I find myself waking up so suddenly. My mind feels a little scattered and my body already feels exhausted...

I look up. I'm in the fields of wheat and the sun is already up in the sky. "Huh..." I begin to get up. I rub my eyes only to notice Troy and Byke not too far from where I was sleeping. I get up and stretch. The sun happens to still not be in the middle of the sky so... I guess it's still pretty early. Monica is out cold and her spear is laying on her chest.

Hm, we must have been up a while early this morning if they're all so tired. Me? oh, I'm used to waking up early all the time. Of course, back in 11 we would be forced to wake up early and hurry up towards the plantations. I look around.

The area we're in kind of reminds me of home. The tall grass and wheat fields reminds me so much of home. The moments where me and my older brother were allowed to roam freely and we did what we wanted, chasing each other through the grass fields. However, when I think back to it... I can't feel much nostalgia for it. I hated living in 11.

Before I started school... I had worked with my older brother. However, they were smaller jobs. They would not dare work a small child like me to death. As I grew to start school with the money that my father had gotten from... a certain situation, I could remember walking towards home and seeing people being hurt. Beaten like they were tools, pets, may I say slaves? Sometimes, they were children. One time my brother got a broken nose.

He told me it was nothing to worry about. Apparently, one of the peacekeepers were drunk. The moment I remember that, I feel aggravated on the inside. My mothers reaction was something I can't forget.

She admitted that the Capitol treats themselves worse then they treat us. I don't know weather to say that isn't true or not. It seems like it...

I sit back down, hidden to everything (Well except cameras, but screw those things). Byke, Troy and Monica aren't too far off. They're all quiet... Hm...

I stand up and begin taking a walk. No matter what time it is, for some reason I feel wide awake. I feel almost at harmony. Safe once again. Even though Alma isn't here.

I hope he's still alive... There's definitely a chance that he's alive.

I suddenly stop to think about our current situation. Does he think I'm still alive? Most likely not. It's actually pretty incredible knowing that I'm still okay and it's only the 3rd day. Well... to be fair the 99th Games lasted under a week and the one before lasted about 4 days. I look up at the sky.

Today the sky is clear of any clouds. The sun is shinning brightly. Then... I'm suddenly reminded of another issue.

We have no water currently...

This wasn't an issue after we met Monica. She had a container already filled with some ice cold water. I was thankful for that and it encouraged me to let her stay for the most part. However, when she runs out... where will we find water? When it rains? Well... rain cannot come any sooner...

Suddenly though, I stop dead in my tracks. I hear something moving. I look behind myself. I can't see the rest. They're probably just getting up about now. Though I should be caref-,

"WHAM!" A sudden force knocks me to the ground. My head hits the dirt, knocking all of the wind right out of me. I don't even know how to properly respond to this until I notice somebody on top of me. It's a boy and he looks almost familiar.

He curls his hand into a ball before hurling it at my face. "WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!" He continuously punches me. Blood begins to come out of my nose as I screech the names of my friends.

"SHUT UP AND DIE! BRAT!" He shouts, picking up a sword he had not to far away. He begins to inch it towards my throat. No! THIS CANNOT BE IT! This can't be where my story ends!

Though this kids knee is on my arms, I quickly manage to loosen myself and I begin pushing him off. He's pretty weak for an older looking tribute. He's knocked back. I quickly jump up and begin taking off my backpack when he jumps up to try and slice me. I jump backwards, getting my bag off. My heart is pounding with fear. THIS GUY'S GOT ME! HOW AM I GOING TO ESCAPE HIM!

He lunges at me once more. However, this time I quickly hit him with my backpack. This knocks him to the ground and I quickly take advantage by kicking and punching him to the ground.

His sword is knocked to the ground as well. I quickly pick it up and throw it out of sight. I kick him once more before grabbing my backpack and running as far off as I can. As I do, I begin pulling out knives. A small packet of them are ready. The boy still happens to be down though. I look around.

"Altar! Altar!" I hear somebody shouting my name from not too far away. I turn to my right. Byke and Troy are frantically searching for me. "Guys!" I shout to them, rushing over in there direction.

However, Monica seems to jump and run when something jumps at her. In only a few seconds, she's on the ground. "Monica!" I shout, rushing over to my friends.

With a knife in hand, I charge at her attacker. The kid doesn't notice me until the last second. This one is a she though. So who was the other one then...

Doesn't matter. Without thinking, I quickly sink my knife into the girls back. She screams in agony before going down. However, even though this happens there isn't an immediate canon. However, she seems... dead... I run over to check. Blood pours out of her side. I quickly check for a pulse...

None though...

My heart sinks. I-I just... killed her... I just killed another human. I fall on my back, the thought registering... This entire time, I've been thinking about the possibility that I could see the games to the end... maybe even win. I was hoping I could go home, act like none of this ever happened. However, somehow through this journey... I've forgotten the point of the games.

"I-Is she dead?" Byke asks.

Monica quickly grabs her spear and rushes to check. "I think so. Just no canon." She looks around.

"AHH!" Someone screams. Troy is knocked to the floor. Monica quickly jumps into action. The other tribute is beating Troy into a pulp. Monica quickly rushes and tries to pull the boy off of Troy. However, he turns around and elbows Monica in the nose. I grab another knife and aim at his head.

However, it misses by a long shot though. It also manages to gain the boys attention. Oh no. Oh no... I pick up another one before launching it at him. He dodges it before running at me. Picking up my backpack, I pull out another knife. Aiming carefully, I try and throw one more at him.

"Woosh..."

It flies past him life a fly. "WHAM!" A sudden force knocks me to the ground and I'm out of it in a split second...

Time Passes

I jump. Where! What! What even happened?!

I look up and realize that Byke and Troy are sitting around me. "Yes! You really are okay!" Byke squeals with joy.

I begin to get up a little. My head is in complete pain. To my right, Monica is doing her own thing. I lay my head back down. "What happened?" I ask.

"District 8 attacked." Troy explains.

"Actually we don't exactly know... I mean, they had the District 8 jackets but the District 8 tributes were both killed in the bloodbath. We're confused as well." Monica sighs.

"Probably just a mistake or something." I decide to shrug it off.

"At least your okay. Your lucky Monica managed to end it before things got out of hand." Byke admits.

I shake my head. "Honestly, I'm just happy that you all are okay." I smile.

Troy and Byke smile back. However, Monica just stares at the blue sky. "I don't even understand this myself..." She sighs.

I lay back into the grass. "Nothing ever makes sense in the Hunger Games." I remind them.

"Hey... Uh... Monica?" Troy stutters for a moment.

Everyone gets back up. "Yeah?" She answers.

"Uh... We're... We're sort of running through our water supplies." He tells her.

Monica responds with a facepalm. "Of course we are. Maybe we can sneak our way back to the cornucopia?" She questions.

I quickly begin shaking my head. "No. Hell no. You want us to die?" I question her.

"Do you want to die of thirst?" She gives me a disappointed look.

After a long pause, I nod. "I guess you're right. Please just don't get us killed." We begin to get up and move out.

However, I'm quick to note the pain on my head. That punch to the head really did a number on me...

"Are you gonna be able to make it?" Byke asks me.

"Yeah. I'm only a little lightheaded." I touch the side of my forehead. A throbbing sensation builds up from there.

We begin walking through the grain field, looking out for danger. I look up and notice dark clouds. "Rain again?" Troy questions.

"Probably. Hopefully it'll mask us as we make our way to the cornucopia." Monica hopes.

We eventually make it to the flower patch that stands in front of the cornucopia. Getting trapped in here obviously makes you easy picking. We don't plan on getting stuck.

"I've always wonder what they've put in here to make us slower? Mud or something?" Byke suggests.

"That would make sense now that we th-, Hold up... Mud..." Troy begins to think.

Troy quickly puts his hand in the mud, digging around. "Troy, it's just mud. We can't drink mud." I tell him.

He gets up, disappointed. "But then again. What keeps it wet?" I look around.

"Obviously the gamemakers. Some sort of tech underground probably." Byke says as she picks some of the flowers. The flowers are pretty huge. Almost the size of my head. They reach up to our knees.

She picks it up before noticing something at the stem. "Hey, have you ever tried honey suckles before?" She asks us.

We all turn around and give her a confused look. "Yeah? Why?" I ask.

She takes a look at the bottom. "Because maybe it's possible that these flowers are filled with water. It'd explain how it could keep the surrounding area wet." She suggests.

I pick a flower before trying to squeeze it. A small bit of water squirts out. "How the heck did you know that?" I give her a confused look.

She just shrugs. I quickly rush and suck the stem of the flower. In an instant, I'm refreshed with water. "Guys. She's actually right." I tell everyone.

Everyone in the group tries the same. The water from the flowers refreshes us like nothing before. Troy squeals with excitement. Monica quickly quiets him. We look back over to the cornucopia.

"I can make the assumption that nobody is near it..." I admit, wiping my face.

Across from us is the cornucopia. Nobody seems to be over there at the moment. "You wanna go check it out?" Byke asks.

I'm quick to remind her why that isn't a good idea. She sighs and we begin to turn ourselves around. Considering how quiet the cornucopia is, I wonder why the careers have been abandoning it...

Time Passes Once More...

We continue eating the food that we had hunted the day before. Byke and Troy take the main bulk of it just because I'm nice. Monica doesn't seem to be interested in eating though.

"What's up?" Byke asks.

Monica just sighs. "Nothing." She looks up at the sky.

The sky has darkened. It looks like it may storm once more. "Should we take shelter again?" I ask.

Monica shakes her head. "If the last time it rained was any indication..." She reminds me.

I shrug before standing up.

"BOOM!" "BOOM!"

We all look around at the sound of canons. "Two canons this time... You don't think..." Byke looks back down at her food.

Monica shrugs. "Maybe. Possibly the careers. Could also be those two from 5 and 9." She suggests.

"I'd rather it be the careers. We need some sort of target off our back." I admit.

Troy looks around. "How many tributes are remaining?" He asks.

"Well... If we don't count those who died just now then that would make 8..." I count.

"Wow. Top 8... It feels so weird realizing that we'd both make it here..." Troy admits, looking to the ground and trying to hide his smile. To be fair... I didn't think I'd make it to this point either.

"The sad fact is that there were 24 other tributes fighting in another arena and they're still fighting. We're not exactly top ei-," She stops before she can finish saying 8.

I jump, looking around to make sure there aren't any tributes around or anything. "Did you see something?" I ask.

She takes a deep breath. "Okay. I just realized something." She begins to explain.

Her eyes have been widened, as if she's afraid now. My heart pulse increases just waiting for her to begin explaining.

"There are two arenas... They concept of these games is that we all converge at the end when few tributes remain." She tells.

I give a nod. "So the games are almost complete you mean..." I begin.

She nods. However, fear is still evident in her voice and posture. "We may have survived the careers. A lot of events in this arena but the moment all that ends, we have new arena events and tributes to deal with." She breathes out.

"Well, it doesn't seem like too big of a deal. Sure. New careers and new tributes but we've survived this long. What will stop us now?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "We've survived this long by avoiding people. But you remember what happened this morning with the boy and girl from 8. They must have been from the other arena since the kids from 8 already died." She exclaims.

Troy nods. "Now all of this is starting to make sense..." He admits.

The thought then registers. "You mean... We might be in for some real trouble now that god knows how many tributes are going to be flooding this area of the games?" I ask.

She nods. Meanwhile, Byke is doing her own thing. "Hey uh... We might be running through your food supplies a little too quickly..." She admits.

We quickly get up. "Great. Just great. I guess we're going hunting." Monica grits her teeth in annoyance.

"I don't think any of us know how to hunt." Troy tells her.

She sighs. "Why do you think this is going to be so annoying." She gets up.

Time Passes Again...

As we head into the forests, I notice something falling from the sky. "Hey... Is that-," I look up.

Falling from the sky is snow. White snow. "Wow. I can't believe it." Byke smiles.

"Wow. I haven't seen snow before." Monica admits, a small smile growing on her face.

I'm surprised they aren't reacting with pure horror. The previous game was in a completely snow arena. Even when the sun was out and possibly scorching hot, the snow stayed on the ground. Many horrors came from those 5 day games but what's done is done. I can't help but freak out over the possibility of a more sadistic snow Hunger Games.

"Hopefully this won't slow us down. We need to find something to kill before it's too late." Monica tells us.

We quietly begin moving through the snow. The fact that we haven't found a single animal is almost completely sadistic. Do the gamemakers love seeing children slowly starving to death or something? What the hell am I talking about? This is the Capitol.

I'm inclined to start another one hour Capitol rant at this moment but then I'm stopped when a piercing screech hits our ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"SCREEEE!" The sound of a bird soaring around us hits the air.

"Ow. My ears." Troy screams.

I look around. "I don't get where that came from and wh-," Suddenly, I see a bird flying towards me at high speeds.

However, it passes right by me. Instead, hitting the person next to me... Byke.

The bird cuts straight through her shoulder, knocking her to the ground. "Byke!" Troy shouts, running over to his District partner.

I turn around. Another bird comes soaring in my direction. I quickly get down on the ground before it can even hit me.

Luckily, it soars right past me. Troy is busy quickly picking Byke up. "Can you carry me?" She asks him.

He responds with a nod, giving her a piggyback ride. "Run!" I shout.

Monica still seems to be stuck at a loss for words before we can even begin. As we head forwards, I see a baby blue object flying right towards us. "Dodge!" Monica shouts.

At once, we all jump out of the way of the bird flying at our face. "Damn it. Out of all things that had to attack us, it had to be birds. They couldn't make it any easier on us." I grit my teeth as we try to run away.

"Not only are they quick but we can't even hit them." Monica turns around.

I turn my head just in time to notice another one flying at me. I quickly pull my backpack in front of my face. The bird stabs straight into my backpack. I quickly slam my bag to the ground.

"I got one!" I tell Monica, Byke and Troy.

They continue running up and I rush off after them. "Hey Byke? Are you going to be okay?" I ask.

She can't even smile. "I-I don't know." She says.

Troy seems nervous as we rush along. "I think she's bleeding pretty hard." He tells me. I suddenly hear a ripple in the wind. It sounds almost like a knife-,

I get down as another bird flies right past me. It turns itself around before flying at Monica. "AH!" At once, she just barely avoids the baby blue bird.

Once more though, it turns itself around, ready to strike even just one of us. "Troy! Byke!" I shout over to them. The bird flies towards them, the most vulnerable out of all of us.

All at once, it strikes Troy in the chest, knocking him to the ground. My eyes widen in fear as he hits the ground screaming in agony. Byke also hits the ground, holding onto her shoulder. Monica rushes over to them. However, another bird rushes us.

"GET BACK!" I shout, swinging back bag rapidly, praying to god I'll hit it. I close my eyes when suddenly, I do feel something getting hit. One of the birds ends up hitting the tree.

"YES!" I shout.

I look up though... a swarm of birds flying over us...

"Oh god no!" I shout.

Troy and Byke are both writhing in pain from the attacks landed on them. "We've got to get out of here." I tell them.

"Yes. I see that. Just how are we going to get these two up?" She asks.

Byke, her shoulder still hurting. "I can run... I can run... My shoulder hurts but I can still run." She begs.

Troy is still crying in pain. "He can't though. Who's gonna help Troy?" I ask.

"I can stay back and try and fend them off?" Byke tells us.

Monica is quick to dismiss this idea. "No. You'd both die. We can't have that." She says.

"So what now? We all die together then." I glare at her.

Monica only closes her eyes. "Possibly. You can run if you want." She says.

My eyes widen. This is a first. After all that time of feeling as if she'd betray us at any moment, the simple fact that she's willing to let me run from a situation like this shocks me.

"Well. What are you waiting for?" She asks.

I shake my head. "I... I-I can't." I say.

I suddenly here another silent but piercing whistling sound. I turn around in time to block another bird with my bag. I quickly throw my bag at the ground. "If we're going to stay around, we have to protect these two and maybe get them out as quickly as we can." I tell them.

"And how are we going to do that?" Monica replies.

I try to come up with an answer but I just can't come up with anything realistic. However, Troy begins to speak up. Blood starting to spill through his chest.

"J-Just leave us..." He begs.

I shake my head. "Hell no. You know it yourself that you do NOT want to die right now. Trust me on this!" I tell them, my voice starting to become distressed.

Byke looks up at me. "Why do you suddenly care about our safety?" Byke asks.

I look over to her. She's got a point... I close my eyes. "I don't know." I say to them, but it feels like I'm saying this to myself.

I look around. Another bird is heading in our direction. I quickly duck under it and begin to pick up Troy. "We should at least try to get away." I say to them.

Monica nods before slowly lifting Byke onto her back. However, I struggle to get Troy.

"ARGH. JUST TAKE BYKE!" She drops Byke and we trade.

We then begin rushing through the woods, looking behind ourselves to make sure nothing comes at us. Soon, another bird comes flying directly at us. This time, from the front. Ignoring all logic, I try and dodge it. Somehow though, it misses me.

"Calm the heck down Alt! I nearly fell down!" Byke argues.

"Do you want us to die?" I question her.

Monica is still running ahead of us and we follow her. Byke moves a bit. "BEHIND US!" She shouts. I try and turn around but it only leads to something striking right through my shoulder.

"AAAH!" I shout, nearly falling back. It only barely grazed me but holy shit! That hurt like hell!

It takes me a second to remember that I got stabbed in the shoulder in the bloodbath and that's slowly been healing up. So are you telling me that these birds are striking our most damaged areas? Oh man, oh man!

I continue carrying Byke through the snowy woods. As we quickly advance though, I a sound akin to knife flying through the air. Before I can try to do anything about it though, something stabs straight through the side of my leg. I scream, falling to the ground in complete agony.

Byke falls onto me. She begins to get up though. "Come on Alt. We can do this." She begs.

She starts to drag me off as I feel the blood slowly seeping from my legs. I'm almost in tears. Somehow though, Byke slowly manages to pull me away from danger. "Come on. Come on." She says to herself as she pulls me through the snow.

I can see through the corner of my eye, another bird heading right towards us. Before it can come close to hitting Byke though, she falls straight into something, yelling.

"WHOA!" She shouts, falling.

I begin to get up. "Byke!" I shout her name. Suddenly though, water is splashed into my face.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what asshole put this lake near us." She tells me.

I look around us. The birds slowly seem to fly away. Why are they flying away? Is there something else here to finish us.

I look across the lake. Troy is laid across the ground, blooding still spilling through his chest. Monica is over him, panicking. I begin crawling in their direction. "Guys!" I shout over to them.

Monica gets up and quickly rushes to me. "Oh god. Are they gone?" She asks.

I give a nod. "Yeah. They stopped for now..." I say to myself.

I look over to Troy. He's crying in agony. My heart hurts just seeing him cry. Byke against a tree stump next to the lake. Her shoulder is leaking blood. I'm spread across the ground in pain. "A-Are we going to die?" Byke asks.

I want to slap Byke across the head really hard right there... But I hate to admit that she has a point. Troy is definitely not going to make it unless we get a sort of sponsors. Any more movements will cause Byke to most likely bleed out on the spot and well... I'm out of commission.

"No. No you aren't! We just need... Hope or something!" Monica begs.

The girl from 4 looks to the sky. "Please... Somebody sponsor these children..." She whispers. ..

Time Passes...

Troy has stopped crying, but he's eerily quiet now. No canon yet so he isn't dead. Thank heavens. As the sun continues to go down, I look over at Monica. She's been sitting at the lake. She was crying for hours at a time while we all bled to near death.

I slowly begin to crawl over towards her. Before I can even get to her, she turns around and sighs. "You fine?" She asks.

I give a nod. "Don't pit this on yourself. It would've been a lot worse if you weren't here." I tell her.

She shakes her head. However, she doesn't even bother to say anything to me. I sigh.

"You know... Why did you stay?" She asks.

I look towards the sunset. "I don't know... I feel like an idiot for staying but I thought I could protect them." I look back towards Troy and Byke. Byke is half sleep laying next to a tree.

"I feel like an idiot all the time. Thinking I can protect a bunch of 12 year olds like the person I am. But even then, I'm up for it." She admits.

"Why do you want to protect us?" I ask her.

She takes a deep breath. "I don't know. Something in me wants to protect those who are afraid. That's why I volunteered for my sister." She puts her knees to her chest.

I think for a moment. "Were you also supposed to be a career?" I ask.

Monica shakes her head. "No. I did pretend to be one before the games could begin but there were tensions between me and them since I wasn't supposed to volunteer." She admits, looking at her hands.

She clenches her palms. "I killed my District partner in the bloodbath. I questioned why I had done it. We knew each other. I'd seen him before. I'd seen his family. I killed him... just because he was the closest career I could find." She admits, sadly.

I think about it. I didn't realize how hard it was on her...

"I was beginning my escape from the bloodbath around that time actually. I was getting chased by the District 2 female when your District partner took her out." She explains.

"Huh? Ceres did that?" I ask.

Monica nods. "Yeah. In complete cold blood. She mowed her down as if she was a 12 year old. All with an axe in fact." She tells me.

I gulp. Now I definitely do not want to come across my District partner...

"That reminds me though. Isn't your brother in the other arena?" She asks me.

I nod. "Yeah. I don't know if he's dead or alive but I can tell you, he's pretty tough." I admit.

Monica smiles. "I wish I had a sibling like that. My sister looks up to me as if I'm the brightest star in the world. Especially since mother..." She begins to quiet though.

I want to just give her a pat on the back but my current condition says otherwise. "You know. I lost my father when he was young." I admit.

Her eyes widen. "B-But your 12. How old were you when he d-," She begins to ask.

"Eight. He was shot I think." I sigh.

"What did he do for that to happen?" She asks.

I sigh. "It's a mystery... but considering what it's like back home, I doubt it was anything important." I admit.

She looks at the grass. Her face seems to reflect some sort of guilt now. I don't know why though...

"Is 11 really that bad?" She asks.

I nod in response. "It isn't anything to be taken lightly with. Free will is just a joke in 11. To my mother anyways." I admit.

She licks her lips. "What's your mother like?" She asks.

I look up to the sky. "She was like the brightest star in the sky. Nothing could shine better than her. She was responsible and kind." I say.

Monica looks down at me. "You know, I thought people in 11 were uneducated? You're making poetry." She tells me.

I chuckle. "We had a small school." I tell her.

I cringe at that line though. Monica quickly takes note. "Hm. You seem uncomfortable? Is there something up with it?" She asks.

I want to say something and I begin to open my mouth to explain but I hear a certain ringing sound. I look up and we notice a silver box with a parachute attached floating down towards us. "IT'S A SPONSER ITEM!" I shout, nearly getting to my feet.

However, I quickly collapse remembering my new handicap.

Monica jumps up and grabs the item. She looks inside the box. "It's a first aid kit." She exclaims in excitement, looking up the sky and shouting thank you. She also ends up waking up Byke.

"Huh? Wha!?" Byke questions.

Monica quickly rushes over to Byke. "I need you to try on this healing ointment." She takes off Bykes jacket and outer shirt in order to put the ointment on her shoulder.

Byke cringes as she rubs it. Monica follows this up by pulling out a bandage and rolling it around Bykes shoulder. She quickly rushes over to Troy who's probably asleep. She puts the healing ointment on Troy as well before rolling a bandage around his waist.

She then rushes over to me. "Alright, this might hurt a bit." She puts the ointment on my leg. For a second, it burns. I cringe.

However, she quickly wraps a bandage around my leg. "All done." She cheers.

I give a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Somebody wanted to sponsor us." I breathe.

I look back over at Troy. He's still breathing. Quietly too. Byke Begins to move towards us. "Thanks." She cries.

"I guess we aren't in this alone after all." Monica smiles.

"I guess... I can sleep happily knowing we all won't be dying soon." I laugh.

By this point, the sun has completely gone down and everything has gone quiet. Everything but the buzz of fireflies, the chirps of crickets, the crock of frogs and an owl. It feels sothing. The fact that we almost died earlier is completely forgotten.

Byke and Troy slowly drift back to sleep while Monica struggles not too. While I'd be fine with them dozing off, I'm still worried about something. First off is the idea that the two arenas will converge. More waves of tributes to deal with. Also the-,

I jolt when the anthem suddenly begins playing. Monica, Byke and Troy all wake up at once and observe the sky.

The first face shown to be lit in the sky is that of the District 1 Female. Her face shows confidence. I actually feel quite bad now. While the careers are unanimously the worse type of people in the arena, they fell so quickly. Then again, there are more on the way...

The next face we see is the District 2 Male.

"The careers... They're all gone..." Byke says, quietly.

A smile forms on her face. It's actually kind of hard to smile at this. For me anyways. I look over to Monica. "Who could've done this..." She ponders.

I think for a moment as the anthem begins to wrap up. "10 and 11." I remind her.

Monica nods. "If they're that good... Well I don't want to be anywhere near them." She lays back down, looking up at the stars.

I laugh. "That's what I've been saying the past 3 days." I admit.

Monica jumps up. "Three days? I just remembered. We've only been in the arena for 3 days!" She shouts.

I nod. "Yeah. At this rate it seems we're just going to be stuck in here forever... and ever." I sigh, putting my knees to my chest.

Slowly but shortly, I can sense dread and worry in Monica. While she's up for protecting us when the time comes, she can't help but become less heroic in the face of death. Then again, the past few games have been short with little fear in getting taken out due to the Gamemakers desire to keep the games running.

We've been targeted by the gamemakers multiple times now and it's confusing. We don't know if they want us to split up or they just want us dead.

The wanting us dead part sounds more realistic obviously...

Monica looks up to the stars. They're obviously apart of the artificial dome the surrounds the arena. However, it almost feels like home. Sitting around a lake with... I guess I can say they're my friends. But yeah, it's so... serene. Too serene considering the circumstances honestly...

Time Passes

I'm jolted awake. Though nothing in particular awakens me. Just me overarching fear of death in my sleep. I wasn't even prepared to sleep because my mind just drifted off and well... now I'm awake. Byke is still laying on a tree. However, I notice something next to her. For a second, I jump. I examine a little and closer and find out it just happens to be Troy sleeping near her.

Meh...

I begin to stand up and look around. Monica is still sleeping by the lake. However, her face is set in a look that just says she's unsettled. I sit back next to her.

I begin to remember all the things we'd went over before we both drifted off to sleep. How pained she was to have to fight for her little sister. How pained she was to have killed someone from her own District. It all seems too much...

As I sit down, I give a yawn. It's probably around the 11 PM pr 12 area of time. I can't really tell. Though if the chill in the air is any indication, it's probably morning already. The sky is almost completely lit with stars.

I remember back in 11, me, momma and dad would sometimes sit around and point at constellations in the sky. The world seems so big. Bigger than even us in Panem. I've heard that the people in Panem are the few that remain. There used to be much more world...

I wish I could run as fast as I could and find these lands. Though it sounds unlikely. I'd have a better time trying to touch the stars myself.

Maybe I'd be free that way...

I jolt once more. I hear a sound. Not any regular sound though. A kind of shuffling one... Like feet moving through the grass. I quickly look behind myself. I start breathing heavily. I can't be imagining this one. Somebody is possibly here.

I begin to get to my knees, listening for sound. I begin to grab my backpack and pull out a knife. If someones there... I'm going to die. I don't want to rat out my friends though. They may not know they're there... worth a shot. Right?

Okay, maybe they do know that they're slumbering right behind me but screaming could give them the alarm. I hold out my knife right in front of me.

Where did it come from? Who did it come from?

Suddenly though, I begin to hear snickering. The sound of quiet laughter. Almost like young children pulling a joke... My heart begins to beat a an even faster rate. I swallow my saliva.

"Oh look who we found... Still looking for your mommy?" A voice rings. The voice is deep and it brings chills to my skin. I know who it is. They're here... and they know I am too.

And they're going to kill me...

Remaining Tributes

District 4 Female (Monica)

District 5 Male

District 6 Female (Byke)

District 6 Male (Troy)

District 9 Male

District 10 Female

District 11 Female (Ceres)

District 11 Male (Altar)

District 12 Female

Uh... Sorry it took this chapter a while to get out. I wanted to make the chapter long which in this case, kind of actually worked in my favor and I was making hard progress until I picked up Splatoon 2...

Anyways, first things first is that Altar got his first tribute kill... even though it's unclear where they came from. Also, the careers are dead. Magnificent? Also, our mains nearly died... again. Well, let's just say a lot happened but then again, the word count for the story is 6K words. Originally I meant for it to be 10K but all the events ended up happening in only 6,000 words... hm.

You know, I really need to get to re-writing those earlier chapters because I feel like I left open a million plot holes just trying to reach this segment of the games... Ah well.
Also the arena... seems quite tame. I guess I didn't give myself enough time to develop it. Meh, this story seems kind of rushed overall.

Icytopia - You'd think the main characters would know this but apparently not. Then again, they were trapped in an enclosed space that could possibly fill up and drown Monica so... oh well.