"Time is ticking . . . What are you going to do now?"

He shook his head and plopped his chin onto his palms. His eyes were wide and staring, simply tracing the same invisible circle on the wall across from where he sat repeatedly every minute. Why did he have to do anything? Everything stopped working at one point or another, didn't it?

"It is ticking, my dear . . . Decide." A soft hand ran through his hair in the opposite the direction the locks were arranged and a head lightly rested over his shoulder. "Ding! Minute 7,986,240 gone by."

Gryffon felt himself flinch at the number as he shrugged the head off his shoulder. "I'm going to fight - "

"No you're not . . . You have to do more than that - you're going to die if you do that, you can't just fight, you have to survive, not just . . . just throw everything away."

"Everything disappears . . . Everything ends . . . Why does it matter if it's sooner rather than later?"

A sharp pang woke Gryffon up with a gasp, and the first sound to escape him was a choked groan. The pain barely subsided, but it lessened to the point he could at least sit up. His head spun and his eyes crossed for a moment, confusing his eyes, but after just focusing on one point, he was conscious enough to notice the little things. Gryffon's mouth was completely dry, and the energy seemed to have seeped out of his muscles, leaving him in a pile made of nothing more but fur and skin.

"Oh thank god . . . " He froze at the voice, and though it took every bit of effort he had to turn his head to the side, Gryffon managed and came face-to-face with his districtpartner. "Here." She shifted aside and crouched beside him, a dark canteen held up to him. He didn't take it right away, instead he stared at the girl whose hands - the same hands that held the canteen - had broke his fingers.

He looked away from her and down to his hand. He wiggled each finger and clenched his hand into a fist, finding the pain that burned his palms was caused by a minor scrape rather than five broken limbs. "Wh-where -" God-fucking-damnit, it hurt to talk! It was like he had swallowed sandpaper and it had gotten lodged in his throat!

"Here, Gryff'," she insisted, practically shoving the canteen into his chest. "And sit still. You're hurt." Gryffon caught the bottle before it fell to the floor and merely watched as Jay moved herself from in front of him to his back again. "Drink the stupid thing, you're parched." Complying, he forced the nozzle to his lips and tilted it back, suddenly thankful for the clean water. Only when he started coughing did he realize he had swallowed too quickly and was far too desperate for it. "Good now?"

"Where did you get this?" he demanded, glaring at the canteen. "Where did you go? How did you get in here?"

"I've been here a while, Gryff', and I stole the packs from the Careers. They ran after me, but I managed to get away from them and fell in here," she explained as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Shush now, okay? I have to improvise this thing . . . "

Her voice seemed to echo behind him, and it was difficult to concentrate on more than one thing at once. It felt, to him, like he was floating and just couldn't understand why she came back or betrayed the Careers for his sake even after she did what she had? Though he had no proof that she had done anything . . . He had felt it all. He knew what she did. She had lied to him and then betrayed him, but hadn't killed him. Why? So she would be able to do this and play stupid and expect him to forgive her again?

"Ahh!" Gryffon cringed, his breath held in a gasp. He felt a rough surface pass over the moist wound, sending more spikes of pain up and down his back.

"What are you - gah! Jay!"

One of her hands moved to his shoulder and held itself there. Was that supposed to be a comforting gesture? Because really it just made him want to pull away from her even more. Her presence was sickening but he was either too tired to fight or too reluctant to let her go. "What did this to you?" Jay asked as she brushed her fingers closer to his rib cage where the cat had teared at too.

"Some . . . smiley cat mutt," Gryffon mumbled. "There was a whole . . . " pack of them? He thought he had seen several but it felt like a distant dream, like he had imagined it. "It was red, with green or blue or . . . purple eyes?" He couldn't remember anymore. Everything might as well have happened a year ago for all it mattered. Gryffon could only recall was the dread, the agony . . . Only a few images and emotions.

"There was water, I think . . . The uh - the arena had flooded, or become glass, or . . . a throne room?" Jay made no comment, nor did her expression give away what she was thinking. That was a first in a long time. "Why are you looking at me like you don't know what I'm saying!? You and they - "

"Gryff', shh. I have no idea what you're getting at . . . I've been in the gardens for the last two days. I lost you in the bloodbath after the Two's went after you."

Two days?
Gardens?

Gryffon blinked away from the girl and let his eyes wander. About twenty feet above his head was a circular opening, probably the place he had fallen from. Around him, to put it simply, was a small little meadow decorated with bright, lime-colored grass, colorfully mutated flowers, small stones with silvery moss on them, and the roofs and walls of the place was made up of darkened and violet rocks and soil. Feet away from where the 11 kids sat was a pebble-littered riverbank with neon yellow and pink cat-tails sticking up out of the blood-red water.

"There's a whole tunnel system down here from what I saw, but I just came straight down with no detours," she explained. "There had been a little boat barely fitting three people waiting on the shore in the forest. The current brought me here . . . I had been following the Careers before coming."

Her tone was quiet and jittery - nervous. Jay was still scared but she had fended for herself for . . .

"You said 'two days'?" Gryffon asked, shrugging her description away. "It's only been one, what do you - "

She shut him up with a shake of her head and let herself sink to the ground rather than rocking on her heels. "District Eight, Six, and Three males, and Twelve girl died in the Bloodbath. District Ten and Five girls went that same day later on. District Three's girl went on day two. Eight's girl went yesterday . . . " Usually by the morning of the fourth day more than half were already knocked out of play. But only eight had gone in total, and they had just begun the fourth. The deaths were probably the most gloriously amusing thing the Gamemakers had ever seen for them to allow such a rarity.

Three days . . . Gryffon echoed, the number of tributes dead not as haunting as the amount of days he had been there. No Fallen had been broadcast . . . At least none that he saw. And he had just entered the . . . the castle? and left. There was no time change. No night, yet. Everything had been but colors and lack thereof. How could . . . He ran a hand over his face and opened his eyes again to Jay. Gryffon narrowed his pupils, curious, suspicious, but he said nothing. He could tell she was questioning him, wondering why he was so distrustful, so edgy, so accusing, but neither of them said anything. Before even the reaping they had been tense with each other, and now, well now nothing was going to be easy.

They needed what the other didn't have to survive, and Gryffon had proved that on the first three days. All he had, maybe, was the luck to stay alive. He had no stealth, no weapon, and was already too afraid of staying around. His promise was breaking, he could feel it getting snapped in half and reversed . . . But he couldn't allow that to happen.

"You're not hurt?" Jay shook her head at his inquiry and motioned to the few bruises here and there on her arms and legs, and rubbed her side, indicating it was probably scraped, but aside from dirty, even her bunny attire seemed perfectly fine. Her lack in injuries made it obvious that she hadn't fought the Careers when she stalked them, which at least made him more confident in her stealth skills.

"I didn't run into any mutts," she stated obviously, "but even if I had . . . The items wouldn't have been too useful, anyway." Jay nudged her stolen packs toward Gryffon and aside the canteen he still held, the bags, in total, held a metal clothes hanger, a pocket watch, an empty plastic bag, two pens, a baggie with edible plants he assumed Jay had picked after she reached the underground tunnels, what looked like a tracker or monitor of some kind, something that reminded Gryffon of sunglasses, and a thin roll of paper towels.

"There aren't any - "

"The Careers' deadliest weapon was literally a toilet plunger, Gryff'," she pointed out as she pushed herself up and took the canteen in both hands before tilting it toward Gryffon. "Open it for me, lion-boy?" Jay asked with a small smile. He nodded, barely noticing her second stupid little nickname for him, and uncapped the thing. "The water's safe here . . . The red thing in it evaporates after a couple hours, but drink it right of the river and you'll burn off your tongue. don't know why the red tint is there, though, of course, but I guess it doesn't matter." She got back up and started toward the river before she called over her shoulder again: "You should really eat something . . . Three days without food doesn't seem like a strong point for you, unless you found something in this time?"

She was so goddamned talkative! It was actually getting on Gryffon's nerves. Usually Jay was so quiet in her replies and had even been so in her interview! Why she suddenly felt like socializing and acting like his mother was way beyond him. "Can't you hold that thing right?" he asked, ignoring her half-command as he watched her clumsily collect water in the canteen.

"They're like cuffs," she answered after Jay had her ally cap it back up. "They're closed on my wrists and fingers, so I can't move them much." She seemed to scan his figure as he passed a hand over the sturdy rings under the fur of the mitten. "It's like your collar but with metal: tightens a bit more at every movement."

"How do you know - " Jay brushed her gloved fingertips along the top of the white collar, causing Gryffon to flinch at the strong burning feeling. Oh, just great . . . The material was cutting into him. How fun.

"Sapphire had gotten this key for it . . . She took her gloves off, so I'm assuming some packs have it and others don't. I don't remember seeing her getting it from anyone or anywhere else, she just pulled it out of her bag." Anxiously, Gryffon nodded and shouldered the bigger of the two packs then got to his feet. He offered his hand to Jay and she took it gratefully after pulling her own bag over her shoulders. Gryffon found himself gritting his teeth at her touch, hating how she held his hand the same way she had gripped it steady to break.

But she didn't seem to remember what she had done, so maybe he had dreamt it.

"How long have I been out?

"A day." Gryffon nodded, biting his lip. So they should move. It wouldn't be safe to stay in the same place for more than a day, even if the place seemed completely vacant. They could never be sure.

"What do the monitor and glasses do?" he asked, nudging her forward to lead them away. Gryffon's feet moved hesitantly, as if they had forgotten how to walk, but he managed to slowly stumble after her up the river where the small boat she had gotten there in was tied to a small stump of a tree with a jump rope.

Jay started into the boat and began to unravel the rope before beckoning him to join her. "The monitor only shows a very temperamental red light and a fainter yellow light. I'm assuming it's a tracker, but for what I don't know." She kicked against the pebbly shore to get the boat bobbing up and down the stream as the current pulled them along. "As for the glasses, they did nothing but darken my vision and make me feel blind."

Gryffon nodded and let himself sink to the bare floor of the wooden boat, letting his head rest against the wall of it. "Okay. We can figure that out later." He raised a brow when Jay's bright eyes instantly flashed toward him at his comment, seemingly surprised and unexpecting. "What?" She shook her head and curled up on the other side of the boat, but with the size of it, their toes were just mere inches away from each other.

"Nothing . . . I'm just worried about you," she mumbled, letting her pack slip off her shoulders. "Your back - you shouldn't lean on it too long." Gryffon rolled his eyes and pulled himself off the wall of the boat whilst adjusting his legs so he could lay his arms and head on top of his knees.

"I'm fine, Jay." His eyes fluttered closed and in what felt like forever but was really just seconds, Gryffon drifted off again.

"7,986,301 minutes and counting, my dear. Make up your mind."