District 1

Trajan Seth

I'm standing in the middle of the arena, but there's no one around me. The sky is a charcoal gray, and the trees loom eerily. The grass is dark and even more overgrown. It remains stationary in the windless night.

I stand still, staring at the jungle as if I'm expecting something. Suddenly, something wraps around my ankle.

I let out a startled shout and jump, beating away the cold gray hand that has snaked from the dirt and grabbed onto my leg. I shake it free, but the hand reaches farther and pulls an entire arm out of the dirt. I want to move, but I can't. My legs feel frozen to the ground at I watch a head and torso pop free of the earth, covered in dirt.

Lucretius pulls the rest of his body out of the ground, caked in mud. His skin is pale and hollow. His dark hair looks especially black as he drags himself over to me. He's wearing a soiled white suit, but there's a hole in his jacket. A red stain stretches across his stomach, right where he was bitten by that damn snake.

His mouth stretches into a grin as he pushes himself to his feet. He stands there, a corpse, staring at me while swaying ominously.

Finally, he says, "Did you really suck all of the poison out, Trajan?"

I'm so startled, I can't move or speak in response.

"We all know you didn't like me. It would have been an easy way to kill me, wouldn't it? To let the rest of the poison seep into my veins and pretend like you made an effort?"

"I-I…."

"What will you do now that Glitter is gone? She was your only ally. Everyone else hates you. They hated her, too, and look where she ended up. In the ground, just like me. Should we invite her, too?"

I shake my head vigorously. I don't want to see Glitter as well… her hollow skin and muddy blonde hair…

"I suppose we shouldn't. After all, it's not your fault she died. You didn't kill her. You did kill me, though."

"I didn't kill you," I mutter.

"You did kill me," he repeats. "And them."

I hear the sound of dirt being knocked away behind me, but I don't turn around. I know what I'll see if I do. It doesn't matter where I look though, because moments later, the girl from District 8 and the boy from District 12 come stumbling into view. They stand on either side of Lucretius.

"At least you know my name. But do you know there's? You murdered them. And you don't know their names. You call them by their District."

"They're sheep," I manage to choke out through my shock. "Their names don't matter. The wolves don't have to name the sheep before killing them."

"You and your animal metaphors," Lucretius laughs. "I used to find them scary. Now I just see how pathetic they are and laugh. You use them to cover up your real fear."

"Wolves don't have fears."

Lucretius grins. "Then maybe you're not a wolf."

I jolt away, breathing heavily. After a few seconds, I calm down. Frowning, I sit up. I don't have nightmares. Nightmares are for sheep. I've never had a nightmare before.

But that wasn't a nightmare. Because I don't have nightmares. Because I'm a wolf, not a sheep.

Standing up, I push my blanket aside. I crack my sore back as I look at the sky. It's still dark, but slightly orange in the distance, which means it's morning by now. I yawn loudly, but don't wake up everyone else…

Looking around, I'm once again reminded that it's just four of us now. Rather than seven of us crowding the interior of the Cornucopia, we have Glorian slumped against the wall (sword in hand, as usual) and Cecelia and Noelani in the back. There's no longer any Lucretius sleeping progressively closer to Glorian or Glitter sleeping snuggled up against an irritated Vincent.

The whole place looks empty without everyone else.

I need a walk to clear my mind. I don't take any of the supplies (not that we have much, anyway) to assure Glorian that I didn't ditch the Careers. All I take is my spear, and obviously my gun. I tuck the gun carefully into my belt but hold the spear in front of me.

Maybe I could find an animal and kill it. Then I'd have a nice meal. I haven't eaten in days and I'm starting to feel a bit woozy.

I leave the Cornucopia silently. There's a light gust of breeze which rustles the dewy grass. It's relaxing until I look up into the sky and see storm clouds. I'm hoping that it won't rain until I get back, but it wouldn't be too bad to be exploring the jungle while in the rain. Most of the branches provide a nice canopy, so I'll just get a little wet.

It won't be any harm.

District 9

Hadley Moreau

"Well…" Rachel begins, "I suppose you guys will be leaving now."

"Are you joking?" I inquire, yawning heavily. Rachel stands over my body, where I was literally just asleep. Axel's still half asleep, barely aware of what's going on. Moments ago, Rachel started yelling at everyone to wake up and then demanded we leave the campsite. "We literally just woke up. The sun's barely up."

"Yeah. I said you could stay until morning. Now you have to leave," Rachel says.

"But -"

"It's morning, isn't it?" Rachel asks, gesturing toward the sky.

"It looks like it's going to rain soon…" Axel begins, but Rachel shushes him.

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to use the weather as an excuse to stay in our shelter. But that's not happening. I still don't trust you, and I don't want you in my shelter longer than necessary."

"Your shelter?" I ask, jumping to my feet. "If my memory serves correctly, we all built this. Axel and I included. We also agreed to split in the morning. You never said anything about us leaving the campsite. If you want us to separate, then you have to leave. Axel and I have no problems staying here, and neither do the rest of your alliance. You're the only one with an issue."

Rachel looks around the shelter at the rest of her alliance, who've all fallen silent. They all seem very interested in mundane things as dirt and the branches making up our shelter.

"Well… they still will follow me if I leave. Right?" Rachel asks. At first, no one moves. Then, quite reluctantly, her three allies get to their feet. "Let's go. Pack up!" Rachel orders, and everyone begins packing their things up. Tristana, however, wanders over to Axel and me.

"She's gotten a lot less fun the longer we've been out here," Tristana remarks.

"And yet, you're still going with her?" Axel asks, sounding disappointed. Tristana nods.

"But maybe we'll find one of those gems. Then I can return home with you guys." Axel hugs Tristana tightly while I slink off to my supplies. I want to make sure no one 'accidentally' takes some of Axel and my stuff. I move over to Arabella, who's rolling up one of the sleeping bags.

"I'm guessing you're staying with your alliance?"

Arabella nods. "I considered it, but… I think I should stay loyal to them. Besides, we've done alright so far. Why should I ruin it now?"

"I expected this. But if you ever change your mind… Well, we'll be somewhere in the jungle. But how about we have a truce in case we run into each other?" I ask, earning a smile from Arabella.

"Okay. Truce."

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise," she agrees. "No, Hadley, you have to do the movements as well. You can't just say, 'pinky promise'."

"I'm sorry, I don't know the rules," I roll my eyes as Arabella locks her little finger around mine. "Is the deal sealed now?"

"Yep."

"I hope you get a jewel," I tell her. She nods.

"So do I."

District 5

Dennis Fielder

When the rain begins falling, I barely notice. Being in a rainforest arena, rain has constantly been falling since the Bloodbath. It hasn't been too heavy yet, fortunately. The most it has been is an annoyance; there hasn't been any flooding. And it gives us an unlimited supply of water, so dehydration isn't something I've had to worry about yet.

The giant leaves and branches above my head only allows a bit of water to get through, as well, so it's not much of a problem.

A few drops land near me, but the trees provide a lot of cover.

Suddenly, a tiny spot on my forearm begins burning. I yell and pull it in front of me. At first, I suspect a poisonous bug has bitten me, or something, but there's a small hole in the sleeve of my gray jacket. Underneath is a tiny spot of red skin, right where it burns. It's slightly smaller than that of a cigarette burn. I don't see any bug. I try shaking my arm, to see if it disappeared under the sleeve of my jacket, but nothing appears.

I'm about to dismiss it and continue walking when I feel another burn, this time on the back of my neck. My hand slaps at my neck, once again searching for a bug, but all I feel is my skin. I begin to feel sharp burns all over my body, and it's not until I look down at my shoes that I realize what's going on.

The rain must be acid. Everytime a drop lands on my shoe, it sinks through, burning a little hole in my boot. I glance up at the sky, which is a bad idea, since two drops land on my face - thankfully, none in my eyes. I immediately drop my head back down.

I lift my backpack slightly higher, to cover my head, and begin running through the forest. I feel more drops of rain burning my arms. At first, the pain was quick and fleeting. But now, with the quantity, it's not going away.

I skid to a halt when I reach a small stream. I immediately jump in, and then leap back out. The water, which I thought would comfort my burns, must have rainwater inside, because it hurts as well. It's not as bad, since the freshwater dilutes it a bit, but it still hurts.

I look down at my arms as rain patters down on them. The sleeves of my jacket are peppered in holes. The rest of my outfit has gotten burned, as well, but the sleeves have the worst. The rain seems to be getting stronger - stronger than any of the regular rain we've gotten.

I look around, trying to decide where to go, but the rain blocks my vision. Maybe I could try and hide in a tree trunk? It seems like the best possible solution right now. I try to begin my search for a hollow tree, but the rain is making it difficult to see at all. It doesn't help that I can't keep my head up and the pain is completely distracting me.

My foot catches on a root and I go crashing to the ground. I barely acknowledge the pain of falling, because the rain falls heavily on my back. I try to push myself back up, but my arms give way and I fall back to the ground, face-up this time.

The rain falls directly onto my unprotected face. My face burns badly, which is bad, but then I get the rain is my eyes, which is way worse. I immediately flip back over onto my back and start blinking heavily. Both of my eyes begin to tear up. Not from crying. It's just a natural reaction… I think.

I pull myself over to the base of a large tree and curl up around the trunk. It's not hollow, but it provides some cover. I can barely move, so I don't think I'll manage to find a hollow tree. Especially since my left eye is blurring up. I can't see out of it right now.

The acid rain continues to drip onto me. It better end soon, or else I think I might die. And I definitely don't want a freaking storm to be the end of me.

District 4

Noelani King

"Do you think Trajan's stuck in the storm?" I ask, watching the rain fall heavily. Glorian, Cecelia and I are all sitting inside the Cornucopia, waiting for the rain to stop. Normally, a little bit of rain wouldn't stop Glorian from making us hunt for food (especially with the stock so low) but the rain is especially hard today.

Most of the showers we've had were very light, almost like a mist, but today it's pouring. I'd hate to be one of the tributes out in the open now. At least we have the Cornucopia, which is likely the most rain-proof shelter in the arena. Right now, all of us are completely dry. But if the rain continues, the Cornucopia would likely be the first place to flood.

"Who cares?" Cecelia asks, untying her ponytail. Her long blonde hair springs free, still slightly in position after sitting in the same ponytail for five days.

"I know Trajan's annoying, but it's probably best if we still have him. We're only at four Careers right now, and it's only day five," Glorian points out. "He's useful. And he scored a 10, we want him on our side."

"Fine," Cecelia mutters, looking disgruntled.

"Are you sure he didn't ditch us?" I ask Glorian. Glorian shakes his head.

"The only things he took were his weapons. If he was ditching us, he would have taken the supplies," Glorian says with confidence.

"What supplies? The rusty metal scraps or bits of cloth?" Cecelia mutters under her breath. Unfortunately, Glorian hears her and turns to glare.

"Well, we'd have more had you watched the supplies like I told you," Glorian hisses. Cecelia blushes and stays quiet. She begins trying to comb her greasy hair with her fingers.

"You should wash it in the rain first," I suggest. Cecelia nods in agreement and walks past me, over to the entrance of the Cornucopia. She reaches her hand out into the rain, and immediately recoils, shouting in pain. "What?" I jump up, rushing over.

"The rain burned me!" she exclaims. I don't believe her until I see the blister forming on her fingers.

"What?" I say in disbelief. Glorian appears behind us.

"What do you mean it burned you?" he asks, and she shows him her blistered hand. His dark eyes widen. Carefully, he sticks his hand into the rain. He hisses and yanks it back. Just like Cecelia, his fingertips are bright red. He doesn't have a blister, but it still looks painful.

"Why would you stick your hand out after I told you it burned me?" Cecelia asks.

"It's acid rain," Glorian announces, ignoring her. "I don't think it's enough to kill unless you stand out there for a long time. But it will still be very painful and cause injury."

"Wait so Trajan's caught in the acid rain?" asks Cecelia.

"You don't have to sound so happy."

"Here, let's wash it off," I suggest, pulling Cecelia over to the supplies in the back. She willingly follows, holding her blistered hand away from her body. I quickly shuffle through the few supplies we have remaining until I come across our final bottle of water, which is only filled half-way. Carefully, I pour a bit on Cecelia's hand.

"Are you using the rest of our drinking water?" Glorian demands.

"It's, like, two gulps," I tell him, rolling my eyes. "Besides, this is more important. We can get more drinking water next time it rains."

"What if it's just acid rain?" Glorian asks.

"That's not going to happen," I say, rolling my eyes.

"How do you know?"

"Well, tributes are either safe or in danger right now. As soon as everyone in danger gets to safety or is picked off, nothing interesting will happen and the Gamemakers will stop the acid rain."

"Ow!" Cecelia hisses as I pour a bit too much water onto her palm. I mutter an apology and begin looking through the rest of the supplies for bandages.

After a few minutes of searching, I realize we don't have any bandages. But we do have those small, random scraps of cloth that are just big enough for me to tie one around Cecelia's hand.

"Is that fine?" I ask her when it's mostly secured. She nods.

The three of us sit in a circle in the center of the Cornucopia.

"Well… I guess we're just trapped here for now."

District 6

Axel Woodleigh

"Axel, come on!" Hadley insists, pulling me toward the stone structure sticking out of the earth.

"No! I have a bad feeling about it," I tell him, trying to remain in place. However, Hadley's stronger and manages to pull me through the entrance.

After the acid rain started, we began searching for some sort of shelter. Fortunately, we were in a dense area, so we didn't get the full force of the storm, but it's still painful. Eventually, we managed to find this little stone structure. It looks like a cave, but there are steps leading downward. Hadley likes it, but I'm terrifying. There's something squirming in my gut and I have a bad feeling about this.

Hadley yanks me through, and for a moment, I'm grateful to no longer have the acid rain dripping down on me. In fact, that's the only reason I don't walk out of the structure.

"Hadley, I told you!" I say. "This doesn't seem right. Remember what happened last time we went in a building?"

"Yeah. You found the stone, and now we can both live."

"And we almost drowned. This isn't good, Hadley," I tell him. I glance down the dark, cellar-like staircase. "I have a bad feeling about it."

"Axel, you're not psychic," Hadley groans. "How would you know?"

Against my warnings, he begins trudging down the staircase. With reluctance, I follow him.

Hadley leads the way through the dark hallway as we trudge deeper into the earth. Just before we run out of sunlight, we stumble across a small, flickering torch placed on the wall. I quickly pick it up and hold it out to light the way.

The torch doesn't do much more than the natural light did, but it makes it so we can at least see where to put our feet. | The firelight doesn't illuminate the corridor much, but from what I can see, the stairs continue downward with no signs of stopping.

"Hadley, are you sure this is a good idea?" I ask uneasily. I still feel like this is a bad idea, but it's only gotten worse the further we've walked down. I don't like being so far underground.

"Would you rather be out in the acid rain?" Hadley asks. "Besides, what if there's something else helpful down here?"

"Is it really worth the risk? We can already both survive - that's what's important."

"Axel…" Hadley begins, but doesn't continue. We've reached the bottom of the stairs. And in front of us is a long corridor, with a bunch of hallways branching off of it. It looks like we've entered a maze.

"Hadley, please," I beg. This time, Hadley hesitates.

"Maybe you're right," he admits. "We should -"

Hadley stops mid-sentence as we hear a grinding behind us. We turn around and see a heavy stone block sliding out of the wall to block our exit. Hadley rushes over to it, but by the time he reaches it, our exit has been blocked. We stand silently for a moment, staring at what was our only simple exit.

"That's not good," Hadley mutters.

He's right. Whenever Gamemakers block a tribute's exit or try to corral them into one place, it means they're looking for a fight. Likely, there's either a mutt or other tributes down here.

Hadley rushes back over to me as I stare down the corridor. It's illuminated with torches, so at least we have light.

"I guess we should try to find our way out," Hadley says.

"But -"

"Axel, if we don't, we're just going to be stuck here. Do you really think the Gamemakers will open the door for us?"

"Fine," I mutter. Hadley slows begins to walk down the corridor, me close behind him. "Maybe you should get out your darts," Hadley suggests. We continue walking down the corridor at a quick pace while I fumble with the torch, trying to get some darts out of my pocket. Hadley glances back at me nervously for a moment, then mutters that we should hurry up.

I pick up my pace until I'm nearly running beside him. I nervously look both ways, at the approaching corridors. Every single time we pass one, I feel as though some Career or jaguar will jump out, ready to kill us.

But we make it to the end of the main hallway without much trouble. Nobody jumps out and scares us, and both of us are alive. But we reach a dead end. A few yards back is the last hallway, which Hadley grudgingly suggests we go through.

"I'm worried we'll get lost," he admits.

"Let's just stick to the right wall, then," I suggest. "Then, if we get lost, we can just turn around and go left and end up back over here." Hadley agrees with my strategy, and I'm tasking with sticking to the right wall so we don't miss any turns. I offer Hadley the torch, which he holds out in front of him. I drag my free hand along the cold stone wall.

Hadley has his gun in one hand, which he holds at the ready. He only has four bullets left, so he's trying to be sparing with them. We keep taking right turns, but we don't come across anything new. I'm trying to count how many turns we've made in my head, but it's difficult when I'm also trying to keep an eye out for anything dangerous.

Hadley suddenly stops in his tracks, and I crash into him. He nearly drops the torch.

"Why did you stop?" I inquire after muttering an apology. Hadley points at the ground. In the dim light, I can make out a trail of crumbs in front of us. "What do you think they're from?"

"Somebody likely placed them there to mark their path."

"Who would waste food in the Hunger Games?"

"The Careers. Or maybe it's a human-like mutt," Hadley offers. "Like last year - the Queen and her children?" I shiver, remembering the life-like mutts from last year.

"Ugh, I hope it's not like them."

"Should we stick with the right-strategy?" Hadley asks me. "The crumbs go right." I follow the path, and see that the crumbs indeed go down our intended path.

"Maybe that's where they came from," I say. "Or they took another path after that. I think we should continue this way, because at least we won't get lost."

Hadley nods, and we both follow the crumbs to the right. My hand continues dragging along the wall, but I stop in my tracks when I feel something warm and slimy on the wall, rather than just the cool brick.

"Ugh," I say, not wanting to look at my hand. Hadley stops, turns, looks at me in confusion, then his eyes drift to my hand and grimaces. I look at my hand, which is against a smear of blood on the wall. It drips down onto the floor, and I realize I'm inches from standing in a puddle of blood.

I yank my hand back from the wall, and begin wiping it furiously on my pants.

"Is it real?" Hadley asks.

"It sure felt like it," I cringe, still trying to wipe the blood off my hand. Hadley squats down and looks at the puddle of blood. He inspects it for a moment, then his eyes follow a narrow trail down the hall. It seems like someone was dripping blood as they walk away from here, because there's several drops of blood leading the way.

"It's probably another tribute, right? Because they blood is real?" Hadley asks.

"I don't know if it's real. And it could be an animal."

"No, look at the footprints," Hadley says. He points at a small track in one of the blood splatters on the floor. It's clearly a human foot. "We should follow it."

"Are you joking?" I hiss.

"They bled a lot," he reminds me. "If they are alive -"

"No cannon has gone off today, so they are," I interject.

"Okay, so they must be dying right now. They won't be any threat. Maybe they have supplies, or maybe it's someone we'll want to help."

"Hadley -"

"What if it's Tristana?" Hadley asks me, and I immediately fall silent. It does seem like a risk, but I would want to help if it is Tristana. And if it's not, they won't be a threat.

"Fine," I decide, still reluctant.

Hadley and I begin following the trail. Hadley has to lean over to see the occasional drops of blood on the ground as we walk, which makes me uneasy. He's the main fighter, so if someone were to leap out at us, he'd be at a disadvantage. I'm trying to use my ears to detect anyone nearby, but I know I won't be able to solely rely on hearing.

We make a few turns, but the path is mostly straight ahead. We finally reach a fork in the path, and when we turn right, we see the victim curled up in a dead end.

It's a very small girl, definitely not a tribute. I know that I'm the youngest, and this kid is probably several years younger than me. She looks about eight, wearing animal skins rather than our tribute getup. She's huddled in a corner, bleeding heavily out of a wound in her side. She stares at us in terror with tears in her eyes.

"Is it a mutt?" Hadley whispers to me.

"I guess," I shrug. She looks extremely realistic for a muttation, even more so than the Queen from the 247th Hunger Games. "Should we leave or try to talk to her?" I begin to ask Hadley, but he's already approached the girl.

Sighing, I follow him. Hadley has a soft spot for children, which is why I happen to be allied with him. And why Linen and Savanna were in our alliance, as well. It's no surprise that he's trying to talk to an injured mutt.

"Hello, my name's Hadley," he says, squatting down in front of the injured girl. She doesn't respond. "What's your name? How did you get injured?" The girl still doesn't respond, so I come over.

"Do you understand us?" I ask her. "Nod if you do." She doesn't respond, so I take it that she doesn't.

"Hadley," Hadley enunciates, pointing to himself. He points at me and says, "Axel." He then points at the girl to ask for her name.

At first, she's quiet, and I think she still doesn't understand, but then she says, "Klanana."

Hadley points at her wound and shrugs, to ask what happened to her. Klanana tries to say something in her language, but remembers that we can't understand her. She mimics shooting a gun.

Hadley tries to ask her if anyone else is down in this maze, but struggles to mime the question. As he carefully gesticulates, I watch the girl. She doesn't look good. Her face is losing color, and a steady stream of blood leaks out from the hand cupped over her bullet wound.

Hadley's still trying to talk to her when her eyes widen. She shakily raises a hand to point to something behind us. I feel my heart drop. I don't want to look, but I must. Terrified, I turn around to see a man with a gun. He's wearing an outfit similar to mine, but looks thirty years my senior. He's definitely not a tribute.

He raises his rifle and points it to me. I don't even have a chance to scream before he fires the gun at me. I feel a pain in my arm and I stumble backward, slamming my head into the wall. My vision goes spotty. I just have a chance to see Hadley slam into the man before my vision goes dark and I pass out.

District 10

Arabella Cantros

"Come on, hurry up!" Rachel shouts loudly as we sprint through the jungle. We've been desperately trying to find some sort of shelter since the acid rain started. We've only managed to find the smallest places, which could only protect one person from the rain, so we've been running all morning.

My skin burns and I raise the rock higher. My biceps are tired from carrying this large rock around, but at least my hair isn't being burned off or anything. It provides a bit of cover, but my arms are still getting rained on.

Tristana stumbles over a root, and I'm the only one who pauses to help her up. Rachel and Yael continue running through the forest. As I try to yank Tristana up (my lack of upper body strength is very evident right now), I notice they're pulling ahead greatly.

"Wait for us!" I shout at them, but they must not be able to hear me, because they disappear through the trees. Tristana gets to her feet, and we begin running after them.

"Where did you guys go!" Tristana shouts.

"Over here!" Rachel calls, her voice slightly to our left. We run in her direction, but skid to a halt when we reach her and Yael.

"We found shelter," Yael explains excitedly, pointing at the structure in front of us. A large, stone building. Tristana and I exchange a look - I'm sure Axel or Hadley explained to her what these buildings hold.

There's definitely a gem in there, and I need to be the one to get it.

This is unedited, so it probably has a lot of grammar/spelling mistakes, so please ignore them. It's not that I don't care, I'm just really tired right now and I don't want to read the whole thing over again.

Now that we're in the final 13, nearly all of the tributes will get one POV per day. It's likely that if your tribute didn't get a POV today, they will tomorrow. Unfortunately, that also means some cliff-hangers may not be resolved until Day 6! Luckily, no one really cares about Dennis. XD

If you haven't voted in the poll yet, please do! And don't forget to review! Both of these things really help your tribute survive. It's obviously not a guarantee, because I won't kill someone early when they could be a major plot driver or keep someone alive when I have no plans for them, but if I'm at a crossroads, reviews and polls are the first things I consider.

- Lilah32