A/N: Sorry for the wait, everyone. Hectic packing-up-stuff for Spring Break. Internet connection here is erratic, so don't expect me on much. And remember, I need four more replies about it (from different people, mind you!) if you want me to write the alternate-point-of-view versions of this.

I've been sneaking through the forest for almost a whole day now, and the trees have gotten so close together I have to climb to the top of one and jump across patches of leaves to make any sort of progress. It would be much more terrifying if I could see the ground at all.

But I can't. And that means I'll have to get a heck of a lot farther, to that empty patch of something-or-other, if I want to eat again.

I continue forward for a few more minutes before exhaustion gets the best of me, and I settle down to sip on my water supply.

So, what now? I know I'm headed for the empty space, but what will I do then? Just sit around and eat and drink until my supplies are gone, and then die of dehydration?

But what else could I do? I'm really not a hunter. I'm really not cut out for this kind of thing. But the only real option is to go on the hunt.

How could I do that? I certainly have the right weapon, but there's so much more than that to consider. What would I do? Wait for night and get the watchman before he can alert the others? Well, for that, I'd have to 1. know the Careers' location and 2. find a hiding space that I can throw from. I'm not sure if they'd allow me that luxury, but being high-and-mighty as they are, it could be possible.

But the question is less of "How can I kill them?" than it is "Could I kill them?". I mean, I'm just not one of those girls that hates people. I'll stick my tongue out or yell at someone for a while, but I almost never wish anyone harm. I'm not quite sure how I've done even this much, aside from that fit of insanity. Could I really bring myself to kill other teenagers in cold blood?

But that's what the Capitol wants. Oh, wouldn't they love it if I gave them a show? If that sweet little girl from District 4 turned into a vicious murderer? They'd just eat that up, now, wouldn't they?

"Quit complaining."

I flinch, not trusting my hearing to place Kyta's voice, and shove myself into a hiding place. A tiny gap in the leaves is all I can see through, but that's fine with me.

The Career pack is traversing below me now.

"Er furgin' hurs," comes the muffled reply. I think it was Rim, saying something hurts.

Sounds like it must be his mouth.

"We have plenty of water," Twig scoffs. "Don't know why you felt like we needed that little bit left in the bottle."

Rim actually fell for the trap? I mean, that's what I was expecting, what I was hoping for, but… I guess I didn't really think something so convenient would actually happen.

Of course, it didn't kill him, but it injured him. That's still better than I thought it would turn out.

Rim grumbles something back now, but I can't understand him.

"Hey, wait," Kyta interrupts, holding her arm out.

I freeze, hoping I didn't do something to get her attention.

"What, somebody else finally show up?" Twig asks, looking around.

"I don't know… I definitely heard something," Kyta replies with a frown.

"Well, screw it. If they want to hang around our campsite, we'll wait until they try to kill us. It's no fun tracking them down in this crap."

"Urreed," Rim replies. No one pays attention; I'm pretty sure they don't understand him.

So I'm close to their home base? In this mess? I don't think the Careers would ever want to set up camp here, where they have to crack and trample and rip away branches just to get through. Heck, their donations probably couldn't even get to them here.

But I am awfully close to that empty area… That must be it, then! They didn't bother climbing the cliff because no other tribute would be dumb enough to try and approach them there. But whatever that gap in the trees is, it's comfy enough for them to hang around.

The Careers have fallen silent, and they've made enough progress to escape the little sliver of sight I have hiding here. I wait a minute more, until the snapping and splintering grow distant, before daring to budge.

I contemplate climbing down—it'd be easy to track them through the trail they left—but I'm really not sure if I'm actually going to go after them. I mean, they're expecting me. They're just going to sit around and wait and eat their goodies from the Cornucopia until they hear enough roots shuffling to jump out and swing some swords around.

But what else am I going to do? If I drink a bottle of water a day—which really still isn't enough—I only have today and days after that. And when I run out… Well, I'm good as dead then.

So, do I want to cling to two more terrifying, cramped days? Or do I want to go do something, survive, and…

No. No matter what I pull, I'm still not going to win this thing. Even if I take out the Careers, there's still Odyss and Shaw, and either of them could finish weak little me off without even having to use a weapon.

But whatever I decide to do, I can figure out tomorrow. It's already getting pretty dark, and I'm not going to find anything to eat before my little biological curfew.

So, I settle into the high part of a tree, two remaining bottles on my belly as I sip at the last of the third. The sun, wherever it's been for the last couple of minutes, now goes down, and the Capitol seal is quick to arrive in the sky. There are two faces tonight: first is Phemus, his eye still in existence in the picture, and then Euriloc, the pale boy from District 8. The Panem anthem ends with a grand flourish, and the seal flickers out of the sky.

I twirl the empty water bottle in my hands. I won't be trying to fool anyone with this, so I'll probably bury it under roots in the morning like I did with all the others. My other two bottles, the two more days I'll be able to live in this place, are gripped tightly to my stomach as I curl up and fall asleep.

My mouth stretches open in a silent yawn as my eyes start to open. I wish I could sleep a little longer. It seems so nice… I lie still for a minute, listening to a faint, little hum. I wonder what it is…?

The locusts!

I jump up, almost dropping my bottles over the side of the tree. Sure enough, the humming is getting louder. I need to move. Now.

My feet dangle off the branches, and I slip down, my legs making an awkward split across the two closest roots. The buzzing grows more distinct as I stumble over onto the ground. I struggle up, but only enough to reposition myself to face the sky.

Now the buzzing is loud enough I'm sure they're right over me. I can't see them, though; the leaves and branches and even the immense tangles of roots are too tightly clustered for me to make out the sky.

I am so glad I heard them. I normally wake up at 5:30 every morning, so my internal clock must still be tuned to go off around that time. I just haven't gotten the luxury of sleeping in yet. I probably never will.

The buzzing is starting to fade again, so I'm sure the pack has moved on. I wonder if they'll target the Careers? They seemed to be going that way, but my sense of direction may be a bit off, having just tumbled off a tree.

I shouldn't expect to be that lucky, anyway. Even if the meat-seekers went toward their camp, they'd probably have some Cornucopia goodies to ward off the little suckers, or otherwise some handy, overly-expensive donations.

I can't hear the humming at all anymore, so I risk standing up. Or, at least, however much standing up I can manage in this cramped space. If I want to keep moving, I'll either have to scale some trees again, or find the path the Careers carved yesterday.

I look around for a while before deciding on taking the path. They'll be more likely to hear me than see me in these tangles as long as I cling to the edges of their trail, right? Careful to stay quiet, I slink through the awkwardly-small gaps until I've reached the two-person-wide Career path. I resist the urge to tap into one of the two remaining bottles under my arm and start to use my spear as a walking stick.

"Hello, there."

I can't help screaming a bit in shock as I whip around to confront the voice.

It's Odyss, staring me down with an eerie grin, the Career pathway barely tall enough for him.

"When someone says hello, it's polite to respond," he continues.

"H…hi?" I stutter, taking a step back.

Odyss bursts out laughing, following me to avoid me launching my spear. "Oh, Circe. Circe, Circe, Circe."

I stare blankly as he starts laughing again.

"I don't imagine you know where your name came from, do you, Circe?"

"Uh, um…" I take another futile step back, thumping my shoulder into a tree trunk.

I know my parents have told me a few times how they got my name—a curious little seven-year-old like I was would ask that kind of thing all the time—but I never read the book, or poem, or whatever it was in school.

"A… An epic… by Homer?" I reply shakily, not exactly expecting a pop quiz from the boy who may be my killer.

"Ding, ding! That's correct!" Odyss replies cheerfully but disturbingly. "Circe is a character from Homer's The Odyssey. Do you," he continues, "know who the main character in that story is?"

"N-No, I've never read it…"

"Oh, really? How sad," he sighs, sounding like he's more concerned about me not reading my namesake's book than me not being dead at his hands.

I get the feeling he's faking that.

"Well, then, I'll just give you a little rundown of the story, shall I?"

I nod. If he wants to delay my death-by-his-oversized-knife, I have no objections.

"The main character, Odysseus, is on a quest to return home, to the one he loves," Odyss starts, staring at something by my ear that must be a somewhat-hidden camera.

I suppose this Odysseus must be who he's named after. What a coincidence… I'd say it out loud, but I'm not sure if he'd approve of me interrupting him.

"One of the obstacles he runs into," he says, thrusting his knife impossibly far into a tree trunk, "is a sorceress named Circe." He pulls the knife back out with a grunt.

"Now, Circe," he continues, sliding the blade against another trunk to rid it of splinters, "manages to fool all but one of his crew into eating her food. Food that turns them all into pigs." He looks at me for a moment, and I nod to show I'm paying attention to his odd monologue.

"But she didn't trick Odysseus, either. In fact, Odysseus managed to do something to get his men back and find a way out…" He twirls his knife around his large fingers and inspects me carefully.

"But, I don't believe my sponsors would like me using his method very much. I think," he finishes, "I'll just kill you instead. That sound good to you?"

"No!" I respond, lashing out for a kick at his abdomen before running off through the path. If I can just gain enough ground to throw my spear… I start to spin around, but a cannon blasts makes me stop mid-turn.

I finish facing him more slowly to see that he has crumpled to the ground. But how? I didn't kill him. I was too busy shaking in my boots to do anything serious.

The Careers! I turn back toward the edges of the tunnel, but before I can get through the first tangle of branches, I hear a solid thump.

I turn back around slowly. Behind the patch of blood where Odyss was moments ago lay another crumpled figure, but there's no cannon. Whoever it is is still alive.

The tribute doesn't look like any sort of harm to be, so I start toward… him, I think. Once I've gotten past the initial tangle of roots, I can make out Shaw's dull, black hair. As I carefully come closer, I can tell he's not any sort of threat to me. There's a scary-looking bow in his hand, and a few shiny arrows in a piece-of-crap little sack slung over his right shoulder, but he is out of it. I have to wonder what happened to him; I don't see any blood, and it looks like he has a pack of food in his back pocket…

He groans, making me jump. His head starts to turn, and in panic, I swipe the arrows from his pack and jump backward. After all, if he just killed Odyss, what motive could stop him from killing me?

On the other hand, I'd sure like to have another ally. He's certainly competent, and if I could just figure out what's wrong with him…

He groans again, but there's a bit of articulation in it this time. I shakily step closer.

"…Water…"

So that's what's got him? Dehydration? Well, I could fix that easily. I take out today's water bottle and scrutinize it. Of course, if I let him have some, I'll have less myself. But if there's a hunter on my side, maybe we could end this before we run out?

I carefully pad over and offer him the bottle as he very slowly starts to sit up. He takes the water from my hand, almost jerking it but not strong enough to, and takes a few sips before gulping half the bottle down. He stares at the remainder carefully before slowly screwing the lid back on.

"…Thanks…" He hands over the bottle, and I take it back willingly.

"Allies?" I suggest immediately, reluctant to give him back the arrows.

"No. That's too complicated… I don't like being in debt," he replies, slowly getting to his feet. "I saved your life, you saved mine… Now we'll go our separate ways…" He shuffles the empty bag on his shoulder and stares hard at the arrows.

What do I do now? He said we're not going to be allies, so would he kill me right now?

And why haven't I killed him? He's perfectly helpless… Darn it, why did he have to kill Odyss right then? Why did he have to save me? I can't do it. I can't.

Setting the arrows on the ground apologetically, I cluster the bottles back under my arm, grip my spear, and run far into the deep mangals, only able to pray that Shaw won't come after me.