Shine

Chapter 25

Day One

A/N: This chapter contains descriptions of violence and death, because it's the Hunger Games. Mostly character building, but one more Tribute will die before the Anthem plays again. Let's get going…

Char Alfand –14- -D12- POV

I slow down after I crest the hill, looking at the wound in my leg. I only have a pack of throwing knives, nothing to bandage my wound with. This could be a problem. I should have grabbed a backpack or something else before running away. Then again, things didn't exactly go according to plan. I decide that I need to try to find some sort of plant that I can use to stop the bleeding. Wait! I have knives and fabric in my clothing. I cut off a part of my sleeve to use as a bandage, but the knife slips and cuts my arm. Crap. Okay, that's fine. It's just a small cut. I cut of a piece of the already cut off fabric and press it on the cut on my arm. The bleeding stops quickly. I wrap the larger piece of fabric around my leg tightly, hoping it'll stop the bleeding.

I don't know how long I walk for. It feels like forever, but it's probably only half an hour. I look down at the bloodstained fabric. I carefully unwrap it. My leg feels numb, so I sit with my back against a tree. I look at my wound. It seems to be doing better, I can't see that much blood anymore. I should probably wrap it again. What was I going to wrap it with? Something about a knife… I feel lightheaded. Hey, it's about my arm. Something about my arm. I should look at my arm. That's a lot of work, but I manage to raise my arm to my eyes. It's bleeding a lot. That's not good, right? I should fix that… I should fix… I'm so tired…

Are those footsteps? I need to wake up. I force myself awake. Those are footsteps. And… I'm in the Hunger Games. I try to stand but I can't. I can't feel the leg that got hit. I can't feel it. I reach for the pack of knives next to me and clumsily grab one. I shouldn't make a noise. If I don't make a noise, they won't hear me. My vision is blurry, but I think I see a figure. Maybe they're coming towards me. I throw my knife at them. It misses. Crap. I fumble for another knife, but the figure is now almost certainly coming towards me. It comes closer and closer. I almost grab another knife, then the figure's arm moves and I feel a sharp pain in my chest. In the distance, I think I hear a cannon shot. I wonder if it's for me.

Silk Daisly POV

Maybe I shouldn't have gone right after I left the Cornucopia. But then again, one more person would still be alive. Or probably not, I don't think he would have made it. Maybe I did him a service, not letting him die from what looked like blood loss. I don't know. Either way, I didn't see him until he threw his knife at me. Luckily for me, he missed. I thought about just stabbing him, but when it became clear that he was going to get another knife, I decided I should just throw my knife at him. It kills him instantly, judging from the cannon shot. I retrieve my knife from his chest and pick up his pack of throwing knives before continuing on.

Serena Holden –16- -D5- POV

"Where to?" I ask the group generally.

"How about we go to that hill over there?" Andrew points to a nearby hill that stands up out of the forest, but also out of visual range of the Cornucopia. "That will be a nice defensible position to build our base on."

"Our base?" I ask.
"Yeah," Andrew says. "Since this is a forest, my plans will work. I have an idea for a cabin, some traps, and some armor that we can build out of the wood. Since the top of that hill is forested, we'll have plenty of lumber."

"Okay then," I say. "All in favor of going to the hill to build Andrew's base?" Everyone, including me, raises their hand. "Then it's settled, I guess. Let's go that way."

We fall into a pattern for our around two-mile journey. Andrew takes the lead, which may seem counter-intuitive, but a group is only as fast as it's slowest member. I walk behind him, which is certainly not a bad thing, and Val walks behind me, with Falcon taking up the rear.

"Mind telling us more about your base plans?" I ask.

"I would really like something to write on," Andrew says, "but I'll try to explain it as best as I can. Essentially, we'll have a cabin, just a small one. Two bedrooms, one for you and Val, and one for me and Falcon. A main area, a living room, I guess. We can cook food in a fire outside. I'll probably need a workbench for the armor, and we can set up drop traps somewhere around… we can probably make basic wood weapons too… hmm…" Andrew moves something I can't see in the air in front of him. "Yeah… we could do that…"

"You know how to make all that?" I ask. That's amazing, if he does. He's smart. And sort of nice. He is really nice. I like that. Compared to everyone back home… he's nice, smart, not bad-looking.

"Yeah," Andrew says. "I like to learn things, I guess."

"That's cool," I say. Behind us, I hear Val talking to Falcon.

Vallory 'Val' Stensland –16- -D7- POV

"So, uh, how do we talk?" I ask Falcon. "Now that you don't have a translator, you know." Falcon looks at me and then makes an amused expression. "Oh yeah. You can't really tell me, can you?" He shrugs, then catches up to me and makes a motion for me to give him my hand. I do and he starts tracing out letters on my hand.

You're cute. The only way I talk is through sign language. Maybe you can learn that?

"Thanks," I say. I don't really know what to say. I still don't know how I feel about him. At first, I thought he was just a nice, sort of fun career. But then, he did betray the careers for me. And… I just don't know. He's nice, he's fun, and he's a good person. He's handsome, I won't deny that. And… I do feel a little nervous around him, I don't know. I wish I had time to just be alone and consider my feelings. I'll have to later. "I guess I could. You'll have to teach me though. How about we start simple? What's the sign for I?"

Falcon holds up his pinky finger. I, I guess. I imitate the gesture.

"I?" I ask. He nods.

"Okay," I say. "How do you say yes?" Falcon makes a fist with his hand and moves it up and down. As we walk towards Andrew's hill, he teaches me some of the basics of sign language.

Andrew Spayler –16- -D6- POV

When we reach the hill, I find that there's a clearing in the trees on top of the hill. I find a patch of dirt next to the treeline to sketch out my plan for the others. I break a stick off of a nearby tree and start to explain.

"Okay everyone. So, we'll need a lot of wood. Swords can be used along with the ax to cut these trees," I indicate a few nearby trees, "which won't reduce our cover a lot. I also want to work on some armor, so, while you guys work on building the house – we'll get to that later, I'll need a workbench to start cutting us armor. I'll also need sizes, so I can make it about the right size. It'll just be wood, but it's better than the clothes we already have. So, for the house, we should build it here, the campfire here..." I lay out my plan over the next fifteen minutes, and then Val, Serena, and Falcon get to work chopping down trees as I unpack our backpack and check the contents of the survival kits. The backpack has a few large packets of water and a small bit of string.

Vallory 'Val' Stensland –16- -D7- POV

I give the other two a quick woodcutting lesson before we begin. I take one of the swords, as it's harder to cut wood with a sword compared to an ax, leaving the ax for Serena, as she'll probably have the hardest time. We get to work cutting the trees indicated by Andrew.

Serena Holden –16- -D5- POV

After cutting down one tree, I bring the wood over to Andrew.
"Here you go, Andrew," I say.

"Thanks," he says. "I'll start on the armor. Yours is first, if you want. Can I have your sizes?"

"Sure," I say. After I tell him, I ask, "Can I take some of this wood?"

"Sure," he says. "Why?"
"No reason," I say. "It's a secret, okay?" I have a plan. A plan for a Shine moment. A plan for a moment about love. I'm not an engineer, but I'm about to become one.

Falcon Lockdust –17- -D4- POV

It's amazing how much four people can get done if they're all working together towards a common goal. By the time, or really slightly after, the sun goes down, under Andrew's construction instructions, Val's woodcutting instructions, Serena's creative ideas (for a stove made of stones instead of an open campfire for instance), and my strength and hard-work, we have the cabin complete. Well, mostly. The main room doesn't have a roof, but the bedrooms do. The bedrooms don't have beds, but since we have no fabric for sheets, that's okay. The survival kits include sleeping bags, so we only have two, but… we'll make do. The cabin is fairly simple, but once again, it'll do. Serena and Andrew worked together to make something that will make a loud noise if anyone enters the cabin through the door, after we arm it, so that we can all sleep at the same time. Now it's time for dinner. We still end up making a fire, for light, and warm some of the rations over the stove. Then we sit and eat. Val and I sit together on one side of the fire, and Serena and Andrew sit on the other. I'm surprised at how close Val sits, I wasn't quite sure if she liked me or not. I'm still not sure, but judging from the fact that she sits so close that our legs almost touch, and at one point, she squeezes my hand, I think she might. Or at least she thinks she might.

"So, Val, what you do if you won?" Serena asks.

"I don't know," Val says. "I guess I'd really just make sure that my family was fed. And my friends, I have two of them. One is Mara, and she does okay, but we could all use more money in District Seven. And then, the other one, we call her Whisper, because she has a speech impediment, so she can only whisper. She's really sick all the time because she doesn't have enough food. I'd probably have her live with me in the Victor's house full time. What about you, Serena?"

"I don't really know," Serena says. "I would make sure my family was taken care of, of course, but we do okay. I don't know what winning would even mean. What would my life be like? I'm already an outcast, I'm already considered a Monster. If I won, that would just make people see me that way more. And… I just don't know. I'm already lonely, and… you know Jennifer White, the mentor from One?" I nod. "Yeah. She has friends, but she's never found anyone to love. Not for a lack of guys who want her, but because they all only see her as a Victor. And she was popular before the Games. Heck, look at Haymitch. It's well known that nobody in Twelve likes him."

"How do you know that stuff?" Val asks.

"I talked to Athena Feere for a bit," Serena says.
"Ah," Val says. "Still, you don't know that you'd end up like Jennifer or Haymitch. I mean, you don't plan on becoming a drunk, do you?"

"I don't plan on it, but no one ever does. I don't know what I might have to do," Serena says. "But let's stop talking about this. It's depressing. What about you, Andrew? What would you do with your money?"

"Probably make sure that all of your families have enough money," Andrew says. We all look at him in surprise. "What? I have no family, no friends, no anyone to take care of, besides myself. Unless any of you betray me, before we agreed on, you know, unless that happened, you all would have helped me, if I did win. So I'd probably make sure that your families are alright. And maybe see if I can get this," he points to his knee, "fixed with surgery. That's it."

"That's so sweet of you, Andrew," Serena says. I have to resist rolling my eyes at her obvious attempt at flirting, but Andrew seems none the wiser. "That's really cool. Uh, what about you, Falcon?"

I sign Probably the same as Andrew. I'll also make sure my friends and family are taken care of, of course.

Vallory looks at my hands, and then laughs. When she stops, she says, "The only thing I understood of that was I. I'm sorry, Falcon." I motion for her hand again.

It's alright. You're doing good. We'll work on more tomorrow, I trace on her hand.

"Okay," she says. "Thanks."

I'm the one who should be thanking you, I sign.

"I think I understood that," she says. I smile.

We chat through dinner, and afterwards, we go to head to sleep. But first, Serena calls Val over.

Vallory 'Val' Stensland –16- -D7- POV

"What did you want to talk about, Serena?" I ask, after Serena pulls me aside, away from the boys.

"I… I… I've thought about this, and, and can you ask Falcon to sleep in the same room with you so that Andrew and I can sleep in the same room?" Serena asks, running her words together. "I just want to snuggle with him rather than you no offense I mean, but-" She's still speaking really fast when I cut her off.

"Serena," I say, chuckling, "it's fine. You like Andrew, I know. That's all good, and I will not be snuggling with you if you're cold. But why don't you just ask him yourself?"
"What if he doesn't-" I cut Serena off again.

"Serena, listen to me. Andrew may be a smart engineer, just like you, I know, I know, you're a scientist, not an engineer," I had made that mistake earlier, to both of their chagrin, "but he's completely clueless about things like love. Trust me, if you tell him it's for warmth or some such like that, he'll believe you. Okay?"

"I guess," Serena says. "Just… I've never done this before, you know? I never thought I'd have these kind of feelings for someone. And much less here."

"I get it," I say. "I'm the same way. But lets get back to the boys before they start getting suspicious."

"Right," Serena says, and we walk back towards the boys.

Serena Holden –16- -D5- POV

I walk back towards the boys with Val, and go over to Andrew. I rub my hands on my pants to dry them of sweat and then clasp them together in front of me, interlocking and unlocking my fingers nervously. Then I stop and put my hands to my sides. Then behind my back. Then back at my sides.

"Hey, Andrew," I say.

"Hi, Serena," Andrew says. "Ready to go to sleep? I'm pretty tired."

"Uh, yeah, uh, about that," my hands are in front of me, nervously fiddling with each other again, "um, you know how there's only two bedrooms in the cabin?" Andrew nods. "Yeah, will, I… I… instead of you and Falcon sharing a room, how about you and me share a room and Falcon and Val do the same?" I decide not to offer an explanation, better not to unless he asks.

"Oh. Uh, sure," he says."Why?"

"No reason," I lie, "just do it for me, okay?"

"Sure," he says.

A few minutes later, I tuck into the sleeping bad on one side of the room as Andrew tucks into a corner of the floor on the other side. Not exactly what I had wanted, but like Val said, Serena is clueless. Oh well. Maybe I'll get further tomorrow night.

Vallory 'Val' Stensland –16- -D7- POV

After Serena and Andrew disappear into the right bedroom, and I chuckle a little bit at Andrew's cluelessness, I walk outside into the dark, cold, night to collect my thoughts. About everything, but especially about Falcon. I just… I don't know. I… If we weren't here, well… I would never think about dating a career. Heck, I'd never dated anyone. But… we are here. And he did… what? The right thing? He went with the person he liked, betraying his allies. But what does that mean for him? It probably means that he's going to die. And if he wants me to win, then… So I guess, in his opinion, he did the right thing. He most likely sacrificed himself for me. Does that mean… does that mean that he… he loves me? No. He can't. Right? I… how could you fall in love with someone from one fight? I guess that it's possible. And who am I to tell someone that they're not in love with me? Should I if it'll save their life? But will it? Would he even listen? And what about me- no. I can't think about myself. But then again, Falcon is- was a career. No, he's a good person. I should at least- My thoughts are interrupted by the national anthem playing. I look up at the sky. We all heard a cannon go off as we were walking around today, I guess we'll finally see who it is. I hear footsteps behind me, from the door of the cabin. Falcon walks over to me and squeezes my hand. We sit down on the grass and look up at the sky. The Anthem finishes, and the pictures appear.

Kayra Dawnbreeze, from Ten.

Camelia Lloha, from Twelve. I feel bad for her, I think she was only twelve. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for Kayra too, she was so young too. I feel bad for both of them. So young, so little. And somehow, surprisingly, I start to cry. I haven't cried in years. Falcon pulls my head over on his shoulder and rubs my hair. I look up to see another face in the sky.

Char Alfand, from Twelve. Both of the Twelves gone already. I do feel bad for them. Then the anthem plays again. Only three deaths today. I wipe away my tears. Falcon pulls me closer against the chill of the Arena night. I look up at him once the Anthem finishes playing.

"Do you love me?" I ask.

"I think I do, Val," he says. I kiss him softly on the cheek.

"You're not that bad either," I say. "Now let's get some sleep." That's what I had thought earlier. I should at least ask. And if he thinks he loves me, that he won't be convinced otherwise, then I won't try to convince him otherwise. And I might die soon. What's the harm of dating someone for the first time? After all, some girls have had twenty boyfriends by the time they're my age. That night, I snuggle with Falcon in relative warmth of the cabin.

Thia Zollis –16- -D4- POV

I, Harper, and Rhylee walked for about an hour before we decided to check our supplies and think about setting up camp. The backpack turned out to carry a sleeping bag and a flint kit. After that, we keep walking for a bit, until we find a river to set up camp next to. I and Rhylee forage for some berries and Harper comes back from a hunting trip with a few rabbits, panting, with blood staining her shirt, and sort of cute. I decide not to offer to wash her shirt for her, despite a small portion of my brain telling me to, and butcher the rabbits while she washes the blood off her shirt. Only later does it occur to me that having blood on her shirt might have been beneficial for us, if we ran into someone who might be intimidated by that.

Later that day, we set up a fire and a watch schedule. I have first watch, Harper second, and Rhylee third. We cook up the rabbits and talk over dinner.

"We need to talk to each other, you know," I say. "You know, I'm normally the anti-social one, but no one has talked this whole day."

"I'm normally quiet myself," Harper says. "Never liked being the center of attention."

"Me neither." Rhylee says.

Silence ensues.

"Wow," I say, after a minute. "C'mon, girls. Let's talk."

"What about?" Harper asks.
"How about this," I say. "Would you go out with me, Harper?"

Harper looks flushed and nervous. "Uh… no. I mean, I'm straight, Thia. I like guys, you know. What would dating in the Games even look like?"
"I don't know," I say, then, seeing she still looks embarrassed, "Hey, it's alright, Harper. I was just asking, you're cute. Hey, I like guys too. Guys and girls. I also just needed something to get you talking. Not that I wouldn't have minded, you know, but I get it."

"I'd go out with you, Thia," Rhylee says. Hmm. This could be interesting. Rhylee sort of looks like me, and she's sort of pretty herself. "If I didn't have a girlfriend, that is."

"Oh," I say. "You have a girlfriend?"

Rhylee Kaski –16- -D8- POV

"You have a girlfriend?" Thia asks.

"Yeah, I do. Lake is her name," I say, smiling when I think of her. Her beautiful hair, her face, her eyes… "She has the most beautiful red hair you've ever seen, and the most piercing green eyes. She's just so beautiful… She's not bad in any other respect either."

"It sounds like you're lucky then. I've never actually had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend. A few crushes, a few good friends who I might have gone out with – if one of them didn't die, and one of them wasn't straight, and I had asked out the one I actually had a crush on before he got a girlfriend – but never actually a relationship," Thia says.

"Oh. Wow. I'm sorry," I say. "'Sorry for you, you know. I didn't tell anyone not to go out with you." I smile. "Wait!" A thought occurs to me. "Have you ever kissed anyone? Not family, I mean."

"No," Thia says. "It's a bit of a regret."

"Come here," I say. "If I get back to Lake, she'll forgive me. After all, it's something everyone should do before they die."

"Are you sure?" Thia asks.

"Sure," I say. She scoots around the fire. I hold her head in my hands and kiss her softly. "There you go. Now get on away." I smile at her.

"Thanks," she says, then she laughs. "We're in the Hunger Games, and this is really what we're talking about? If we've ever kissed anyone?"

"What else are we supposed to talk about?" I ask jokingly.

"I don't know," she says. "Hey, what about you, Harper? Ever had a boyfriend?"

Harper Satin –16- -D6- POV

"Ever had a boyfriend?" Thia asks.

"Uh, no," I say. "Not really. I did kiss a boy once, when I was much younger, but it's been a while. I have kissed someone, though."
"I see," Thia says. The conversation idles on for a few minutes before the Anthem plays, and the faces of the dead Tributes sober Thia and Rhylee's conversation, which I hadn't been paying much attention to.

"You two should get some sleep," Thia says. "I guess it's my watch turn."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks," I say. "How about you take the sleeping bag, Rhylee? I can take it after I have watch."
"No, don't say that," Rhylee says. "You have it."
"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says. "I'll take it while you're on watch."

"When do I get it?" Thia asks.

"When I'm on watch," Rhylee says.

"Ah, okay," Thia says. "So if you want the sleeping bag, you have to be woken up multiple times throughout the night?"

"I guess," Rhylee says. "I can just keep it if you want."

"I'll take it," Thia says.

I snuggle into the sleeping bag and close my eyes, but I find it hard to sleep. With the revelation that both Thia and Rhylee are bi, I'm not quite sure how I feel. After all, it feels like I'm in an all boy alliance. But when I think about it, I realize that they aren't any different just because they find me attractive. Heck, maybe I should take it as a compliment. Either way, they aren't any different. They're still the same, fun, nice people I knew before. And if they're going to sleep with a girl, it'll be each other. It's not like they're going to rape me. With those realizations, I fall off to a not quite as restful as it should be sleep.

Athena Rye –14- -D9- POV

Isaiah and I walk for about an hour to get clear of the Cornucopia before we stop to see what's in the backpack Isaiah grabbed. We get lucky. It has two packs of food and water. That's it, but that's still good.

"We should probably find a source of water still," I say.

"Yeah," Isaiah says. "Which way?" I pick a semi-random direction and point.

"That way."

And that way we walk. For about fifteen minutes before we find a small river.

"Let's set up here," I say.

"Sounds good," Isaiah says. I notice some berries nearby.

"Want to pick some berries?" I ask Isaiah. "I can see if there's anything to hunt around here."

"How about we both forage?" Isaiah says. "We can hunt in the morning, we have some food."

"Okay," I say. "Sounds good."

We forage for about half an hour, yielding a depressingly small amount of berries. But, a few edible berries plus a ration of food makes for a filling and sweet meal.

"I wish we had a sleeping bag. Or a fire," I say.

"We could try to make a fire," Isaiah says.
"We could. But it might give away our location. And I don't want to do that," I say. "We can stay warm in other ways, unless it gets really cold. Then we'll have to make a fire, but I'd rather not."

"Okay," Isaiah says. "Should we take watches?"

"How deeply do you sleep?" I ask.

"Not very," Isaiah says.
"Me neither," I say. "I don't think we need to. There are only two of us, and by the time you're six hours through, you might as well just be asleep, you'll be so tired. Besides, neither of us will be sleeping deeply."

"Okay," Isaiah says. "Tired yet?" He asks it with a joking tone, but his yawn gives away his true tiredness.

"You don't have to wait for me to go to bed, honey," I joke. "But, seriously, can I tell you something first?" I'm nervous about this, but I need to tell him. After all, when we go to sleep, I might never wake up again. Or he might not.

Isaiah Lemont –15- -D9- POV

"But, seriously, can I tell you something first?" Athena asks. She's nervous. She's also cute. Her large dark brown eyes give away her nervousness, and she plays with her hands a little bit. I decide to tease her a little bit.

"I don't know, can you?" I ask.

"Isaiah," she scolds me, but her eyes twinkle. Then, playfully, "Can I?"

"I don't know," I say. "I think you might have to kiss me first."

"Fine," she says. "If that's what it takes." She kisses me and I want to stay in the moment forever. I can't believe that she's actually kissing me. I put my hand on her back and pull her closer. It just feels right, being with her. It feels true. Touching her back, kissing her. Then she pulls away and smiles at me and it still feels right. And I can forget that we're in the Hunger Games. "Okay. I've paid my tax. Can I tell you I love you now?" I'm blindsided, to put it mildly.

"Uh, um, uh," Actually, I'm pretty sure that the first sound that came out of my mouth was more of a squeak, then, "Uh, um, uh, uh, what? I mean, you, uh, you, uh, just told me that, you, you know, that you, uh, liked me. And now you love me? I mean, are, are you telling me the truth or- I'm sorry, Athena. I mean, I love you too, Athena, but, how-"

"It's alright, Isaiah," she cuts me off. "Look in my eyes." I do. "I love you, Isaiah. I would sacrifice myself for you, gladly. Heck, I would cut my own throat for you right now if you could live. I think, at least. Doing is always harder than saying. But tell me that I'm lying."

"You're not lying," I say, and I can't believe it. She really does love me. So I kiss her again. A deep kiss this time. It feels so right. But eventually, I pull away. "I love you too, Athena. But I couldn't let you sacrifice yourself for me. I… I need to be the one to die. Actually, promise me right now. Promise me. If I tell you to run, you run. And you never ever take a punch or an arrow for me. Okay?"

"Isaiah-"

"Shh," I say, putting my finger to her lips. "You… I want you to love me. I love you. But you just fell in love with me. I've been in love with you for a long time, even if I didn't call it that, even if I didn't admit it even to myself, you were always different. And that's love. But you, you don't, you haven't had the time to know if you're truly in love or not. I know that I'm in love with you. So I want you to be happy. You can be happy without me, I couldn't without you, especially if you sacrificed yourself for me. So promise me, you won't sacrifice yourself for me, and when I die, you'll do your best to survive. Promise me, Athena. Please. Otherwise, I'll never kiss you again," I smile.

"Okay. I promise, I guess. Just answer me one question. Are you really so okay with your own death?" Athena asks.

"If it means you live, and if it's you kissing me and pushing a knife through my heart, then I'll be okay with it," I say.

"Really?" She asks.

"Yes," I say. "Like I said, I love you, Athena."
"I love you too, Isaiah," Athena says. "We should probably get some sleep."

"Yeah, probably," I say. We lay down on the forest floor, wrapped in each others arms.

Lustero Aldor –17- -D1- POV

We take our supplies from the Cornucopia and head off in the direction of where Falcon and his little band of outcasts had gone. Eventually, we set up camp for the day. We set up a fire and two small tents. We sit around the fire and eat rations.

"Who agrees we need to kill Falcon first?" Ares asks. We all raise our hands. "Great," he says. "Let's do that tomorrow then."

"Sounds good," I say.

"We should try to bond," Giselle says. Diamond stares her down.

"Eat silently, then go to sleep," Diamond says.

"Fine," Giselle says. "You're no fun." Diamond reaches for her dagger.

"Can we not kill each other yet?" I ask.

"Sounds like a good idea," Ares says. So we sit and eat in silence. I know, I think we all know, that by the morning of Day Three, we will have to kill each other. Oh well, it's not Day Three yet. After we eat, Diamond takes first watch and I sleep in one of the tents, while Giselle and Ares take the other.

Diamond Knowles –18- -D1- POV

They're all so obsessed about killing Falcon. I don't particularly care that Falcon ran off with his pets from the other Districts. I do care about killing the Tribiani b—h. Tomorrow I'll lead us towards where she went.

Ares Moretti –18- -D2- POV

I crawl into the tent with Giselle.

"Who told you you could be in here?" She asks.

"Oh come on," I say. "We all know you want me."
"You all?" Giselle asks.

"You kissed me," I say.

"That was a peck," she says.

"Fine," I say. I kiss her fiercely, grabbing her and pulling her close to me. She kisses me back, and eventually I push her away. "That was more than a peck."

"Fine," she says. "Stay if you want, but if you do, you better be useful and warm me up."

"I wish we could do more than just kiss," I say bitterly. "Before I have to kill you, you know."

"You know I'm sixteen, right?" She asks.

"So?"

"Eh, fair point. I'm still better than you," she says. "Take off your shirt."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Why?"

"I'll be warmer, and if you want to see me with my shirt off, that's what you have to do."

"Fine." I pull of my shirt, draping it over my back. She does the same. I look at her. "Pretty."

"Shut up and go to sleep."

"Yes ma'am."

"I'll kill you in two days."

"You too."

I drift off to sleep easily. Giselle is a fun person to be with.

Giselle Serpentine –16- -D2- POV

Can Ares really fall asleep so quickly? I put my shirt over my head, so that I won't wake him up, but I can put it on quickly if we have uninvited guests. I try to fall asleep, but I just can't. Every time I try to drift off, images of my sword cutting through Camelia's body flash through my head. The blood spurting out at me, her shocked look. I try to think of the attractive man pressed up against me, but every time I do, I imagine the same dead look in his eyes that Camelia had. I can't stop seeing that expression. And then my thoughts flash to me choking him, to the life leaving his eyes. Somehow, I eventually manage to fall asleep, but I'm tortured by nightmares. Ares dying, him killing me. Myself running a sword through my own heart. I wake up screaming.

"It's alright, Giselle," Ares whispers. "It's okay. No one is going to hurt you. No one. It's okay," he rubs my back slowly, softly. "Go back to sleep. It's alright."

I manage to fall back into a disturbed sleep filled with nightmares.

Clear Palatino –12- -D3- POV

After walking for half an hour, Bec and I decide to see what's in the bag I grabbed. There's… nothing. I throw the bag on the ground in disgust.

"Crap!" Bec shouts. "Nothing! Not even a measly little bar?"
"Technically," I say, "the odds of us-"

"Not now, Clear, not now," Bec says. "We need to focus on finding food, I guess. And water. Do you know what types of plants we can eat? How to find water?"

"I can find us berries," I say. "We just need to follow the vegetation to where it's the thickest, in theory we should find some water there."

"In theory?" Bec asks.

"It could just be an aquifer. An underground river, you know. Also, this is the Hunger Games, so there's no saying that the rules of nature apply here," I say.

"S-t," Bec curses. "Okay, where to then?" I look around, trying to ignore his outburst. This is not going to be fun, but then again, it is the Hunger Games.

"That way," I say, pointing in a direction where the greenery gets darker.

Apparently the rules of nature do not apply in the Hunger Games. Not always, at least. At the center of the area where there should have been a pond, there wasn't. There could have been an aquifer, I guess, but without shovels, any water underground is pretty useless to us. No buckets either. We spent hours walking around searching for a water source, and a few more hours after we gave up on that looking for places besides near water where berries would likely grow. We finally found a few bushes, but after picking them dry, we were still hungry. I asked Bec if he wanted to go hunting, and he gruffly responded that if we couldn't find food by the morning, he would. I broke a long branch off a tree to use as a spear of sorts, and we exchanged weapons, him with the branch-spear and me with the knife. I tried to make a fire, but – and you're not going to believe this – apparently all the wood is wet. I couldn't get a fire started with anything besides the smallest of sticks, and it never took to the larger branches we could find. It doesn't help that we don't have flint either.

Becquerel 'Bec' Grey –15- -D3- POV

"We should probably get some sleep," I tell Clear after her latest attempt to start a fire is unsuccessful.

"It would be good if we had heat," she says.
"I agree," I say, "but we'll just have to make do. Look, why don't you get some sleep, and I'll take first watch. I'll wake you up in about six hours or when I get tired."

"Fine," she says, then "knowing you, when you get tired is in about twenty minutes."

"Haha. Very funny, Clear. Get some sleep."

Clear snaps her body upright, the way the Peacekeepers do, and gives me a mock salute. "Yes, Sir, right away, Sir!"

"Just go to sleep already, little girl."

"I'm three years younger than you."

"Exactly."

"Fine." Clear curls up on the ground, tucking herself into the fetal position. For warmth, I guess. And comfort. I rub her back through her shirt until she falls asleep, when I stop and sit. We had already seen the Anthem play sometime around the time Clear was on her third attempt at starting a fire. We had stopped and looked up at the faces in the sky. I felt bad for them. Twelve and thirteen year old girls, just like Clear. What if she's next? Of course, if she's next, that means that my face will be up there in the sky too. Which brings me to a question. What do I do if I can't find food for both of us, or something else comes up before the end of the Games? Do I kill myself, or let myself be killed, if it gives Clear better odds of surviving? I look down at Clear's face in the darkness. When she's sleeping, she looks so peaceful, like a little angel. I smile as I think about the day I first met her, when she was only six. She was such a cute little girl. Very sassy, but that just made her more adorable. She had told my mom that her and Laurent had twice as much chance to break up as a normal married couple (about 50%, apparently), although it might be lower, because what she had heard was about divorce, not death and leaving, but that it was probably about the same. My mom took it in stride, telling her that for now, she was her mom, and she would love Clear just the same. Then she picked Clear up and gave her a big hug. I smile, thinking of that memory. Thinking of that, and looking at Clear's face, I know what I'll do, if I need to. And I'll need to, one way or another.

Silk Daisly –16- -D8- POV

After walking for about forty-five minutes, I find a nice spot next to a small pond to start building my camp. I unpack my bag. Flint, nice. A small ration bar, okay. That'll be good. I grab my knife and use it to cut some sticks, then make a small fire. I scoop some water out of the pond in the bag, but it's not that waterproof. This could be a problem. Then I spot some leaves, and after a few minutes, I have a waterproof bag for my bag. I refill the bag with water, tie the top around a stick, and hang the stick over the fire. After about ten minutes, and my arm starting to ache, I have clean water. Now I just need to wait for it to cool. Apparently, nothing I've done so far has been that impressive to the Gamemakers, so I decide to try to build a trap. I look around my little area of the woods to see what I can use. An idea comes to me, and soon, I have a simple dead-fall trap set up. If anyone walks over it, they'll fall into it. No dings. Okay then… It takes me about two hours to fashion wooden spikes. At this point, I'm getting rather hungry, and so I chow down on the ration bar before lining the pit with spikes. Another about an hour later and I still haven't heard the ding. Whatever. I decide to make myself a small lean-to in between the fire and my dead-fall trap, and it's after nightfall by the time it's finished, still little more than a ramshackle collection of sticks that I could cut with my knife leaning against what is hopefully a sturdy tree. I doubt that it will offer much protection and start to curse myself for being stupid enough to waste my time on something like this. Then I remember that I can always expand it into something more later. Although my growling stomach is also in the 'should have done something else' camp. Oh well, I'll have to find food in the morning, when I can see more than a few feet away from the fire again. The Anthem plays, and I look up at the sky. Three Tributes today. Low, but still sad. And I killed one of them. Ugh. I feel bad for them, and I hope that I won't join them tomorrow. Or ever. I crawl into the lean-to to attempt to get some sleep, despite my growling stomach. Eventually, I manage to fall asleep.

Brianna 'Bri' Tribiani –16- -D11- POV

Aster and I unpack our backpacks to find one day of rations and water for both of us and a small knife. At first glance, it seems like a lot, but I realize that by tomorrow, we'll need to go hunting and make sure we're near a source of water. We also don't have anything to start a fire, unless we can strike the ax and the dagger together to make a spark. Which we can do, but I would have preferred flint. Of course, if worst comes to worst, as long as you have dry enough wood, you can make a fire just by rubbing wood together.

"Where should we go?" Aster asks.

"I don't know," I say. "Somewhere with water?"

"And where's that?" Aster asks.

"I don't know," I say. "Somewhere."

"You're helpful," Aster says.

"I try," I say.

"Much appreciated," he says. "How about that way?"

"Sure," I say, and off we go.

After hours of walking, we see a brooke, just a small one. But it'll do for our needs. We make a fire and sit down to eat. We're both fairly hungry, having been walking the whole day with no food.

"Tomorrow we need to go hunting," I say.

"Yeah," Aster says. "So, Bri, I've heard the short version of your past. Want to give me the long version?"

"Sure," I say. "So… my brother was a pathological liar…" I start to recount my past to him, how my brother always hated me, tried to murder me, and eventually kicked me out.

Aster Ochs –17- -D7- POV

"Wow," I say, after Bri finishes telling me about her past. "That was… intense. I've never heard about anything like that."

"I would hope not," Bri says. "I would be worried if you had."

"And you shared it with me?" I ask.
"Of course," she says. "I should tell someone besides Pat before I die."

"I guess so," I say. "You know, if you want, I could probably write a poem for you."

"I would like that," she says. "And you know, there's another reason why I told you."

"What's that?" I ask.

"You're really sweet. And sort of cute," she says, and gives me a quick kiss.

"Thanks, you too," I say.

"Aw. Well, I'm going to sleep, wake me up when you get tired," Bri says. "And tell me that poem, will you?"

"Huh?"
"Watches, remember?"

"Oh, right," I say. "Okay, see in you in six hours, Bri. Good night."

"Good night." Then the Anthem plays.

"Or not," I say. We sit and watch the faces in the sky until they're done. Only three. But still three. Still three stories ended forever. "Well, goodnight now, Bri. Get some sleep. Don't die."

"I will. Don't kill me."

"Would never."

"Don't say that," she says, then puts her head down and falls asleep. I stare at her sleeping form. She is pretty. Then I stare at the random patterns in the fire and settle down for a long wait.

Emery Colt –17- -D5- POV

"We got a pretty good haul, I guess," I say. "Enough food to last us for a couple days, a decent amount of water, and some good weapons. Sleeping bags, flint, these survival kits are really loaded."

"Yeah, they are," Kayne says. "Shame the careers have everything they want."

"Fair point. But, most people won't," I say.

"Good point," Kayne says. We've found a nice place to set up camp after walking for a few hours. There's a small river nearby, and plenty of wood.

"I guess we should get a fire set up," I say.

"Yeah," Kayne says.

Sounds good, Tontu says.

"Let's get started, get some wood then," I say. The other two look at me. "What?" Tontu points to my hand. "Oh!" I laugh. I'm carrying our only weapon suitable for cutting wood, the sword. Unless you plan to shoot through the trees. "I guess I'll get started on some wood then."

"I have an idea of how to make a saw," Kayne says, "I'll see if it pans out."

What should I do? Tontu asks.

"How about you get the perimeter of the fire set up, then put out the sleeping bags?" Kayne asks.

Sounds good, Tontu says. We all start on our tasks.

Kayne Lytch –13- -D10- POV

I do have an idea to make a saw of sorts, but I'm not sure if it'll work. We'll see, I guess. I grab a couple sturdy twigs from the nearby trees and head over to the river. I spot a suitable reed – will, hopefully – and grab it. I tear the reed into long strips with my teeth, and no, I don't want to think about what could be on that reed. Then I wrap one end of the reed around one of the sticks. I stretch the reed until its taunt, and then wrap it around the other stick. I hold my creation by the end opposite the reed and look around for something to cut. I see a thick low-hanging branch. I walk over with my creation. I position it over the top of the branch and push down. It cuts through the branch like – no, not like a hot knife through butter. It's a reed on sticks, it's nothing like a hot knife. But it does cut through the branch, like teeth through an eggshell perhaps. The branch falls to the ground thirty seconds later and I let out a whoop of excitement that makes the other boys turn and look at me, confused. As an answer, I hold up my makeshift saw.

"It works!" I shout. Emery laughs, and so does Tontu. I walk over to Emery. "So, what should I work on cutting?"

"How about you cut off the branches of this tree when I bring it down," he points to the small tree he's cutting down, "and then once I'm done here, I'll grab that other tree over there," he points to another small tree, "and that should be all the wood we need. It looks like more than it is though, but we'll do okay for now."

"I see," I say. "Why are you going so slow?"

"Because I'm not a woodcutter and I would rather not bring the tree down on me," Emery says.

"Fair point," I say.

An hour later, we have a camp set up, even if it's only a fire surrounded by sleeping bags. We sit and 'cook', although warm would be a more apt word, our lunch.

"So, Emery, tell me more about Mia," I say.

"Sure," Emery says. "But you'll have to tell me about Kylie."

"Of course," I say.

"Well," Emery starts his story. "I never thought she would notice me. She's a popular girl, compared to me at least. You already know that I'm not the most popular person back home. I had the biggest crush on her," Emery smiles, "but I didn't even think she knew my name. I could go on for hours about her, but I don't know if she'd like that. Actually, that's funny, thinking that she's probably in school right now, and I wonder if she's being teased about her boyfriend or not. Probably, but maybe that's a good thing. Anyway, I didn't think she knew my name. Until I got Reaped. I locked eyes with her in the crowd and… I think that then, maybe I knew, maybe. She just looked so sad, which is understandable. Anyway, after I said goodbye to my family – wait a second, I need to say something. Luka, if you touch Ella, I will haunt you. If I'm dead. If I'm alive, will, we'll leave it at that. Don't think I forgot. Sorry, just a friend who wanted to go out with my little sister," I smile, and Emery continues his story, "Anyway, after that coward left, Mia came in. And she… she told me that she felt the same way about me, she kissed me, and then she told me to come back to her. And then she left. She's beautiful, and nice, and sweet, and funny, and… I just really like her." Emery finishes his story. "I might love her."
"That's beautiful," I say. "How much you love her, I mean. And hey, man. If I win, I'll make sure that guy doesn't go out with your sister."

"Thanks, Kayne," Emery says, and offers me a fist bump. I return the gesture. "Hear that, Luka? Hear that?"

"You know," I say, "if he didn't do anything with your sister, we've made it very awkward for them."

"All the better," Emery says, with a smile on his face. "Your turn now. Tell me about Kylie. If you want to, of course."

"Kylie," I say. "Kylie… she… we go to the same school, and we're good friends. We really get along, the two of us. We're both adventurous, to the point of what some would call stupid. You know what we were doing the morning of Reaping day?"

"Not sleeping, I'm guessing," Emery says.

"You would be correct," I say. "We were jumping off of two-story buildings."

"What?" Emery asks. From Tontu's expression, he's just as amazed as Emery is.

"Will, yeah," I say. "What else would you do on Reaping day? Anyways, that's not our most crazy adventure. Let me tell you about this one that happened, oh what was it. Maybe a month ago. Time's a little weird now, you know. Anyway, it was a nice day, about a month ago…

A nice day, about a month ago…

Did you really think we were done with flashbacks? You were wrong.

Oh right, District Ten.

"You two are crazy," Jose says.

"If you mean crazy fun, then yeah," I say.

"No, just crazy," Jose says. "And I will not be dying with you. I'll be telling the Peacekeepers that the cause of the two snapped necks was sheer stupidity."

"Whatever. If you don't want to have fun, that's fine," Kylie says. "No-funner."

"You are not going to gull me into killing myself," Jose says.

"I wasn't trying to," Kylie says. "Just telling the truth. Just make sure I don't crush you when I fall to my death."

"I'll step out of the way," Jose says.
"Uh-huh," Kylie says. "Ready to go, Kayne?" I look at her beautiful brown eyes, glimmering with that spark I love so much. I'd go anywhere with you, I think, but I don't say that.

Instead, I say, "Of course, Kylie. After you."

"Darn right, after me," she says. And she starts climbing. What were we climbing? A tree in the forest that surrounded District Ten. Why was Jose so scared, then? Because this tree, miles into the forest, was visible from the other side of the District. Some people speculate that it's a just a freak of nature, others say that it was genetically engineered by the Capitol. I don't really care. It's a big tree, and Kylie wanted to climb it, and I was right there with her, because that's cool!

We did climb the tree that day. And when we got to the top, where you can see the whole District and beyond, sitting there with Kylie, I was the happiest I had ever been. Never mind that if we got seen, we would be shot. Never mind that we were hundreds of feet in the air. I was sitting next to Kylie, above it all. I really wanted to kiss her as we just sat there, taking in the view. Then we got into a game of play-shoving each other towards the edge. That was fun. Eventually, towards sunset, we climbed down. We both got in trouble for missing school, and we both got grounded for a few days. I got out of the center though (no easy feat) and went to free Kylie from her prison every night we were 'grounded'. That was fun.

Back to the present…

I smile as I finish recounting my story.

"So that's what Kylie's like," I say.

"Wow," Emery says. "She sounds amazing."

"Thanks," I say. "Make sure she's taken care of, will you? If I die?"

"Of course," Emery says. "You'd do the same for Mia, right?"

"Of course," I say. "Oh, and Jose. Make sure he's good too."

"Of course. Make sure my family's good," Emery says.

"I'll do that. Anyone you want us to take care of, Tontu?" I ask.

My mom and Noami, he says.

"Right. We'll do that. Right, Emery?" I ask.

"Yeah, definitely," he says. "Want to tell us about Noami, Tontu?"

I would, but… I don't think you'd want to watch me write all day.

"I would love to read it, Tontu," Emery says.

"Me too," I say.

"How about this," Emery says. "When you have nothing to do, you write down something like Kayne and I said, and when it's done, you give it to us?"

Sure. I don't know if I'll have enough paper.

"I can make you some if you don't have enough," Emery says.

Really? You would do that?

"Of course?" Emery says.

Tontu Heinburg –18- -D11- POV

After lunch, I work with Kayne to set up traps for game. They're not big traps, but we shouldn't need to catch big game. Hopefully we won't be here a while, at least. Afterwards, we eat more for dinner, and everyone sort of wanders to their own part of the camp. Kayne and Emery talk for a bit and then each sit, thinking, most likely. Meanwhile, I write about Noami.

She is the most beautiful girl you ever would have seen. I love her. The day I got Reaped… it was very much like yours, Emery. After I was Reaped, I saw her in the crowd, and I knew that she cared about me more than she said. She was crying, and… more than she should have been if she was just a good friend. I guess maybe it should have been obvious when she made me this book. Yeah, she's pretty cool that way. Then, in the Justice Building, I gave her a note that I'd been holding on to for a while, a note that tells her exactly how I feel about her. She asked me if she was dreaming, after she kissed me. Apparently, she never thought I would like her. But I did. I do. I don't just like her, I love her. Sorry, I'm wasting space. I should be happy they allowed me to have this as my token anyways. Anyway, that's Noami. Take care of her, if I die. As long as you guys take care of her, I'll be okay. Take care of her and my mom.

I finish writing and show my note to both boys. They read it.

"Of course," the say in unison.

"Definitely, Tontu," Emery says.

"Yeah. I mean, of course," Kayne says. "Don't worry, Tontu. We always would."

Thanks, I say. Then the Anthem plays. We look up at the sky and see the Tributes faces.

"I saw her," Kayne says when Kayra's face comes up. "Kayra, the girl from my District. I didn't know her, but… it's still sad, seeing someone… dead."

"I know," Emery says. "I saw her to. Don't think about it."

Yeah, I say. It's hard, but just focus on staying alive.

"I will. Thanks guys," Kayne says. "I'll take first watch, you two should get some sleep."

"Are you sure?" Emery asks. "I can take first watch."

Me too, I say.

"I'm sure," Kayne says. "Get some sleep, guys."

"Okay," Emery says.

Sounds good. Thanks, I say. Emery and I snuggle into our respective sleeping bags and fall asleep.

Kayne Lytch –13- -D10- POV

I can't shake Kayra's face. I feel bad for her. But I can't end up like that. And thinking about her death won't help me get back to Kylie, won't help make sure that Kylie is never hurt. I need to redirect that emotion into helping me win. And so I do. But first, I gave her a silent salute, and recognize that it's sad that she's dead, but it's not my fault, and if I win, that won't be my fault. It's all the Capitol's fault, the evil people that they are. But I will play their game, and I will win, and I will make sure no one ever has to play it again. Will, maybe not that last one, but I'll certainly try.

A/N: The first day is complete, and only three Tributes have died. Who do you think (or what alliance) do you think has the best chance of winning? Will Giselle overcome or succumb to her PTSD? (Also, I know that that term may not be exactly right, and I apologize if anyone feels that I'm using it incorrectly, but it's the best term that I could come up with for what Giselle has.) Will Diamond get her revenge on Bri? Who will win? Who will die tomorrow, or will no one? So many questions! (I'd love it if you answered some of them, including your thoughts overall, in a review. :) )

Char: Ohhh boy. Char. I really liked his character, and he could have gone farther, especially had he had an alliance with someone who didn't die in the Bloodbath. In reality, although it was the knife thrown by a career (Ares) that doomed him, it was really his bad choice of allies. Sadly, his character really didn't have many places to go on his own, and would have died eventually, even if he hadn't been hurt in the Bloodbath. Still, RIP Char, he was fun to write.

The Fallen:

24th: Kayra Dawnbreeze, 13F, D10. Killed by a sword through the side from Ares Moretti.

23rd: Camelia Lloha, 12F, D12. Killed by a sword through the heart from Giselle Serpentine.

22nd: Char Alfand, 14M, D12. Killed by a knife through the heart thrown by Silk Daisly.

With this chapter, D12 has also lost both of its Tributes. Just a note. See you all tomorrow! (In the Games, that is. It may take several RL days, we'll see. I try to get these out ASAP, but you know, I… really don't have a life anymore with COVID-19. Also, everyone, stay safe, stay home, and read Shine instead of hoarding toilet paper!) Until next time, this is JStar14H, signing off.