Author's Note

I do not own the Hunger Games.

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Radiance Sterling, 17

When he woke in the morning he remembered Phoenix was still gone. There had been two canons overnight, and one of them must have been hers.

They'd dragged her into this and now his baby sister was dead and they'd see her face in the sky that night.

The Game wasn't as much fun anymore.

They each took a mouthful of water from Etheria's canteen, keeping his full and sealed for later. There was a small brook bubbling not so far from their camp, he'd stumbled across it while trying to follow the train tracks, but they shouldn't trust that even with iodine the water would be safe to drink. This arena was poison, and given they knew that, it would be a stupid way to die. Though there could be clean water on the other side of the train track, in the part of the arena wreathed by thick white fog. To find out, they'd have to cross over and leave the train tracks.

They'd be leaving Phoenix's trail.

But there'd be nothing left to find of her anyway, would there? Her body would have already been removed by the Game. And this evening they'd see her face in the sky, watch her die.

His baby sister.

He squared his shoulders as he approached Luminescence, who was taking down the tent. "We should cross the tracks. There might be water over there."

"It might not be drinkable," Luminescence replied.

"You want to take the risk with water from the poison woodland of poisonous things?" Radiance challenged.

"Good point." Luminescence paused to join him in looking across the tracks at the land covered by thick white fog. "We don't know that stuff's safe to enter either."

Radiance shrugged. "Taking our chances."

"Let's vote on it."

Etheria had been trying to gather firewood in an attempt to make herself helpful. Which was nice, but a little burdensome.

"It's fine." Radiance took the heap of firewood from her. "You don't have to do this. We won't be able to carry it with us."

Etheria turned red. "Oh, we won't be… staying here? I thought this was… you know, our camp?"

He shook his head. "Best to keep moving."

She ducked her head. "Sorry. I didn't know. I just assumed…"

"This arena's all poison, we want to know if there's water over there." He pointed. "Besides, we need to find Iridescence."

"Oh! Iridescence, yeah."

"We can't leave her out there alone."

They had each other, but who did Iridescence have? She was out there on her own somewhere.

Radiance glanced about them and then put over the tracks. "You don't… have to stick with us, you know."

Etheria's expression crumpled. "You… don't want to ally with me anymore."

"No no no," he said hurriedly.

She sighed in relief. "Oh."

"It's just… things have changed. Circumstances. If you wanted to try and stick it out here by yourself…"

She shook her head and gave him a smile. "No, I'd rather… stay with you. If you don't mind."

"Of course we don't." He set the stack of wood down. "The more the merrier and the safer. Come on."

Marcellina Arnoult, 16

The prison was cold and uncomfortable to sleep in, and Calpurnia snorted, but at least it felt like the night passed quickly, shooting past them until the orange light of morning broke through the window. Marcellina woke first and stood, watching the digital sun break the horizon.

She'd promised her dad she wouldn't enter The Game. He'd been so worried about her doing so for some reason.

And he'd been right, hadn't he? Because here she was facing her imminent death. She was going to die– She was going to die because she didn't listen to her dad. Because she went along with Calpurnia's plan for revenge. She'd always been so fixed on revenge. Vengeance, against anyone she felt had wronged her. And she was Marcellina's friend, her best friend, so she went along with it, but…

Maybe she was wrong.

Noise shuffled out in the hallway. Marcellina jumped. Carefully, she shuffled across the room and peered through the window. Out there, a green haired figure was checking around. Luminita. Marcellina opened the door with a clang. Luminita whirled around, knife in hand.

"It's just me!" Marcellina said hurriedly.

Luminita groaned and lowered the knife. "Sorry. You made me jump."

"Did you sleep well?"

Luminita shrugged. "Did you?"

"I did, yeah. Once you get past the creepiness, this place isn't so bad."

"Ugh!" came Sorcha's exasperated cry from further down the hall. "There's no running water!"

"Of course there isn't; they can't make it too easy!" Luminita replied.

Marcellina scuffed her boot against the floor. Her heart thumped in her ears. In the room behind her, Calpurnia was still snoring.

"So today we're going to…"

"Yeah," Luminita replied.

The Hunger Games. They had a good sized alliance, maybe one of the biggest in the Game at four people. Were there any bigger alliances left? She'd seen a couple, during the down times between scenes, but they could well have lost people during the bloodbath. And if they did run into a bigger group, they'd just have to turn and run.

Marcellina twisted a lock of her hair around her fingers. "I don't know if I can."

Luminita sighed. "No. Me neither. But… you saw the faces last night."

Tears burned in Marcellina's eyes. "I don't want to end up like that."

"Neither do I." Luminita stared blankly down the hall. "I wouldn't often admit Sorcha's right… but Sorcha could be right. We need to take out a couple of the other players before they can get to us."

"What if I can't do it?"

Luminita took a step towards where Sorcha's voice had come from. "Then we deal with that problem when we get to it."

Marcellina watched her go and turned around back to where Calpurnia was still asleep. How could she sleep through this?

Thirty five of them still in this stupid Game, and here she and her best friend were as two of them.

What did they do as the player pool began to dwindle?

Especially since their allies were sisters.

Vivaldi Perlman, 16

By the time they had managed to climb from the canyon pit, the arena had fallen dark around them. They had chosen a copse of trees to set up camp in. Phoenix draped her blanket over a branch, fixing down the edges with stones to give herself a little tent. Vivaldi attempted to copy her, to much less success. How could a thirteen year old do this and not him?

She had only laughed at his misfortune. "Haven't you ever built a fort before?"

He couldn't make his shelter work properly, so instead he wrapped his blanket around himself and huddled against one of the trees.

He didn't have to stay here. He was under no obligation to ally with Phoenix.

But if he left her, he'd be alone. Thorin had refused him, maybe hadn't even heard him during the chaos of the bloodbath. He didn't know any of the other players in the Game – and they could well try to kill him. Phoenix was crazy, but at least she was company. And she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Does this make us allies?" he asked when she crawled from her little shelter.

Phoenix rolled her shoulders. "What?"

"I mean, if you want that. An alliance, that is. With me."

Why was he so bad at this? She should be the one doing this; he was meant to be the older, stronger one!

"Sure," she replied.

Vivaldi smiled. Who said he needed Thorin? He had another ally, a better one!

"So what now?" he asked. He'd watched the Hunger Games – of course, they were compulsory viewing – but only the highlight reels. His parents had kept him too busy practicing his music to waste time being a fanboy.

"We need to find my siblings."

"Your… siblings? Are they here too?"

She nodded. "We had a whole plan, it's… stupid and doesn't matter any more. But they've played before, and they know how everything works. We need to find them."

Vivaldi frowned. "Do you think they'll mind? About me?"

She laughed. "Right now? I don't think so. And if they do, I'll vouch for you." She held a hand out to him. "I know it's a bit weird, but we've got to use what we've been dealt and stick together. At least for now. Right?"

Stick together. With her, instead of Thorin. Thorin, who had used his own alliance. Vivaldi hadn't seen any of their faces in the sky, so maybe they were out there, somewhere. Was Thorin worried about him? Was he trying to find him?

He took her hand. "Yeah. We stick together."