Danger Line by Avenged Sevenfold

Leaving my fear on the danger line,
Suffering no man should never know.

Arena Day Five

Ariella Saville, 14, District Twelve

I am awoken to the world shaking around me.

My eyes are still foggy, and my body only half-rested, but as soon as I hear the noise my mind snaps awake. I can't even describe how terrible the sound is, but it's not unfamiliar. The sound of building materials sliding and colliding. The sound of a house falling in on itself, out of all the war sounds this one was the most horrible to hear.

Now it is so loud that I can't even hear my own breathing. The desk vibrates above my head, and one look at the wood that it is made out of tells me that this is not a safe place to be if this building is going to collapse.

I scamper out from under it, the shaking of the building making it difficult to stand let alone walk. I fall to my knees three feet later and resort to crawling the rest of the way to the door. I scream, the sound getting lost entirely, as something falls on the desk behind me, snapping it right down the centre.

Thankfully, the knob turns easily and I throw myself out of the office door. Around me, the scene is no better. The whole, cavernous room is shaking from Panem only knows what and I don't know how much longer the ceiling is going to hold. I throw myself to the ground as the only window that was still whole shatters over me. I can feel the pieces of glass shred parts of my skin, but adrenaline keeps me from feeling most of the pain.

I hope I'll be alive long enough to feel it later.

I look around, my heavy breaths finally starting to overpower the sound of sliding stones. The crack in the wall that I entered through nights ago is gone, covered entirely by debris and a thick cloud of dust. I can see that the majority of the damage is coming onto that side, which only makes sense since it appears to be the weakest part of the already weak structure.

I can't get out the way I got in, so how am I going to get out at all? The other side of the room looks sturdy, and there are no visible places that I could escape through. My eyes rise up a few feet to the window, or I guess it's now better to just call it a big hold in the wall. It's my only chance to get out, but the base of the hole is at least ten feet up and there is no sign of any ladders.

I run over to the area anyway, praying that something will come to me if I look close enough. I run my hands down the wall, and I think I might actually be able to climb up it for a second. I dig my nails into the thin cracks between the stones and push my toes into the wall a couple feet off the ground. I hold myself up for a moment, but it's clear that I am not going anywhere close to up.

I fall down to the ground in defeat. The ground and alls are shaking and there is nothing I can do to get out of here. Maybe I could try to make it through the crack. It's my only chance really, unless I plan on allowing myself to be crushed under these stones when they come crashing down. I don't have high hopes that I would be able to survive that.

Just as I am about to move towards the weaker side of the building I hear a muffled voice. I'm sure that I must be going insane when I can't even make out the words. A second later one of the walls snaps down the middle like a twig, one end tips over slowly giving me enough time to throw myself out of its path.

"Help me!" The words behind the shriek are easy to distinguish now, and I can almost make out the outline of a body behind the thick cloud of dust that replaces the wall. Another stone falls down behind me and I jump, a scream escaping my own lips.

I don't hesitate another second, I run straight towards the direction that the scream came from. The wall fell, there has to be a way out from there. I am running out of options by the second. I cough as the dust settles in my lungs, but I don't allow myself to stop until I nearly trip over a girl.

She is crouched in the meeting point of two walls, her hands over her head and her entire body covered in white dust. I don't know if I would have recognized her without it, but I certainly don't now.

My first attempt at talking only upsets the dust in my throat, but I finally manage to yell above the rumbling. "We have to get out of here! Get up!"

I don't know this girl but I grab her hand and pull her to her feet anyways. I look around for a second before realizing that there is no way out from here. I turn around to run back the way I came in, but I can see very little with the whiteness whirling around us. I walk forwards and hit a wall. Somewhere in the chaos, I lose grip on the girl and her screams finally leave my ears. I begin to panic even more.

I try to scream, but no sound I could make would be able to come close to overcoming the rumbling that erupts from in front of me. Both hands feeling around the wall, I come to the terrifying realization that it too is tipping forwards. By now I can't see anything, but I still try to run in the opposite direction. It doesn't take long before I hit another wall.

As the rumbling overtakes every thought in my mind, I duck to the ground and cover my head with both arms to brace for impact. I'm not sure whether the crushing feeling comes from the dust suffocating me from the inside, or the walls crashing down around me.

Venice Durante, 18, District Four

"I don't understand what you're so worked up about?" I ask shyly. Connor has been more than irritable for the past few days, but today he just seems out for confrontation. It's scaring me in all honesty. The entire theme of this event is violence and I'm afraid that this will egg him on to do something that he'll regret. The fact that I can see the weight in his pocket from the gun doesn't help to ease my worries either.

He stops pacing and steps towards me. I hold my breath but don't allow myself to flinch away. We're allies and we're supposed to be in this together, but I will make sure that he knows that I am not afraid of him. I am not willing to allow him to think he has control over me, so even if it terrifies me I will stand my ground.

His face is only inches away from mine but I force myself to hold his gaze. "I'm not in the mood for you to tell me that I'm worked up. I'm as calm as a fucking waterfall so cut the attitude."

I nod but say nothing. It won't help the situation to stutter my way through an answer. I know that he knows he isn't acting calm at all, and there is no point in telling him really. He backs up a couple inches but the anger doesn't fade from his cheeks. After all these days, I think the stress is finally starting to get to him.

"Don't tell me what to do," he hisses and I do my best to keep up the calm and rational appearance. Am I scared? Of course I am. I might be taller than him, but I know just as well as he does that I would not be the winner if a fight broke out between us. Especially not with him holding onto that gun like it were made of gold.

"Knock it off." Santana's voice is level but firm, and she pushes Connor away from me. Almost immediately his anger transfers to her, and once again I fear that a fight might be about to break out.

"Don't tell me what to do, Santana," he warns her, but she won't have it.

She's in his face just as he was in mine, matching Connor in height and intensity. "We're a team. Nobody wants to tell you what to do but I sure as hell am not going to let you try and intimidate us. Get you head out of your ass."

He pushes her away from him and for a second I am certain that Santana is going to be the one to throw the first punch. I catch her by the arm in the moment that she stumbles back from him. She turns to me with a look of warning in her eyes, but I shake my head sternly. It's true that Connor is being ridiculous, but there is no sense in provoking him further.

Just as I am trying to think of something to say to break the tension between them, Connor turns around and walks off.

"Where the hell are you going?" Santana calls after him, pushing against me to follow him. I tighten my grip and I can see the flash of annoyance on her face before she stop struggling.

"Let him cool down," I whisper, knowing that Connor wouldn't have wanted to hear that.

She nods but I can still see her shaking with frustration. "What is wrong with him?"

I try to think of something to say that will calm her down, but I just end up shrugging. "I know. I think the stress is finally getting to him. We just have to hope he comes to his senses sooner rather than later."

"I swear if he threatens you again," she begins.

"He wasn't threatening me," I interrupt. "And I can handle myself thank you very much."

She rolls her eyes. "I know you can, but you're letting him walk all over you what's up with that?"

"It's called keeping the peace," I smile. "You should try it sometime."

"You know, that doesn't sound like me," she shrugs. I can tell she is trying to get back to the joking around, but things are getting serious and it's showing all over her face. She's a tough girl, but she doesn't need to be on the defence all the time. Sometimes it's best to let things go every once in a while, to keep certain people happy.

"Unfortunately," I joke. For a second I see a look of question on Santana's face, but it disappears just as soon as I notice it.

"Should we go after him?" She asks a moment later and I note the change in subject. "He's likely to get himself lost and even more frustrated."

"He'll be fine I think," I reply. "I think he needs time to cool off a bit."

"If you say so."

"Oh I do," I say dramatically. "One more second here and I could see him bringing out that gun. I don't know about you but I really would rather not see it that close up if I can help it."

This seems to make an impact on her, because she doesn't say anything for a second. "Do you really think he'd use it on one of us?"

I swallow thickly, wanting to assure her that she's safe but also knowing that anything is a possibility that she should be prepared for. "I really don't know the answer to that."

Danican Tobin, 16, District Three

It still feels like this must be some cruel, sick joke. Nothing could have prepared me for seeing Jonah's face in the sky last night, nothing at all. I could only just barely come to terms with the idea of him abandoning us. To think that he might simply be gone from the world in general is an impossible thought.

Adriel wasn't nearly as upset as I had expected him to be. Perhaps he had considered the grave possibility already and just not told me out of fear that I would be even more upset. He didn't know Jonah like I did, either, so that must make it easier on him.

Up until now I was able to dismiss the faces in the sky. I didn't know them, so it didn't really hit me that they were gone since to me they weren't ever really here. It seems idiotic, but it was blissful ignorance. I can't ignore the ugly face of reality anymore. Jonah is dead and now it's just Adriel and I. It's a lonely thought for a situation that shouldn't be lonely at all.

"How do you think it happened?" I hiccup, realising that my tears haven't stopped like I thought. I must just be getting used to the feeling of wetness on my cheek; either that or my body has gone as numb as my heart.

His face softens when he looks over at me. "I don't think you should think about that right now."

"I can't help it." I am unable to keep the whining out of my voice. I just want to know that he didn't suffer, and that there was no way I could have helped him. He was there when I went to sleep and not when I woke up. Whatever or whoever got him could have just as easily killed Adriel or myself. It doesn't seem fair that it was Jonah, but it would make me feel better if I knew that it would have happened even if I had woken up in time to help.

"Danican, you're a mess. I know it's not what you want to hear, but you need to forget about him and think about yourself. Time doesn't stop for anyone, and we have to keep working."

I sniffle and close my eyes for a moment, making an attempt at composing myself. "It's not right, he was a good person and didn't deserve this."

"I know," he sighs. "He was a good guy and that was the problem. If we would have started with my plan right away whoever killed him might not have even had the chance to do it."

He's right. I mean, of course he's right. Jonah didn't deserve his fate, but really what kid our age could have done anything that would make them worthy of it? This game isn't fair, if it was well it just wouldn't exist in the first place. Maybe Adriel is right about all of this. That morals don't matter here, and we have to bend what we know is right to make it.

Jonah was unwilling to bend and I've seen where that got him. Even stronger than my sadness for his being gone is the terrifying reminder that the same thing could just as easily happen to me. It wasn't easy to ignore the idea before, but it's only gotten harder since I found out about Jonah. Now it feels real, not just a mean joke or a threat. People are really dying and I could easily be next.

"What do we do?" I ask.

Adriel looks over at me with a curious stare. "What do we do about what?"

I inhale deeply, knowing that once the words are out of my mouth they are final. Adriel has shown already that he is willing to do what it takes. It was Jonah and I that were holding him back, but not anymore. "How do we win? What do we have to do to get out of here?"

"I told you I have another plan," he says carefully. "We don't have the explosions anymore since, well yeah. Anyway, I remember that you and Jonah were working on knots and trap for a lot of the training day and you said you secured some rope, yes?"

"I did," I say, looking down at my own backpack. It was pure luck that Jonah and I were each able to gather a bag that contained things we knew how to use. Even before coming here I knew a thing or two about knots and it's not much of a stretch to fashion them into traps I guess."

"Simple then," he smiles. "We set them by riversides, open areas, places where tributes would be likely to set them off. Attach some sort of noise maker so that when they are caught we let everyone nearby know. We probably wouldn't even have to be the ones to kill them."

I nod along as he rattles off his plan. It makes sense, it could work. I like it better than the first one he told us, simply because it gives us the option of allowing someone else to actually be the one to pull the trigger. It would help me to sleep better at night I hope.

"What do you think?"

"It sounds like it could work," I start to say.

He interrupts, putting his hand up to stop me. "It will work."

"It will work," I repeat. "When could we start?"

"Immediately," he says with a grin. "I'm glad to see you're on board. It's the smart move, believe me. You're working for the right team, yourself."

I nod, hoping that he is right and that I am making the right choice. It's hard to tell really, when both choices seem to have such dire outcomes. I guess it's about picking your poison and praying that you won't actually have to drink it.

Verden Arell, 16, District Nine

"I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry I just can't."

When I look back I see Vera leaning against a tree, blinking towards the sky to keep from crying. I sigh and stop my own steps, turning back towards where she stands.

"What do you mean?" I ask simply. She's been almost silent for two days now, hardly even able to look at me sometimes. I figured that she might be broken up about the other night with those younger kids, and I won't lie that it didn't kill me to see how young they really were. It was dark, I don't even think we would have gone after them if we had known.

"I can't stop thinking about them," she hiccups. "I'm a doctor, this is against everything I stand for. I don't care if this is what it takes, I can't do it anymore."

"Vera, stop it." My voice comes out far more sternly than I meant it to, and the way she flinches back makes me want to take the words back.

"We shouldn't have done it," she whispers and I can hear the pain in her voice. "This is wrong, I won't do it anymore."

"We don't have a choice," I say automatically. "This is what we're supposed to be doing. This is what we need to do to live and to get back home. If we were anywhere else you'd be right but not here. They've sent us gifts, food and water and supplies, that has to mean we're doing the right thing."

"I thought so but not anymore," she says, her gaze falling to the ground. "My body tells me this is wrong and I'm going to start listening to it. This has to stop, Verden, it's gone too far."

I shake my head. She's wrong, she must be. You don't get rewarded for doing the wrong thing, that simply doesn't happen. I've thought about this a lot and I've come to the only logical conclusion. This place isn't like the outside world. It feels different, acts different, and I know now that it has its own set of what's right and what's wrong.

It's wrong to allow yourself to be overtaken. It's right to take steps to improve the chances of your own survival. The reward system has shown me this. When we make the choice to do what needs to be done we get supplies. On the days that we do not or are unable to track down another tribute, we get nothing. It's a simple an effective system where survival reigns supreme. Vera just hasn't figured it out like I have.

"There has to be another way to get home," she says softly. Her face looks so tired and filled with desperation that I have to force myself to look away. "This can't be the only way. I don't believe it."

I know that I have to be firm. She's tired and overwhelmed, but I know that she wants and needs this chance just as much as I do. I saw the spark, the fight, in her eyes during training. There is no way that she would allow herself to just lie down and wait for someone else to do what we have already proven needs to be done.

"This is the only way, and if you don't believe in that anymore then I think it's best that you leave."

"You don't mean that," she says immediately.

I can feel the lump forming in my throat but I know that I have to say this. If she is who I saw in training then she won't leave. If that girl isn't in her anymore than I don't need her with me anyway. This is just how it has to be, even if I don't like it.

"I do mean it. I mean every word. If you can't do it anymore then you should leave because I can and will continue to do whatever I need to so that I can go home to my family. Even if I have to do it by myself."

"I don't want to leave you," she breathes. "You just don't understand. I'm so tired."

Most of me wants to reach out and put my arm around her. I know that it is a difficult mindset to get into, but it's not forever. Whoever gets to leave this place will be able to shut all of this back down and return to the normal set of morals. Eventually the tiredness will go away and she'll be glad she did it all.

I force myself to stand ground, knowing that she needs to come to the decision herself. I am not going to coddle her, and I do not want someone around me that I have to pour fight into. No matter how much I've grown to like Vera, I will not fight for anyone but myself and that starts right now.

"No one is making you do this," I say, doing my best to keep my face blank. "It's your choice and I think I've made that pretty clear for you."

I turn around and continue walking, straining my ears to see if she will follow me. I'm not sure what I'll do if she does choose to leave, I haven't really gotten that far. I'll have to figure something out, I guess, because I've taken several steps already and I can't hear anything but my own breathing.

Just when I have all but given up on her coming after me, I hear quick footsteps coming up behind me. I look over my shoulder and see Vera running towards me. I stop and look at her blankly, wanting her to tell me her decision in words. I don't want to doubt that she is willing anymore. I want her to tell me.

"I'm not going to make you do this on your own. So let's do this."

Dallas Audrinne, District Five

Ariella Saville, District Twelve

Song: Danger Line by Avenged Sevenfold.

A/N: I feel so much better about this chapter, maybe that's why it came out a lot quicker than expected. I'm sorry to Sophia and Knifey, Dallas and Ariella were great tributes and I loved writing them but the numbers are dwindling and I have to make important decisions of who to keep. Unfortunately it wasn't them.

I hope none of you were expecting something fabulous for the 1st Hunger Games arena with the whole ruins 'twist'. I cringe even calling it a twist to be honest. This story, no matter how much I love it, is ruining my lovely arena creativity.

Reviews are great. I thank everyone who has been reviewing faithfully, I really appreciate it like you guys are MVPs. I'll leave a couple of questions here just for fun.

It's getting down to it, who do you see as a potential Victor?

If you could bring one dead tribute back, who would it be and why?

And of course, how was the writing/plots/etc for this chapter?

That is pretty much it! I have exams still, so as always don't expect an update but it will probably come anyway because I am an A+ procrastinator. Bye!