District 3

Lennox Porter

When I wake up, I realize that the rain outside has stopped. It's difficult to tell through the waterfall, at first, but when I go to gather more water, I realize the rain has completely stopped. In fact, it's clear for what may be the first time for nearly the week we've been in the arena.

Yesterday, I did absolutely nothing, just like the day before. I realized it was raining acid rain early in the morning when I went to refill my water bottle, but since I had planned on sleeping in the cave some more, it didn't really affect me. I just tried to sleep through the day again.

At first, the lack of food wasn't bothering me too much. The pain in my arm was worse than any hunger pains, so I barely realized the lack of food. But now that the pain in my arm has somewhat subsided (nowhere close to being gone, but at least I can think clearly again) I'm noticing the aches in my stomach.

I think it's time I leave my cave. It is a safe hideout, with an endless water supply, but I know that the Gamemakers won't be happy with a tribute sleeping in a cave the entire game with no immediate threat. It will be a while before food becomes a serious issue, but the Capitol's boredom with me is a big deal. If the Gamemakers feel I'm not entertaining the audience enough, they'll send a mutt after me.

So, I think it's time I continue my hike. All night long (I kept waking up) I was debating whether or not to climb up the cliff, but I've come to a decision. I'm going to at least attempt to climb the cliff. It will put a great deal of distance between the rest of the tributes and me, which is very important. I'm not exactly in tip-top shape right now, so I'll do my best to avoid conflict.

I carefully begin to pack up my things. Not a lot of the medical supplies remaining, but I have a few bandages and rubbing alcohol left, which could be useful. The pain killers are long gone. I don't have a backpack, but the medicine came in a parachute, which functions the same. I have a knife, which I tuck into my belt, and then I pack my water bottle and matches in with the medical supplies.

I'm trying to ignore the fact that this knife is the one used to cauterize my arm. That freaks me out, and I want to forget about that process. I've cleaned the knife obsessively, but it still feels tainted.

I can't throw away a perfectly good weapon, though. Even if it did cauterize my stump of an arm. I have to keep reminding myself that. I shakily get to my feet, hunched over due to the size of the cave.

For the first time in several days, I step out through the curtain of the waterfall.

District 6

Axel Woodleigh

"You're going to be fine," Hadley assures me. He tightens the bandage around my arm, and I wince in pain. "Sorry," Hadley says, even though his apology is completely unnecessary. He shouldn't apologize for taking care of me.

Hadley's shirt is in tatters since he used most of the cloth to create a bandage for my arm. I don't remember much about the fight, since I was knocked out for most and kept ebbing in and out of consciousness when Hadley was dragging me out of the maze. Hadley had to recount most of the conflict for me. Apparently, I was shot in the arm (that much, I remember) and then smashed my head against the wall and it knocked me out.

Then, Hadley tacked the guy who shot me (presumably a mutt, since he can't be a tribute). Hadley tried to shoot him, but he ran into the maze and Hadley didn't want to leave me, so he let him go. After that, Hadley directed/carried me through the maze until we finally found an exit. I kept passing out and waking back out, so I walked for some of it, but for most, Hadley draped me over his shoulder and lugged me through the passages.

Finally, we found the exit. By this point, the rain had stopped, so we could leave. Hadley luckily managed to find this cave, which we're now inside. We entered it about an hour ago.

"Is my arm okay?" I ask Hadley.

"The bullet only skimmed it," he responds. "I don't need to dig it out or anything, but it's bleeding pretty heavily. It's your non-dominant hand, though."

"Yay," I say without any enthusiasm.

"You're going to be fine. Just get some rest, we didn't sleep last night."

"I did," I respond. "That's why you carried me around the maze!" I still feel very guilty about that. I don't want to be any sort of a burden on Hadley.

"You kept waking up, that's not really the same as a good night's sleep. You're tired, don't deny it," he says. He's right. I allow him to remove the rest of my jacket (he already tore off the sleeve on the injured arm) and he balls it up under my head so I have a pillow. I wince when I move my head around. It still aches from when I banged it into the wall yesterday. "I would give you my jacket, but I don't have a shirt anymore, so I kind of need it," Hadley explains, picking at his shredding shirt.

"No, that's fine," I assure him. I'm already drifting off to sleep.

"I'm going to try and get us some food or water," Hadley informs me, standing up. Now my eyes shoot open.

"Wait, what?" I demand. "We're going to split up!?"

"I'm not too thrilled about it either, but it's not like we have a choice. We're out of both food and water, and we won't be able to last long without it. Especially with you losing blood."

"But, but -" I stammer, but can't come up with a valid response. "Just be safe," I finally sigh.

"Of course I'll be," Hadley smirks. He gives me a one-armed hug, minding my injury, before gathering all his things. "You have your darts, right?"

"Yeah."

"Make sure to defend yourself if anyone enters. You have to be careful."

"Hey, no one's gonna want to kill a cutie like me," I laugh. Hadley leaves, holding his lasso and gun in either hand. It feels weird to be without Hadley. I don't think we've parted the entire Hunger Games. But I don't have much time to contemplate his absence, because I fall asleep almost immediately.

Hopefully, nobody will enter this cave while I'm asleep.

District 11

Yael Harident

"Yael, go get firewood," Rachel demands as she squats over a smoking pit of a bunch of damp wood. We tried to start a fire this morning in order to cook breakfast, but all Rachel could find nearby was damp wood. As everyone else warned her, it didn't do anything else besides smoke a bit before dying. She wasted a few matches trying to get the fire lit, but she ignored all of our warnings.

I follow her instructions without arguing since she's already bitter today. She screamed at Arabella for half an hour for taking the matches away, and Arabella's been pissed ever since. Honestly, I think Arabella would have left the alliance if not for the fact that Tristana and I were adamantly on her side.

Rachel's beginning to annoy everyone. I'd be mad at her, too, if not for the fact that I'd be a major hypocrite. I've been having to restrain myself from killing the rest of my alliance the entire time I've been in the Hunger Games. However, I haven't come close to betraying anyone in several days, so I think I can allow myself to be slightly bothered.

There. Now Rachel is bugging me, and I'm very pleased to be rid of her, even for a short time.

I begin scouring under trees and the forest floor for dry wood. It can't be the slightest bit wet, because I don't want to risk wasting any more of our fire. I keep my head low as I walk through the jungle, trying to remain in a straight line so I can find my way back easily. I don't travel too far, so I'm surprised when I reach a clearing.

I look up and gasp. I'm standing at the edge of a giant canyon. On the other side, the jungle continues, but I can barely see it through the day's thick fog. I definitely can't see inside the canyon, so I have no way of knowing how deep it is. I'm not afraid of heights, so I have no issue getting close to the edge to stick my head over and look down.

I still can't see anything. Sighing, I back up. I'm about to head back when I faintly hear some sort of music.

Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum.

I can hear people singing (though, it sounds a lot like chanting) but I can't make out what they're saying. I'm tempted to discover the source of the music, but my head convinces me to head back to camp.

Whatever that is, I don't want to get involved.

District 9

Hadley Moreau

Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum.

The music stops me dead in my tracks. I immediately stop picking the berries off of the bush in front of me and freeze. There's some sort of music coming from nearby in the jungle. The only thing that can mean is other tributes or mutts. I doubt any tributes are jamming out in the middle of the Hunger Games, so I settle on the latter.

I carefully step behind a tree for a little concealment, but after a few seconds, I decide that I'm temporarily safe. The music doesn't sound like it's coming any closer, and it's not close enough for me to be seen. Worst case scenario, they'll approach, and even then, I'll have enough time to run or hide.

I don't want to stay in this area for too much longer, so I quickly pick off some of the remaining berries and stick them in the box from the sponsor parachute, which I'm using to collect food. I can still hear the music, but it hasn't changed volume, so I think I'm safe. Luckily, Axel is in the opposite direction, so I won't have to go through them.

Suddenly, a girl's scream echoes through the arena, almost startling me enough to drop the box. It's coming from the music, and it's undeniably the voice of Arabella. I stand there for a few moments, considering whether to leave or help her.

Against my better judgment, I begin walking toward the music.

She's not your ally, Hadley! My brain insists in panic, but I know that I can't just let her die. She was very sweet when we met, and I have a soft spot for younger tributes. If she dies because I didn't try to help, I won't be able to forgive myself. I walk at a brisk pace, closing the box with the food and sticking it in one of my pockets so that it's out of the way. I need my hand free.

I soon come to a break in the trees. I crouch behind a bush in order to stay hidden, and watch the spectacle in the clearing.

A large bonfire is set up in the center, and heavy tendrils of smoke snake above the trees. The clearing isn't too large, so the crowd of people is dangerously close to me. About a dozen men, women, and children wearing animal skins stand around the fire, chanting the song I heard. I have to look carefully to see through them and the fire, but Arabella is tied against a rock on the opposite side of the clearing, looking terrified.

One woman stands onto a rock, and everyone immediately stops singing. From what I can gather, she seems to be their leader. She begins to speak, but unfortunately, it's in a language I don't understand. But their full attention is on her, which gives me the opportunity to sneak around until I'm only a few feet away from Arabella.

"Arabella!" I hiss, but she doesn't hear me. She's watching the crowd of people in terror, although they are no longer looking at her.

At one point in the speech, the woman points at Arabella and says quite clearly, "the sacrifice," but then she returns to the language I don't understand. When nobody's looking at Arabella, I pull out my switchblade and quickly scamper over to her.

Scared she'll give me away, I clap a hand over her mouth before announcing my presence. It's a good thing I do, because I can feel her scream through my hand. It's muffled enough that they don't look at us. When she sees that it's just me, she relaxes and I remove my hand. She knows enough to not ask any questions while I try to use my switchblade to saw through the rope. However, it's wrapped around her several times, so it's taking a while.

I keep glancing up at the crowd in fear, since the speech seems to be wrapping to a close. It's only a matter of time before one of them notices us. The only reason they haven't is that they all seem determined to listen to every word the woman utters, so they don't look in our direction.

My switchblade finally snaps through the last rope, and just in the knick of the time. The woman stops talking immediately after Arabella springs free. They all turn to look at us, and for the first time, notice me. The speaker and I make eye contact for a few seconds, before Arabella grabs my wrist and yanks me toward the jungle.

We begin darting through the forest, but I can hear the group shouting behind us. They'll definitely on our tail, and they're not being subtle about it. I can hear the thunder of them behind us as we're chased through the trees. Arabella's faster than me, but I'm no slowpoke, so we manage to stay ahead. However, the lack of food and water for nearly a week weakens our endurance considerably, so I quickly begin to tire out. I can tell by Arabella's panting that she is as well.

When I can feel them starting to gain on us, I decide that we can't outrun them, so we must take a different approach. I glance behind us, and to my relief, I see that the jungle is dense enough that they can't see us well. They know where we are, but don't have a clear view. Which gives me the opportunity to pull Arabella to the side.

I yank her to the ground, behind a particularly large tree trunk. We lay on the ground, and I hope the shrubbery will cover us. Flat on my stomach, I try to slow my heavy breathing and listen to the thundering footsteps run past us. Even after they've passed, we remain still. I look up at Arabella - her brown hair is plastered to her terrified face, but a grin quickly breaks out across it.

"I think we're safe," she says after a moment. I listen nervously, but I don't hear the group coming back in our direction. "Thanks for saving me, Hadley."

"Of course," I mutter, as if it's no big deal, even though I nearly died. My heart is pounding heavily, and my face is slick with sweat. It's a pretty hot day, especially now that's it's about noon. "What happened?"

"They caught me while I was trying to gather food. I didn't want to go alone, but Rachel made me." Arabella's face falls. "She got the gem."

"Who? Tristana?" I ask hopefully. Arabella shakes her head and I feel a wave of disappointment.

"No. Rachel."

"Ugh," I groan on impulse.

"Yeah," Arabella says. "She grabbed it before Tristana or I could. But we really tried. Hey, if the offer still stands… could I join you and Axel?"

"Huh?" I ask, surprised. "I thought you wanted to remain loyal to your allies."

"Yeah, but… Rachel's becoming intolerable, and I don't really trust her anymore. I don't really trust anyone in my alliance. Maybe Tristana, but I don't know if any of them would have risked their lives for me. It's kind of a bad sign I trust you more than my actual allies," Arabella chuckles without much humor.

"Sure, you can join us," I tell her, still surprised. "Should we go now?"

"Actually, I think I should get some supplies from camp. Maybe I can steal a few. You and Axel don't have much, right?" I shake my head. "It might take a while, though - a few hours. I'll need to find a good opportunity to sneak away."

"I can't wait a few hours. Axel's injured, and I need to get back to him," I explain. Arabella looks crestfallen.

"Oh… Wait, how about we meet up later?"

"Where?" I ask, skeptical we'll be able to find each other again.

"Do you know where the river is?" she asks. I nod, having found it about an hour ago. "Go there in time for the fallen tributes. I'll meet you there. I'll probably be pretty early, but I can't say for sure."

"Okay."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

District 4

Noelani King

Glorian took Trajan hunting early this morning because our food situation is dire. We haven't had anything to eat for days now, and for people who've had steady meals their whole lives, we're not coping well. You'd think that people who've trained to hunt their whole lives would be slightly better at it.

The Games were not designed for Careers, this year. Everyone knows that the Careers' biggest weakness is food and the fact that we rely heavily on the Gamemakers' hand-outs. Careers always do poorly in years where their food stash gets destroyed, or isn't there in the first place. And since none of us are trained with long-distance weapons, we can only hunt melee, which doesn't work very well. As useless as Glitter was, she was the only Career with any knowledge fo long-distance weapons.

We still have a crossbow, and lots of bolts, so Glorian instructed Cecelia and me to practice with it while he was gone. We've been trying, but we started to give up almost immediately.

Cecelia's just terrible when it comes to aiming, and for obvious reasons, I seriously struggled when it came to using the crossbow. One-armed shooting requires serious skill. Cecelia's still practicing, but not very hard. She's mostly focusing on our conversation.

"How difficult is it, with only one arm?" Cecelia asks, shooting a bolt. It misses the target by several feet.

"How difficult is what?"

"Everything. Life."

"Oh. It makes things harder, but by now, I don't notice it as much," I admit. "The real issue is how everyone else reacts to me. They expect very little of me because of my arm, which is annoying. People underestimate me all the time. Like Glorian - even though I scored a 9 in training, he hasn't let me gone hunting once. I haven't moved out of this clearing around the Cornucopia for almost a week."

"Well, I promise that when it's just the two of us, I won't keep you cooped up in the same place all day," Cecelia says, but I'm not done ranting.

"He sends everyone else hunting, but not me! Because of my missing arm. I like Glorian, but I wish he would stop underestimating me. That's why I Volunteered - to stop people underestimating me. It takes so much for people to respect me and believe I have a shot."

"I believe you have a shot," Cecelia says, setting down the crossbow and walking over to me. She sits down next to me and wraps an arm around my shoulders.

"You're probably the only one," I laugh half-heartedly.

"That's not true!"

"It probably is. Even I don't have much confidence in myself -"

Before I know what's happening, Cecelia kisses me. Immediately, she jumps back. She looks just as surprised as I do. There's an uncomfortable silence while I try to process what's happening. Cecelia begins to stand up, but I pull her back next to me. And I kiss her back.

District 10

Arabella Cantros

"Arabella, would you please go get some food?" Rachel asks in an exasperated tone. "I've asked you, like, fifty times today."

"And I got food," I remind her, pointing at the stack of berries and one dead rat, which I somehow managed to catch on my way back from talking to Hadley. I haven't mentioned the danger I was in, because then I'd need to explain how Hadley saved me, which would inevitably raise some questions.

"We need more food than that," Rachel says. "You need to pull your weight, Arabella. Everyone else is working really hard."

I look around. Yael is helping Rachel construct a fire pit since she returned from gathering about three dry logs, which is by no means enough to build a steady fire. Tristana gathered berries for roughly an hour this morning and has done nothing since. She's just lying on the ground, napping. As for Rachel, all she's done is bark orders and waste a bunch of our matches. I'm the only one who has done a lick of work today.

Rather than pointing this out, I decide to seize the opportunity. It's a little sooner than I would have expected, but I might not get another chance.

"Fine," I say. "But I need something to carry the food in. I'll just bring a backpack."

"Fine. Just get us some food," Rachel says, rolling her eyes as she turns back to the fire. I walk over to where both of the backpacks lie, to the backs of my allies. None of them even batted an eye when I suggested I bring a backpack - they all think I'm too loyal to steal the supplies and ditch them. I wonder how long it will be before they realize I'm not coming back. Maybe they'll just think I got lost in the woods.

They're not over-trusting, per se. I'm guessing that if anyone else had announced they'd be bringing a backpack to gather berries, they'd be extremely suspicious. But they just think I'm too simple to even consider betraying them.

I quickly look through the first backpack, but it doesn't have a lot of important stuff. It does have a sleeping bag, though, so I keep that and the wire and dump everything else out. Our other satchel has a bit more supplies, including two water bottles (one full, one empty) and two throwing knives. I move these into my satchel and sling it around my shoulder. I don't have any food, but as I'm walking back toward Yael and Rachel, I scoop up a lot of my hard-earned berries and rat. They'll easily notice it's gone, but by then, I'll be too far for them to catch me.

I latch the satchel closed and walk past Yael and Rachel. For a moment, I feel a stab of guilt and almost set down the satchel. But then I remind myself that Hadley has done more for me than anyone else. He's the one who deserves my loyalty, not them.

I look over my shoulder one last time as I leave, but none of them are watching me. They don't even notice me leave.

I reach the river soon following my departure. Unfortunately, I know Hadley won't be here for hours, so I have some time to kill. But a river isn't a terrible place to have to wait. I find a seat on a rock by the river's edge, and fill one of the water bottles. It would be good to boil this before drinking it, but I don't want to light a fire when I'm alone. I'm not sure if I could, anyway. But it's nice to have a bit of water as a backup, and until I can purify this one, I'll just drink out of the other water bottle.

It's a little odd being so alone. I'm used to having at least one other person near me, and I'm not very comfortable with one person alone in the jungle. I thought I might enjoy the peace and quiet, but there's no peace and the quiet is unsettling.

I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the day. There's no point building a shelter since I'm planning on joining Hadley and Axel wherever they've decided to camp, and I've already gathered enough food for myself. I'm considering making some sort of game to entertain myself when I hear the snap of a branch behind me.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here?"

Nervously, I twist in my seat until I'm looking up at the boy from District 5. He hovers over me like a monster, a sadistic grin spread across his face.

I scream.

First of all, it literally took me forever to write Noelani's POV (even though it's so short). I can't write romance at all.

Please review! I'll probably be posting more frequently now that I'm out of school, but that's also what I said about summer break and I barely wrote then, so who knows?

GEM CARRIERS:

Emerald - Axel Woodleigh (D6M)
Ruby - Rachel Ivy (D12F)
Sapphire - Nobody

DAY 1:

24th: Zaira Quentin (D7F)
23rd: Nikola Allegra (D3M)
22nd: Savanna Davison (D9F)
21st: Kade Anderson (D11M)
20th: Macey Aderyn (D5F)
20th: Tracey Aderyn (D5F)
19th: Quinten Fredericus (D12M)
18th: Felix Camacho (D8M)
17th: Buck Hayford (D10M)

DAY 2:

None.

DAY 3:

16th: Linen Baird (D8F)

DAY 4:

15th: Lucretius Marlo (D4M)
14th: Glitter Monique (D5F)

DAY 5:

None.

DAY 6:

None (so far…)

ALLIANCES:

Cecelia/Trajan/Glitter/Glorian/Noelani/Vincent
Tristana/Yael/Rachel
Axel/Hadley

SOLO:

Lennox
Dennis
Arabella

KILL LIST/REMAINING TRIBUTES:

Cecelia Hart (D1F) - 1
Trajan Seth (D1M) - 2
Glitter Monique (D2F) - 1
Glorian Stafford (D2M) - 1
Lennox Porter (D3F) - 0
Noelani King (D4F) - 0
Dennis Fielder (D5M) - 1
Tristana Rockett (D6F) - 0
Axel Woodleigh (D6M) - 0
Vincent Elm (D7M) - 0
Hadley Moreau (D9M) - 1
Arabella Cantros (D10F) - 0
Yael Harident (D11F) - 0
Rachel Ivy (D12F) - 1

- Lilah