Thank you so much to everyone who has read this far! Chapter 40! Tell me what you think in the comments, and enjoy!

Chapter 40- Silver Bellcreek

Dawn breaks over the arena and finds me and Violet still in the tree. I feel out of place at first, then I remember that I broke the alliance last night. And Curia is going to kill me. Terror washes over me and I start to rock again. Day 4. Day 4. So many dead, deaddeaddeaddead.

Violet interrupts the onslaught of gory imagery. "We'd best be careful. I think your old allies are going to be hunting us today." "I-I think you're right." Unexpectedly Shine and Glints' faces flash by in my mind- my poor siblings. They must be worried sick. And Flaire too. My mother and father. I can't give in. I chose to be here, after all.

"We ought to stay in the trees, do you agree?" Violet interrupts again. I nod. "But we need water, Silver." "Maybe we should chance it. It's still early. Maybe they won't be looking for us yet." Violet cocks her head and her blue eyes seem to shine in the early light. "You spent three days with them, Silver. Will they wait to kill you now?"

No. No they won't. Curia will hunt me down and kill me with one slash of her knife, and it will be me on the ground, me covered in blood, my blood, dying, dead deaddeaddead….

"Silver." What's the matter with me? I can't be in this arena another day longer. I don't want to die, I don't want to, I want to go home, let me go home!

"Silver! We should move. Before they catch us." I nod again and gather my things up. She shows me how to crawl from one tree to the other. "I've had lots of practice," she explains. "I've been watching the pack since the Games started. I had to be careful."

Now that it's daylight I can get my first good look at Violet. She's quite ethereal, like a fairy. Her long red hair has become very tangled in the four days since we arrived here. And her blue eyes are the largest I've ever seen. I like Violet, so much more than my previous allies.

But I fear for her.

"Shh!" she says suddenly, her blue eyes in alarm. Just our luck. Creeping past below is the boy from 9. But he's in rough shape; a black eye and slashes up and down his arms. And he limps. He's still strong though, and I'm scared of him. I suppose he was Beade's district partner.

The branch under me isn't strong enough and it cracks; the boy's head whips up and catches sight of me. That's when I notice the sword as long as his arm that he carries in his right hand.

"I thought you were with them, the ones at the Cornucopia," he says, coming closer to the tree. "I left," I say. "I thought I had a better chance by myself." I don't think he's seen Violet yet, and she's climbing higher, out of sight.

He pounces and I'm surprised at how high he can leap. I jump myself and climb higher; his sword buries into the wood where my ankle had been. Adrenaline courses through me and I whip my bow and arrows out, aiming it at his head.

That's when hell breaks loose on Earth.

Mutts. That's the only thing they can be. With the head of reptiles and the bodies of lions, they move fast, too fast, up the trees and around them. The boy stabs one with his sword, I shoot another with my arrows. There are too many mutts to count, and we're outnumbered. The boy from 9 gives up and starts running.

These things can climb, and I can feel the tree shaking with the beast's efforts to get up. "Run Violet! Run!" I scream at her. Violet drops to the ground and takes off without a backwards glance. As the mutt reaches where I am I drop down too, arrows loaded, and start running.

The mutts keep pace with me; they're driving us somewhere. Not towards the Cornucopia, somewhere else. As one snaps at my heels I shoot an arrow into its head. I don't know where Violet is. The chase has become my whole being; no time to think, only to act. Run.

I come to a field, full of waving grasses, and beyond is nothing. Just more waving grasses. And it is here that the mutts pull away, backing up into the forest and disappearing into the shadows. Leaving just me at the edge of the grass sea. A faint breeze ruffles my tangled hair.

The faintest sound of movement sends my arrow into the direction of the tribute that has arrived behind me. The boy from 9 knocks my arrow away with his sword and advances on me. I whip out another arrow and send it straight into his shoulder. He shouts and pulls it out, staining his shirt red. My arrow is thrown aside.

We circle around each other, at the edge of the grass sea. One of us will live to enter it, one will not. Scared, scared, scared. He's bigger than me but I'm quicker. I am long range while he is close. More breeze.

He lunges and I back up and out of the way, sending him tumbling into the grass. He jumps up immediately, even with his wounds. This isn't done yet, we aren't done. Something's going to happen.

And it does. Buck from 11 rushes out of the grass, holding a spear and a noose, made from the grass itself. While the boy from 9 is down, he loops the noose around his neck and pulls. The boy's eyes bug out and he claws at the rope keeping him from breathing.

Buck stabs the boy with his spear and drops him. Advancing on me. I send an arrow that catches him in the arm, like I did before. I can't aim under pressure. Buck's faster than me. Before I can react he's flipped me onto the ground; my head catches the worst and my thoughts go fuzzy. I roll out of the way as he stabs where I was with his spear. I try to kick his legs out from under him but he's too tall, too strong.

Not strong enough to keep the knife out of his leg, though. My knife has fallen out of my pack when I fell, so I grab it now and stab Buck as hard as I can. Blood sprays my face and I gag. In retaliation, as he yells and hops in pain, Buck kicks me in the face. I feel my teeth and my nose give way and I'm drowning in my own blood, screaming, screaming, and this is where it ends, where I die.

No.

While Buck is distracted I start to get up, to run away. Luckily my pack is still on my back, my bow in my hand. The gasping coming from behind me is terrible. The boy from 9 is lying on the ground, blue, choking, in agony that's not stopping. So I take an arrow from my quiver, take my hand from my face, and look the boy from 9 in the eyes. Then I shoot my arrow into his skull and the cannon fires; he stops twitching and gasping. For good measure I shoot Buck again in the shoulder; he's still trying to attend to the stab wound I gave him. He has my knife.

But he's distracted and doesn't notice when I disappear back into the trees, away from the sea of grass that is stained with our blood.