There's a time for getting to know people, and this is not it.

I don't even ask what the kid's name is. Knowing names only makes it harder. This kid isn't some Career. Just a kid unexpectedly sentenced to death, like me. So we just go about our business, digging up the mines from around the Cornucopia. I hand them to the kid, who doesn't even look me in the eye as he says, "thank you." How long will it be until he's dead? Until we are both dead? He's got to know that his life hangs precariously upon the unity of the Career group, and before long even they will turn on each other. Who will be the first to go in all of that, him or me?

The mines have been replanted by the time the sky turns dark. Our supplies stand apart in a huge pyramid. Only we, the Careers and us two hangers on, know the secret path to retrieve the rations from our pile. Three and I were very careful about replanting those mines; no one who didn't already know the secret could pick out the patches of earth where they hide. Cato's eyes shine in the night. He's pleased. He's more than pleased. It's time for their nighttime hunt and the bloodlust on Cato and Clove's faces is apparent. There's a bit of it in Marvel and Glimmer as well, though they're not quite as eager. They tell the boy from three to stay back, to guard the food. And the mines.

"You, too, lover boy," says Cato. Part of me wishes he would stop calling me that; the other part of me knows better, though. So long as he keeps saying it, the Capitol will be reminded of our so-called tragic story. It'll only help Katniss. It'll only help Katniss.

"How are you going to find her without me?" I ask. How else am I going to keep them away from her? Cato thinks about this and then shrugs.

"Fine. Lead the way, then." The other Careers look over at me expectantly. I want to run away just looking at them, but I'm stronger than that. I have to be strong.

I take the Careers into the forest. It's not something I really want to do, because I do know that Katniss is in here somewhere, wherever that may be. But there's no one at the lake and honestly I'm a little afraid of encountering the boy from Eleven in those fields. So I plow on through, hoping that my behavior is subtle enough to not raise suspicion from the Careers, but obvious enough that those in the Capitol will know I'm not really on their side, and hoping that Katniss is well up in a tree by now. If she's still alive.

She is. We all pause and watch as the anthem plays and the Capitol seal shows up in the sky. Eleven dead. But not Katniss. Sighing with relief, I look around at my companions, observing their reactions to the fallen. What I see disturbs me. Pride. There's pride in their kills and it makes me sick, but I don't say anything. Instead, I try to look as smug as the rest of them do.

The night is near freezing cold, so it's not long after watching the fallen that we smell the smoke. I'm the first to run for it, to make sure it's anyone but Katniss, but Cato still makes it there ahead of me. I'm lucky that it's not Katniss at that fire. No. Katniss would never be that stupid.

"Would you like to do the honors, lover boy?" asks Cato, stepping aside. Clove and Glimmer both are holding back a girl with dirty blonde hair. She's pleading with us, begging us not to kill her. Clove just tugs her head back by the roots of her hair. I can tell she's just itching to do more. Cato's still waiting, a knife I didn't know he had held out for me to use against this girl. "Hurry it up, or I'll kill the both of you myself!" I feel Marvel kick me in the back of my knees and I stumble forward, nearly falling. A sharp pain travels up one of my legs. That's where the boy from Eleven fell on me.

I haven't moved in time. Cato gets impatient enough that he stabs the girl himself, right in the stomach, twisting a bit for good measure. Glimmer and Clove cackle, letting the girl buckle over as her clothes stain with blood. Clove pulls back on the girl's hair and, dipping one of her throwing knives in the girl's own blood, draws a smile on the dying girl's face. My stomach churns.

"Twelve down and eleven to go!" yells Cato. The others hoot and holler for him. I join in, and I find I'm pretty good at pretending to enjoy the kill. In fact, it's almost as if I really do enjoy it there for a minute. I watch the dying tribute twitch and press on her stomach, trying to hold herself together. "Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking."

We move along. Glimmer and Ariel both grab some wood from the fire to light the way, along with the flashlights Cato and Marvel have brought. But as we scan the forest floor, the group in high spirits, no cannon sounds. Only a deafening silence. We don't make it far before Glimmer vocalizes what I'm thinking.

"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?"

"I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately," responds Marvel.

"Unless she isn't dead," pipes up Clove.

"She's dead. I stuck her myself."

"Then where's the cannon?" asks Glimmer again. She shrinks at Cato's glare, but she has a point and even he knows it.

"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done," says Marvel. Cato looks annoyed at this.

"I said she's dead!" Cato lunges at Marvel, and the girls all shout at him and soon they're all shouting above each other. I'm tired and irritated by all this, and to be honest, I'm a little concerned about that girl back there slowly bleeding to death.

"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!" Cato looks surprised and impressed by my outburst. Quickly, I grab the knife from him and double back. The girl is only a few feet away from where we last saw her, crawling elsewhere. Squirming away for her life. A trail of blood paints the ground behind her; the embers of the mostly dead fire where she was encamped gives everything an eerie glow. Without hesitating this time, I grab her by her dirty blond locks and slit her throat.