Sorry it took so long, I had a bit more trouble with this one. And just to let you know, my laptop has been repaired in record time! So that's good. Enjoy!

Dove looked up at the sky in worry. So Jazz was dead now, was she? Blade would be happy, although she had no idea why he'd taken such a dislike to her just for killing a boy he didn't know. Maybe it was because it was the first death he saw.
Dove had nothing against Jazz, she'd liked her. She seemed happy and friendly, yet there was something sad about her and Dove had never had the opportunity to ask. Not that she would even if she ever had had the chance. She would've chickened out.

Blade had told her to wait behind their rock whilst he and Fir went searching for weapons for Dove. Dove had wanted to go too, but Blade wouldn't let her. Dove had told him that she worked best with a spear, and he'd promised to look for one especially. They were going to the Cornucopia first to see if, even after several days, there was anything left. Dove knew it was a futile hope; the others would've picked it clean days ago.

Fir had joined their alliance. He was average at most things, but he kept their spirits up. He told them stories of his favourite place in the world, his district. They'd sat huddled together for warmth last night, all feeling miserable when he talked.

"District Seven is this giant wood. It's the most beautiful place ever, the sunlight sifts through the trees and the cool air brushes past you. And you can smell the trees, clean and fresh. Every part of the place is magical. The houses are each separated, mine is especially out of the way. The factories are to the east side, where you can see the train tracks. In fact, Jazz owned a factory there. But I don't like it over there; you can hear all the out-of-place machinery." Dove smiled again thinking of that. She wouldn't mind living in a place like that.

When Cole woke in the morning he discovered that their cozy little alliance of four friends, from two friendly districts had become a cozy little alliance of two couples from District Eleven and District Twelve. Not that he was complaining, of course.
Jarsen was sharpening a knife, and the sound of metal against metal pierced Cole's ears. So he scrunched up his face and covered his ears in response.
"Hey, Jarse, stop that, will you? Killing my ears" Jarsen didn't look up, just continued to sharpen the knife.
"Don't call me Jarse, it's a ridiculous name. And I think you'll find that a sharp knife is far more effective than a blunt one when it comes to murdering people. And we need to get murdering people if we want to win, which I do"
"OK, OK! And don't call it murdering" Jarsen finally stopped and looked at Cole.
"What would you call it then?"
"Well, I dunno. Just…Don't call it murdering" Jarsen shrugged and got on with his work. Cole sighed.

Allie woke up and smiled. Just like she used to back in her old room in Eleven. She had no reason to be so happy, except that it was a sunny morning and she refused to think about where she was.
"Morning" she said as she stretched and woke up. Eliana groaned and turned around next to her. Clearly she wasn't a morning person. "Grumpy" Allie mumbled good-naturedly. Eliana groaned something back but Allie wasn't listening. She was up and about.
"I'll go and see if I can shoot and rabbits!" She chirped as she all-but skipped away." Cole raised his eyebrows.
"She's perky" He commented.
"Too perky…"Eliana groaned from the ground. Jarsen chuckled.
"You have to get up sometime"
"Sometime. Not now. So shut up and let me sleep" Jarsen rolled his eyes.
"Up! Now!" He said, with the hint of a smile in his voice.
"Wild horses couldn't drag me up"
"Who said anything about wild horses?" Jarsen asked as he grabbed hold of Eliana's arms. He tugged her upwards and she screamed in shock.
"What the hell are you doing?" She screamed, smiling.
"Waking you up. I hope you're as perky as Allie, we need food because we're clean out" Eliana banged her head against Jarsen chest and groaned again.
"No way. I'm too tired" Eliana complained. Jarsen looked about for something for Eliana to do.
"How about packing the bags? We're moving on"
"Yeah, sure" She said, before tipping her head up and kissing Jarsen. He kissed her back guiltily. Every time she did that he felt so guilty. She believed that Jade had killed Jazz, when it was him…
"Hey Jarsen! Get over here, there's this crazy bush. I've never seen anything like it in District Eleven." Jarsen followed Cole's voice and saw what he was pointing too. There was a small bush with tiny purple berries hidden inside.
"I wouldn't. We're not starving, and Allie will be back with food soon. Let's not go committing suicide."

Rosemary was dead. Shiloh told them that when the snakes had some out she'd screamed and jumped around and the snakes had immediately bitten her. Shiloh and Jade had jumped and managed to grab hold of the edge of the pit. Corey wished that Jade had been bitten, and not Rosemary. Rosemary was sweet, and sad. Corey imagined it was something to do with her home or family.

Corey knew that he would die soon. If he didn't die soon then Roxana would. He knew he'd give his life for her, just the way he always suspected that his father's best friend had let him kill her. He'd seen his dad's Games. He'd cross reverenced it. He'd sat right up next to the screen; and he saw that Davina's eyes were open when Max White stabbed her. That she smiled slightly before she died when Max fell to his knees and held her. Only the barest hint of a smile, but it was there. Corey could never kill Roxana, and Roxana could never kill him. Corey would kill himself for her.

Ebony had got bored down at 'The Moat' as she called it. No one ever ventured down there, and the river itself was a one-trick-pony. You see one sock spontaneously combust, you've seen them all. She was hiking up the mountain in search of company, which with any luck should end with her being one more step closer to winning the games after all. Ebony spent her time fantasizing about how to kill people. Maybe it wasn't nice, but it was probably useful. Ebony had some fun thinking of ways to kill people that would make her seem more like a witch, so as to make the residents of District Three tremble in their boots. Not to mention it wouldn't do her mother's social life any good and it would freak out her sister. Her dad wouldn't care, as usual.

Ebony thought hard. How many of them were left? She remembered all the faces she'd seen projected onto the sky, and decided that there must be around 15 of them left. Not even half of them gone. Well, she could change that.

When Blade had returned, they'd all walked some more. Fir reckoned they were travelling further into the heart of the forest, but Dove liked that. She wished she could hide in the forest, with no fighting and Fir and Blade forever.
Blade had got Dove a bow and arrow, which she was pleased with. She shot some good shots at a tree before they left and she felt better knowing that if she was attacked she'd at least have a fighting chance, even though the thought of actually killing a person made her sick. She had to kill animals on the farm but that was different. She cried when she killed the chickens, but ate them the same evening, even if it was a bit guiltily. Knowing that the meat she was chewing used to be Henrietta or Chucky.

Eliana was sick of walking. She was still tired from that morning and she wanted a rest, but Jarsen kept on going. Cole seemed as tired as her, they were both lagging behind whilst Allie skipped ahead and Jarsen hiked at a steady speed.
Eliana had been watching Jarsen closely. He seemed to be thinking hard about something, and had been for some time. Since they'd set off in the morning in fact. Eliana tried to guess what he was thinking, and she was slightly worried she knew what. She'd bring it up when they stopped if he didn't.

Jarsen had been thinking about it all morning. It was sensible, rational, and logical. But could he do that? Could he bring it up? Maybe when they stopped for a rest he would.

After half an hour of silence, Jarsen welcomed Eliana's voice.
"Can we stop, please? I have blisters. My blisters have blisters. My blister's blisters have blisters!"
"Yes! Please! My legs are about to fall off!" Cole contributed. Jarsen looked to Allie, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"OK then. At this rock ahead" Eliana ran, despite her blisters, towards the rock and sat on it, taking her shoes off and having a drink, then poured the water on her feet. Jarsen smiled at her, and his smile saddened as he looked to Allie and Cole. He caught up with them on the rock.
"Um, guys. I don't want to do this, but I think we need to consider breaking the alliance" Everyone's face fell. Then Cole pulled himself together.
"You're right. You guys are my friends now, but…Sam's waiting for me back home. It's logical" Allie nodded through tears. Eliana only stared into the distance.

Cole turned his head around to face Allie. "But I was wondering, will you stay with me a while?" Cole smiled nervously. "I'd appreciate it" Allie smiled through her tears again.
"Yes. Yes, I will" She threw her arms around Cole, and they both laughed. Eliana looked to Jarsen hopefully. Jarsen knew it wasn't rational; Eliana wasn't helping him to win. But he loved her, and that seemed to stop all his arguments in their tracks.

"Looks like we're splitting in two then" Cole said. "I'll go this way, you go the other?" He asked. Jarsen nodded and took Eliana's hand.
"Let's go" He whispered into her ear.

Ebony smiled. There was someone up ahead. No, two someone's. But one was either dead or asleep. The one standing up was clearly a boy. Ebony picked up her pace.

It turned out to be Tane, and Brita was lying on the floor asleep. Tane moved his body protectively around Brita, like he didn't trust Ebony, but he still smiled at Ebony. He put a finger to his lips.
"Ssh. She's asleep." He told her. Ebony scowled in reply.
"I don't care!" She yelled. Tane looked worriedly to Brita, but she was still asleep. Ebony took that moment to hit at him with her knife. She cut him across the shoulder and Tane turned back to Ebony angrily. He stood up and lifted his spear. He jabbed at her, hitting her thigh weakly. Ebony smirked meanly and swiped at Tane again.
Tane carefully directed their fight away from Brita, Ebony noticed. But she didn't have a problem with that. Ebony could kill her once Tane was dead.

Tane jabbed and Ebony swiped. Ebony was winning, Tane could see that, although Tane had re-opened some sort of old wound on Ebony's arm and that didn't look very good.
"You can't win!" Ebony told Tane. Tane didn't reply, she clenched his jaw and looked behind Ebony's shoulder. He smiled at whatever was there, but when Ebony risked turned around there was nothing there. Tane was one, giant jab at Ebony's chest, but she dodged and hit back, cutting through his stomach. Tane fell onto the floor and Ebony left him there. She was going to find Brita now.
But when Ebony reached the spot where Brita had been lying asleep, there was nothing. Brita had vanished.

Little bit of a cliff-hanger there I guess. Lots more death in the next chapter, I think. I still don't know who's going to win, but I have four possible winners. Two boys and two girls. I'm going to sort of go with it when it's just them left and see who kills who naturally, if you know what I mean.