Author's Note: The end is in sight! I have the rest of the story plotted out, and just have to write it.

Long before the cannon shots announce the number of dead, we have already counted the bodies around the Cornucopia. We find twelve, and congratulate each other on eliminating half the field within the first few minutes. We take turns sorting through the gear and serving as lookouts, though we are watching each other as carefully as we are for anyone else. While there are choice items for shelter, warmth and collecting and disinfecting water, I am dismayed to find that there is very little food. There's a handful of sticks of dried meat, some little boxes of things like crackers and popcorn, and a bag of dried fruit. I stand up with a grimace. "I don't think there's enough food here to last for more than a day or so, maybe two or three if we ration it." I doubt that the rationing idea is going to get more than lip service, but I say it anyway.

"We should find those who got away before we have to worry about rationing," says Callida. She doesn't have to mention that we'll start fighting each other for food before we ration any of it. It would be better to pick off as many of the others as we can before that happens. "At least water won't be a problem. It's everywhere in here."

"Maybe we should cache a couple of things around," offers Chrome. "In case we get cut off from the Cornucopia."

It's not a bad idea, and I'm not the only one who takes a moment to think about it. Gaius says, "I'd agree with that, if we knew what the landscape was like. There could be tunnels or who knows what all over here, and I don't want to leave things we want to use lying around for someone else to pick up."

"There's plenty of backpacks," Fia notes, after a silent count. "Let's carry everything we can with us. That way when we move, we won't leave anything essential."

"Right," Chrome remarks. "I'll carry all the food."

We all have to chuckle at that. Since there is no way the amount of food we have is going to sustain any one of us for very long, we opt to divide it more or less evenly, and each carry some. To steal any, the thief would have to kill the person carrying it, and he wouldn't be able to get away with all of it. We pack the rest of our bags with individual sleeping bags, water bottles, matches, and whatever else will fit. As we are finishing, another cannon shot takes us by surprise. "Huh," says Callida. "I wonder who got offed."

"Probably the gimp," Gaius answers, not stopping what he's doing. "I didn't see her body here, did any of you?" None of us had, which is strange, now that I'm thinking about it. If she'd had any sense, Winnow would have limped away from the Cornucopia, as fast as she could, but it seems likely that someone would have taken her out before she had gotten very far. But maybe no one had.

We explore the cavern in shifts, leaving someone behind to guard the Cornucopia each time. Around the dark edges of the cave, we find four passageways leading away, at 90-degree angles from each other, like points on a compass. We decide not to waste precious batteries and matches making enough light to investigate those without a more organized plan.

Then we hear the opening notes of the Anthem. Without being able to see the sky, none of us realized that evening had come, and it is time to see who had died today. The pictures, the same portraits of faces that had been shown during the scoring, are being projected onto some smooth surface that can be seen from any point in the arena. I wonder how that is being done, since there are separate underground passages. Maybe we aren't actually underground. Or maybe we are, and there are many separate video feeds. That would be untraditional, but not impossible.

It starts with the picture of the girl from District 3 that I impaled with my spear. Then the pasty-faced boy from 3. Kier's face is next, and I am disturbed when I remember his death. He didn't do anything at all to defend himself, or even to run away. When I think about it, it was obvious, even during training, that he was planning to do something like that, though at the end he couldn't bring himself to jump onto the explosives. A score of eleven? Why would the Gamemakers have given him an eleven?

Both of the tributes from District 5 are still alive, because the display skips them and goes immediately to the girl and then the boy from District 6. I wonder if the fives have teamed up. Sometimes tributes from the same District band together, forgetting that the alliance will last only as long as a tribute from somewhere else is still alive. The boy from 7 who so gleefully slaughtered his fellow tribute right at the opening gong is still alive, but both tributes from 8 appear. Winnow's face is next, so Gaius must have been right. She didn't die during the bloodbath, but something happened to her later.

The boy from 10 that I killed at the Cornucopia.

The girl from 11.

Both of the scared little coal miners from 12.

So that leaves eleven living tributes in total, six that we have to hunt down in the dark tunnels before we can settle the issue of a winner between us. I am reminded of the food situation by a low grumble from my stomach, but I don't dare to eat. If I am getting hungry at the end of the first day, I can guess that the others are feeling it too. But I am astounded when Fia shouts, "Now!" and launches herself at Gauis.

He blocks her first sword assault with his club. She catches him across the knee with a brutal kick. He sucks in his breath through his teeth and shifts his weight. It was a good strike, but it wasn't quite hard enough to make him go down. As he maneuvers his club to a better position, Gaius lashes out with his unencumbered fist. Fia easily dodges the blow. She keeps glancing to her sides, as if she is expecting something to happen, then clenches her jaw when it does not. I should probably join her. It might be my best chance to take down Gaius. But I see Chrome and Callida watching like hungry wolves, and my odds against both of them if they should suddenly decide to double up against me aren't much better than my odds alone against Gaius. At least by holding back now, I don't take the chance of being needlessly injured when I have to face them later. If Fia happens to win, great. If Gaius wins, well, one less thing to worry about.

Fia circles. Gaius stands like a monolith. I do not see anger in his face, but solid determination and acceptance of facts. Fia harasses him with her sword point, probing for vulnerability, each attempt deflected. But there is only one weakness, and eventually she drops her stance and slashes at his already injured knee.

During training, I saw that Gaius has been taking advantage of his ape-like appearance to feign dullness, and suddenly, Fia knows it too. He has been subtly prompting her to make the second attempt on his knee, and one lightning smash knocks the weapon from her hand. Before she can recover, Gaius grabs Fia around the throat with one gigantic hand, crushing her windpipe. He whips her around to the side of the Cornucopia and repeatedly slams her face into the golden wall. When he finally releases Fia, her lifeless body slides down the side, leaving a thick, dark trail. Gaius shakes the slick of blood from his right hand, and wipes sweat and spatter from his eyes with his forearm. He blinks at us warily as the cannon shot for Fia echoes through the cave, appraising the rest of us coolly, weighing his options. I can almost see the calculations being made. One of us made a secret agreement with Fia to attack Gaius at a prearranged signal, only the conspirator left Fia high and dry. I wonder whether it was Callida or Chrome. Perhaps it was both of them, although that seems unlikely to me. No, if the three of them had been able to come to some arrangement without Gaius or I finding out, it would have been to their mutual advantage to go ahead and kill him right then. Depending on how the fight went, I might have been next.

Gaius nods, his decision made. He shoulders his backpack, and picks up Fia's. No one argues with him. "I'm going this way," he announces, gesturing in the direction of one of the side tunnels and beginning to run, heavily favoring his injured knee. His message is clear…you can find me or avoid me for now, whichever you prefer.

With Fia dead and Gaius retreating into the darkness, there is nothing to stop Callida and Chrome from potentially ganging up on me if they feel like it. Chrome knows from experience that I could beat him if we fought alone, and it might be worth it to him to trust Callida long enough to make sure that doesn't happen. If I do it fast enough, I suppose I could make an alliance of my own. But one of them has already reneged on a bargain like that, and I don't think I'll give him or her the chance to do it again. I take up my pack and sprint for another passageway before Callida has time to send her weapon chain whirring into my back.

Some minutes later, I hear a cannon shot.