge deal- we have food, water, weapons, and a blanket- but some real food would be nice. Our strawberries ran out yesterday, along with the popcorn. We still have a couple of apples and granola bars left, and Tessa has been good at collecting edible berries and nuts, but my mouth waters at the thought of the rich food from the Capitol. Duck roasted in honey and garlic, bacon wrapped shrimp, lamb kebabs rubbed with warm spices…

"I need meat," I say, snapping myself out of my thoughts. "We need to find some meat."

"How do you-"

"We can go fishing," I say. "It can't be that hard to just grab a fish out of water. But Tessa, I'm from District 10. I'm used to eating meat three times a day."

"I'm not even used to eating three times a day," Tessa mutters. "But if getting some meat right now is that important to you, then I'll support you. Let's go fishing."

She stands up on her tiptoes and gives me a quick kiss, but again, I feel nothing. It's disappointing, honestly. I was hoping that all this time, I really did like girls, and maybe Tessa could convince me, but it just isn't working. And if I can't make myself be attracted to Tessa, there's very little chance I could ever like a different girl. I might not play for that team, but even an idiot couldn't say that Tessa wasn't objectively attractive.

We take the short walk from our little camp to the creek, take off our shoes and socks, and wade into the water that comes up just below our knees. There are a bunch of small circular fish just a couple inches in diameter, but Tessa and I agree that the effort that it would take to clean and gut fish that small wouldn't be worth the amount of meat we'd get from them, and we decide to wait for some bigger ones to come by.

When we're in the water just long enough for my toes to get pruny, I'm about to give up. Then out of nowhere, an entire school of fish about the length of my forearm start to swim downstream towards us. They start to slow down when they reach our knees, allowing Tessa and I to swiftly reach down and pull a fish up by the tail. I'm ecstatic! Fish definitely isn't my preferred meat, but we finally have real food.

"Ow! Son of a bitch!" Tessa exclaims, throwing her fish back into the water. Before I have time to react, the fish I'm holding bends through the middle and sinks its razor sharp teeth into my bicep, immediately sending a strong and steady stream of blood running down my arm. I look over at Tessa, who was bitten on the back of the knee, and the realization hits me.

"Piranhas!" I say, scrambling to get out of the water.

Piranhas are scary enough as it is, but since we're in the Hunger Games, I'm sure the Gamemakers have done something to make them even worse. However it is that they've altered these piranhas to make them scarier, I don't want to know. I waste no time getting out of the water. Before I know it, I'm safely back up on dry land, but Tessa isn't so lucky. The fish must have gotten her feet badly, because she's fallen to the ground, kicking her feet and screaming her head off.

"Rowan!" she shouts. "Help me! Help! Please!"

Shit. I'm supposed to be in love with her. I take a deep breath and head back into the water. Immediately, the fish go crazy, biting my feet and ankles. Every bite sends excruciating pain up my legs, weakening my knees and making every step painful. It takes everything in me not to fall on my ass in the water.

Do not fall down, I tell myself. Do not fall down, or your head will go under, and they will keep you there. You will not drown in a foot and a half of water.

"Tessa, you need to stand up!" I say.

"I can't!" she says, kicking her legs even harder. Since she fell down, more of her body has been exposed to the piranha bites. I can't imagine the pain she's in.

I hobble over to her as best as I can, trying to ignore the pain in my legs, and kicking fish out of my way as I go. When I get close enough to her to touch, I hold out both of my hands to her.

"You need to stand up," I repeat. "Take my hands."

She grabs hold of my hands, and the weight of helping her up almost pulls me down. Almost. After a couple seconds of agony, she's back up on her feet, and I guide her out of the water and back into the grass. Once it's clear that the fish won't come out of the water, we allow ourselves to relax.

"You saved me," she says, panting.

"You would have done the same for me," I reply.

And while I know that she really would have saved me if she had to, I get the feeling that her motivation for doing it would have been a lot more genuine than mine was.

Dustin Zigmund (18) POV

District 4 male

Alecto and Penny left camp a couple of hours ago to go hunting, so as the sun begins to set, the only people here besides myself are Julius and Topher, playing with a deck of cards they found in the Cornucopia, and Terry, who I'm trying to brush up on sword fighting skills with. There was a cannon earlier, and I can't help but wonder if it was Alecto or Penny who made the kill. My money's on Alecto, but I know Penny would be irritated if she went another day without a kill.

"Your grip is a little off," I tell Terry, adjusting her fingers. "Does that feel better?"

"Yeah," she says, giving the handle a squeeze. "Can we try that disarming thing again?"

"For sure," I say. I hold my sword up against my chest, as if defending myself, and I allow Terry to take several steps towards me, press her blade against mine, and shakily twist it until my sword falls out of my hand. "Pretty good! We just need to work on your confidence. If you had been quicker and more sure of yourself, that would have gone a lot smoother."

We decide to take a quick break, and move to wear Topher and Julius are playing cards. We watch them while snacking on chocolate chip granola bars from a crate in the Cornucopia.

"I can't wait to see my girlfriend again," Topher says, placing a card down. "I didn't think I'd miss her so much so soon."

"Yeah, I know how you feel," Julius says. "I miss my boyfriend, too. I'll let your girlfriend know that you were looking forward to seeing her after I win."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Topher asks, furrowing his brow. I look over at Terry, who widens her eyes.

"You know, only one of us can win," Julius says nonchalantly.

"Yeah, and it's gonna be me," Topher says, raising his voice. "I can prove it to you now, if you want."

"Is that a threat, two?" Julius says, rising to his feet. Before things can escalate any further, I stand up and put myself between the two of them.

"Why don't we calm down," I say. "I don't think the girls would appreciate it if they got back from hunting and one of you was already dead."

As if on cue, Penny and Alecto emerge from behind the Cornucopia, looking defeated. The sun is almost completely down by now, and it's sending spooky shadows around their faces.

"Nothing," Penny says, dropping her spear to the ground. "We heard the cannon while we were out, but it wasn't us. Was it you?"

"I wish," Topher says. "Who do you think it was?"

"Hard to say," Julius says. "I guess we'll find out in a couple minutes."

We get our sleeping bags and tents set up for the night while we still have some sunlight left. Once we're set up, we sit quietly and wait for dark to hear the anthem. Once it's completely dark, the sky lights up with the seal of Panem, followed by the neutral face of the girl from District 8. I don't remember much of her, but her death makes two things certain.

Firstly, half of the tributes are dead at the end of the third day.

Secondly, there's someone out there besides the six of us who's willing to kill.

13th: Calico Jones, District 8 female, killed by poisonous mushrooms.

I've been wanting to get this chapter out for days now, but I just could not find the time to write. But better late than never! I'm just going to stick with the same questions for this chapter, so:

1. Who are you rooting for?

2. Who do you think will die next?

Also! Caleb, or IVolunteerAsAuthor, just opened a new SYOT after finishing his last one in less than a month. It's called Project Rebirth, and it's an all-stars Games. So if you're into that, you should definitely check it out and submit an old tribute of yours that you want to give a second chance.

I'm excited to finish this story. Every single chapter for the rest of the Games will be a doozy. Remember to vote on the poll on my profile if you haven't already!