A/N: Thanks to RealFiction, splendeur and PrincessLyoka for reviewing! As ever, the support is welcomed :)

I guess most of you can predict the victor for this chapter, considering where the last one ended. Still, I hope you like the chapter :)


"Seasons in a ruin and this bitter pill is chased with blood

There's fire in my veins and it's pouring out like a flood."

- Billie-Joe Armstrong, 2009.


The 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Third Quarter Quell) - Day 2, 1.45 pm

Gloss Adlington (27), District 1 Male (victor of the 64th Annual Hunger Games)

Green Day - Christian's Inferno (2009)


"So, here's the plan," Cashmere explains, smiling as we crouch in the undergrowth, watching Finnick's alliance begin their slow journey towards the cornucopia. Well, three of us are crouching, peering out at our enemies. Brutus just stands behind, leaning against a tree trunk.

"We'll wait until they get to the cornucopia," Cashmere continues, giving a determined yet sadistic sneer, as though she enjoys plotting the demise of others. Really, she's just playing up for the cameras. I'm almost certain of it - I know my twin sister better than anyone does. "They won't be able to defend from multiple angles at once," my sister says confidently. "We'll send Gloss in first." she gestures towards me. "He can sow confusion before the rest of us make our approach."

"No," I say strongly. I may be good at making my way towards my enemies unnoticed, but I will only have the sea for cover and if anything goes wrong, it'd be six on one. There's no way that those odds can be perceived as an acceptable risk.

"Well, someone needs to go," Enobaria snaps at us, frustrated. In comparison to the others, I don't get on well with Enobaria, who is argumentative and egotistic at best. I can already see that she doesn't want to be 'demoted' to the role of being a distraction. "We all know that Brutus and I are the strongest fighters. We need to bring up the rear and lead the real attack." She'll say anything to get her out of what she doesn't want to do, and she's fiddling with one of her knives in her hands as she speaks, just in case one of us has forgotten who she is and what damage she can cause.

"As much as I'd like for it to happen, I doubt anyone will be able to sneak up on them," Cashmere admits. "There's only the sand and the sea between us and the cornucopia. Besides going the whole way beneath the waves, which would be very difficult, I doubt there's really another way of using stealth. Maybe for once, an all-out attack would be worth it."

"No," Brutus says firmly. "They would spot us too soon. Until we're at close quarters, Gloss and I are at their mercy." It's true. Neither of us could defend ourselves from Katniss' and Finnick's ranged attacks. This leaves us at a stalemate. Both plans have their merits and flaws.

"Fine," I eventually say after a long pause. "I'll do it. Take the stealth route, I mean. I'll be the distraction." Enobaria looks pleased and Brutus seems indifferent, but Cashmere seems worried, as though she's having second thoughts about suggesting the idea in the first place. Well, it's been said now, so it's going to happen. "We might as well head off now," I say, glancing towards the cornucopia. "Look, they've already arrived at the cornucopia. There's no benefit staying here."

I stand up and walk the last few miles to the edge of the undergrowth, and I'm surprised that the others don't say a word, or even try to follow me. I turn once again to try and face them, but only find Cashmere flinging herself at me. I take her into my arms uneasily, holding her up as she speaks quietly to me.

"You shouldn't go," she says nervously. "It's six on one. It's going to be suicide Gloss, and you know it. We can't afford to take that kind of risk." For a moment, I consider saying that she's right, but I know that risks have to be taken to become a victor. That's how it worked before, and that's how it will work now. Especially now, when one of us needs to make a stand in these Games, to prove to Snow and his cronies in the Capitol that we won't tolerate being used and abused anymore. But after all that Cashmere and I have been through together since our Games, the situation won't improve if we don't take risks. This is simply me trying to get us back home.

"Look," I say, holding my twin sister reassuringly, trying to get her to have more faith in me. "It's not going to be easy, I know that. But if you three are ready to follow up after me, we'll have them caught unaware."

"But what if you're caught?" she asks uncertainly. I know she's scared for me, but I have to be strong. Still, ambushing Finnick Odair, Johanna Mason and Katniss Everdeen isn't something I'd normally do out of choice. But needs must. "I promise, nothing will go wrong." I smile at Cashmere and she smiles back at me beneath her bedraggled hair and grimy face. It's strange to think how much one day in the arena has taken from her. She looks nothing like the cosmetic victor that the Capitol created out of her. Thankfully. At least if I don't make it out, I'll remember the real Cashmere, not some product of the Capitol.

"I'll be fine," I tell her, more seriously now, and for a moment out hands find each others. I give hers a reassuring squeeze before telling her to cover me and to stay close before dashing down the beach and entering the water with a near-flawless dive that gives off almost no sound.

Beneath the waves, the crystal clear water is easy to swim through, mainly because my momentum carries beneath the waves and I glide effortlessly through the hundred yards to reach the island by the cornucopia. I come up for air thirty yards out, and notice that the only tribute in my wedge of the circle is Wiress, the woman from District 3. Perfect. She'll be an easy one to pick off. Glancing back, I beckon the others forward to attack as I duck beneath the waves once more, making land easily.

From there, I'm in to autopilot, repeating a sequence of moves learnt many summers ago in the Training Centre back at home in District 1. I grab her back, pulling Wiress towards me as I stand, then grab around her shoulders so that she is leant against as I force her chin up, exposing her bare neck for the strike. There's a flash of red, and the energy seems to seep out of her as the blood pours from the wound in her neck.

Smirking as I attempt to lower her body into the water with me, I glance upwards just in time to see Katniss ready her arrow.

Then there is only a blinding pain that seems to burn forever. All time loses perspective in the darkness, and I only have one sense; agony. Then, just as suddenly as it came, it is all over.


A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Can we get to 600 with this one? :)

I'd just like to remind everyone who hasn't already seen them of the three follow-up stories to this. There are the rather serious '75 Games: After the Mockingjay' and '75 Games: The Forgotten', along with '75 Games: Meet the Victors!', a rather more fun project that everyone seems to be enjoying so far. I just thought I'd mention them to prove the point that I'm not over with '75' when this story reaches its conclusion in just eight chapters' time.

Happy reading, everyone :)