**Hey hey hey! Here we go onto Day numero dos!**

I don't dream really. There are just colors that I see while sleeping. Mostly black, white, gray, and then there's the red. The dark red blood spurting out of the District 10 girl's arm, dripping down the mouth of the District 11 boy, and the heads of the girls from Districts 3 and 5; one crushed, and one sliced open. Heads flying, knives striking, blood pouring.

My eyes jolt open. Xavier is standing above me shaking my shoulder. "Annie? You okay?"

"Hmm?" I mumble stretching my arms. I already know my legs are going to be sore from all the running yesterday.

"You looked like the dead."

"That's something every girl dreams of hearing." I say sarcastically. Xavier rolls his eyes. "What's up?"

"I'd like to sleep now."

"Oh right. Cause that's important." I say scooting out of the sleeping bag. He hands me the sword, but I turn it away. "I don't want that."

"But you're gonna need to defend yourself, especially if you're protecting the both of us."

"You could probably do a better job of that sleepwalking. I'll stick to my knife. You keep that."

He shrugs, but eyes me carefully. "Okay." Then he crawls in, and is literally, out asleep as soon as his head hits the ground.

What to do now? Should I climb a tree like he did, or should I just sit around and watch him sleep? The latter sounds more appealing, but slightly creepy. I walk about ten steps away and find the big tree I watched him climb earlier. It doesn't look so hard. I reach up and take the first branch. Hauling myself up to the second branch is harder. The third branch makes my arms hurt. The fourth branch breaks under me and I fall the ten feet I'd just climbed.

My eyes shut on impact. I groan. Nothing broken for sure, but I'm pretty sure I landed on a rock. I stare up at the trees. I know I should be guarding Xavier. But the trees look so pretty from down here. Small icicles hang on the higher branches; the leaves are green, gold, and even some red. No not red. Red is the color of blood. It's maroon, yeah see? It's got bits of purple in it. Red doesn't have any purple in it. Neither does blood.

I begin to get up, but then something catches my eye. A knob at the base of the tree, just before it disappears underground. Only, it's not a natural looking knob, this… this looks like an actual door knob. I dust off the bit of dirt and frost that was covering it to get a better look. Gripping the handle, I turn it. Definitely a door knob.

As soon as I turn it, there's a click and deep thunk from under me, and the ground falls away. I don't scream, because I don't have time to. I land almost instantly on a dirt floor. A warm dirt floor. I can see the sky beyond the leaves above me, and the tree standing tall. I also see a tunnel. I've landed smack dab in the middle of an underground dirt tunnel that was opened by a door knob on a tree. Does it get any weirder than that? The tunnel is about six feet high with a small ladder just under the tree door knob. The tunnel is dark and goes in three different directions; left, straight, and right.

The only problem with the games, is that once you think you find a safe spot, they instantly make it unsafe in the most entertaining way possible for the viewers. I'll talk to Xavier when he wakes up. Unless it's better not to tell him… if I need to make a quick getaway.

See, this is the sucky part about having an alliance in this situation, you trust them with your life until the numbers dwindle out then you fear them most of all.

I should get back to guarding him. Give it some time to think over, and then tell him if it's in a dire time.

"Annie?" A small voice calls my name from the tunnels. "Is that you?" I know that voice.

A messy head of dark hair pulled into a ponytail walks out of the tunnel on my left with what looks like some kind of root on fire; like a torch. "Rae?"

Then I can see her fully. She looks virtually unharmed, except for the blood splatter up her left arm and splashing onto her shirt. Her boots are covered in dirt and mud, and she has small dark circles under her icy blue eyes. I nod down to the blood on her shit and she rolls her eyes. "It's not mine. He came after me, I had no choice." She lifts up a knife from under her belt.

"Who?"

"Max. I didn't want to kill him, but I had to!"

"Shh shh… It's okay, I get it. But, who's Max?"

Rae sighs. "Maxum, District 7?"

"Oh. Did you know him before the arena?"

"I talked to him a little bit. He was my age. Not much of a talker, but he was nice. He seemed so innocent before in training. I honestly didn't think he could hurt anything. But then after the bloodbath was over, I was hiding in a tree beyond the building structures and he found me. I asked him in a split decision if he wanted to pair up, but he had this raging look in his eyes. He didn't talk, he just screamed at me. Then came at me with a knife." She motions towards the knife she has. "I took it from him and well…"

"Yeah." I say. Rae doesn't really look all that phased by killing someone. She looks, if anything, a bit more lively than she was in training. "Have you ever killed someone before?"

She perks up at my question. Her face stonewall, but her eyes are wet. "Yes."

"You don't have to tell me about it."

She sniffs a little and rubs her arm to her nose. "Good. Because I don't want to talk about it." No doubt the Capitol will dig a little deeper into that story if they haven't already. Nothing is private here or anywhere else now.

"What is that?" I point to the burning root in her hand.

"Ignis Root." I give her a confused look. "It literally means Fire Root. Some kind of Capitol enhanced root that can stay lit for hours, but only in the areas that look like crystals. We have a lot of it in the nearby woods back home. It's commonly used for winter nights to keep the fire going."

"That's good to know."

She nods. "I found a large patch of it back by the edge of the forest back that way." She points in the direction she just came from. "But I'm sure there's more around here."

"Do you think the others know about it?"

Rae snorts. "Doubt it. They're too stuck up to stop and think about why a root is shiny."

I nod, that makes sense. In the small fire light her root is providing, Rae looks tired. Like she hasn't slept all night. Considering how far she's come, finding the tunnels, this magic root, and managing to kill a fellow tribute, she probably hasn't.

"How are you doing?" I ask.

Rae stares at me and then laughs. "We're fighting to our death in an arena. How do you think I'm doing?"

I wince. "It was a kind of a stupid question. Sorry. I just thought maybe you'd like a friend rather than a vague alliance here."

Then Rae does something I've never seen. She smiles. "I haven't had a friend in a long time."

A noise on the surface alerts us both. "I've got to go. See you around?" I tell her.

"Yeah. See ya." She's still smiling. Then she turns and runs down a different tunnel as I climb out.

Light is just starting to rise behind the mountain a few miles away. I walk back over to Xavier's sleeping form and take a look around. At first I see nothing, then he's there. Bleached blonde hair matched with crystal blue eyes. He looks untouched. There isn't even any blood on him or his sword which hangs evilly from his belt.

He nods his head away from Xavier, back towards the clearing. I don't want to follow. My blood is freezing and my head is screaming at me to turn around. But I don't. I walk after him, because this is what I have to do.

"I'm glad to see you survived the night." He doesn't face me.

I don't say anything.

"Have you killed anyone yet?"

Don't say anything.

"I've killed three."

I can't see his face but I know he's smiling.

"The first was the messiest for sure. But you know, she just wouldn't sit still. I had to take her arm off in order for her to finally submit to me."

He laughs. I cringe.

"The next was easier. He was just a little boy too. He would have cried, begged, pleaded for me not to kill him had I not done it so quickly. He died like a man. You talked to him in training I think. Or maybe it was your counterpart. Doesn't matter."

I want him dead.

"The third was the most fun though. It was a chase. She had just reached the outer edge of the snowy field when she fell off a small cliff. Twisted her arm in an odd way, but it didn't matter. She kept running. Screaming for help." His voice becomes quick and sharp then. "Athena threw a knife into the back of one of her legs then. I made it very clear to her, whose kill this was, and she backed off." I hear him smile once more. "She didn't plead for her life. But I could see the fear in her eyes. Much like the fear I saw in your eyes during my visit."

I know what visit he's talking about. The guards and our mentors know. President Snow knows. No one else knows.

"You were like a cornered puppy who knew it was in trouble." He turns to me then. "I admire your courage though. How you fought me, tried to get away, and didn't scream for help." His fists clench, but his facial expression doesn't change. "Then we were interrupted, and that certainly took some of the fun out of it."

I'm looking at the ground. Staring at it hard. Anything but looking into his eyes. He moves closer to me. Within arm's reach.

"Don't look so sad Annie. We'll get another chance. I promise." Then he reaches out and strokes my hair. I want to vomit. It can't happen now. Not ever, but especially not now. I don't want Finnick to watch. It would tear him apart. "But that's not why I'm here." His tone quick. "We have an agreement my dear Annie."

I still don't look at him.

"You know it's very rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you." He grabs my face and hauls it up to his so that I'm looking him straight in the eyes. I'm sure I'm in some kind of trance. I don't hear anything. His mouth moves but all I hear is the ringing. The sun is getting higher in the sky. "Annie!" He shakes my shoulders. I can hear him again. "The plan is, to convince Xavier to come back to the Cornucopia. Before you get there, Athena will walk out. You'll panic. You will run into the abandoned hut city shit hole and we will take it from there."

"How do I know you won't kill me?" My voice stronger than I thought it would be.

He smiles, like a snake. "I promised we would have fun before I kill you, didn't I? And even though you may think lower of me, I keep my promises Annie. You can count on that. Now run along back to him. I'll see you tomorrow." He turns and doesn't look back as he walks confidently into the trees and out of the clearing. Leaving me wide eyed, and panting for breath. My knees feel like they might buckle. But they can't. I need to appear tougher. I need to show sponsors that I'll make it through, or at least make them think I'll make it through. And having a crying, sniveling knees-buckling moment won't invoke much confidence.

So instead, I turn, on shaky legs, and walk back towards Xavier.

I let him sleep in for the time being. He doesn't wake up until the sun is high in the sky. I guess he really needed it. Has he ever been able to sleep in before in his life?

No one else comes to find us while he's asleep. No odd rustling in the bushes. No meetings in the clearings. And I decide for the time being to stay out of the tunnels. I wonder if Rae is making her hideout down there officially. But there could be Capitol mutts down there, and that wouldn't be very good either.

A nearby scream finally jolts Xavier out of his sleep. He looks around with wild eyes, but when he sees there is no present danger, he calms down. I on the other hand am still a bit on edge. "Who was that you think?"

"Don't know. But there's no cannon, so someone's injured." He hunkers back down into the sleeping bag and stretches. "One less problem for us."

"It sounded female."

"Or maybe it was a boy who hasn't gone through transition." He snarks.

I whip my head over to look at him. "Transition? Really?"

He puts his hands up in defense. "You want me to call it a boy whose balls haven't dropped yet on national television?"

"Could have just called it puberty." I grumble.

"Why are you so snippy about this subject?"

"I am not!"

He raises an eyebrow. I relax my shoulders only now realizing they were tense. "You sure about that?"

"It's nothing."

"Come on Annie. We've been sentenced to death. You don't have to keep secrets." He moves closer to me.

I cross my arms. "Maybe I do."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

He huffs. "Will you at least tell me why you're so defensive about it?"

I pause. The only thing that comes to my mind on this subject is Finnick's games. Now Tyler. I don't like it. "It's personal." Xavier's mouth frowns like he knows I'm lying. "In a way." I add.

Finnick went into the games a boy. My childhood friend. And he came out a man. Someone I didn't know, didn't recognize. And now Tyler. He was just a boy when they pulled his name out. Younger than Finnick was. And now when I look at him or talk to him, I don't see the boy whose childhood was just ripped out from under him. I see a young man accepting the hand of cards that life dealt him. And I don't like it.

"What part of killing children is for the greater good?"

My question catches him off guard, because all he does is give me a confused look.

"Seriously though. The rebellion was decades ago, why should today's generation have to pay for our ancestors mistakes?"

"Annie?"

"Even though they put us all in here to kill each other, it's still the Capitol who is forcing us to die. Because if we don't kill each other, then they'll trigger one thing or another and get us to, or just kill us themselves. Why don't they pick 24 random people from the districts and just execute them if they want to get a point across? Yeah I get that the one survivor makes it more appealing, but take that away, and you're right back to where you started." I'm pretty sure if they did have Xavier and I focused on the main screen, they don't right now. They don't want Capitol citizens hearing this, because then they'd start thinking for themselves and what a horror that would be. "I don't understand it. They already control us by how much food and supplies we get to live on. Why are the games necessary? Because the way I see it, the games are just a pointless excuse to kill off children for President Snow's entertainment."

Xavier's hand clamps down over my mouth, his eyes wide. "Annie, you have got to stop talking like this."

I move his hand. "Why? No one but Snow and a few others heard it."

"They could hurt you."

I snort. "Not likely. They have nothing to touch me with in here besides killing me."

"What about your family?"

"Brooke wants to volunteer. Snow will see she's put in at some point I'm sure. My parents have lived good lives." I laugh darkly to myself. "One of them is already dead. They wouldn't miss me if I died here. My mom would miss looking at me because I remind her of my father, but that's it. Brooke would say I wasn't strong enough. Don wouldn't say anything, just comfort my grieving mother. Heck, maybe they'll have another kid." Then my smile disappears. "What if I just saved them the trouble and killed myself?"

That's when the beeping was heard. A parachute from sponsors. What could I possibly have earned us now? Maybe they'll give Xavier a bigger weapon.

He goes up to get it since it got caught in the tree. He's a very good climber. I hear him open it up there. "What is it?" I yell up.

"Some kind of soup I think."

I punch a thumbs up in the air. "Thanks guys for the soup."

Xavier rolls his eyes at me once he comes back down. I didn't even hear him climbing. Maybe he jumped. "Hold still Annie."

"Wha-?" I feel something pinch my neck. "Ow. That hurt." I pout. I know I'm out of sorts, but honestly, I just don't care anymore. There's nothing left for me to do but just lay down and ….. I'm kinda sleepy. Why is that? "Why am I sleepy?" I ask Xavier. But he looks at me like I'm speaking another language. Maybe I didn't say it loud enough. "Wh m I sepy?" My tongue feels funny. My head feels fuzzy and, wow really heavy.

I think I'll lie down. The leaves in the trees are such pretty colors. Why didn't I pay that much attention to them before? Silly me. Maybe if I reach up real hard I can grab them.

My arms don't move. That's odd. They were working just a second ago.

My legs feel extra heavy.

Wow head rush.

The leaves are gone! Everything is dark! Huh, dark. It's a funny concept. Basically it's nothing, you can't see anything, so maybe it really isn't there. Wasn't it just light out. I haven't eaten yet. Maybe I'll sleep…..

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