Walcott Patel- District Three female

Fleur was rubbing her stomach in a gesture that made me wince in feminine sympathy.

"They give us something in the Capitol, right? Along with that thing they did so we wouldn't grow leg hair?"

"They better. It's the least they can do," I said. Imagine being in the Arena and hating life while also having internal bleeding and hating life.

"I think mine went wrong," Fleur said. "I'm not bleeding- TMI, sorry- but my stomach hurts."

"I mean... you're not pregnant, I guess," I offered.

"Silver lining to everything," Fleur said sarcastically. "It's not really that bad, though." She ran her hands through her hair. "Actually I think it might be a vitamin deficiency or something. Some of my hair is coming out."

I muttered a noncommittal answer. I didn't want to say it but I didn't feel anything at all. I ran a finger casually through my hair while Fleur wasn't looking at came out with nothing but a bare finger. If it was a vitamin deficiency wouldn't we both be feeling it? Maybe it was just her period.

"Does vinegar have vitamin C?" Fleur asked as she rifled through the shelves.

"I bet apple cider vinegar does," I said. Apples are fruit. Fruit has vitamin C...

"Here we go," Fleur said, setting a gallon jar of vinegar down on the cement floor with a thud.

"Oh, it actually has nutritional information," I said, pointing at the panel.

"Yeah, of course," Fleur said, giving me a mild "duh" look.

"What? I thought cleaning vinegar and baking vinegar were different," I said.

"It's just vinegar. Like, it's one thing. That's like asking about different kinds of salt. It's sodium and it's chloride. That's all there is," Fleur said.

"Well can you drink it?" I asked as Fleur read the nutritional values.

"It would be really gross, but it's technically food," Fleur said. She wrinkled her nose. "No vitamin C."

"Try apple cider vinegar," I said. We hunted around until we found another gallon jar.

"'Vitamin C: 0%'," Fleur read off. She set the jug down with disgust.

"Nuts," I said. "Guess it's for making apple cider, not made of apple cider."

The beautiful sound of a sponsor gift made us both look up. A parachute floated gracefully to the floor atop a box molded to look like one of those metal dome things chefs hide food under. The 3 embossed into the metal indicated who it was meant for. We shared all our stuff anyway but it meant I got to open it.

"Ooh, I hope it's fruit," Fleur said as she sat across from me bent over the box. It was a little ungrateful of me but my first thought was to hope it wasn't grapefruit. They had a lot of vitamin C but they were just so gross. I'd never seen someone who wasn't super old eat a grapefruit.

It wasn't grapefruit. It also wasn't oranges, lemons, or limes, any of which I would have been happy for. I was happy about it but it wasn't what we had been hoping for. It was a steak. A lovely grilled steak that smelled delicious and was big enough for both of us. It would definitely fill us up. It just wasn't much good for vitamins. Fleur folded her arms and look at me with a long-suffering expression.

"This is because of your vampires."

Lacey Weaver- District Eight female (18)

Everything was so quiet. For the last three days since Jacquard died I hadn't said a word. I couldn't even talk to myself to keep from going crazy since I was afraid it would bring the Careers to me. Jacquard and I shouldn't have talked while he was alive either but it's just human nature. Piece by piece the Arena took away our natures. Some people would say people were naturally savages and the Arena just brought it out but I didn't believe that. Panem was bad and that meant people could be horrible but Panem got built in the first place. That meant people worked together and thought about the generations after them.

It was ghoulish how I kept going to the same vending machine Jacquard died in front of. I was hoping Arroyo would think no one would be dumb enough to go somewhere he'd just been and so far I was right. But as I peeked around the corner to the nook where the vending machine was at I saw someone else entirely. Alysanne was standing with her back to me as she picked items from the machine. I ducked behind the corner just as her head whipped around at my movement in her peripherals.

If I run I'll expose my back, I thought as I took a step back. Immediately I realized it didn't matter. Alysanne could kill my front just as much. In the split second of indecision Alysanne's head appeared around the corner five feet away from me.

"You want some cookies?" she said cautiously. But not cautious like she was afraid of me. Cautious like she was trying not to scare me away.

I hesitated. It was just so outlandish I was inclined to believe it. Alysanne was way stronger and faster than me and didn't have to try to trick me into coming closer.

"The Careers split up. Obviously," Alysanne said. "It wasn't me though. I saw you walking around yesterday and thought you might be more willing to ally if I brought food," Alysanne said.

She wants to ally? Really I should have been thinking about how close I was to a very dangerous competitor but in the Games sometimes you had to take risks. And it was just so nice to be talking to a real person again that I wanted to believe her. And in the end if she was lying there wasn't much I could do to get away.

"I would have done it for free to be honest," I said. Alysanne's face lit up in such a genuine smile I had to smile back. She handed me a pack of cookies and it felt like a third grade friendship bracelet exchange. I was right. People can be good.

Edward Matthews- District Five male (18)

My heart thumped as I paced back and forth in the generic office room Flint and I had barricaded ourselves into. I felt like I could run a thousand miles and be ready for more.

"That was so awesome! Did you see that? I just kicked her right off the edge! I didn't even think about it! It just happened and was so awesome!"

Flint smiled along with me as he examined the spear he'd gotten from Arroyo. "I can't even believe it," he agreed.

"I just want to get out there and fight more. I mean I don't really but I do kind of want to," I said. Flint was being very nonchalant about all this. I couldn't believe he was just sitting there doing nothing.

"Yeah, adrenaline will do that," he said.

Oh. Right. That would explain the racing heart and the feeling like I'd shot up cocaine. And Flint, with his history in gang stuff, would be used to it. That's really depressing when you think about it...

"Oh. This happened to you a lot, didn't it?" I asked.

Flint shrugged. "I mean, I wasn't a hit man or anything. But I've seen a few people die." He looked out the window like it had happened just yesterday to someone he deeply cared about. Or maybe he just cared about all of them- friend or foe, whether he was the witness or the perpetrator. "If you get yourself into this life you can't be mad if someone kills you. But I don't like it when it happens."

"I don't think I'll like it either in a few minutes," I said. Even talking to Flint was enough to get rid of some of the high. My heartbeat was slower and I could feel my breaths getting deeper and more even. When I thought about it again I was kind of sad about Quarla. I didn't feel guilty. She started it and she volunteered in the first place. I was just trying to stay alive and had nothing to feel guilty about. But I did feel kind of bad for her. She must have had a really hard life and someone so desperate for something, whether it's fame or approval or a new face, must really be hurting. And I couldn't imagine falling from a building this high. Just thinking about it made my stomach drop.

"It wasn't your fault. And now we're closer to the end," Flint said, sounding much more like the pragmatic soldier I'd first thought he was. He held up the spear. "And we have this. Arroyo had another one strapped to his back but at least now we're even."

"And they're not a pack anymore," I said. Alysanne had cut her losses and run. I would have done the same thing.

"But we are," Flint said. And as far as I was concerned we would be for as long as possible. On the logical side I just didn't want Flint as my enemy, but it wasn't even about that. I didn't think Flint would come for me if I did leave. He'd kill me if he had to, sure, but he wouldn't come for vengeance. Mostly I wanted to stay with him because I liked him. We were stronger together and at this point the odds were that one of the two of us would win. More likely him, but I would take what I could get.

Well well well, no deaths again. Also since I realized I wrote Flint got Arroyo's spear and then after that I wrote that Arroyo had a spear, I had to cover my own plot hole by saying he had a smaller telescoping spear strapped to his back. GENIUS