Chapter 9

The cannon wakes Rachel, who lifts her head and stares at me like I'm an alien from another planet. I can't look at her.

"Let's go," I say quietly, picking up my bag and gesturing to the food. "Eat up."

Rachel grabs a pile of food and starts to eat. Too late, I realise which one she picked up.

"Rachel!" I scream, trying to snatch the food out of her hands.

"Wha-?" She doesn't finish the word.

Hot tears stream down my face.

I did this. Me.

I am a murderer.

Another cannon goes off, leaving just three of us in the arena. I can't help but think of my sister, Hannah, at home and alone in District Nine with my father and his drunken abuse. A shiver runs through me. I have to get back to her to help her - to save her. She is only fourteen, but already she has seen too much cruelty. Me being a victor could get us out of our tiny shack of a home and into the habit of eating daily.

It really is crazy how little I ate; I eat more here in the arena than I ever have in District Nine. And what did my escort day about my time in the Capitol? 'Enjoy it while it lasts, Emily.'

I liked my escort. She was unexpectedly helpful. I thought she would just be annoying and snobbish, but, actually, she helped me through my time in the Capitol really well. And she was from the slums of the Capitol, a place I didn't know existed until she told me, so she understood my past and how I was feeling. She's watching me now, I bet, and wishing me luck through these last two battles, whoever they're against.

I'm probably going to face Drew, the boy from Four. I bet he was the killer behind the last two deaths. Him or Rachel, the girl from Two. They looked strong, both of them.

The sound of a sob reaches my ears from through the bushes. I creep forward with my normal silence and peer through to where it came from: the blonde form, crouched over something I just can't see. The figure isn't Drew or Rachel, so one of my two previous guesses must be wrong. She tilts her head up. It's the girl from Ten. I thought her previous allies killed her this morning when she returned to them from the Twelfth isle.

I risk a look at the thing he is crying over and stifle a gasp. Both Rachel and Drew are dead at her feet. So why is she crying? She killed them, didn't she?

A memory rises to the front of my mind. Last night, I couldn't steal from because she was sorting food very exactly and she would've noticed a change in her numbers. And I've seen her that red stuff - I think it's poison from the way she holds it. So, yes, she killed them. And I shouldn't touch food from her any more.

How much food do I have? Not much, I should think; I normally only steal small quantities. I have been stocking up a bit recently, but it still doesn't add up to much.

Hang on. I know the sea claims another isle every day. There are only twelve islands, so there has to be twelve days, or it leaves the last tributes to drown, therefore ending the Games anyway. This means two things: I need to get off this island today and I shouldn't starve unless I stuff all of my supplies down my throat in one go, which I won't. Probably.

Anyway, as I said, I need to leave this place before the water starts rising.

Let's hope Miss Ten isn't smart enough to do the same.

I can hear rustling in the foliage behind me, but I'm too full of despondency to be bothered with anyone else.

Or am I? I remember the eyes.

And that wakes me up. My tears dry and I pack up and start searching for my attacker. I am going to find those eyes, no matter what. I don't even know why, but I just have to.

I run blindly, all logic and reasoning gone from my mind. I don't find the eyes, but I do find Julie.

"Argh!" she screams. "Whoa, Frances, that was scary! Give me a bit of warning next time you're going to leap on top of me, yeah?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you."

"For me?"

"For you to complete the kill. Drew, was it? I was waiting for you to kill him."

"I killed him quite a while ago, Julie."

"Oh."

"Didn't you hear the cannon?"

"Um... Yes."

"Well, who did you think died?"

"I don't know... It could've been anyone."

"But we had just planned to kill Drew. Didn't you presume it was him?"

"Well, yes, I think."

"So why didn't you come?"

"Because..."

"Was it because of Rachel?"

"Where is Rachel?"

This stops me. I bite my lip. "Dead."

"Oh." Julie looks down. "It didn't go to plan, then?"

"No." I swallow back my tears with a painful gulp.

"I'm so sorry. Should I have come then? When you you killed Drew."

I look down, too. "It wouldn't have helped."

"Oh."

Silence falls again as we stand looking at our feet. We are quiet for so long, the birds start to gather in the trees around us.

The serenity of it all is shattered when I notice the water.

"Julie!" I exclaim. "Julie, the water!"

She looks confused. "What?"

I point at the ground. "Day ten, isle ten. We need to go!"

Frantically, I grab her arm and try to pull her in the direction of the next island, but she just looks at me.

"Julie! We need to or we'll drown!"

"Frances, listen to yourself. It's not that deep yet. Let's go back to your camp. Rachel had knives, right?" I nod. "Well, she'll have them now, won't she? Come on, knives are so useful!"

She has a point, so I follow her through the forest.

I had no idea this island was so big and confusing until I tried following Julie around it.

"Are you sure we haven't been this way before?" I ask.

"Trust me."

A few minutes later, I try again. "I swear we saw that tree before."

"Just trust me."

When the water reaches knee level, my on determination takes over and I begin to lead. Guess what? I get there straight away. And is Rachel there? No.

"This isn't the place where the camp was," says Julie. "It was this way..."

"Since when have you been the expert on my camp?" I mutter, but keep up.

We do a few more circuits of the island, by which point the water has reached our waists and our roles have switched completely; it turns out Julie is scared of deep water, so I lead, my perseverance driving me on.

However, the going is hard due to the rising water and we are now moving at half the speed and tiring twice as fast. Even I am beginning to think this is all a waste of time and a wild goose chase.

"She isn't here any more!" I cry, turning on Julie. "She was never here!"

"C-can we go?" asks Julie, her teeth chattering. Now we've stopped, mine are chattering too.

"Yes. The faster the better."

We move as fast as we can toward where we thought the bridge was, but it takes a lot longer to find it than we hoped and the water is at our shoulders by the time we cross it. Julie's lips are very blue and she is muttering ten to the dozen about nothing in particular. I don't think I'm doing the same, but I can't be sure.

And, as we stagger across the bridge with the sun setting behind us and the cold setting right into our bones, I realise we have no blankets and nowhere to light a fire.

And I really think we are going to die.