Trigger warning: The third POV contains mentions of sexual assault and abuse. Please proceed with caution.

Night 7:

Walker Jeong, 13
District 6 Male

Linh curls up in a ball and tucks her legs towards her chest. I just watch her as I rummage under the benches of the escape pod. There's a bag with something inside. I open it up and relax when I see a bottle of water and a loaf of bread at the very top. We have some food, some water, and some more supplies. I sigh in relief.

"Linh?" I ask. "Do you wanna eat anything?"
"I'm not hungry."
"Linh…"

She turns away and tears begin streaming down her cheeks. I feel my heart sink in my chest. I wish Vick was here to help provide some sense of normalcy in this otherwise scary arena. But they're not here. They're gone. Forever.

I rip off a chunk of the bread and munch on it, lost in my thoughts. The sky outside grows darker and darker as our escape pod sails through it.

Suddenly, a little disk pops out from under one of the benches. It shoots out a hologram of the seal of Panem and I can hear the anthem playing through hidden loudspeakers in the ceiling. Linh finally looks up. We both watch the seal disappear and the first stoic face is that of Prism from 1. That surprises me. Another Career dead?

I hold my breath and hope, I hope as hard as I possibly can, but the next face to appear in the air is Vick's. Damn it. There's a knot in my stomach and I realize that Vick is truly never coming back. The way their face ripples slightly and then morphs into Loire's from 5 seals the deal. I don't look at Linh. I don't want to see how she's taking it, if she's even dealing with it well.

The last face to appear is that of the District 8 male, Garnet. Then the Anthem is over and the hologram shuts down. The escape pod is quiet again. The bread sticks to the roof of my mouth in a soggy little clump and I no longer feel hungry.

I get up and offer the bread to Linh. "Hey, come on. You haven't eaten anything today."
"I said I'm not hungry."
"Just eat a little bit, alright?" my voice wobbles and I try to keep it steady; a good leader never lets his emotions get the best of him. "You know what 'hangry' is, right? I promise you'll feel better once-"

"Leave me alone!" Linh suddenly yells and I almost drop the loaf of bread in shock. I've never heard her yell before. She's always been the quietest out of the three of us, ever since we lost Tati and Cameron. Not that she's completely silent, but she's always content to attentively listen to conversations.

I quickly back away. Linh glares daggers at me; if looks could kill, I'd be dead. "You don't get to act like you're totally innocent in all of this, okay? Did you even try to help Vick at all?"

"I would've, if that stupid Career guy hadn't gotten in the way!"
"That's an excuse. A stupid excuse."
"It's not an excuse! It's not like I wanted them to die!"

"But they did!" Linh shouts.
"And what would you like me to do about it, Linh? Fine, I'm sorry about Vick. I didn't want to lose them either. But you taking everything out on me is bullshit! So what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know!" Linh sobs, tucking her knees up to her chest and bursting into tears. The anger in my chest begins to fade as I just watch her. Fuck, why she'd have to yell at me? I feel upset and angry, because it wasn't my fault. I didn't want to lose Vick. If I could turn back time, I would've done everything I could to save them and get the whole alliance off the ship in one piece.

But I also feel angry with myself.

I'm a terrible leader.

I couldn't keep my alliance safe.

I sink down into a sitting position and lean against the wall, listening to Linh's muffled cries as she covers her face with her hands. I want to cry too. I don't know why I can't. Maybe I'm just too exhausted to do anything but sit here.

Eventually, I drift off into a very uncomfortable sleep. My nightmares are filled with visions of my allies vomiting blood into my mouth.

Hunter Appalachie, 17
District 10 Male

"Fuck," I mutter to myself in a low voice, trying to hide how dire the situation really is. I've practically used up all our bandages trying to patch up Ascella's side, but blood just keeps leaking through. I rip off the bandages in frustration and grab the remains of the roll. Time to try again.

Ascella lies there weakly with eir head in my lap. "Hunter…"
"Don't speak. You're gonna waste your energy. I can fix this."

"Anything I can do?" Mila asks shyly. "Is there any way I can help, like maybe-"
"No!" I snap. Ascella flinches hard and I lower my voice again. "I just…I need to focus. I know what I'm doing, I swear."

"I believe you," Mila says, although her tone indicates otherwise.

Outside, stars begin to twinkle in the night sky. Maybe I would be staring at them through the glass ceiling if I wasn't so occupied right now by my ally bleeding out. I want to scream in frustration. Why? Why can't something go my way right now?

"Take off your jacket," I tell Mila as I tug at my sleeve. I almost rip the fabric apart. "We need more bandages."

"No."

Mila and I both glance at Ascella, whose eyes have begun to droop. Ey shake eir head. "Don't do that for me."
"What do you mean don't do that for you? I'm trying to save your life! Is that not what you want?"

Ascella weakly shrugs. "I want to see my family again, Hunter."
"I know," I mumble.
"Can you tell them that I love them?"

I open my mouth to speak, but my voice catches in my throat. Ascella just continues. "Can you do that for me? Tell my mom and my little brother I'm sorry that I didn't come home. I wanted to and I tried, but I guess it wasn't in the cards. I hope they won't be too upset."

My face suddenly feels wet and I realize that I have tears streaming down my cheeks. I wipe at my face with my sleeve and cradle Ascella close. This wasn't supposed to happen. I didn't want allies, and I didn't mean to get close to Ascella at all. I was right. This did bite me in the ass, but not the way I expected. It hurts even worse.

"They won't," I promise, hollow and empty words. "They'll be so proud of you, kiddo. You did your best."
"Tell them that I love them."
"I will."

"Good," Ascella coughs, shakily pointing a single finger upwards at the sky overhead. "The stars look very different today, Hunter."

"Yes," I sob. "They do."

Ascella smiles one last time, and then eir chest falls. Eir eyes go unfocused, staring up but not truly looking at anything. I hear a sniff and glance over to see Mila covering her face in an attempt to muffle her cries. Somewhere, the cannon fires. I pretend not to notice it.

Suddenly, the floor begins to move. It slides to the side to reveal a silver quiver of arrows sitting underneath me. The space they're in looks big enough to hold a body and I understand what the Gamemakers are trying to tell me.

I pull the quiver out and pass it to Mila, before slowly lowering Ascella's body into the chamber. The floor seals back in place and the escape pod shakes a little before I hear the sound of faint rockets as Ascella is carried off into the stars.

"Ey seemed really nice," Mila pipes up, breaking the silence.
"Ey were." Saying that out loud makes me feel empty. Alone. Forever separated from my parents, far away from the rest of my family, and torn apart from the only ally I had in this cruel arena. All that's left is Mila, and I don't know if I trust her as much as I trusted Ascella.

"I think you should get some sleep." Mila stretches. "It's been a very hard day on us all."
"But I don't know if I can." I have a sinking feeling my nightmares will feature me drowning in Ascella's blood tonight.
Mila just nods. "Yeah, me too. I lost my ally as well."

I lie down with my head on one of the bags and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for exhaustion to take me over and briefly pull me away from the torment of reality for a few hours. God, it's going to be an absolutely painful night.

Arietis Rammestien, 18
District 2 Male

Seeing all the faces in the sky is oddly sobering. I can't say that I ever was Prism's biggest fan in the world, but even they seemed untouchable to an extent. Now I'm curious. What's happening to the remains of the Career pack? Who managed to take them out and how?

I find myself pacing the length of the escape pod as Vivian watches me curiously from one of the corners. "You're gonna tire yourself out, you know."
"That's the plan. Now that we don't need to watch our backs, I'm gonna get a good night's sleep tonight." I turn another step. Time for one more lap. "You should try it sometime."

Vivian begins running fingers through her hair. "Maybe. But I have my own method."
"What's that?"

"It's simple. I just close my eyes and pretend that all my problems don't exist."

I can't help but smirk. "Oh yeah? You? Problems? What kind of problems does a pretty girl like you have?"
"Well, what kind of problems does a big old brute like you have?"

"Fair enough," I mutter. "But I've got issues of my own, even if it may seem that someone as strong and handsome as me has my entire life put together."
"Me too," Vivian mutters. "The crap that people say about you when they think you can't hear them."

"Having two pieces of shit for parents…"
"Growing up in the slums…"
"Running away from home as a kid…"
"Not knowing if my family would be eating dinner because we couldn't afford the food…"
"That fucking belt…"
"Having to get a job to help my parents just so I could afford training gear…"

"Getting my dick touched by a trainer I thought I could trust-" I start to grumble, then suddenly stop when I notice Vivian staring at me in horror. My face burns.

"Arietis?"
"Forget it. Forget I said anything. What were we talking about again?"

"We were comparing traumas…which probably isn't the greatest conversation starter." Vivian rubs her arms. "Arietis, I'm…I'm sorry. That's sexual assault!"
"I know what it is! You think I'm stupid or something?"

"No, no, no, I don't think that at all. I just…"
"Well, whatever. It happened a few months ago, the trainer got fired, and I'm completely over it." That's a lie. I sit down and Vivian sits next to me. This is stupid. I shouldn't be upset at all. I'm a stone cold Career who has killed and will willingly do it again, I'm not supposed to get mad over a-

"Can we talk about something else?"
Vivian ponders. "I, uh, can tell you about my boyfriend if you want."
That just makes me think of Carlos. I shake my head. "Something else else."

"God, you're a really tough crowd to please." Vivian sighs. "But alright. At home, I have a stuffed lion on my bed named Kimberly. My dad bought her before I was born, and she's been with me through everything. It's kinda lame to say this out loud, but she's my closest friend."

"That's not lame." I shouldn't judge. I don't have any real friends. "Me accidentally revealing I got sexually assaulted is lame."
"Arietis, I thought you didn't want to talk about this."
"I don't."
"Then why do you keep bringing it up if it upsets you?"

"I am not! Fuck!"
"Arietis…"

I sigh and roll my eyes. Today's just been so exhausting and stressful and…it's fucking too much. I need a break. And maybe to admit to myself that I'm not always as strong as I'd like to be all the damn time.

"I think…I just needed to get that off my chest."
"You know I'm not going to judge you for it, right?" Vivian asks quietly. "A girl who had to pole dance just to make ends meet isn't going to judge you for something that wasn't your fault."

"Thanks," I mutter, suddenly feeling less stupid. God, what a night. Maybe it's time I get some sleep. Who knows what tomorrow might bring.

Vivian seems to pick up on what I'm thinking. "Tired now? It's been a long day for the both of us."
"Very much so."
"Well then. Goodnight, Arietis."
"Night, Vivian."

Even then, my sleep is still plagued with horrific nightmares.

11th place: Ascella Fuhari, District 8. Knife flung into side by Vivian and bled out.

Part of what took this chapter so long is because I kept putting off writing Ascella's death. I think so far, that was the death that hurt the most because someone as upbeat and optimistic as Ascella did not deserve to meet such a painful and angonizing end. I loved writing eir alliance with Hunter, a little ray of vegan sunshine next to a grumpy carnivore and the two of them growing to realize that they cared an awful lot more each other than they were willing to admit. RIP little Sagittarius.

With only ten tributes left, sponsor gifts will now be dropping down to one gift per chapter for each reader. The blog has been updated so you can see what each alliance has and what they might need.

See you all next chapter,

-Vr