I take in my surroundings the moment my eyes adjust. The first thing I notice is the layer of fallen leaves covering the ground around the cornucopia, all in shades of red, yellow, and brown. The leaves are damp, likely slippery. Lovely. There is a mist hanging in the air, somewhat reducing visibility.

I'm facing the side of the Cornucopia. Beyond the clearing and all around me, there are lots of trees, most of them barren, some of them with leaves clinging onto them. About twenty-five yards away, there is a backpack. Even further out are weapons, weapons that we were instructed to only go for if we were certain we could get in and out safely. I scan the circle of tributes. I'm between Chanel and Cedar. Nero is about five pedestals away, between Wendy and Brooke. Two Careers, one of them with a vendetta against me. Nero doesn't seem to notice or care though. His eyes are on Wendy, who is staring at him shaking like a leaf. She knows what's about to happen.

I can barely see the other tributes on the far side of the cornucopia, and the horn blocks the view of the other side of the circle. I can't see any of my allies.

Thirty seconds… I need a plan and fast.

There's no way I can get to the weapons and get out before Nero or Brooke catch me and take me out. Even if I could, I don't see a sickle or a scythe among them. I look to my left. The mist grows slightly thicker as rain begins to fall, further reducing my visibility. I'll just have to chance it. Grab the bag, find my allies, and get the hell out.

Ten seconds…

I take a deep breath and position my feet to run.

The gong rings and I launch myself off my pedestal and towards the bag. I reach it with ease and swing it over my shoulders and immediately break left. Chanel makes her way to the woods, so I don't crash into her, while many of the others go for the supplies. Behind me, I can hear Wendy screaming and pleading, followed by the sickening sounds of a head slamming into something hard that grow fainter as I get further away. I have to swallow hard as my breakfast threatens to make a reappearance. "Drake!" I cry. "Bran! Jenny!"

As I frantically run and search for them, I see another backpack. I run for it, but Lincoln gets to it first and darts off before I can catch him. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Belladonna tackling who can only be Urban to the ground and stabbing him repeatedly. I immediately double back and run the other direction before she can spot me. Hopefully Nero and Brooke are too preoccupied to notice me dart past the mouth.

Then, someone slams into me from behind. I skid on the leaves and find myself on my hands and knees. I instinctually roll over onto my back, narrowly missing the trident that slams into the ground where my torso once was.

Shit!

I look up and find that Dashiell is standing over me with a grin on his face. I immediately scramble backwards, trying to get to my feet, but deep down, I know it won't be enough. Even if I ran, he could just throw the trident at me.

That's it then…

I guess I should do the only thing I can do, stare Dashiell down defiantly and brace myself for the killing blow.

There is a sickening crack, and the light instantly leaves his eyes. It takes me a moment to notice the arrow sticking out of his temple and right through his skull. My head immediately whips towards the direction the arrow was shot from…

…and I see Bronze lowering a silver bow.

What the hell!? He just shot his own ally?

No time to think about that! I throw myself to my feet as Bronze reaches for another arrow. I snatch up another smaller bag that was nearby and prepare to use it as a shield when Bronze's attention is turned towards Brooke, who charges towards him with an enraged cry, only to be intercepted by Jax, who is holding a rapier. What little attention Bronze has left is taken by Cedar as he grabs an axe and charges towards him. I take my chance and circle around the cornucopia one last time. "Jenny!" I shout. "Drake! Bran!"

I'm about to give up and run when someone grabs my arm from behind and pulls me away. "There you are!" Drake shouts. "Come on! We have to go!"

"Wait!" I cry. "We can't! Not without the others!"

"We have to! We're out of time!"

Sure enough, when I look behind me, Brooke is stumbling away, holding her intestines in, and most of the other tributes are clearing out. Cedar is badly wounded on the ground and Camdyn and Belladonna are circling back around towards the Ones. "Where's Bran and Jenny?" I cry as Drake continues to pull me away.

Drake's tightens his grip on my wrist. When he speaks, his voice is tight and pained. "I didn't find Bran…" he chokes. I look down and see the blood on his arms, the knife in his hands, and…look up to see the tears in his eyes.

"Oh God…" I breathe.

We kept moving, occasionally having to turn to avoid the cliffs that occasionally drop down in front of us. Drake eventually releases my hand and we slow down to a quick walk. It's not until the cannons fire, six total, that we slow to a stop.

"That's all?" I ask.

Drake just slumps onto a fallen log and reaches for a damp leaf, trying to get the blood off of his hands. "It's not a lot, no…" he mumbles.

I look around to make sure no one is nearby, then sit down next to him. "Drake," I say quietly, "what happened?"

Drake chokes back a sob. "I found Jenny. We were looking for you and Bran when the boy from Twelve…" His voice trails off for a moment and he shakes his head. "He put an axe in her skull… I couldn't save her. Then he came for me. We grappled for a moment, then I saw the knife at his belt." His grip tightens on the weapon in his hand. "One of those cannons were for him."

I swallow hard as my own eyes begin to burn. I think about that moment in the hovercraft when I checked on her and we comforted each other. Was that really the last time we would ever see each other? Surely Drake was seeing things, right? With the adrenaline and all, he could have missed something.

"Are you sure?" I choke. "Are you sure she's—"

Drake slams his fist against the log. "Yes, I'm sure! She was dead before she…" Drake breaks down sobbing and I find myself wrapping my arms around him.

"I'm sorry…" I say quietly as tears of my own slip down my face.

"Me too…" Drake sobs. "I should of ran. Instead, I lost Jen and couldn't even find Bran!"

"No. No, you can't blame yourself. Don't do that."

We sit there for a moment, grieving our fallen ally. "We should check the packs," Drake says finally.

I pull my backpack off my back and set it next to the smaller bag I grabbed. Drake takes a backpack that he had managed to grab off of his shoulder and slings it to the ground.

Between the three packs, we managed to get enough rations to last us at least a few days. There is also a sleeping bag, a blanket, some matches, a rope, and a couple of filter straws, a package of body wipes, and of course, Drake's knife. There are also two water bottles that, to my complete surprise, are full.

"That's odd," I mumble. "They never fill these."

"Well, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth," Drake replies.

I open up the wipes and pull one free. I gently take Drake's hands and begin wiping off the bloodstains. "I…" Drake sighs. "I know this is going to sound stupid but…I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill anyone just yet."

"You did what you had to do," I reply. "He killed Jenny. Besides, it was you or him. There's nothing wrong with choosing yourself, especially here."

Once I finish cleaning his hands, I tuck the wipes into the front pocket of the backpack and the two of us begin dividing up the supplies. "Thank you, Ames," Drake says. "I… I'm sorry I've been so mopey all day."

"No need to apologize," I say. "Right now, we need to find Bran."

"How do we know he's still alive? Not to be pessimistic but…"

"No, we're not going to think like that. We can't think like that." I can't stand the thought of losing anyone else right now. "Between the two of us, we know who five of those cannons belong to, and the odds are very much against Bran being the sixth."

Drake takes a deep breath. "You're right. You're right. Where do you think he could have gone?"

"I don't know. Did you see him at all during the countdown?"

"No. I can't say I did. My guess is that things got dangerous and he took off."

"Which is exactly what he was supposed to do." I sigh and stand. "Well, it looks like we'll be searching the arena for him. May as well get started."

Drake nods and smiles sadly. "I heard a river at the cornucopia. Maybe we should check that out first. He might have gone there. We can make a wide circle around the cornucopia so we can avoid the Careers."

"Sounds like a plan."

Look at me! Cranking out chapters like nobody's business! It's also short, but so was the bloodbath. This may be the last chapter for a bit since travel scenes are hard and I want to make the next one longer. This bloodbath was a bit short and not a lot of people died. I attribute that to the Ones being busy with the Fours, the other Careers also being occupied by the tributes who put up a fight, and everyone else just…running away. Every surviving tribute has a purpose, so stay tuned for that. I decided to go ahead and do epitaphs for the fallen tributes because I do plan on eventually doing an SYOT and I want to get the practice in, not to mention that I wanted to give this cast the proper respect since I love all of them.

24th Place – Wendy Porter – Head Slammed into Pedestal by Nero Mortis
23rd Place – Urban Porter – Stabbed to death by Belladonna Harper
I felt terrible killing Wendy and Urban. They were both so terribly young, but I knew they weren't going to last long at all, and they were honestly more filler characters than anything. I wish I could have done more with them, but I couldn't really find the room to do so. I decided that the most merciful thing I could do was to have them die seconds apart, without knowing the other was already being killed. They died quickly and without having to mourn the other. Goodbye, Urban and Wendy. I hope you stay together in the next life.

22nd Place – Dashiell Lake – Shot by Bronze Carlton
The secret is out. Bronze and Jax planned to take out the Fours. To avoid weakening their alliance, they recruited two strong outliers in Atticus and Belladonna. Where Amber saw a desperate attempt at repeating the past, Bronze saw history repeating itself, and decided he didn't want to take his chances. In the process, he revealed his weapon: the bow and arrow. This will not go without consequences though, as not only did Bronze inadvertently save Amber, who is no doubt one of the stronger tributes, but there's also the fact that not everyone in the alliance will agree with what Bronze did. Goodbye, Dashiell. I'm sorry you didn't get to be Finnick Odair.

21st Place – Jenny "Jen" Palomino – Killed by Atticus Gatsby
Ouch. Just…ouch. Jenny was such a kind soul. I'm so very sorry for this one. Jenny was always going to be the first member of Amber's alliance to die. It was only a matter of when. I kept going back and forth about whether to kill her in the bloodbath or later, but I ultimately decided to go ahead and reduce Amber's alliance permanently by one, since the Careers also lost an alliance member, and the Six-Seven crew may be losing another one possibly maybe. (I'm not counting Brooke and Dashiell since Bronze and Jax had planned to take them out from the start). Both Amber and Drake are clearly devastated about losing Jenny, and there's also the added consequence of them losing their medic. Alas, they will have to continue on without her. Goodbye, Jenny. I hope you open up the most badass clinic the afterlife has to offer.

20th Place – Unknown
Who died in 20th Place? Was it Bran? Was it someone else? Am I evil for leaving this cliffhanger?

19th Place – Atticus Gatsby – Stabbed by Drake Montez
Atticus has a mystery surrounding him and I know I built him up a little bit. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake, but it also makes for a good shocker I suppose. I wanted to drop the Career alliance numbers a bit, and unfortunately for Atticus, he was the one to be cut. He was always meant to kill Jenny, but I didn't really have much of a plan for him after that like I did the other tributes, so he became Drake's first kill. His secrets and potential died with him. Goodbye, Atticus. I'm sorry you never got to show the world what you're capable of, but you also really shouldn't have killed Jenny.