Reyna Ramirez-Arellano

I hike around in the muck, the mud being up to my knees. I don't know why I chose to go in the swamp part of the arena, I'm totally regretting that decision now. At least there aren't any tributes. Right now my number one priority is water. I'm very thirsty, and I'm practically scratching at my throat. It's been about twenty-four hours without water and I am already exhausted.

I know better than forming an alliance, especially since I have all I need. My sword, my weapon of choice, a backpack, and food. Well actually, I take that back. All I need is water. The muck is up to my hips now. I'm starting to think this isn't a good idea when I'm whisked down into the mud. I try to swim up, but the stuff is sticky and my head only breaks the surface for a minute. The mud is pulling me down. Some kind of sick trap from the Capitol? I'm going to die. My lungs are running out of air. I feel myself getting pulled down lower. I stop struggling. This is the end.

Then I feel strong hands around my body and I am yanked upward, out of the mud. I am dropped like a sack of flour onto solid ground, and I wheeze for air. I sputter and cough muck out of my mouth and throat. I wipe the mud from my eyes and look at my savior.

She has frizzy red hair, and I recognize her. The girl from ten, though I can't remember her name. She looks at me with a curious expression. I still have my backpack, and my sword which is still hooked onto my belt. We stare at each other for a few minutes, wondering if it is safe to speak, afraid the other will attack. Finally she holds out her hand.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare, from District ten," she says. I look at her hand, wondering if it's booby-trapped. But that wouldn't make any sense. Why would she try to kill me after saving me? I shake her hand.

"Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, from three" I say. We nod in acquaintance. We still stand for a moment in silence. "Thank you," I say, "I mean, from saving me from the… mud." I sounds stupid saying it out loud, but it was rather scary.

"It was nothing. Besides, you could have been Grover or someone… I'm glad I saved you by the way, I would have done so even if I knew you were you and not Grover, I mean… yeah," Rachel says.

"I'm glad you saved me too," I say, uncomfortably. I feel guilty, knowing if I saw her dying I probably wouldn't save her. Now, I might, but then…

"Let's not make things awkward" Rachel says. We hike on together. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving." I search through my backpack. Luckily there is no mud inside. I find a sleeve of crackers, a pack of dried beef, a bag of dried fruit, and a little bag of nuts. I give her the nuts. She wolfs down about half of them, and offers the bag to me. I eat a few. They're good.

"Do you have any water?" I ask.

"A little," she hands me a small canteen attached to her belt. It's almost full. I try not to be greedy, so I take a small swig. We continue walking, taking turns drinking and eating. We talk about our districts, our family, and the other tributes. We try not to say anything insulting the Capitol though, because we don't want mutts after our behinds.

I feel like we have formed an alliance, unwanted by me. But there's a connection, one you can't help having, after someone saves you from mud. Dang it, that sounded stupid again.

Piper McLean

I wake up all achy. Apparently the blankets don't protect you from the hardness of the ground. I am one of the ones to wake up first. Thalia is awake, changing Luke's bandages, and Luke is awake groaning. I have to admit, the wound looks worse today.

DING DING! It's the ring of the sponsor! Most likely for Luke's nasty wound. Thalia looks up, and I rush over to the little parachute. I open the box and find a slip of paper and a metal jar. The note reads: TO LUKE, TAKE CARE OF THAT NASTY WOUND—C. In the jar is a liquidly medicine.

"Hey, Luke! Medicine for you!" I shout. I give the medicine to Thalia, who carefully applies the medicine to Luke's arrow wound. Luke sighs and lies back down.

"Piper, can I talk to you for a minute?" Thalia beckons me over away from Luke. I follow her. "Luke's wound has gotten worse. Infected"

"But the medicine will heal that, right?" I ask.

"Yes, but while I was changing Luke's bandages I noticed a few small bumps on his leg. He was itching them. Jason might have them too, he's been itching a lot," she says. As if on que, Jason rolls over and scratches. "I think the Capitol might have released an illness, or a bug that brings bites. I don't think it's good." I nod.

"I guess." Thalia walks back over to the cornucopia, as if nothing happened.

"Piper, why don't you wake up the boys and girls? I'll make breakfast." She starts lighting a fire. I shake Nyssa awake. Groggy, she stretches out then flops back on her stomach.

"Nyssa?" I ask. She grunts into her blanket. I lift her ear and scream into it. "NYSSA WAKE UP!" She jumps to her feet, startled.

"What?"

"Thalia is making breakfast. Why don't you help her?" I ask. She frowns, but obediently walk over to help Thalia.

Now I have to wake Clarisse. The worst one. I pick up a long spear (not Clarisse's!) and use the butt of it to poke her awake. When I wake her, she roars and swings her fists in front of her. When she comes to her senses she walks over to Thalia and Nyssa, to eat.

I can just shake Jason awake. He wakes immediately.

"Hey, Piper. I'll wake Luke" says Jason. He wakes Luke. I feel like hugging Jason, the adorable guy. What a sweetheart!

Thalia and Nyssa have made us a tasty breakfast of strawberries, bread, and nuts. She also cooked some bird, which doesn't taste half bad. Even Clarisse seems to enjoy it. The only bad thing she says about it is that it was cooked by Thalia and Nyssa.

"Are we going tribute hunting today?" Jason asks, mostly to Luke. I take a bite of my bird.

"Well, duh. Thalia, you can be the one who stays back here and watches our stuff. Nyssa too." Luke says. I nod. I feel proud that Luke thinks I'm strong enough to go tribute hunting with them. "We should probably go after eating. I'm itching to kill weaklings—or better, a strong tribute like Percy or Annabeth from twelve."

We quickly finish up, since no one likes to keep Luke or Clarisse waiting, especially when they want to kill. Clarisse throws her hands up in the air.

"Okay I'm done! You bottom feeders better hurry up quickly before I go by myself." She says. Jason and Luke stand up to show that they're done too. "Piper?"

"Yeah, I'm done" I say standing up, even though I have more bird I wish I could finish. Clarisse and Luke beckon us out into the desert sector. I'm hesitant to go into the desert sector. I feel like there could be tons of poisonous lizards and snakes. I look at Jason. He looks nervous too.

"Come on you guys!" Luke says, and Jason and I run into the sand.

Will Solace

I chose to go into mountain part of the arena. It looked the most open and there is little chance another tribute will jump out at me. Unfortunately, that means I'm in the wide open. I have a great view of the careers from my cave. I can see anyone on the island, the plains with the Cornucopia, or the desert. Most people went to the forest after the Bloodbath, but I was interested when Lee went into the desert. That place seems like a poison hotspot for me.

I didn't see anyone but the boy from three, Travis, and the boy from seven, Beckendorf, come up to this mountain beside me. The mountain is big, so I'm not very worried about running into them, although they are my biggest threat right now.

I ran away from the bloodbath with just a first aid kit, since I'm a pretty good healer. The cave is pretty small, with a little slope in the back where I sleep, so no one can see me when I'm sleeping. I've been getting pretty hungry, since there are no animals on the mountain—well, as far as I have seen. My main source of food is a blackberry patch slightly higher than my cave, but they have been starting to go quicker, so I think either Travis or Beckendorf have found it.

I tuck my first aid kit into the nook so I can go pick some berries. I don't want anyone finding my only supplies. I climb up the mountain for about five minutes before I find the berry bush. I start shoving blackberries into my mouth. I haven't eaten for a while, so I'm really hungry. Suddenly I hear rustle coming from the small and dry bushes in front of me. I start to back away. This is either a mutt or a tribute, so either way it's dangerous and out for my blood. Travis emerges from the bushes. I sprint down the hill, going as fast as I can without slipping.

"Wait!" He calls. I slow down, and grab onto a rock for support. Travis peers over the ledge at me. He sees me stop. "Do you want to be allies? I was going to be allies with Rachel, the girl from ten, but I wasn't able to find her after the bloodbath". I ponder this offer. It would be risky, but he might have better supplies. Plus, that's one less tribute against me. Also, sleeping would be less dangerous with someone to keep guard.

"I guess so. I think Rachel went to either the forest or the swamp, because I can see anywhere else, and I haven't seen her." I say. I climb back up to the ledge where Travis is.

"Oh, that's good. Maybe we can be a trio when we find her!" He says. I don't like the idea of being in an alliance of three, but I'll let it slide. There's a small chance we'll find each other before one of us dies. "What supplies do you have? I have a knife and a box full of stuff for traps. I almost trapped the boy from seven, Beckendorf, but he noticed and ran further up the mountain."

"I have a first aid kit. I'm pretty good at healing, but I haven't needed to use it yet. It has a few bandages, some pain killer medicine and another paste medicine, but I don't know what it does." I say. I lead Travis down to my cave, where I show him my first aid kit and my sleeping area. He seems impressed, and we decide to sleep in my cave rather than his bush.

"Who's where?" Travis asks me, "You said you could see."

"You can. Look. Nico from four is on that island. The careers from one and two, and Thalia from four and Nyssa from eleven are at the cornucopia. Actually, the careers from one and two are now in the desert. Tribute hunting, I guess. Lee from six is in the desert, too. No one else is. Everyone else is either in the forest of the swamp. I saw Grover and Percy go into the forest, and Reyna went into the swamp. Those are the only ones I saw".

"Wait—" Travis shouts, "Are Thalia and Nyssa sneaking away from the cornucopia? Are they leaving the Careers?"

Percy Jackson

I trek through the woods. I still haven't found Annabeth, but I have been looking forever. I'm just glad she's not dead yet. I haven't heard a cannon since the projections last night, so I have been looking for a while. I look on the ground where I see some mushrooms.

I grab them. I don't know if they're poisonous or not, so I stick them in my back pocket. Annabeth will know once as I find her.

"Percy?" Someone asks from behind a tree. I look at the person.

"Grover!" Grover comes forward and hugs me. I'm so glad to see my best friend, even if I did hope it was Annabeth behind the tree. We hug, then come apart. "I'm looking for Annabeth—have you seen her?"

"Nope"

"PERCY! HELP!" I hear. Annabeth's voice. I dash in the direction of Annabeth's voice, Grover behind me. I skid through the trees and see Drew with a knife at Annabeth's neck. I grab Grover's bow and shoot an arrow into Drew's neck. She crumples to the ground, blood spraying out of her neck. Annabeth runs at me and we collapse in a hug.

AN: I know it took forever to upload this. It said in my profile that I would have five POVs, but that didn't work out. I had planned to have Grover's POV as the last one, but I figured it would boring to have Grover and Percy in a row, especially since now they're in an alliance. Special thanks to Dauntless Slytherin Tribute who gave me the idea of Percy find Annabeth with a knife at her throat. I'll try to upload Night 2 or Chapter 2 of Another World ASAP.