Jinxie stays in the middle of the group as we clamber over the mountainside. She doesn't have to move her injured arm much since we're traveling across instead of up, but Trucy still guards her right side. Klavier's in the lead, while Ema and I bring up the rear. It took a worrying amount of time to wake her this morning, but she's keeping up all right.

Since we haven't gone up any further, we're pretty exposed. I'll have to keep a sharp eye out for enemies as well as a water source that not everyone else in the arena knows about. But I've got two terrifically sharp eyes, so that shouldn't be a problem!

Klavier grunts, but when I glance up at him, he's still walking forward.

"Everything all right up there?" I call.

"Ja." He smiles over his shoulder without stopping. "It's just a bit of a rude awakening sleeping in a cave after those feather beds in the Training Center."

I'm pretty achy myself, but it's hard to say how much of it is from the rocks.

"I know," Trucy moans. "Maybe we can find a mattress in another cave? Or have one donated. Could they drop us something that big?"

"I'm pretty sure that's entirely unprecedented." I slouch as I creep forward on the rocks.

"Well, yeah, but it's unprecedented to have a rock star in the Games, too! I bet he has enough sponsors to swing it." Her gaze drifts upward for a moment. "But I guess it would be asking an awful lot to send five of them."

Klavier spins on his heel and leans towards her grinning. "If we don't get enough, I'd be willing to share."

Trucy giggles, but Ema huffs louder.

"Can you believe this guy?" She glances at me sideways.

"I know." I sigh but straighten up. At least someone else in this alliance is sane, if a bit snack-crazy. "How about you? Feeling okay?"

She makes a noncommittal noise. "Still pretty light-headed and weak. And nauseous, but I can't say for sure that's from the blood loss. There are certain confounding variables in play." She narrows her eyes at Klavier, who has since resumed the foray ahead.

"Ah. Feeling alert enough, though?"

"Yeah." She rubs her forehead. "Tired, granted, but that's not surprising."

"Guys!" Trucy stops abruptly, making Jinxie jump. "Be quiet for a minute."

Pausing, I let one hand hover over the rock face as I try to pick up whatever she heard. It may be another false alarm, but the last "false alarm" got her a knife held to her neck. I don't want to take any more chances.

Just as I'm starting to wonder if she's only setting the stage for a magic trick, I catch a dark blur of motion.

"That way!" I swing out my arm, pointing ahead and a bit below. The others' heads snap toward that direction as the rocks hide the attackers for a moment.

Ema stiffens, clutching her purse strap. "What was it?"

"I barely caught a glance." I press a finger against my forehead. "Taking distance into account, it was pretty big."

A faint growl seeps into the silence that follows.

Trucy leans forward, hooking her foot around a jutting piece of rock for balance. "Is it getting closer?"

"Unless there are other tributes around, I would dare to say yes." Frowning, Klavier grips his chains and glances backward. The tunnel is pretty far away by now. If a growling mutt—maybe a pack of them—is coming after us, we're not going to make it in time. And if they're small enough to fit in the cave, it might not be such a good idea to lead them there, anyway.

"What do you think?" He watches the pack as it comes back into view. "We have the high ground."

"We also have two injured tributes." I focus on the pack. Definitely mutts, several of them. "And I'd rather not have that number change all of a sudden."

"If you have a solid escape plan, I'd love to hear it." He slips his thumb under the coiled chain. "I say, if the Capitol wants a fight, they'll get a fight."

Still sucking up to the audience, are we? Although... he's kind of right. The Capitol controls every part of this arena. Do we want to try running in the hope they won't just trap us somewhere worse?

"I think we can do it." Trucy peers at the mutts before looking to me. "There are four of them, right?"

I nod. "I don't see any reinforcements on the horizon, either."

"Okay. Jinxie? You can climb up a bit farther—or, wait." She folds her arms, frowning at Jinxie's shoulder. "Maybe you should backtrack some. I'm sure the rest of us can keep them from advancing."

"O-okay." Jinxie glances at me and Ema before shivering.

I sigh and climb down a bit so she can get past without bumping into me. "Ema, you can hang back, too. We'll be outnumbered without you, but between your injury and having no weapons, well..."

She slides her glasses over her eyes with a smirk. "Who said I don't have any weapons?"

Well, your shoulder bag is pretty small. Most of it has been taken up by that bag of snacks, and some glass tubes or something. I guess you could fit a small knife in there if you tried... And you could probably throw the forensics equipment, but I'm not sure you would do that even if your life is on the line.

"Listen, I'll hang out a bit above Trucy." She picks up the plastic crate with a grunt. "I'll keep this a little higher up so it doesn't get damaged."

I trust that she has some sort of plan, and I doubt I'd be able to stop her, anyway. "All right. Tell me if you start feeling hazy again."

"I will if I can."

Thanks, that's comforting...

With an exhale, I draw my sword and assume a stance, although the ground is uneven. We're really going to fight these things. We're really... out of our minds.

It's a shame being rational isn't an option.

The mutts—distinctly dog-like and probably three times my size overall, one of the Hunger Games favorites—start their charge uphill, one in the lead, two behind him, and one in the back. A guy in the second row is the closest to my side, so I'll target him. These mutts don't have any unexpected weak points that I can remember. Just go for the head, neck, or chest, and it should work out all right. Provided I don't get anything crushed, pinned, or bitten off first.

They're still twenty feet below when Trucy sends a knife flying into the leader's eye. Howling in pain, it staggers back enough to crash into the mutt behind it, and they both topple backwards.

My target hasn't tripped up, though. First, I'll stun it with a slash across the face—

Or watch Klavier bash a wad of chains against its head. Apparently that is what I am going to do.

I back up as he darts across, slinging the chain around the creature's neck and pulling it tight. Since he's on that side of me now, his boot pushing the mutt's face back, I can run over to the last beast. With a shout, I slash at its neck. It pulls to the side before I can land anything lethal, but it still yelps in pain from the gash near its throat. Turning on me, it growls and lunges.

"Ack!" I leap to the side, the mutt's ear brushing against my arm as it goes past. Before I can draw another breath, I swing the sword at its neck again. I can't hit its throat at this angle, but I still get the blade in deep enough to send it into a stagger. It falls back over a row of rocks, but it isn't bleeding out yet.

"Apollo, three o' clock!" At Trucy's yell, I turn to my right. The two that fell down earlier are coming back into the game, the half-blinded one in front of the other. Trucy hurls a knife at the one farther from me as I shake some of the blood off my sword and get into a defensive stance. When the mutt opens its slavering mouth to get a bite of me, I slam the edge of my sword up into its jaw as hard as I can. Teeth snap together with a clack, and I thrust at its chest while I have the chance. Blood spurts on my hands, and I have to roll away before the mutt falls right on top of me.

Is it dead? I think I got it. All right!

Gasping for breath, I pick myself up and ready the sword again.

A yell and a clanging, clattering crash snaps my attention back to Klavier—who has slammed his mutt into the side of the mountain, bringing a few rocks down on top of it. But the gravelly rain is hardly immobilizing, so he keeps his grip on both ends of the chain to keep strangling the thing.

Back in front of me, my mutt has barely moved, so I sidestep it. The other beast has a knife in each eye now but doesn't seem hindered from targeting us—I'm guessing smell is involved. The one with neck wounds is closer to pouncing.

"Trucy, hit the farther one hard!"

I glance back at Ema just as she hands off a sealed test tube to my district partner. Trucy flings it at the blind mutt's face without any questioning. I can hear the glass shatter before the whole thing explodes.

"Gah!" I draw back on instinct as a scorching, acrid smell overcomes the reek of the monsters' breath. The puff of smoke clears out soon enough, though, leaving the targeted mutt a good fifteen feet down and its friend recoiling.

"Get ready; you'll have to get rid of this one fast." Ema pours water in another tube and gets out a wrapped cube of something.

Klavier hurries back to the main group. "That mutt is more or less taken care of." He nods at my sword. "A coup de grâce couldn't hurt, though."

"Got it." I run past him to the half-buried mutt and cut its neck as far open as seems necessary.

I turn back to the others as Trucy is throwing the second test tube. It hits the mutt with neck wounds and bursts into a bright purple flame. With a series of short howls, the beast staggers back, shaking its head madly. The fire across its face dies down, but a few spurts of orange flame have started a bit farther back. The mutt madly scrapes its face against the rocks before turning tail and running. Its cries of pain fade into the distance as Ema cackles.

...Supposing I am the only sane one in this alliance.

The last mutt standing is still some distance below us, tottering around. I'm not sure if it's stunned or if it honestly isn't sure where we are after taking a splash of chemicals to the nose. Klavier lunges forward to slam a triple-coiled section of chain into its head. In its state, it has no chance of dodging, and it doesn't try to come back once it's skidded and fallen down ten feet.

Lowering my sword, I stand for a minute listening to myself pant. All of the mutts here are down, and a look around tells me that the fourth one is continuing to flee.

"Whoo!" Trucy throws her arms in the air and laughs.

Smiling, Klavier takes a seat as Ema stretches and reclines with a grin.

It's over. We actually did it. We took on four huge mutts and won!

"Ha!" I cross my arms. "How's that for a couple of untrained tributes?"

"You... might want to wipe the blood off your sword before you sheath it, Apollo." Ema rubs her forehead as she slides her glasses back up to their usual perch.

"Right, of course!" I take the sword back out immediately. "I was just..." Trying to to be cool for a minute. One minute. Why can't you give me that much?

"Ema!" Trucy whirls around, fists clenched. "What was that? It was amazing!" She pauses before turning toward Jinxie and waving her back over. The 8 stays half-hidden behind a rock for a few moments before tiptoeing toward us.

Ema tilts her head back and smirks, arms folded. "That was science in action. Pure, unadulterated, and safety-free." She twists a lock of hair between her fingers. "Actually, we probably shouldn't have thrown the second one so close, but I didn't want to hit any of Trucy's throwing knives with it."

"Why not?" Trucy bobs on her feet.

Ema regains her smirk. "The end product in that reaction burns skin. It probably dealt some extra damage to the mutt, besides the actual reaction setting him on fire." She sniggers, tossing her wadded-up surgical gloves into a crevice between rocks.

"Thanks, then!" Trucy looks over her shoulder at the mutt I slayed myself. "I guess I do have to take those back out now..." One corner of her mouth flicks into a grossed-out grimace, so I wave her off.

"Don't worry, I can get them." I sidestep Klavier to get to the mutt I personally slayed but pause.

"A-Are you all right?"

Hands still on his rolled-up pants leg, he glances up at me. A moment ago, his focus was on the gash across the back of his calf.

"The bleeding's under control," he says, tightening the strip of cloth he has wrapped around the top of the wound. "I can't feel it yet, but it shouldn't be anything I can't handle." He smiles. "So, yes. I'm all right."

I glance over myself to see if I've missed any gaping wounds, but I think I'm good. As I kneel to retrieve Trucy's knife from the mutt's eye, I notice that Klavier's shirt has suddenly gotten shorter.

"...You know, I have bandages." I grip the knife handle and put a foot on the mutt's head for leverage.

"Well, you didn't offer them quickly enough." He pulls his bangs into order. "I'm sure our mad scientist would use up plenty in dressing changes, anyway."

"Have they been changed at all yet?" I glance over my shoulder at Ema, who's slouching. Her eyes are open, but she's definitely not cackling about the joy of science anymore. "Ema?"

She barely stirs, but Trucy scampers up to check on her. After a few prods with little response, my district partner checks the bandages by lifting up the back of Ema's jacket. Wrinkles shoot across the red cloth as her grip tightens.

"She's bleeding!"