I raise my knife up to Urso's throat and before I can do it, my eyes flicker open. It's not raining anymore. I groan and roll over, but I don't try to go back to sleep. For the whole night, I've been having the same dream over and over again. Of killing Urso. It symbolizes how much I don't want to kill him. Really kill anyone for that matter. Too bad I already have.

This reminds me how I left my alliance with Cayne and Urso yesterday. My eyes flicker open and quicker than I've ever gotten out of bed in my life, I'm climbing/falling out of the tree with my bundled up blanket. I quickly stuff it in my pack and run to my water hole.

To my disappointment, most of the dirt filled in the hole and I'm left with a less-than-satisfactory amount of water. But it's better than nothing so I scoop up as much as I can and make a mental note to find a water source today. It tastes like mud and I try not to think about how many diseases I could be getting. I eat some squirrel, and set off.

Its still pretty damp, so my footsteps can't be heard as I walk. I see a couple jabberjays, but none of them say anything. It's been about an hour and I'm just thinking how peaceful it is when I notice it is peaceful, especially since it's gone completely silent. I look up and see a jabberjay on a branch. It gives a warning call and flits off to some nice little hiding place.

And then I see it. It hasn't noticed me yet. Probably ten feet tall, with huge teeth bared, and claws each a foot long. It looks like a mixture of a bear and a bull. A bull body, with all the lethal weapons mother nature gave the bear. Its head is shaped like the bear, but without the shaggy fur. There aren't any horns and it has big paws covered in long, brown fur. I freeze in terror.

It's sniffing its way towards me through the woods. I gather up enough courage to put my back to a tree and fix my knife. The rough bark is pressed into my bare shoulders. My muscles are tensed up. I close my eyes and can almost imagine the animal slowly ambling its way towards me. I don't know whether I should stay put or run away. Who knows what extraordinary skills the scientists gave the bear-bull? My eyes flick open and I silently pray that this will turn out all right.

Just as I'm beginning to think that maybe its gone away, I feel warm air on my neck. I forget how to breath for a moment and my heart skips a beat. I slowly turn my head towards it and my nose almost runs into a black, velvety one that's huge, almost the size of a grapefruit. The smell is horrendous; like fish and garbage. I make a face and almost toss my cookies.

I'm completely ready to die now. Any second. Either from the smell or the claws. I'm not moving. It's not moving. There's not a sound.

Then the beast lets out a huge roar. And I'm a hundred percent sure its the bear-bull because the smell has tripled in strength. The roar is so loud and harsh that I have to cover up my ears in pain.

When it stops I feel a shudder in the tree I'm up against and stumble out of the way, still a bit dazed. The whole tree comes down. Just like that. And it was a fair-sized tree too. The mutt ripped it out of the ground just as easy as if it were a daisy. I dive to my left, and just in time. The tree crashes to the ground right next to me. I see the mutt's fierce eyes that seem to be filled with fire. It gives a snort and paws the ground.

This time, it's not even a decision. I just run. My legs go faster than I can ever remember them going. I can hear the pounding of the bear-bull's paws behind me. I risk a glance back and see that it is a fair distance behind. Not like its going to stay back there for long. As I look back, I trip over a rock and take a face full of mud. Yuck. I jump to my feet and sprint as fast as I can.

Its chasing me downhill. Maybe I'll find water. The bear-bull lets loose an earsplitting shriek and all thoughts of anything that isn't sprinting for my life are shaken from my mind. The soft ground is slippery and makes it hard for running, but my shoes somehow find some grip in the mud. I'm in denser forest now. With trees all crammed up close together and a lot of plants. Sharp branches are giving me a lot of scratches. Everything's whipping in my face and it's altogether very hard to see. You'd think this kind of stuff would slow down the bear-bull, but no. It has to be so fast and strong that it can just toss all the trees out of its way.

Although, I must be pretty fast to be faster than this muttation. But maybe strength is more its thing. Or maybe the Gamemakers have a way of controlling it. Maybe that means it won't kill me?

The thicket suddenly ends and I'm in a field full to the brim with pretty purple flowers. There is a little creek that winds through and a huge tree in the middle. As I run closer to the tree I notice how huge it really is. Three people couldn't get their arms around the trunk. And there are so many branches, lying down in them would feel like a real bed. I can't hear the bear-bull anymore, but I don't stop until I've reached the tree. There is no way the mutt would be able to rip this out of the ground.

I stand there panting, waiting for it to burst out of the trees into the meadow. I grasp an imperfection in the tree's bark so I don't keel over and die of exhaustion. Sweat is dripping down my face and my arm isn't feeling particularly well. I notice a little grouping of trees to my far left in the edge of the middle of the meadow. They look pretty far away, but still better cover for staying the night.

I look at the thicket for an hour probably, convinced it's coming, but from a perch high up in the big, lonely tree. To my delight, a parachute lands softly in my lap. It's a water bottle. A fancy plastic one with a nice screw-on top. My first sponsor gift since I split with my allies. I sip some water and continue to watch the woods.