.

I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down.

I'm only human, and I crash and I break down.

Kinton Machek, District Twelve

"Do you think she's actually getting her ally?"

I smile over at Haven reassuringly. "Of course she is," I reply. "She wouldn't lie to us."

"Kinton, we legitimately just met her. She could be lying through her teeth."

"But, but, but…" I wag my finger at her playfully. "We like to believe people. We like to trust people."

"Don't be so childish, you're seventeen." She crosses her arms and swivels, leaning against the gingerbread house. "Trusting people will only get a knife in your back."

I look meaningfully at her and waggle my eyebrows.

"Okay, well, you can trust me. You know that. It's district loyalty. But we just met Cayley a minute ago, Kin, and, well, I just don't know about her."

"Haven, do you trust me?"

The question flies out of my mouth before I can help it, and it sounds so vulnerable and naked in the air like that. I stare at Haven imploringly, and her mouth twitches with a smile upon the usually grim frown she wears.

"Um…"

"Do you?" Now it's nagging me. I'd really quite like to know.

"Of course I do." Haven forces a laugh and turns away, not facing me. "Why would I ally with you if I didn't trust you?"

Smiling under the knowledge that she does indeed trust me, I cross my arms. "I just wanted to ask. Makes me feel more secure, you get it?"

"Yeah."

The conversation hits a road block, and for a few more minutes we stand in silence, waiting for Cayley and her little ally. Then, I break the peace.

"Do you think she's still there?"

"I personally think she's left us." Haven sighs in frustration. "Whatever. Let's scout out the house. If she did leave, at least we can steal her hiding spot."

My mouth goes dry and I shake my head. "That's not a very good idea," I stammer out. "What if they come back?"

"They're not going to come back," grumbles Haven, but she gives into my idea. "Fine. Where do you want to go, then?"

"Let's go back to where we were before, in the lollipop forest." I smile. "We might have some better luck scouting out in there."

"Kinton, no. Stop. We need some place to sleep for tonight."

"Can we just go back to the lollipop forest?" I plead, clenching my hands into fists, knowing that nothing would ever come out of them. I'm too good to punch Haven, of course. She's like a sister to me. "It's important."

Haven sighs heavily, eyes flickering behind me like there's somebody there. She looks around in tenseness. "Fine. Only for a little bit. Whatever the reason, you wouldn't put us in danger, I know that much. You're too much of a coward."

"Great!" I exclaim giddily, turning around quickly and thus, spilling out the contents of our spliced backpack to the ground.

"Kinton, be careful," she grumbles, stooping low to pick up our supplies. "You promised me you would be."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," I mumble into my hand. "I just got too excited and moved too fast."

But she's suddenly silent, turning the items over and over in her hands. "Kinton… where's our thermos?"

"Is it in the bag?"

She checks, her movements jerky and frightened. "N-No… Kinton, this is bad. We haven't seen any other signs of water, we need that thermos!"

"We must have dropped it when we sliced the pack open last time," I gasp, my spine locking rigidly.

"Back by the dolls?!" Haven's voice is a mixture of fear and amusement.

"Yes!"

Haven plunks the items back into the backpack and secures it again, folding the top brim over the bottom. She frowns lightly, exhaling and shaking her head. "Fine. We have to go back there to get the thermos. But God, Kin, promise me that you'll be careful. We can't stand to lose anything else."

"I swear on my life," I reply eagerly.

Together we walk back to the lollipop forest.

It's not long before I can see the vague silhouettes of the dolls. But unlike last time, they're closer and their eyes are illuminated in particular. One doll turns directly to us, its bluish button eyes staring out at everything, and yet, nothing.

"Creepy as hell," Haven breathes.

"Agreed." I swallow.

We hide behind a massive lollipop trunk that's collapsed on the pillowy ground and move to the right, fumbling around in the darkness. Once or twice I pull on Haven's ponytail and she yelps quietly, then quickly claps a hand over her own mouth as she checks to see if the dolls are listening.

"There's the thermos!"

I check, my eyes wide with glee – until I realize that the thermos is directly underneath the mass of dolls. And another check proves that they're slowly but surely marauding closer and closer to our hiding spot.

"We have to run!"

"But the thermos, Kinton!"

All of a sudden, hot breath on the back of my neck makes my blood run cold. I look at Haven out of the side of my eye, hoping desperately that maybe she's trying to trick me. She isn't.

I whirl around, gasping for air, and come face-to-face with the person behind me.

Shael Havern, District Ten

Kinton's eyes grow wide.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," I hiss out, placing both of my hands on his trembling shoulders. "We're not here to hurt you, we actually need help, too."

He looks back and forth at Tethys and me, and then he stares at the dagger in my hand. "How do I know that this isn't a trick? What if you guys turn on us?"

"You don't know that, but do you really have a choice?" I growl out, my eyes flickering over to the advancing dolls. "We need to combat the mutts, you know, and it doesn't look like two people against an army will be much help. We're better off with us four. Just for now, a temporary truce."

"A temporary truce," repeats Haven, nodding slightly. "That sounds fine. But just for now."

At my side, Tethys smiles and raises his spear. "I've got this, Shael's got her dagger, what do you two have?"

"Knives," replies Haven, sliding out a couple shimmering blades from the backpack. She smiles slightly, giving her ally two and keeping two for herself. "I think we're ready."

We all rise to face the dolls, which are closer than ever. I can see the listless gazes that they give us, paired with their threaded mouths chanting out those redundant words, and it honestly gives me chills.

"Go!" Tethys screams out from at my side.

I lunge forward, my dagger slicing cleanly into the shoulder of the ragdoll in front of me. The green eyes flash red and the mouth turns downward. Her chanting is abruptly stopped before it picks up again, the words coming faster and faster.

Her cloth arms reach out towards me, and I punch them away, surprisingly heavier than they appear. My dagger shoots out and barely misses the doll's right hand.

Next to me, Tethys has already speared down his doll, its porcelain head shattered, and has moved on to help me. Obviously, having a longer weapon is more efficient. He can throw or stab from a ways away, and avoid getting into the heat of things.

His spear splices through the side of the ragdoll and, eyes darkening into a sickly shade of blackish blue, the doll falls to its knees.

"Move on!" Tethys hollers.

I run out, ducking a slap given by a towering plastic doll with stick straight blond hair and an artificial smile, and I promptly into Kinton.

He shrieks out, his backpack hurtling through the air and dropping his supplies as it goes. But one thing attracts the attention of all of the dolls; the binky, glowing brightly through the blackened night sky, plunges somewhere in the forest and allows every single one of the dolls, attacking or milling about, to start slowly meandering after it.

"Grab the supplies! Grab the supplies!" Haven's voice is strangled, and her eyes are wide with desperation. I stand back and allow Kinton and Haven to run about in a frenzy, stooping to pick up their provisions along the pillowed ground.

Tethys pulls on my sleeve, and we take this opportunity to silently slip away.

"That was useful," he comments as we start jogging away, thus upping my heart rate even more. "Now we know what the baby pacifier actually does."

"Right," I reply, nodding slightly. "That's good, really good. It's helpful for the future with the dolls."

"The Careers seem to be a bit dysfunctional," he jokes around, a smile appearing on his face as he sprints along. "Maybe the dolls are actually our biggest enemy."

"Who knows?" I smirk quietly, stopping briefly to catch my breath. "Can't underestimate anybody in these Games."

"That's for sure."

Eidra Nevett, District Two

"I hope that you die— now."

Carisa's advancing on Soren, his body squirming unpleasantly as he backs away slowly. The rest of us sort of hang back, watching with wide eyes as the corpse of Halcyon silently lies, eyes wide open and staring at the heavens, not ten yards away.

"Just let him alone, Carisa," I say loudly, suddenly hoping for Soren to get the upper hand.

When I first met the girl from One, it was great. She was cute and gung-ho and she seemed like a good friend – a temporary one. I kept that in mind. It could never be permanent. Just an ally for a short period of time.

Carisa was clingy after the first day. She went to me with her problems and complaints, thinking that I'd be there to support her whenever. Needless to say, it got annoying really quickly. Even now I find myself wishing against her. She might still think of me as a good friend, but, well, I consider her something else.

So, yeah. I'm on Soren's side for right now.

Carisa glowers, briefly taking her eyes off of the lithe boy to shoot daggers at me. "No, I can't let him get away," she barks hot-headedly. "Now be a nice person and throw me a weapon, will you?"

I comply for the sake of hoping this won't ruin our 'friendship', slowly but surely bending to the ground, fumbling around with the handle of a pale pink machete and standing back up. Next to me, Juno inhales sharply, toying with her straggly red hair.

"Are you really going to do it?" she whispers uncomfortably.

I glance between her and Carisa's death stare. "Do I really have a choice?" I groan quietly, my hand shaking as I throw Carisa the machete, zinging it towards her with force. Maybe I'm hoping that it'll take out her leg or something.

But no, it merely slices into her hand and she erupts in a roar, toppling to the ground with the blade buried deeply into her hand. Her eyes grow wide as she takes in the quickly trickling crimson blood, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Eidra!" she shrieks out, turning towards me with not an angry expression, but one of betrayal and sorrow. "Why would you do this? God, it hurts!"

The boy behind her, seizing this opportunity, is quick to get up to his feet and dash away, his eyes feral as his feet clap against the soft ground. Carisa's quick to notice and lets out a long, wounded howl.

"Don't just stand there like fools!" she screams out at us. "Go! Follow him! Kill him!"

Unsurprisingly, nobody moves, and Merritt even steps forward with the same solemn expression that we'd previously made fun of. "We're not your puppets," he growls out. "If you want him dead, do it yourself. And that's what you wanted in the first place, wasn't it? You wanted to slaughter Soren yourself. You wanted the kill all to yourself and nobody else."

Carisa stares at him with tears bubbling up in her eyes and her hand shaking. "Fine," she spits out, her lips quivering. "B-But at least help me patch up my hand."

"I didn't mean to, honestly," I say to her calmly, knowing that she'd forgive me no matter what. "I guess I threw it too hard."

She laughs hoarsely, tears streaming down her tanned cheeks. "Too hard? You cut open my hand. I'm pretty sure it's broken. And oh, how convenient – it's my right hand."

"Listen, she didn't mean to, so just lay off her," echoes Juno from behind me, coming to my defense in a heartbeat. "It's just an injury, it's not like she threw it into your skull."

I grin slightly as Juno and I move away from Carisa. Wraith's already fetching bandages for her. "Wow, Juno. Thanks, I wasn't expecting that."

"Anything," she replies with ease, "Anything for a friend."

Friend. There's that word again, bouncing in my mind with the dark knowledge that it's not – it can't be – permanent. In a short time, one or both of us will fall under the influence of death and her sisters. This friendship, relationship, alliance, whatever Juno and I are? It can't happen.

"Thanks," I repeat, this time on edge. I offer her a brittle smile and move over to the Cornucopia, unscrewing the cap of a water bottle and taking a sip.

Since when did the Hunger Games become about personal sacrifices and relationships instead of simply bringing your sword down on another person's life?

Maysa Barric, District Nine

"Okay, new game plan. So we've lost Ezra. We can rebound from that." Maya looks me square in the eye, dead serious in telling me this. "We can avenge him."

"Yeah, I was aware of that the first time you told me." I glare playfully, sticking out my tongue and rolling onto my side. "Can we just get some rest now? I want to go to sleep."

She sighs, staring at the fluffy pink ground. The mantra in the background continues, slowly making me tenser and tenser. "I expect it to be early morning by now," Maya says, averting her eyes to the sky full of stars. She smiles, her eyes flickering over each one in turn.

"I'd think so. The faces showed up a couple hours ago, at the least."

"My point exactly. Maybe some rest would be good for us, anyways." Maya yawns dramatically and stretches out onto the ground. "Do you want to take first watch or should I?"

"I will, to be honest I still don't trust you."

Maya giggles light-heartedly. "All in due time, girlfriend."

And with that, she's out like a light.

It's fun for the first ten minutes, gazing around in the dark and poking at the ground and listening to Maya's silly little snores. Inhale, wheeze, putt, putt, putt, putt. Inhale, wheeze, putt, putt, putt, putt. It's also delightful to tickle her neck and watch as she smacks her lips and tries to swat my hand away in her sleepy state.

But after the fourth time of repeating the process, I'm officially bored and left alone with my thoughts to cope. Questions plague my thoughts like annoying mosquitos.

What would happen if Ezra had survived?

No. I immediately shake my head, drawing my knees to my chest and resting my chin on them. I can't think like that. Dwelling in the past has gotten me nowhere so far. And plus, wouldn't this be Maya's thing to think about? She liked him a lot more than I did.

A sigh emerges from my lips and I stare out listlessly into the night sky, the rose tendrils of a beginning sunrise just creeping onto the horizon. Beautiful, some might say. The only thing I can think of is how bittersweet it is, for something so spectacular to be placed in such a horrid place.

And the chantings, too…

"Let's go over here. There's nobody here, I swear!"

My heart begins thumping briskly, and my ears perk up, straining for the next voice. But it remains to be the same one, a female one.

"Hurry up! We need to lose them!"

"Cayley Torelli," I mouth to myself, suddenly trembling in fear. Gulping for air, I grab the strap of the backpack and rise to my feet, a knife rattling in my hand. I kick Maya's side, forcing her awake.

"What?" she yelps rather loudly.

A gasp escapes me and I grab her wrist, helping her to her feet. "C-Cayley Torelli," I stammer out, fear getting the better of me. "And it sounds like there's somebody with her."

Maya's face splits into a determined expression. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she barks out. "Let's go get them! They're younger and smaller, we can take them. One closer step to going home, right? Hurry, Maysa!"

She slides two knives out of her sleeves and I shakily point to the direction where I heard the voice. "Maya, I don't know…"

But she's already careering towards the source of Cayley's voice, and with my heart in my throat, I tear after her.

It's not hard to find Cayley and her friend, actually. Their silhouettes are frozen images in the misty air, eyes widened and teeth bared. The little one, the girl from Six, immediately tries to run away, but I manage to snag onto her braid with the tips of my fingers and grab a good hold, thus stopping her.

"What do we do now?" hisses Cayley to Aria, her own hands shaking. The glimmer of a pink dagger shines very faintly.

Aria shrugs.

"I didn't want to do this," Maya whispers out, her eyes glancing over the trembling girls, "but worst comes to worst, and, well, you two just happened to be the closest two."

"D-Don't kill us," whimpers Cayley.

She doesn't even try to fight back as Maya swiftly grabs her wrists and swoops them together. Her breath hitches and her eyes mist up, but that's it. A single tear trembles in the crook of her eye before slipping down her cheek.

And Maya's wrist flicks neatly.

The knife enters Cayley's chest not with precision and drive, but with a shaking hand and a suddenly shell-shocked Maya. Cayley's eyes widen and a shrill scream erupts from her throat. The little girl from Six suddenly stops vibrating in my hands and remains very still, her lips quivering.

Maya withdraws the handle of the knife and stabs Cayley again, provoking another animalistic howl from the girl. Again, again, again, until finally there are five holes in Cayley's chest, all bleeding out black, and she flops to her knees.

The cannon's resounding blast echoes eerily throughout the arena.

Maya looks at me, her eyes watery. "I did it, I guess," she says shakily, forcing a laugh. She wipes her eyes on her sleeve and tosses the knife half-heartedly to the ground as Cayley's limp corpse is swallowed by the earth.

"Congratulations," I reply bitterly, my grip on Aria loosening as I move to embrace my tearful ally.

What I don't count on is the girl quickly worming out of my grasp, swooping down to collect the knife, and jetting out of the place.

I gasp. "W-What happened?!"

"Come on!" Maya barks, obviously overcoming her tears quickly. She motions to Aria and her legs move furiously. "We need to get her! It's one step closer to going home!"

Home…

As I run, a lump in my throat and my eyelashes bunching together with tears, the word echoes in my mind. Home. I've never really felt at home.

What's the point of going?

Juno Verdet, District Four

"Good night."

Carisa, Eidra, Wraith, and Merritt are now down and sleeping – meanwhile, I'm groggy from a night of wholesome sleep and dreams. Happy dreams, actually, most of them revolving around me and a mountain of chocolate and donuts. They kind of seem out of place for such an arena.

Brux is next to me, chattering away about a fable he made up when he was littler. He's endearing in a way, when he's not bragging about his past accomplishments and all that truck. He can be a little vulnerable.

And I, personally, feel rather honored that I'm the one to experience it.

"I wonder how tomorrow's gonna go down," I say aloud.

"Full of death and anxiety," Brux replies deviously. "Gonna make everybody's throats ache, huh?"

"Most definitely," I reply with a tinge of disgust creeping into my voice. Brux notices and laughs, heartily clapping me on the shoulder.

"I joke, I joke," he coughs out. "But, no, honestly. It's always fascinating to see who falls and who survives into the next day, especially when we, personally, know the tributes."

"We are the tributes," I reply.

"Well, obviously, but I'm just saying…" he trails off, gesturing and trying to make up for his lost words with his frantic movements. "We know the people in the arena. We know what it's like to be them. It's going to be so much more fascinating…"

A howl explodes in the distance.

Merritt whips his head up and Wraith leaps to his feet, stumbling a bit. Next to me, Brux stiffens, before smirking and grabbing his crossbow.

"It's show time, baby girl," he hisses out to me.

I stifle a laugh, making my way from my sitting position as suddenly, into our circle tears the tiny girl from Six, her black hair flying and her eyes shining, wide with fright and tears. Following her with ragged breathing and heavy footsteps are the two girls from Five and Nine, the two with the nearly identical names. Maysa and Maya?

The girl from Nine notices us first, grabbing the other girl's elbow and gasping in fright. That's when they pull out blades from their sleeves mechanically, fear and tension rising in the air.

There are no words exchanged. Merritt simply lunges forward.

It takes a second to realize that though he aimed for the Nine girl in particular, the scrappy looking one, the two girls have the upper hand. It's quick. Sloppy. Limbs fly around in a flurry, and Brux rushes in, but he's too late.

Merritt's pike impales the thin, pale neck of Nine.

The Five girl stumbles back, gawping and gasping for air. "M-Maysa," she cries out, reaching for the girl's deadened hand as the body slips into the ground, taking the weapon with it.

It's that quick, the death of Maysa.

"That was wacky," I murmur to Wraith beside me, and he nods briefly, not caring to reply to me before striding forward with his kopis in his hand, obviously getting ready to ambush the Five girl.

What he doesn't expect is for the girl to lash out, a scream screeching out through her gritted teeth and for her to swing a blade at him, and then two. The second one hits. Strikes him right through the abdomen, though her intentions must have been a different place.

Lucky for Wraith, he's a little podgy around the middle.

He withdraws it slowly, side by side with Five as she wheezes for air, clutching two more blades, gasping as it slides out of his stomach, and lets it drop to the ground.

"W-Wraith!" I speak out, inhaling quickly as he lets out an enraged roar and charges the girl.

The girl swings. And this time, she doesn't miss.

The knife blade swipes across his pale neck, and it's that quick and messy. It's not drawn out, it's not precise, but it's enough to force him down and into the cloudy ground.

The cannon confirms his rapid demise.

She runs, but nobody follows her. Maybe it's out of grief. Maybe it's sanity restraining us from laughing casually, thinking 'this girl is such an idiot', and dashing in her wake. Maybe it's humanity, out of respect and sorrow for her fallen ally.

Whatever it is, it keeps me away from her.

And maybe I like it that way.

A/N: Human by Christina Perri.

17th- Cayley Torelli, District Eight. A blade to the torso.

16th- Maysa Barric, District Nine. A pike to the neck.

15th- Wraith Elvery, District Two. A blade to the neck.

Rose, Cayley was pretty slick. I enjoyed writing for her, actually. She was easy to comprehend and her voice came out clearly. It might not have been as strong as some of the others, but it was there, however inconspicuous it was. Sadly, every girl has their breaking point.

Claire, Maysa was truly something else. She was bitter and toughened while maintaining a sense of pride and dignity, and I respected that. It made her regal, almost. The death of her sister shaped and molded her, and yet, I felt like I wasn't doing her enough justice.

Dracones, Wraith was admittedly not the most orthodox Career, nor the most likable. He was realistic, though, no matter how out-of-the-box he was. Unfortunately, his personality was lost in the more brazen of his alliance's, though he will be missed.

And so ends the first day/night/whatever! Hope you guys enjoyed. I just got braces, so while my mouth is steaming in pain, at least y'all got a chapter out of it, you sly dogs!

Question time *OW MY BRACES HURT*

Thoughts on each POV?

Thoughts on each death?

Who do you want to die before the final 12?

Who do you think will die before the final 12?

General thoughts?