This one has a bit of fighting and action in it, which is kind of overdue since Haymitch IS in the arena. Oh well, hope you have a good read XD
BTW next update will be soon, hopefully this week!

Reviews are great! Don't be afraid to voice your thoughts, I'm all ears for advice :)

'As in the war of 1941 – 45, our attack and survival all depend on how and where we attack.'

- James Forrestal

They advance on me quickly, and I see there are only 3 males here. The rest must be off hunting or something. I drop my rabbit, wiping my hands on my trousers as I grip my knife. A Career charges with a dagger and I slash away, while kicking them off of me. I cut the throat of the smallest of the Careers, and he collapses on the ground, choking, trying to staunch the flow of blood, but it's useless, of course. Another swings a club and I'm quick to duck, but not quick enough. A gash opens up across the bridge of my nose as I go down. I struggle to get to my feet, and while they are distracted, I throw my knife into his temple, and the cannon booms. Another one does too, so the guy on the ground must've died as well.

There is only one Career left, and he tackles me. We are rolling over and over in the grass, each looking for an advantage. My other knife left my hand when I got hit, so I reach for it and slash at my opponent. He takes advantage of his superior strength and levers the knife so it's pointing down at my neck. The tip is just opening a small cut when he stops, pulls a poisoned dart out of his neck, and falls to the ground, dead. The cannon booms, and I am left alone with my wounds.

Maysilee steps out from the trees shadows, a blow gun in hand. "We'd live longer with the two of us." She says. "I guess you just proved that, I reply, rubbing my neck. "Allies?" She nods, and we shake hands. Then we keep moving, leaving the mountains, and the clearing, behind us. The cannons are constant, sounding at least every hour. I tick them off in my head as I go. There were 28 left this morning at the cave, and then I heard 2 cannons as I was walking. When myself and Maysilee had killed the Careers, that had left 23 tributes. Over the course of the 5 hour walking period we had before we stopped to rest, there had been 6 cannon fires, leaving 17 tributes left. They're powering through us, I thought, but then I remembered just how many tributes had contributed to these games.

The next day, after having been walking for hours with little rest, we set our things down under a tree to sleep. As we were drifting off, the first patters of rain began to fall, turning a drizzle into a downpour. We were so thirsty; we got leaves and drank the water. It soothed our dry tongues, and, after we retrieved a little common sense, started to fill all our containers with the water. It may need to last a while, after all.

Our water bottles and containers filled, we drifted off to sleep.

The cannon jolted us awake. I counted 4 booms, which meant there were only 13 tributes left. And, that there was a good fight going on. But it was close, and it was time to get moving again.

We got our gear together, eating some crackers, a handful of berries and the rest of the roots. Strangely enough, I felt wide awake and on alert, my nerves were buzzing. Maybe they could sense that we would be fighting soon….

They were right, sort of, because Maysilee spots a pair of fresh tracks. The person we are now tracking must me a male because of the big, heavy footprints, but I estimate they had about a five minute lead on us. Not to worry though, because we were light-footed and moving fast, determined to catch up and kill our prey, without leaving tracks for someone to come and hunt us.
And it doesn't take long to locate the tribute we were hunting. It turns out to be a boy from 4, Theon, I think his name is. Obviously, he separated from the Career alliance, and I'm not surprised. He's the smallest Career anyone has ever seen. Much bigger than Maysilee or myself, of course, but still small. Small for a Career, but easier to kill, at least to us. Maysilee knows what I am thinking, and we move into range, Maysilee raising her blow gun. But first, she drips liquid from a flower onto the tip. I'm confused at first, but then I realise the obvious, and it is also the answer to why I thought the whole arena was a trap. Poison, the whole arena is poison. But it's a matter that will be thought about later. Now, we both have to focus on killing this boy.

The dart hits him in the back of the neck, and he falls to the ground almost instantly as the cannon booms. Apart from the poison, the dart is long, almost five centimetres with a three centimetre point. It might have been fatal without the poison. We hesitate for a moment, before quickly moving forward to retrieve the dart and what supplies the tribute carried with him. He hasn't got much, just a few beef strips, some crackers and a first aid kit. We take it all, leaving only the backpack and his body behind.

Maysilee, who usually keeps in pace with me, is now trailing behind, until she stops and leans against the tree. Nothing I say will make her move. "We have to keep moving, we can't stay here." I say, hoping she'll give in.
"Why? Why do we have to keep going in this direction, opposite the mountains? What do you expect to find?" she demands. "I don't know, I say. "Maybe something we can use." She rolls her eyes and begrudgingly walks after me.

The sun is dipping down below the horizon, and for the first time since the arena I notice the sky lights up as the anthem plays. It shows the faces of the dead tributes. Since Maysilee stopped me, there had been 6 cannon booms, leaving just 6 tributes left to play it out in the arena. The faces light up but I don't care who they are. All I register is that Maysilee and I are the only District 12 tributes left in the arena. Well, the others weren't much chop anyway. We sleep for a few hours, alternating between watches, before I rouse Maysilee and tell her we must be on our way.

We have left the trees for a wide stretch of open, green grass, but I have a feeling there isn't anyone near us, and although we hear a cannon, its far off. We keep walking for a few hours until we come to, what looks like, the end of the arena. Well, there's certainly no way to keep going. Maysilee looks into the abyss of rocks and shakes her head. "There's nothing here, Haymitch. Let's go back."
"No, I'm staying here." I tell her absentmindedly. She looks at me before saying, "Well, there's only five of us left. We may as well break it off now. I don't want it to be between the two of us." I just nod, and a few moments later, I look back and see she's gone. But I'm trying to work something out. I skirt along the edge, and my feet dislodge some stones as I am doing so. Instead of them being lost forever in the abyss, there's a sharp zap and the stones land back at my feet. Curious, I hurdle a rock the size of my fist into the abyss, and, like the stones, it shoots right back up into my hand. I grin, pleased with my discovery, and that's when I hear the scream. Not too far off, but it's hard to place. That's when I realise who the scream belongs to. Fear shoots through my heart, but not for me.

For Maysilee.