This chapter was going to be out way sooner… I set out each evening with the intention of writing it, but each time I did, I ended up staring at a blank page until I retired to the sinkhole of my Youtube recommendations page. I think I was just scared for it because I didn't want to write the death… :(

District 4

Noelani King

I feel my shoulder nudged once, and then again. Groaning, I rub my eyes as I try to shake off the sleep. I usually take a few moments before opening my eyes, because the sudden light can be painful, but I don't get a chance to this morning. I'm frantically shaken once again, and this time my eyes fly open.

Cecelia leans over me, her hands gripping my shoulders tightly. Before I can open my mouth to ask the problem, she raises her finger to her lips to indicate silence. My mind quickly catches up and I understand the situation…

It's finally happening. We're leaving the Careers.

I swallow, a knot of fear and guilt forming in my gut, but I nod to show that I'm on board, and silently untangle myself from the blanket I was wrapped in last night. I need to be especially quiet not to wake Glorian or Trajan.

I do feel bad for leaving them, especially Glorian, who has assured me I have his complete trust, but I know that I have no choice. As we near the end of the Games, the value of the alliance decreases. Cecelia and I no longer need the Careers for protection, and nearly all of our supplies are gone. Strategically, it makes no sense. And there's no way for me to get that gem if we're forced to sit in the Cornucopia all day.

Cecelia is toward the end of the Cornucopia, attempting to load all of the remaining useful supplies into two satchels. I consider advising her to leave a few things for Glorian (and Trajan, I suppose) but bite my tongue. After all, they'll need to die for us to win, anyway, so what's the use of leaving Glorian some rope and a switchblade? And I can't risk waking them up by speaking.

Cecelia tip-toes over to me with a satchel held carefully in each hand, and she hands me one of them. I carefully sling it over my shoulder, very aware of the clanking coming from inside as it moves. I glance nervously at Glorian and Trajan, but neither of them stirs.

It's very early morning; so early, it's basically night. They likely won't awake for a while, as long as we stay quiet. Cecelia pulls me close and whispers in my ear, "I need to get the gun."

It takes me a moment to register what gun she's talking about. My thoughts are slightly delayed from just waking up. She wants to get Trajan's gun - the one he got during the Bloodbath. The one he tackled Cecelia to get, even though he's barely used it our ten days in the Hunger Games. He initially bragged about it, but eventually quieted down to the point where it completely slipped my mind. I suppose Cecelia hasn't forgotten about it, though.

"What? Are you crazy?" I hiss back, slightly too loud. Cecelia's brown eyes widen in fear as she glances at the two boys. Glorian stirs for a moment, and I swear I feel my heart stop, but then he settles down again and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm not crazy," Cecelia whispers. "That can provide a major advantage, especially since there are so few long-distance weapons. We could really use that, and it would help us make it to the end."

"But, Cecelia… Don't take this the wrong way, but your aim sort of sucks."

"The gun can't be Trajan's hands," Cecelia says, ignoring my previous comment.

"But it is in his hands. Are you just going to yank it out of his hands as he sleeps?" I ask, astounded that she would be so careful about staying quiet but then tries to pull the gun out of Trajan's hands. I watch Trajan sleep, and I can clearly see the firearm loosely held in his left hand as he dreams.

Cecelia carefully tip-toes over to the District 1 boy, ignoring all of my warnings. I bite my lip in fear as I look around, nervously. My eyes flicker between Cecelia, Trajan, and Glorian, nervous that someone will wake up and kill her. I don't like the fact that I'm so far from her, because if a threat did arise, I wouldn't be able to protect her.

I know that logically it's a bad idea, but I move up a little bit more so I'm standing only a few feet away from where Cecelia crouches over Trajan. With shaky hands, she reaches out slowly and wraps her fingers around the butt of the pistol.

Trajan shifts in his sleep, and my hand tightens around my sword automatically. But Trajan doesn't wake up. Cecelia pulls the gun away from him carefully, and he doesn't move, to my relief. Although, I almost think I saw his eyelids twitch for a moment when the gun was lifted from his hands.

Cecelia gives me a thumbs-up, and beckons me over toward the exit of the Cornucopia. I carefully speed-walk past the two boys and join her by the mouth of the Cornucopia, pleased that we're finally getting out of here. Despite the guilt that comes along with it, I can't deny the anxiety I've gotten surrounded by all of the Careers. Especially this morning.

The moment we're outside of the Cornucopia, I breathe a sigh of relief. We've made it. Cecelia and I share a relieved smile for a moment.

"Where are you headed, ladies?"

My heart plummets when I hear Trajan's unmistakable voice. Cecelia's face goes completely pale as we nervously turn to see Trajan standing in the mouth of the Cornucopia, wide awake. We're at a loss for words. Unfortunately, Trajan isn't.

"Aren't you going to answer my question?" he asks. Neither of us responds. "I'm guessing you're not going hunting for our breakfast, are you? Not with the entire camp loaded onto your backs… But you can't be sneaking off! After all, what have we ever done to you? Especially Glorian - he trusts you, you know. I've warned him this would happen, but he said you had his full trust. Have you no guilt?"

Trajan sounds almost triumphant. As if this is fun for him. I suppose it is - after all, Trajan is a twisted person. He's absolutely delighted that he's caught Cecelia and I trying to sneak away, betraying Glorian.

"You're one to talk," Cecelia scoffs. She's trying to look tough, but her face is red. "You've been one of the biggest villains in this arena! You don't care about anything you do. Everything's just a game to you. Have you no guilt, Trajan?"

To my surprise, Trajan's signature smirk fades as something sad flickers across his expression. But he clenches his jaw and quickly regains his former gusto - or, he tries to. He no longer seems triumphant and amused… he's angry now.

"It is a game. The Hunger Games."

"Then why are you upset about us leaving?" Cecelia asks.

"Who said I was upset? This finally gives me a chance to do what I've been waiting for ever since that day on the train - to kill you, without upsetting Glorian. In fact, he'll likely cheer me on. Or help out. Because he won't be too happy when he finds out what you're doing, will he?" Trajan asks.

My body goes numb at the thought of Glorian waking up. Not only am I not eager at the thought of fighting Glorian, but I don't want to see the look on his face when he finds out we betrayed him… even though we were perfectly aware he would never do the same to us.

I can tell that Cecelia feels the same when I glance over at her. Trajan smiles happily when he sees our fear.

"Oh, you don't want me to wake him up?" Trajan asks tauntingly.

"I'll shoot you first," Cecelia warns. "I have your gun."

"I know. How do you think I woke up?" Trajan inquires, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I have my spear. I'm no great at sword-throwing, but…"

"But what? You won't be able to protect against a gun with just a spear."

"Maybe not, but the gunshot will wake up Glorian and I think I can manage to throw this spear at your ally before I bleed out, huh?" Trajan asks. At the threat, Cecelia lowers the gun slightly, less eager to shoot Trajan. "What do you think? Time to wake him up?"

"Get ready to run," Cecelia tells me through gritted teeth.

"What do you mean?" I ask as Trajan skips over to Glorian like a little girl. "We won't be able to outrun them, especially since Trajan has his spear."

"You're right. We won't. Someone would need to hold them off. So get ready to run."

"No!" I shout when I realize what she's saying. "You can't -"

"Glorian!" Trajan shouts at the top of his lungs.

District 9

Hadley Moreau

The snake venom makes things weird.

These past few days, I've felt myself become a bit weaker and become more and more separated from reality. I get stuck in delusions, and I'm only conscious on occasion.

In the rare times when I'm awake and I can see Axel, he doesn't look like Axel. Dreams combine with reality and Axel becomes Savanna, or Linen, or one of my brothers, or sometimes one of the Careers. It's weird. His figure shifts before my eyes until he's entirely someone else.

There are bright flashing, colorful lights inside my eyes. Am I in the Capitol?

There are loud noises, like screeching and music, that overwhelm me and give me a pounding headache. It makes it difficult to think and confuses me.

Yesterday, I think President Divine came into my tree and made me drink apple juice. At least, that's what I saw. I don't know what actually happened, because I was half asleep and very confused.

But after I drank the apple juice, I went right back to sleep. When I woke up, I felt much stronger. Even now, the sounds have dulled somewhat and most of the time when I'm awake, I see things alright. I can see Axel and he doesn't look like other people anymore. He's still blurry, but I'm no longer having hallucinations.

I'm very dizzy. I feel like I'm on a ship, because everything rocks back and forth. It makes me feel motion sick, so I think I vomited multiple times today.

I close my eyes shut, trying to get rid of the rocking feeling. Without intending to, I fall back asleep.

District 2

Glorian Stafford

Trajan's shout is what rattles me from my deep sleep. At the sound of my name, I shift back into consciousness and open my eyes. I pull myself to my feet, clutching onto my sword in case we're under attack. After all, what else would cause Trajan to rouse me so early in the morning?

I turn around to see Trajan standing at the mouth of the Cornucopia, pointing a spear at the girls. Having just woken up, it takes a few seconds for my brain to catch up… Cecelia and Noelania are standing midway between the Cornucopia and jungle, armed with their weapons and with supplies loaded up on their backs… more supplies than they should ever need if they were going hunting. It seems like they have the entire camp on their backs.

"What's going on?" I ask in what I hope is a calm voice, even though I have a bad inkling I already know.

"These girls - you know, the ones you thought you trusted? - well, they're ditching us, Glor. They got all of the supplies, not even a fair portion, and tried ditching us in the middle of the night. Luckily, this one -" Trajan jabs his finger in Cecelia's direction, "Was dumb enough to try and steal my gun, which woke me up. Otherwise, they'd be long gone."

I look between the three of them, trying to put together the events of this morning. What the hell is going on? Are Cecelia and Noelani really trying to ditch us?

I look to the girls, hoping one of them will refute Trajan's claim, but they avoid my eyes with guilty expression on their faces. This proves what I suppose I already knew.

I step forward, and I see both of them flinch. But I plant my ground between Trajan and the girls. I'm worried they'll try to kill each other before I can say my piece. Noelani is staring at her feet in shame, refusing to look at me, but Cecelia dares to make eye contact. I decide to direct my statements at her.

Unfortunately, my words catch in my throat before I can speak them and I'm left silent, staring at Cecelia. Finally, I manage to speak, but it comes out as an embarrassing croak.

"Why would you do this?"

Cecelia looks surprised, and glances to Noelani for help, but she's busy counting blades of grass. Cecelia looks back to me, an apologetic expression on her face.

"It's nearly the Final 8, Glorian. The Careers can't stick together until the end. You know this. I thought… I thought you might understand."

"If you thought I'd understand, why would you try sneaking away in the middle of the night?" I ask.

"Because I was worried you wouldn't," she says simply. "Look, the Careers can never stick together until the end. We made it farther than most Career packs, but it was time to leave. As soon as the next person dies, we'll make up half of the remaining tributes. Did you really think we'd spent the rest of the Hunger Games together?"

"I don't know," I say in a small voice. "I wanted us to. I mean, I thought we'd get rid of Trajan at one point or another -"

"Huh?" Trajan interrupts, but I ignore him.

"But I trusted you guys. I thought we could make it to the end together."

"I'm sorry," Cecelia shakes her head, "but we decided it would just be the two of us."

I feel a pang in my chest. I knew they were closer than I was to them, but I had always hoped I could be included in the inner alliance, so they wouldn't betray me. But this just reminds me of how alone I am in the arena. Throughout my entire time leading the Career pack, I was the only one without any inner alliances. Even Trajan had some deals with other people, but not me. I wanted to be an impartial leader, but look where it got me. I worked harder than anyone else to make an effective alliance and feed us, but they're ditching me the first chance they get.

"You could have at least left my share of supplies," I whisper. Cecelia looks down, not trying to defend herself anymore. She knows it was bad that she took all of the supplies for herself, and left Trajan and me with nothing.

I don't know why, but I take a step toward Cecelia. Everything happens so fast. Cecelia sees me walking toward her and panics. She automatically fires the gun at me.

I gasp, but the shot is wild and misses me completely. I'm lucky Cecelia has such terrible aim - otherwise, I'd be dead.

"You tried to kill me," I whisper in disbelief, staring at her in shock. Cecelia looks just surprised, gaping at her gun. "Ditching me is one thing, but… you actually tried to kill me."

I try to come to terms with this, but it's difficult to wrap my head around it. Someone I trusted tried to kill me. Someone who saved my life tried to take it back.

"Can I kill her now?" I hear Trajan ask.

I pause, then cooly say, "go ahead."

Cecelia's eyes widen as she glances at me in shock. Maybe she thought it was only okay for her to kill me. Well, guess what, Cecelia? Two can play at that game.

Trajan charges at her in glee, but she doesn't run. She holds her ground, getting her sword ready to fight. Concerned that Trajan may be overpowered and allow the girls to run free, I follow him, ready to join in on the fight as well.

As Trajan charges at Cecelia, she swings her sword at him. His momentum carries him forward and nearly into the blade of her sword, but he skids to a halt, knocking the blade away with her spear. Trajan immediately throws himself back at her, thrusting his sword at her stomach.

I've seen Trajan fight before, but never like this. This time, he has no restraints. This time, he's fighting to kill.

His spear would have embedded itself in her stomach, if not for Noelani, who after watching in horror initially, collides with him and causes him to crash to the ground.

Cecelia raises her sword to kill Trajan, who lies on the ground with no chance of moving in time. I rush at her, my sword poised. She can't escape. That's not fair. She can't get what she wants, and punish Trajan for being loyal. It isn't fair.

She notices me coming just in time, and moves her sword from its position above Trajan's head to deflect mine away. The metal clangs as my sword bounces back on the impact. I waste no time in swinging back at her, hoping to cut her legs. She manages to jump over the sword, and before I can steady myself, she sends a powerful kick into my chest.

I'm sturdy, but Cecelia's surprisingly powerful and knocks me backward. I almost fall, but stumble and catch myself in time, only falling to one knee. I look up in time to see Cecelia running at me, her sword around to decapitate me. I duck my head immediately, so quickly that my already-broken nose slams into the dirt, sending a blinding pain across my face.

I hear the whoosh of the sword as it swings over my head by an inch, and I'm quite sure that she managed to trim a bit of hair off my skull.

The pain of hitting my nose momentarily diverted my attention, but I force myself to refocus and launch myself at Cecelia. I grab her legs and throw her to the ground, hard. She gasps as her head slams into the earth, and despite the soft dirt, it looks painful.

Before she can get back to her feet, I get on top of her, pinning her to the ground. She begins fighting to get back up, so I send a punch toward her cheek with my powerful fist. It collides and her head snaps back as she cries out in pain.

I use this moment to see why we haven't been interrupted by Noelani or Trajan. I'm only allowed a quick glance at them fighting off to the side before I feel a sharp pain on my face.

My head snaps back to Cecelia, and I knock away her hand. Her sword was dropped a few feet away when I tackled her, so I didn't bother holding her hands down. She didn't have enough room to punch me, so I figured she wouldn't be able to do any damage. I was wrong.

Cecelia uses her fingernails to claw at my face and neck, drawing decent amounts of blood as she digs into my skin. I below in pain, slamming my fists back into her face until her hands drop to try and protect her face.

My sword is also lying a few feet away, discarded, so I have no way to kill her but with my hands. I reach down and grasp onto her neck, tightening my grip around her throat. She whimpers in pain as she claws at my hands, but I don't let go, even when her fingernails draw blood.

Even as her face turns purple from lack of oxygen, she doesn't stop fighting. She claws at my hands until she's literally tearing chunks of skin from my hands. Blood gushes down onto her neck, and she doesn't stop. Every scratch she makes provides more pain, until it becomes unbearable and I can't help but let my hands slacken.

Cecelia knocks them away, gasping for air. I reach for her throat again, but this time I'm stopped as someone grabs the back of my shirt and throws me off her.

I don't even know what's happening as I'm tossed to the ground a few feet away, slamming my head into the soft earth as Cecelia's did. I quickly jump back to my feet, confused by what just happened.

It was Trajan who threw me off Cecelia, technically saving her. At first I'm confused - does he want her to live? - but when I see him thrust his spear back at her, I realize what's really going on. He wants to kill her himself.

Cecelia tries to roll out of the way, but the spear snags on her side, drawing blood as she screams in pain. I quickly grab my sword and run back at her, but I'm stopped by Noelani, who appears out of nowhere with her sword raised.

She slams the sword down at me, and it brushes my arm as I try to move out of the way, cutting off part of my jacket sleeve and drawing a considerable amount of blood. The sting is instantaneously, but not awful. I can deal with it, it isn't a bad injury.

I swing my sword back at Noelani, but she jumps out of the way. I immediately swing my sword back at her, taking a step forward. She backs up even more, almost knocking into Trajan as he fights Cecelia. Noelani swings her sword back at me, but before she can make contact, I thrust the sword at her and it imbeds itself into her chest.

Noelani cries out in pain, and the effect is instantaneous. Everyone freezes. Even Cecelia and Trajan stop their fighting as Noelani falls to the ground. We all just watch in shock as she collapses, and almost immediately, the cannon marking her death rings out.

The cannon is what unfreezes us. We all look at each other, at a loss for words, and not knowing what we should do.

Cecelia gives me one of the worst looks ever - a glare of shock and heartbreak and rage, but she doesn't dare fight me. Instead, she runs off into the jungle. Nobody follows her, even though Trajan and I were so determined to kill her earlier.

I don't know what he's thinking, but I know what I am - one death's enough.

Trajan looks at me expectantly, and when I don't move, he nods toward the trees.

"Go," he orders.

For some reason, I don't question the fact that he's making me leave the Cornucopia. I know I could beat him in a fight if I really wanted to stay, and I doubt he'd even fight me. If I told him to leave the safety of the Cornucopia and run into the jungle with nothing but a weapon, he would.

But I don't order him to go. Instead, I obey him and run toward the jungle, in the opposite direction of Cecelia. I leave Cornucopia, which was my safety for the past ten days. Now, it just serves as a reminder of everything - the deaths of Luc and Noelani, my time as the leader of the Career pack.

But now there is no Career pack. The three remaining Careers have divided, and now we will hunt individually.

As I enter the wild jungle, I realize that I've finally gotten what I've longed for over the past ten days - solitude. For some reason, it doesn't feel as desirable now. My mind immediately shifts to the day when Cecelia, Noelani, and I were confined to the Cornucopia as the acid rain poured around us.

I never thought I'd be the one to kill Noelani. It's difficult to wrap my head around.

I slow my run to walk so I won't trip over any roots or rocks. Now, it's just me. I don't have to look out for anyone else, and I can reap the benefits of my hard work without having to share with anyone else. I should be happy and relieved, but all I can feel is the guilt bubbling up inside me.

District 6

Tristana Rockett

Vincent and I have been walking all morning. I was all for staying in the cave all day, since it provided a decent shelter and I felt safe in there, but Vincent reasoned that from what we could tell, it was far from any water source. Even though rain falls steadily in this arena, he made the good point that we shouldn't become over-reliant on it. The Gamemakers have a tendency to let the tributes feel comfortable, then take it all away.

Vincent promised that he knew where the river was and that we could set up camp there, but so far, we haven't seen any sign of water even though it's noon. He said it wasn't too far from the shelter, a two-hour walk at most, but we've been walking for perhaps four hours now.

He's not admitting it, but I'm about we're 90% sure we're lost. He looks around nervously.

"Does this look familiar to you?" he asks.

"No," I say. "You're the one who led us here."

"It looks different…" he mutters under his breath, pushing a layer of vines out of the way so we can walk through.

The jungle is especially dense in this part, to the point where Vincent has to constantly be chopping away shrubbery for us to proceed. He seems a bit nervous.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" I ask for the umpteenth time.

Vincent responds as he always does, with an impatient, "yes."

"Really? Because if you don't, we can always go back. It's better to admit it now rather than way until we're even farther -"

"Tristana, I said yes," he says harshly. I fall quiet, a bit shaken by his sudden outburst. Vincent sighs and stops, turning to face me. "Sorry for shouting," he says. "But I really do think we're close. See how muddy the ground is? The river must be nearby."

I look down at the ground, which is quite damp. The sticky mud sticks to my purple boots and makes it a bit difficult to walk. I personally don't see it as a good sign, but a hindrance.

"Maybe it's just muddy because it rains a lot?" I suggest. Vincent sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Why can't you just be optimistic?" he groans. This rubs me the wrong way.

"I am optimistic," I say coldly. "I just wish you weren't so stubborn and stopped increasing our dangerous just because you don't want to be proven wrong. You clearly have no clue where we are, and had you admitted it sooner, we could have hiked back to the cave by now. Instead, we're stuck in this gross, muddy, buggy area of the jungle where we'll have nowhere to sleep or get water."

"I'm not being stubborn! This is the right direction, it's just… unfamiliar terrain."

"That's not reassuring, Vincent," I say.

"Look, if we just walk a little longer, we'll reach the river and have plenty of supplies -"

"That's what you've said for the past four hours, but we're nowhere close to a freaking river!" I snap. "I'm going back to the cave. I'm not going to wander around aimlessly in this gross part of the jungle anymore. You can join me if you want, but I'm not following you deeper into the swamp."

Vincent stands still, staring at me with a stoic expression on his face. Taking this as a sign of stubbornness, I turn in the opposite direction and begin walking away from him, back to the cave where I know I'll have safety for the night.

Vincent doesn't say anything else as I begin walking back. All I can hear is the slapping of my leather boots on the mud. After I've walked several feet, I can't help but glance back to see what he's doing. Vincent is still standing, watching me.

"Well? Go on. Go find your river," I insist. Vincent sighs and begins walking toward me.

"Tristana -" he begins, but his eyes drift downward and widen in fear. "Keep still."

"Snake?" I ask nervously, feeling my heart begin to pound quickly. I have a terrible phobia of snakes, and they've been what I've dreaded most during my time in the arena. Besides death, of course. But when I look down at my feet, I see no snakes.

At first, I don't notice the problem. But then I spot how the mud has almost reached the top of my boots, whereas before it was just up to my ankles. Before my eyes, I sink until the mud reaches my knees and flows into my boots.

When I feel the cool mud fill my shoes is when I begin to panic. I scream and begin trying to run out of the puddle, but the movement makes me quickly drop to my mid-thighs.

"Tristana, stay still!" Vincent shouts at me, but it's difficult to calm down when I'm getting sucked into the ground.

"Keep still?" I say shrilly. "Do you see what's happening to me?"

"Yes, but stay still! I'll get you out of there!"

"You'd better!" I shout, but Vincent begins running off in the opposite direction. "Where the hell are you going?" I shout, but he doesn't respond.

Is he ditching me? Is Vincent seriously leaving me to die, even after I saved his life?

I begin trying to escape again, but it just makes me sink to my chest. My arms are still above the surface of the mud, but they aren't much good, since there isn't anything to grab onto. All of the branches are too far above my head, and out of reach. I can't believe Vincent would just leave me to die, after I saved his life.

"Tristana!" Vincent shouts, and suddenly, he runs back toward me, breaking through a wall of vines. He has an especially long, thick vine in his hand, which he throws to me.

I try to grab it out of the air, but it lands in the muck to my right. I quickly grab onto it before the mud can suck it under.

"Do you have a tight grip?" Vincent calls out.

"Yes, now get me out!" I shout. The mud is now up to my chin, and I'm going to be fully submerged at any moment. Vincent begins pulling on the vine, and it takes all of my strength to hold on as I'm pulled out of the mud. Vincent grimaces in exertion as he pulls, but doesn't slow for a moment until I'm back on solid earth.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah," I say. "Thanks for saving me."

"No problem," he mutters. Then, his eyes widen in fear. "Do you have your ruby still?"

I feel my heart drop at the mention of the ruby, which was in my pocket. I nervously pat my leg, but luckily, I can still feel the ruby underneath the clothing and mud.

"Yes," I say, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Okay, good," he sighs. "By the way, the river is right over there," he says, pointing in the direction he ran in to get the vine that saved me.

District 1

Cecelia Hart

She's dead.

Noelani's dead and it hurts me so much. It hurts that I couldn't even hold her hand as she died, or kiss her one last time. Instead, I just ran.

I knew that I couldn't win in a fight against Glorian in Trajan, so I ran. But that hurts me. I couldn't even avenge her. And that hurts.

I will avenge her death, though. I was feeling bad about betraying Glorian until he killed Noelani. We may have ditched him, but we never killed him. I impulsively fired my gun at him, but that was a kneejerk response and it wasn't Noelani who tried to kill him. She didn't deserve to die.

But Glorian does. He deserves to die because he killed Noelani.

I tuck my knees to my chest as I rock on the ground, willing myself not to cry again. I've been crying all day, and now that it's evening, I should probably calm down so I can at least get some sleep.

I'll need to be well-rested if I'm to spend all day tomorrow hunting Glorian.

District 3

Lennox Porter

I can't believe I lost the gem.

It was my one shot at returning home. Now, I'm going to be forced to try and become Victor - but how am I supposed to possibly beat any of the finalists? Any of the remaining tributes, perhaps with the exception of the twelve-year-old from District 6, would easily destroy me in a fight. But the District 6 boy did get an 8 in training, so perhaps he has some tricks up his sleeve…

I'm wandering through the jungle aimlessly since I don't have much else to do. I'll probably have to find shelter soon, since night is quickly falling. It's almost impossible to see during day, much less night, especially in this section of the arena, where the trees are so dense, they block out almost all sunlight.

I don't remember any cannons today, but it's possible they fired while I was sleeping this morning. So when the Capitol anthem starts, I eagerly look up at the sky, getting only a sliver of a view of the Capitol emblem through the branches overhead. After a moment, it changes to show the image of the District 4 girl, then disappears.

I can't help but let a smile split across my face. With all of the disappointment from yesterday, it's nice to realize that I'm in the Final 8. It's a great accomplishment, especially for someone of my skill level and District. Most girls from District 3 don't make it to the Final 8, especially without allies. It's reassuring.

Plus, they'll interview my family next - probably not my birth family, who disowned me, but they'll undoubtedly interview Ada and Eddie. I haven't had any sponsors for the past few days, but maybe after seeing my daughter, some people in the Capitol will grow sympathetic toward me and send some more gifts my way.

The death of another Career is also nice. It means less physical threats remaining in the arena. While everyone seems like a physical threat to me right now, it's always good to see Careers dwindling down. I watch the girl's picture, hoping for another death that I might have missed, but her image fades, leaving only the black sky.

Oh well. One death is good enough, especially since yesterday we had none.

I continue walking, my mind running with thoughts of Ada and the interviews. I'm so distracted, I almost wander directly into the camp of two tributes.

I catch myself and duck behind a tree right before I enter the small clearing they chose to set up camp in. The District 6 female and the District 7 male are sitting around a dying fire, talking. I sink to my knees, not wanting to risk them hearing me walking away. I'm also a bit curious about what they're talking about.

"I can't believe we made it to the Final 8."

"Yeah. It's funny to think about how we were worried about dying in the Bloodbath after the interviews… eleven days ago?"

"Yeah. It's weird how quickly time passes."

"Really? It's felt like a really long time to me. I'm surprised so few days have passed."

"Ten days is a lot. Especially considering last year, when the Games lasted twelve. If things follow that path, these Games will be over in two days."

"That's true. We could be home in only two days… wow, that's weird to think about. Everything will be so different if we go home."

"Especially for me. You'll just go back to your life - I'll have to deal with fame, and mentoring, and all of the Victor's earnings."

"Yeah, it will suck for you to have a mansion in the Victor's Village and unlimited money."

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm. Besides, you know what I mean!"

They're talking like they're both going to live… which means one of them has a gem.

Suddenly, a quote pops into my head; "If you kill the current possessor of the jewel, then you will be the new owner." It's what the inscription said when I first got my sapphire.

I was hoping I wouldn't get blood on my hands, but I know that I'll do what I have to.

My hand tightens around the handle of my knife.

It's not over yet.

Please review! It motivates me 100%. Every review I receive shaves off another day of my procrastination on writing.

The Day 10 poll is on my profile, so please vote!

We finally have our Final 8: Cecelia, Trajan, Glorian, Lennox, Tristana, Axel, Vincent, and Hadley!

Congratulations to Team Shadow, tigeroutsider, santiago. poncini20, Author-Hime, Pierana, Tyquavis, TheNoobyBoy, and Fairytale. Charming for having their tributes make it to the Final 8!

GEM CARRIERS:

Emerald - Axel Woodleigh (D6M)
Ruby - Tristana Rockett (D6F)
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:

13th: Arabella Cantros (D10F)

DAY 7:

12th: Dennis Fielder (D5M)

DAY 8:

11th: Yael Harident (D11F)
10th: Rachel Ivy (D12F)

DAY 9:

None.

DAY 10:

9th: Noelani King (D4F)

1. What Hogwarts house would you say each of the Final 8 would be in?

2. What did you think of Noelani's death?

3. Who do you think will win?

4. Who do you want to win (besides your own tribute)?

5. Do you think Lennox will get another gem?

ALLIANCES:

Axel/Hadley
Tristana/Vincent

SOLO:

Cecelia
Trajan
Glorian
Lennox

KILL LIST/REMAINING TRIBUTES:

Cecelia Hart (D1F) - 1
Trajan Seth (D1M) - 2
Glorian Stafford (D2M) - 2
Lennox Porter (D3F) - 0
Tristana Rockett (D6F) - 1
Axel Woodleigh (D6M) - 0
Vincent Elm (D7M) - 1
Hadley Moreau (D9M) - 1

- Lilah