For a minute I've forgotten my plan.

But before the boy from Two can say anything more, I make a move to get the girl from One off of me. But I've barely thrown her off before the boy from One is over me with an enormous spear. At least it seems enormous to me. From the ground.

"You probably shouldn't kill me," I say to One, but he just looks over at Two. They've already got a system. Briefly I'm afraid I may be too late.

"Why shouldn't we kill you?" asks the boy from Two. Cato. I think that's his name. I'm surprised he even bothers to ask.

"B-because-" I splutter. I've had this prepared, but nothing can prepare you enough for a kid holding a spear above your head. The boy from One looks at Cato again, waiting for him to say something. It's obvious who's in charge here. "Because I know where she will go!" I finally blurt out before Cato can tell the other Career to kill me. Pause. All the Careers share a look.

"Your girlfriend?" Cato finally says. He makes a motion toward the boy from One and the spear drops. "You'd sacrifice your girlfriend to save your own skin?" He sounds skeptical. I guess I was pretty believable before. Well, I should be. I never lied. Not until now.

"She's not my girlfriend," I huff, getting up off the ground. The boy from One backs away from me. "But I do know where she went. And if you want to find her, you're going to have to work with me." Cato considers this for a moment.

"Fine. But I can't promise you much more time than it takes to kill her," he says with a sneer. That's good enough for me, because I don't plan for them to kill Katniss anyway. "Do we have ourselves a deal then?" Cato reaches out with his right hand, which I take. So far, so good. "Who all do we have then?" Cato asks, looking around at the alliance the Careers have formed.

There's Cato and the girl from Two, Clove. The tributes from One are called Glimmer and Marvel. Terrible names, but people in the Career districts are all like that. Lastly is the girl from Four, Ariel. The boy from Four is already dead.

Nearly all the Careers. And me. We start off by collecting what is left at the Cornucopia. This is the strength of teaming with Careers. Almost no one else has a chance as the supplies in the Cornucopia, much less the good stuff. There's food to last for days, weeks even, and even split among the six of us. Dried beef, crackers, bread, fruit, nuts. And the Careers have taken the area by the lake, likely the best source of water in the arena. Maybe even the only source. My mind drifts to Katniss. Haymitch wouldn't let her die of thirst, would he? Haymitch hates Katniss, but I think we all know that between the two of us, Katniss is the survivor.

Bodies litter the ground, blood seeping into the rich earth the Gamemakers have filled the arena with. Everything smells fresh, from the waters of the lake to the blood on the bodies. The Gamemakers won't take the dead up until we're out of sight, although we all know perfectly well what will happen. The cannons have started to boom, however. One for each of the dead. Eleven total.

The Careers seem unfazed by all this, so I make my best effort to fit in. Everyone knows I'm not one of them, so no use reinforcing that point. But as soon as I can, I get away from the Careers, just for a few minutes. I can't get in far enough to tell where Katniss has gone, but I know where Haymitch told her to go. It won't be hard to find her later.

I take these few minutes by myself to slump down against a tree. I close my eyes and Katniss' name escapes my lips, barely a whisper at first, and then a groan. And that's all I say. It's enough. At least, I hope it's enough. Brushing the dirt off myself, I walk back to the Career camp, hoping that there was a camera on me at that moment. Surely there would be, after all that's happened. Peeta Mellark, the boy with the hopeless crush from District Twelve, teaming up with Careers.

Back at the camp everyone looks alert. There's someone new. I recognize him. He's the boy from Three. I have to wonder how he made it out of the Cornucopia. More importantly, why is he even here now? He's not very big, just some scrawny, shaking little guy, so he stands no chance against the Careers. I don't even bother to catch his name as I walk up and drop in on the conversation he's having with the others.

"I can get them out," he says. I have no idea what he's talking about, but he's pointing back over in the general direction of the Cornucopia. I look there now. The ground is still red with blood, but the bodies are gone. At least there's that. I turn my attention back to Three. "Reprogram them. Believe me, I'm really good. You could use them for whatever you wanted. Traps. Protection." Cato and Clove are practically drooling over whatever the boy from Three is talking about.

"Good. Good. You and lover boy can dig them up, then. Clove and I will head to the forest. Marvel, you can take Glimmer and Ariel the other way. We should be able to get in a couple of good hours of hunting. Then we'll leave off until tonight." Glimmer pouts at this.

"But Cato–" she whines.

"What exactly am I digging up?" They all look at me as if they just now realize I'm there. Which is probably exactly what happened.

"Three over here knows how to reprogram the mines," says Marvel, the first to recover from surprise.

"We could bury them around the supplies," interjects Clove, cleaning her nails with the tip of one of her throwing knives. "Think about it, Cato. Doesn't matter how long we stay away with that. Anyone tries to filch our stuff-"

"They'll be blown sky high," finishes Marvel. I look back over at Cato, his eyes gleaming with delight.

"Boom," says Cato with a malicious smile.