Day 2:

Messier Chitra, 15
District 7 Male

I'm standing back in District 7. For a moment, the house in front of me looks super unfamiliar until I realize it belongs to Ashleigh- I mean Mom. My mom. I guess. Really I should care but I don't. She doesn't feel like family and her house doesn't feel like home.

"Messier." Ashleigh suddenly appears behind me and grabs my arm. "Come on, we can't be late."
"Late? Late for what?"
"Don't play smart with me. Let's go."

I pull my arm free and follow her down the street, because what else can I do? I still make a point of dragging my feet to be a little spiteful. Small bits of gravel get kicked up and roll across the ground.

It isn't until the Justice Building comes into view, with a single noose set up right in front of it, that it hits me.

"No…"
"What are you talking about?"

"No!" My voice catches in my throat. "They never said they'd do this to him too! He was supposed to be safe! I was supposed to see him! They can't take him away from me!"

The crowd pushes together and I see them. The Peacekeepers marching Deneb up to the noose. My knees lock together and Ashleigh has to hit the small of my back. "Don't make a scene."
"They can't take him away…"

The noose is placed around Deneb's neck. His eyes desperately scan the crowd before his gaze comes to land on me. He begins to mouth something I don't understand.

The Peacekeeper pulls the lever. The trapdoor is released and-

I snap awake and almost bang my head on the table I was sleeping under. Oh thank God, it was all just a really horrible dream. I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare, but it was really long ago. Most of the time, I don't dream and the ones I do have aren't really worth remembering.

But now I'm up and crawling out from underneath the table. What now? I probably shouldn't even be alive. If the Gamemakers were lucky, I would've been the first to go and no longer anybody's problem. But it doesn't work like that. If that's what they want, I can't give it to them. I'm too stubborn to die.

I've taken refuge in some sort of cafeteria or dining hall; the point is, there's a bunch of tables and a counter where you'd pick up your food from the kitchen. Poking around, I find some cutlery sitting in little bins on the edge of the counter. I grab a plastic spoon and start digging into my jar of peanut butter. While sitting on top of a table instead of using the seats like a normal person. I hope the Gamemakers are getting a laugh out of this one.

This isn't a bad hideout, especially if I can get the whole thing to myself, but I know I can't stay here forever. It's a very small arena. Either I move to avoid becoming a sitting duck for a trap, or I move because I have no doubt the Careers are gonna come up here at some point and they will find me. There's only one entrance to the hall. Of course, if I can get a window open then that's always an option, but I have no idea what's outside.

It could quite literally be the damn metaphor my dad used to say a lot: out of the frying pan and into the fire. I honestly thought that was stupid. But he would've been right. Get out of here and away from the tributes inside, but who knows what awaits me beyond the walls?

And if I do leave here, where should I go? There's gonna be tributes hiding everywhere and if I go back down to the Cornucopia, I'm probably gonna run into the Careers. It doesn't matter who wants me alive or dead, they won't hesitate. Most of the others won't either; the boys from 11 and 12 are pretty scary and I don't like my odds against some of the other alliances.

I think if it came down to it, Hunter would kill me too.

The peanut butter sticks to the rough of my mouth. I throw the spoon out and screw the lid back onto the jar. I should be limiting my food anyways, and I don't even have that much. But I wonder if the kitchen might have anything hidden in it. If I'm gonna be stuck here for a bit, raiding the place wouldn't hurt.

Seems like the best course of action, when everything else just feels like a dead end.

Reggie Baxter, 18
District 12 Male

Garnet rests his leg on top of my thigh and I start changing the bandages. Peeling the old ones off, I'm introduced to the lovely sight of blood and pus and I cringe at the mess. Garnet catches it. "How am I doing, doc?"
"You'll live."

Behind me, Kerkylas lets out a loud scoff.
"I mean it," I insist. "He'll be fine. It's not a fatal wound. But we can't let it get infected or things are going to get worse."

I start wrapping new bandages on. "Too tight," Garnet says suddenly. I'm not going to apologize for that. We don't have a lot of bandages left so I need to conserve them. Goodness knows who will be the next of us to get banged up and it's going to happen at some point.

I want to try moving to another location, since staying in one spot is just gonna make us sitting ducks. Garnet can walk, but he can't run. If we get chased, he's going to be left behind. I realize it's inevitable, that I'll need to throw my allies away to ensure my own safety at some point, but it would just be so dumb to destroy this alliance this early. Nobody can say I'm in love with Kerkylas and I have a suspicion that the feeling's mutual, but…

I need him. I need him alive. He's proven that he's willing to kill.

"There." The wound's been bandaged up. "That should hold for the rest of the day."
Garnet stretches his leg out a few times. "Cool. Do you do this often?"
"More or less. But I've seen worse." I hold back a bitter laugh. "I take it you're not really in a position to try and move anywhere."

"Not that fast. I'm just worried that we'll have to go back near the Cornucopia to leave and they'll see us there."
Kerkylas shrugs. "So? I can take them on."
"All six at once?" I ask dryly and Kerkylas falls into silence. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Well…that's better than what you were doing! Freaking out over a shoddy little medkit."
"Yeah, and that shoddy little medkit is gonna save Garnet's life."
"But you just said it wasn't fatal-"

"Alright, that's enough of that," Garnet sighs. "Let's please stop the squabbling? The fact that you both have different interests and talents doesn't mean you need to spend all your time arguing."
"Yes it does," I mutter under my breath and Kerkylas huffs.

"If that's the case, I'm gonna go take a bathroom break. Can you guys go five minutes without trying to kill each other?"
I don't really have a witty response to that, which Garnet catches. "Alright. I'll try to hurry back."

I slump up against the wall. Kerkylas begins pacing, like he's been doing for the past hour or so. Seems to think he's on guard or something. We both stay quiet, the only sound being Kerkylas's footsteps.

"How did it feel?" I finally ask.
"How did what feel?"
"When you killed someone."

Kerkylas blinks and stops pacing. "That's a dumb question."
"Just answer me."

"Why? Because you're too scared to know what it was like? It was so fucking easy, man! Like boom! Guy's dead. I can't believe people get scared at this all the time. The second you overpower him, that's all over and…"

Kerkylas sinks down the wall and sits next to me. "I didn't think it would take so long," he suddenly whispers.
"What took so long?"
"I thought strangling him would be easy. You can only go a minute without breathing, right? It wasn't taking a minute. He was still alive and gasping for air. It sounded horrible. Stabbing him was easier. Felt like it would be quicker. Felt less dirty."

"Less dirty," I echo, trying to keep my voice quiet too. "You didn't feel right?"
"It was fine. I was fine until I realized it's actually really hard to kill another person." Kerkylas folds his arms. "I saw his face in my sleep last night. It's not supposed to be like that. Guys aren't supposed to be like that."

Guys aren't supposed to kill people either, I think to myself. I stare down at my hands. A few days in, and the arena is already taking its toll. A bathroom or somewhere to wash up would be a godsend right now. Kerkylas was right; I still feel dirty and I don't know how to clean myself or my soul.

Now that I know I might have to kill someone again, on purpose this time, I'm never gonna be clean again. Kerkylas and I are so much more alike than I initially realized and it scares me for the future of both of us.

Cora Buchanan, 15
District 11 Female

Every little noise that isn't made by me, every little shadow on the wall, everything and anything out of place, it's all a lame excuse to practically jump a few feet in the air. Nothing fuels me but paranoia and God, is it great as a motivator to just run the hell out of here.

Except there's nowhere left for me to go.

Fuck. I want my family. I want my boyfriend. I want my baby. I want to go home. To hug my siblings and promise them I'm never going anywhere ever again. To fuss over Zebe. To crawl into bed at night with Jonquil. To shower everyone with hugs, kisses, and love.

Except there's no love to be found in a place like this. Just fear and death and it's only the second day. I don't know how much more of it I'll be able to take before I end up as insane as the Careers that I know for a fact are likely tracking me down. They've got to be fucked in the head somehow. Normal people don't just agree to this.

I rearrange my supplies for the twelfth time today. Keeping my hands busy is a bit of a distraction, but there's only so much I can do with what little I have. A little bit of food, some dry clothing, a dagger, that's it. I did manage to snag a canteen, but that's empty. And that's gonna be a problem.

I just slump back and stare at the gray ceiling over my head, trying to ignore the itchy dryness in my throat. I can't go back to the Cornucopia and I haven't found a bathroom or a place with running water that'll let me fill up my canteen. Where am I supposed to get it? What do I do now?

That's when I hear the bells.

"Oh shit," I say, suddenly mentally chiding myself for swearing in front of…well…my siblings aren't exactly here to get corrupted by my foul language and there are worse things to worry about. Old habits die hard. Still, I know what the sound of bells means and I can't help but feel a little excited. I sincerely hope to whoever might be out there watching over me that it's water.

The parachute drifts through the hallway and I catch it right as it floats over my head. My district emblem is on it. My heart begins to pound. I open up the gift and find a canteen of water inside. There's a small note inside the packaging.

You're doing good so far. Stay safe. Paprika.

"Oh my God." I screw the lid off and bring the canteen to my lips. This could be ambrosia from the heavens right now and I wouldn't have noticed a damn thing. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I needed this so badly, you have no idea."

I don't drink the whole thing because that would be dumb. I just take enough sips that it doesn't feel like dehydration is coming for me in the next few days. Strangely, it feels like it's renewed my strength a little. Food, water, weapons. All of them have been taken care of in their own way to an extent. I just have to be very careful with my rationing and I could last a long while. Maybe it's a good thing I have no allies, so the supplies could carry me further. I carefully pack my supplies, then repack just to be safe. Can't lose the precious water I only just managed to get.

The windows in the hallway show the sky getting dark, another day having come to a close. I feel a small sense of relief knowing I did manage to make it to another sunset. One day at a time. It's all I can do right. That's how I lived my life in 11 and that's how I'm gonna do it here. Take every day as it comes and make the most of it. If making the most means managing to survive, I will take it.

I curl up in a shadowy nook to get some sleep. It's not the most ideal place, but it hides me from view a little even if it is still completely exposed to the rest of the hallway. It worked last night so maybe it'll work again.

There are no faces to be shown in the sky, which I figured. I haven't heard any cannons today. Maybe the Careers haven't started hunting yet, or dumb luck befell me and they didn't check here. Hopefully the lucky streak keeps itself up.

Sleep doesn't come easy, but I manage.

Posting literally minutes before midnight on the 30th counts as a September update, right?

Supplies and kill counts are still on the blog and sponsoring is still open. Remember, you can either send two gifts to two separate tributes, or one large/game-changing gift to one tribute.

See you all next chapter,

-Vr