I'm seriously such a bad peson for leaving you guys for so long. I just started children's theatre and my schedule is busy, but I promise another chapter by Friday! Thank you to all who are following and favoriting! I wish you guys would review so I know how you think the story is going! Favourites: Hermione Sparkle, Loveteenwolfxo, TwilightNinja00, calh, maangel09, rosslinettemaria, &smilin steph. Followers: CatchingtheDrift, Fangirl0417, Hermione Sparkle, IzzyTheNinja, Music4ever19, Ncook0012, ShikaaaXxx, Smuzzie, TheZombieWolf, TwilightNinja00, & paristraveler22.

-Miche

Chapter 15: Day 6, Sacrifices

A cannon went off, waking me instantly and filling me with fear when I noticed there was no one else in the cave with me but Pann. He woke, too, looking around just as startled. He saw me and relaxed, but I panicked thinking the worst when Grey wasn't right next to me. I was in the games. We could all die here.

I scrambled outside of the cave, and didn't see anyone around, no noise to where they may be, I tried listening over the small creek, but heard nothing.

"Grey!" I whispered hoping he'd hear me and make some noise to confirm he was still alive. 'oh please not him, please not him...' my mind raced as I clumsily tried following where they may have gone. Finnick wouldn't let this happen, he would have done something to make sure it didn't, right?

Twigs snapping above me brought me back to my present environment as I jumped to hide in some nearby brush. I tried steadying my breath from its heavy state by covering my mouth and nose with my coat, feeling cold drips down my neck. The sun melting the snow still, drips of water falling on me from the tree above. This Island's climate had been similar to the tropical forest we'd learned about in school, and the Taiga at night.

"Grey!" Silence except for the bugs and animals around me. My eyes wide, panicked, and searching for any sign of movement that wasn't from the melting snow, or bugs flying past my face. There were things I still needed to tell Grey. I loved him like he were family, there wasn't a possible way for me to let him go this easily.

I finally heard someone walking closer, crunching the leaves and brush as they walked; not helping themselves if they were trying to be stealthy. My heart was in my throat as I heard them approach me from behind, I could only hold my breath and hope wasn't scene. 'Please not Solar, or the others... please...'

"You know you're not doing yourself justice of you want to hide from anyone." It was Grey.

"Oh my gosh, I thought it was you..." and I tackled him in a hug. He wasn't expecting it and almost fell back, but caught me in time. I checked to make sure it was actually him just glad he was alive. "Who died?" Concerned, I saw as Willow and Coal come out behind him. Maple jumped down from a tree near me as she must have been the look out. From Seven, she knew about trees and how to climb them in seconds along with how to jump from them.

"We found Orion by some berries we'd been picking, he charged in with an axe, and took what supplies we had on us with the berries, eating a few before dropping dead."

"I said they were poisonous but no one listened-"

"That's because there are some berries that look very similar to them!" Coal cut Maple off from speaking. I trusted Maple's knowledge seeing she grew up in the forests. These forests were different, more tropical, yet they had the same plants as what we trained to learn in our short time.

The girls were face to face and ready for a fight, but Grey got in the middle. "Enough. Yes they looked similar to ones we could have eaten which is why we chose them, but we were planning on testing them on an animal or plant first before eating them ourselves." he defended and covered both sides, resolving the short conflict.

"I was just trying to help us out so we all weren't gonners in the first week."

"So we should just wait it out until its all six of us and them what? Wait to be picked off by whatever the game makers throw at us?" Coal opposed her statement once again, short tempered and stubborn. It reminded me of the conversation involved in with the Careers.

"Well, no... I dont know!" Maple was just trying to help us out and help the situation. the two girls again found something to argue over, and I figured this had been a frequent thing but how Willow reacted. The young girl simply headed back in the direction of our camp, done with all of their drama.

I followed her to see how she was handling everything.

"Barely dying was hard for me. We'd become friends in our training and we were counting on him to grab the bag of ionizing water tablets and also to know what to eat or not to. He was good knowing those things. But, like the world works, he just didn't get to us in time. Grey blames the fact he could have stopped that Orion boy's axe if he had a spear or something to throw, he almost took yours from you, but was too late when you ran back for Bar." They had run after that, Grey pulling her along not to look back. I explained what happened after Barely got hit and that he died in my arms, and about what he had said before passing. She hid her sorrow rather poorly as her lip quivered when I spoke.

Soon we all made it back to where the camp was when another cannon shot off, forcing all of us to jump and run to where our camp had been. Coal was the first in the cave, yelling to us that Pann wasn't there. We all searched frantically for here he may have gone.

"It's your fault! You left him when the stupid cannon went off!" Coal attacked me, upset her partner was missing.

"Was I supposed to act calm in thinking one of you were dead, and any which one could be next?" I opposed, and saw a flash of red while looking around for signs of Pann. Maple saw it was well and found some blood on a nearby tree, notifying the group about it. Coal ran ahead to see if any one was close by, Maple checking it out more closely also looking at the surrounding foliage to see if there were any signs of struggle by broken branches or mud tracks near the pool. Grey and I listened for any struggling noises, and Willow went in the cave to see that some of our supplies were gone.

Obviously if Pann had to run for any reason, it was from being attacked or found. Or he was found in the cave and brought out to be killed. This told me our camp was compromised as hidden and we couldn't stay any longer.

Pann was a clever, but also simple minded boy. He knew some things others didn't, but usually I found he hadn't acted on those instincts and intuitions. I was afraid he was dead, whether by accident or being attacked. If he was attacked would it have been the careers trying to find me? All my thoughts were jumbled.

Our search took us out a few hours, traveling further away from our camp. Solar would be catching up soon. By what we estimated the fifth hour, we hadn't found any sign to where he would have gone. Coal was upset we called off the search, knowing it would take us around the side of the island before we would find anything.

It was past the hottest part of the day when we stopped to eat something. I had given up my supplies for the group when they found me, trying to appease to them for letting me join their alliance, but we went through it within two days. all we had were some dried fruit, a few chalk-like vitamin tablets, and some jerky from Willow's old pack.

"Okay, the ocean is just to the east a bit. Rain and I will go and catch something to eat while you three gather some nuts or fruit to eat. Please don't get killed or kill each other? We're stronger in numbers." Grey joked explaining the future events. Maple would probably say something, trying to help and direct things, and spark question in Coal who would attack her with situations and possible events. Willow would just be in the back listening to them argue, trying to gather the food they missed while bickering.

Grey and I walked down to the beach in silence, nothing needed to be said once we both had a similar goal in mind. When fishing we never spoke much, only when we surfaced to talk about where to go next when looking for the good catches.

The cooling temperature was just beginning to show our breath, when we found the girls again, each of us with two fish and a good amount of clams. A quick but warm fire to cook all of it was made in no time by Willow, and we had a well fed dinner. One of the best in our days here.

To our relief as well, Pann's face was not one in the sky that night. It had been Orion's and Terri from Ten. Either pann defended himself, or he got away as Lyant may have killed her. The night time eruption began as soon as their faces vanished for the last time.

With no real cover from the elements, we were instructed by Maple to either climb in a tree and secure ourselves with rope, or find a large tree trunk to dig out some dirt within the roots and hide in there. Grey, Coal, and I chose the ground, knowing it would be warmer down closer to the earth.

This was a volcanic island so the ground was bound to be warm at some points. With our sleeping bag, we made a roof and door to keep in as much heat as we could; the freezing temperatures not being too kind to us as we liked.

I couldn't help but think of the two girls who slept in that tree this night. if they were warm enough, if they talked a bit together, or even of they were safe versus us.

Grey shook me gently to wake me. I was confused, as I had been each time I'd woken, but witnessed him wake up Coal quietly. He had held his hand to my mouth to let me know we needed to be quiet. He did the same to Coal, her panicking, but had to whisper to her it was just him to calm her. I soon found out why.

Footstep outside of our shelter sent ice through my veins. Not from just hearing the feet crunching leaves and the rocks, but whose voice I heard with those steps.

"Raaiiin... Where are you?" a singing voice spoke. It was Solar. They were still looking for me. And they all but found me.

We stayed silent and unmoving until we didn't hear them again. Until Maple jumped down from the tree we slept under did we not move at all, or breathe in my case. She opened the tent we had, and told us to move.

"They went toward the beach and will see where you two skinned the fish. I give them about ten minutes to retrace their steps back here, so we have to move now!"

"Is Willow with you?" I asked worried for the younger girl.

"Yeah. She was the one who saw them and woke me. I woke Grey with a branch, the careers just thought it was a squirrel; They didn't take much notice to it."

More steps in the direction she said they'd gone and laughs signaled they were closer than we thought. All of us hurried to gather our things together as we heard them talk about where I might be hiding. They also mentioned how I had deceived them and why they didn't see it before. I was astounded at how much I was able to trick them, I never thought I'd be a good liar in those situations, but I guess when one is put between life or death, you do everything you can to live.

"Rain, we have to go!" Grey spoke to me as I lingered in the careers' direction. All of us needed to get away as best as we could without making too much noise.

We made to the side of a rocky ledge that if climbed would provide us with the head start we needed to get away. It was tall enough, too, to where we wouldn't be heard by those following us. Maple told us all to climb first.

"I think I heard them over here!" Diamonde's voice became more clear as we heard them close in on our location. I was the third to climb followed by Coal, Grey. Forcing Willow to go first, as she was one of the weakest climbers, and he could catch her if she fell.

My eyes searched for them and I saw a torch light further away through the tree line. Good, their sight would be hindered due to the light they had and their inability to adjust their eyes to the dark. I knew I wasn't the best climber when it came to real rocks, and these moss covered ones didn't help me get any good grips. I heard Willow slip a few times, once almost yelping, but shushed by Grey.

It took us all about three minutes to climb to the top and by then, we could see the careers faces in the trees. Fortunately we had been quiet enough so they didn't hear us, however, Maple was still at the base of the short cliff weighing her options and loyalties.

"Maple!" I whispered loud enough for her to hear. She looked up and saw me, waving me away and mouthing for us to keep running. "No!" I said back, but she just ran in the direction our enemies were headed. she was quiet up until she knew they could see her if any sound was made.

"Hurry!" she shouted rustling more leaves and gaining their attention. She ran west, but only made it a hundred yards before being pounced on by Solar, who sprinted at her the minute he heard her shout. We had followed her along the cliff side, it went along where she ran, until it stopped a few hundred feet away, enough distance for us to see them without being seen. We lay on the rock so they wouldn't see our body shapes.

"Finally..." He asked with a smile while sitting in her arms and legs. She put up a good fight and struggle, but he wasn't in the mood for games. "Where did the others go?" He was questioning, and that meant he needed answers. Solar was someone who would do anything to get those answers. Maple refused to make a sound. He pulled a knife out and held it to her neck, getting a few whimpers from her. "I'll ask politely. Where. Did. The others. Go?"

"I'm not telling you-AH!" he made a small cut along her throat, thin enough to bleed, but not deep enough for her to no breath or speak. He would torture her into submission if necessary. It hit me that he regreted ever letting me go, and twice may I add. Maple's red blood spilt into her bright, curly, orange hair.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Solar was screaming in her face. Zyre, Diamonde and the other three caught up to him and egged him on to what he planned. I must have lied pretty badly to get such a repulsed response from him such as that. He looked to kill and wanted me dead.

"NO!" she spit at him. He earned a few 'OOOHHH' s from the others. Ginger had helped him and pinned her legs down with herself, unabling Maple to move in any way. Solar stood above her with his feel on her hands, one sword in his own.

"Tell me where she is." she refused. He lifted it above her stomach and just released it to fall point down at her, letting gravity do all the work. She almost screamed, grunting angrily as it all but impaled her, falling over and to the side. "Tell me where she went!" again she refused. He repeated the process, earning more yelps and moans of pain from her. Grey held me back from attacking. This was complete torture! Maple didn't deserve any of this! Ginger tried to interrupt.

"Sol, just kill her, she won't tell us-"

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" Maple held her tongue, earning her worse than before. He shoved the sword into her, through and into the ground. She screamed and choked on her own pain. "Tell. Me..." he pulled it out to impale her again in the chest, not hitting her lungs, but a kill shot nonetheless. Her blood was everywhere on the ground and on Solar.

"TH- THE BEACH... T-THE BEA-CH-CH..." her words were whispers.

"Thank you." he stepped away from her bleeding body.. "Burn her." and they obeyed his instruction, setting fire to her corpse before leaving. The cannon followed the end of her drowned screams as her body was engulfed by the flames of one of their torches.

Maple sacrificed herself for us, misleading the careers from where we were going just to make sure they didn't find us. Just so they wouldn't win so easily. This was a debt I could never repay a I watched the hovercraft pull her body out.

We walked the island until dawn.