"It's funny how unnatural this arena is," William says the next morning while I'm retrieving the chicken from it's pit.

Preston nods. "There are forests like that in One, Two, Three, Five... almost all the Districts, but the only deserts are near Nine, Ten, and on the outside of Eleven. It's weird that they're right next to each other."

"Maybe they're just trying to make everybody feel at home," I huff as I heave the chicken, which is still in its capsule, out of the hole.

"Right, so we feel at home while we're trying to kill each other," William jokes. "Didn't you say that was a chicken? Why is it so heavy?"

I shrug. "I don't know, it wasn't this heavy last night."

When I flip open the already ajar lid, I discover the source of the weight. A leather-looking coating of black beetles clicks collectively as they scurry off of the skin of the chicken and hide underneath it. Everywhere that the beetles were sitting has been chewed on, nearly to the bone. They probably laid eggs in it for all that I know. It takes a second to realise what I'm witnessing and I instantly stiffen up as soon as I do.

I drop the case and run to the other side of my hole. "Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope-nope-nope."

A shiver runs across our whole group. Everyone reacts in their own way; Preston turning around, William stepping back, Jason jumping, Ayler groaning, and Dai Lao standing stock still.

"You have no idea how excited I was for that chicken, man," Ayler groans.

"I'm pretty sure I do," Jason comes back.

Dai Lao is still staring at the nearly-emaciated chicken. "I'm not eating that."

"No one is, we don't know what those beetles are," William adds.

Ayler moans again. "I want real food though."

Dai Lao throws in another off-topic comment. "I hate bugs."

"We can always go hunting," I say. "We can get plants because we have Jason's book and all of us can use weapons."

There's a pause while a few of the boys step closer to examine the chicken. Preston takes a seat and Ayler sits down beside him. Jason looks up to the sky, then walks over to the supplies and changes his shirt.

"We have the bow and arrows in our tent," Preston says. "I'm not bad with them."

"Perfect," I say. "You can get animals easier when you're farther away."

"We should go to the pond where we got Dai Lao's partner," Jason explains. "Animals need water."

"Someone from yesterday's group will need to go in that group, because they'll know where it is," I say.

Jason shrugs. "I will because it was my idea."

I glance at William who's still staring at the chicken. "Alight, so you, Preston, and…"

"How about Dai Lao?" Ayler adds.

"Okay," Jason says, emotionless. I'm about to say something about this horrible pairing, but Preston and Jason are already up and getting their weapons. Dai Lao looks just as nervous as I do, but at least he's moving, unlike me.

William, still staring at the chicken, offers to stay back. Before I know it, Ayler's at my side with Jason's book and our weapons, then leading me into the forest.

As we're about to break the tree line, a cold feeling washes over me. "Wait, let's try over there."

We were about to walk in the exact direction Marie Lynn told me not to.

Ayler shrugs, "Okay."

It's another quiet walk in the forest, not wanting to scare any animals that might be around. Just because we're not specifically hunting them, doesn't mean that we won't come across any.

"You probably think I'm insane for suggesting that Dai Lao goes with Jason," Ayler murmurs.

I don't know what to say, because I do think that he's insane. The only reason that I didn't stop them was because Preston was with them and for some reason it feels like nothing violent and betrayal-like can happen if he's there.

Ayler laughs. "It's okay, I get it, but I didn't do it cause I wanted them to fight."

The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Ayler's energy is too positive for him to ever want someone to fight. In fact, even this serious start to our conversation seems out of character.

"Dai Lao's mad," he continues. "He said to me last night that he's tired of everyone treating him so badly."

This takes me off guard. Dai Lao's been so quiet that I had just assumed he was fine. Ayler stops, his face reading concern.

"I'm not sure if I should say this or not, but I'm just going to because I don't think you'll go all 'Jason' about it. So... he also said that he was tired of you thinking you knew everything," he finishes.

"What?" I say, not wanting an answer. It was a 'what' of shock, not a 'what-I-didn't-hear-that'. My whole leadership depends on the boys not thinking I'm too controlling and I don't think I've done anything to appear that way. It makes me mad, to be completely honest, for him to be thinking of me that way.

"Don't freak out about it or anything, it's not a big deal," Ayler says, seeing my distress.

It is a big deal though. My first sponsor gift gets ruined, one of my allies has serious arrogance problems, and another one hates my guts.

Ayler stops when we come to a plant with small fruit on it. "Do you think we can eat these?"

"I haven't been that controlling," I mumble, ignoring what he's saying.

Ayler flips through the pages of the book. "Never mind, definitely not eating this one. Apparently they cause 'airway lesions'. Hmm."

"He's an idiot. He should have said it to my face. No wonder he's losing the stats."

Ayler laughs. "Did you know the author of this book is named Mathic Renanal? Heh, what a last name."

I stop. "Has anyone else said anything about me?"

"Not that I know of." Ayler squats to examine some berries. "I think we have a winner here, these aren't in the book at all."

"He's a coward."

"They taste pretty good too."

I sigh.

He stands back up to look at me. "Look, I don't want you to be mad at him. I said he should go so he'll feel like we want him here. He'll be happy now; I think he was just overreacting."

I want to ask how he can just tell me not to be mad, but none of this is his fault. "Can I try one of the berries?"

He laughs. "I lied. They taste awful, but you can try one if you want."

"Let's give them to Jason."

"Okay," he smiles.

When we regroup, the other boys try the berries and spit them all out instantly.

"Why the heck would you pick those?" Jason asks.

I shrug, trying not to laugh. "They were the only edible things we found."

"You can't call that edible," Dai Lao mutters. I watch him closely, he doesn't seem angry right now. Actually, his posture and facial features have turned much more positive. Maybe Ayler made a really good decision, giving him some time to shine. If Jason had have been cruel to him, I'm sure I would be able to tell and there's no sign of any mistreatment right now.

While we only found the berries, the other group of boys did much better. They brought back two squirrels and, to my horror, an eagle.

"Did you kill them in one shot?" William asks.

Dai Lao answers. "No, we just got them out of the trees, and then Preston ran up and got them."

Preston shrugs, and picks up one of the squirrels. He begins cleaning it without a word and actually doing quite an impeccable job. William repeats his process with the other. I can understand how William, from the livestock District, knows how to clean an animal, but I can hardly see the same out of someone who grew up surrounded by luxury.

"Preston, where did you-" I start.

He cuts me off. "They – uh- taught me how to do it at school."

"That's against the rules," Jason tenses, making Preston nervous.

"I didn't volunteer though," Preston stutters. "So it's not as if I've been training specifically to play in the Games, it was just precautions."

"How old are you?" Ayler asks.

Preston shrugs. "Seventeen."

"So you could have been waiting until next year to volunteer, then," Jason threatens.

I know we shouldn't be talking about this, but it's intriguing and I don't really want to stop. If Preston's been training for the Games, then it really is against the rules, even if it's something that they've just been teaching to everyone at school.

Preston's posture changes as he shifts to the defensive side. "William knows how to clean animals too, Trawl was better than any of us at fighting, how is this any different?"

"I think what we're trying to say is that your District is playing against the rules by teaching you things at school," William says.

"And therefore, he's playing against the rules," Jason adds, balling his hands into fists. "You're District makes weapons Ayler, do you guys learn how to use them at school?"

Ayler's eyes open wide. "I don't- uh- no, but I don't want to be a part of this."

Jason ignores everything but the answer. "Yeah, so District One is clearly cheating, since even the weapons District doesn't teach them how to fight."

"Maybe you're just threatened, Jason," Preston says very quietly. It takes a second for what he has said to sink in.

"What?" Jason asks, voice loud with anger. "You think I'm scared, bean pole? Your legs are the size of my arms!"

"Guys, stop," Dai Lao says. "Right now we're together and Preston caught all of those animals, so we should be happy about this."

Jason stares at Preston for a few seconds, still quite obviously furious. He doesn't even look at Dai Lao when he turns around and goes into his tent. It's certainly a shift of power.

There's a lot of things going through my mind, a few about Dai Lao and Jason and a lot about Preston.

Dai Lao going out hunting with them must have changed his outlook on everything a lot. If I can harness this personality, it will be nice to have him around. I'm not even worried about Jason in the short term, I know he has a temper and just has to sit through it. For the long term, however, I might need to talk to Marie Lynn.

Preston is really confusing me. First of all, he hasn't talked this much since I've met him and he's the first one of us to openly challenge Jason. Plus, he did it without flinching. If he's been training at school, then there's a lot of hidden talents he could have that we don't know. Underneath all of that is the haunting fact that he only got an eight in training. I don't know what he could be proving by holding back for a lower score, but it could be a good strategy. No one's ever tried it before, but the people love an underdog among the giants.