Cicenna Arlenos, D8

Cicenna wondered how the others from her district were doing. As much as she wanted to be the one to get out of the arena, she hated seeing the others from Eight go. Carsander and Guerard were the only other left besides Sarah, although the girl wasn't really from Eight. Right now, she and her sister was curled up together in their burrow, made of rocks, sticks, and vines. It was easily disguised and hard to see from a distance, so they'd decided it was good enough to sleep in for the night.

She'd seen a pair of tributes walk by in the night, but it'd been too dark to see which district they were from. One of them had the other slung over their shoulder. Cicenna wondered if one had been injured or if they weren't allies and the walking tribute planned to get rid of the other. They didn't come close to the small mouth of the burrow, so Cicenna didn't worry.

The sun was just coming up. They'd been in the arena about a week, if she was doing the math correctly. The field was usually lower than this in normal years, and she was afraid that the gamemakers would try to speed things up a bit. At least one person in the alliance was on guard and alert at all times now. Luckily, they hadn't come across anything.

Rachel was the first one awake. She silently dug through their bag of berries and roots and ate a handful of blueberries they'd found yesterday. Then Cicenna watched as she picked up the smaller, empty bag, grabbed a spear, and went out to scour for more food. Their water canteen was in that bag. She'd have to fill it while she was out, too.

Rachel had woken Sarah while she had gotten ready. The younger girl mimicked her sister, opening the bag and eating a handful of berries. Rachel was still in sight, pacing around the area right outside the burrow, checking plants and picking what was safe. And then she hit the ground.

She screamed. Cicenna had seen the arrow go through her arm, pinning her to the forest floor. Cicenna put her hand over Sarah's mouth to keep her quiet, and rushed to the girl. A second arrow flew past her as she pulled Rachel from the ground. Sarah has composed herself quickly, ready to run when Cicenna got close enough. They booked it out of the area, away from the tribute with the arrows.

They ran as far as they could. Rachel was starting to get heavy, and Cicenna and Sarah were getting tired. They stopped on the edge of the lake, where the two of them were able to lift Rachel up into the tree with them. She still had the arrow in her arm, and when Cicenna touch it, she thrashed in pain. She was glad that Sarah was able to keep herself together. They worked the arrow from her arm, and where it was clean of blood, Cicenna could feel a sticky coating to it. No doubt poison, but she wasn't about to tell Sarah that. Rachel must have understood the look Cicenna gave her, because she asked Sarah to go fill the canteen in the lake.

"Bad?" She asked. Cicenna was oddly choked up over this. She nodded to the fourteen-year-old girl who was lying in her arms. "Sarah will figure it out. We might as well tell her."

"Your dad is a past Victor," said Cicenna. "He'll send some sort of antidote. You'll be fine."

"Tell that to Sarah. It'll make her feel better." She started to close her eyes. Cicenna could see Sarah coming back from the lake.

"No, you need to stay awake."

"I'm fine for now, just tired still. I'll let you know when it starts to hit me. Get her out of her alive for me." Cicenna was crying now, but she wiped it away as Sarah reached their branches, and let Rachel drink from the canteen. When it emptied, she ran back for more.

"I'll do my best." She meant it.

Paxton Luke, D2

"Are you okay? What was that?" he asked, looking Elle up and down for any sort of mark. "I thought I heard a scream." She smiled, but he could tell she was sad underneath.

"I'm fine. There was a girl from Seven down there, and I managed to hit her." Paxton saw as she lifted the bow. Each of the arrows in her quiver had a clear, almost liquid substance on the arrowheads. Poison.

"Where'd you find it? And when did you have time?" he asked, being careful to keep the liquid from the arrow off of his hands as he lifted one from the quiver.

"You were asleep. I found these plants, and I recognized them as poisonous from training, so I smeared the sap from the stems over the arrows. It'll take a few days, but it'll get her." Paxton couldn't help but smile at her ingenuity. He could tell by her expression that she wasn't happy about what she'd done, but in the arena, it was kill or be killed. He never would have thought to use poison on the weapons. Paxton pulled the girl in and kissed her, and he heard the parachute fall.

He pulled away after another minute of their embrace, the curiosity of the parachute getting the best of him. He opened it up to find two pairs of gloves. One set was clearly sized for Elle's small hands, and the larger pair sized for his own hands. They were getting a message from the mentors and sponsors.

Use the poison.

Jovane Smylithe, D6

"Ilenia, come one. We have to keep going." Jovane actually had to tug the girl along as they trekked along the mountains. She'd guessed that the high ground would be the easiest place to defend from, and to see others coming. She wondered how Mitchell was doing, but she quickly forced the boy from her mind. Ilenia was her priority. She and Ilenia would be going home to Granson.

Six days into the games. She remembered that the longest games on record had lasted twenty-four days, and the shortest had lasted only three. Perhaps another mass killing would happen and reduce the field even more.

They had made it halfway up the mountain when their path stopped sloping upward. Instead, it wove along the range, leading between the peaks, just above the canopy of the trees. They'd past a few small caves, but they were too open to provide any good shelter for long. Jovane couldn't trust that anywhere was safe in the arena. The tributes and gamemakers alike would be after blood soon enough, and she still had dozens of enemies out there.

Eventually, Jovane noticed a cavern that was deep enough to keep them hidden securely in the shadows, and it was close enough to the edge of the rock face to provide a good lookout point. They would set up here for the night, and scout in the morning. If nothing better came along, they could always return to this cave.

Ilenia got started right away on food. She started a fire to cook the plats they'd found along the way, while Jovane stood outside to make sure no tributes were coming to see the source of the smoke. No movement came from the forest below, so she retired to the cave to eat quickly. The roots and leaves were tart and odd tasting, but the berries helped get it down. Hopefully the day would be as uneventful as the morning.

I meant to make this chapter longer, but as my internet shuts off in a few minutes for the night, this was as long as I could manage. I focused more on the alliance of Rachel, Sarah, ad Cicenna, because a few people mentioned that I had been ignoring them. I'll try and get another chapter up this weekend, and if not this weekend, then as soon as possible.

Please, review. I love those who review :D

College is very hectic. Hours of homework every night, so I think one chapter per week is all I'll be able to manage until thing slow down a bit. Sorry guys, and I hope you'll stick with me through this.