Orchid Whishart POV

I sit up quietly, taking caution not to wake Ribbon. My sleep is restless and dotted with nightmares.

I lean against the dirt wall. Ribbon and I had found Dixie yesterday on the first floor of the arena. She told us about a close encounter with Julius Pow, from District Twelve. Must have been scary.

Anyways, now we are on the second floor of the arena. It's a maze. We made our way through the first floor after running into Dixie then we went through a bit of the maze.

Dixie lays next to me. She said she would take watch, but that didn't work out. She's sitting up, but when she fell asleep her head tilted down. Ribbon sleeps on Dixie, resting her head in Dixie's lap. I smile. If I don't win, I hope one of these two do.

I groggily reach to my side for a pack I got at the Cornucopia. I ran in, grabbed it, then cleared out. I only went in so I could get food for Ribbon.

I reach inside, I haven't sorted through the pack yet. There are some weird looking sunglasses, two dried pairs, two dried apples, a medium sized water bottle-with water, thank goodness, a beef jerky stick, a very small glob of cheese, some iodine, an extra shirt, and a small, sharp knife. It'll be enough to keep us going for a while.

I break a small piece of the beef jerky strip and put it in my mouth and suck on it, just to give me something to do. It's quite bland, really, compared to the Capitol's food, but so much better than the portions we get in District Five.

Ribbon turns over on her side, causing Dixie to wake up. She opens her eyes a bit and yawns. For a second, it's as if she's forgotten what's going on, she smiles at me and stretches.

"What's for breakfast?" Dixie asks happily. She smiles, then it disappears and replaces itself with a frown and a blush. "Right... But I'm hungry,"

I smile and hand her a piece of one of the apples. "Should we wake Ribbon?" I ask her. Dixie shakes her head.

"Let her sleep while she still can," Dixie responds, frowning down at Ribbons head, which is resting in her lap.

Dixie starts eating her piece of apple while I get Ribbon's portion of food out for her. "Should we have some water now, or save it for when we need it?" I ask.

"I guess we should save it, but give Ribbon a little, she might not understand that we need to save it," Dixie responds. I nod.

"Hey, Orchid?" I turn to Dixie.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what the date is?" she asks. I raise my eyebrows, thinking.

"Around June 25th... why?" I tell her. She looks at me with sad, disbelieving eyes, then puts her head down in between her knees, the sudden movement waking Ribbon.

"Dixie? What's wrong?" I ask as Ribbon starts eating the food I set out for her.

Dixie mumbles something unintelligible and I lean in closer.

"What is it?" I ask softly.

"My birthday's in five days!" Dixie says through choked sobs. "I might not even live to be thirteen..,"

Ribbon turns to me. "Mm, that was yummy!"

Azura Night POV

"So, they're bound to be over there, and if we go here, we can target them from over there, then it should be easier than from over ther-" Mila starts, talking to Tasi.

"Shush for a second," I tell her, holding my fingers to my lips. Mila looks to me.

"What?" she asks. I hold my finger to my lips.

"I thought I heard something," I tell her, and inch up along the wall, in the general direction the voices came from.

"We should go get more water," one of them says. I grin.

"Looks like we might be able to get the Careers now," I tell my alliance they nod and get up. Mila wakes Callum and Kendrick up. They sit up groggily as I sneak my way along the wall, Mila following close behind me. Realizing that I'm after someone, they get up quickly and follow.

"C'mon!" I whisper, and flatten against the wall. I grab my knife out of my belt just as I see a girls arm.

I throw it at the girls shoulder, as hard as I can. It pierces through her skin and she turns around.

"Watch out!" a little girl yells, just as it hits.

My jaw drops when I see Orchid Whishart, blood pouring from her arm.

Mila Aaron POV

I catch up with Azura, panting. She stands there, hands over her mouth, looking at Orchid Whishart. Orchid has a knife lodged in her shoulder.

"Oh my god..." Azura whispers, and runs up to Orchid, whose eyes are now tearing up from pain.

"Are you okay?" Azura asks, trying to get the knife out of Orchid's arm. "I'm so sorry..." The knife is slick with blood, as Azura tries to pull it out and her hand slips, covered in blood. "Crud..." Azura wipes her hands on her shirt and manages to yank the knife out, causing Orchid to wince.

"Azura, I think we have some bandaging..." I tell her, and she turns around.

"Please, go get it!" she shouts at me. I run back to get the bandaging.

Luckily, it's a straight path back to our camp, so it's easy to get back. I kick aside a few bags until I find a first aid kit. I scoop it up and jog back to where our alliance is.

Orchid has taken off her jacket now, and Kendrick, Callum, and Tasi are trying to staunch the flow if blood. I come in and wrap the bandage around Orchid's shoulder. I tie it messily and back up.

"I guess you just shouldn't move it around for a while," I say, frowning because I wish I could give her better advice. Orchid just smiles at me gratefully.

"Thanks," she says, then winces as she turns to Azura. "It's fine, I'm not dead, so everything's fine,"

Azura smiles. "Sorry again," she says. "Guys, we should probably get back," Azura tells us and I nod.

"Yeah. Let's go plan some more," Tasi says and I lead us back to our camp.

Short chapter...just wanted to get something up OTL it's day 2 part 1.