Seamus and I walk through the forest for about an hour before we hear it: the end of the bloodbath.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Eight canons echo throughout the arena. I pause for a moment as I realize that these are people. These are kids. Some of them could be my friends.

Can I call my allies my friends? I think that I can. It really is ironic. I go my entire life without having any friends, and now that I've finally made some, I'll have to watch them all die. That is, if I live that long.

Seamus gives me a funny look. "Wolfgang?"

I look up at him. "Yeah?"

"Is something wrong?" asks the blond from District 8.

A terse laugh of irony bubbles out of my mouth before I can stop it. Of course something is wrong. We're in the Hunger Games! But I only reply, "I'm just hoping that none of those cannons mark the death of any of our allies."

We walk a few minutes, and that's when I notice that Seamus is panting. But humans pant for different reasons than wolf-mutts, and do so without their tongues hanging out. The reasons humans pant are only two: exhaustion and thirst.

"We'll stop here for now," I say, and he sighs in relief. We've just crested a hill, so we have a good view of the land below us in case anyone tries to sneak up and attack. And there are trees up here, like pretty much everywhere in the forest, so we have decent cover too. I decide that this will be a nice place to spend the night. "Actually," I tell Seamus, "we'll stay here tonight. It's a good position."

Seamus exhales gratefully and plops his backpack on the ground. I do the same. I also give him the rope, but I keep my spear, knife and the canteens. "You take inventory of the backpacks. I'll go find us some water."

Seamus looks at me again, and even though I know he's too tired to look for water, he doesn't seem happy with the job I've given him. "Why do I get the easy work?" he asks, sounding somewhat insulted. "I can find water."

I glance at him with a skeptical expression, but I decide not to bring up the fact that he's exhausted and I know it. So instead, I morph. I swivel my wolf ears purposefully and say, "I can hear and smell better than you. It will be easier for me to find water, and easier for me to find my way back."

"What does smell have to do with finding water?" he asks, perturbed. "Water doesn't have a smell."

"Yes it does," I reply. "Your nose just can't detect it. Besides, you probably know more about what's in those packs than I will. I'm delegating tasks based on skill, and I also plan to hunt us down some food on the way back."

At the word 'food', I can see that Seamus finally relents. He shrugs and unzips the large, green back pack that he had procured, and I venture off into the forest.

By following my nose and my ears, I find a little spring between the roots of a tree. I fill both canteens and take a few long drinks myself. Then I hear it: the angry chitter of a startled squirrel. I look up to the trunk of the tree, and there is the annoyed animal, chattering his teeth off at me. I grin and scramble up the tree after it. It spooks and begins to run away, but it's too late. I have him by the tail. I drop gently to the ground and break the animal's neck so that it will stop making noise.

My descent from the tree seems to have startled a passing rabbit into freezing in its tracks. I throw my knife, and the rabbit is mine too. I walk over to claim my prize. Animals always hang around water. It seems I've found my hunting spot.

Walking back, I notice that someone is running up behind me. I whirl around. I don't see anyone yet, but I keep my ears and eyes trained on that spot. A girl soon bursts out of the trees with wide brown eyes and wild auburn hair. Millie.

"Wolfgang!" she gasps, nearly bumping into me.

"Shush!" I hiss quietly. "Do you want everyone knowing where we are?"

"No. Right. Sorry," she apologizes. "I was running from the District Seven boy who was after me. I'm pretty sure that I lost him though."

I nod. "I'll check." I start in the direction from whence she had come, but turn around for a moment. "Hold this," I hand her the squirrel, the rabbit, and one of the canteens. She nods and takes them, and I have a look around. I sniff the air and strain my ears.

I turn back around. "Yeah, you lost him."

She sighs in relief. "Good." Then she looks at me quizzically. "So, are any of the others with you?"

"Only Seamus," I reply. "He's the only other one that I've found. Although technically, I should say that he found me. He's waiting back at the shelter we found. Come on."

I begin to walk again, and Mille follows me with an, "Okay."

"You know," I joke, "you should be more careful walking around in the forest like this. After all, remember the story of Little Red Riding Hood?" I glance over my shoulder to see her reaction.

Millie scrunches up her face. "No, I don't. How does it go?"

I lick one of my fangs and turn back around. "I won't ruin wolf-mutts for you by telling it."

Little Red Riding Hood was the code name for one of the rebel spies during the Second War. She was from District Ten and was very good with horses. She would often ride all over Panem to deliver messages to rebel groups. She kept the messages in a closed-top basket, and whenever asked, she would say that she was bringing a meal to her grandmother. She got her name from her red hair, her riding skills, and the fact that her actual last name was Hood.

The Capitol was angry with the rebels' ability to communicate. And so, they devised a plan to stop Hood's deeds. They sent a wolf-mutt after her named Bigg Badd. Badd seduced Red Riding Hood and caused her to fall in love with him. He tried to convince her to stop helping the rebels, but she wouldn't. So he killed her. And then, unable to live with himself for harming his mate, he killed himself.

"Why would the story ruin wolf-mutts for me?" Millie asks.

I smile grimly and say, "Trust me. It just would."

We make it back to Seamus, and he waves at me before noticing Millie. Then he turns on what I assume he thinks is charm, but judging by the expression on Millie's face, she is not impressed. "Hey Millie," Seamus grins broadly. "I was hoping you survived. You're too pretty to die, after all."

Millie purses her lips and turns to me, holding up the rabbit and squirrel. "Should we get a fire going to cook these?"

I stare at her for a moment before shaking my head. "We don't want to give away our position."

Seamus looks up at me with disgust. "So we're supposed to eat it raw? That's gross." He seems to remember Millie's presence and counters himself. "I can do it! I'm a man. Give me that squirrel and let me bite its head off!" He punches the dirt enthusiastically, and Millie gives him a nauseous look.

"Seamus, what was in the packs?" I ask, stopping his rant before he can make an even bigger fool of himself.

"Oh, right," he looks at me and begins to list the results of his inventory. "We have a sleeping bag, another canteen, a pack of crackers, two protein bars, these weird sunglasses things that don't block the sun – which I found out the hard way, and three extra pairs of socks, and a small package of matches. There's also some bandage and gauze. And there's a book too. I think that's kinda weird because, you know, who has time for reading in a place like this?"

"A book?" I ask. This instantly sets me on high alert. Why would they give us a book unless it contained something we needed to know? "May I see it?"

Seamus nods and pulls something out of the small, purple backpack that I had grabbed at the Cornucopia. He hands me a book made of dark purple leather, with gilded designs on it. The title of the book is, "Myths, Legends, and Tales". I don't get it. Why is it here? I open it and see a short poem. "The Loch Ness Monster".

I sit down and begin to read, just wanting to solve the mystery. Seamus and Millie stare at me like I'm insane. I look up from the book long enough to tell them that they can make a fire if they keep it small and make sure not to put any green leaves on it. They shrug, and Seamus walks off to collect firewood. Millie says that she'll clean the animals, and I hand her my knife. Then I read again.

In a lake called Loch Ness lives a monster. This beast is like no other. It has a neck nearly hundred-foot long. It swims in the deep and knows the deep's song. It swallows man whole and devours him true. This is the warning I'm giving to you: Wary ye should be, at the lakeside. For under the waters, who knows what might reside?

The poem is over, and the words make only a small paragraph on the bottom half of the page. On the top half though, there is an illustration of a monster with a long neck. It reminds me of a snake. But under the water, it shows the other half of the animal's body. It looks like a huge rock with fins slightly similar to the oars of a rowboat. And it has a tail almost as long as its neck. I remember the words of the poem: It swallows man whole and devours him true. And now I suddenly know why they put this book in here. It's to freak us out and make us paranoid so that we go crazy in the arena. Well now that I know what's going on, it won't work. But I place the book back into the smaller backpack anyway. It might be useful for starting a fire.

Seamus comes back with some old, dried wood. I dig a circle in the ground with a stick to serve as a moat. Seamus sets the firewood down as I build a small circle of rocks. Then I look around for something needed to start the fire. "Can I get a piece of tree bark?" Seamus shrugs and rips some bark off of a tree. I flinch because I realize that we're making our being here rather obvious on the first night, and that probably isn't wise. But I realize that the consequences of discovery will be better than having to deal with any sickness that humans tend to contract from raw meat. There are so many advantages to being a wolf-mutt in this arena, and I'm just beginning to see them. No wonder Uncle Abel and Ford think that I can win this thing.

Seamus lays the bark in the middle of the circle of rocks. I take a piece of firewood about the diameter of my wrist and lay it down on the edge of the bark, to serve as a brace. Then, standing and walking over to the backpacks, I take out the book. I open the cover and rip out the title page. Seamus gasps and Millie looks up from her work. I replace the book and return to the unlit fire pit. "Matches," I order Seamus. He digs through the green backpack and finds them as I crumple the piece of paper into a ball and set it next to the brace, on top of the bark. Seamus hands me the matches, and I strike one and set the flame on the paper, which immediately ignites. "Wood," I demand. He hands me a piece, and I lean it against the brace. I do the same with two more pieces, and Seamus tries to hand me another. "Not yet," I grunt.

"Doesn't it need more stuff to burn?" Seamus asks me.

"No," I reply. "We need to leave it open to some air. Exposure to oxygen is more important than wood."

"Oxy – what?" Seamus looks at me in confusion. I smile. Maybe there are some advantages to growing up in District 6 too. I had to learn about oxygen and its function in combustion reactions in order to understand the way engines work. I guess other districts don't learn about oxygen at all.

I sit and watch the flames until the wood catches fire. Millie finishes cleaning the animals, and tells Seamus to go find some finger-width sticks. He smiles at her and runs off, and I resist the urge to chuckle at his enthusiasm. I do believe that he is only happy to be in this alliance because she is here, because he seemed really moody during his reaping and interview.

I put a bit more wood on the fire, and Seamus comes back with the sticks. Mille skewers the animals and holds them over the fire to roast. I notice that she has cut the rabbit into chunks, presumably so that it will cook faster. After the meat is finished cooking, Mille divides the rabbit between Seamus and herself and gives me the whole squirrel. I could have eaten it raw, but it's okay cooked too, so I don't complain. Seamus wants to open the crackers, but I advise that it's better to save them for when we can't find any food in the wild. He scowls and returns the package of crackers to the bag.

Then, it's night. The Capitol anthem plays and we are shown the images of the dead tributes, by order of their district numbers. I am surprised when the first picture is of Mascara Cash. The District One girl is out of the arena already? I find myself wanting to know who took her out. The next tribute is, of course, Jenny Gizmo of District Three. Her district partner, Marcus Sprocket, follows. Then the female from District Five, Sparks Wire. And she is followed by Selkie Needle of District Eight. I look over at Seamus to see if he cares, but he doesn't seem to. I also realize that this means Octane is still alive. Kenny Chaff is dead too and this time I look to Millie, who whimpers at the loss of her chubby, young district partner. "He was so innocent…" she trails off. Returning our gaze to the sky, we see that the next picture is of District Eleven's Persimmon Pricket. This confuses me. The District Ten girl may have been able to survive in the grass into which she ran. But the boy from District Ten? I had assumed that the half-wit would have been one of the first to fall. What's going on? I know who the eighth and final picture is of before it is even shown. I remember watching D.C.'s knife bring about the end of the girl from District Twelve, and sure enough, her photo is the last in the sky. The anthem plays again, and then everything seems unnaturally quiet.

I take the night watch and let Seamus and Millie sleep… all night. Why? Well, wolf-mutts can go for longer periods of time without sleeping than humans can. Personally, I can only go for two or three days, as I am half-human myself. But my father can go for a week, and that's pretty much standard for purebreds.

I pass the night in morph, using my extra ears to listen carefully for any sounds. I keep the fire burning so that Seamus doesn't freeze. He gave the sleeping bag to Millie, who sleeps soundly. But Seamus lies on the ground, shivering. The cold air doesn't bother me, and I wonder if this is the contribution of my wolf genes as well. That's when I hear a rustling sound coming from the trees behind me.

I stand up with my spear at the ready and stare into the trees. The area from which the noise is coming is the least steep of all ways to climb our hill, and I make out a human figure slipping in and out of the trees. It's male, and taller than Neptune. Who's taller than Neptune? It could be Sapphire. But…wouldn't the Careers all join together and travel in a group? Unless they got split up like we did. Or unless they're surrounding our hill. I try to listen in all directions at once, but the chaos of trying to orientate my brain overwhelms me. Did they try to make me do this on purpose? Are they trying to confuse me so that I'm easy prey? I frown and refocus on the solitary figure that makes its way up the gentle incline, raising my spear.

The boy comes closer and closer. The snarl is on my lips before I can stop it. And then, the figure rushes at me, and I at him. We both gasp upon seeing the other's face and I drop my weapon. "My bad, Coal. You were downwind. I couldn't pick up your scent," I apologize for startling my comrade.

Coal nods in acknowledgement. "I know I was downwind. I was following a smell myself: fire."

"You know what fire smells like?" I ask skeptically. I've always wondered if humans can smell fire too.

Coal gives a low, quiet laugh. "Yeah. The electricity in District 12 doesn't work very often. Fire is our main source of heating and cooking methods." When I nod, he asks, "So why did you build a fire, anyway? Are you trying to attract Careers?"

I shrug and gesture to Seamus and Millie. "They refused to eat raw rabbit."

Coal looks at me and nods, and then his stomach grumbles. He gives me a slightly wistful look. "You wouldn't happen to have any leftovers, would you?"

I shake my head and whisper, "Not from the way Seamus eats. He wanted to open the crackers! We had food already, and he wanted to open our reserves. It's only the first night!"

Coal looks at me again. "You have crackers?" Slowly, I nod, and go to retrieve the food from the backpack. I hand him eight crackers from the package of thirty, leaving twenty-two. "Thanks," he says before he bites into two at once.

"Did you get anything from the Cornucopia at all?" I inquire. He pulls something out of his shirt and holds it up. It's a neatly folded tarp.

"Okay…" I begin. "I'm sure we can find some use for that."

Coal makes a face and slaps his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Do you have water?" I nod and hand him a canteen. "Thank goodness for allies," he mutters after a long drink.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." I stand and walk over to a tree. Against it leans the pick axe, which I pick up and bring over to Coal. "I got this for you this morning."

Coal's eyes brighten up as if I've just given him Pritchard's head on a platter. "Awesome," he breathes in awe. "I can totally use this."

"I know," I chuckle. "I watched you practice. That's why I got it."

"I'll say it again," Coal smirks with a gleam in his eyes. "Thank goodness for allies."

Author: Thanks to Tobias Odiar for the nice review. I'm to be writing an obsession-worthy story.