Author's Note

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Sorcha Summerfield, 17

Fuck, but she hated being alone. She deserved someone to keep her company, someone to talk with her and watch her back. Not this empty desolation. This silence was Luminita's thing. She liked to spend her time in the quiet, scribbling in her drawing pads and making weird little sculptures. As if she might some day get somewhere with those.

Sorcha groaned and kicked at the blackened, dead grass. The wind and her own anger howled in her ears. Her blood pulsed beneath her skin, simmering with rage. Alone. How had she ended up alone at this stage in the Game? They were only just past halfway!

She scowled as stones clattered under her boots and rattled across the grass. Fuck though, she hated being alone. It was cold and lonely and boring.

And that on top of the fact her mouth still tasted bitter, burning and stinging on her tongue like a foul kind of sherbert. She had tried to spit the filth out, to little avail. She would feel better once she'd found Luminita; feel lighter once she'd felt her flesh, tasted it–

But Luminita was her sister.

Her twin sister.

They had been together their entire life.

But Luminita had betrayed her.

Because they had been under attack–

Creatures in the fog, players she couldn't see, screams and shouts and the rush of weapons coming down by her–

She had run because she'd had to run, because if they hadn't those moaning groaning monsters or shrieking armed players would have torn them down–

Sorcha shook her head, attempting to clear some of the fuzziness from her eyes. She would feel better once she'd found her allies again. That was all she needed, to be back with her alliance. And not with those freak kids that talked nonsense, with her actual allies. Calpurnia and Marcellina… and Luminita too, she supposed. She was her sister; her twin sister–

(shed left her and she should die for that)

But Sorcha was the strong one, the brave one, the clever one, and they had always known as much. Luminita could never quite touch her. She'd never been as good as Sorcha and Treasa. She was just jealous now; she'd always been a jealous cunt–

Well, Sorcha would show her.

Not only did she not need her; she'd show Luminita how much she and those little freaks of hers needed Sorcha. They'd be getting nowhere without her. How could they? Sorcha was the one with all the experience. She knew how to win The Game. What did Luminita know?

Nothing, except how to turn away from her family.

Sorcha was the one who knew what she was doing.

Sorcha would show them.

She squinted through the fog, stumbling onwards into it. Tendrils curled around her, hiding pieces of her from sight.

But her anger kept her warm and her hatred kept her moving.

She needed to find Luminita.

She needed to prove herself to Luminita.

Andreas Amandiel, 18

He had survived.

That was all that mattered.

Marquis had never been anything other than a pawn anyway. A stupid one.

Andreas was the important one. He had to survive. He had a bright future ahead.

"You see?" he hissed, loud enough that the recorders should Hopeman pick it up but quiet enough to not draw attention to himself. "We're no better than the District kids. We fight, we kill each other. Capitalites are no better than anyone else."

But they should be. They should be better than this. Perhaps this deathtrap of a Game would finally teach them that.

Fortunately, with the death of Marquis, the District kids seemed to have finally stopped following him, which was a relief. He wasn't sure he could have kept running for much longer. Andreas slowed to a jog and then to a walk. His boots crunched through the undergrowth. Above him, the sky was starting to darken. He'd need to set up camp soon. Preferably in one of the trees, to account for the fact he was now on his own. But he'd like to get out of the vicinity of this ominous stench first. Nothing could sleep with that filling the air around them.

The stench did grow steadily weaker as he walked, replaced by the sweeter scent of flowers and trees. Something further away in the trees must be causing it. A mutt maybe.

In which case, he was best off as far away as he could get from it.

As he moved, however, he began to smell smoke, taste it on his tongue. He frowned, glancing around. A campfire? He couldn't see one. But something was definitely burning.

He continued to find his way onwards, pushing his way through the trees while taking care not to get sap on his skin. It could well be poisonous. Everything in this arena was meant to be poisonous.

At last, the trees ahead of him began to thin. He couldn't be at the other side of this section already, could he? Not unless it was significantly smaller than the foggy part. But as he continued, it was very clear he was definitely coming up on something. Andreas considered what he'd seen in this arena and during his other Games, before finding a solution.

The cornucopia.

He must be coming back up on the cornucopia.

Well, that could prove beneficial. There was bound to be supplies left at the cornucopia. If he was lucky, he might even find some other players there to begin his plan of breaking up an alliance from the inside.

Andreas slowed as he began to reach the treeline. If there were players at the cornucopia, they would of course be watching the trees. Only an idiot wouldn't. He gripped one of his bladed fans in one hand, crunching through the undergrowth to the very edge of the woodland.

At a quick glance he couldn't see anyone, but that didn't mean there was no one there. He'd been caught out by players with good camouflage enough times. Instead of stepping straight out, Andreas edged around the trees, careful now not to make too much noise in the undergrowth, searching for locations where he might get a better line of sight of the horn.

As he moved, he caught a glimpse of movement near that horn. He froze, ducking behind the nearest tree. His heart thumped. He crouched and waited, watching.

By the horn, a tall, dark haired boy ducked in and out of sight, digging through the contents of it. Older, looked strong, seemed to be on his own. Could be a replacement for Marquis.

Andreas stepped out from the trees and hurried towards the cornucopia.

The boy spun round, raising the bow in his hands. Andreas raised his arms. "Wait wait! I don't mean to hurt you! See; I'm unarmed!"

"Fuck you!" The boy shouted back, and fired an arrow.

Which left a choice.

He could turn away now, back into the poisonous trees as the only 'safe' place of retreat. The grassland was alight with flame and the foggy area of the arena was beyond the other boy. So if he retreated, he'd have to go backwards.

Or he could stand and fight.

It wasn't in his nature to face a threat this way – but there were clearly bigger threats out here in this arena. The biggest danger to his survival now wasn't only the arena or the other players, it was whoever those District kids that tried to hunt him down were.

Andreas drew his other bladed fan and opened them both, scanning the ground in front of him. There was nothing between the trees and the cornucopia he could use as shelter, which meant if he stepped out, he'd be a standing target for an archer.

Which meant he should take the safer route and flee–

But where would he go?

Andreas groaned as he realised he'd been herded, even if not by mutts and not quite as subtly as this attempt. The other boy could have been too, the two of them being pushed together to create some conflict and hopefully take another player from the running.

Another arrow came flying in his direction. Andreas jumped aside. The arrow lodged deep into one of the trees – which promptly exploded into flame. He yelled and jumped aside, scrambling out into the open.

The other boy looked slightly surprised too, clearly he hadn't been expecting that either, but he soon nocked another arrow.

"Wait!" Andreas yelled, rushing towards him. Perhaps he could take him by surprise.

The boy fired off his next arrow. Andreas swept his fan out to defend himself, knocking the arrow aside. His fan froze where it touched the projectile. Upgraded arrows then. Andreas only hoped he didn't have many. Surely he wouldn't just keep wasting them. At last no one smart would.

He closed the distance between them. As he got nearer, the other boy climbed up the side of the cornucopia and fired off several arrows from above, which Andreas managed to dodge until he ducked into the golden horn.

"Listen to me!" he shouted.

"Come out and die!" replied the other boy.

Lovely.

"I assume that means you don't want an alliance?" Andreas shouted.

"I've no need for allies!"

"Everyone has a need for allies in a Game like this! Come on, think about it!"

An arrow lodged in the grass in front front of the horn.

A moment later it exploded with a shuddering boom, spewing hot fire.

That was a no then.

Luminita Summerfield, 17

With every step she took, the fog seemed to get thicker, twisting around her like soup. She wondered if Sorcha was still trying to stumble around this section, or if she'd given up and fled to elsewhere. Probably the latter. If there was one thing Sorcha was good at, it was running away from danger.

Luminita sighed. She couldn't think of her sister right now. Maybe if they found Celeste's Firebird and the way out, they could still somehow save Sorcha from the real world. Or maybe she could convince Celeste to find Sorcha afterwards.

Though given how Sorcha had treated her…

Celeste had no reason to help Sorcha.

Did she hold grudges? Luminita was unsure how Celeste worked. Did Zephyr know how Celeste worked?

He might – but he might also be just as clueless. Though he was her brother. He seemed to spend more time trying to understand her than anyone else, but Luminita wasn't sure that he actually did. She suspected he was just more used to her.

The buzzing and beeping from Iridescence and Ares's communicator radio thing continued as they walked, steadily growing louder until Luminita feared it might draw attention from other players around them.

Iridescence fiddled with the dials some more and raised the thing to her ear.

"No voices," she said.

"Real reassuring," muttered Luminita.

Iridescence's communicator thing let out a final shrill shriek – and a tall, dark figure came stumbling from the fog.

Iridescence pulled her bow from her shoulder, Ares drew his axe, and Luminita unsheathed her knife. Zephyr startled slightly, but Celeste seemed unsurprised.

Luminita hated how long it took her to recognise Sorcha.

Her yellow hair had started to come loose from its braid, frizzing out, locks tumbling down beyond her neck. Her skin was an ugly ash white, her eyes and mouth almost looking bruised.

"Uh… Sorcha?" Luminita ventured.

"That's me!" Sorcha replied, her eyes shining with a strange malice and dripping black liquid. "Aren't you happy to see me, sister?"

"I… well, of course, but you…" Luminita shook her head. She'd never known her sister look this way. "You don't look well."

"Well? Of course I'm well!"

"You look… sick," Luminita replied, mentally cataloguing what she had in her backpack. Did she have any medicine? No, she was pretty sure she didn't.

Celeste stopped to look up at Sorcha. "The yellow bird has been caught in a trap. It should fly away before it hurts its nestmate."

Luminita startled and stepped back. "What?"

Sorcha turned on Celeste, her face dark with rage. "What is that meant to mean?"

Luminita reached for Celeste. "Don't answer that."

"The yellow bird doesn't know its own nature. It's only confused."

"Celeste–"

"Confused? I am not–"

"Birds eat berries that humans should not. Sometimes those berries make the bird sick."

Luminita frowned. "Sorcha, what did you eat?"

"I didn't–"

Luminita shook her head, reaching out to push Zephyr and Celeste back. "I know you must have done. What did you eat?"

"Ugh, there was some sponsor gift. It was rotten or something. I spat most of it out."

Luminita's heart sank. She might never have been close to Sorcha, but they were still sisters and she loved her once.

"Oh, Sorcha. I'm so sorry."

""Sorry for what?"

Luminita drew her knife. "Whatever's been done to you."