Jason turned another corner, spotting a group of three. They didn't seem to have noticed him. He backed up, silently. He tried to remember who these people were: the creepy boy from 12, Nico or something, and…Hazel. And someone else on the ground.

Crap. Jason wished more than ever that he had Leo with him. His ally didn't exactly come across as invincible, but he had scored higher than anyone from a non-Career district. Jason had allowed himself to start feeling safe around Leo. But they had been separated something like six hours ago. Two cannons had gone off in the last hour. What if Leo was dead?

Like Piper—

Jason cut off that thought. He refused to think about Piper any more. She was dead. She wasn't coming back. He had to give up on the dream that she would turn up in the maze somewhere, laughing and assuring him that things were alright.

Even if her death was his fault—

Shut up! Jason told himself.

He never should have let himself get separated from Leo. They had been walking single file in a corridor when suddenly, the ceiling had begun to collapse.

XXXXX

Different sections of the ceiling, not more than a foot wide, had begun to shoot downwards. With each impact came a mighty thud, and both of the boys were able to tell that getting hit with one could mean getting crushed, or at least being seriously injured. Jason wasn't willing to risk it. He had started to run.

He hadn't even tried to check if Leo was following him—

But he was, so it worked out! Even if Jason was a terrible person.

For a while, the two boys had been running, dodging, but still surviving. The trick seemed to be staying on your feet. The walls came down without much warning, other than a faint cracking noise from the walls that made Jason scared, and that soon became indistinguishable from the sound of falling slabs of rock. But Jason knew that eventually, the section had to end. The two boys kept running.

It seemed just like the others. Jason felt some air moving and knew that if he looked up, he would see the falling stone. He had sprinted forward, trying to get out, but heard a scream from Leo.

Jason had wheeled around, only to see that Leo wasn't there. The sounds, the movement, had all ceased.

"Leo, you there?" He had asked.

"Yeah. But I don't think that this is going anywhere."

"How do we meet back up?"

"I don't—hey, a sponsor gift?"

Leo always was easily distracted. But Jason cut that thought off, because the two cannons meant that Leo might be dead—

"Leo, focus!" The creaking noise from Leo's side had been making Jason feel on edge.

"Sorry! Oh, look! The walls on my side just went up! But the path changed. There's no forks. What do you think it means?"

"If the Gamemakers are changing the path, then they probably want you to go somewhere."

"Yeah." Leo was being uncharacteristically quiet.

Jason had waited for Leo to talk, feeling uncomfortable about voicing his own opinions. Finally, he let his thoughts out. "I don't think you should do it, Leo."

"Aw, Jason! You do care!"

Jason had flushed. A life in District 5 had taught him that caring about what happened to others was a weakness. Thalia had tried to teach him not to show emotion even since their mother had died and he had cried—"It makes you weak, Jase. I know you don't understand it now, but you will eventually. People are assho—I mean, jerks, sometimes. If they can find a reason to hurt you, they will. Don't get rid of your feelings. Just hide them. It makes you stronger."

Thalia had smiled down at him then, something strange in it, something strange in her eye. "I'm not gonna be here forever, Jase."

"Like Mommy? You're gonna leave?"

"No! Not for a while, Jase. I promise. But you need to know how to be on your own. There are some things I can't protect you from."

Thalia would have told him that he was being an idiot for thinking about Piper and Leo.

"Jason?" Something in Leo's voice had changed. "The wall's moving."

"What? It's staying still!"

"On your end, maybe!" Leo's voice had been becoming scared. "But it's…it's herding me, I think. Gotta run."

"Leo, wait! We have to figure out how to meet up!"

"I'm sorry, Jason! It's getting faster!"

Leo's voice was farther and farther away, and Jason couldn't follow. He never could.

So he turned around and walked away.

XXXXX

Jason would have left the group. He should have left the group. But when the giant turtle with the crazy teeth turned the corner going faster than it should have been able to, he screamed.

Hazel and Nico both turned first towards Jason, then back towards the hallway the turtle was hurtling out of. Jason could see their eyes widening. "Come on!" Hazel yelled.

Jason watched the two work together to pick up the boy on the ground. That should have been what he and Leo did for Piper. They were allies! They should have stuck together, but instead, he and Leo had betrayed her—

"Come on," Jason said, surprised at how level his voice was, even after screaming. "Let's go."

"It's too fast," Nico snarled. "A little help, maybe."

Nico and Hazel were on either side of the boy—Will, Jason remembered. It didn't look like Jason could do much for them at the moment. "I think we have to kill that thing," he said, moving towards them.

"Again?" Nico sounded really angry. "We just fought some mutts. And an Octavian."

"Wait—the Career?" Jason asked.

"You sound too interested," Nico accused.

"Nico," Hazel stepped in. They were moving quickly now, but not quickly enough. Will was dragging them down. He was covered in cuts and bruises, but he had a particularly bad one on his stomach. One that looked new. "Yes, we fought Octavian. He's dead." Jason noticed something in her voice, guilt, maybe? Had she killed him? The idea sent chills through Jason. Hanging around with a killer didn't seem like a good idea. Hazel was dangerous.

But hadn't he killed Piper by leaving her—

No. No.

One cannon was good. One cannon was accounted for, leaving less of a chance for Leo to be dead. Still, a small chance was all that was needed. Jason needed to know that someone else was dead, someone not Leo—

"That turtle's catching up," Jason said.

"You're not doing much!" Nico replied.

"We have to kill it."

It was a cold, hard, fact. Jason knew that he had to kill that turtle if he was going to prove his worth as a player in the game. Octavian, a Career, was dead. Things were getting serious.

"Well, how?" Hazel asked. The turtle was gaining on them. It's head was big. Too big. It was big altogether, like it was built to slowly devour the bodies of hapless tributes.

Something suddenly flew over their heads, and Jason felt something smack into him. His vision cleared. The turtled had…jumped.

"I have a sword," Jason said, freaking out. "Nico, you have one too. We have to kill this thing. NOW!"

"Nico, give me your sword, and get Will out of the way. We'll take this thing out," Hazel said. "Ready, Jason."

Not in the least, Jason thought. "Yeah. Do we charge it?"

"Um…"

"I'll keep its attention," Jason declared. "You need to attack it from behind."

"How?"

"I don't know! Figure it out!"

Hazel groaned, but stayed back as Jason, feeling stupider than he ever had, charged the turtle.

His first blow made connection with the shell and bounced off. Jason hadn't expected it to do any damage, but having his speculation confirmed did nothing to his level of hope. What was the point of having Hazel get behind it? They would have to chop off the head…or another unprotected part…

"Go for the legs!" Jason ordered Hazel.

"Got it!" his fighting partner said, but suddenly the turtle was in front of her and not Jason.

It jumped again, Jason realized. Well, now he was behind it. He had to try to take out the legs.

Hazel was doing an okay job holding the thing at bay. Each of her blows met either the shell or the teeth of the turtle (it could fight her sword with its teeth, how screwed up was that?). However, a life in District 10 plus the years she had on Jason gave her more force behind each blow. The turtle couldn't do any gaining on her, and at times, she seemed to be smacking it back slightly.

Jason dropped to the ground and swung his sword in a wide arc parallel to the floor, catching the mutt in the leg. His sword didn't cut very deep, but when he pulled it back, there was blood on the blade. Feeling queasy, Jason went for the other leg, but the turtle skittered to the side and turned back to face him. Jason scrambled back to his feet, holding his sword in a way that he hoped looked menacing. The turtle kicked off of its hind legs.

And didn't reach him.

Jason's sword had done its work. The turtle still had most of its mobility, but its range had been hampered. Buoyed up by his success, Jason went on the offensive again. The turtle had withdrawn its head within its shell as if in anticipation of Jason's move, but Jason went for one of the front legs.

That was his mistake.

The turtle threw itself off the ground again and hit him in the stomach. Jason saw stars, the wind knocked out of him. The turtle was on his chest, keeping him down. It opened its mouth, moving its head towards him. Its teeth were sharp.

And then its head flew off. Hazel stood behind the turtle, sword in hand, and kicked the body off of Jason. Jason shuddered. He was covered in turtle blood. He used part of his shirt to start wiping it off, but it wasn't enough to fully clean him. "Thanks," he told Hazel after his mouth felt clean enough to safely open.

Hazel looked shaky. "No problem."

Jason looked around again, at the form of Will on the ground, at Nico kneeling over him, at the bloodied turtle, the absence of Leo. "Well. What now?"

"You can stay with us," Hazel offered.

"Whoa!" Nico said. "No. We don't offer. Stop, Hazel."

Hazel sighed. "Nico, come on. He saved our lives."

"You saved his!" Nico glared at Jason. "Didn't you have an ally, Five? District Three? What happened to him, huh?"

Blood roared in Jason's ears. Was Nico really implying that he had killed Leo?

"Nico, stop," Hazel demanded. "Jason can stay."

The anthem of the Capitol played, shocking them all into silence. Jason eagerly looked up at the sky.

The first face was Octavian's. That was good. Jason's heart raced. Don'tletitbeLeodon'tletitbeLeo

But the next face was of a familiar boy with curly hair and a crazy smile. Leo. Leo was dead. Just like Piper. Just like Mother. Just like all of them were almost dead already.

Like Jason would be.

Tributes:

D1: Nancy Bobofit
D2: Reyna Ramirez-Arellano
D3: Annabeth Chase
D4: Percy Jackson; Clarisse La Rue
D5: Jason Grace
D7: Grover Underwood
D8: Ethan Nakamura
D9: Will Solace
D10: Frank Zhang; Hazel Levesque
D11: Katie Gardner
D12: Nico di Angelo; Zoe Nightshade

Hey, everyone! I apologize for the slow chapter. I really wanted to get more character interaction in, since a big part of the series is watching everyone work together, and there's not so much of that in this kind of story.

The next chapters will detail what happened to the three remaining characters on the third day. There is another poll on my profile to see who you want to die next. It would be great anyone could do it.