Okay... so I've been at camp all week and that's why it's taken me so long to update but now it's here! A lot of deaths again in this long chapter, and I had a lot of short POVs again, but I hope that's okay with everyone! Also, as a reminder, primrose98 and I will be co-writing the 176th annual Hunger Games together! So please submit a tribute when these Games are over!

Day Nine: Death Day

Alicia Evans' POV- D1

The memory still plays before my eyes. I can't rid the picture from my thoughts. I can't stop hearing her scream.

It happened last night. The air had cleared up near the mountain and we were setting up camp again near the Cornucopia. The sky lit up and showed that Austre and Skye were dead. Jesse and Alacia were celebrating with some roast beef.

"May I have this dance?" Jesse asks, offerring Alacia his hand.

"There's no music..." she replied with a giggle.

"So? We can pretend! C'mon!" She sighs and takes his hand. He leads her out in a dirt patch a few yards away from the rest of the Careers. Illuminated by the firelight, the two of them slowdance, completely lost in the imaginary music.

She begins to run. Away from him. Away from the light. Into the distance until I can't see her anymore.

"Alacia?" Jesse calls into the darkness. "Alacia, come back!"

I hear her distant laugh and barely make out the words, "Come get me!" He starts to run after her, and soon he's gone too. I can hear their laughs. Their fluffy little romance makes me sick. Soon they come back into view. And I see it all.

The ground opens up beneath her feet. She falls and lets out a shriek I'm sure every tribute in the arena heard.

"No no no no no no no!" he yells and rushes up to the hole, where she struggles to hang on. I secretly root for her to fall into the abyss below. No one likes annoying, obnoxious Alacia. He grabs her wrists and calls to us, "Guys! Guys, help me!" No one moves.

"Jesse!" She screams. The name echos in my head.

"Alacia! Hold on! I've got you! Help me, guys!"

"Jesse! It's no use. Let go." She says quietly.

"No! I won't let you die! I- I love you."

I hear her sniff. Oh, please I think, disgusted. "I love you too." she says.

"No! NO! Alacia! NOOOOOO!" I hear, and know it's over. She's gone. A cannon confirms my suspicions.

Now Jesse sits alone. We try to get him to eat, but he sits, un-phased. I suggest we just leave him and go hunt. The others agree, and with Axel leading the way, we all march into the jungle section. It doesn't take long to find that fifteen-year old boy. Ryker, I think his name is, gathering this sweet, sticky fruit.

Shimmer picked one on our walk here. She's eating it now, and he's already eaten half of one, that I can see. He looks drowsy. We hide in the bushes, un-seen, while he sits down and begins to nod off.

I'm about to jump out and stab him when a movement catches my eye. I stay back and watch as a boy walks over to him and stab him with a fork. Dangling from his belt, I see a bottle of sleep syrup. I've just registered the connection between the stickiness of the fruit and the syrup when something heavy lands on my shoulder. I look back and see it's Shimmer's head. I slap her awake and chuck the fruit behind us. "Sleep syrup," I whisper and she nods tiredly.

BOOM! Ryker's cannon sounds. I see a silver parachute float down in front of the boy, and when he opens it, he finds an empty syringe inside. A huge smile on his face, the boy runs off in the direction to the mountain section. We walk on.

Katryna Aden's POV- D10

There was a cannon. I ignore it and keep walking. I'm in the desert. The sun is heating my metal chest plate and now it's too hot to touch. I have no water, no food, nothing. I think I may die of dehydration. My head pounds. There's no water left in me for sweat. My breathing gets heavier and heavier. I wish it would just end. And I get my wish.

In the distance I see them. Two giant cows. If I was watching the Games at home, I know I'd be laughing. But I'm in the Games. And these are mutts. Mutts as big as the houses in the Victors' Village. They walk over to me and one of them bends their head down. On a tag on a collar I see the number 10. That's the last thing I see before a mouth clamps over me and the world goes black.

Nan Weatherall's POV- D5

A cannon goes off, but I'm too weak to care. I don't think that new animal I ate yesterday was safe, although it tasted like beef. My head burns and my body aches. I know I have a fever. I feel so bad, I don't even wince when the acid rain drips down through a crack in my shelter and burns a hole in my shirt.

Tara Lyn Ruben's POV- D6

The numbing cold has turned my skin blue. I shiver violently. I'm so rigid I literally can not move. Then I suddenly get warm and feel happy, safe. And then the world swirls into shades of blue and green, then red, and, finally, black.

Zenia Weissman's POV- D7

The cannon startles me. I was asleep, dreaming of home. And now I stare into the faces of the Careers... all but Jesse. I scream. Axel smiles down at me and Shimmer steps up, holding a knife. It's brought to my throat and soon I'm gone.

Leartes Thatecus's POV- D12

Zark's gone. I don't know how he died. I only know he's gone. I wander through te jungle for a while. There was a scream and then a cannon not too far away from me. And I'm not surprised when I see the Careers crash through the trees and corner me. I stay quiet and let Jess beat me. It hurts. A lot. But, what do I have to go home to, anyway? Nothing, that's what. I'm an orphan. I have no one. So, who cares? She beats me to a bloody pulp, then takes the hilt of her sword and delivers the fatal blow.

Kaeit Grey's POV- D10

BOOM! That's five today. Plus that one last night. I settle in for the night as the night sky lights up and I see the faces. First comes Alacia, then Tara Lyn, Zenia, Ryker, Katryna, and finally, Leartes. Six gone. I count the remaining tributes on my fingers. For the Careers, there's Alicia, Jesse, Jess, Axel, and Shimmer, the last five, all from One. Then there's Genevive and Beau from Three, Lara Lynn, Nan, Lani, and Ollie from Five, Avery, Doon, and Magnum from Eight, Pearce from Nine, Blane and I from Ten, and Amaryllis and BeBe from Eleven. That's Nineteen. Nineteen left out of Seventy-Two. Wow. We're almost done.

Points:

I'mALittleCinna:
Beau Atkinson- 440

neb88:
Doon Wainright- 40

zorack1995:
Axel Kahmari- 45
Magnum Harron- 60

CharmyXcream14:
Shimmer Star- 80

Turq8:
Nan Weatherall- 145

Headmund:
Blane Audy- 160

Skywriter5:
Alicia Evans- 125

kitresskat:
Kaeit Grey- 130

Pynnelopi:
Lara Lynn Case- 130

Nightfall12:
Jess Malice- 140

Rachina:
Amaryllis Field- 60

TwiggySpazz:
Jesse Tame- 130

Becky Barnes:
Avery Davis- 130

primrose98:
Genevive Hawkins- 150
Lani Tuckerson- 150

ButterflyBliss8:
BeBe Collins- 130

KiwiRawr:
Ollie Prevo- 160

LawAndOrderSVUAlways:
Pearce Shaw- 135