Mazie Rye, 16

District 9 Female

Mazie woke up the sound of birds overhead and waves lapping at the shore. She and Martin decided to camp on the beach last night, beneath a large tree whose roots stood out above the ground. Martin snored throughout the night, which was a little annoying, but she was so tired from the day before that she managed to sleep.

Sitting up and stretching, Mazie let her tense muscles loosen and then combed a hand through her long brown hair to get the tangles and sand out of it. Once it was as clean as it was going to get, she rebraided it.

"Mazie?" Martin mumbled, sitting up slowly.

"Good morning," she said, getting up to stretch her sore back.

"Did we not post a guard?" She froze mid-stretch, suddenly realizing.

"Oops," she mumbled. Martin laughed.

"I'm glad it worked out."

Martin climbed out from the tangle of roots and put his hands on his hips, surveying the ocean.

"We should go swimming," he declared.

"What?" Mazie asked, surprised.

"We should go swimming," Martin said again, gesturing to the water. "I've never swam in the ocean before."

"I've never swam before," Mazie cried.

"I'll show you how," Martin said. "It's easy!"

Before she could protest, Martin grabbed her hand and dragged her to the water. It was warmer than Mazie was expecting and the waves were small and gentle. She didn't feel like she was going to drown.

When they were up to their waists, Martin let go of her and dropped down into a crouch, letting the water lap at his chin.

"It's nice!" he said. Mazie smiled, then shrieked as Martin splashed her.

"Hey!" she cried, splashing him back.

They played in the water for a few minutes before Martin swam out a little further.

"Look at this," he said, diving under. Mazie waited, tense, until he resurfaced with a pretty white seashell, which he handed to her.

"Hold this," he said. "I want to find more." And he dove under again.

Mazie held his growing collection of shells as Martin repeatedly dove beneath the waves. He was getting further and further out, so far that Mazie had to shout to speak to him.

Suddenly, Martin screamed. Mazie dropped the shells and hurried forward, but paused when she saw what was surrounding him. Through the clear water, she could see what looked like small billowing sheets with tendrils floating off of them. The tendrils were wrapping around Martin's leg as he screamed and thrashed.

"Swim towards me!" Mazie shouted, but Martin couldn't hear her over his own screams. And to her horror, a few of the creatures were slowly drifting towards her. Turning, Mazie fled back towards the shore, moving as quickly she could in the water. She scrambled onto the sand moments before the creatures reached her, and she stared as they went back into the waves.

A heartbeat later, Mazie realized Martin was no longer screaming. Instead, he was floating in the water on his back, his eyes closed. His body was wrapped in white tendrils, and the skin she could see was covered in red welts. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but then a cannon fired. Mazie let out a small scream before covering her mouth.

She choked back tears as a large claw dropped from the hovercraft that had just materialized in the sky. It scooped up Martin and rose back up, vanishing soon after. Mazie dropped to her knees and cried.

Oberon Murdoch, 17

District 9 Male

The forest was overwhelmingly hot. It was all Oberon could do to keep walking, keep trying to track down some form of supply in the smothering Arena. The crackers he had were nice, along with the jerky he kept in his small pack, but both of them lacked one thing: water. The crackers were so salty they left his mouth tasting bad from how thirsty he was, and the jerky wasn't really any better. He had to find water and he knew it, but he didn't know where to start.

With no better options than randomness, Oberon was walking whichever way his feet led him, panting slightly while he sweated out the water he had. He caught himself resting on trees every now and then, always wondering if they were dangerous a second too late. So far none of them had sprung into action and bitten him, so he was gaining confidence that the Capitol hadn't chosen plant mutts for this Arena. Or they were lulling him into a false sense of security and the next tree he leaned on would be massively dangerous and kill him instantly.

It wasn't any of Oberon's instincts that led him to his sudden turn in his walk. It wasn't that he knew where to find the best supplies in the jungle or that he had seen something on the ground that piqued his interest. He just heard something unusual and felt the very human need to follow it, to see what the unknown was. It could have led him directly to a mutt. It could have led him to the Careers or another tribute who had learned calls to lure in tributes. But it just sounded like a bird, so he was following it wherever it led.

After working himself into a bit of a panic over what the sound actually was, convincing himself for a second that it was a tribute then reassuring himself it most definitely wasn't, Oberon saw what he was looking for: a bird. It was not the most beautiful of birds. It was largely black with some browns, unlike the golden and red birds the Capitol had flaunted in some of its imagery. But Oberon loved it. It had a friend and Oberon longed for the same. It was sitting high up in a tree while Oberon watched it, calling to its mate when it wasn't eating a fruit.

It's eating from the tree, Oberon realized with a flash. The bird was eating something. Humans couldn't eat everything birds could and he knew it, but there was at least a chance. At the very least he knew it was something he could fit into his mouth; the birds were much smaller than he was. They were also very, very high up. He kept glancing at them, trying to figure out if he could reach the red and green fruit, and decided that he couldn't. He wasn't much of a climber and he didn't even trust the branches of the tree to support him. He was a thrower, though, so he stared at the fruit and picked up a rock.

Soleil Kingston, 17

District 11 Female

Soleil trailed quietly behind Porsche and Omar as they ventured through the jungle. The air was stifling and she kept having to pause and wipe the sweat off her forehead. Her allies seemed to be in high spirits, and it made Soleil feel bad. Why couldn't she be as positive as they were?

She missed home. She missed Axel, and Zaina, and all her siblings. She even missed her mother, as strained as their relationship was. She'd do anything to be back with them, in Axel's arms or on Nellie's back, riding in the arena.

Omar's shriek of surprise startled her from her thoughts. She nearly bumped into Porsche, who had stopped suddenly.

Omar's foot had sunk down into the sand up to about his knee, and it was still slipping deeper. He thrashed around, grabbing at a nearby tree, but it was just out of reach.

"Quicksand!" Porsche gasped. "Here, grab this!" She extended her cane for Omar to grab onto, which he did, but his weight nearly pulled Porsche into the quicksand too. She looked back at Soleil, her eyes wide and her face pinkening with the effort of holding Omar.

"Help me," Porsche groaned.

Soleil's dark eyes flicked to Omar, who was desperately trying to haul himself further out of the sand. He was up to his waist now. The terror on his face made Soleil's heart beat faster. But she was frozen in place.

Suddenly, Porsche's bad leg gave out and she fell back. The makeshift cane fell from her hands. Omar's scream was cut off by the sand that rushed over his head. Porsche cried out in shock. And Soleil ran.

Her heart was beating wildly as she crashed through the jungle with no regard for where she was going. She just had to get away. Away from Porsche's anguished cries and Omar's terrified face.

A cannon fired as she stumbled over a log, nearly impaling herself on her spear. She lay on the ground for a few moments, face in the dirt, before scrambling up and taking off again.

Soleil ran until her legs gave out beneath her, and then she crawled until her sobs shook her body so badly she couldn't move any further. Then she just curled up into a ball and cried.

She didn't know how long she lay there for, sweaty and exhausted, but eventually the sound of waves crashing and birds singing registered through her haze. She sat up. Her spear was still lying on the ground beside her, but she had nothing else.

Her crazed dash through the forest had left a trail, and she stared down it, half expecting to see Bess and Desiree come charging down it, seeking revenge. But no one came, and she willed herself to relax.

But as the panic faded, the guilt set in. She'd let Omar die. If she had helped Porsche, they could have gotten him out of the quicksand. He'd be alive, and they'd all be back at their camp with fresh food and new stories to tell. Why oh why did Des suggest splitting up to look for food?

Food. That was going to be a concern very soon. Already her stomach was rumbling, and she had nothing to eat. Standing on shaky legs, Soleil looked around. And to her excitement, she actually recognized one of the trees.

Dragon fruits were grown in District 11 in special greenhouses. She'd never eaten one, but she'd seen loads of them being brought to the train station. And this oddly-shaped tree in front of her was covered in pink fruit. She didn't even have to climb to pick them.

Soleil picked as many dragon fruits as she could carry before settling down under the tree and carefully peeling one and eating it. It was very watery, but there was a slight sweetness to it. She ate three before her stomach began to feel full, and her eyelids began to droop.

It was growing dark, and Soleil decided to sleep under the dragon fruit tree. As she laid down to rest, the anthem played, and two faces appeared in the sky. First was Martin, the weird boy from 7. And then there was Omar. She closed her eyes to avoid looking at his face, and fell into a deep, troubled sleep.

Hey everyone! Here is the tributes' second day in the arena! Thanks so much to SilverflowerxRavenpaw for writing Oberon's POV for me. I really appreciate it. And if it looks a little different, that's why. Also, I'm sorry this has taken me so long to update. I'm working on two SYOTs at the moment, and I've been struggling with my mental health, which leads to slow updates. Thanks for being patient with me.

EULOGIES

17th: Martin Jackman (killed by jellyfish mutts)
I'm sorry Martin. I feel like I didn't fully do you justice, but you will be missed. By Mazie, by your family and friends, and by me. It's hard to flesh out characters with early deaths without a Capitol POV, but this was the best way for me to write the story. RIP.

16th: Omar Beatriz-Calvert (drowned in quicksand)
Omar! He was my tribute, so I felt obligated to kill him early. But I really really liked him. I literally wrote in his form that I would be sad to see him go, and I am. If I could, I would have shown him and Soleil bonding over horses some more, but alas, it was not to be. You did contribute to Soleil and Bess's character arcs though. RIP.

ALLIANCES

The Careers:
- Allure
- Dionysys
- Nailah
- Nero
- Anthony

The Motivated Ones:
- Cheyanne
- Gigi

The Cat Lovers:
- Taroh
- Kjole

Muscles:
- Porsche
- Desiree
- Bess

Loners:
- Oberon
- Mazie
- Soleil

Have a nice day, be kind to each other, and never stop reading!

- Fiona