Day Six

The Careers woke early, as usual. Jayson had taken the morning watch, and was none too gentle about waking everybody. Niall got an extra hard kick in the side. Sparkle just smiled when she saw it. 'Go get the breakfast out, Niall. We've nearly used up everything we brought out before Four left.'

Niall sighed and headed over the Cornucopia, trying not to wince at the pain in his side. He knelt down and pulled at the bottom right hand corner, but the rope didn't budge. On further inspection he discovered it was tied differently, fastened properly so there was nothing to pull.

'Hey, guys, come look at this!' he called, pointing to the rope. The girls rolled their eyes and walked over. 'Skye's retied it so we can't open the net.'

'Well then,' Sparkle pulled out her sword, but Cleo grabbed her wrist before she could slash the ropes.

'Don't! Remember what fish-boy said? Cut or pull too hard on any of these ropes, and the whole thing will collapse on you. Do you want the same thing that happened to District Eleven to happen to you?' Sparkle sheathed her sword again. 'We'll just have to work out how to untie this thing.'

'Not likely,' said Niall sceptically. 'How much time did you spend on the knot-tying course?' Cleo scowled at him and shook the net, hard. Niall yelled out as a spike slashed his shoulder. Cleo just turned and marched back to the fire. By the time Niall had sorted out his cut and come over, she had explained everything to Jayson.

'That little fish-face betrayed us. I say we hunt him down and kill him!' growled Jayson, bending his metal fork in his hand.

'Jayson, how do you continue to be so thick?' cried Cleo, exasperated. 'Four is going to be on full alert, looking out for us. There's no way us four can blunder in and just hunt him down. And there's no way we can be stealthy with you in tow.' Sparkle and Niall stared at the two of them, sure that Jayson would get angry and hit her. But Jayson was acting odd, staring at her too much, mouth slightly open. In the end he just shrugged and busied himself with the hammer that he had found a couple of days ago in the Cornucopia.

'So let's wait, and in the meantime decide what to do with the Cornucopia?' said Sparkle.

'No! I still want to go tribute hunting.'

O

Kai narrowed his eyes, looking down the crossbow, aiming through the sight at a tree opposite him. With a careful tightening of his finger, he shot out a quarrel. With a thud, it landed in the tree. On inspection he found it embedded halfway in, about an inch off the target he had carved.

He was improving – the sight made it much easier to aim, but he found it hard not to flinch or blink when he shot the quarrel. But soon he'd be able to shoot animals. And people. He tried not to think of that, of the moment when he'd have to shoot in earnest at a human being.

Pushing the thought from his mind, as always, he carefully pulled out the quarrel and dropped it into the holder. He still had all twelve quarrels. They were made of metal and despite being shot into trees many times, didn't seem to blunt. They weren't something he wanted stuck in his body.

He walked along the perimeter of the forest. As he did, a fat squirrel appeared on a branch up ahead. He didn't think, he just slotted in a quarrel and shot.

O

Diesel strode down the street, rapier drawn and a scowl on his face. He was hunting down the monster that killed an innocent thirteen-year-old girl, and probably more. He stopped suddenly, smelling something. The stench of blood filled the air. Spinning around, he shoved open the door of a nearby house and stepped inside.

Lottie Blacilla was crouched in the corner. As he looked at her, he struggled to quite believe she was human. Her white hair, streaked with red, was lank and greasy and hung over her face. As she shook it back and scowled up at him, all thought of her being human disappeared. Her eyes were pinkish red, her skin pure white. Her lips and chin were stained with blood as were her strangely fang-like teeth. Her jacket was torn and filthy, as were her trousers. The linen shirt underneath was stiff with dried blood and she had disposed of her shoes, preferring to go barefoot.

'DEVIL CHILD!' he yelled, slashing his rapier through the air, aiming for her neck. She tried to bat it away and he cut open her hand. Hissing, she leapt at him with surprising strength, knocking him over onto the floor and making him drop his sword. He kicked and fought but she just scratched his face and ran off.

He jumped to his feet and grabbed the rapier, ready to chase her down and fight her, but she had disappeared off. So he stood there, panting, feeling the scratches on his face sting.

O

'Look, let's split up, you go hunting and I'll collect plants, okay?' said Sephiria. 'Really, or we'll go hungry again.' They'd eaten nearly all sponsor food. Before Scott could do more than protest feebly, she had danced off into the woods. 'Meet you back here in an hour, okay?'

He shrugged and wandered up the edge of the woods, looking out for birds and animals. He didn't have a long distance weapon like a bow to shoot them, but he could creep up on them. With a smile, he noticed a crow pecking at something in the dirt, and crept silently towards it, making sure the wind and sun was in his face.

He got so close he was right behind the bird, but as he raised his sword to strike, a huge hand clamped around his head and dragged him into the air. He kicked and struggled, but an iron-like arm just clamped itself around him, and a fist punched him in the head. The bird squawked and flew off.

Through blurred eyes, he saw two smaller figures step into view, one dark the other pale blonde. The blonde slapped him twice on the cheeks and his vision cleared. He realised it was the two Career girls, smirking up at him.

'You were good at creeping up on that bird. Pity you didn't hear us creeping up on you,' said the dark one. The thug holding Scott guffawed loudly. 'So, how would you like to die? I like to give my victims a choice. No? I think knives then.' Scott struggled harder than ever as she took a few steps back, pulling two small knives from inside her jacket.

She took aim and threw the knives, Scott half closed his eyes, but before the knives could hit him, something threw themselves in front of him. He opened his eyes fully and saw, to his horror, that it was Sephiria. She lay at his feet, the two knives embedded in her chest.

The thug dropped Scott in surprise and he fell to his knees beside her. Sephiria looked straight up at him, locking her gaze with his. She mouthed one word, then her head fell back, and something in her eyes vanished, leaving them blank and empty.

He got to his feet, and before any of the Careers could react, sprinted off into the woods. He heard Sparkle shriek: 'GET HIM!' but did not look back or slow. Go. The last thing Sephiria said to him. Tears pricked his eyes and his foot hit a fallen branch, tripping him and sending him flying. He landed hard in the dirt, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. The Careers had disappeared and he lay there, panting, trying not to cry.

Finally he forced himself to sit up. But as he did, he heard a low, menacing growl. Heart suddenly beating fast again, he looked around. But there was nothing. Thinking that maybe he imagined it, he moved again. But there was another growl, then another, a third, a fourth. Hardly breathing, he watched as the undergrowth around him seemed to shiver and sway, and part.

A beast stepped out in front of him. The first thing he registered was that it was huge, the size of a carthorse at least. How it stayed hidden he did not know – he guessed perhaps its coarse, black-brown fur camouflaged it. It seemed to be the mixture of bear and dog, with some cat in there as well. Its head was broad with a flattish nose, small, dark eyes full of menace. Its body seemed to be mostly bear, a mass of muscles with huge shoulders and legs. And its paws seemed to be more catlike, larger than a dustbin lid, with long, horribly sharp, black claws.

He stared at it, wide-eyed. Perhaps he could run? But then the beast reared up and let out a deafening roar, and four more stepped out, surrounding him, breathing their hot, stinking breath on him. They snarled and growled, snapping at the air above his head. Then the first one, the biggest, reared again and threw itself on Scott.

The agonised yells filled the forest.

O

Violet Queens sighed, staring up at the sky. She was out of food, and water. There was nothing else she could do. She had to try and join the Careers. She was near the base of Cornucopia Hill. She had her reasons that they should let her join in her head. She just hoped they would let her speak before killing her.

The four Careers were gathered around the campfire. They all looked surprisingly hungry and annoyed. The dark haired girl was the first to notice her, standing awkwardly by a pillar. With a yell she grabbed her knife and raised it, alerting the others.

In a few moments the Careers surrounded her. 'What do you want, District Seven?' hissed the blonde girl. 'You can't be stupid enough to just walk up here by accident.'

'No. I want to join the Careers,' said Violet, in as steady a voice as she could manage. 'I can fight and I've learnt to get food and stuff.'

'Really?' the dark girl stepped forward, so her face was right in Violet's. 'And why would we want that?'

Violet shrugged. 'It's always useful to have an extra pair of hands.' A couple of the Careers looked interested, but then the blonde girl stepped forward and shoved Violet backwards.

'Well we don't want you. But because I'm nice, I'm giving you ten seconds to get out of sight, or I'll set Jayson and his lovely metal hammer on you. Ten… nine… eight…' Violet turned and ran off.

O

Skye and Jessalyn decided to head up to the lake – both were running out of water. At the sight of the cool, rippling surface, both fell silent, suddenly full of homesickness for their home district. 'Really makes you miss it, seeing water like this,' murmured Jessalyn.

'Yeah. I'd give anything to be back on my uncle's fishing boat,' replied Skye, sitting down at the edge. 'Can you skip stones?' Jessalyn shook her head, and Skye grinned. 'Finally, something I can do better than you!' Jessalyn just rolled her eyes and he picked up a smooth, flattish stone. 'It's all about the flick of the wrist. Watch!' He threw the stone and it skimmed over the water, touching it five times before dropping in. 'You try.'

Jessalyn shrugged and picked up a stone, but she could only just get two skims. 'It's a stupid game.'

'You just say that because you're crap,' said Skye, earning himself a cuff over the head. 'Okay, okay I'm sorry. Look, I'll help you.' He wrapped his hand around hers and guided it in slow motion, showing her how to do it.

'But shouldn't we be hunting or looking out for Careers or something? I mean, we could die at any moment,' said Jessalyn.

'Sometimes, when you could die at any moment, the best thing to do is have fun,' murmured Skye. Jessalyn suddenly realised how close they were, his face was inches from hers. They looked into each other's eyes, then Skye dipped his head, and pressed his lips against hers.

Jessalyn replied in kind, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him fiercely. Finally they broke apart, and stared at each other for a few seconds. 'We should get going,' whispered Jessalyn.

'Right,' Skye nodded, hurriedly turning around and filling his canteen.

O

Ember Gildern still felt weak. The medicine had done its work, but it hadn't filled his stomach, and his head still seemed to weigh a hundred pounds. He had drunk a load water, so he wasn't dehydrated. But he needed to find food.

He was eternally grateful to whoever sent him the medicine, as they saved his life. But now he needed food, and he wasn't in the mood to hunt, not after his last experience. So he was wandering, looking out for any abandoned food or scraps or even a sponsor gift – but he knew that no sane tribute would abandon their food, and his sponsors were probably all cleaned out from sending him the medicine.

He was so caught up in his thoughts of food that he nearly walked right into a camp. As it was he noticed just in time and managed to duck below the window of the house they were in. It was the two tributes from District Four, who seemed to have teamed up.

They were talking about mundane things from their district. Suddenly the talking went into hushed whispers. He struggled to make it out, straining to hear. But then he froze as he felt the sharp point of a sword pressed against his back. Slowly, he turned around, and saw the boy staring down at him.

'You really need to sort out your listening skills, mate,' he said, holding out a hand to help him up.

'Please don't kill me!' cried Ember. 'I don't mean any harm!'

'I got that – if you'd wanted to attack us, you'd have done it before now. Anyway, you look hungry, and we've got food to spare – Jessalyn's great with a bow,' said Skye. 'What happened to you, anyway? You're all skin and bones.'

'Got a bit ill,' mumbled Ember. 'You sure?'

'Of course we are,' the girl, Jessalyn, had appeared. 'Here, have a leg.' Ember stared at the leg but didn't take it – memories of his poisoning were fresh in his memory. Jessalyn frowned, but shrugged and went back to a stewing pot. 'If not that then have some of these leaves. They're actually alright, stewed.'

The leaves were quite bitter, but Ember was so hungry he ate them anyway, along with some dry flatbread that Jessalyn offered. When he was done, he stood up to leave. 'You're not staying?' cried Jessalyn.

'I shouldn't. I'm better off alone, I-I prefer it, see,' said Ember. He nodded to both of them, and left the house.

ANOTHER CHAPTER! YAYYY! Hope you enjoyed it, despite the deaths as ever. The beast in the woods has been revealed :O!

Dead List:

Hareld Wyre

Jenna Monroe

Nathaniel Merezald

Pau Furnely

Ginevra Helena di Cosimo

Patrick Volta

Amore Gemini

Odio Gemini

Tabytha laDawn Carmahel

Dawn Shentell

Sephiria Raven

Scott Fosters

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